PCMagazine have published their review of the new 8 megapixel Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT DSLR.

“Where we found the Rebel XT to be a leader was in picture quality. In our simulated daylight still-life test photo, we found very little noise at ISO 100 and virtually no fringing. Even as we went up the ISO scale to 800 and 1,600, the slight increase in noise didn’t distract from the quality of the photo; it appeared more like grain than noise. The real strengths of the daylight shot were its vivid color (despite the image being slightly underexposed), excellent detail, and wide dynamic range, which lent the still life a sense of weight.”

Website: PCMagazine - Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT Review

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Luminous Landscape get very excited about the new Merge to HDR feature in Adobe Photoshop CS2.

“The acronym HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. In Adobe’s implementation within Photoshop CS2 this is accomplished by using a series of photographs which one takes in the same manner as with previous blending techniques, and then using floating point 32 bit (per channel) math, merging these files automatically into one huge high dynamic range image. As we’ll see in a moment with a practical example, this has the potential to allow photographers to create a photograph with 10, 12, or even more stops of dynamic range. But, it is not without its problems, not the least of which is that we as photographers still operate largely in an 8 and 16 bit world.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Merge to HDR in Photoshop CS2

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have reviewed the 5 megapixel Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LZ2, which features a 6x optical zoom lens and an Optical Image Stabilizer to combat camera shake.

Website: Index Digicam - Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LZ2 Review

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DIWA member and German website digitalkamera.de have just published their review of the Canon Digital IXUS 700 digital camera (also known as the Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital ELPH).

Website: digitalkamera.de - Canon Digital IXUS 700 Review

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DCResource have reviewed the Canon Digital IXUS 50, a 5 megapixel digital camera with stainless steel finish that is Canon’s smallest ever 5.0 Megapixel optical zoom camera. The Canon IXUS 50 features a 3.0x zoom, a large 2.0” LCD screen and high quality VGA video clips at 30fps.

“Overall I liked the Canon PowerShot SD400, though I think the SD500 does a better job in terms of image quality. While most of my SD400 photos were nice, they were a little noisier and softer than I would’ve liked (they really reminded me of the Sony T-series photos for some reason). In addition I had two totally soft (read: awful) photos that needed to be reshot—something I haven’t had to do with any of the other SD series cameras before (maybe it’s just my camera?). I do think, however, that the average point-and-shoot user will be happy with the image quality, as they will be mostly making prints 8 x 10 inches and smaller. Remember that I’m supposed to be picky.”

Website: DCResource - Canon Digital IXUS 50 Review

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TrustedReviews have reviewed the new Epson R1800 A3 / 13x19 inch printer. The R1800 is an A3 version of the Epson Stylus Photo R800 that I reviewed last year, featuring the same 8 colour UltraChrome Hi-Gloss inks and 1.5 picoliter droplet size.

“While the design and mechanics of this A3 Epson Stylus Photo R1800 are very similar to an A4 printer you will have to expect to pay more for the longer carriage. In its favour, this is a very versatile printer that can handle anything from postcards up to oversize A3. You can do full-bleed output, print on roll paper or on compatible CD blanks and thanks to its six colours, it produces excellent photographic prints on gloss, watercolour or plain papers.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Epson R1800 Printer Review

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Vosonic XS-Drive Pro VP3320 is announced. The Vosonic XS-Drive Pro VP3320 completes the Vosonic range of its new generation of XS Drives providing fast transfer speeds and longer battery life.  The XS Drive Pro VP3320 will back up all memory cards including xD to its internal hard disk in a very compact and robust casing. The XS Drive Pro VP3320 provides a blue backlight LCD display, high quality MP3 player and FM tuner and voice/line in recorder. The XS Drive Pro VP3320 has internal rechargeable batteries providing 11 hours of use and backs up a 1GB memory card in 5 minutes only. The RRP for the VP3320 20GB version is £185 inc VAT.

Cardmedia (Europe) Ltd Press Release

Portable Storage Device with up 80GB Capacity - Backup your memory cards to the Hard disk MP3 Jukebox, FM Tuner, Voice recording - Blue backlight LCD Panel - Long battery life

Cardmedia (Europe) Ltd, the official UK distributor for the manufacturer Vosonic, has announced the availability of the X’S-Drive Pro VP3320, a new Portable Storage Device and MP3 player with blue backlight LCD display.

