MIG Europe Press Release

MIG Europe announces launch of Don’t Panic Photo Edition – the world’s fastest recovery software - sector specific software will offer optimum recovery process for digital photography, gaming, mobile and MP3 markets

London, UK 5 September 2006 – Media Innovations Group (MIG Europe), a portfolio of companies that specialise in a range of high quality digital products, today announced the launch of ‘Don’t Panic Photo Edition ’, the world’s fastest image recovery software. ‘Don’t Panic’, the new name for the market leading ‘Image Recall’ series of recovery software, is at the forefront of customer disaster-management in the digital high street, and is set to roll out into individual vertical markets in order to offer customers the optimum digital solution for lost data. In tests, the software recovered images significantly quicker than its closest rival, with 350 ‘lost’ images from a 2GB SD card recovered and thumbnailed in just 1 minute 53 seconds. The leading competitor’s software took six minutes to reach the same stage.

FotoNation Press Release

FotoNation Face Tracker Identifies and Locks on Faces for Optimal Focus & Exposure in New PENTAX Optio S7 & Optio A20 Digital Cameras

September 5, 2006, Galway, Ireland— FotoNation,  (www.fotonation.com), one of the world’s leading award-winning imaging and connectivity solutions companies for the digital photography industry, announced today that its innovative “Face Tracker”™ technology is now available in PENTAX Corporation’s latest addition to its Optio line, the 7 megapixels Optio S7 & the 10 megapixels Optio A20 digital camera. FotoNation Face Tracker, available as the “Face Recognition AF & AE” function on the PENTAX Optio S7 & Optio A20, automatically detects the position of a subject’s face and adjusts focus and exposure accordingly.

LaCie Press Release

LaCie Expands SAFE Biometric Hard Drive Range With Enhanced Security Features and Desktop Editions

PORTLAND, OR (September 2006) – LaCie today announced it has expanded its range of LaCie SAFE Hard Drives to include a desktop edition with enhanced security features. LaCie now offers a full range of secure desktop and mobile hard drives with biometric access control designed to protect confidential data from unauthorized use. The new LaCie SAFE Hard Drive comes in capacities of 160GB, 320GB or 500GB with a universal Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface for use on PC and/or Mac. Enhanced security features include an internal drive lock and an external port for attaching an optional chain lock. “We’ve grown our SAFE range to accommodate the demand for larger capacity biometric hard drives for office or home use,” says Marie Renouard, LaCie Product Manager. “The LaCie SAFE Hard Drives offers three levels of security for your private files, whether you need to back up personal financial documents or protect intellectual property. You can rest easy knowing that your data will be kept private in the LaCie SAFE.”

PNY Press Release

Mérignac (France) - September 5th, 2006 PNY is delighted to announce new solutions for advanced mobile phones. More and more models now come with memory card slots built in to enable customers to use the camera, MP3 player, PDA, and play games. So it’s no surprise that PNY Technologies has enlarged its mobile flash card range with high capacity digital storage solutions. Mini SD(tm), Micro SD(tm) and MMC Mobile cards have now become the main storage formats used in Mobile Phone. With the launch of the 2GB Mini SD(tm) and 1GB Micro SD(tm), PNY can now deliver storage solutions for customers with advanced mobile phones.

O’Reilly Press Release

Sebastopol, CA—In the city where gambling is a way of life, digital photographers are betting they’ll learn something new and exciting at this week’s Photoshop World Expo in Las Vegas. And Thursday’s keynote address puts the spotlight on O’Reilly author Eddie Tapp and his official induction into the Photoshop Hall of Fame. “This is the greatest honor of my entire career,” says Tapp. A popular lecturer on digital imaging, Tapp is widely admired for his knack for making the photo editing process easier and more transparent. His newly released “Photoshop Workflow Setups” (O’Reilly, US $29.99)—the first in a five-book series—shows users how to organize an efficient and user-friendly workspace.

Fujifilm have releaesed a new firmware update for the FinePix F30 Zoom digital camera.

The firmware (Ver.1.00 to Ver.1.02) update incorporates the following issues.
1. Fix the issues that some camera operation cause the following effects in very rare cases.
  (a) Some recorded images cannot be viewed and “Read Error” message is displayed on the LCD monitor.
  (b) The full frame of camera recorded image cannot be viewed on PC.

