After 5 weeks and over 1,800 votes, the Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 was voted as the 8 megapixel digicam that would you buy (503 votes), narrowly pipping the Canon Powershot Pro1 (499 votes) to the post. 5 megapixels are better than 8… came third with 328 votes.

The new PhotographyBLOG Poll poses the question: “What type of monitor do you use for photography?”. An old-fashioned CRT, new-fangled LCD or a laptop? Do you use the darkroom instead? Do you even have a computer? Cast your vote now.

We were lucky enough to be given a guided tour of the North of Tenerife by somebody who lives on the island (thanks Emilio!). It’s a very mountainous region with a few small villages which feel like a world away from the bustling streets of the capital, Santa Cruz.

The winner of the 18th PhotographyBLOG Photo of the Week contest is tootsie with the entry “adult”. There are no prizes as such for this contest, but the winning photo is displayed on the PhotographyBLOG homepage for a week, and the winner can display the Photo of the Week logo on their website if they wish.

The 19th Photo of the Week contest is now open. This is a weekly photography challenge where you decide who the winner is by voting for your favourite photos. It’s an open contest with no set theme and you can enter as many photos as you like.

The Slovenian website e-Fotografija have published their review today of the new 8-megapixel Nikon Coolpix 8700 digital camera.

Website: e-Fotografija - Nikon Coolpix 8700 Review

ColorVision, Inc. Press Release 05/04/04

ColorVision and Pantone Ship ColorPlus; Offer Consumers Easy, Reliable Monitor Calibration for Under $100
 
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. & CARLSTADT, N.J.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—April 5, 2004—Produce Stunning Photos Using the Tools Professionals Rely on for Color Accuracy  

ColorVision, Inc., the recognized leader in affordable digital color management, and Pantone, Inc., the global authority on color, today announced ColorPlus(TM), the newest addition to the PANTONE(R) COLORVISION(R) product line. ColorPlus is an affordable monitor calibration tool for consumers and photo hobbyists that calibrates a monitor to produce stunning photos in a few easy steps.

According to Lyra Research of Massachusetts, one in four U.S. households owned a digital camera in 2003. Additionally, 73 billion digital pictures were saved to computer hard drives worldwide in 2003. That figure is expected to grow to 170 billion by 2007.

Professionals know that digital devices, including cameras, monitors and printers, reproduce color differently. The most common cause of disappointment with digital photographs, on screen and in print, comes from an uncalibrated monitor. This is because monitor performance changes over time as luminance degrades and phosphors age. Knowing this, professionals calibrate their monitors at least once a month.

“Digital camera sales have exploded over the past few years and this strong growth is expected to continue,” said Ed Lee, director, Digital Photography Advisory Service for Lyra Research. “As consumers become more comfortable with the technology, they will begin to focus on the quality and how they can create better and better prints. Interest in tools that help consumers get better results from their digital pictures is going to be one of the next growth areas in this market.”

Version 4 of Neat Image was released yesterday. Neat Image is a digital filter designed to reduce visible noise in digital photographic images. Users of previous versions of Neat Image are entitled to a free upgrade to the latest version of the same edition.

The new features and improvementes in Neat Image v4.0:

New noise reduction engine with drastically improved filtration quality
- Noise-like textures are preserved better and produce no artifacts
- New high resolution mode produces sharper results with more details retained
- Conservative sharpening mode to sharpen image without introducing halos

New noise profile format to support higher quality noise reduction
- New profiles can be directly built with the new Neat Image version
- Older profiles can be converted to new format using built-in converter

Significantly increased processing speed
- Neat Image now works 2-3 times faster than v3.x!

Two user interface modes - Standard and Advanced
.. for beginners and experienced Neat Image users

Numerous improvements
Please see the history of changes for more details

Website: Neat Image

Fujifilm Press Release 05/04/04

Fujifilm’s popular new FinePix F420 Zoom is a camera that’s small and chic enough to take anywhere.  And now even underwater photography is not out of bounds, thanks to a robust, sealed casing unit offering sub-aqua shooting at depths of up to 40 metres.

