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

Check the Latest Prices for the Olympus C-70 Zoom

Write a Review of the Olympus C-70 Zoom

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

Check the Latest Prices for the Casio Exilim Pro EX-P505

Write a Review of the Casio Exilim Pro EX-P505

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

Check the Latest Prices for the Epson PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition

Write a Review of the Epson PictureMate Deluxe Viewer Edition

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.

Pixort Press Release

Pixort 1.4 is released!

Are you tired of using inefficient tools to review large quantities of photos?

Pixort is an affordable/free tool for reviewing, comparing, sorting and culling photographic image files. It is not yet another photo archiving and organizing tool: it is dedicated to the initiation of a digital photography workflow where a photographer reviews his or her 2000 photos from the vacation or latest wedding assignment.

Pixort is designed to be easy to use, fast and offers an efficient workflow for culling and ranking lots of photos.

I/OMagic GigaBank Premier 80 Announced is announced. The I/OMagic GigaBank Premier 80 is a portable storage device featuring an 80Gb hard-drive and USB 2.0 connectivity. The I/OMagic GigaBank Premier 80 has a suggested retail price of $199.99.

I/OMagic Press Release

New GigaBank Premier 80 Joins I/OMagic’s Portable Storage Device Line-Up; Pocket-Sized External 2.5’’ Hard Disk Drive Let’s You Take All of Your Data with You

IRVINE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—May 24, 2005—I/OMagic Corporation (OTCBB:IOMG), a leading provider of data storage products, announced today the release of its GigaBank(TM) Premier 80, the latest addition to its line of portable storage devices. Featuring up to 80GB(a) of storage capacity, the GigaBank(TM) Premier 80 is a 2.5” IDE hard disk drive (HDD) highlighted with a single-touch data back-up function.

DIWA member Steves Digicams have posted the first online review of the Nikon Coolpix 7600, a 7.1 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical lens equivalent to 38-114mm lens in 35mm format.

“I was happy with the overall image quality when using 7M/Fine mode. Our outdoor samples were sharp, well exposed and showed good color saturation. Although there was very little noise present, I did notice an average amount of chromatic aberration (purple fringing around highlights.) The Nikkor ED 3x zoom lens produced sharp images throughout its range and you should have no problem focusing in low-ambient lighting conditions thanks to the camera’s focus-assist lamp. The lens exhibits moderate barrel distortion at full wide-angle but is relatively free of pincushioning at full telephoto.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Nikon Coolpix 7600 Review

Website: Read my Nikon Coolpix 7600 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Nikon Coolpix 7600

Write a Review of the Nikon Coolpix 7600

DIWA member and Slovenian website e-fotografija have published the first online review of the Olympus FE-5500 digital camera, which has 5 megapixels, 3x zoom lens equivalent to 35-105mm, 2-inch LCD screen and a slim body (called the D-630 in the USA).

Website: e-fotografija - Olympus FE-5500 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Olympus FE-5500

Write a Review of the Olympus FE-5500

PC Magazine have reviewed the Nikon Coolpix S1, a 5.1 megapixel digital camera with a 35-105mm 3x Zoom-Nikkor ED lens.

“Though the price is fairly reasonable, issues with picture quality and distortion in the high end of the zoom range make it tough to recommend the S1. We’d go with the Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital Elph or, if you want to stay in the 5MP range, the Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z55, which boots up quicker and has a higher resolution score.”

Website: PC Magazine - Nikon Coolpix S1 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Nikon Coolpix S1

Write a Review of the Nikon Coolpix S1

DCResource have reviewed the new Fujifilm FinePix F10 Zoom, which has an ISO range of 80 to 1600, Super CCD sensor with 6.1 megapixels and a 2.5 inch LCD screen.

“Photo quality on the F10 was excellent. I was consistently impressed with the output from the F10—and this is coming from someone who hasn’t been a big fan of Fuji’s recent efforts. If I was to complain about something it would be the above average purple fringing and occasional overexposure of some photos. The area in which the F10 really stands out is when the ISO is cranked up. If you’re tired of blurry pictures, then this is the camera for you. The F10 can go all the way to ISO 1600 and the photos are still usable, though you probably won’t want to print them at 8 x 10 or larger due to the noise. You can set the ISO yourself or just put the camera into natural light mode and let it pick the right sensitivity for you.”

Website: DCResource - Fujifilm FinePix F10 Zoom Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Fujifilm FinePix F10 Zoom

Write a Review of the Fujifilm FinePix F10 Zoom

TrustedReviews have published their review of the 6 megapixel FujiFilm FinePix F810 Zoom.

“With a street price of around £250 the F810 is far from cheap, but it does offer a few unique features to justify the price. First is that big widescreen monitor and image format, which you’ll either love or hate, and then there’s the 12.3 megapixel straight-out-of-camera image size, which beats all but the top few digital SLRs. However image quality isn’t all that you might hope from the numbers and the short battery life can also be a problem.”

Website: TrustedReviews - FujiFilm FinePix F810 Zoom Review

Website: Read my Fujifilm Finepix F810 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the FujiFilm FinePix F810 Zoom

Write a Review of the FujiFilm FinePix F810 Zoom

CNET have published their review of the Sony DSC-W7, a 7 megapixel digital camera with a 2.5 inch LCD screen, battery life of 380 shots between power charges and 32 megabytes of internal memory.

