Seagate Technology Press Release 13/12/04

5GB Seagate Pocket Hard Drive to Be Featured at CES, With Seagate’s Expanding Array of Consumer Innovations

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., Dec. 13 /CNW/— (NYSE: STX), the world’s leading developer of consumer electronics hard drives, announced today that the Seagate USB 2.0 Pocket Hard Drive has won the 2005 CES Innovation Award, given by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to honor outstanding design and engineering excellence in consumer electronics. A panel of prominent industry designers, engineers and journalists judged more than 750 product entries on criteria including user value, aesthetics, innovative design, quality and contributions to the quality of life.

Samsung Press Release 13/12/04

Samsung Electronics Develops Removable, Thumbnail-Sized Memory Card for Mobile Phones

SEOUL, South Korea—(Business Wire)—Dec. 14, 2004 - Samsung announced today that it has developed an extremely small, low-power multimedia memory card (MMC) for mobile phones. The Samsung MMCmicro memory card has been designed to overcome a major hurdle in cell phone design—achieving high performance with a low-power, removable memory card, now smaller than the size of a thumbnail.

With dimensions of only 12x14x1.1mm, Samsung’s new “MMCmicro” device is one-third the size of today’s common reduced-size multimedia cards (RS-MMC). Samsung said that the design of its low-power card makes it easy to incorporate removable memory into progressively smaller mobile phones. Each card can operate on 1.8 or 3.3 volts of power.

Wind-Up Labs Press Release 13/12/04

HeyPix! Revolutionizes Digital Photography, Links Online Sharing and Desktop Management to Build Interactive Photo Sharing Community

Wind-Up Labs’ HeyPix! first digital photo service to combine desktop organization, Internet sharing, online social networking and blog photo integration

Arlington, MA – December 13, 2004 – Wind-Up Labs today announced the launch of HeyPix!, a revolutionary online photo sharing service and desktop application that combines the best attributes of desktop photo organization with advanced online photo sharing and blogging capabilities.

Digital photography is ubiquitous, but the sharing of digital photos has been limited to sending out slow, cumbersome email attachments or sharing via print-focused Web-based services. HeyPix! represents the next generation in digital photo sharing. By tightly integrating a powerful desktop photo organizer with an online photo sharing service, HeyPix! makes it easy for users to organize their photos on the desktop and create dazzling photo albums on the web. Sharing is a simple one click operation and users manage both the photos on their computer and their online photo albums using a rich desktop interface.

PC Magazine have published their review of the new 5 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 5200 compact digital camera.

“There’s a lot to like about the Nikon Coolpix 5200: It’s small, handy, and stylish, and it’s jammed with great features. It takes reasonably sharp pictures. It could be speedier, though, and exposure and color-accuracy issues prevent it from receiving top honors.”

Website: PC Magazine - Nikon Coolpix 5200 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Nikon Coolpix 5200

PC Magazine have just reviewed the new Epson Perfection 2580 Photo Scanner.

“The Epson Perfection 2580 Photo ($150 street) makes a decent stab at photo scanning, with overall scores of good for slides and photos, and quality scores of good for slides and the high end of good for prints. But it has some limitations when it comes to photos.”

Website: PC Magazine - Epson Perfection 2580 Photo Scanner Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Epson Perfection 2580 Photo Scanner

Slo-Foto.net have published an interesting comparison of six telezoom lenses; the Sigma 28-200mm, Sigma 70-200 F2.8 HSM EX, Canon 70-200 F4 L USM, Canon 70-200 F2.8 L USM, Canon 75-300 IS III and Olympus 50-200 ED.

“At this focal length (70mm) all models lack sharpness to a certain degree, which is quite understandable. Sigma’s model is a slight dissapointment, as at the biggest apetrure F2,8 it shows significantly less sharpness in comparison to competitors. This difference decreases with smaller apertures, and even reverses at the smallest one. All lenses gave best sharpness between F8 and F16. Especially Canon’s model with F2,8 gave good results over all the tested apertures.”

Website: Slo-Foto.net - Telezoom Lens Review

The website Firing Squad have published a great article by Pfucata, about choosing a digicam from the myriad of different models on offer.

“Digital cameras offer more value today than they ever have, and you can buy a camera today without having to worry about it being obsolete.  Unfortunately, like the famous opening line from Dicken’s classic novel, it’s also a difficult time to find the right digital camera.  Never have there been so wide a range of options and so wide a range of quality.  Fortunately, with Pfucata as your personal guide, you’ll easily be able to find your perfect digital camera and it begins with by realizing that there are two different types of cameras.”

