Imaging Resource have published their First look at the 7 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-V3 that was announced a few days ago.

“The new Sony V3 is still boxy and relatively compact, shaped like a familiar 35mm rangefinder models of years past, but with a decent grip. The DSC-V3’s 7-megapixel CCD captures high resolution images, and its full complement of exposure modes provides as little or as much control as you might want. Like the V1, the V3 includes Sony’s NightShot, NightFraming, and Hologram AF technologies, which greatly add to the camera’s flexibility and usefulness in low-light shooting conditions. Scene exposure mode offers nine preprogrammed exposure modes, and a choice of Sony’s “Smart Zoom” or “Precision Zoom” technologies offers better image quality with digital zoom. MPEGMovie VX format allows movie and sound recording at VGA quality, to the capacity of the memory card, without any arbitrary limits imposed by buffer memory capacity. Finally, the V3 features true Through-The-Lens (TTL) flash metering, a rare feature in the digicam marketplace.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-V3 First Look

Coming soon to your local camera store - the pocketable Acme 1 gigapixel camera with 50x optical zoom, yours for only $99. Well, not all of that is actually true, only the 1 gigapixel part. The European Space Agency is building a 1 gigapixel digital camera for its Gaia space telescope, due to launch in 2010. The camera is made up of over 200 9-megapixel CCDs (found via Digital Photography Blog).

“The size of each CCD presents some unique manufacturing challenges. Even in the purest silicon, defects can occur. Typically, with the CCDs that are used in our digital cameras on Earth, perhaps 20 or more are manufactured from the same silicon wafer and one or two rejects are tolerable.

However, the Gaia CCDs are so large that only two will fit onto each silicon wafer. So the chance of a defect occurring in a Gaia CCD is considerable.”

Thanks to Ricky Nichols for letting me know about the story.

Website: Universe Today - How About a Gigapixel Digital Camera?

Digital Outback Photo and Glenn E. Mitchell II have teamed up to write an excellent sereis of articles about how to get the best out of your shots. Part 3 looks at using levels and curves to adjust tonal range, contrast, and brightness.

“In the previous tutorial, we took a brief look at the features in Adobe Camera Raw II (ACR II) for adjusting tonal range, contrast, and brightness. For some images, all you need are a few adjustments with ACR II and your global adjustments are complete. You can even do capture sharpening and noise reduction in ACR II.

Some images present greater challenges. The Gerber Daisy in Figure 1 is an example. I took the shot in bright sunlight. I was afraid of burning out the saturated yellows, so I underexposed the image: rather severely, it turned out. I should have paid more attention to the histogram and less to the image on my Canon 10D.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Developing Photos That “Pop” Part 3

Wacom Technology Corporation Press Release 08/09/04

Wacom Announces New Intuos3 Professional Pen Tablets, First with Built-in ExpressKeys and Zoom/Scroll Touch Strips

Other Key Features Include New Industrial Design, Redesigned Grip Pen, Improved Mouse, Doubled Resolution of 5080 Lines per Inch, and a New Software Bundle

VANCOUVER, WA., Sep. 8, 2004—Wacom Technology Corporation today introduced its new Intuos3 professional pen tablets offering an array of meaningful improvements that provide higher levels of productivity for digital photographers, designers, and artists.

Intuos3 tablets incorporate ExpressKeys and Touch Strips. An on-board set of customizable ExpressKeys default to keyboard modifiers Ctrl, Alt, Shift, and Spacebar and are completely customizable. In addition, new finger-sensitive Touch Strips allow users to zoom or scroll with their non-dominant hand while working with a Wacom battery-free pen or mouse with their dominant hand.

Canon have released a new version of firmware for the Canon PowerShot S1 IS digital camera.
 
Firmware specification changes (Version 1.0.2.0)

- Improvements in the communication processing with the CF card.

* This update includes the previous firmware update (version 1.0.1.0) as well as the current one.

- Specification changes for the way images are displayed in Continuous AF Mode.

- Improvements for the overexposure phenomenon that occurred during daytime synchronized shooting.

Website: http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/pss1is/firmware-e.html

Sigma Press Release 10/09/04

Multifunctional Macro Flash designed to work with new Digital SLR cameras. (2004.9.10)

ELECTRONIC FLASH MACRO EM-140 DG

- Ideal for Close-up photography, especially medical and scientific applications.
- Fully dedicated with the latest TTL auto exposure systems.
- Flash tubes can be switched on or off for creative flash control
- Wireless Flash Control
- High Speed Synchro Flash
- Guide Number of 14 w/ISO100

Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the new ELECTRONIC FLASH MACRO EM-140 DG.
ELECTRONIC FLASH MACRO EM-140 DG is designed to work with both AF 35mm film and Digital SLR cameras of all-popular manufactures.

