Nikon Press Release 09/06/04

Nikon and TiVo Partner to Extend the Excitement of Digital Photography Into the Living Room

Professional Photography from Nikon’s Portfolio of Award Winning Artist’s Delivered to TiVo Series2 Subscribers With Home Network

MELVILLE, N.Y., June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/—Nikon (http://www.nikonusa.com), the world leader in photography, today announced a partnership with TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVR), to deliver professional photography images from world-renowned artists to all TiVo(R) Series2(TM) subscribers connected to a home network.  Beginning today, TiVo Series2 subscribers can view images from Nikon’s “Legends behind the Lens” through the home media features.  The first in a series of artist’s highlighted by Nikon will be Joe McNally, the award-winning photojournalist known for his incredible versatility, technical mastery and use of creative lighting to capture interesting and engaging photographs.

Eastman Kodak Company Press Release 09/06/04

New PocketWizard Upgrade Available for KODAK PROFESSIONAL Digital SLRs

Supports DCS Pro 14n, DCS Pro 14nx and DCS SLR/n in U.S., Canada

ROCHESTER, N.Y., June 09—Eastman Kodak Company today announced a PocketWizard upgrade for several of its digital SLR cameras.  The upgrade, available only as a service upgrade in the US and Canada, direct from Kodak, is compatible with the KODAK PROFESSIONAL DCS Pro 14n, DCS 14nx and DCS Pro SLR/n digital cameras.

The PocketWizard is a digital radio triggering system that fires the flash and camera simultaneously to capture split second action at every angle.  It allows photographers more flexibility to position lighting where necessary without being tethered by a Synch cord. 

“The integration of the PocketWizard system inside the camera body is another way to get the most out of KODAL PROFESSIONAL DCS Pro 14n, DCS 14nx and DCS Pro SLR/n digital cameras and enhance professional photographers? workflows,” said John Witzel, Worldwide and US&C Marketing Manager, Eastman Kodak Company.

Concord Camera Corp. Press Release 09/06/04

CONCORD CAMERA CORP. ANNOUNCES CONCORD DV2020 COMPACT 5-IN-1 MULTI-FUNCTIONAL DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERA

All-in-One Digital Still, Digital Video, PC Cam, Digital Voice Recorder, & MP3 Player

MPEG-4 Compression for Long-Length, High-Quality Video Recording

Hollywood, FL, June 7, 2004 - Concord Camera Corp. (“Concord”) (Nasdaq:LENS), a leader in award-winning high-quality low-priced digital cameras, today announced the Concord DV2020 2 Megapixel 5-in-1 multi-function Digital Video camera. The Concord DV2020 features a 2 Megapixel digital still camera, digital video camera with MPEG-4 compression, PC Cam with instant PC video playing/recording capability, digital voice recorder, and MP3 player - all in one.

The Concord DV2020 was designed with the video photographer and digital photo taking enthusiast in mind. Encased in a sleek aluminum body, the camera’s familiar ‘video camera’ shape and 270 degree adjustable LCD make it comfortable for videographers to take video from any position, whether on the ground or above the head. The high quality 1.5” LTPS LCD is 117k pixels providing a higher LCD quality than the standard digital camera that has an 80k pixel LCD.

Josh Waller has just reviewed the Minolta Dimage F200, a 4 megapixel, 3x optical zoom compact digital camera with an aluminum body.

“The camera produces great images, with rich colour, low noise, and good detail. Ever so slightly soft images, that I personally think look better with a slight sharpen - perhaps this would be corrected if I set sharpness to “high”, instead of “normal” in the cameras settings - this is nothing to worry about too much though. Exposure is generally very good, occasionally images can be slightly dark however - depending on the subject matter.”

