ePhotoZine have just published their review of the new Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED film scanner.

“The Nikon Super Coolscan LS9000 is a superb machine, though pricey. In commercial terms its cost can be justified in time savings and its multi-format capability.”

Website: ePhotoZine - Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 ED Review

Samsung Press Release

THE DIGIMAX I-PACK RECHARGEABLE LITHIUM ION BATTERY - ANOTHER WORLD’S FIRST FROM SAMSUNG CAMERA

Samsung is proud to announce the world’s first rechargeable Lithium-Ion CR-series battery pack. Known as the Digimax Battery I-Pack, it can replace two conventional AA cells or a single CR-V3 battery in today’s digital cameras while providing the high voltage and low temperature performance they demand. The I-Pack is compatible with numerous cameras yet is specifically designed as a power source for the Digimax series of digital cameras, including the V50, V5, 530, V40, V4, 430, 401, 370, V3, 250 and 202.

“No matter what kind of electronic devices consumers use today, the need for a reliable, long-lasting power source is universal,” said Gary Sutton, Sales manager for Samsung Camera. “With the introduction of the new I-Pack rechargeable battery, we’ve delivered an ideal power solution for the majority of the cameras within the Digimax line.”

Future Image Press Release 17/06/04

CAMERA-PHONES MAKE BETTER PRINTS THAN SINGLE-USE CAMERAS

NOORDWIJK, THE NETHERLANDS, and SAN MATEO, Calif. - June 17, 2004—Prints made from camera-phone images are significantly better than those from single-use cameras - both film and digital - and comparable to those from standalone consumer digital cameras, according to a new study released today.

On the opening day of its Mobile Imaging Summit Europe executive conference, Future Image, Inc., the leading provider of information and analysis on business and technology trends in the imaging industry, announced the results of its evaluation of the quality of consumer prints made from camera-phone pictures. For its report ?4 x 6 Shoot-Out: Are Camera-Phones Ready To Make Consumer Prints??, the research firm photographed six representative test subjects with nine different consumer cameras - four camera-phones, two one-time use cameras (OTUCs), and three point & shoot digital cameras - and evaluated prints of the images made using an online service, retail kiosk, and home printing equipment.

Epson Press Release 17/06/04

Canon, Epson, HP, and Lexmark, Support New ISO Standard that Helps Customers Evaluate Printer and Print Cartridge Yield

- Consensus-driven standard for measuring monochrome toner print cartridge yield is technically robust, international in scope -

- TOKYO, Japan; PALO ALTO, Calif.; LEXINGTON, Ky.; June 16, 2004 -

Canon (NYSE: CAJ), Epson, HP (NYSE: HPQ), and Lexmark (NYSE: LXK), today announced their support of the new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard, ISO/IEC 19752, for monochrome toner cartridge yield in monochrome laser printers. Canon, Epson, HP, and Lexmark are leading proponents of industry standards and believe a single, rigorous, worldwide ISO standard to measure monochrome toner cartridge yield will help customers more objectively and accurately evaluate printer and print cartridge yield.

The Danish website Akamera.dk have just reviewed the 8 megapixel Canon PowerShot Pro1, which was announced by Canon just before the start of the PMA 2004 trade show.

Website: Akamera.dk - Canon PowerShot Pro1 Review

The Fuji FinePix S5000 Zoom looks very much like a traditional SLR camera in terms of styling, but it is actually more like a compact camera in size and weight. Despite its diminutive dimensions, the Fuji FinePix S5000 Zoom has a massive 10x optical zoom which is equivalent to 37-370mm on a 35mm camera. It also features Fuji’s new 4th Generation Super CCD HR sensor and can record images in RAW mode as well as the JPEG file format. And all of this is available for just over ?200! So is the FinePix S5000 Zoom a bit of a bargain? Find out in my review.

Website: Fuji FinePix S5000 Review

Canon UK Press Release 16/06/04

Canon wins four TIPA awards for best photographic and imaging products of 2004

Canon, leader in photographic and imaging technology, has received four Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) awards for the following products:

“Best D-SLR Professional Camera 2004” - EOS-1D Mark II
“Breakthrough Award 2004” - EOS 300D
“Best 35mm SLR Camera 2004” for the - EOS 30V Date / 33V
“Best Technology 2004” - DVK-E2 Data Verification Kit software

Pentax has announced plans to start production of 2 and 3 megapixel modules for the cameraphone market. In a brief report on NE Asia Online, this move is part of a wider strategy to boost non-camera based revenue - “Noncamera operations are expected to account for 75% of operating profit for fiscal 2006 if the three-year business plan goes ahead as projected, the officials added.

Website: NE Asia Online - Pentax to Make Camera Phone Parts to Expand Profit Base

In an interview with Reuters yesterday, Nikon has said that it intends to increase production of the D70 DSLR to above 90,000 units by September/October 2004, compared to 70,000 when the camera was launched in March. At the same time Nikon also announced that it has “no plans to stop producing film SLRs, but that it may next year start considering pulling out of the film compact camera business due to a sharp plunge in demand.” Sales of compact film cameras have slipped to 50,000 units worldwide in the current business year to March, compared with 1.3 million in 2002.

Website: Yahoo.com - Nikon Boosts Digital Cameras, Eyes Exit from Film

A new version of Qimage has just been released.

Qimage v2004.300 (06/15/04):

New Features:

Freehand by page: Take full control of the placement of images on any page at any time by just clicking and dragging your prints on the page. Unlike old versions which required switching the entire document to “Freehand” placement mode, v2004.300 allows freehand placement on a page-by-page basis, allowing you to fine tune individual pages while leaving the rest of the document in an auto-placement mode such as center, optimal, etc. Simply use the automatic placement method of your choice and click/drag at will. A small “F” button at the upper/right corner of the page shows you which pages are in freehand placement mode and allows you to control freehand/automatic placement for that page with just a click of the mouse. Be sure to check the “Listing of Major Functions”, “Freehand” section of the help for more info.

