DPReview have just reviewed the new Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer.

“Let’s get one thing out of the way from the start; the P-2000 is a very well-designed, very sophisticated and very desirable addition to any serious digital photographer’s gadget bag. It has a fantastic screen that makes browsing images a real pleasure, is easy to use, and can be used to watch movies or listen to music whilst on the move. We managed to rip AVI files from DVD and watch them on the P-2000 relatively easily (though you’ll need additional software - and to be prepared for a little experimentation with settings to do this yourself), and the MP3 playback is not bad at all for a photo viewer!”

Website: DPReview - Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer Review

Some Kodak-related news that I missed just before Christmas - further evidence that the photography-giant is back on track as they announce plans to build a new factory dedicated to photo printer supplies:

“Rochester’s largest company plans to spend $45 million on a new factory at Kodak Park that will produce supplies for turning digital images into high-quality photographic prints. The new digital media plant — the largest single capital investment at Kodak Park in at least five years — comes as digital photographers increasingly look to convert their pixels into pictures on paper.

Workers at the plant will manufacture a special dye-transfer ribbon for printers found in stores, homes and commercial photo studios dedicated to digital imaging. The ribbon will go into Kodak’s pioneering line of PictureMaker kiosks, the company’s EasyShare PrinterDock and related products.”

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - Kodak to build $45M plant

Digit Life have taken a look at the 6 megapixel Minox DC 6311 digital camera.

“Initially all digital cameras were individual and differed much from each other. Now we are entering the epoch when cameras as well as computers differ only by titles on their boxes. They are absolutely the same in appearance and in contents. A new model differs from a previous one in insignificant design modifications and some changes in the stuffing, which have little effect on the final result, as in case of office computers used for entering texts. Admit it, if you type texts on a computer with a 200 MHz processor or 2 GHz processor, the difference is hardly noticeable. And if these processors are installed into identical cases, perhaps you will feel no difference at all.”

Digit Life - Minox DC 6311 Review

Digital Outback Photo has updated it’s diary-like review of the Canon EOS 300D digital SLR with some new entries on very long exposures, purchase of new Canon lenses (17-40mm f/4 and 50mm f/1.8) and a list of fors and againsts.

“One of the problems you will encounter with long exposures is what is commonly referred to as Hot Pixels. Hot pixels are sensor pixels that turn white during a very long exposure. Because the 300D, and all other Canon DSLR cameras, uses a CMOS sensor it exhibits a much lower number of hot pixels than digital cameras using a CCD sensor. However, you will still get hot pixels during long exposures, although far less than with a CCD camera.”

Digital Outback Photo - Canon EOS 300D Diary Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Canon EOS 300D

DCResource have just published a review of the Olympus C-470 ZOOM (also known as the D-590), a digicam with four megapixels, 3x optical zoom and a 1.8” anti-glare LCD screen.

“The Olympus D-590 Zoom is a fairly unremarkable point-and-shoot digital camera best suited for outdoor vacation pictures. I say this because low light focusing and LCD visibility weren’t great, redeye levels were above average, and the lens is on the slow side (in terms of aperture, or how much light is let in). Photo quality is good for the most part, though there are some issues with “fuzzy” details and soft edges at times. Performance is comparable to other cameras in this class. The D-590Z is easy-to-use, with absolutely zero manual controls. There are some useful scene modes, though an action mode would’ve bee nice. The bundled Olympus Master software is quite good, especially compared to what the some of the competition throws in the box.”

Website: DCResource - Olympus C-470 ZOOM Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Olympus C-470 ZOOM

The Czech website Digineff have today published their review of the 8 megapixel Canon EOS 20D DSLR.

Website: Digineff - Canon EOS 20D Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Canon EOS 20D

DigiCamReview have published a preview of the Konica Minolta DiMAGE E40 digital camera.

“The Konica Minolta Dimage E40 is also known as the BenQ DC E43, Minox DC4211, Premier DC4331, and so on… there appear to be 2 or 3 flavours of this digital camera, a 4mp digital camera with a 2” TFT screen, and 5mp and possibly 6mp versions with a 2.5” TFT screen - although the 5mp/6mp versions do not have an optical viewfinder. 5mp versions include the BenQ DC E53, the Rollei Prego dp5200, etc. It is believed that Premier manufacture these ‘OEM’ cameras for other companies to re-badge/bundle etc.”

