Lexmark have unveiled 3 new inkjet printers, the X4550, X3550 and Z1420, offering wireless printing options for as low as $79.99. Eight out of Lexmark’s 12 new inkjet printers being introduced in 2007 will have wireless capabilities. “Consumers are embracing wireless networking with the rapid adoption of wireless notebook computers and wireless routers. However, because of the high price of existing wireless printers and the complexity of use, consumers have been slow to adopt wireless printing. We intend to change that with new wireless printers from Lexmark that are affordable, easy to install and easy to use,” said Najib Bahous, Lexmark vice president and president of its Consumer Printer Division.

A share of £1,500 worth of Canon photography kit is on offer to the winners of the Computeractive Photographer of the Year 2007 competition. Top prize is the latest Canon EOS 400D digital camera kit. The deadline for entries is 5.00 pm on Friday 11 May, and the contest is open to UK residents.

A recent study by Understanding & Solutions looks at the removable storage market, including flash memory. “One impediment to the future roadmap of Flash memory cards is the 32GB milestone,” says Bill Foster, “which will require another change to the file format for cards using the FAT32 file system. What this new file format will be has yet to be decided, but the NT File System is believed to be under consideration. Once a new file format is agreed upon and the technology is in mass production, this will serve to significantly extend the Flash lifecycle.” The report also considers future technologies like Holographic Data Storage, with capacities of 1 terabyte the target.

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Canon A570 IS compact digital camera, which offers a 7.1 megapixel sensor, 4x optical zoom lens, Face Detection Technology and Red-Eye Correction, plus an Optical Image Stabilizer to combat camera shake and full manual control.

“Image quality was excellent for a 7-megapixel consumer model. The default quality setting is Large Fine, and we did capture many of our regular sample photos in this mode. The rest were taken using Larger SuperFine, which is what we normally use. That said, the majority of our outdoor samples looked great, showing nice exposures, with beautiful sky detail, and pleasing color balance. Just as we saw with the A560, image noise was average when using ISO 80 - 200.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Canon A570 IS Review

Steves Digicams have tested the Olympus mju 770 SW digital camera, which can survive falls from up to 1.5m, is waterproof to 10m depths, as well as being freezeproof to -10 degrees Celsius.

“As with all Stylus series cameras, the 770 SW features a durable metal exterior and is made watertight by rubber gaskets on the inside to seal gaps and prevent moisture from entering the body. This allows it to be used in a gentle sprinkle or to be completely submerged up to 33 feet. If your picture taking leads to deeper depths, then the optional PT-035 Underwater Housing is required. It can handle water pressure depths of up to 40 meters. Add that with the 770’s various Underwater scene modes, and you have one great little underwater point-n-shoot.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Olympus mju 770 SW Review

Sony has unveiled more details about its new range of CompactFlash cards. There will be two 133x speed cards (2GB, 4Gb) which offer a data transfer rate of 20MB/s, and three 66x speed cards (1Gb, 2Gb, 4Gb).The Sony CompactFlash cards will be available from May 2007, pricing to be announced.

The Toshiba 200GB 2.5 inch external hard drive can store up to 57,000 digital photos. The 200GB portable external hard drive provides the highest capacity of any backup solution in the compact 2.5-inch hard drive class. Toshiba’s new hard drive series is available in 200GB, 160GB, 120GB and 100GB capacities, costing from $129.99 to $229.99.

The Xs-Drive 2 Smart 2300 is a new portable storage device with increased memory card support and an OLED display. Transfer speed is improved, with a 1GB memory card copying in less than 4 minutes onto the hard disk of the Xs-Drive 2 Smart. The price for the basic version of the XS-Drive 2 Smart 2300 60GB is £99 / €149.

The X-Rite Picture Perfect Color Seminar teaches photographers how to manage color and perfect their workflow. The seminar series takes place in 40 cities in the US and Canada from May-December 2007. Professional photographer Phil Nelson, an X-Rite Color Expert, will lead the one day seminar, which costs $299.

Jobo have released a new firmware update, v2.0.4, for the Jobo GIGA Vu PRO evolution. The update includes JD Loupe, incremental back-up and increased RAW format compatibility. JD Loupe is a magnified rectangular loupe which appears on the LCD screen so photographers can closely examine important details of their pictures.

