Fred Miranda has released Canon 20D CSpro, a new sharpening Photoshop plug-infor the Canon EOS 20D DSLR.

The Canon 20D CSpro plugin is a new sharpening technology specific designed to accommodate Canon 20D SLR files. This plugin is compatible with JPEG files straight from the camera or TIFF/JPEG files converted from RAW files.

lthough the Canon 20D CSpro’s interface appears simple and intuitive, complexity makes this plugin very smart: It provides everything from haloless sharpening, edge-sharpening, luminance sharpening, mode sharpening, and more with just the press of a button. With this plugin you can also choose from low or high ISO settings.

Other options allow you to sharpen fine detail. There are pre-designed intensity levels, and options to reduce color noise from high ISO files. You can even create your own sharpening settings, preview settings and tweak intensity results.

Website: Fred Miranda

The Estonian website Fotodiip have posted a review of the Konica Minolta 7D DSLR.

Website: Fotodiip - Konica Minolta 7D Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Konica Minolta Dynax 7D

PC Magazine have just reviewed the new wireless HP Deskjet 6840 printer.

“There’s one big difference between the HP Deskjet 6840 Color Inkjet Printer and almost every other personal ink jet on the planet: Built-in networking with both an Ethernet port and 802.11g if you want to go wireless. This alone makes the 6840 viable to anyone who has a home network or is looking for a personal printer to use in the office. There’s also a USB 2.0 port if you want to connect the old fashioned way, and even a PictBridge connector for cameras.”

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1733159,00.asp

About Photography’s latest article, Delivering Your Images, looks at preparing your images for both printing and your clients.

“Delivering Your Images follows on from a previous feature ‘Sharpening & Workflow’ and gives some suggestions on how to deliver your work to clients, as well as looking at getting ready to print your images. It looks at issues around file types, file sizes and quality (and what clients really want when they say “300 dpi”.) Some ‘do’s and don’ts’, whether you should make your own prints, and some basic advice on print profiles.”

Website: About Photography - Delivering Your Images

The Spanish website quesabesde have reviewed the 3.2 megapixel Ricoh Caplio 400G Wide, which falls into the waterproof category of digital cameras.

Website: quesabesde - Ricoh Caplio 400G Wide Review

Website: Read my Review of the Ricoh Caplio 400G Wide

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

“Having now worked and lived with a production sample for a couple of weeks, I can say that the Sony DSC-V3 digital camera is a very compelling/appealing entrant in the high-end digicam derby. It’s exceptionally responsive, in terms of both shutter lag and shot to shot cycle times. Image quality is very good, with good color (if a little bright on highly-saturated colors), and its images are sharp from corner to corner. It does have a tendency to use a too-small aperture when shooting in bright conditions (eg, outdoors in full daylight), with the result that using it in Program or Auto mode can result in lost detail relative to the camera’s true capabilities.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Sony Cybershot DSC-V3 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Sony Cybershot DSC-V3

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have just reviewed the Sanyo Xacti VPC-C4 digicam, which has a video stabilizer, 4 megapixel CCD and a 1.8 inch LCD screen.

Website: Index Digicam - Sanyo Xacti C4 Review

The Polish website Fotopolis have published their review of the 8 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 8400.

Website: Fotopolis - Nikon Coolpix 8400 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Nikon Coolpix 8400

If you have just bought your first digital camera and are wondering what some of the features actually do, then Bob Atkins’s guide to the basics is a great place to start learning.

“Sensitivity settings on digital cameras are the equivalent of ISO ratings on film. Just about every digital camera will have settings with a sensitivity equivalent to ISO 100 film and ISO 200 film. Many will have an ISO 400 setting, but above that the images from cameras with small sensors gets pretty noisy. The more expensive digital SLRs with much larger sensors have much higher sensitivity settings. At ISO 400 they are virtually noise free and some can go as high as ISO 3200 or even ISO 6400!”

Website: Bob Atkins - Digital Camera Basics - A primer

The NPD Group, Inc. Press Release 29/11/04

Average Selling Price of Tech Products Continues to Decline: Plasma TV Prices Dip Below $2,500 According to Latest Results From NPD CE Price Watch

PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, November 29, 2004 - Average prices of many technology products were down during the month of September according to the latest NPD Consumer Electronics Price Watch, a monthly pricing monitor from The NPD Group that provides a top-line look into the pricing of tech products being sold in the U.S.

September prices for a market basket of technology items, including plasma TVs and digital cameras, fell 18 percent versus September 2003, the sharpest year-over-year percentage decline since April. Overall pricing was below $12,000 for the second consecutive time as total pricing for the Price Watch basket of goods fell $2,533 from last September?s level. Since NPD began its Price Watch monitor in January 2003, the products tracked have fallen in price more than $5,300 or 31 percent.

A new version of Qimage, which is designed to make image printing easy, has just been released.

Qimage v2005.100 (11/30/04):

New Features:

Improved performance: v2005.100 may look the same on the outside, but a major redesign of the internal image processing algorithms has put a brand new powerplant under the hood! v2005.100 is both faster and less memory intensive than prior versions. You’ll see a performance increase of about 30% or better on many operations such as printing and will see some operations finish up to 5 times faster than before, all while using less memory (RAM and hard drive scratch space) than ever before!

Improved stability: The reduced memory footprint of v2005.100 leads to greater overall stability when performing time and memory intensive operations and will assist in getting the job through on those older, slower, and less capable machines.

Canon have released a new firmware version, 1.0.1.0, for the 8 megapixel Canon PowerShot Pro1.