The housing extends the possibilities of digital photography by allowing you to capture fantastic underwater images and video.  With an attractive ergonomic design, and bright orange detail, it’s highly visible when under water, and looks great, too.  The housing is made from expertly-designed, hard-wearing, transparent polycarbonate, which is also ideal for extreme conditions such as snow, dust and torrential rain.

For anybody planning holidays by the sea, the housing is a must-have accessory, and a great gift for anyone into diving, sailing, snowboarding or any extreme sport.

AGX Holdings Press Release 05/04/04

AGX appointed distributor of Microtek and Umax’s award-winning scanners.

Hook, Hampshire - AGX Holdings, a true solution designer, builder and provider of computer equipment and peripherals to the graphic imaging, pre-press and digital print Marketplace announces that they have been appointed as official distributor for Microtek and Umax scanners, by Umax Systems GmbH of Germany.

“AGX has been involved with Microtek scanners as a true Value Added Reseller over the last 2 years,” commented Steve Slater, Sales and Marketing Manager for AGX. “We have extensive experience in the Sales, Support and Service of scanners at all levels - and have been the UK?s service centre for all High-End Agfa, Creo and Sony scanners. This appointment reflects the hard work that we have put in to maintain that level of experience and the commitment to our customers. We are confident that we can increase our levels of business as the result of this appointment.”

I’m publishing this old press release from 2002 as a response to the recent Kodak Photo Montage story. Rob Silvers emailed me to point out that the Kodak montage is tiny compared to the one that he did for HP in 2002 (22,400 square feet).

Richard Clark Unveils “HP Invent America,” Celebrating Nation’s Spirit of Inventiveness

World’s Largest Digital Image Features More Than 113,000 Images, Including Photos of Joy Behar, Colin Cowie, Gavin MacLeod and Henry Winkler

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4, 2002

Entertainment innovator Richard Clark today led 600 sixth graders from James A. Foshay Learning Center and inventor look-alikes Albert Einstein, Betsy Ross and Ben Franklin in a New Year’s Eve-style countdown to unveil “HP Invent America”—the world’s largest digital image—at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The unveiling celebrates HP’s rollout of nearly 50 new imaging and printing products that make it easier for consumers to capture, save, share and print high-quality photographs.

The football field-sized Photomosaic is made of 700 four-foot by eight-foot tiles totaling 22,400 square feet. If the panels were laid end to end, the image would stretch 5,600 feet, which is longer than 12 Hollywood signs (5,400 feet) and New York’s Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (4,260 feet on the main span), taller than 10 Washington Monuments (5,500 feet) and nearly as tall as Mount Rushmore (5,725 feet). The ink used to print the Photomosaic would fill 34 one-liter soda bottles or more than 100 eleven-ounce coffee mugs.

Mary McGrath’s article about black and white photography over at TakeGreatPictures.com is a great introduction to this medium, complete with some very nice images to illustrate the ideas.

“Black and white gives you the opportunity to focus on other elements besides color. Without color as a crutch, many other facets of a photo become apparent. It’s sort of like closing your eyes, and suddenly, you hear sounds more distinctly. You smell aromas. The tactile takes over. Taking color out of the equation enables you to focus on other fundamentals of photography, such as composition, tonal range, and texture.”

Website: TakeGreatPictures.com - Why I Like Black and White

This week’s Sunday Morning Photographer column Mike Johnston looks at the creative uses of bokeh. Don’t have a clue what that is? Then read on…

“Now, I have to admit that I got somewhat obsessed with bokeh after I finally became aware of it. It interested me, in particular, that different lenses render blur in different ways. Even knowing that I take things a bit too far, though, it always seemed strange to me that there are people who don’t think it’s valid to look at the blurry parts of pictures.”

Website: Sunday Morning Photographer: Bokeh in Pictures

Digital Outback Photo have started reviewing the 8 megapixel Canon PowerShot Pro1, which was announced by Canon just before the start of the PMA 2004 trade show.

“We are not sure about the camera’s feedback on autofocus. There were situations where the autofocus seemed not to lock in. There is also a danger that you may push incidentally the button for manual focus with your thumb. This is not a good ergonomic solution. We found the feedback from the Sony F828 a lot better.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Canon PowerShot Pro1 Review

DCResource have just reviewed the new 3.2 megapixel Canon PowerShot A75.