Sigma Press Release 10/09/04

Large aperture standard zoom lens provides superior performance both for Digital SLR Cameras and 35mm Film SLR Cameras.(2004.9.10)

24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO

- EX DG Lens Series; Designed to give a superior performance with Digital SLR Cameras as well as 35mm Film Cameras.
- Excellent image quality is provided by two Special Low Dispersion (SLD) glasses, plus one Glass Mold Aspherical and two Hybrid Aspherical lenses.
- It has a minimum focusing distance of 40cm (15.7 inches) and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:3.8.
- The Dual Focus (DF) system ensures ease of operation.

From 24mm super wide angle to 70mm medium telephoto, this lens provides a large F2.8 aperture at all focal lengths. It incorporates “Super Multi Layer Coating” to reduce the influence of harmful light caused by reflections from the digital image sensor.

Sigma Press Release 10/09/04

World’s smallest, lightweight, yet Robust, Large Aperture Zoom Lens (2004.9.10)
28-70mm F2.8 EX DG

- EX DG Lens Series; Designed to give an excellent performance with Digital SLR Cameras as well as 35mm Film Cameras.
- Super Multi Layer (SML) coating reduces ghost and flare.
- Two pieces of Special Low Dispersion (SLD) elements and four aspherical lenses provide high quality images throughout the entire zoom range.
- Minimum focusing distance of 33cm (13 in.) at all focal lengths

Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the new 28-70mm F2.8 EX DG lens.

This is the world’s smallest, large and constant aperture zoom lens and is ideal for digital SLR cameras. The power layout of the lens is specially optimized for digital SLR cameras, and Super Multi Coating gives superb color performance whilst cutting down flare and ghost.

Sigma Press Release 10/09/04

World’s first High Speed Tele-Macro Lens (2004.9.10)

APO MACRO 150mm F2.8 EX DG HSM

- Designed to give a superior performance with Digital SLR Cameras as well as 35mm Film Cameras.
- Super compact and lightweight, large aperture telephoto lens with life-size macro capability.
- Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) with full time manual focus override.
- Floating Focusing System produces excellent optical performance.
- Detachable Tripod Socket.

Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce of the world’s first High Speed Tele Macro MACRO 150mm F2.8 EX DG HSM lens.

This large aperture telephoto macro lens enables you to shoot up to 1:1 life size close-ups. Its
large F2.8 aperture makes it an ideal lens for digital SLR as well as film SLR cameras. The new lens power layout provides the ultimate correction against lateral chromatic aberration to which digital cameras are prone.

Sigma Press Release 10/09/04

A new zoom lens for the “Four Thirds System (4/3 System)” Digital SLR Camera System.(2004.9.10)

18-125mm F3.5-5.6 DC

An all-in-one lens providing coverage of a wide range of focal lengths from wide angle to telephoto.

The Super Multi Layer coating reduces flare and ghost, which is a common problem with digital cameras.

A Special Low Dispersion (SLD) and two aspherical glass elements produce a?@top quality optical performance.

Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the new 18-125mm F3.5-5.6 DC for Four Thirds mount.

This zoom lens was exclusively designed for use with digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras and has a 6.9 zoom ratio. A Special Low Dispersion (SLD) and two aspherical glass elements produce a top quality optical performance throughout the entire zoom range.

Canon USA Press Release 09/08/04

Editor’s Note: All of these products have already been previously announced in Europe.

CANON AGGRESSIVELY TARGETS HOME PHOTO AND SOHO PRINTING MARKETS WITH LAUNCH OF 11 NEW INKJET AND LASER PRODUCTS

Launch of New PIXMA Inkjet Photo Printers, Photo All-in-Ones and imageCLASS Laser MFPs Bring Outstanding Value, Quality, and Performance to Consumer and SOHO Users

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., - Sept. 9, 2004 - Building on an over 60 year heritage as a leader in imaging technologies, Canon U.S.A., Inc. today introduced a full range of new consumer single function and photo all-in-one (AIOs) inkjet printers and networked laser multifunction printers (MFPs) for the small office/home office (SOHO) markets. A total of 11 products will launch under the PIXMA and imageCLASS brands, ranging in price from $99.99 to $999.99i.

Canon is a leading U.S. patent holder of printer technology and the world’s largest manufacturer of laser beam printer engines. In addressing the emerging consumer photo printing market and migration from single function to multi-function platforms for the small and home office, today’s announcements mark an aggressive move by the global imaging technology provider to lead these markets from an innovation, value, performance, design, and ease-of-use perspective.

CNET have just reviewed the PowerShot SD110 Digital ELPH, which packs 3.2 megapixels into the smallest digital ELPH camera ever made with an optical zoom. Estimated street price is $299.

“Busy snapshot photographers looking for an inexpensive, pocketable camera will appreciate the 3-megapixel Canon PowerShot SD110’s no-nonsense ease of operation. This ultracompact model has some of the same limitations as earlier Digital Elphs: a lack of manual controls and scene modes, as well as only a 2X optical zoom instead of the more typical 3X range.”

Website: CNET - Canon PowerShot SD110 Digital ELPH Review

CNET have posted their review of the Kyocera Finecam M410R, a 4.0 megapixel digital camera with a high-powered 10x optical zoom and high-speed lens.