Print rotation: Take full control over the orientation of your prints by highlighting prints and clicking the “Rotate Left” or “Rotate Right” buttons which replace the old portrait/landscape buttons. You can even right click and select a rotation with respect to the thumbnail (original image), such as selecting a print and rotating to 180 degrees (thumbnail upside down). Manual rotations “stick” until you change them or set the rotation back to “automatic”. Prints that have been manually rotated show with a small rotation symbol at the upper right corner of the print on the preview page. Check the “Listing of Major Functions”, “Print Rotation” section of the help for more info.

Click/drag on the preview page: You can now click and drag to move/size images directly on the small preview page on the main window. The full page editor is still available for high precision adjustments, placement at specific locations, and print cropping should you need it.

New nudge feature: Go to the full page editor and highlight a print. Hold the Ctrl key while pressing the left/right/up/down arrows on the keyboard to nudge the current print up against the next logical edge on the page: either the edge of another print or the edge of the page. This allows quick and easy alignment to other prints or the edge of the page.

Fixes:

Some minor bugs from v2004.211 were fixed along the way, most of which were cosmetic or related to certain window areas not updating or showing the latest information/status. The most significant issue was a fix where the page editor was not utilizing the monitor profile when “All Images” or “HQ Preview” was selected.

Website: Qimage

Steves Digicams have reviewed the new HP Photosmart R707, a stylish 5 megapixel digital camera.

“Overall the image quality in 5MP *** mode was great for a camera in this class. Outdoors, the camera does very well, and its 3x optical zoom lens produces sharp results through out its range. The majority of our test shots were well exposed, and colors were nicely saturated, although I did notice an average amount of noise in High/Low contrast areas. I found the Adaptive Lighting feature to be useful when shooting either indoors or outdoors, the camera increases the gamma of the image to better enhance the detail of objects in low contrast (shadow) areas, but the image quality does suffer a little, if you’re not going to print anything larger than an 8x10” you should be fine. I was also happy with our indoor samples, images were properly exposed and skin tones appeared very natural.”

Website: Steves Digicams - HP Photosmart R707 Review

The Crutchfield Advisor website have just reviewed the Fuji FinePix F700. Fuji claims the the F700 sensor improves image quality by widening the dynamic range, rather than just increasing the number of pixels. This should mean more detail in the shadow and highlight areas of an image than Fuji cameras have previously captured.

“At first glance, the FinePix F700 looks like a sleek and slender, very solidly built point-and-shoot camera. Even if you?ve just fallen off the digital camera turnip truck, you can figure out how to operate the basics of the F700 in a matter of seconds. Just turn it on and make sure the dial is set to “auto” - you can use the F700 as a true point-and-shoot camera. And getting your images from the camera to your computer is as simple as connecting the two via the included USB cable and clicking a button.”

Website: Crutchfield Advisor - Fuji FinePix F700 Review

Website: Read my review of the Fuji FinePix F700

The Czech website Digineff have just posted a short review of the Sanyo Xacti VPC-C1, a new hybrid digital still/video camera that certainly looks very stylish.

Website: Digineff - Sanyo Xacti VPC-C1 Review

The Spanish website quesabesde.com have posted their review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1, a rangefinder-like digital camera which is exactly the same as the more expensive Leica Digilux 2 in terms of camera design.

Website: quesabesde.com - Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1 Review

ByteSector have just reviewed the 8-megapixel Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom digital camera.

“The image quality is just excellent; the C-8080 is not as good as the PowerShot Pro1 in quality but it is better then the DiMage A2. The colour results are very natural and there are no distortions or odd hues. There is very little noise found and a noise reduction option is also available in the menu. For me this camera produces an overall balanced image; everything is just perfect, not overdone or underdone but natural. “

Website: ByteSector - Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom Review

Website: Read my review of the Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom

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UPDATE: All 40 prizes have now been won, as of 08.30am BST 16th June - you will receive an email today if you have won.

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With Father’s Day just around the corner, About.com have published a brief guide to the Top 5 Digital Cameras for Dads, including the budget Kodak EasyShare CX6200 (pictured). OK, so it’s a pretty spurious link, but it will only take a couple of minutes to read. Honest. And your Dad will love you forever if you buy him the most expensive recommended camera - the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 at only $999…

Website: About.com - Top 5 Digital Cameras for Dads

More cameraphone news as 4 New York Times staff photographers try out the Sanyo PM-8200 and report back on whether they liked it or not. Concerns about the image quality and the issue of privacy were raised - “When I’m taking pictures I want to be seen as a photographer and not be sneaking pictures”. But the overall impression of this 640x480 pixel phone was quite positive - “I didn’t expect good quality, but when I printed the pictures it was better than I expected.”

Website: Reiter’s Camera Phone Report - New York Times staff photographers play with Sanyo camera phones

BBC News are running a story about another device that allows you to automatically record your day-to-day lives. Well, actually you probably won’t be able to record your life, as the SenseCam is a prototype that will never make it into production. But it will help patients at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, UK, where researchers hope that it will help patients with memory loss and improve their quality of life. For the techies amongst you, the Sensecam can store 2,000 images on a 128MB memory card and has a 132-degree ultrawide lens.

Website: BBC News - ‘Black box’ cam for total recall

Fuji are currently running a Flash-based teaser on their Finepix.com website for a new camera called the Fuji FinePix Square Mini. Billed as the successor to the Finepix 401, 410 and 420 digicams, more details are due in 2 days time on the 17th June, so stay tuned…

Website: Finepix.com