“The Canon PowerShot A75 has some nice improvements over the already excellent A70. This includes a larger, high resolution LCD, PictBridge support, data imprinting, and more. Photo quality is very good, and so is the camera’s performance. I continue to appreciate the full manual controls on the A75—something rarely seen on an entry-level camera. You may not need them now, but as you gain experience, you’ll become a fan.”

Website: DCResource - Canon PowerShot A75 Review

The norwegian website Akamera.no has just published its review of the new 6 megapixel Nikon D70 DSLR.

Website: Akamera.no - Nikon D70 Review

Sh1ft.org have just started a new photography project called “Q&A - the photographic interview”:

“it’s simple, take 20 questions and answer them by taking a photograph. photographic interviews have been completed by many online journalists in the past, but it’s time to get the biggest photographic interview started!”

Visit this webpage for the 20 questions:

Website: Sh1ft.org - Q&A - the photographic interview

April 1st saw the usual spate of hoax-stories, including a couple of photography ones that caught my eye. Over at DP-Now, news broke that Zenit had announced a new budget digital SLR:

“Reliable sources in the Russian Federation have provided dpnow with exclusive details of an exciting new affordable digital camera that could rock the industry. It’s a 2 megapixel digital single lens reflex camera that offers interchabgeable lenses and it’s priced below $300, including a lens.”

Whilst Graphics Software at About.com were reporting the demise of Photoshop:

“n a move that no one expected, Adobe announced today that it has discontinued its flagship product, Photoshop. Despite the success of the Creative Suite which brought record-breaking profits and revenue in the fourth quarter of 2003, Adobe has decided it’s time to halt development on Photoshop.”

Got any more April Fools stories to share? :-)

Website: DP-Now - $299 DSLR on the way from Russia

Website: Graphics Software at About.com - Adobe Discontinues Photoshop

Mark Hobson’s latest article over at the Nature Photographers Online Magazine takes a look at colour in the digital age:

“One of Photoshop’s strengths since the beginning has been its ability with each successive version to mimic ever more traditional darkroom techniques - burning, dodging, contrast control, color control, masking techniques for a wide range of applications (blending, sharpening, etc.), spotting/retouching, to name just a few. Traditionalists in the darkroom, who have made the transition to the digital darkroom, have a tendency to feel right at home once they get the smell of chemicals out of their nose and brain.”

Website: Nature Photographers Online Magazine - It Ain’t What You Eat, It’s The Way You Chew It

Does this sound like you?!

“I have a problem - I am a gear junkie. I have bought and sold and traded so much gear that I could have opened my own camera store! Whenever some new piece of equipment came out, I fantasized over owning it and dreamt of how it would change my photographic life for the better. I was pitiful! At one time, my camera bag weighed over 70lbs and contained four separate camera systems (35, 645, 617, and 4x5). I figured I needed it all just in case the unexpected happened. I was like a troupe of boy scouts - always prepared.”

If the answer is yes, then you should read the full article :-)

Website: Nature Photographers Online Magazine - Confessions of a Gear Junkie

We’ve probably all day-dreamed about earning a living from something that we currently enjoy as a hobby, such as photography, before going back to our day jobs. If you want to take the next step and turn those dreams into reality, then About.com’s basic overview of how to become a photographer may be of interest to you.

“If you want to be a photographer you can usually just go out there and do it, though it is often very difficult to find clients for your work. However, for many areas of photography no formal educational qualifications are needed - if your work is good enough and you can promote it you will succeed…

However I would recommend everyone to take an appropriate course, preferably to college graduate level. You don’t have to give up the idea of being a photographer until after you finish your course though - get out and start taking pictures now. Some students even find they can earn enough from photography to support them through their course.”

Website: About.com - Becoming a Photographer

Steves Digicams have reviewed the 4-megapixel, 10x zoom Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z2.

“The DiMAGE Z2 is Minolta’s second compact “super zoom” digicam, it follows the popular 3-megapixel DiMAGE Z1 of last year and raises the resolution up to 4.0 megapixels. The Z2 offers a full range of exposure modes from automatic to manual plus five pre-programmed scene modes. The Z2 can operate as a simple point-n-shoot for the beginner or “casual tourist” yet has the advanced features that will satisfy the creative urges of the advanced user.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z2 Review