This firmware update (Version 1.0.1.0) incorporates the following: 
AF speed improvements
Specification changes for the way images are displayed in Continuous AF Mode
Zoom ring responsiveness improvements

Website: Canon PowerShot Pro1 Firmware Update

The Norwegian website Akamera.no have just reviewed what is sure to be a popular digital camera, the 5 megapixel Canon PowerShot A95.

Website: Akamera.no - Canon PowerShot A95 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Canon PowerShot A95

A-Digital-Eye have published their review of the 7 megapixel Olympus C-70 Zoom (called the Olympus C-7000 Zoom in the USA).

“Image quality of C-7000 is very good. Most images are well exposed and very sharp. Colors look very natural and well saturated, thanks to Olympus? TruePic TURBO image processing. At ISO 200 and below, noise is well controlled. At ISO 400, like most compact cameras, noise could get distracting, but images are certainly usable.

I?m impressed by how well AWB (Automatic White Balance) performed, both outdoors and indoors. Colors are very accurate, though at times when flash is fired, colors turned out a little warmer than expected.”

Website: A-Digital-Eye - Olympus C-70 Zoom Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Olympus C-70 Zoom

Olympus Press Release

Olympus Studio - Advanced RAW Image Photofinishing and Camera Control, Now with Powerful Support for the E-300
 
Olympus Imaging Corporation (President: Hiroshi Komiya) is pleased to announce the “Olympus Studio 1.2” software package. In addition to the features of the “Olympus Studio” package, which provides powerful digital work-flow support for digital single-lens reflex users, including professional photographers, the new package provides advanced RAW photofinishing and camera control functions. It also supports the “E-300” entry-level single-lens reflex camera.

C-guys, Inc. Press Release 30/11/04

C-GUYS INTRODUCES 20MB/S SD MEMORY CARD WITH ASSOCIATED HIGH SPEED ADAPTER

The Lightning Fast Memory Solution Is One of the Only That Offers Increased Speed and Higher Storage Capacity for Digital Cameras, Mobile Phones and Other Mobile Consumer Electronics Devices

San Jose, CA - November 30, 2004 - C-guys, Inc., a global leader in the design and development of SD and SDIO solutions for home, SOHO and SMB applications today announced its 20MB/s SD memory cards. The cards are available in storage capacities of 1GB (CG-SDM01G01) and 512MB (CG-SDM51201) and are designed to increase data transfer speeds for SD-friendly devices such as digital cameras, PDAs, mobile phones and other portable electronics devices.

The company is also releasing one of the only high-speed reader/writer adapters available on the market - the SD-USBean. Together, the solutions offer faster transfer of media from a mobile device to a processing device such as a printer or PC.

The PhotographyBLOG Newsletter Giveaway is back - this month there are £200 worth of prizes on offer!

On Wednesday 1st December 2004 at 12 midday CET (Central European Time), 6 names will be randomly selected from the list of PhotographyBLOG Newsletter subscribers.

Three                   people will each win a book of your choice from the current ILEX list.

Kindly donated by Ilex.
                  http://www.ilex-press.com

"ILEX books address a host of technical and creative issues, and offer easy-to-follow, jargon busting texts by renowned experts in every field. With stunning graphics and beautiful photography, ILEX books guarantee to smooth the way for digital creatives."

Two                   people will each win a copy of Ulead Photo Impact XL.

Kindly donated by Ulead Systems.
                  http://www.ulead.co.uk

"Total Image Editing for the PC
                  Ulead® PhotoImpact® XL takes the guesswork out                   of digital photography with new tools like the intelligent                   ExpressFix™ Wizard. At the same time PhotoImpact                   XL provides a complete set of tools for Web and graphics                   artists who want inspiring results without the steep                   learning curve. It’s everything you need to produce                   professional results fast."

It’s as simple as that.

To have any chance of winning, you must subscribe to the PhotographyBLOG Newsletter. If you are already a subscriber, you do not have to do anything to enter this competition. Your name will automatically be entered in the prize draw. If you are not currently a subscriber, then what are you waiting for?!! Enter your email address to subscribe now.

The 52nd Photo of the Week contest is now closed.

I have choosen what I think are the best photographs in my opinion. Now it’s your turn to vote for the overall winner of the contest. A Public Poll has been setup on the PhotographyBLOG Forums and you have 7 days during which you can vote for your favourite photo from the ones that I have chosen. Voting will end on Monday 6th December. The Poll will then be closed and the overall winner announced.

Vote now for your favourite image from the Photo Of The Week 22nd-28th November 2004 contest

I completely missed this last week - DPNow spotted an extensive selection of sample images taken with the new Olympus E-300 DSLR, published on the Japanese website DCWatch.

“The selection includes day and night, plus indoor shots taken using ISO settings from 100 right up to 1600. It appears that all the images were taken with the new ‘budget price’ 14-45mm (28-90 equiv) Digital Zuiko standard zoom.

There is also some indication on the same page that the E-300 will start to ship in Japan on 3rd December. Our information is that small numbers will be on sale in the UK towards the end of December.”

Website: DPNow - Olympus E300/Evolt Sample Images

Designer-Info.com have recently published their review of Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0.

“What can I say? I?ve been arguing for years that the vast majority of digital camera users have been badly served by their photo editing software. Adobe has clearly seen the light, gone back to the drawing board and come up with a near ideal solution (assuming your system meets its requirements). Photoshop Elements 3 is the program your digital camera has been crying out for.”

Website: Designer-Info.com - Photoshop Elements 3 Review

Check the Latest Prices for Adobe Photoshop Elements 3