DIWA member and Norwegian website digIT 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 that makes angle shots a snap.

“My impression of the camera is quite positive, a userfriendly “mini-SLR” with 5x zoom and 5 megapixels. The only thing I really miss, is continuous shooting and auto bracketing. Higher LCD resolution and image stabiliser would also be appreciated.”

Website: digIT - Casio Exilim Pro EX-P505 Review

DigiCamReview have just reviewed the new flagship model of the Canon Digital IXUS range, the 5.0 megapixel Digital Ixus 500 (known as the Powershot S500 in North America), which was announced at the start of February 2004.

“he design is good, I especially like the zoom control. The camera is very small, and very pocketable; the camera is quite stylish as well. The 1.5” screen updates smoothly and has accurate colour making it easier to view and compose your pictures. The camera is easy to use, the menu system is fairly easy to use and there are is a good layout of buttons and controls. There is a good choice of features and options, such as 9-area focus, manual white balance, high-speed continous shooting with faslh - although there are no scene mode, and no live histogram. The camera speed is good, with a okay switch on time, okay focusing time, and okay shutter response - the speed can be increased by activating the quick shot mode.”

Website: DigiCamReview - Canon Digital Ixus 500 Review

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DigiCamReview have posted their review of the 5 megapixel, 10x optical zoom Kodak EASYSHARE DX7590 digital camera.

“Image quality is good, the images have good colour, saturation and contrast - however detail is average and images are a bit soft and “fuzzy”. The camera did a very good job focusing. Noise was controlled well. I didn’t notice any vignetting in the corners or purple fringing. There is an good range of image sizes and an okay range of compression options. The macro mode is very good. Auto white balance and metering seemed to be very good. There was some red-eye. The movie mode is slightly better than average, at 640x480/12fps, and 320x240/20fps with sound - recorded as MPEG4.”

Website: DigiCamReview - Kodak EasyShare DX7590 Review

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DIWA member and Norwegian website digIT have just reviewed the 5 megapixel, twistable Pentax Optio X.

Website: digIT - Pentax Optio X Review

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Slovenian website Slo-Foto.net have reviewed the 5 megapixel Pentax Optio S5i. With 5.0 effective megapixels and a 3X optical zoom lens, the Optio S5i features a stylish design in an ultra-compact, lightweight digital camera.

Website: Slo-Foto.net - Pentax Optio S5i Review

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CameraTown have published their review of the 7 megapixel Sony Cybershot DSC-V3.

“Holding the DSC-V3 for the first time felt very comfortable, almost as if I have used it before. Since my main camera is a Digital SLR, I think it’s the large grip and balance that I instantly noticed. I also liked the fact that the majority of controls I would use on a daily basis were accessible using buttons on the back of the camera body, instead of having to go deep into menus. Sony has also placed these control right where they should be; The scroll wheel for adjusting aperture, shutter, and exposure is conveniently placed above the zoom rocker and is easily controlled with your thumb, as is the flash on/off, macro, review, self-timer, and delete buttons. I also loved the the large 2.5-inch LCD display, which seemed like a jumbotron compared to the paltry 1.8-inch screen on my EOS-10D. I definitely love the camera so far, but how will I feel when I am done reviewing it? Read the review to find out!”

Website: CameraTown - Sony Cybershot DSC-V3 Review

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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7 is announced today. The DSC-T7 has a 2.5 inch LCD screen, 5 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom lens. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7 also has a sliding lens cover and 180 shot battery life. The Sony T7 will be available in May for about $500.

Sony Press Release

SONY’S LATEST CYBER-SHOT T-SERIES CAMERA COMBINES OUTRAGEUOLSY SLIM DESIGN WITH HOT TECHNOLOGY

LAS VEGAS, March 8, 2005 - Sony’s new, incredibly thin Cyber-shot® DSC-T7 digital camera makes you the center of attention wherever you go.

