The Danish website Akamera.dk have reviewed the Fuji FinePix A210 Zoom digital camera. The A210 has 3.2 million megapixels and a 3x optical zoom. It retails for $279.99.

Website: Akamera.dk - Fujifilm FinePix A210 Review

The theme for the January 2004 Competition has been decided. The new theme is simply “Reflections” - submit one photograph that you think best interprets the theme.

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 January’s theme, which is “Reflections”.

Please make sure that you read the Monthly Competition Rules before submitting your entry. The competition is worldwide and open to everyone.

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

The December 2003 PhotographyBLOG Competition has now closed. The theme for December was “Night” - you can view all 43 entries in this gallery.

The 1st / 2nd / 3rd place winners will be announced on Saturday 10th January, and the prizes will be sent out shortly after :-)

Imaging Resource have reviewed the Kodak EasyShare CX6330, a 3.2 megapixel digital camera that costs around £220 in the UK.

“Kodak’s EasyShare digital cameras consistently rank among the easiest to use of any I’ve tested, and the CX6330 follows suit. Full automatic exposure control keeps things simple, with exposure decisions down to a bare minimum. A handful of preset scene modes help with special shooting conditions. This is a true “point-and-shoot” digicam, requiring little or no intervention to take nice looking photos under a wide variety of conditions.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Kodak EasyShare CX6330 Review

The Slovenian website e-Fotografija have just posted a review of the 5 megapixel Kodak EasyShare DX4530. This digicam retails for just £399 in the UK.

Website: e-Fotografija - Kodak EasyShare DX4530 Review

The Danish website Akamera.dk have reviewed the 4 megapixel EasyShare DX6490 digital camera, a digital camera which features a 10x optical zoom lens (38-380mm focal length). The Kodak EasyShare DX6490 has a suggested retail price of £399.99.

Website: Akamera.dk - Kodak EasyShare DX6490 Review

I had a bit of a scare this morning when my PC failed to boot up, for no apparent reason, with the error message “Boot Failure - Insert Boot Diskette in Drive A”. I did have a boot disk for my operating system (Windows Me) but inserting it just took me to the A:> prompt in DOS. After a bit of digging around on Google, I found the command “Sys C:” which copies the system files from the floppy onto the hard drive. Bingo! My PC now successfully boots to Windows, so I guess the system files must have become corrupted (though I have no idea how).

I was panicking for a couple of hours, as all of the photos that I took in December were on the hard-drive and not backed-up. I usually wait until the end of every month and copy that month’s photos onto 2 CDs, but I’m going to have to rethink that strategy and maybe backup after every shoot.

To everyone who has emailed me since December 24th, I will reply to you tonight. I’ve just been on holiday for the past week, that’s all :-)

Roger Cavanagh and Paul Jaruszewski are working on an interesting set of JavaScript programmes called the Variations Suite. Apparently each script in the suite will display up to eight previews of your image with different processing treatments applied. The first component to be released will be Velvia Variations, followed by B+W Variations and Toning Variations. Variations Suite scripts will work on both 8-bit and 16-bit images, and will use the colour space of the active image when creating the previews. The scripts in the Variations Suite are compatible with Photoshop CS and will not run in other versions of Photoshop. One to keep an eye on…

Website: The Variations Suite

A-Digital-Eye have posted another comparison test of sample images from 5 different digital cameras, all taken within a short time of each other. The Sony DSC T1, Canon Digital Rebel, Sony F828, Minolta Dimage A1, and the Sigma SD10 are all included in the test, with the images taken standing in the same location within 10 minutes of each other, and in the cameras Auto/Program mode.

Website: A-Digital-Eye - Digital Camera Comparison Test #2

Steves Digicams have published a comprehensive review of the 4 megapixel Minolta DiMAGE G400 digital camera, which is actually exactly the same model as the Konica KD-420Z.

“Perhaps the most striking feature of the G400 is its remarkable shooting performance. Minolta claims that the G400’s performance is improved over the G500, and our measurements are in agreement. From power-on until the first image was captured took only 7/10 second, so responsive that it will likely be ready to shoot before you are; you’ll rarely miss that unposed spontaneous photo opportunity.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Minolta DiMAGE G400 Review

It seems that the release of the Epson Stylus Pro 4000 17” wide desktop printer has been delayed until March 2004, according to a user on the DPReview forums. Click the link below to read the full thread:

Website: DPReview Forums - Epson Stylus Pro 4000 Delayed

Steves Digicams have joined in the fun by reviewing the 8-megapixel Sony Cybershot DSC-F828 digital compact camera.

“At the end of the day, it’s not features but image quality that matters most. And in this respect, the F828 does not disappoint. Our outdoor shots were richly-saturated and well exposed. We did however notice some apparent imager “noise” in the lower contrast shadow areas. The versatility of the 7x zoom lens allows you to obtain wide landscape images, and a twist of the zoom ring will get you close to your subject. Indoors flash shots were well- exposed and nicely balanced.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Sony DSC-F828 Review

LetsGoDigital have just reviewed the 5-megapixel Olympus E-1 DSLR.

“The Olympus E-1, a professional camera… Like I said before, personally I think the camera lies in between a pro and semipro one. Although I’m not a 100% sure of that. The E-1 deserves praise; it is a fantastic digital camera with which splendid results can be obtained. When I look at the pictures made on Mallorca with Olympus and I show them to whomever, I only get very positive reactions. The camera is capable to take pictures that can equally be taken by any comparable (professional) camera.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Olympus E-1 Review

eFrameCentral.com Press Release

eFrameCentral.com Slashes Price of PhotoPort TV 100, Enabling Anyone to Create Photo Presentations on TV Screens [Business Wire]

Business Wire via NewsEdge Corporation : WARWICK, R.I.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Dec. 30, 2003—eFrameCentral.com announces a new close-out price on Visioneer PhotoPort TV 100, a complete solution enabling anyone to create personalized photo presentations from their own digital image collections—directly on the screens of their televisions. Regularly $175.00, the PhotoPort TV 100 is now available for only $29.99.

