Strong demand for the 6 megapixel Nikon D70 DSLR (pictured) saw Nikon post a profit of £30.2 million in the three months to December 31, reports the Scottish newspaper Edinburgh Evening News (found via CameraTown).

“Last year, managing director Makoto Kimura said Nikon was increasing production capacity for the D70, with a view to eventually halting production of film-dependent compact cameras for which demand is sliding. He said Nikon aimed to sell one million digital SLRs in the business year to March 2005, compared to about 300,000 in 2003/4.”

Website: Edinburgh Evening News - Nikon snap happy as profits hit £30m

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Noise Ninja plugin for Photoshop released. Noise Ninja is a noise reduction software program from Picturecode, available either as a stand-alone program or now as a plugin for Photoshop (Winodws and MAC versions).

PictureCode Press Release

February 7, 2005—Plug-in version of Noise Ninja released

PictureCode today officially released a Photoshop plug-in version of its top-rated Noise Ninja software, which removes high-ISO noise and grain from digital images. The plug-in has been in a public beta test for the last few months, and license keys have been on sale since December, allowing the general public early access to the technology while the product remained under development.

“Response to the Noise Ninja plug-in beta test was extremely positive,” remarks Jim Christian, founder of PictureCode. “The software was downloaded approximately 20,000 times, and we already have thousands of paying customers for it. We’re also seeing rapid adoption by first-tier newspapers, and it was used at the Superbowl yesterday. Now that the product is officially released, we expect accelerated adoption in all of our key market segments.”

Corel Press Release

COREL NOW DELIVERING PAINT SHOP™ PRODUCTS TO THE MARKET!

Paint Shop Family of Products Shipped by Corel

London, UK - 8th February 2005 - Corel Corporation, a leading provider of easy-to-use personal productivity software, today announced that it is now shipping the award-winning Paint Shop family of products, as of January 2005.

Following the acquisition of Jasc Software in October 2004, the Paint Shop products (including Paint Shop Pro® 9) are now being supplied and distributed by Corel. The products can be obtained from the online Corel store (www.corel.co.uk) as well as a number of leading resellers and distributors across the UK including:
- GEM Distribution
- Ingram Micro
- Computers Unlimited.

Kodak UK Press Release

Kodak To Sponsor Young Photographer Category in 2005 Visions of Science Awards

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, February 9th 2005 - Kodak has once again agreed to sponsor the Young Photographer Category in the 2005 Novartis and The Daily Telegraph Visions of Science Photographic Awards.

This category is aimed specifically at students in full time education and caters for age ranges 16 Years and Under and 17-18 Years. Submitted images can show any aspect of science or the natural world and can be taken by any standard or specialist photographic technique, scientific technique or can be computer generated. Kodak’s sponsorship includes a financial contribution towards promotion of the Visions of Science Photographic Awards across UK schools plus photographic equipment for the winners. Each will receive a KODAK EASYSHARE DX7590 Digital Camera and Printer Dock for themselves and their school.

Kodak UK Press Release

February 7th 2005 - Young people visiting the Tower of London during Local Schools Weeks 2005 will be given further opportunities to bring history to life thanks to a $50,000 donation to the Royal Armouries from Kodak’s Corporate Charitable Contributions Programme. Kodak’s support will finance the three annual Schools Weeks events held at the Tower’s award-winning Education Centre by way of teacher packs, pupil worksheets, information sheets, single-use cameras, film processing and Picture CD vouchers.

“Recording their experiences in pictures will not only help our young visitors to bring history to life - thus enhancing the value and quality of their studies - they’ll also be learning about photography at the same time,” said Head of Fundraising for the Royal Armouries, David Williams. “Donations from external sources are vital if we are to continue to fund the centre’s growing popularity.”

Mike Johnston’s “Sunday Morning Photographer” column this week urges you to remove all those UV and Skylight filters from your lenses which you use to protect the front element - they could be causing flare in your photos…

“Here’s the news flash, though, although it’s not exactly news, since it’s been true for a good long while now: good modern lenses have very hard glass objectives, and/or scratch-resistant coatings. They make it difficult to scratch or mar a lens. With reasonable care, and perhaps a decent lens hood for physical protection if the objective is not recessed, there is almost no chance you will scratch the objective of your lens. Empirically, this is confirmed when you survey used lenses for sale. How many do you find that are scratched? How many eBay auctions for lenses don’t say “glass mint” or “glass perfect”? Don’t overestimate lens owners: if it were so easy to scratch up a lens, there would be a lot more scratched lenses out there than there are.”

