Imaging Resource have published their review of the new Panasonic DMC-FZ20 digital camera, which has a 12x optical zoom lens from Leica.

“Together with its 4-megapixel sibling the FZ15, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 is the clearest indication yet that Panasonic has fully arrived as a serious player in the digital camera market. The Panasonic FZ20 has an attractive case, a nice “feel” in the hand, an excellent image-stabilized lens, great versatility, and very good image quality. If you avoid its 9-area autofocus mode, it has reasonably fast shutter response for a long-zoom digicam, and its shot to shot cycle times are excellent. Image-wise, about my only quibble is that it tends to render skin tones a bit more yellow-looking than in real life, but I suspect most users wouldn’t notice the relatively slight cast.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Panasonic DMC-FZ20 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Panasonic DMC-FZ20

DCResource have today reviewed the new 7 megapixel Sony DSC-P150 digital compact camera.

“The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P150 is a very good little camera for those who want ultra-high resolution photos, but don’t mind giving up some manual controls. The P150 is a very small camera made almost entirely of metal. The only disappointing things in terms of build quality are the flimsy battery/memory card compartment door and the zoom controller, which just doesn’t feel right to me. Camera performance is superb in all areas, from startup to shutter lag to shot-to-shot speed. Low light focusing is great as well, thanks to the P150’s AF-assist lamp. On the whole, photo quality is very good, with nice color, exposure, and fairly low purple fringing levels.”

Website: DCResource - Sony DSC-P150 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Sony DSC-P150

Steves Digicams 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.

“We were pleased with the overall image quality when using highest SHQ 2272x1704 image quality mode. Our outdoor images were consistently sharp, well exposed, and richly saturated. Its 3x optical zoom lens offers enough field of view in the wide-angle range for composing landscape shots, while still providing plenty of magnification in the telephoto range to bring your subjects closer.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Olympus C-470 ZOOM Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Olympus C-470 ZOOM

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have just reviewed the new slimline 5 megapixel Casio EXILIM Card EX-Z55 digital camera.

Website: Index Digicam - Casio EXILIM Card EX-Z55 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Casio EXILIM Card EX-Z55

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have just reviewed the 5 megapixel Pentax Optio S5i.

Website: Index Digicam - Pentax Optio S5i Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Pentax Optio S5i

Slovenian website e-fotografija have just reviewed the compact 4.1 Megapixel Fuji FinePix F450 Zoom (which is the bigger brother of the F420 that I reviewed a couple of months ago).

Website: e-fotografija - Fuji FinePix F450 Zoom Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Fuji FinePix F450 Zoom

PixVillage Press Release

PixVillage has grown to over 500,000 photos privately shared by its users

December 17, 2004 – Inventors of PixVillage photo sharing software application proudly announces that thanks to a newly released version, users privately share over 500.000 photos. New features will facilitate users sharing personal photo files within private communities, through peer-to-peer (P2P) connections.

New Features
Current software release features multilanguage support and photo formats extension to .BMP, .TIFF, .GIF and .PNG file formats (JPEG already supported). To match many users needs, the PixVillage Team has developed the “PixVillage Translation Manager”, a dedicated tool to write and test a translation. English and French translations are already available, and the team is looking for contributors to translate PixVillage in German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish or any other language.

CNET has reviewed the Kodak Easyshare CX7530, a 5-megapixel digital camera with a 3X optical zoom lens, selling for US$299.

“Compared to its sibling, the CX7430, the Kodak EasyShare CX7530’s photos had a lot more contrast and snap, and there was less tendency for whites to blow out. Many images were a little soft, however, and lacked the sharpness we expected from a 5-megapixel camera. However, flesh tones were pleasing, and the camera did a good job of preventing red-eye.”

Website: CNET - Kodak Easyshare CX7530 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Kodak Easyshare CX7530

Canto Press Release

DAM for beginners: the Canto myCumulus giveaway week kicks off on December 18

December 16, 2004 - San Francisco, Berlin. Canto, a global leader in Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions, today announced its exclusive Christmas offer. The English version of Canto myCumulus version 6 will be available for free for a limited time only and can be downloaded from the Canto website from December 18 to 26, 2004.

myCumulus is Canto’s “light” version of its Digital Asset Management solution Cumulus, ideal for DAM beginners and for organizing personal media such as photographs, mp3s and other personal files. It offers the same features and functionality as the full version of the popular Cumulus Single User. The only difference is the number of media assets that users can archive and manage. Canto myCumulus can manage two catalogs simultaneously, of which each catalog can manage up to 2000 digital assets.

BreezeBrowser Systems Press Release

16 December 2004: BreezeBrowser v2.11 released

This release adds Canon EOS 20D, Canon PowerShot G6 and S70 raw conversion.

Also new in this release:

Grid overlay available in main and filmstrip views
Focus point overlay display for Canon EOS 20D images
Fixes the following problems with BreezeBrowser v2.10: errors when outputting JPEGs using proofs; errors when selecting combined raw conversion with some cameras; memory leaks when converting Canon EOS raw files during HTML generation.