“This compact digital camera shoots and processes its bigger images in less time, making it easier to get that fleeting shot of baby’s first step or your boss taking a spill after too much eggnog at the holiday office party. Keen-eyed photographers might find the photos a bit too flawed, and enthusiasts will miss the manual controls, but it’s a fairly quick and responsive camera with very solid automatic settings and respectable image quality, making it perfect for mainstream users looking to point, shoot, and make large prints with minimum fuss.”

Website: CNET - Sony DSC-W7 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Sony DSC-W7

Write a Review of the Sony DSC-W7

Buy-n-Shoot have posted a brief review of the 6 megapixel Konica Minolta Dynax 7D digital SLR camera.

“On first impressions, the body looks and feels great. It’s built with a strong metal frame and has a combination of hard black plastic for a shell and rubber on the grip. It is well sized, a good working weight for balance and feels ergonomically good in the photographer’s hands. There is a big LCD (2.5 inches) for quick reviewing which for a pro body should be standard by all manufactures design briefs, and a brightly lit viewfinder. It’s worth noting that the Dynax 7D is one of only a few DSLR’s on the market with a 2.5 inch LCD.”

Website: Buy-n-Shoot - Konica Minolta Dynax 7D Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Konica Minolta Dynax 7D

Write a Review of the Konica Minolta Dynax 7D

The Norwegian website Akam.no have just published their review of the Canon Digital IXUS 700 digital camera (also known as the Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital ELPH).

Website: Akam.no - Canon Digital IXUS 700 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Canon Digital IXUS 700

Write a Review of the Canon Digital IXUS 700

OpenRAW and Luminous Landscape have started an online petition to try and put some pressure on the world’s camera makers to both adopt openly documented RAW formats, as well as a universal RAW format (be it DNG, or something else).

“The digital camera industry is very young; less than 10 years old. Because of this each camera maker has developed their own RAW formats. And, as their ability to improve the way in which information from the camera’s sensor is recorded improves, these manufacturers have changed their formats continuously, usually with each new camera model.

How many RAW formats are there? Believe it or not, as of mid-2005 there are more than 100 different RAW formats in existence.

This alone is cause for concern. Companies come and go, and even those that persist often orphan old formats. There are in fact RAW formats in existence for which no manufacturer’s software is currently available. And that’s after less than 10 years.”

Website: The RAW Flaw

Jeff Schewe over at the impressive PhotoshopNews website has published a detailed look at Adobe’s DNG file format and how to fit it into your workflow.

“You get the benefit of knowing your proprietary Raw file formats have been converted to a fully documented Raw file format. You will probably see file size savings of 10-30% (or more, perhaps less). You have the ability to store not only the DNG converted Raw file but also embed, directly in the DNG a bit for bit copy of the original Raw file should you need it. You also get the benefit of having your Raw files stored with all your metadata embedded directly in your DNG file so you won’t need to worry about side car files at all. You get the potential benefit, depending upon the EXIF jpg thumbnail size in the original Raw file, of better performance inside of Adobe Bridge. If you shoot with multiple cameras possibly from multiple manufacturers, you also get the benefit of having all your Raw files in the same format.”

Website: PhotoshopNews - DNG Workflow / Part I

Samsung seem to be going all out recently to try and make a big splash in the digicam market. Not content with launching a digital camera with the biggest zoom lens and LCD screen, Samsung have now posted a website teaser for what could be the world’s slimmest digicam. The Samsung #1 will supposedly be just 1.73cms thick, making it the glamorous supermodel of the compact digicam world. Other details about the Samsung #1 divulged through the rather tedious flash-based advert include a 2.5 inch LCD screen, inner zoom, safety flash (whatever that is), corporate buzzwords like “cool interface” and “stylish”, and an announcement date of June 1st. Let’s hope that Samsung issue a proper press release then…

Website: Samsung #1 Teaser

The German website digitalkamera.de have some more details about the Samsung Digimax i5, which looks like the same camera with a slightly different name (to my untrained eye…).
Website: Samsung Digimax i5

ABSoft Press Release

Improving the de facto standard, ABSoft introduces the next generation noise reduction solution

Neat Image team, ABSoft, is pleased to announce the introduction of a new generation of its noise reduction solution for digital photography that inherits and refines the highest quality and efficiency traditionally delivered by Neat Image: Neat Image v5.0 /Win.

New in Neat Image v5.0 /Win is significantly improved quality and efficiency of noise reduction, stronger integration with the latest image editors and enhanced usability.

Renowned for its noise reduction quality, Neat Image is used by photographers all over the world as a tool that turns noisy photos and grainy scans into clean and neat digital images.

GretagMacbeth Press Release

Latest enhancements to GretagMacbeth’s Eye-One color management solutions set new benchmark for speed and error-free handling

- New accelerated Eye-One Pro spectrophotometer and enhanced Eye-One Match software incorporate improved, intelligent algorithms, making chart reading twice as fast and even more effortless
- New, easy-to-use Digital Camera module addresses primary photo workflow tasks

Regensdorf, Switzerland, – May 19, 2005 – GretagMacbeth, the worldwide technological leader in color measurement and management solutions announced that it is shipping the accelerated version of its award winning Eye-One color management solutions that set a new benchmark for speed, error free handling and usability. The new features make it possible to go from zero to color in no time and ensure GretagMacbeth’s Eye-One solutions are the fastest, smartest, and easiest to use color management solutions available for creative and photographic professionals.