The Vosonic X’S-Drive Pro VP3320 is a compact portable Hard disk to backup your memory cards on the field and benefit from 20GB to 80GB of capacity via its internal 2.5” Hard disk.

You can easily use the X’S Drive Pro VP3320 all environments thanks to its Blue Backlit LCD panel. The LCD Panel displays the battery power level, copy transfer status, and all information related to MP3 music player, FM Tuner, voice recording and file navigation.

Fujifilm UK Press Release

Who you gonna call? Fujifilm’s new digital technology support number - 0870 084 1310

Fujifilm has introduced a brand new and improved telephone system and support number (0870 084 1310), which will act as a valuable resource for its customers.

The new system is an entirely network-based telephony service, which will provide significantly increased levels of flexibility in the day-to-day running of Fujifilm’s technical support centre.

Cano Europe Press Release

Canon Europe collaborates with the RSA to develop waste giant designed to draw attention to the recycling challenge

LONDON, April 29, 2005 – Canon Europe, world leader in imaging technology, and the RSA, Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, today announced the launch of a joint environmental awareness initiative by unveiling the RSA WEEE Man.  The waste giant is an imposing seven metre high, three tonne human-like sculpture that will be on display at London’s City Hall on the South Bank.

The RSA WEEE Man has been created to highlight the growing problem of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) in the UK and across Europe. The waste giant is composed of electronic and electrical waste (including washing machines, TVs, mobile phones and vacuum cleaner tubes) and represents the amount of electrical appliance and electronic waste that an average person in the UK is likely to produce in their lifetime.

Canon USA Service Notice

April 27, 2005

To customers using the BG-E2 battery grip with an EOS 20D digital SLR camera:

Thank you for using Canon products.

We have confirmed that the BG-E2 battery grip for the EOS 20D digital SLR camera causes issues such as the number of shots being limited or a low-battery warning being displayed immediately when used with a fully charged battery pack or a fresh set of AA batteries. Canon offers its sincerest apologies to all customers who have been inconvenienced by this issue.

Pavel Vabrousek has posted a review of the Canon EOS 20D digital SLR with a range of lenses.

Website: Pavel Vabrousek - Canon EOS 20D Review

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Kodak UK Press Release

Kodak continues to back Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s flagship campaign during 2005

Hemel Hempstead, 27th April 2005 - Kodak is continuing its support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer during 2005 by again sponsoring the hugely successful Fashion Targets Breast Cancer (FTBC) flagship campaign.

Jade Jagger appears in the new ad campaign appropriately entitled ‘SNAP!’ which will adorn billboard sites up and down the country and appear in magazines throughout the year. Since Breakthrough launched FTBC in the UK in 1996, it has raised over £5 million from the sale of more than 300,000 FTBC T-shirts and other products. Kodak has supported Breakthrough for 5 years and 2005 will see the total amount of funds raised by the Company top the £500,000 mark.

About Graphics have just reviewed VueScan from Hamrick Software, a third-party scanner software application.

“If not for VueScan, my project would not have been possible with the scanner I’d bought for the project. With the batch processing and infrared cleaning options in VueScan, not only was the project possible — it was a breeze. After a few trial passes to adjust my settings, I was able to save my options to a file and reload them each time I started a slide scanning session. Once my settings were loaded, I only needed to load the scanner’s slide tray and press the scan button. VueScan did the rest, saving each file with a custom name and serial number, while I worked on other things. “

Website: About Graphics - VueScan Review

PCMagazine have reviewed the 5 megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5. With a 12x image stabilized Leica lens, the DMC-FZ5 improves on the DMC-FZ3 by offering faster auto-focus and improved body design, as well as more megapixels.

“With no new exciting features, a less ergonomically pleasant feel, and poorer photo quality, we’re not sure if there’s much of an improvement over the FZ3, other than the increase in megapixels. A better buy might be the Olympus Camedia C-765 Ultra Zoom, though you’d have to do without image stabilization and settle for only 4MP and 10X optical zoom.”

Website: PCMagazine - Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 Review

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Imaging Resources have today reviewed the 7 megapixel Olympus C-7070 Wide Zoom, which was announced at the CES show back in January.