Website: Josh Waller - Minolta Dimage F200 Review

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

“To many people it will not come as a surprise when I say that some of the earlier HP models weren’t amongst the best cameras. Some of the earlier models looked and feeled like they were designed by engineers, not by photographers. HP knew they had a problem, and in february 2004 they announced a change in strategy. They really want to become the market leader. HP Photosmart R707 is the first of the new models. We were a bit sceptical when we began testing this new camera… But to our surprise we have got a really excellent camera here.”

Website: DigitalMagasinet - HP Photosmart R707 Review (English)

Website: DigitalMagasinet - HP Photosmart R707 Review (Danish)

The winners of the May 2004 PhotographyBLOG Competition have now been decided. The theme for May was “Silhouettes” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery.

The entries were some of the best ever submitted for a PhotographyBLOG competition, making it very difficult for the panel of judges to choose the three winners:

1st Place
“Caldecotte” by MarkD
View this entry

Judges Comments:
“A powerful image as the sunlight breaks through the clouds down to the windmill.”

“This photo best depicts the theme silhouette and shows good use of subject and background with dramatic effect.”

Prize: 1 copy of Ulead PhotoImpact XL
Kindly donated by Ulead Systems.
http://www.ulead.co.uk

2nd Place
“Hill Walkers” by dapa_group
View this entry

Judges Comments:
“Beautiful colours, great composition, excellent positioning of the tree - what more can you say?!”

Prize: 1 copy of Picasa
Kindly donated by Picasa Inc.
http://www.picasa.net

3rd Place
“Sunset” by seanbolton
View this entry

Judges Comments:
“Beautiful color saturation and composition in this sunset photo.”

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

PLUS
All 3 winners get 15 free digital prints, kindly donated by MyPIXmania.
http://www.mypixmania.com

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

Pentax USA Press Release 08/06/04

PENTAX PLANS DIGITAL SLR FAMILY EXPANSION

June 8, 2004 (GOLDEN, CO) - PENTAX Imaging Company, a division of PENTAX of America, Inc. has announced it is developing cameras for the entry level digital SLR category.  The first introduction is slated for Fall of 2004.

PENTAX entered the digital SLR market in the Fall of 2003 with the popular *ist D digital SLR that offers 6.1 megapixels (pictured), interchangeable lens compatibility, and one of the world?s smallest, lightest camera bodies in the digital SLR category. 

PENTAX introduced two DA series designed lenses to match the *ist D CCD size since the 2003 arrival.  The PENTAX-DA Zoom 16mm-45mm F4 ED AL shipped earlier this year and the smc PENTAX-DA 14mm F2.8 ED [IF] interchangeable wide-angle lens will ship in June 2004.

This latest announcement further demonstrates the PENTAX commitment to the digital SLR camera market including entry level photographers.

PENTAX Imaging Company is an innovative leader in the production of digital and film cameras, binoculars, spotting scopes, eyepieces, lenses, mobile printers, scanners and internet cameras.  For more than 80 years, PENTAX technology has developed durable, reliable products that meet the needs of consumers and businesses.  PENTAX Imaging Company is a division of PENTAX of America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of PENTAX Corporation of Japan.

Website: Pentax USA

Lastolite Press Release 09/06/04

Lastolite Launches New 6’ by 7’ Collapsible Background With Detachable Train.

Following popular demand Lastolite has introduced a new collapsible background to their award-winning range of photographic accessories. Fully collapsible and with a choice of two detachable trains this new design is a revolutionary development in portable background solutions.

Versatile enough to fulfil a range of photographic needs, the two trains (white/black) cover the entire area of the 6’ x 7’ (1.8 x 2.1m) collapsible extending out a further 5ft from the base. Once attached, via Velcro fastenings, the train falls into place easily and the specially designed crease-resistant woven material eliminates the need for time-consuming steam ironing. The train material is also suitable for machine washing, making it much easier to maintain the appearance of this new generation collapsible.

Photoscala have reported that the German manufacturer Praktica are set to release a 4 megapixel digital camera in June 2004. The Luxmedia 4008 features an 8x optical zoom, fast lens, 4.2 megapixels and a solid body. Price is rumoured to be between 300-400 Euros.