2. Shorten the recognition time of PC when the camera connected to the PC via USB interface.
In the case of 1000 JPEG images in camera, PC recognition time is improved from 20 seconds to 2 seconds.

Website: Fujifilm FinePix F30 Zoom v1.02 Firmware

Fujifilm have released a new firmware version for the FinePix Z3 Zoom camera.

The firmware (Ver.1.00 to Ver.1.02) update incorporates the following issues.
1. Fix the issues that some camera operation cause the following effects in very rare cases.
  (a) Some recorded images cannot be viewed and “Read Error” message is displayed on the LCD monitor.
  (b) The full frame of camera recorded image cannot be viewed on PC.

2. Shorten the recognition time of PC when the camera connected to the PC via USB interface.
In the case of 1000 JPEG images in camera, PC recognition time is improved from 20 seconds to 2 seconds.

Website: Fujifilm FinePix Z3 Zoom v1.02 Firmware

DIWA member LetsGoDigital have published a review of the Fujifilm FinePix F30, which offers ISO 3200, 6 megapixels, 3x optical zoom lens and a 2.5 inch LCD.

“The FinePix F30 gives fantastic results with excellent color reproduction, good detailing and a lovely contrast. Thanks to the first rate lens, the pictures are almost completely free of distortion and vignetting The high resolution means that you don’t have to worry making large prints on your printer on in the mini lab. It would be a waste to only look at the photos on the computer. There is a considerable difference between the average screen’s reproduction and a print and if you don’t make prints, you will never be able to appreciate the actual quality.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Fujifilm FinePix F30 Review

Website: Read our Fujifilm Finepix F30 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

DIWA member and German website digitalkamera.de have reviewed the new 10.2 megapixel Sony A100 DSLR camera.

Website: digitalkamera.de - Sony A100 Review

Website: Read our Sony A100 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

With just 3 weeks to go until the start of the show, we’ve opened our Photokina 2006 Report. Photokina is a photography trade and consumer show held in Cologne, Germany from 25th September - 1st October. The biggest names in photography will be there, including the debut of none other than Apple. PhotographyBLOG will also be attending to bring you the lowdown on all of the latest announcements, live from the show floor. We’ve got a round-up of all the new products that have been unveiled ahead of the show so far - expect to see some more additions before Photokina officially starts, so check back often to keep up with all the news.

Website: Photokina 2006 Report

The Kodak P712 is a 7 megapixel bridge-style camera with a massive 12x, 36-432mm image stabilized zoom lens. Other standout features include a 2.5 inch LCD screen, RAW and TIFF file format support, a flash hot-shoe and in-camera video editing. Is the Kodak P712 the right ultra-zoom camera for you? Read our review now…

Website: Kodak Easyshare P712 Review

In the latest installment of this regular series, we cast the spotlight on members of the PhotographyBLOG Gallery and ask them about their photography. The ninth member to sit in the interview chair is gazmaster.

”...the fascination is that nature is always changing, evolving and you never know what’s around the corner. Only the other day I took a shot of a baby Robin, I hadn’t even seen one before, let alone have the pleasure of capturing it.”

Website: Gallery Member Spotlight - gazmaster

Epson launches the PictureMate PM 280 and PictureMate PM 240 portable home photo-labs. The Epson PictureMate PM 240 will cost £129.99 and be available in September 2006, whilst the Epson PictureMate PM 280 will cost £199.99 and be available in October 2006.

Epson UK Press Release

4th September 2006 – Don’t lose your precious memories into the depths of your computer hard drive or leave them trapped on memory cards and CDs.  Epson’s new PictureMate PM range with a contemporary and iconic design empowers you to print superior quality photos at home more conveniently and cost-effectively than ever before, from only 20p per photo.  The two new models, the Epson PictureMate PM 280 and Epson PictureMate PM 240 are premium quality 10x15cm photo printers.  Both work standalone, so there is no need to connect to your computer.  They are easy to use with fast print speeds up to 42 seconds per photo. The PictureMate PM 280, features an internal CD drive allowing you to print directly from a CD or save images from your digital memory card to CD.  Both printers also provide direct printing from digital camera memory cards, “USB DIRECT -PRINT™”, PictBridge and an optional Bluetooth® adapter.

