It seems that the rumours of a new DSLR from Nikon are gaining ground. First reported by the French photographic magazine Chasseur d’Images a few days ago, Michael Reichmann is also adding his weight, going as far as identifying the D2’s main features:

- 4 Megapixel sensor
- 8 frames / sec
- approximately a 21 frame buffer in RAW mode
- minimum 125 ISO
- 802/11b wireless LAN

Website: Luminous Landscape - News

Website: Chasseur d’Images - Nikon D2H

At $899 for the champagne coloured model and $999 for the black version, the Contax TVS is firmly at the expensive end of the 5 megapixel compact digital camera market. Find out if the Contax TVS justifies its high price tag by reading Imaging Resource’s review.

“Overall, the TVS delivered good-looking photos, nice and sharp from corner to corner, thanks to its Zeiss lens. Color was generally accurate, and dynamic range was good. All in all, a very workmanlike performance with better than average lens quality.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Contax TVS Review

I’ve introduced several more new features to the site during the last couple of days. Here’s a summary of what’s been improved and enhanced:

- Members Only
There’s a new Members Only section of the site which currently contains two sub-sections, Screensavers and Wallpapers. You need to be a registered member and logged into your account to access these pages, where you can download free, errmm, screensavers and wallpapers :-) I’ll be adding some more free downloads in the very near future…

- Blabber Board
This new feature is on the right-hand side of every page. It allows you to instantly post quick messages and, if there are enough people online, to chat to other PhotographyBLOG visitors.

- Support PhotographyBLOG
There is now a “Support PhotographyBLOG” link in the Members navigation bar at the top of every page. You can voluntarily choose to help out PhotographyBLOG and support its future development by purchasing Prints or Stock Images from my personal photography website, markgoldstein.co.uk.

If you have any comments about these new features, or suggestions of your own, then send an email to [email protected].

Mark

Sony today announced a new 4-colour filter CCD, which will be used in new consumer Sony digital cameras in the “near future”. The CCD features an Emerald sensor in addition to the traditional Red-Green-Blue sensors, which Sony claims will produce more realistic images.

Here’s the full Press Release with all the details:

”Realization of natural color reproduction in Digital Still Cameras, closer to the natural sight perception of the human eye
Technology development to realize 4-color filter CCD and New Image Processor, achieving halving of color reproduction error

(Tokyo, Japan) - Sony Corporation today announced the world’s first practical consumer (home) use of CCD with 4-color (Red , Green , Blue + Emerald ) filters, together with a new image processor corresponding to the 4-color filter. By this technology, the color reproduction error is halved compared to Sony’s conventional 3-primary-color filter CCD and, expression of images closer to the natural sight perception of the human eye is achieved under various shooting conditions.

Conventional digital still cameras mainly use 3-primary-color filter CCD, and the colors are recorded by the intensity of each of the 3 colors, Red(R), Green(G) and Blue(B), corresponding to the color reproduction characteristics of the color TV or monitors. However, the characteristics of these CCD filters are different from those of the human visual system. Color differences therefore emerge compared to natural human sight, resulting in different color reproduction.

In the 4-color filter CCD, a filter with the Emerald (E) color is added to the conventional 3-color RGB filter, in order to reduce the color reproduction errors and to record natural images closer to the natural sight perception of the human eye. As a result, the characteristics of the CCD color filter become much closer to those of the human visual system, achieving dramatic reduction in the color reproduction error.

In addition to the development of the 4 color filter, a new image processor corresponding to the 4-color filter has been developed. With this processor, each of the signals captured by the 4 colors is processed to produce ideal 3 colors close to the natural sight perception the human eye by a matrix calculation. Also, in addition to functioning with 30% less power consumption, by the efficient processor management, functions such as high-speed image shooting and high-speed playback are realized, as well as enhancing the of overall basic functions of digital still cameras.

By the combination of the 4 color filter CCD and the new processor, color reproduction errors have been minimized by half, and the reproduction of blue-green and red colors has been particularly enhanced.

Sony plans to integrate the newly developed 4 color filter CCD and the new image processor into the new digital cameras which will be introduced in the near future. This unique Sony original technology will offer the capability to shoot images with enhanced reality.

Sony will continue to further improve the technology in order to enhance image quality in the growing digital still camera market, with the aim of offering customers more fun and joy in taking pictures.”

Website: Sony Global - Press Release

DCResource have spent a busy weekend reviewing two digital cameras, the Canon PowerShot SD100 (also known as the Digital IXUS II) and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-U60.

“The SD100’s two trademark features are its size/design, and performance. The camera is small, all-metal, and easy to carry. The performance is excellent, from startup to shutter lag to shot-to-shot speed. The SD100 is a point-and-shoot camera with a few manual controls, but don’t expect to be manually setting the aperture or the focus.”

