SMaL Camera Technologies Press Release 19/05/04

SMaL Camera Technologies Introduces Ultra-Pocket 5 Rapid Development Kit to Enable World’s Slimmest 3-Megapixel Digital Cameras

Kit Positions Manufacturers to Launch Best in Class 3MP DSCs at Retail Price Points of $129 or Below

Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (May 19, 2004) ? SMaL Camera Technologies, a developer of digital imaging solutions and enabler of award-winning super-thin digital still cameras, announced today its new Ultra-Pocket? 5 rapid development kit for 3-megapixel credit card cameras with color TFT display. The Ultra-Pocket 5 kit enables manufacturers and brands to rapidly enter the heart of the mass consumer market ? 3-megapixel ? with unparalleled thinness, style, wide dynamic range, and worry-free battery life, in the sub-$129 retail price range.

“Manufacturers and brands struggle to penetrate the highly coveted ‘slim’ category for digital cameras,” says Maurizio Arienzo, SMaL’s president and chief executive officer. “When they rely on off-the-shelf components, not only is their time to market slow and expensive, but also their cameras fail to meet consumers’ and retailers’ expectations in thinness, battery life, and quality, and in many cases, price point. Only SMaL’s Ultra-Pocket 5 kit overcomes all of these sources of frustration for manufacturers, retailers, and consumers alike.”

The Ricoh Caplio RX is the successor to the Caplio G4wide, with Ricoh claiming that the new model is quicker, slimmer, lighter and even easier to use. The Ricoh Caplio RX stands out from the rest of the market because of its wide-angle 28mm lens, and because it has the world’s fastest shutter response and start-up times. Other features, such as the 3 megapixel sensor and 3x optical zoom, are standard for this class of camera, so does the Caplio RX have what it takes to catch your attention? Find out in my review.

Website: Ricoh Caplio RX Review

Does your digital camera offer a RAW file format, but you have no idea what it does or what advantages it offers? Take a look at Michael Reichmann’s latest article on the Luminous Landscape website, which explains what a RAW file is and the pros and cons.

“Something to consider is that every digital camera is indeed always shooting in raw mode. But, if we choose to save the file as a JPG we are committing to the raw conversion program that is built into the camera. If we allow the file to be saved in raw format though we have the opportunity to do the conversion on a more sophisticated platform, and to do so again and again if there’s any benefit to this in future. In other words, the decision is ? do you want to do the raw file conversion now in the camera, or later on your computer?”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Understanding Raw Files

DCResource have posted their review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1, a rangefinder-like digital camera which is exactly the same as the Leica Digilux 2 in terms of camera design.

“There’s a whole lot to like about the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1. It could be the stunning, retro design that’s reminiscent of Leica cameras of old. Or perhaps it’s the manual shutter speed, aperture, and focus rings, which make adjusting settings super-easy. The photo quality is very nice, too, but a bit on the noisy side. What’s the catch? The price. With a list price of $1599, you could buy a Nikon D70 kit plus an extra lens, and you’ll have better photos, performance, and expandability. You’re paying a lot for nostalgia here, folks.”

Website: DCResource - Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1 Review

The Spanish website quesabesde.com have reviewed the Panasonic DMC-FX5, which features a 1/2.5” CCD with a total of 4.23 mega pixels. The camera’s Leica DC VARIO-ELMARIT lens is comparable to a 35 to 105mm lens on a 35mm camera. Enhanced features include guide lines to help identify horizontal and vertical reference, and a real-time histogram which indicates the exposure status.

Website: quesabesde.com - Panasonic DMC-FX5 Review

According to an article on Reuters.com, global digital camera sales are set to rise by 39% during 2004, reaching 100 million units by 2008. The catchily-named “Worldwide Digital Still Camera Forecast” by IDC also said that shipments this year will reach 68.6 million units.

Website: Reuters.com - Digital Camera Shipments Seen Up 39 Pct in 2004

Colour Confidence Press Release 17/05/04

ColorPlus launch heralds new era in affordable Monitor Calibration Devices

ColorVision ColorPlus available from £89.95 inc VAT
Brings monitor calibration devices to a wider consumer audience

Birmingham, UK, May 17, 2004 - Colour Confidence, the colour management division of TypeMaker, is set to revolutionise the consumer digital photography marketplace with the launch of ColorVision ColorPlus. Priced at a highly attractive £89.95 (including VAT), the simple to use PC Windows-based device introduces consumers to the benefits of monitor calibration devices, traditionally the preserve of professional photographers.