Website: Firing Squad - Tale of Two Cameras

Casio UK Press Release 13/12/04
 
Capture the Christmas Party Season in Style.
 
13th DECEMBER 2004, LONDON, UK. - This Christmas holiday season, Casio Electronics Co. Ltd. has partnered with British design company, Mulberry, to offer fashion-conscious consumers the chance to purchase an exclusive Casio & Mulberry gift pack. The gift pack incorporates the limited edition black EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z40 digital camera and black Darwin leather Mulberry case and wrist strap.

The gift pack is presented in bespoke Mulberry packaging and is available for £329.99, exclusively from John Lewis stores across the UK. Limited to 500 pieces, the Casio & Mulberry gift pack comes at a time when Mulberry has just been awarded the title of ‘Accessory Designer’ of the Year by the British Fashion Council.

Casio is currently in the third year of its relationship with Mulberry. Mulberry designs unforgettably stylish, classically timeless accessories for Casio’s popular EXILIM digital camera range.

Casio Europe Press Release 13/12/04

Winter photo fun: The new QV-R62 from CASIO with 6.0 megapixel power
 
Norderstedt, January 2005 - Skiing, cosy evenings at the fireplace and eating baked apples; all these winter treats offer wonderful picture motifs for every hobby photographer. That’s where the new digital camera QV-R62 from CASIO comes in: with 6.0 megapixels and 3x optical zoom, it brings concentrated power for photos full of life. Now all that’s left to do is to press the shutter at the right moment and you won’t miss any situation. Thanks to the Direct On function, the digital camera is ready for use extremely quickly1 and the minimal shutter release time lag of approx. 0.01 seconds2 makes sure that you won’t miss a single tobogganist when you’re shooting the winter activities. The result is photos in a fantastic quality that look great on the 2-inch TFT colour display.

Bob Atkins has published a review of the new Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di AF lens With equivalent own-brand lenses from the likes of Nikon, Canon and Minolta costing several times more, the £300 Tamron lens could find its way into quite a few photographer’s bags (and is currently in mine).

“Compared with the Canon 28-135/3.5-5.6 IS ($400) at the same f-stop, the Tamron is generally sharper and more resistant to flare, though of course the zoom range is less and it doesn’t have IS. Overall I have no hesitation in recommending the Tamron SP AF28-75/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro to anyone looking for a fast lens with this zoom range. The fact that it comes with a standard 6 year warranty is an added bonus.”

Website: Bob Atkins - Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di AF Lens Review

PC REview have published a good introductory article about the white balance setting on your digital camera.

“On most digital cameras the user will find the white balance setting defaults to “Auto” mode. This setting works in most situations but is not very accurate. To achieve greater accuracy one needs to go into the menu mode and set appropriate preset white balance setting which could be “sunny”, “cloudy”, “flash”, “incandescent”, “fluorescent” etc. Some cameras have even greater control in the sense that the provided presets can be greater in number and may cater to something like “beach”, “snow”, “night scene” etc etc. It is always a good idea to use the specific preset as these settings will achieve better colour accuracy than by just using “Auto”. In my opinion “Auto” really means “Average”, come to think of it, that is what it really is. Why settle for average, when your camera has the required controls, use it to your advantage!”

Website: PC Review - White Balance

Digital Outback Photo have today published ab article by Byron Jorjorian that will interest anyone who is interested in making some money from their photography by selling them as stock images.

“The images in your files have a value which can be calculated. I like to use a conservative value of $1.00 per image in your files, per year. In other words, if you have 10,000 “marketable” images in your files, they have a potential value of at least $10,000 per year, each year, from here forward. The key word here is “marketable”. This doesn’t necessarily mean a “fine art photograph”. What it does mean is an image that is well exposed, composed and appropriately sharp, with a clear subject. What you are looking for is an interesting image like you might see in a book, magazine, calendar or advertisement.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Marketing Your Images

The winners of the November 2004 PhotographyBLOG Competition have now been decided. The theme for November was “Symmetry” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 3 winners:

1st Place
“Grasmere Reflections” by ribbit
View this entry

Prize: Photobird.com one-year subscription with 100 megabytes of storage space
Kindly donated by Photobird.com.
http://www.photobird.com

2nd Place
“Between The Petals ” by cdm36
View this entry

Prize: 1 copy of Powerretouche Full Pro Pack
Kindly donated by Powerretouche.
http://powerretouche.com

3rd Place
“Synchrony ” by jotasz
View this entry

Prize: 1 copy of Digital Photography Hacks by Derrick Story.
Kindly donated by O’Reilly.
http://www.oreilly.com

Congratulations to the 3 winners and thanks to everyone who took part!

