Extensis Press Release 02/06/04

Cross-platform Digital Asset Management solution offers instant deployment, ease of use and affordability for workgroups and individuals.

Northampton, UK. - June 2, 2004 - Extensis Inc., today announced immediate availability of its leading Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution, Portfolio 7 and Portfolio Server 7 for Macintosh. Portfolio enables photographers, graphic artists and other individuals and workgroups - from those in small-to-medium sized organizations to multiple workgroups in global 2000 companies - to organize, retrieve, repurpose, and distribute digital files quickly. Portfolio Server also provides instant access to assets across the Internet and other wide area networks, opening the communication channel between distributed team members and partner networks, making asset management and collaboration easier and more efficient than ever before.

DCResource have today reviewed the new 6 megapixel Kodak Easyshare DX7630.

“There’s a whole lot to like about the Kodak EasyShare DX7630, and a couple of things not to like, as well. Kodak is undoubtedly playing the Megapixel game here, selling a camera with way more resolution than the typical consumer needs. While the 6 Megapixel CCD will produce HUGE prints and is helpful when cropping images, it really is overkill.”

Website: DCResource - Kodak Easyshare DX7630 Review

HP Press Release 02/06/04

Company declares 2004 “the year digital color goes mainstream”

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 2, 2004
HP today announced a broad initiative to expand digital color imaging and printing to all of its customers in the home and office. Bringing 20 years of innovation and more than $1 billion in overall research and development, HP is helping customers add color to all aspects of their lives.

In order to reach customers in various stages of digital color adoption, HP plans to:

Work with industry leaders such as Adobe, Apple, Microsoft and Quark to deliver the best color experience - one that is both richer and easier - for businesses and consumers.

Deliver robust, affordable color printing products. For example, HP is launching the first color laser printer in North America introduced at a price below $500. At an estimated U.S. street price of $499,(1) the HP Color LaserJet 2550 printer is priced to fit the budgets of microbusinesses and small- to medium-size business (SMB) customers.

Continue to elevate and improve print quality. HP is introducing new papers - including laser specialty media, matte postcards and labels - to complement the complete color printing system, bringing customers professional print quality and reliability whether they are printing everyday general office documents or professional-looking marketing materials.

Kodak Press Release 02/06/04

Free Trial version of the DIGITAL GEM Airbrush Professional Plug-In is now available at www.asf.com

Rochester, NY (June 2, 2004) - Eastman Kodak Company today introduced the new DIGITAL GEM Airbrush Professional Plug-In, which gives users a quick and powerful way of smoothing skin and other surfaces without blurring or affecting the detail of important facial features. This new plug-in enables users to automatically achieve meticulous airbrush and retouching effects without tedious, time-consuming masking and manual softening.

The DIGITAL GEM Airbrush Professional Plug-In joins the suite of image correction and enhancement plug-ins to provide easy and effective methods for automatically improving digital images in ADOBE PHOTOSHOP Software and compatible image editing applications. Other members of the suite include the DIGITAL SHO Plug-In for revealing hidden details in shadows or dark image areas, and the DIGITAL SHO Professional Plug-In, which adds more control, functionality, and the ability to reveal hidden detail from highlight areas. The DIGITAL ROC Plug-In restores, corrects, and balances image color, while the DIGITAL ROC Professional Plug-In adds advanced features for brightness and contrast control, as well as 16 bit support. Finally, the original DIGITAL GEM Plug-In reduces distracting noise and grain in digital images. These award-winning software products were developed by Kodak?s Austin Development Center (formerly Applied Science Fiction), which has been a leader in automatic image correction and photo restoration applications since the mid 1990s with its revolutionary DIGITAL ICE Technology for film and flatbed scanners which automatically removes surface defects like dust and scratches from scanned film and prints.

Imaging Resource are reporting that Pentax are planning to reduce the manufacture of their 35mm film compact and SLR cameras and focus on digital instead. They will continue production of professional medium-format film cameras. This breaking news was originally posted on the news page of Pentar Corp., the official Russian distributor of Pentax products.

What do you think? Are Pentax making the right move by switching their attention to digital, especially when the likes of Canon and Nikon have made no such announcements (yet)?

Website: Imaging Resource - Pentax plans to focus on digital

Steves Digicams has just posted reviews of 3 Olympus digital cameras, including the D-580 Zoom (pictured).