Website: DigiCamReview - Konica Minolta Dimage E40 Preview

Oleg Novikov has published a detailed review of the new Nikon F6 film SLR (found via digicamera.net).

“The F6 is rather evolutionary than revolutionary. To cut a long story short, it brings to perfection almost all* the things which, on the one hand, are not entirely crucial if compared with the F5 and the F100, yet, on the other hand, do bother you in the F6’s predecessors every now and then. It is like you have a wife you love and are almost perfectly happy with but, just at times, you kind of think, if only she smiled more and talked less… paradise on earth… you get the picture.”

Website: Oleg Novikov - Nikon F6 Review

Imagenomic Press Release

NOISEWIRE, 12/23/04 - Imagenomic, LLC today announced three major new additions to its highly acclaimed Noiseware product line for noise removal in digital images.

For the Mac OS X user community, Noiseware is now available in Standard and Professional Plug-in editions, with support for 8-bit and 16-bit images respectively, and is compatible with leading image editing tools including: Adobe Photoshop 7.0 and CS; and Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 and 3.0.

For PC system users, the Noiseware Plug-in is now also available in both Standard and Professional editions to give greater flexibility to users when choosing the Noiseware tool that best meets their needs.

Noiseware Standard Plug-in for PC and Mac is priced at $49; Noiseware Pro Plug-in for PC and Mac is priced at $69.

PCWorld have taken a look at 3 different slide-show software packages, perfect for showing off your latest photo masterpieces to friends and family:

“I looked at Magix PhotoStory on CD and DVD 2005, $40; Photodex ProShow Gold, $70; and Ulead CD & DVD PictureShow 3 Photo Album and Slideshow Suite Deluxe, $50.

Each of these packages allows anyone with a writable DVD or CD drive to create a multimedia slide show that can be played back on a PC or on a TV using a DVD player. All of these programs also offer ways to optimize your slide show, making them small enough to easily share over the Internet.

With each package, I created impressive slide shows of my favorite photos, complete with soundtracks, animated transitions between images, and fancy 3D effects.”

Website: PCWorld.com - Slide-Show Software Adds Life to Still Digital Images

The New York Times has published an interesting article which compares the recent upturn of Kodak and its digital camera/printer products with the company’s old Brownie camera:

“The reason people buy a Canon is not fundamentally ease of use, and the reason they buy Sony is not ease of use,” Mr. Schaeffer said. It was a position that resonated with the history of Kodak, which popularized the Instamatic camera, and long before that, the Brownie, which had the slogan “You push the button and we do the rest…

Kodak sold a million printer docks in the first year. Printers have the potential to be far more profitable than cameras, because customers are locked into years of buying ink and paper. Even more important, the printer dock helped Kodak’s cameras stand out in crowded electronics stores, as Kodak convinced many retailers to put its printers right in the aisle that sold cameras, not in the printer section.”

Website: The New York Times - Kodak Updates Its Brownie to Compete in a Digital Age

GIMP Release Notes

The GIMP developers are proud to release version 2.2 of the GNU Image Manipulation Program. About nine months after version 2.0 hit the road, we have completed another development cycle and can bring a new stable GIMP to our users’ desktops.

About The GIMP
The GNU Image Manipulation Program, the GIMP, is ideal for amateur photographers, web designers, and many other people who want to create and edit digital images. It is a very powerful application, with features including: channels, layers and masks; colour operations such as levels, curves and threshhold; advanced selection operations using intelligent scissors and selection channels; and much more.

GIMP is free software, which means it can be freely distributed and modified. This makes it well suited to be included on cover disks of magazines dedicated to digital photography or image editing, or to be included with digital cameras, scanners, printers etc. As free software, its capabilities are ultimately limited only by the collective imagination of the community of free software contributors. More information about the GIMP is available at www.gimp.org.