Website: Sunday Morning Photographer: The Filter Flare Factor

DPReview have today published their review of the 4 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-L1.

“The price is good, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the DSC-L1 as a second camera - in the couple of months I’ve been testing it, this is the one camera that I’ve had with me virtually every waking minute. It is cameras like this that help maintain the significant advantage a dedicated camera has over a camera phone - and it’s a lot smaller than most cell phones too. It doesn’t do much more than point and shoot, but it does that very well (Canon et al could learn a lot about fast focus from Sony), and my only serious complaint is that I’d like a slightly more powerful flash - everything else is fairly minor.”

Website: DPReview - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-L1 Review

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DIWA member and Danish website DigitalMagasinet has posted a review of Picasa 2, a software program that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC.

Website: DigitalMagasinet - Picasa 2 Review

Sigma 55-200mm F4-5.6 DC Lens announced, designed specifically for digital SLR cameras. Supports Sigma, Nikon, Canon and Pentax lens mounts.

Sigma Press Release

Compact and lightweight, high-performance telephoto Zoom Lens
This compact telephoto zoom lens was exclusively designed for use with digital SLR cameras. The image circle was designed to match the size of the image sensors of digital SLR cameras that also allows compact body and lightweight. Characteristics of digital cameras were taken into consideration when designing the lens power layout, making high-quality images reality through the entire zoom range.

Sigma 18-50mm F3.5-5.6 DC Lens announced, designed specifically for digital SLR cameras. Supports Sigma, Nikon, Canon and Pentax lens mounts.

Sigma Press Release

Zoom lens that designed to suit the characteristics of digital cameras.
Exclusively designed to suit the characteristics of digital SLR cameras. The image circle was designed to match the size of the image sensors of most digital SLR cameras and this has resulted in a compact lightweight lens. The use of aspherical lenses provides correction for various aberrations and makes high quality images a reality throughout the entire zoom range. Corresponding AF Mounts: SIGMA SA mount, NIKON mount, CANON mount, PENTAX mount.

Apogee Photo Magazine has posted a brief review of the photo-management application ACDSee 7 (found via CameraTown).

“Have you noticed that you can’t see thumbnail previews of the RAW files from your camera in the Windows file browser or in many other asset management programs? ACDSee supports RAW files from all of the major brands of digital cameras. Has the need to have an expensive editing program to manipulate your RAW files kept you from using this powerful file system? You don’t need to go to another program.  You can do all of your adjustments to RAW files within this program. And I think you’ll be surprised, because it has features we’ve all wished for in Photoshop.”

Website: Apogee Photo Magazine - ACDSee 7 Review

AnandTech have just reviewed the 5 megapixel, twistable Pentax Optio X (found via CameraTown).

“In our review of this camera, we discovered several strengths and weaknesses. For starters, it isn’t the fastest camera available, but in most cases, it puts in a decent performance. For example, it has respectable startup and write speeds. Unfortunately, the auto focus can be somewhat slow. In our test, the camera took nearly a full second to focus and take a picture. With respect to image quality, the Optio X generally does a good job taking even exposures with accurate color. However, we found clipped shadows and highlights in some of our samples in addition to jaggies along diagonal lines.”

Website: AnandTech - Pentax Optio X Review

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Presenting the Olympus Mju Mini Digital: on paper, a compact digital camera with 4 megapixels, 2x optical zoom lens that’s equivalent to 35-70mm on a 35mm camera, 1.8 inch LCD monitor, all housed in a weather-proof metal body. So far, so run-of-the-mill. Lots of other digital cameras offer a similar if not better specification at the same pricepoint, so why should you consider the Olympus Mju Mini Digital? Take it out of the box and you soon see why - Olympus have designed one of the most stylish compact digicams on the market today. Your friends will definitely be impressed, but in the long-run will you? Carry on reading to discover the answer.

Website: Olympus Mju Mini Digital Review

TrustedReviews have today reviewed the Pentax Optio SV, a compact digicam with 5 Megapixels and 5x zoom lens.