Website: photoscala: New digital still camera: Praktica luxmedia 4008

Website: Praktica

Hi-Touch Imaging Technologies Press Release 05/06/04

A global leader in digital imaging output, Hi-Touch Imaging Technologies will be demonstrating their new digital photo printing behavior LinkPrint during the Computex 2004, from 1st to 5th June, Taipei. Throughout series of dynamic and static demonstrations, HiTi Photo Printers will bring you the brand new journey of true-color presentation. Hi-Touch Imaging Technologies will also present you the results of 3-years research and development in Thermal Transfer Technology and total solution of digital photo printing.

In this month’s Sunday Morning Photographer column Mike Johnston looks at the subject of prettiness in photography.

“I don’t mean to look down my nose at the work of amateur photographers, or to imply that I don’t like looking at pictures. On the contrary, some of the amateur work I see is excellent, and occasionally remarkable. And I have a protean appetite for looking at photographs. It’s just that I tend to look at pictures actively - I tend to seek the intelligence behind them, the coherence between one photographer’s different pictures, the purpose and meaning of what I’m looking at. And this is where the fatigue comes from?because after a while, it starts to become clear to me that what the majority of people are chiefly seeking is simply prettiness.”

Website: Sunday Morning Photographer: Scenic Fatigue

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have reviewed the Sunpak PZ40X Flash in conjunction with the Canon Powershot Pro1 digital camera. The Sunpak PZ40X is a powerful, full-featured, lightweight, shoe-mount electronic flash unit for digital and film cameras, that is available in Nikon, Canon, and Minolta TTL dedicated configurations, and will also work manually with cameras having a non-dedicated, single-contact hot shoe. It is 40% smaller and significantly lighter than previous flash units with the same features and power output: with an impressive guide number of 102 (ISO 100, ft) at the 50mm zoom setting.

Website: Index Digicam - Sunpak PZ40X Review

Imaging Resource have posted their review of the new 5 megapixel Sony DSC-W1 digital compact camera.

“Functionally, the Sony DSC-W1 is nearly a dead ringer for the slightly more compact DSC-P100, offering nearly the same functions in a differently-shaped and slightly larger body, with a larger 2.5 inch LCD. It competes with models like Canon’s PowerShot S500 in the “subcompact” digicam category, and should be a strong player there, with its excellent mix of features, functions, small size, and image quality.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Sony DSC-W1 Review

DesignTechnica have just reviewed the 2-megapixel Concord Eye-Q Go Wireless digital camera.

“As far as 2.0 Megapixel cameras go, the Concord Eye-Q Go Wireless was average at best. Its ability to transfer images over Bluetooth, while a nice novelty, served no great purpose unless you have a cellular phone or PDA which is Bluetooth-enabled. In this circumstance, it holds higher value in that it saves you the step of cutting out the computer as the middleman while you are shuffling JPEGs from machine to machine.”

Website: DesignTechnica - Concord Eye-Q Go Wireless Review

Apacer Press Release 25/05/04

New Apacer Photo Steno Pro II
Tuesday 25 May 2004 - The fastest Compact Flash card in the world!

With an Access Rate of 15MB/sec the Apacer Photo Steno Pro II is the fastest Compact Flash card in the world! Recognising the ever-increasing requirements of digital photography, the Apacer Photo Steno Pro II CompactFlash Card offers an outstanding access rate up to 15MB/sec. This ranks the ?PSP-II? as No. 1 in the world.

Taking a photo and saving it as a 3264*2448 pixel 10MB file now only takes 1 second! It takes just another second to read the same file again from the Photo Steno Pro II CompactFlash card.

The Apacer Photo Steno Pro II has a capacity of up to 4GB to satisfy the high-capacity storage requirement of professional photographers. The Photo Steno Pro II will be launched on Davoom.com in June 2004.