“What stands out to me most about the Olympus C7070 is that wide angle lens. I was very often surprised with the nice, all-inclusive shots I could get with it. Though it’s not quite as powerful, it reminds me of the power I used to feel with my old OM-1 film SLR and its 24mm lens. The wide angle end of photography has been too long ignored by the digital camera manufacturers, and our pictures have suffered as a result. With cameras like the Olympus C7070 Wide Zoom, we’re free again to explore and capture more of our world in a single frame than the standard 35mm “wide” setting usually allows. Those seeking to broaden their vision with an expandable 7 megapixel camera would do well to add the Olympus C-7070 Wide Zoom to their list.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Olympus C-7070 Wide Zoom Review

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Canon USA Press Release

CANON INC. REPORTS RECORD RESULTS FOR FIRST QUARTER 2005

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — April 27, 2005 — Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ — news) and a leader in imaging technologies, today announced Canon Inc. first-quarter 2005 consolidated net sales of 843.4 billion yen (US$ 7,882 million), which represents a year-over-year increase of 5.7% over first-quarter 2004.

Canon reported first-quarter net income of 93.1 billion yen (US$ 870 million), which represents a year-over-year increase of 10.4% and basic earnings per share of 104.93 yen (US$ 0.98).

Operating profit also advanced, improving 7.3% over first-quarter 2004.

Digital Outback Photo have published an article by Brad Hinckel that considers whether or not Adobe Photoshop CS2 is worth buying from a photographer’s point of view.

“Merge to HDR is one of Photoshop CS2 cool new features. Merge to HDR creates high dynamic range images - scenes will more exposure range than would normally fit in a single exposure; it takes multiple similar images shot at different exposures and merges these together to create a single image where the highlights and shadows both appear. For most image sets shot properly, you merely run Merge to HDR, select the images, and run; Photoshop will create a 32-bit high-dynamic range image from these source files; even easier than PhotoMerge. “

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Is Photoshop CS2 Worth It?

PicScout Ltd and Digimarc Corp Press Release

PicScout and Digimarc Partner to Enhance Image Tracking Combined offering to deliver dramatic improvements in image monitoring on the Internet.

Herzeliya, Israel, Beaverton, Oregon, USA, 27 April 2005. PicScout Ltd and Digimarc Corp (NASDAQ: DMRCE) announced today a new partnership combining image recognition and watermarking for online image protection and monitoring. As part of the partnership, Digimarc will begin using the PicScout Internet crawling technology to power the Digimarc ImageBridge MarcSpider search. The companies have also started a joint development project that is expected to be completed in the next six months to enhance Digimarc ImageBridge with PicScout’s image recognition technology. The joint development will be funded in part by the BIRD foundation www.birdf.com, which is an Israel - U.S government foundation whose mission is to promote and support industrial R&D between Israeli and US companies.

Epson USA Press Release

Epson Takes Action Against Two Off-Brand Ink Cartridge Manufacturers to Protect Intellectual Property

LONG BEACH, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—April 27, 2005—Company Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Armor Group and Expands Scope of Existing Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Multi-Union Trading Co. Ltd.

Epson has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., against the Armor Group, manufacturers and distributors of aftermarket ink cartridges, including its French-based head office Armor S.A, German manufacturing subsidiary Artech GmbH, and its U.S. sales subsidiary Armor USA Inc. The lawsuit by Epson Portland Inc., Epson America Inc. and Seiko Epson Corp. alleges that at least 30 models of replacement ink jet cartridges for Epson Stylus printers manufactured by Artech GmbH infringe Epson’s patents. A total of 12 patents are asserted, with each cartridge alleged to infringe several of these patents. The Armor cartridges are widely distributed at retail locations throughout the United States.

DCViews have published their review of the new 8 megapixel Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT DSLR.

“The Canon Digital rebel XT is available in silver or in black (default). Which of these you prefer is down to personal preference, although we would choose the black version as it gives the camera more of a pro appearance. Physically the camera is quite a bit smaller and lighter than the older 300D. In fact it’s almost exactly the same size as the extremely compact Pentax *istDS which we tested earlier. Everything seems to be well put together without any rattles or free play in the camera or its controls. The handgrip on the right is ideal for people with smaller hands, although the lack of space between the grip and the lens mount might pose problems for those with bigger hands and fingers. If you plan to use the Digital rebel XT with longer and consequently heavier lenses, the relatively small hand grip may prove insufficient and you may find that the hard rubber finish on the grip doesn’t help much here either. To make sure that the rebel XT is for you, we would advise you to try it out for size before you buy one.”

Website: DCViews - Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT Review

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