Imaging Resource have posted their review of the new 5 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 5900 digital camera.

“Nikon’s Coolpix line of consumer digicams has always been well-received, appreciated for their image quality and ease of use. The Coolpix 5900 continues that trend, upgrading the design with a 5.1-megapixel CCD and a good-quality lens. The Coolpix 5900 is a good choice for anyone who wants an easy to use camera that delivers good-looking pictures with pleasing color and plenty of resolution. For those willing to delve just slightly deeper than “just pushing the button,” its extensive scene modes and unique framing-assist options greatly extend the camera’s capabilities, making it easy to bring back good-looking shots of what might otherwise be difficult subjects. I’d have been happier with the 5900 if it did better at high ISO settings, for available-light photography, but on the whole it’s a very capable little camera.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Nikon Coolpix 5900 Review

Website: Read my Nikon Coolpix 5900 Review

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A new version of Qimage has just been released. Qimage is a software application that is designed to make image printing easy.

New Features in Qimage v2005.300:

- Network compatible: v2005.300 is now completely network compatible.  Need to access images on a network, select images and copy them across the network, or manage your network images through “My Network Places”?  v2005.300 features an all new XP-style file browser that makes these tasks a breeze.

- New look: All tool buttons and dropdown menus have been updated with new icons that are much higher quality and more recognizable.  Button and menu icons have also been standardized throughout Qimage to insure that the same icon is associated with similar/same functions.

Pentax have announced 300 job cuts in an effort to compensate for losses in its digital imaging division, according to DigitalCameraInfo.

“After reviewing its fiscal year 2004 sales performance, PENTAX Corporation decided that, due to drastic and unforeseeable changes in our management environment, we could not achieve its initial financial objectives, even if all measures and options available were applied. Therefore, we have decided to make these revisions. Our basic management policy for the execution of this management plan, however, remains unchenged, with the slogan of “Growth and Expansion”. In our business activities, we will continue to pursue the reinforcement and expansion of our life care and optical component businesses. At the same time, we will take all measures needed to make our imaging systems business profitable as quickly as possible.”

Website: DigitalCameraInfo - Pentax Cutting Workforce By 300

Agfa-Gevaert Press Release

Mortsel/Belgium, May 27, 2005 – 9:00 a.m. CET - Agfa-Gevaert announced today that it was informed of the insolvency filing by AgfaPhoto GmbH. Agfa-Gevaert is fully prepared to co-operate with the insolvency receiver once appointed and all parties concerned.

Effective November 2, 2004, Agfa-Gevaert sold its consumer imaging business to a group of investors in a management buy out/in. Since then the consumer imaging business has been operated through a group of companies under the name of AgfaPhoto. The AgfaPhoto group is a private group of companies owned by management, NannO Beteiligungsholding and a small number of financial investors.

DigiCamReview have published their review of the 3 megapixel Canon Digital IXUS 30 (also known as the PowerShot SD200 Digital ELPH).

“The camera is very quick to switch on and take photos - however the camera can occassionally ‘hunt’ for the focus in darker indoor conditions. The screen updates are quick and smooth (in good light). The playback mode is also fairly quick. Playback mode allows you to zoom as close as 10x - this seems quick. The camera has a very quick continuous shooting mode (2.8fps). The camera shutter response seemed quicker than normal when pre-focused (although slightly slower than the Casio Exilim EX-S100).”

Website: DigiCamReview - Canon Digital IXUS 30 Review

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DigitalCameraReview have just reviewed what is sure to be a popular digital camera, the 5 megapixel Canon PowerShot A95.

“The image quality of the Powershot A95’s 5 megapixel CCD is excellent. You’ll see it with every image you take whether it’s a bee on a flower in macro mode or a glorious and fiery orange and red Maui sunset. Some other reviews on the web will mention purple fringing in certain images. Specifically, images that have sharp dark and light transitions will show a few purple pixels before making the transition. I can tell you that for all of the photos I’ve taken (several thousand), only in two did I see any fringing. Then again I specifically went looking for it. So, if you’ve read this in other places, don’t be concerned. Images from this camera are gorgeous.”

Website: DigitalCameraReview - Canon PowerShot A95 Review

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BreezeBrowser Systems Press Release

25 May 2005: BreezeBrowser v2.12 released

This release adds Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT/350D raw conversion.

