Steves Digicams have reviewed the pigment based Canon PIXMA Pro 9500 A3+ professional printer.

“The bottom line - the Pro9500 is an excellent choice for the pro or semi-pro user that needs to print large color photos up to 13 x 19-inches on a wide variety of media including fine art papers. And you can also make archival quality monochrome prints. I have always been impressed by the quality and speed of Canon’s wide carriage printers having owned and used the i9100 and i9900 - the Pro9500 takes their best features and adds the ability to print on even thicker media.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Canon PIXMA Pro 9500 Review

Ricoh have released the fourth firmware update, v1.16, for the Ricoh GX100 digital camera.

1. Adjusted the exposure in bright-light shooting with a flash.
2. Modified the following display phenomena.
• If you playback a picture (3:2 or 1:1) enlarged, the location window in the right corner of the LCD may be out of alignment.
• If you assign FOCUS in the Fn button, and set to enable the STEP ZOOM, and if you switch a focus setting to the MF from the other focus settings with the Fn button, it may remain a number of zoom display on the zoom bar in the left of the LCD.

Website: Ricoh GX100 1.16 Firmware Update

Power Stroke 1.0 is a stroke based color correction, colorization and special effects plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Power Stroke introduces a simple, interactive stroke-based interface to perform targeted adjustments, including color correction, recoloring or desaturation. Power Stroke 1.0 is available now for $120.

Photo Backup 2.6.0 ensures that your photo archives are full and up-to-date even if photos are moved, renamed or edited. Photo Backup calculates a unique signature for each photo based on its contents, which is saved and later used to compare photos. Photo Backup runs under Windows 2000/XP/Vista and costs $29.95(US). A fully featured 14-day evaluation version is also available.

Measuring just 19.6mm thick, the Canon Digital IXUS 75 is one of the slimmest compact cameras in Canon’s extensive lineup. The new Canon IXUS 75 offers a 7.1 megapixel sensor, 3x zoom lens equivalent to 35-105mm, and a large 3 inch LCD screen with 230,000 pixels. Canon’s DIGIC III image processor, which is also used in its DSLR range, powers the IXUS 75 behind the scenes, and also provides the camera’s Face Detection and Noise Reduction technologies. There’s also a new Red-Eye Correction feature on offer in Playback mode, a range of ISO speeds up to 1600 and a new ISO Auto Shift function to help avoid image blur whenever camera shake is predicted. So is the stylish Canon Digital IXUS 75 the right compact camera for you? Read our in-depth review to find out.

Website: Canon Digital IXUS 75 Review

Brazilian photographer Julio Bittencourt is the winner of the prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2007. Bittencourt submitted a series of portraits of inhabitants of a house occupied by homeless people in downtown São Paulo. Honourable mentions went to Spaniard José Cendon and Norwegian Margaret M. de Lange. Held since 1979 in memory of the inventor of the first 35mm camera, Oskar Barnack,  the competition focuses on the relationship between man and his environment.

Sony have issued a safety notice for the Cyber-shot DSC-T5 digital camera. The metal plating on the the bottom casing may peel away from the camera body and warp outwards, possibly resulting in a slight cut or scratch to the user’s skin. Sony is offering a free service to replace the bottom case on affected units (serial numbers between 3500001 and 3574100)

The SeaLife ECOshot is waterproof to a depth of 75 feet/23 meters and shockproof to 6ft/2m. Small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, the 6 megapixel ECOshot has a Spy mode that takes continuous pictures at set time intervals from 5 seconds to 5 minutes. The SeaLife ECOshot is available now for $279.95.

The SeaLife ReefMaster Mini is waterproof to 130 feet/40 meters and and shockproof to 6ft/2m. “The ReefMaster mini is SeaLife’s entry level camera that gives the snorkeler or diver the opportunity to take great underwater pictures with a small, compact camera,” said Joe Ifi, SeaLife’s director of sales and marketing. The SeaLife ReefMaster Mini is available now for $329.95.

The PNY 4-in-1 Mobile Media Kit contains a MicroSD card and three adapters, converting the MicroSD into a MiniSD card, standard SD card, or a USB drive. “The 4-in-1 Mobile Media Kit satisfies users’ demand for one solution that supports virtually all their mobile memory needs - from taking pictures or video, downloading music, playing games, sending e-mails or text messages, browsing the Web or even working on office documents.” said Dean Delserro, senior marketing manager, for PNY Technologies. The PNY 4-in-1 Mobile Media Kit is available in capacities of 1GB and 2GB for $29.99 and $49.99.

PrinterSpot have just reviewed the A3 Canon PIXMA Pro9000 printer.