“The growing popularity of digital photography and imaging has created a requirement for an entry-level colour management solution that delivers true monitor accuracy. The introduction of ColorPlus brings a new dimension to the photographic experience of digital camera enthusiasts who traditionally have not been able to justify the additional spend. ColorPlus offers an affordable introduction to monitor calibration devices and a simple migration path to the Spyder and Spyder Pro portfolio,” said Geoffrey Clements, Managing Director, Colour Confidence.

CNET News have an intersting article about the use of peer-to-peer technology (think Napster) for sharing digital photos. OurPictures is launching a new service which will allow you to swap pictures with other users on the OurPictures network.

“Our belief is that the desktop is the right place where a consumer wants to organize and manage their digital photos—not on a Web site,” said John Paul, CEO and founder of OurPictures. “If you have one photo you want a thousands people to see, that’s one thing. But a Web site is not the right place to place thousands of photos.”

Is this a great idea, or simply someone trying to make use of a problematic technology?

Website: CNET News - Point, click and swap—digital photos go P2P

Extensis Press Release 18/05/04

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

Northampton, UK - May 18th, 2004 - Extensis Inc., today announced immediate availability of its leading Digital Asset Management (DAM) solution, Portfolio 7 and Portfolio Server 7 for Windows (Macintosh versions will be available later this month). Portfolio enables photographers, graphic artists and other individuals and workgroups - from those in small-to-medium sized organisations to multiple workgroups in global 2000 companies - to organise, 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.

“Portfolio 7 marks a new direction for digital asset management,” said Kevin Hurst, vice president of Marketing for Extensis. “While most DAM solutions are expensive, difficult to deploy, and have a steep learning curve, Portfolio is extremely affordable, has an easy to learn interface and can be seamlessly deployed in a matter of hours into an existing workflow.”

Imaging Resource are reporting today that Olympus Japan have just announced a new Ferrari-branded digital camera, which is based upon the the ultracompact Olympus Camedia AZ-1 (first announced on April 19th 2004). 10,000 cameras will be sold worldwide.

Website: Imaging Resource - Olympus and Ferrari announce new digicam

Website: Olympus Japan Press Release

Sony Press Release 17/05/04

NEW SONY CYBER-SHOT CAMERA INSPIRES INNOVATIVE PICTURE-TAKING

300-Degree Lens Rotation Allows You Flexible Shooting Style

SAN DIEGO, May 17, 2004 - Sony, the market leader in consumer digital cameras, has blended the fun of a rotating lens with the speed and clarity of a five-megapixel Cyber-shot digital still camera in the new DSC-F88 model.

The F88 camera’s compact, all-metal body is fitted with an internal Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar 3X optical zoom lens that allows it to rotate 300 degrees, so you can see your pose in the camera’s 1.8-inch LCD screen before snapping the picture, providing you with a flexible shooting style.

Rob Galbraith is reporting that May 20th has been set as the date for the worldwide release of Canon’s Digital Photo Professional and EOS Viewer Utility software utilities. Digital Photo Professional is a new browsing and RAW file processing software for the EOS-1D, EOS-1Ds and EOS-1D Mark II. EOS Viewer Utility is the successor to the slow and cumbersome File Viewer Utility. Both programs will be made available free of charge.

Website: Rob Galbraith - Digital Photo Professional, EOS Viewer Utility coming May 20

H&M Systems Software Press Release 17/05/04

Latest Release of StudioLine Photo 2 Entices Full Spectrum of Photographers - From Amateur to Pro

More Image Editing Power, Smarter Camera Interface, RAW Added for Pros, Additional Designer Web Galleries, and Faster Database Response - All Top Off Latest Release

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey; May 17, 2004 - H&M Systems Software today introduced the latest version of its flagship StudioLine Photo 2 digital imaging software. It’s designed for photographers, stock houses, graphic artists, hobbyists, and those requiring the ability to edit, archive, store and manage digital images. This latest release, offering added photo editing power, a smarter camera interface, professional RAW format support, new designer web galleries, and faster photo database response time will benefit current StudioLine Photo 2 users, along with those desiring an economical, yet versatile digital photo tool. 

The Czech website Fotoaparat.cz have just published their review of the new 8-megapixel Nikon Coolpix 8700 digital camera.

Website: Fotoaparat.cz - Nikon Coolpix 8700 Review

FotoTime Press Release

FOTOTIME ANNOUNCES FOTOALBUM PRO 4.1 DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY SHARING AND MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

FotoAlbum Pro 4.1 new features including archiving, importing and exporting, Video FotoShows and EXIF updating

FotoTime, an online photo service specializing in sharing and organizing digital images, today announced the availability of FotoAlbum Pro 4.1. FotoAlbum Pro meets the needs of both casual users and photography enthusiasts alike by offering all the tools needed to organize and share digital pictures. FotoAlbum Pro 4.1 has many new features including archiving, importing and exporting, Video FotoShows, and EXIF updating. FotoAlbum Pro 4.1 is available at www.fototime.com.