Thanks to a highly efficient design, the Cyber-shot T7 is just over a third-of-an inch, making it Sony’s thinnest, fully-featured model yet. Though small in stature, the camera packs a powerful punch. It has a 2.5-inch `hybrid’ LCD screen, covering about two-thirds of the back of the camera, which is perfectly sized for framing, displaying and sharing pictures.

Through Sony’s distinctive miniaturization and high-density packaging technology, the camera incorporates virtually all the benefits of other T series models despite its amazing thinness. It features 5.1 effective megapixel resolution and an enhanced power management system for extended shooting time. Folded within the sleek body also lies a Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® lens with 3x Optical Zoom.

Hitachi HDC-531 is announced on the Hitachi Japan website. Details about the new HDC-531 digital camera are limited at the moment. From looking at a couple of other websites, the HDC-531 seems to have a 5 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom lens and a 2.5 inch LCD screen. The Hitachi HDC-531 will be available in Japan from March 18th.

Read the Press Release (Japanese)

Sony Hi-MD Walkman now features the new “Hi-MD PHOTO” format. The top-of-the-range MZ-DH10P Hi-MD Walkman comes with a full 1.5” TFT colour LCD, 1.3-megapixel CMOS camera and a 4 x digital zoom. price and availablity of the MZ-DH10P to be announced.

Sony Europe Press Release

Berlin, 2 March 2005 - Sony continues to reinvent the MiniDisc format with a range of competitively priced new Hi-MD WALKMAN. The new line-up introduces the “Hi-MD PHOTO” format in a model that features digital still camera function in addition to music playback. And all the new models deliver direct MP3 playback in addition to high quality sound ATRAC3plus, and LinearPCM (Pulse Code Modulation). Strikingly re-imagined forms place the new Hi-MD at the leading edge of contemporary design with features such as full colour LCD and large Organic EL (electroluminescence) display.

“Hi-MD is now more versatile than ever,” comments Gregory Kukolj, General Manager for Personal Audio Europe at Sony, “Users can take pictures and enjoy music on the Hi-MD PHOTO compatible WALKMAN. The new developments on a format that’s removable, durable, and enables direct archiving through ‘plug and play’, make it the ideal media for users to build a library of their music, pictures or data on discs with a maximum capacity of 1GB. And its low cost and accessibility makes it easy to share favourite content with friends. As for the choice of true audio CD quality or MP3 – and plenty in-between – nothing else offers that.”

Pentax have released a firmware update for the *ist D digital SLR camera. These are the changes in version 1.12:

- Correspond to the media card that exceeded 4GB, also Version 1.12 contain the additional function which was released at Version 1.10 ~ 1.11.

Website: Pentax Japan

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S80 is announced by Sony Europe. The DSC-S80 is exclusive to Europe (which is why I missed it during PMA…) - in the rest of the world the S60 seems to be being released instead. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S80 will ship throughout Europe in April 2005.

Sony Europe Press Release

Berlin, 19 February 2005 - Looking for your first digital still camera that is compact and easy to use? Look no further than the new 4.1 effective Megapixel Cyber-shot S40, S80 and S90. All featuring Carl Zeiss 3x Optical Zoom lenses, ideal for high-resolution digital images and prints, and superb STAMINA power efficiency.

Your next digital camera
There’s a model to suit everyone in Sony’s newest line-up - the Cyber-shot S40, S80 and S90 digital still cameras. Attractive features like 4.1 effective Megapixel resolution, with a high level of STAMINA and easy to use functions adding to the value of the new models. Ideal for beginners to digital photography, these compact Cyber-shot cameras each feature a high quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with 3x Optical Zoom. In addition the new cameras offer bright and clear LCD screens - with the huge 2.5-inch LCD screen on the Cyber-shot S90 being especially useful for framing shots, viewing the user-friendly menu screens, playing back and sharing your pictures with ease. The Cyber-shot S80 offers a large 2-inch LCD screen, and the Cyber-shot S40 a convenient 1.5-inch LCD screen.

Wacom Cintiq 21UX is an interactive pen display based on a 21” LCD display. I saw the Cintiq 21UX demoed at Focus on Imaging last week and it did look like a great way to edit your images in Photoshop. The Cintiq 21UX has an estimated street price of $2499.