The PhotoPort TV 100 gives users instant access to their digital pictures without waiting for a computer to boot-up, attaching cables from the camera to a PC, transferring pictures, searching through cryptic file names, or loading an image editing program. The solution comes with a viewer, remote, and wireless keyboard with dedicated keys to easily create photo albums and personalize pictures.

To turn a photo collection into a customized and beautifully designed digital presentation, users simply attach the PhotoPort to their TV’s Video-in connector, insert the memory card from their camera into the PhotoPort, and design the photo album using the wireless keyboard. Users can crop, resize and rotate pictures, then add colorful backgrounds, borders and entertaining captions. When finished, the presentation can be viewed or recorded on VHS or DVD to share with friends.

About eFrameCentral.com
eFrameCentral.com is the leading online resource for eFrame digital photo frames, providing new and better ways for digital camera owners to store and share pictures. For more information, please visit the company’s Web site at www.styluscentral.com or email [email protected].

Finnish photographer Olli Salonen has reviewed the inexpensive Sigma 18-50/3.5-5.6 DC lens. This is designed for digital SLR cameras and has a smaller image area than normal lenses, so it can’t be used with full-frame SLRs. It offers a usable focal length of around 28-80mm (depending on the crop factor of your particular DSLR) and costs a mere ?100 in the UK (found via digicamera.net).

“Sigma introduced this digital-only lens in the late 2003 and it resembles closely the Canon’s 18-55 EF-S kit lens, that is sold with the 300D. Sigma 18-50 however is not an EF-S lens, but it will fit all Canon EF (of course there also Sigma, Nikon and Pentax mount versions) compatible bodies. Image circle of this lens is smaller than normal, as it is intended for cameras that have a crop factor of 1.5x or higher. Therefore you cannot use this lens on a full frame camera without significant vignetting.”

Website: Olli Salonen - Sigma 18-50mm Lens Review

This is the final reminder for you all that the December PhotographyBLOG Competition is due to finish at the end of 2nd January 2004.

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 a single photograph to the Competition Gallery that best interprets December’s theme, which is simply “Night”.

Please make sure that you read the Monthly Competition Rules before submitting your entry. The competition is worldwide and open to everyone.

See the December Competition Entries

Finnish photographer Petteri Sulonen has published a comprehensive guide to the world of wide-angle photography, explaining what it is, the characteristics, what it can be used for, and how to use it effectively. An excellent article that’s well worth bookmarking and printing out for future reference.

“The problem with wide-angle photography is that it’s… wide. That is, if you point your camera at a random subject, you’ll get a lot of things inside the frame. Some of them will very likely be dark, others will be light, some will be near, some will be far. This introduces all kinds of complications, and in fact turns many of the usual rules, techniques, and even desirable lens characteristics on their heads.”

Website: Petteri’s Pontifications: Mastering Wide-Angle

Another day, another Sony DSC-F828 review. This time it’s the turn of DCResource to deliver their verdict on one of the most highly-anticipated digital cameras of 2003.

“It can be very tempting to compare the $999 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 with digital SLRs like the Canon Digital Rebel ($899 w/o lens). They have many similarities, such as high resolution image sensors, manual controls, and great performance. But as much as I love the Digital Rebel, it’s not really a fair comparison—and not for the reason that you’d expect. The Sony’s stellar F2-2.8, 7X zoom lens cannot be easily (or inexpensively) duplicated on the D-SLR side: you’ll need two lenses to cover the same focal range, and that’ll cost you at least as much as the camera body. Comparing the F828 and Rebel is only fair if you can afford the price jump from $999 to $1999. If you can, then the D-SLR easily wins in all categories (unless movie mode counts).”

Website: DCResource - Sony DSC-F828 Review

Digital cameras have hit the mainstream this year, at least as far as Olympus and Hewlett Packard are concerned. Here in the UK, these two manufacturers have both spent a small fortune on TV advertising. During every commercial break, one of them is running their ad campaign. Well, maybe not every break, but it sure seems like it after spending the last few days watching too much TV.

HP is advertising the wider picture by promoting both the digital camera and printer as an all-in-one experience, whilst not actually mentioning any specific products. Olympus has opted for an entirely different approach by wrapping up David Bailey in Christmas paper. Yes, you read that right, the most famous British photographer stands looking slightly bemused as he’s wrapped up by a woman in her mid-30’s. Then the ad cuts away to a picture of the Olympus 400 Digital camera, with some voiceover along the lines of “you can’t send someone David Bailey, so send them this camera instead”. Very cheesy and very, very annoying after the 100th repeat viewing.

Canon, Nikon and Sony are conspicuous by their absence…

Imaging Resource have published their review of one of the more popular consumer digicams, the 4-megapixel Canon PowerShot A80, which sells for around $399.

“While the A80’s user interface may seem slightly cryptic at first approach, it’s actually quite efficient. Most camera functions are controlled externally, and a few of the external control buttons serve multiple functions. When you do need to enter the LCD menu system, navigation is very straightforward with only two main pages of options. That said, the majority of external controls do require the LCD display to be active. Regardless, the A80’s external controls cut down on the amount of time spent searching menu screens, and I particularly like the “Function” menu which has become standard on Canon digicam models in the 2003 model year. Combined with the instruction manual, the A80’s user interface shouldn’t take more than an hour to get comfortable with.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Canon Powershot A80 Review