The ShortCourses Bookstore have just released the latest in a long line of guides to popular digital cameras. The Nikon D70 one is 136 pages, 8.5 x 11, B&W book with spiral binding and accompanying full-color, fully searchable eBook. Available as a Book, eBook, or package at a special low price.

“A Short Courses digital photography book for people who own the Nikon D70 digital camera and want to get better pictures. This beautifully written and illustrated guide, drawing on the much more comprehensive information on the ShortCourses Web site, pulls together answers to the questions you might have about using the D70.”

Website: A Short Course in Nikon D70 Photography

Divide and conquer! Lobster works in Photoshop* to accurately separate images into tonality and colour.

Lobster creates four new layers from your file: Luminosity ( a very specific type of tonality) and Red, Green and Blue Chromaticity (Hue and Saturation). These separate layers offer you UNPRECEDENTED CONTROL AND POWER over your RGB files. (To prove one aspect of this extreme claim - visit the Exercise in Curves section.)

Even though the image has been separated, Lobster ensures your file appears unaltered and coherent on the screen.

Lobster makes many dialogue boxes, tools and histograms more accurate. If you have not previously understood the feedback that you were getting from Levels and Curves - with Lobster you will understand why - and now these most essential dialogue boxes will become ACCURATE and MUCH more powerful. If Dodging and Burning changed your colours as well as your tone - this will now cease. If Sharpening created unpleasant digital artefacts these will be reduced.

Working with the Manual is an important part of Lobster - it develops insights into your everyday imaging dialogue boxes and offers uses for Apply Image, Calculations, Layer Blending Options - not just Curves and Levels, but other essential imaging dialogue boxes are expanded in their range of application.

Lobster is not a Photoshop plug-in or filter but a Photoshop droplet offering a one step drag and drop operation. It integrates perfectly with Photoshop - the only restrictions on its operations are those of any other Layer Set.

Website: Lobster

Digital Secrets have published a great report that features 4 digital cameras (Canon Digital Rebel, Canon PowerShot Pro1, Olympus E-1 and Nikon Coolpix 5400) used during a recent trip to China:

“With cameras arriving at ever more affordable prices, do digital Single Lens Reflexes offer enough to make them your best travel camera choice?

We packed two complete systems plus a selection of compact digital cameras along for a multifaceted trip to China just to test the idea.

Beijing with the Great Wall, Tien An Men Square, the Forbidden City and Tian Tan Park started things off. Then Chongqing at the head of an all-weather trip down the Yangtze River through the infamous Three Gorges and the world’s biggest dang dam construction site. Then on to Shanghai where east meets west, hustle meets bustle and the city of the future meets today.”

Website: Digital Secrets - Travel Camera Shootout!

BT Press Release 08/06/04

To get a “real” photograph from a digital camera does not necessarily mean a visit to the chemists or camera shop any more, but just a quick stop at a new photo kiosk from BT and Fujifilm.

The first “Digital Photo Kiosks” have just been installed at London Luton Airport, the Blackpool Tower, St John’s Shopping Precinct in Liverpool, the Coppergate shopping centre in York and in the Corus hotels, at Hyde Park in London and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Initially ten kiosks are planned for a six-month trial across the UK. The kiosks will be rolled out nationwide to major tourist attractions, hotels, airports and shopping centres if the trial is successful.

DCResource have today reviewed the 4-megapixel, 10x zoom Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z2.

“Two standout features on the Z2 include a first-rate movie mode, which offers resolutions of 640 x 480 and 800 x 600, though the latter has a 15 fps frame rate. The other nice feature is the super macro mode, which lets you get as close to your subject as 3 cm. The camera also supports a wide-angle conversion lens and an external flash (though Minolta only). The Z2 offers a full suite of manual controls for enthusiasts as well as fully automatic modes for the beginner.”

Website: DCResource - Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z2 Review