Also new in this release:

  * Added cropping when converting raw images
  * Improved display of DNG files
  * Now displays thumbnails from Olympus E300 raw files
  * Fixed problems generating web pages containing AVI files

Website: Breeze Systems

Digimarc Launches Public Beta of Desktop Search Tool for Digital Photos

Free offering works in conjunction with desktop search products from Google, MSN, and Yahoo! to quickly and more effectively find pictures stored on PCs

Beaverton, Ore. – May 25, 2005 - Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRCE) today announced the public beta of Digimarc Image Search, an innovative desktop search tool designed for the rapidly growing digital photography market.

The free tool, downloadable from Digimarc’s website at www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc/imagesearch, works in conjunction with popular desktop search tools such as Google Desktop Search, MSN Desktop Search, and Yahoo! Desktop Search, enhancing the image search capabilities of these tools. Current desktop search tools have limited image search capabilities, typically looking for the file name in the header of an image, which can be easily changed or forgotten. Most professional and many consumer photographs are distributed today in digital form with an extensive array of associated information or “metadata” carried within the image files.

HP Press Release

HP’s Snapfish Resets the Online Photography Landscape: Digital Prints Now as Low as 10 Cents Each; Snapfish Welcomes Vacationers into Summer with Prints for Pennies

PALO ALTO, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—May 26, 2005—HP (NYSE:HPQ) (Nasdaq:HPQ) today significantly reduced the pricing on its Snapfish online photo service by offering 4 x 6-inch prints for as low as 10 cents each. Snapfish prints are now priced up to 60 percent lower than those of its major online competitors.

Consumers can now go to www.snapfish.com to order 4 x 6-inch digital camera and camera phone prints for as low as 10 cents with a pre-paid plan and 12 cents with Snapfish’s everyday low pricing—a 7 cent reduction from Snapfish’s previous industry-leading price.

Yahoo! Inc. Press Release

Yahoo! Mail Announces PhotoMail Beta, Providing an Easier Way to Share Photos by E-mail; Additional Yahoo! Mail Updates Include Availability of More Languages, Integrated Top News Feed, and DomainKeys Indicator

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—May 26, 2005—Yahoo! Inc., (Nasdaq:YHOO) today announced the beta release of an innovative e-mail photo sharing feature called PhotoMail, available for free from Yahoo! Mail (http://mail.yahoo.com), a global leader in e-mail and the No. 1 e-mail service in the United States. PhotoMail greatly simplifies the e-mail photo sharing experience by allowing people to insert up to 300 photos into the body of an e-mail, minimizing the worry of exceeding message or attachment size limits. The new PhotoMail feature tightly integrates Yahoo! Mail with both Yahoo! Photos and Yahoo! Image Search.

HP UK Press Release

HP Launches Initiative with Adobe and Apple for creative professionals at Adobe Live 2005

LONDON, May 27, 2005 - HP today announced a joint initiative together with Adobe and Apple to facilitate and improve the printing experience for photographers and creative professionals. The announcement was made at Adobe Live 2005 at the Business Design Centre in London.

The three companies have implemented new technologies that enable the coordination between applications, operating systems and printer drivers to facilitate the configuration of colour management for printing. When Mac OS X v10.4 ‘Tiger’ customers use Adobe PhotoShop 9 Suite2 with supported HP printers and new HP v3.x drivers with ICC profiles, colour management options that would produce incorrect results cannot be selected.  Screen to output matching is optimised and customers save time and expense by producing the prints they want as opposed to the typical trial and error process.

Australian photographer Pete Walsh is one of the first people to take delivery of the new Epson Stylus Pro 4800 printer. Pete has conveniently started a blog to document his experiences with the Epson 4800.

“‘I’ve walked around this morning with 4800 B&W side by side with 2100 B&W, under a wide range of light sources - daylight, fluro, bulb etc. Keeping in mind my limited testing - time and papers, metamerism looks to have been resolved. There’s _very little_ shift in the 4800 B&W PSPP print, where the 2100 B&W on matte ebbs back and forth, magenta, green, wildly in comparison to the 4800’s. I think this is great. B&W inkjet prints are back on the menu. I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on the matte black ink!”

Website: Epson Stylus Pro 4800 Blog

Jeff Schewe at PhotoshopNews has published the second part of a detailed look at Adobe’s DNG file format.

“If the digital photographic community adopted a useful and beneficial DNG workflow, I suspect that the odds of the camera companies looking harder at DNG as a viable solution would go up–potentially a lot. I would also suspect that if DNG evolved as the standard for storing raw image files, the long term prospects of DNG surviving as a sustainable format would also go up.”