Wacom Press Release

New 21.3” Wacom® Cintiq® is World’s First Interactive Pen Display with a Seamless Surface, ExpressKeys™, and Zoom/Scroll Touch Strips

Other Key Features Important to Photographers, Designers, and Artists Include 1,024 Levels of Pressure Sensitivity, Pen Tilt Sensitivity, and High-end LCD Color Accuracy

VANCOUVER, WA., Feb. 15, 2005 — Wacom Technology Corporation today announced its eagerly anticipated Cintiq 21UX interactive pen display that allows users to work with a pen directly on a 21.3” color-accurate LCD. The Cintiq 21UX offers “more” of everything that makes using a Wacom Cintiq such a natural way to work: more screen area, more pressure sensitivity, more pen control, more resolution, more comfort, more productivity. At a estimated street price of $2499 the Cintiq 21UX delivers more of everything with no price increase over the previous generation. The Cintiq 21UX will begin shipping in March, but customers can register at www.cintiq.com now to be at the head of the line for units.

Wacom Intuos3 pen tablets are now shipping with Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 software. The Wacom Intuos3 tablet comes in three sizes and is priced from $219.

Wacom Press Release

Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 now included with every Wacom Intuos3 pen tablet

Photoshop Elements 3, a $100 Value, is the Leading Editing Software for Photo and Art Enthusiasts

Vancouver, Wash., March 8, 2005 - Wacom® Technology Corporation today announced that Adobe® (Nasdaq: ADBE) Photoshop® Elements 3 is now included with all sizes of its Intuos®3 pen tablets. This software offers photo enthusiasts powerful tools that are designed to be used with a Wacom pen to quickly and easily edit digital photos and create original artwork.

Polaroid x530 is now available in the USA in Circuit City and Walmart stores. The Polaroid x530 is the first compact digital camera to feature the Foveon X3 direct image sensor. The x530 has a 4.5 Megapixel image sensor and a 3X optical zoom. The X530 will also be available in Canada , Japan , Germany and the UK by March 31, 2005.

Polaroid Press Release

Polaroid Corporation announced today, the availability of Polaroid’s new x530 digital camera

Orlando, Florida February 20, 2005 - Polaroid Corporation announced today, the availability of Polaroid’s new x530 digital camera through Circuit City’s on-line store: www.CircuitCity.com and Wal-Mart’s on-line store: www.walmart.com . The announcement was made at the 2005 Photo Marketing Association (PMA) International Annual Convention, Booth #3532, in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando , Florida .

The x530 will also be available in Canada , Japan , Germany and the UK by March 31, 2005 . Additional US outlets will be announced soon.

Sigma UK Press Release

Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd is pleased to announce the launch of a FREE two year extended UK based warranty with all EX series lenses imported through Sigma Imaging (UK) Ltd.

You’d expect the world’s number one independent lens designer and manufacturer to offer something a little extra – and that’s just what we’ve done - extending the traditional one year international warranty of our world class EX lenses by two years free of charge, to provide Sigma UK customers with an unrivalled three years of cover in the UK.

From 1st March 2005 all new Sigma EX lenses come complete with a warranty leaflet, customers simply have to fill in the relevant information and return it to Sigma UK to register for their extended cover.

SellFolio Press Release

SellFolio: First software for stunning web and CD photo presentations in 15 minutes

Lake Forest, IL 3/7/05 - Just as digital camera users wanted better photo editing capabilities, digital camera and photo editor users now want better ways to present their photos.  With SellFolio, anyone who can read English and browse for a file in Windows can create a multimedia photo portfolio in minutes.  According to Russ McNeilly, SellFolio VP of Sales and Marketing, “SellFolio users just add photos, text and sound for a stunning multimedia portfolio literally in minutes.  After people do photo editing in their favorite software, the smart next step is to take the photos they edited and show them off in a beautiful SellFolio presentation.”  Now with new SellFolio 3.0, users get more communications power, with the ability to add background music, narrations, web links and .PDF documents for a very rich media experience.  A downloadable trial version of SellFolio is available on www.sellfolio.com.