The December 2004 Competition is now open for entries. This is a monthly photography competition with a specific theme and prizes for the top 3 photos. The winning entries will be decided by a panel of judges. You just have to submit one photograph to the Competition Gallery that best interprets December’s theme, which is simply “Peace”.

Steves Digicams have published their review of the 8 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 8400.

“I expected the 8400 to shine indoors, and it did if there was enough available light to help its autofocus system. If you frequently find yourself with your back pressed against a wall or into a corner to compose indoor shots of rooms or people, you’ll appreciate the field of view offered by the 8400’s wide zoom. Its powerful (by consumer digicam standards) flash covers the wide field of view fairly well, with only a slight drop off in illumination at the corners of the image. For consistent corner-to-corner flash illumination at full wide angle, you’ll need to use an SB-600 or SB-800 speedlight.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Nikon Coolpix 8400 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Nikon Coolpix 8400

The UK website Photo-i recently launched a new feature called Eye to Eye, in which they will meet various manufacturers and ask the questions that you want answered. The minutes of their first meeting with Canon are now online.

“Many people have asked about the new BCI-7 series of ink tanks. These new cartridges boast greater print longevity (up to 100 years is the claim). I am told that these are for the Japanese market only. When I pushed question further, Canon could not comment on future product availability or developments. My own guess, and I stress this is my own view, is that yes these will be available, probably early in the new year. It would be folly for Canon not to launch this hot product world-wide. I suspect that there must be a mountain of un-sold BCI-6 ink tanks to dispense with first.”

Website: Photo-i - Eye to Eye with Canon

Index Digicam also have an exclusive first review of the compact Canon SELPHY CP400 photo printer.

Website: Index Digicam - Canon SELPHY CP400 Printer

Check the Latest Prices for the Canon SELPHY CP400 Printer

Hungarian website Index Digicam continues to get the scoop on the latest hot products - this time they have the first Internet review of the Samsung Digimax V5.

Website: Index Digicam - Samsung Digimax V5

DigicamReview.co.uk have just published the first web review of the entry-level HP Photosmart M307 digital camera.

“The design is okay, the size is okay, the camera is quite compact and pocketable, the camera is fairly stylish depending on your tastes. The decent size 1.8” screen updates smoothly and has fairly accurate colour. The camera is very easy to use, the menu system is easy to use and the help system is very good. There is a fairly good amount of options and features available (such as the scene modes, and quick video button). The 3x optical zoom lens seems to be good but noisy. Camera handling, and button layout are quite good. The camera speed is good in use and has a quick zoom, and shot to shot time is okay.”

Website: DigicamReview.co.uk - HP Photosmart M307

Check the Latest Prices for the HP Photosmart M307

KW Media Group Press Release 10/12/04

KW Media Group Announces Relaunch of Planetphotoshop.com

Friday, Dec. 10, 2004 – KW Media Group has relaunched its popular www.planetphotoshop.com website with updated Photoshop content, streamlined functionality, and a brand new design so visitors can take full advantage of its helpful Photoshop tutorials, Quick Time tutorials, tips, and techniques. Additionally, visitors will read the most up-to-date product reviews on hardware, software, and plug-ins written by leading Photoshop instructors and authors. Planetphotoshop.com is considered to be one of the hottest websites dedicated to Photoshop online today averaging 250,000 unique visitors and 1 million page views monthly.

KW Media Group is a leading provider of Photoshop and digital imaging education, training and news. The company publishes digital imaging and Photoshop magazines, books, DVDs, and conducts training seminars and conferences in the U.S. For more information about KW Media Group visit www.kwmediagroup.com, or call 813-433-5000.

Imaging Resource have today reviewed Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0.

“Well, Adobe is not an ordinary company. Sometimes we wonder if it’s a company at all. It seems more like a movement. A movement inspired by the Spot and then the Pixel. There’s always more to Adobe than meets the eye.

And that goes double for Elements 3.0. As we used the new version, we kept interrupting ourselves to ask how they implemented this or that. We’d look it up in the Help system and find out a whole new architecture had been implemented. Elements 3.0 lays some cornerstones for imaging we find very exciting.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 Review

Check the Latest Prices for Adobe Photoshop Elements 3