Website: PhotoshopNews - DNG Workflow / Part 2

Website: PhotoshopNews - DNG Workflow / Part I

Photoxels have posted their review of the new 8 megapixel Olympus E-300 / Evolt DSLR.

“Judging by the number of reviews of this affordable digital SLR, there is an enormous amount of interest about the Olympus EVOLT E-300. Featuring 8.0 megapixel resolution, a large 4/3 image sensor, an exclusive Supersonic Wave Filter that eliminates dust from the image sensor every time you turn on the camera, easy-to-use scene modes, and compatibility with the full line of Zuiko Digital Specific Lenses, we can see why Olympus fans get very excited with the EVOLT E-300. This is a well-designed and constructed digital SLR that provides excellent image quality, a fine degree of control with intuitive and fast operation.”

Website: Photoxels - Olympus E-300 / Evolt Review

Website: Read my Olympus E-300 / Evolt Review

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DigitalCameraInfo have posted their review of the Olympus mju DIGITAL 500 digital camera (also known as the Olympus Stylus 500), which has 5 megapixels, a 3X optical zoom lens and large 2.5” LCD display.

“The Stylus 500 is far from a manual freaks’ dream. It is a 5 megapixel camera with obligatory auto modes and a handful of bells and whistles. With “manual” control over only ISO, exposure compensation, and selection of a preset white balance, manual fans will probably look right over the Olympus Stylus 500.”

Website: DigitalCameraInfo - Olympus mju DIGITAL 500 Review

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DIWA member and Turkish website Diginorm have published their review of the 7 megapixel Olympus C-70 Zoom (called the Olympus C-7000 Zoom in the USA).

Website: Diginorm - Olympus C-70 Zoom Review

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CNET have reviewed the new Casio Exilim Pro EX-P505, which features a 5X optical zoom, an imaging CCD with 5.0 megapixels, Casio’s “EXILIM engine”, and a large 2-inch TFT color rotating screen.

“n addition to being a compact and lightweight 5-megapixel camera with a 5X optical zoom, the EX-P505 takes passable 640x480 MPEG-4 video at 30fps. The video side has full use of the camera’s zoom, captures its audio through a built-in stereo microphone, and can even record the action 5 seconds before you press the shutter release. So are we at the point where one device can serve for both high-quality photos and decent video? Not quite. This model doesn’t perform well in low light, and its zoom mechanism is loud enough to be audible on some video shots. If you can live with its limitations, the small size and the 5X zoom could make this a convenient all-purpose camera.”

Website: CNET - Casio Exilim Pro EX-P505 Review

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Forbes.com have published a short review of the new Epson PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition printer.

“Epson claims that photos print out in about 75 seconds. I’m not sure how they arrive at that figure. About 88 seconds lapsed between the moment I pressed the “print” button and that at which I was able to take a finished print off the tray. A group of 10 pictures took a little more than 14 minutes. Regardless of the somewhat longer than expected printing time, the 4-by-6 inch prints were generally excellent.”

Website: Forbes.com - Epson PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition Review

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ArcSoft Press Release

ArcSoft Announces the Launch of New Multimedia Conversion Application: MediaConverter v1

All new conversion and transfer application enables broad multimedia support for PMP, PDAs, and mobile phones

Fremont, CA—May 24, 2005—Today, ArcSoft® announces the availability of a new multimedia conversion application which transcodes and optimizes files on a PC for transfer and playback on portable media players. ArcSoft MediaConverter™ is a file conversion program that quickly and effortlessly allows users to take their favorite videos, photos, and audio tracks with them wherever they go after converting them into other preferred file formats.

Samsung Digimax i5 is announced today. The Samsung Digimax i5 is an ultra-slim digital camera with a depth of just 17.3mm. The Samsung i5 has a 5 megapixel sensor, 3 optical zoom lens and 2.5” high resolution LCD with 230,000 pixels. Available in in silver, black, red and blue, the Samsung i5 will cost under £250 in the UK.

Samsung UK Press Release

Digimax i5 - in the palm of your hand. Blending form and function

Samsung launches the i5 - its first ever ultra-slim digital camera with internal zoom technology, set to retail for under £250. Measuring only 17.3mm this is truly one of the slimmest cameras on the market today.

Marking the start of a series of camera announcements from Samsung, the i5 houses 5 mega-pixel resolution in a stunningly compact stainless steel body. The internal zoom technology delivers 15x zoom (3x optical zoom; 5x digital zoom) allowing the i5 to retain its ultra-sleek form.