Sybex Press Release

THE HIDDEN POWER OF PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 3 by Richard Lynch

With the recent release of version 3, which offers RAW support and 16-bit image editing for digital photographers, Photoshop Elements is more powerful than ever. In this thorough update of his award-winning best-seller, Richard Lynch supplies the tools users need to tap the rich stash of features and capacities that will make the program work for them more effectively. Topics covered include professional color correction, complex image alterations, readying for the web and print, and much more. The book includes a CD with a rich array of power tool enhancers to help readers with curves, channels, paths, snapshots, history brush application, digital noise reduction, extended batch actions, and more. The book includes a 32-page full-color insert covering the color-specific techniques. See more at the Sybex site:

http://www.sybex.com/sybexbooks.nsf/booklist/4385

BIOS magazine have just reviewed the Pinnacle ShowCenter Wireless G Digital Media Player:

“Pinnacle Systems’ Wireless G digital media player lets you access certain audio, image and videos stored on your PC or laptop’s hard disk on a regular TV in the comfort of your living room - and without wires thanks to support for 802.11g. The silver set-top box and supplied server software is a snap to use, and within a few minutes you’ll be finding all of your music, movies and photos, organising them by category, and then playing them back on your TV without a computer in sight. Similar to a PC running Microsoft’s Windows Media Center Edition, movies playback as clear as the original and there’s no loss of sound quality either, which is great news. The product also support digital video recording, as long as you have a TV tuner card in your PC. On the downside, the buttons on the remote control aren’t very clear (fonts are small and buttons are shiny), audio files are automatically converted into MP3 format, and the server software only runs on Windows systems. Nevertheless, it’s a fascinating product that can make your PC and TV do almost everything like Microsoft’s Windows Media Center Edition operating system.”

Website: BIOS - Pinnacle ShowCenter Wireless G Digital Media Player

InterVideo Press Release

InterVideo Introduces PhotoAlbum; New Simple and Efficient Digital Photo Organizer that Delivers an Easy Way to Edit and Share Digital Photos

FREMONT, Calif.—(Business Wire)—Dec. 16, 2004—InterVideo(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:IVII) a leading provider of DVD software, announced today the new release of PhotoAlbum(TM), the premier photo media center to easily organize and share digital pictures with family and friends. PhotoAlbum is a comprehensive photo management solution designed for digital photo/video enthusiasts interested in enhancing their file organization and slideshow experience on their PC. With the growing usage of digital cameras worldwide, consumers want to have an application that effortlessly helps manage, create, edit, and share their photos.

InfoTrends/CAP Ventures Press Release

WEYMOUTH, Mass.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Dec. 16, 2004—According to a new study from InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, worldwide digital camera revenue is forecast to reach $24 billion in 2004, and grow to $31 billion in 2009. The top three regions for digital camera sales in 2004 are Europe, the United States and Japan.

The digital camera market is growing quickly in Asia and Rest of World regions (ROW). The digital camera market in Japan has entered the late majority stage of adoption, and the U.S. and Europe will enter this stage within the next few years. Meanwhile, Asia and ROW will keep growing, up from a combined 10% share of worldwide revenue in 2004 to 33% by 2009.

ProFotoSoftware Press Release

ProFotoSoftware have today released version 1.20 of PFS Image Darkroom.

This enhancement adds the following to the product:
- New Image Comparison Window for comparing up to 4 images, complete with Digital Loupe and high quality resampling of enlarged images.
- Faster thumbnail creation, especially for large 16 bit images.
- Faster Display of 16 bit images.
- Better sharpening using unsharp masking.
- Better quality saturation and contrast adjustment.
- Better support for EOS 1D and 1Ds RAW+JPEG (external) modes
- Better support for EOS 1D and 1Ds RAW preview when JPEG not present.

The Spanish website Quesabesde yesterday published what I believe is the first online review of the new Olympus E-300/Evolt DSLR.

Website: Quesabesde - Olympus E-300/Evolt Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Olympus E-300 / Evolt

Write a Review of the Olympus E-300 / Evolt

Photo-i have now completed their interactive review of the Epson F-3200 Film Scanner.

“This scanner is beautifully made with lots of attention to detail, but then so is the Millennium Dome. This scanner is rich in functionality, too bad the functions are not that useful. The fact that most of the extra features depend on having either the Epson R800, or SP 2100 printers, will put many buyers off. If you are going to include features like this then at least make sure that every user can access them, even if they have got a Canon or HP printer. Most of the photographers I know want to do something to their pictures, even if it is simple dust removal or colour correction. Scanning directly to a printer won’t give you that option. “

Website: Photo-i - Epson F-3200 Film Scanner Review

Hamrick Software Press Release

Uses advanced IT8 color calibration technique to get accurate colors. No other vendor supports all of Canon and Epson professional and consumer scanner products. VueScan 8.1.14 supports 45 different Canon scanners and 66 different Epson scanners, including film scanners, flatbed scanners, and multi-function printer/scanners.

Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) December 15, 2004 – Hamrick Software, a leading developer of scanning software for consumers and professionals, has released VueScan 8.1.14, its award-winning program that enables users to more easily produce better looking digital images from color snapshots, negatives, slides, and documents.

VueScan 8.1.14 produces scans on all Epson and Canon scanners that have accurate, true to life colors. VueScan uses a custom-developed IT8 color calibration technique to achieve this. VueScan 8.1.14 also significantly improves the speed of display refreshes and saving files.

No other vendor supports all of Canon and Epson professional and consumer scanner products. VueScan 8.1.14 supports 45 different Canon scanners and 66 different Epson scanners, including film scanners, flatbed scanners, and multi-function printer/scanners.

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have reviewed the new 3 megapixel Casio EXILIM Card EX-S100.

Website: Index Digicam - Casio EXILIM Card EX-S100 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Casio EXILIM Card EX-S100

Olympus have released a new firmware version for their ZUIKO DIGITAL 40mm-150mm F3.5-4.5 E-System lens, Tele Converter EC-14 1.1 and Extension Tube EX-25.

Website: Olympus E-System Firmware