The Transcend 8GB SDHC Class 6 memory card features high data transfer speed and best price-to-performance value. It supports Error Correcting Code (ECC) to detect and correct errors and has a mechanical write protection switch to prevent accidental deletion of data. Pricing and availability to be confirmed.

The Kodak Picture Protection Plan, available exclusively to Kodak Gallery Premier members, provides an archive CD of all pictures in the event of a hard drive crash. In addition members will receive a credit of up to $500 if photo gift items are destroyed. “Helping people preserve and protect their pictures is as important to us as helping them to creatively tell and then share their stories with others,” said Mark Cook, Worldwide Marketing Director for Kodak Gallery. Kodak Gallery Premier costs an annual $24.99 subscription fee.

Canon have released a new firmware update, v1.0.5, for the EOS 400D (Digital Rebel XTi in the USA) DSLR, which offers the following improvements:

  1.  Fixes the printing of lens names when using PictBridge.
  Corrects the printing of the lens name for shots taken with the EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro lens and Life-Size Converter EF.

  2. [Redeye 1] can now be selected when connecting with specific printers.
  [Redeye 1] can now be selected when using the PIXMA iP6310D / iP6320D / iP6700D Photo Inkjet Printer.

  3. Improves the reliability of communication with the Speedlite 380EX.
  Improves reliability of the communication with the optical Speedlite 380EX clip-on flash.

Website: Canon EOS 400D / Digital Rebel XTi v1.0.5 Firmware Update

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Pentax Optio A30, a 10 megapixel compact digital camera with a 1/1.8 inch CCD, anti-shake technology, 3x optical zoom and 2.5 inch LCD monitor.

“This is definitely an “ultra-compact” camera that’s about the size of a deck of playing cards. This will allow you to tuck it away in the smallest of pockets, and the durable metal body ensures it will survive the active users lifestyle. Although very small, it fit quite well in my hands, and the controls are placed just within reach of my fingertips.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Pentax Optio A30 Review

DIWA member LetsGoDigital have published some sample images from the Ricoh GX100 digital camera, which features a 10.01 megapixel CCD, fast 24-72mm wide zoom lens and a removable electronic view?nder.

“We have had the new Ricoh Caplio GX100 camera in the office for some days and visited the Keukenhof in Lisse, the Netherlands, to shoot some test images. The Ricoh GX100 was introduced in March 2007 and is like its predecessor - the Ricoh Caplio GX8 - an unique digital compact camera.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Ricoh GX100 Sample Images

The-Digital-Picture have the first online review of the new Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L lens.

“If you are shooting wide landscapes with narrow apertures, the Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM Lens will save you a lot of money as both lenses are sharp corner-to-corner at f/11. If you are shooting at wider apertures on a full frame body, the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens will definitely be worth the upgrade. If you want the best of these lenses, the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L II USM Lens is it.”

Website: The-Digital-Picture - Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L Lens Review

Imaging Resource have reviewed the new Fujifilm S9600 (called the FinePix S9100 in the USA), which is a 9 megapixel camera with a 10x zoom lens.

“But what sold me on this unit was its natural light performance. On the Mode dial there’s a Natural Light setting that adjusts ISO without tapping into flash to capture whatever light falls on your scene. The gallery shots give you an idea what I was able to do, but not the whole picture. Shutter speeds ranged from 1/4 to 1/40 second, and ISO topped out at a very usable 800. I don’t know how it did it without image stabilization, but our shots were pretty sharp.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Fujifilm FinePix S9100 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

This is an offer not to be missed. For 48 hours only PhotoBox will be slashing their prices on all standard prints to just 1p per print! That’s £7.00 worth of prints for just 70p! This special offer will be running from noon on Monday 16th to noon on Wednesday 18th April. You just need to enter the code 1PSUPERSALE at the checkout when placing your order, with a maximum of 70 6”x4”or 6”x4.5” size gloss prints prints per customer. This special PhotoBox offer is open to both existing and new customers.

Launched at the end of March, Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium and Standard editions and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium and Standard editions are now shipping. New standalone versions of 8 CS3 programs are also available, including Photoshop CS3.

The new SxS memory card format offers high capacity and high-speed data transfer for professional camcorders. The target transfer speed of SxS memory cards is 800 megabits per second. Compliant to the high-speed ExpressCard industry standard, SxS will be jointly developed by SanDisk and Sony, with the latter adopting the new format in its “XDCAM EX“ series of professional camcorders. SxS memory cards from SanDisk and Sony are expected to be available later in 2007.