Website: Steves Digicams - Olympus D-580 Zoom Review

Website: Steves Digicams - Olympus D-540 Zoom Review

Website: Steves Digicams - Olympus D-395 Review

Website: Read my Olympus Camedia D-540 Zoom Review

Steves Digicams has just posted reviews of 3 Panasonic Lumix digital cameras, including the DMC-FX5 (pictured).

Website: Steves Digicams - Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX5 Review

Website: Steves Digicams - Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC70 Review

Website: Steves Digicams - Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC50 Review

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have just reviewed the tiny 4 megapixel Pentax Optio S4i, which has a 3X optical zoom, 1.8 inch LCD monitor and features the first PENTAX digital cradle-style lithium ion recharge base unit.

Website: Index Digicam - Pentax Optio S4i Review

The Danish website DigitalMagasinet have published a comparative test of the HP Photosmart R707 and the Canon IXUS 500 5 megapixel digital cameras.

Website: DigitalMagasinet - HP Photosmart R707 vs Canon IXUS 500

Casio have just released a new firmware update (Version 1.01) for the 6 megapixel Casio EXILIM PRO EX-P600 digital camera.

Improvements Provided by This Update
V1.00-V1.01
- High-speed night scene recording.
- Zooming of portrait orientation images (without changing to landscape orientation).

Website: Casio EXILIM PRO EX-P600 Firmware Update

New KODAK PROFESSIONAL Inkjet Photo Paper Delivers Exceptional Color, Detail and Quality for Pros, AdAm Photographers

Universally Compatible with Dye, Pigmented Ink Printers; Instant Drying Media

Rochester, Jun 01—Eastman Kodak Company today introduced KODAK PROFESSIONAL Inkjet Photo Paper for professional and advanced amateur (AdAm) photographers.  The high quality, instant-dry paper, available in glossy and lustre finishes, is compatible with all inkjet printers and represents the first KODAK PROFESSIONAL branded inkjet- media in the market.

Featuring a true photographic base with high-quality pulp and state-of-the-art paper chemistry, the new instant-drying cut-sheet inkjet photo paper delivers outstanding image quality, whiter whites, accurate flesh-tone reproduction and a wide color gamut.  With a range of recommended and custom color profiles developed for popular inkjet printers, the paper delivers a bright, saturated color and sharp detail.  The competitively priced paper will appeal to commercial, portrait/social and AdAm photographers.

A-Digital-Eye have reviewed the 4800x1200 dpi Canon Bubble Jet i80 high speed mobile printer. The Bubble Jet i80 is available now for around £199 inc VAT.

” took this little printer with me on a recent trip. Since it supports PictBridge compatible cameras, all I needed was a cable for my Canon 10D camera. No need to lug along a laptop. For true portability, the i80 printer has an optional lithium ion battery pack for $99. or a charging cradle with battery for $139. Another option is a car power supply. I simply used the included power supply which supports 120 and 240 volts for those traveling abroad. Printing couldn’t be simpler. When browsing photos on your camera’s LCD, simply select the photo’s you want printed, and how many copies of each. Cropping is even supported. Hook up the cable between your camera and printer, go to the print setup menu on your camera, choose paper size, bordered or borderless, and let it print. 2 minutes 40 seconds later you’ll have a nice sharp 4x6 inch borderless print all without the use of a computer!”

Website: A-Digital-Eye - Canon Bubble Jet i80 Review

Princess Cruises Escapes Press Release 31/05/04

This summer sees the return of the Princess Cruises Escapes Travel Photography Awards - the biggest professional and amateur travel photography competition in the UK.

Following the huge success of last year’s inaugural competition which received over 5,000 entries, the Princess Cruises Escapes Travel Photography Awards are once again calling for members of the public to enter the cream of their travel photography for the chance of winning either a luxury Mediterranean cruise on one of Princess Cruises grand class ships (amateur category) or £10,000 cash (professional category).

Photographs can be entered under one of 5 categories - Land-scapes, Sea-scapes, City-scapes and Sport-scapes, a new category for 2004 which will capitalise on the wealth of exciting sporting events that are taking place around the world this year.  Also returning this year is the popular ?E-scapes? category in which photographers are asked to capture the emotion of travelling as opposed to the destination itself.  This may be by using people to communicate the culture of a country or capturing a particular scene that really tells a story of a place.

dotPhoto, Inc. Press Release 01/06/04

DOTPHOTO TRANSFORMS THE WAY CAMERA PHONES PRINT PHOTOS WITH “CLICK & DELIVER” PATENT-PENDING TECHNOLOGY

Prints Directly from Any Camera Phone - No Special Software Needed

June 1, 2004, West Trenton, NJ - dotPhoto, Inc. www.dotphoto.com, a global leader in state-of-the-art online digital image handling and the first company to enable camera phone photo uploads, announced today one-button Click & Deliver patent-pending technology that transforms the way camera phones print photos.  All camera phones (regardless of carrier) can now print “Cell Prints” directly from their cell phone without any special software.