Website: DCResource - Canon PowerShot SD100 Review

Website: DCResource - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-U60 Review

Docklands Dance #1	Docklands Dance #2	Docklands Dance #3
Docklands Dance #4	Docklands Dance #5	Docklands Dance #6
Docklands Dance #7	Docklands Dance #8	Docklands Dance #9

On Saturday I managed to catch the second half of a contemporary dance festival in the Docklands area of London. The acts weren’t particularly brilliant, in my humble opinion, but there were some good opportunities for candid shots.


I seem to be gravitating towards taking photos of public entertainers at the moment; this coming weekend I’m off to a local street carnival and a night procession of illuminated inflatable giraffes in Mile End park (please don’t ask for further details…!).

Apparently “Jessops National Photography Week 2003” has just started here in the UK. Personally I try to avoid Jessops as they tend to be a lot more expensive than other stores. As the UK’s largest photographic retailer, though, I guess they must be doing something right…

“Beginning on 14th July, Jessops National Photography Week is a festival of photography that celebrates the nation’s love affair with the camera and aims to help everyone get the most from their picture taking. A series of events are taking place across the UK - including seminars and digital demonstration days, as well as week-long special offers at all Jessops stores. We’re also launching a range of initiatives during the week, including sponsorship of the Scouts Photography badge.”

Talking Pictures 03 - a Photographic Seminar featuring photographers Nick Meers and Charlie Waite - looks like the most interesting event, with tickets priced ?25. Full details can be found on the website below.

Website: Jessops

Mike Johnston this week explains why he doesn’t use zoom lenses in his Sunday Morning Photographer column.

“The only reason not to shoot with a zoom lens is this: a zoom lens has no point of view. A fixed-focal length (a.k.a. ?prime?) lens imposes its point of view on you, and, consequently, you can learn to impose its point of view on the world. If you routinely photograph with a fixed-focal-length lens, sooner or later you will not need to look through your camera to know what the lens will see ? your eyes will know, your mind will know. You won’t even need your camera with you to organize pictures out of the visual chaos of the world. Your eyes and your brain will be able to visualize without aid from the viewfinder.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Sunday Morning Photographer

Imaging Resource have today reviewed the 5 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 5400, which currently costs around $799/?599.

“This is an exceptionally capable camera that’s equipped to delight any enthusiast, but that also works very well for novice users when working in pure point & shoot mode, or one of its many scene modes.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Nikon Coolpix 5400 Review

The French photographic magazine Chasseur d’Images are reporting that Nikon will release the D2 digital SLR on 22nd July. Apparently it will be a 4 megapixel model aimed at the professional photography, with speed rather than megapixels being the main selling point. The page is in French so you will need to translate it; Google does this quite nicely - here’s a translated quote:

“But it is on next 22 July which the new numerical reflex camera professional Nikon will take really its take-off since it is on this date that famous “the D2 will be revealed” about which one speaks on all the forums since months.”

Website: Chasseur d’Images - Nikon D2H

I’ve been spending the last day of my holiday leave (go back to work on Monday - sigh!) adding several new features to PhotographyBLOG. Here’s a summary of what’s been improved and enhanced:

- Updated Forums
The PhotographyBLOG forums have been upgraded to a new, improved version. If you find any bugs or have any comments about the new forums then please let me know.

- Visitors Currently Online
You will find this new feature at the top of each page. It shows how many Guests, Members and total number of visitors are currently browsing this website, the date on which the most people visited ever, and the names of the visiting Members with links to their online profiles.

- RSS Syndication
The number of RSS Syndication feeds has been increased from 1 to 4. PhotographyBLOG now supports the following RSS versions: 0.91, 0.92, 1.0 and 2.0.

If you have any comments about these new features, or suggestions of your own, then send an email to [email protected].

Mark

I don’t know, I go on holiday for a week and somebody decides to attack the server that my website is running on! Apparently there were security issues with the old version of the pMachine software that this website uses, and my web host immediately pulled the plug on my account when someone tried to access their server through my site. Unfortunately I wasn’t around to sort everything out (I was sitting on a beach in Greece at the time…!).

I think this happened on Sunday 6th July, which means that PhotographyBLOG has been offline for the last 4 days. I’ve spent this morning upgrading to the latest version of pMachine, which includes “several general security improvements”, so fingers crossed that will fix everything.

Apparently a PhotographyBLOG visitor contacted my web host provider to offer to pay any outstanding debts on my account, in order to get the site back up and running! Thanks to whoever made that very kind offer! :-) But this time it wasn’t a simple bandwidth issue…

So things should be up and running now as they were. Please email me and let me know if you encounter any issues/problems using the site - they may be caused by the pMachine upgrade.

Thanks,
Mark

Steve’s Digicams has just reviewed the Kyocera Finecam L3v, a 3 megapixel digicam with a 2.5-inch colour LCD monitor and 3x optical zoom that retails for $399.