“Kyocera’s 4-megapixel Finecam M410R, which sports a 10X zoom lens, may look like another me-too megazoom digicam, but the company says that speedy performance provided by a technology it calls RTune sets this model apart. We found that to be partly true, and when you add in the Finecam M410R’s acceptable design and feature set, you have a serviceable midrange-to-advanced snapshot camera.”

Website: CNET - Kyocera Finecam M410R Review

New stock photography site launches for the sports, betting and gaming market

LONDON, UK, SEPTEMBER 2004: Cut and Deal (www.cutanddeal.com), which provides both royalty-free and exclusive use images to the sports, betting, gaming and gambling markets, launched today.  The company was founded by internet entrepreneurs Glen Conybeare and Alex Kelleher, and was set up to answer the demand for a single destination for gaming and betting design content.  The company expects to benefit from the fast growth of the betting and gaming market, now worth some $1 trillion globally.

The business plan was born from the frustrations of Glen and Alex while working within the design industry, looking for quality sports betting and gambling content.  “Almost everything was out there somewhere but no-one had brought the content together in one place” says Cut and Deal co-founder Glen Conybeare. 

DPReview have just reviewed the 4-megapixel, 10x zoom Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z2.

“Fast, fun, and easy to use, the Konica Minolta Z2 offers a compelling combination of features (including some pretty meaty movie capabilities) and image quality at an excellent price. The camera’s ‘hit rate’ is very high, with the only problems being the occasional exposure problem and the ever-present danger of camera shake when shooting at the long end of the zoom in all but the brightest lighting.”

Website: DPReview - Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z2 Review

The 32nd PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Scott Kho.

“I’m Scott Kho, an 18-yr old college student currently completing my degree in Communications. I started to take an interest in photography at an early age. However, I only began to take photography seriously a few months ago.

I have a penchant for vibrant colors and for photographs that sort of jump at its viewers. I like photography because it enables me to express myself creatively.

These are photographs I took while completing a college project—writing articles about locations, peoples, events. In order to get the feel of the assigned location, I took photographs of people doing their everyday tasks—accomplishing their daily routines. The photographs were taken using a Sony digital camera.”

Website: http://scottkho.fotopic.net

Website: Portfolios: Scott Kho

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

1st Place
“hand off” by daniel?
View this entry

Judges Comments:
“Great action shot! Great lighting and exposure! Great facial expressions!”

“What a great moment to catch and the subjects expressions are wonderful.”

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

2nd Place
“Lone Wasp On The Fly” by cazmockett
View this entry

Judges Comments:
“Excellent photographer location! Puts you in the game. Was the photographer running along with them?”

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

3rd Place
“Dragon Fury” by vancefry
View this entry

Judges Comments:
“I like the composition of this photo and how it shows the team working together.”

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 September 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 September’s theme, which is simply “Sunrise and Sunset”.

Nikon School Announces New Schedule For Popular Nikon School Photography Seminars

Three Digital Photography Courses Teach the Essentials to Photography Enthusiasts at All Skill Levels

MELVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/—Nikon Inc. (http://www.nikonschool.com/), the world leader in photography, has released the new schedule for its popular Nikon School, one of the most comprehensive photography education and training programs in the industry. Nikon School seminars are taught throughout the country by renowned imaging experts. The three separate, one-day courses are designed to help digital photographers and business users of all skill levels better understand and improve the digital photography experience, including capturing, editing and sharing digital images. Whether the camera is simple or complex, new or old, digital or film, Nikon School has an appropriate course. The next Nikon School series will launch on October 2, 2004 in New York City, and visit more than 20 cities in the U.S. through June 2005.

“For more than 30 years, Nikon School has educated thousands of photographers in the creative picture taking process,” said Jerry Grossman, Vice President of Marketing for Nikon Inc. “With the expansion of digital imaging into America’s homes and offices, we recognize the need to educate photographers at all skill levels on how to get the most out their digital experience. Nikon School helps to make picture-taking come alive for more photographers, and brings enthusiasts together to explore new digital techniques and applications.”

Imatest LLC Press Release 08/09/04

Boulder, Colorado - September 8, 2004 -Imatest LLC announces the release of Imatest 1.0, a software package that measures the sharpness and image quality of digital camera images and digitized film images using inexpensive widely-available targets.

Never before has it been possible for photographers to measure the performance of their cameras and lenses with such accuracy and convenience. You had to rely on subjective judgments or published test results. Now you can perform your own measurements, simply and easily, by photographing a target and analyzing the results with Imatest software.

The technology website AnandTech has published a 12 page comparison of the new Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3 and its predecessor the Z2, which might help you to decide which model to buy (found via digicamera.net).

“Overall, we found the Z2 to perform better than the Z3 in relation to Auto WB in tungsten light. In our color reproduction test, the Z3 had a much stronger yellowish-pink cast than the Z2. Indeed, it performed worse than we could have imagined. However, both cameras did pretty well reproducing colors in tungsten light when we used the Tungsten preset or set the WB manually. That said, we noticed that the Z3 slightly underexposed all of our indoor image tests (including video).”

Website: AnandTech - Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z2 & Z3: What is the difference in performance?