“Pentax has created an excellent camera in the form of the Optio SV and although it’s not completely perfect, it’s pretty close. The maximum four second shutter priority could be better and the detail resolution isn’t quite on a par with the Ixus 500, but the long zoom, live histogram and excellent user interface make the Optio SV a winner.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Pentax Optio SV Review

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DIWA member website LetsGoDigital have just posted their review of the 6 megapixel Fuji FinePix E550.

“The compact size of the Fujifilm FinePix E550 and the traditional design don’t show immediately what the camera is capable of. The camera offers ease of use and is very user friendly. It also offers many extra settings at the same time which gives the beginner the possibility to grow and enhance his photographic skills. The Fujifilm E550 is available for a few months now and is certainly worth considering as your new digital camera or to replace your old one!”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Fuji FinePix E550 Review

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DIWA member and Norwegian website digIT.no have just reviewed the new slimline 5 megapixel Casio EXILIM Card EX-Z55 digital camera.

“My conclusion is that the camera is a significant upgrade from previous versions of the same model. The image processor handles the increased resolution better than earlier upgrades and the lens is now sharp over the entife field - at last. However, Casio has still some way to go before they can compete on image quality.”

Website: digIT.no - Casio EXILIM Card EX-Z55 Review

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Lomography Fisheye film camera announced. Lomo have just announced a new addition to their line-up of wacky film cameras. As the name suggests, the new Lomography Fisheye gives a unique fisheye perspective on the world.

Thanks to Siim teller for letting me know - visit his site at http://spotphoto.blogspot.com/ for more details.

Lomography Press Release

The Fisheye View - How Goldfish and Lomographers See, Experience and Live Life

Lomographers love everything that gets their eyes going and keeps them on their ocular toes, so to speak: the most varied of commonplace and exceptional atmospheres, colours, people and animals in all possible and impossible situations, action, distortion, shifts, deformation and reversals. They simply can’t get enough of all the stuff that expands their visual horizon.

On the lookout for a new genuine kick for our thirsty little eyes, we’ve delved differently, totally fresh, into the topic of seeing, and explored fish’s eyes and the way they see in unfamiliar surroundings - on land, in the fresh air. We concentrated our research on all those goldfish, little ones and big ones, that observe our world out of their aquariums, in homes, in bars, offices, restaurants, shop windows, zoos and other public aquariums, on camp sites etc. Looking out at the world of people, dung beetles and dromedaries! We focused in particular on the optical dimensions of these goldfish’s existence.

ExpressDigital has announced ExpressDigital Darkroom in 3 different editions - Core, Professional, and Assembly. ExpressDigital Darkroom is a software package that helps you to manage the daily photography workflow and is priced from $495 (for the Core edition).

ExpressDigital Press Release

ExpressDigital Launches New Software Product Line: ExpressDigital Darkroom

ENGLEWOOD, CO—February 3, 2005— ExpressDigital, the leading provider of digital workflow software, internet storefronts, and lab solutions, has announced the launch of their new software product line: ExpressDigital Darkroom.  Based on recommendations from its 14,000 plus customers and extensive dealer network, ExpressDigital has consolidated its niche based software titles into a simplified full-featured product line.  The ExpressDigital Darkroom family is software that manages the daily photography workflow. 

Three editions of ExpressDigital Darkroom are being launched: Core Edition, Professional Edition, and Assembly Edition.

A user over on the PhotoHobby.net forums has posted quite a thorough review of the new Konica Minolta Z5 digital camera.

“Only one draw back of Z5 which I don’t like is the reduced longest shutter speed. In Z3, you have T mode which have max shutter speed of 15 sec. In Z5, it’s now gone. No more T mode and you have to live with max 4 sec only. I think that it because of the inherit noise profile of the smaller sensor size lead KM to make such decision. Whether it is right or wrong, only the potential buyers will be the one who decide.”

Website: PhotoHobby.net - Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Review

About Photography has an interesting article that explains how you should read a photography book. “Surely I already know how to read a book?” I can hear you asking yourself. Trust me, it’s well worth the 10 minutes of your time that it will take to read.

“‘The Americans’ is a book perhaps best thought of as a film. In the edition I own it starts with an introduction by beat poet/writer Jack Kerouac; although of interest, it isn’t really essential to read before you look at the pictures, and the book for real starts with a page blank except for the single word ‘Photographs’. Turn over and you see the opening image, two people at separate windows and the cropped American flag, watching a street parade in New Jersey. They, like you, the reader, are looking at America and the Americans.”

Website: About Photography - Reading Photography Books