Sanyo Xacti Digital Movie C5 is announced. The Sanyo C5 has 5 megapixels, 2 inch LCD screen and can record MPEG4 format movies with VGA resolution at 30 frames per second. The Sanyo Xacti Digital Movie C5 replaces the Sanyo Xacti C1 that I have previously reviewed. The Xacti C5 will cost 699 Euros and be available at the end of March 2005.

Sanyo Press Release

SANYO XACTI Digital Movie C5: Brilliant Companion for the Technologically Avant-Garde

SANYO’s Digital Movie Family has a new member: The XACTI Digital Movie C5 has the same self-confident appearance and sets bold new standards with its unique design. The interior of the youngest member of the C Series is refined and mature as well. The multi-talented C5 combines a dual purpose video and photo camera with the finest technology: a resolution of 5 Megapixels, a 2-inch LCD display (diagonal measurement) - all in an extremely compact and light case. The 23 mm deep aluminum body makes the XACTI Digital Movie C5 one of the slimmest photo-video combinations in the world.

It seems that the price of the new Tamron SP AF11-18mm F/4.5-5.6 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF), a new high performance ultra wideangle zoom lens designed exclusively for digital SLR cameras using APS-C size image sensors, will be $981.95 in the USA. That’s a lot higher than the $550 price that I was told by a Tamron rep at PMA last month, and a lot nearer to the price of the Canon EF-S 10-22mm lens. Have Tamron pitched too high - will all the Canon, Nikon and Konica Minolta owners out there choose the Tamron as their wide-angle lens, or the Sigma 10-20mm (price to be confirmed)? I’m guessing that owners of the Canon EOS 20D and Digital Rebel DSLRs will opt for the Canon EF-S 10-22mm lens instead…

Thanks to Simon Heard for letting me know.

Meanwhile, take a look at some exclusive sample shots and my initial thoughts on the new Tamron 11-18mm lens.

Just Show Me How Press Release

The Just Show Me How Professional Seminar Series Sells Out in the First Four Cities of its Ten City Tour

NEW YORK, March 7, 2005 – It was standing room only in New York, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles - the first four stops of the Just Show Me How Professional seminar tour, where attendees learned a variety of tools and techniques that address digital workflow issues of the professional photographer.  Only six cities remain on this popular ten city tour, so only a limited number of attendees will get to benefit from this valuable information.  The remaining cities are:

Dallas, TX:            March 13th
Boston, MA:            April 3rd
Washington, DC:      April 10th      
San Diego, CA:        April 17th
San Francisco, CA:  May 1st
Orlando, FL:          May 15th

Casio EXILIM QV-R52 is to be released in a new black colour-scheme. This new version of the Casio EXILIM QV-R52 is no different to the silver QV-R52 in terms of specification. The black EXILIM Zoom QV-R52 will be available from April 2005.

Casio Europe Press Release

Norderstedt, March 2005 - The new QV-R52 from CASIO is irresistible in the ever-popular trend colour black. Just like its sister in the silver metal body, the digital camera is equipped with 5.0 megapixels and 3x optical zoom. With the Direct On function the little black wonder is ready for use in only 1 second* and is ideal for every snapshot thanks to its shutter release time lag of only 0.01 second**.

Motifs can be easily viewed on the large 2-inch TFT colour display. The compact*** camera’s simple menu guide makes child’s play out of photography: 21 CASIO typical BESTSHOT functions offer pre-recorded scenes for different photo situations. In addition, they can also be supplemented by the user’s own motif programs. The integrated flash with red eye-reduction also provides fantastic photos in those moments of low light intensity. The features of the ultra light 168 g**** QV-R52 are completed by self-timer, Macro function, automatic calendar and world time, as well as alarm with picture and sound function. The camera’s almost 9.7 MB internal memory can be increased using commercially available SD/MMC cards. Despite all this functional diversity, CASIO’s own electronics enable a considerable reduction in the power consumption, thus giving the camera staying power over long periods.