You’ve just been given a digital camera for your Christmas gift and gone crazy taking 100’s of pictures, now that you don’t have to worry about expensive film and processing. But what’s the best solution for actually making prints of them - do it yourself on a photo printer, or take it to your nearest store? News-Leader.com claims that the majority of you are leaving it to the experts:

“The availability of special theme cards and treatments, along with competitive prices, will lead 37 percent of digital-camera owners to use retailers and 15 percent to use online services this year, estimates InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, a Massachusetts researcher.

That’s a big increase from last year, when about 14 percent had pictures printed by retail processors and 9 percent used online services, said InfoTrends analyst Ed Lee.”

Website: News-Leader.com - Digital camera users still turn to pros for prints

Pro Image Press Release

Pro Image Online.com is a fresh stock house based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that is seeking new photographers from around the world to supply
the growing increase in the online image sales field. Owner PJ Smith realizes that stock image sales might not be the first method of marketing that a professional might think of but it is a well designed site that profiles a small but highly targeted number of images. 

While it is getting easier to get that perfect image through digital, there is the problem of actually being able to sell all of those thousands of new images you’re going to get over the next couple of years.  To say nothing of what is usable in your back image files.

The holiday season is almost upon us, so I’m going to take a few well-earned days off, returning early next week to catch up on everything that has happened over the Christmas period (I can almost guarantee that somebody will issue a press release on December 25th…). So I’d just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (in moderation of course!) - make sure that you get out and about with your camera and avoid the film that is always on the TV at this time of year…

Canon have published the latest issue of their monthly CPS (Canon Professional Services) Newsletter, which has some interesting articles about wildlife photography, the new Speedlite 580ex flashgun, and a great portfolio by Manuel Presti.

Website: Canon CPS Issue#10

BIOS Magazine have just posted their review of the new Wacom Intuos3 pen tablet.

“Ideal for digital photographers, graphic design professionals and artists, Wacom’s Intuos3 pen tablet offers a much more precise and natural way to draw freehand compared to a mouse. The A4 tablet also provides a 1:1 mapping ratio for most monitors and is ideal for artistic styles that need full arm motion. In addition, it features ExpressKeys and Touch Strips on both sides of the active area to accommodate left- and right-handed people. Doubling the resolution of its predecessor, the Intuos2, Wacom has also upped the pressure sensitivity to 1024 levels in both the pen tip and eraser of the supplied pen, so the tablet is now a lot more sensitive. It also comes with a cordless and batteryless mouse, making it one of most intuitive input systems available. You also have the option of purchasing additional programmable accessories, such as an Airbrush (a digital pen with the feel and control of a real airbrush and includes a top-mounted fingerwheel to control ink flow, a pressure-sensitive tip and eraser), making the Intuos3 pen tablet one of the best products of its type.”

Website: BIOS Magazine - Wacom Intuos3 Review

Following my enthusiastic review of the Lensbaby a few months ago, PCMagazine have posted their review of this unique product just in time for Christmas.

“Looking for the perfect gift for the digital-SLR camera owner who’s tired of incredibly sharp photos? No, no, we’re serious. Today’s digital SLRs can produce tack-sharp images, but that’s not always what you want or need. For years, photographers have turned for creative inspiration to toy cameras like the Diana, Holga, and Lomo that produce slightly blurry, ethereal photos with their cheap plastic lenses. (You can see some great examples at the Toy Camera Ring.) Now you can produce similar images with much greater control, with the Lensbaby lens for popular digital and film SLRs.”

Website: PCMagazine - Lensbaby Review

Website: Read my review of the Lensbaby

The Taiwanese company Digimaster have just released the first SD memory card that also doubles up as a USB 2.0 flash drive, meaning that you can use it in your digital camera and then plug it directly into your PC to download your images (without having to buy or carry an SD card reader). Quite a cool technological solution that will make that ultra-compact digicam even more portable than before.

The 128MB version will retail for $880 (Taiwan New Dollars) and 256MB version for $1280.

Website: Engadget - The first USB-enabled SD card

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have published a review of the new 5 megapixel Panasonic DMC-FX7.

Website: Index Digicam - Panasonic DMC-FX7 Ultra Zoom Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Panasonic DMC-FX7 Ultra Zoom