“We have added many new and exciting features to FotoAlbum Pro,” said FotoTime Vice President of Marketing and Technology, Jeff Kelling. “A major need for our users is to ensure that their digital pictures are secure. That is why we added archiving to FotoAlbum Pro. FotoAlbum easily archives pictures to a CD/DVD along with album information, captions, keywords and other data.”

Imaging Resource 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 (a 2x zoom lens with a cross-section smaller than a dime). Estimated street price is $299.

“Excellent color. As I’ve become accustomed to with Canon cameras, the SD110 delivered excellent color throughout my testing. Colors were bright and accurate, although I did think that strong additive primary colors (red, green, blue) tended to come out a little oversaturated. The white balance system worked very well, although its Auto option had a lot of trouble with the incandescent lighting of my Indoor Portrait test. In that test though, the SD110’s Incandescent and Manual white balance settings did a very nice job. Skin tones were good, and it’s really hard to find much fault with the SD110’s color in any of the test images.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Canon PowerShot SD110 Digital ELPH Review

ePhotoZine are reporting that the price of Kodak’s dye-sub printer, the 8500 Professional Digital Photo Printer, has been cut by £100 in the UK. The new RRP is £699.

“The arithmetic makes great sense for photographers keen to increase their revenue at photo sessions and events. Now we have taken the decision to reduce the price by £100 we calculate that at an approximate cost to the photographer of just £1.00 per print, and at an average retail price of just £15 for an 8x10 with mount, the user can pay off the printer cost with just 50 sales - and that is achievable at just one wedding function”

Website: ePhotoZine - Kodak 8500 Digital Photo Printer

BytePhoto have reviewed the Olympus Mju 410 Digital camera. The Mju 410 is encased in a full metal body with a silver finish, offers 4 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom. The Mju 410 is the first Mju Digital model to feature TruePic Turbo, a new image processor which sharpens image clarity, contrast and colour for life-like results. Available now for ?299.99 (inc VAT).

“As a first impression, the Olympus Stylus 410 definitely looked sleek and stylish, the aesthetic details were worked out quite nicely in this model; for instance, the finish on the metallic body gave a shiny, modernized look to the camera as a whole. One of the first things I noticed was that Olympus removed the typical mode command dial, and digitized it and included it in the software. This, in my opinion, is a great move; not only does it clean up the exterior and organize it, it also simplifies using the camera in the dark and makes it generally easier to see the different modes.”

Website: BytePhoto - Olympus Mju 410 Digital Review

Website: Read my review of the Olympus Mju 410 Digital

Transcend Information Press Release 17/05/04

Taipei, Taiwan, May 17, 2004 /Various Agencies—- Transcend Information, Inc. releases the lifestyle enhancing JetFlash Digital Still Camera (JetFlash DSC) this month, May 2004. Easily fitting into your pocket, this digital camera combined with a USB flash drive, allows you to take pictures anywhere, anytime. 

With 640x480 pixel-resolution, photos will be easy to email and share with your friends. You?ll never again have to worry about finding the USB cable or card reader to download your images. Just plug your JetFlash DSC into an available USB port and you?re ready to download in seconds. The integrated lithium battery is also recharged via the USB port.

The bundled software, Photo Explorer 8.0, makes it incredibly easy to edit and arrange your photos. Weighting only 26g, Transcend JetFlash-DSC provides you another lightweight yet feature packed USB device.

Jasc Software Press Release 13/05/04

New Application Delivers Smart, Simple Tools for Digital Photos

Eden Prairie, Minnesota (5/13/2004) - Jasc Software, Inc. announced today the release of Paint Shop Photo Album 5 - Deluxe Edition, the newest version of their award-winning digital camera software. Sporting a completely redesigned interface that follows the digital photographer’s workflow, Photo Album 5 puts the tools users need to organize, enhance, share and protect photos at their fingertips.

By integrating seamlessly with users’ lifestyles, Photo Album allows them to share their photos using today’s most popular mediums, including e-mail, camera phones, scrapbooks, video CDs and printed pictures. By offering a variety of color, contrast and brightness options as well as tools to enhance photos with text, sound, frames, edges and borders Photo Album allows novices to create beautiful photos with a few mouse clicks.