Samsung Press Release

Berlin , Germany - 1st September, 2006 - Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a market leader in consumer electronics, is set to launch the SDC-MS61. This very stylish product combines multiple functions with 6 Mega pixel photo quality and the best MPEG4 recording quality available in a digital still camera. The innovative Samsung SDC-MS61 features ISO 1600, which reduces the effects of camera shake and sharpens subjects in low-light situations with high shutter speeds, giving you greater flexibility for shooting. The SDC-MS61 also incorporates a big new 3-inch wide LCD screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio for a truly eye-opening view. This high-resolution screen offers a crisp, clear picture and wider viewing angle to make shooting, playback and producing images and film clips that are perfect for your wide-screen TV or computer monitor.

Nikon have just updated their Nikon Capture NX digital image editing software to version 1.01.

What’s New:

  * D80 Raw files are supported
  * Batch processes have been improved
  * Gradient tool has been improved
  * Options from the View menu have been improved
  * Soft proofing, printer profiles and color management tools have been improved

Website: Nikon Capture NX 1.01 (Windows)

Website: Nikon Capture NX 1.01 (Mac)

DIWA member and Czech website Fotoaparat have reviewed the new 10.2 megapixel Sony A100 DSLR camera.

Website: Fotoaparat - Sony A100 Review

Website: Read our Sony A100 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

This week’s Gary’s Parries topics are:

1. WANTED: Splashproof 28mm 7x Zoom Ultra-Compact
2. Histogram 101
3. Waiting For Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 Review
4. Telecaster Or Stratocaster

Introducing this week’s Gary’s Parries column. Everything you always wanted to know about digital cameras, but were afraid to ask. No question too difficult, or too easy. As a Senior Principal Software Engineer, and a former Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems, as well as a recording studio owner/operator, inventor, and now, a digital camera enthusiast, GARY has more digital camera knowledge in his entire brain than most people have in their little finger. In the unlikely event that GARY would not know the answer to your question, he will answer it anyway, true to the spirit of the word “Parries”, a fencing term which, in this context, implies “cleverly evasive answers”. So let your imagination run wild. Email all your nagging digital camera questions to: [email protected] , and then, En Garde!

You may also attach to your email an ORIGINAL PHOTO of your choosing. A preview of the photo will be displayed with your question, and a full-sized version will be just a click away. No personal information will be published with your question unless you specifically include it in the text or attached photo of your email, which may be further edited for grammar, content, or other reasons.

The winners of the August 2006 PhotographyBLOG Competition have been announced. The theme for August was “Summertime” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
“Fun with Sprinklers!” by steve cherry
View this entry

Prize: Photobird.com one-year subscription with 100 megabytes of storage space
Kindly donated by Photobird.com.
http://www.photobird.com

And that’s just the news section. Yes, after 3.5 years, we’ve just passed the 10,000 article mark, making this the 10,001th posting, with over 11,000 user comments posted by you. We also have 128 product reviews, 23,700 gallery photos, 51,000 gallery comments and nearly 6,000 gallery/forum members. Which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is a lot of big numbers. Here’s to the next 10,000 articles…

The new 4-colour Epson Stylus D78 and Epson Stylus D88 printers are available immediately for £49.99 and £59.99 respectively.

Epson UK Press Release

Epson’s general purpose, four-colour inkjet printers provide the home and small office with a high-quality, low cost printing solution.

1st September 2006 – The Epson Stylus D88 Plus and Epson Stylus D78 are the latest four-colour general purpose inkjet printers from Epson.  They offer low cost printing solution with four individual ink cartridges from only £6.99 each, as with all of Epson’s new consumer printer range for 2006, you save money by only replacing the colour you use. The Epson D88 and Epson D78 also feature Epson DURABrite Ultra ink that is highly durable and is smudge, fade and water resistant on either plain or photo paper; a printing resolution of up to 5760x1440dpi and Epson’s unique Micro Piezo™ technology. Both printers include Epson’s PhotoEnhance, image enhancing software which automatically detects the scene and corrects your photo accordingly to produce perfect results every time.