“If it’s large format photo prints you’re after, then you must look at the Canon Pixma Pro9000—the results are stunning. Capable of producing a 13 x 19 inch print (on a variety of media) in about 3.5 minutes, the Pro9000 is a heck of a printer, if you have room on your desk (and your wallet) for it. It’s probably not a great choice for those of you doing a lot of text or mixed documents, as the quality isn’t as good, nor are the first speeds as fast, as some cheaper printers.”

Website: PrinterSpot - Canon PIXMA Pro9000 Review

ePhotoZine have reviewed the Sigma 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC OS, the second Sigma lens to feature an Optical Stabiliser to compensate for camera shake.

“The problem with superzooms is compromise. Getting the best results from what is a stretching of optical laws to the extremes. At a zoom ratio of 11.1:1, this 18-200mm optic is a result of some well-balanced compromises though. As is usual in this type of lens, the wide end is better than the longer end in general, but does suffer some distortion. Barrel distortion is just evident at the wide end of the zoom, turning to negligible pincushion by the time the telephoto end is reached.”

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Sigma-18-200mm-f35-63-DC-OS-1

Samsung are offering £100 off a GX-10 DSLR single or twin lens kit until 31st August 2007. The promotion applies to a Samsung GX-10 camera together with either a single lens (18-55mm) or a twin lens (18-55mm and 50-200mm). To be eligible to claim your cash back you must have purchased your qualifying Samsung GX-10 Digital SLR Camera and lens kit new (not second-hand) between 16th July 2007 and 31st August 2007 from a retailer in the UK or the Channel Islands.

Luminous Landscape have reviewed the new Canon S5 IS ultra-zoom compact camera, which features a 12x optical zoom lens equivalent to 36-432mm, optical image stabilizer and 8 megapixel sensor.

“The sensor is a 1/2.5” which translates to 5.76 x 4.29 mm. The ISO (gain) settings range from 80 to an ambitious 1600. As the following images indicate, (taken at 1/125s, f/5.6 and 14.5 mm) you should not expect to obtain reasonable-sized prints or do a lot of cropping with anything above ISO 200 – and maybe even that’s a little optimistic. I leave the camera set at ISO 80 so I don’t have to think about it. This is where the 3-stop image stabilization saves the day.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Canon S5 IS Review

Website: Read our Canon PowerShot S5 IS Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Samsung L77 digital camera, which offers a 7x internal optical zoom lens equivalent to 38-266mm, a 7 megapixel sensor and 2.5 inch LCD screen.

“Image quality was ok. While most of our samples are sharp, and show good exposure and color balance, I did see above average amounts of barrel distortion and chromatic aberrations. The internal 7x optical zoom lens offers much more versatility over the typical 3x zoom on most consumer compacts. Covering an equivalent zoom range of 38 - 266mm, it favors the telephoto end, however the 38mm wide angle extreme will afford decent interior and landscape photos.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Samsung L77 Review

ThinkCamera have reviewed the new Olympus E-410 DSLR camera.

“And then there’s Live View. The preview system offers a live feed from the Olympus E-410’s sensor, overlaid with an optional histogram, depth of field preview, grid screen, cross hairs… the works. It slows down operation, as the mirror needs to flip down occasionally to control autofocus, and this introduces an ‘interesting’ klack-klack sound to the proceedings. Nevertheless, it’s a useful addition to the DSLR arsenal and one that’s hard to live without once you are used to it.”

Website: ThinkCamera - Olympus E-410 Review

Website: Read our Olympus E-410 Review

The winners of the July 2007 PhotographyBLOG Competition have been selected by a panel of judges. The theme for July was “Garden Birds” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
In The Garden by Bridget

Prize: 1 copy of Powerretouche Full Pro Pack
Kindly donated by Powerretouche.
http://powerretouche.com

JPEG XR is the tentative name for a brand new JPEG format from Microsoft. Formerly referred to as the HD Photo file format, Microsoft have now submitted it to the Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPEG). If approved, JPEG XR will offer better image fidelity, higher image compression efficiency and flexible editing features. “Microsoft is very pleased that the JPEG working group is considering HD Photo as a new standard and we are committed to working cooperatively with JPEG and its affiliated standards organizations” said Tom Robertson, General Manager of Interoperability and Standards, Microsoft.

ScanCafé ProZone is a new photo scanning and restoration service aimed at pro photographers. Support for TIFF format, USB hard drive delivery, scanning resolution at 4000 dpi and personal account managers are offered. “We encourage photographers and hobbyists to test out ScanCafé and let us know what they think. If we aren’t the easiest, most time and money saving scanning service out there, let us know what we need to do to get there.” said Sam Allen, CEO of ScanCafé.

The BenQ E1000 digital camera features a 10 megapixel sensor, 3 inch LCD screen and 3x zoom lens. A full range of P/Av/Tv/M modes are offered, along with a Face-Tracking function and ISO speeds up to 1600. Availability of the E1000 varies from region to region. The BenQ E1000 will be first available in China in August.