Click & Deliver is completely automatic.  Users simply take a photo with their camera phone and email the image through their phone to [email protected].  dotPhoto then automatically checks the user’s personal preferences, and prints and ships their photos (called “cell prints”) on high-quality Kodak paper directly to the user.  It’s that easy.  To experience Click & Deliver, anyone can join the free service at http://www.dotPhoto.com, set their Click & Deliver preferences under MyAccount, and start e-mailing photos.  The basic photo-processing price is only 11? each for a 3” x 4” camera phone print.  The 3” x 4” print size optimizes the slightly lower resolutions of camera phones while maintaining the camera phone’s aspect ratio, so there is no need for cropping.  New dotPhoto users will receive their first 10 “cell prints” free of charge.

The June 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 May’s theme, which is “The Urban Landscape”.

The following prizes will be awarded to the top 3 entries:

1st Place
Photobird.com one-year subscription with 100 megabytes of storage space
Kindly donated by Photobird.com.
http://www.photobird.com

2nd Place
1 copy of Ulead PhotoImpact XL
Kindly donated by Ulead Systems.
http://www.ulead.co.uk

3rd Place
1 copy of Picasa
Kindly donated by Picasa Inc.
http://www.picasa.net

PLUS
Each winner will also receive 15 digital prints, kindly donated by MyPIXmania.
http://www.mypixmania.com

Please make sure that you read the Monthly Competition Rules before submitting your entry. Note that you are only allowed to enter 1 photograph. The competition is worldwide and open to everyone.

You can now start submitting entries to the June Competition here:
June 2004 Competition

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

The 1st / 2nd / 3rd place winners will be announced on Wednesday 9th May, and the prizes will be sent out shortly after :-)

Stuff Magazine have published a list of their recommended digital cameras, complete with reviews for each one. The Olympus Stylus 410 (pictured), which I reviewed yesterday, was awarded the title of Most Durable digital camera.

- Best Pro-Quality: Nikon Coolpix 8700
- Most Durable - Olympus Stylus 410
- Most Versatile - Panasonic D-Snap SV-AV50
- Most Compact - Casio Exilim EX-S3

Thanks to Sanj for the link.

Website: Stuff Magazine - Digital Camera Choice

If you are even vaguely interested in sports photography then you should definitely pay a visit to SportsShooter, which calls itself “the resource for sports photography”. Issue 67 of their Newsletter contains a number of interesting articles, including “Leaving Film Behind”:

“I was visiting an old friend, a successful commercial photographer who went digital about a year about when the 11- megapixel Canon 1Ds came out. Like anyone who could, he had waited until the quality in digital met his needs before he made the jump from film. Everything about his studio was high-end in 2004 digital studio terms- the computer, the inkjet, the DVD burner.

It wasn’t until I peeked in his equipment locker that I was surprised. Stacked row after row, twenty high: 1 Gigbabyte compact flash cards. There were four hundred and thirty-three, numbered in sequence with red sharpie.”

and “In The Bag: Horse Racing”:

“Whenever I see a uninformed comment on the message board referring to the ease of making images with remote cameras, I always wish that person would have to be one of my assistants for one day at a major event where we are doing multiple remotes, they’d get over themselves pretty quickly. And they’d learn just how precise this all is.”

Website: SportsShooter

The second review of the 8-megapixel Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 digital camera today is by a new website called TopicPoint:

“The A2 has a great movie mode. The best quality movie mode is 544x408 at 30 frames per second. You can use the zoom during the movies, and movies can be fairly long, over 6 minutes with a sufficiently fast and large CompactFlash card. Anti-shake mode also works to help stabilize images in movie mode too.”

Website: TopicPoint - Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 Review

There are two new reviews of the 8-megapixel Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 digital camera for you today. The first is an in-depth 14 pages from HardwareZone:

“The Anti-Shake feature really works! Of course, how effective it is for you depends on your hand holding skills. The choice of different color spaces and the various image adjustments (in small increments too) available are major pluses. In terms of operation, the A2 offers pretty fast startup time and improved AF speed over the A1. For purists, the availability of the RAW file format means more flexibility during post processing.”

Website: HardwareZone - Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 Review