“If you’re looking for a small, pocketable and durable camera but have been reluctant to buy because all the others had tiny little LCD viewfinders, the Kyocera L3v may be just what you’ve been waiting for. The combination of a small, durable and a lightweight body with a large, brilliant LCD viewfinder is unique in the marketplace and justifies its $399 MSRP.”

Website: Steve’s Digicams - Kyocera Finecam L3v Review

Photo-i have published an extensive reader’s review of the Minolta DiMAGE Scan Elite 5400 film scanner, which has just won a TIPA award. Find out what a real user thinks of this new scanner in Photo-i’s review…

Website: Photo-i

Fred Miranda has released 2 new Digital Darkroom Essential Plugins, which are compatible with Photoshop Elements 1.0 / 2.0, Photoshop 5.5, 6.0, 7.0 or higher, and available for PC and MAC platforms.

Stair Interpolation Pro allows you to customize your own image interpolation output, giving you options to choose from any paper size, pixel dimension, printer resolution and interpolate your images by scale.

Web Presenter Pro allows you to customize image downsampling with high quality results. Choose from any pixel dimension or even downsample your images by scale through the use of smart algorithms.

I’ve been using one of Fred’s plugins, the Canon 10D CSpro Plugin (sharpens 10D files), since it was released a few weeks ago. It’s an excellent bit of software that takes all of the hassle out of sharpening your photographs, both for output to a printer and to the Web. Well worth the $15 price tag.

Website: Fred Miranda

DCRP has posted a new review of a production version of the Olympus C-750 digital camera, which offers 4 megapixels and an optical 10x zoom lens.

“For those people who want a high resolution camera with a big lens and lots of controls, the Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom is the best there is. It offers very good photo quality, with less noise than other recent Olympus models.”

Website: DCRP - Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom Review

Photo.net have posted a new article by Bob Atkins, in which the author claims to have found a technique that replicates the effect of image stabilisation lenses; sharper photos at slower-than-normal shutter speeds whilst handholding the camera. IS are typically heavier and a lot more expensive than non-IS lenses, so the article is worth reading and the technique worth trying if you want to save some cash.

“The technique itself is very simple: simply compose your image in the viewfinder and take a series of consecutive frames ? as many as your camera will allow or is economical. On my 10D I take a burst of nine frames. Now while this may sound simple to the point of being totally obvious, there is a twist. My handholding technique is fairly poor, I can barely use the 1/focal length rule and have in fact resorted to shooting a least a stop higher than this ?rule? in the past after discovering that any less would sometimes result in soft photos in my case, as clearly my technique is lacking.

However after trying out the method outlined above I have not only been able to get consistently great results at the 1/focal length setting, but in fact can also get very good results two or more stops slower, which is comparable to the results people have been getting with IS lenses ? but without IS and with all types of lenses, including the shorter focal lengths that IS isn?t designed to cater for. As an aside I have found that the 1/focal length rule doesn?t seem to be affected by the DSLR cropping factor, in my case anyway.”

Website: Photo.net - The Poor Man’s Image Stabilization

The latest of Digital Outback Photo’s technical series of articles, Digital Photography Essentials #004, looks at the subject of “Noise”, with a comparison between film and digital noise.

“Noise in digital cameras can be defined as anything visible in the captured image that was not present in the scene. However, in this discussion we will exclude highly structured image problems such as radial patterns or artifacts and concentrate on the more random noise sources.”

Website: Bj?rn R?rslett - Nikkor 12-24mm DX Lens Review

The new August issue of Digital Camera Magazine (priced #5.99) is now available and contains the following:

“Just a quick note to let you know that the August issue of Digital Camera Magazine is now on the newsstands. This issue’s two free coverdiscs feature a top Paint Shop Pro video tutorial PLUS 60 minutes of professional Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 video workshop that shows you how to master this fabulously powerful piece of software. As if this wasn’t enough, we’re also giving away the FULL version of ACDSee PowerPack 3.1, as sold for #40. This essential software kit enables you to touch up your photos, and create customised slideshows and screensavers at the touch of a button!(The DVD version of the magazine carries even more great software and video tutorials.)

In the magazine itself, we present the definitive guide to taking better landscapes. Our 7-page guide shows you how to photograph summer skies, woodland, seascapes, mountains and more! We’ve also got loads of inspirational Photoshop projects, reviews of 51 top cameras and - of course - the unique 8-page Getup&go pullout section, your passport to the best photo locations.”

Website: Digital Camera Magazine

Bj?rn R?rslett has posted the first, very detailed review of Nikon’s new AFS 12-24 mm f/4 G ED IF DX Nikkor lens, which is designed specifically for Nikon digital SLR’s, with a smaller imaging circle than standard Nikon 35mm lenses. Very interesting for Nikon owners and something for Canon owners to drool over…!

Website: Bj?rn R?rslett - Nikkor 12-24mm DX Lens Review