The Nikon Coolpix 8400 is a digital camera with a rather unique selling point. The Nikon 8400 has a 24mm wide-angle lens, which is currently the widest focal length available on any compact digital camera. This does come at the expense of a shorter telephoto focal length, which is equivalent to 85mm, but that is still fine for portrait shots. Other standout features on the Nikon 8400 include an 8 megapixel sensor with support for RAW, TIFF and JPEG formats, full creative control over exposure in the form of aperture-priority, shutter-priority and manual modes, plus a hotshoe that accepts a Nikon Speedlight flashgun. The Nikon Coolpix 8400 is aimed firmly at the serious prosumer, but can it compete in a market where DSLR cameras are quickly becoming more affordable? Read my review to find out.

Website: Nikon Coolpix 8400 Review

The HP Photosmart R717 is an updated version of the popular R707 digital camera. The principal new features are a 6 megapixel CCD sensor and a larger 1.8 inch LCD screen with increased resolution (the R707 has 5 megapixels and a 1.5 inch screen). Inside the HP R717 are a number of cutting-edge technologies, the most notable being HP Adaptive Lighting, which automatically adjusts high contrast photos to reveal detail in the shadow areas. Other features on the HP R717 that are designed to make your life easier include automatic Red-Eye removal, in-camera panorama preview and Image Advice. So can the HP Photosmart R717 continue the success of its predecessor? Read my review to find out.

Website: HP Photosmart R717 Review

The PhotographyBLOG server was upgraded last night, which should result in faster and more reliable performance across the site. There are a couple of issues that I am aware of, notably the inability to upload photos in the Gallery (you can still leave comments on existing photos). Oh, and email is offline too, so don’t try emailing me! If you experience any other odd behaviour, please let me know by leaving a comment in reply to this post.

UPDATE Midday CET: The gallery is now fixed and you should be able to upload photos again. Plus my email is back, which is nice…

The Nikon Coolpix 4600 is a stylishly designed 4 megapixel compact digital camera that was first announced at the PMA show back in February 2005. The Coolpix 4600 is one of the first Nikon digital cameras to feature the new D-Lighting technology, which intelligently lightens overly dark images, and Advanced Red-eye Reduction, which automatically detects and corrects red-eye in most situations. The Nikon Coolpix 4600 has a 3x optical zoom lens equivalent to 34-102mm on a 35mm camera, a 1.8 inch LCD screen and 16 different scene modes to help you take better pictures. This is one of the first Nikon digital cameras that I have reviewed, so did the Coolpix 4600 impress me with both its cutting-edge features and overall design? Carry on reading to find out.

Website: Nikon Coolpix 4600 Review

First announced at the Photokina 2004 photography show, Spyder2 is said to deliver a five-fold increase in sensitivity when compared to the previous Spyder model, resulting in more accurate ICC profiles and monitor colours. Spyder2 is available in a range of different packages - in this review I look at Spyder2PRO Studio, which works with CRT, LCD and notebook displays on both the Windows and MAC platforms. Spyder2PRO Studio includes more sophisticated and flexible calibration software and other bundled extras that are targeted to the advanced amateur and professional photographer. Last year I reviewed the consumer level ColorPlus package, which drastically improved my uncalibrated monitor, so I was intrigued to see if Spyder2PRO Studio could produce even better results. Read my review to find out.

Website: Spyder2PRO Studio Review

The Nikon Coolpix 5600 is a stylishly designed 5 megapixel compact digital camera that was first announced at the PMA show back in February 2005. The Coolpix 5600 is one of the first Nikon digital cameras to feature the new D-Lighting technology, which intelligently lightens overly dark images, and Advanced Red-eye Reduction, which automatically detects and corrects red-eye in most situations. The Nikon Coolpix 5600 has a 3x optical zoom lens equivalent to 35-105mm on a 35mm camera, a 1.8 inch LCD screen and 16 different scene modes to help you take better pictures. This is one of the first Nikon digital cameras that I have reviewed, so did the Coolpix 5600 impress me with both its cutting-edge features and overall design? Carry on reading to find out.

Website: Nikon Coolpix 5600 Review

PhotographyBLOG has teamed up with Shopping.com to bring you an online Buyer’s Guide for digital cameras and other photography products. You can use the new Buyer’s Guide to find the right product for you, compare products, prices, and stores and make a purchase from any one of thousands of trusted online stores. If you’re shopping for a new digital camera, memory card, printer or any photography product, make sure that you check out our Buyer’s Guide first.

Website: PhotographyBLOG Buyer’s Guide

Ordering prints of your photos via an online photo processing service is big business. With the recent boom in digital camera sales, demand for easy and affordable printing has never been higher, and using an internet based photo service is one of the ways to satisfy that demand. To find out what actually happens to your images after you click the Upload button, I was recently invited to take an exclusive behind the scenes look at myPIXmania, one of Europe’s biggest online photo finishers.

Website: Behind the Scenes at myPIXmania

The Olympus C-500 Zoom (called the Olympus D-595 Zoom in the USA) is a 5 megapixel compact digital camera that was first announced at the PMA show back in February 2005. Aimed firmly at the beginner market, the Olympus C-500 Zoom has a 3x optical zoom lens equivalent to 38-114mm on a 35mm camera, a 1.8 inch LCD screen and 19 different shooting modes, including a manual mode that gives you control of shutter speeds and apertures. The Olympus C-500 also has a built-in help system, something that has been introduced on quite a few recent entry-level cameras, and a Super Macro mode that allows you to focus as close as 2cms from your subject. Does the Olympus C-500 Zoom have enough features and useability to make it stand out from the dozens of other sub-£200/$300 digicams that line the shelves? Find out in my latest review.

Website: Olympus C-500 Zoom Review

The winners of the April 2005 PhotographyBLOG Competition have now been decided. The theme for April was “Black and White” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 3 winners:

1st Place
“Where the Light Swims” by NoAir
View this entry

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

2nd Place
“DRAX” by Onion Club
View this entry

Prize: 1 copy of Powerretouche Full Pro Pack
Kindly donated by Powerretouche.
http://powerretouche.com

3rd Place
“Ahh - aww !” by fdinaro
View this entry

Prize: 1 copy of Digital Photography Expert Techniques by Ken Milburn
Kindly donated by O’Reilly.
http://www.oreilly.com

Congratulations to the 3 winners and thanks to everyone who took part!

The May 2005 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 “Speed”.

8 names have been randomly selected from the list of PhotographyBLOG Newsletter subscribers. If you are one of the winners, you will already have received an email from me ([email protected]). In order to protect the winners’ email addresses, I’m not going to publish them here.

- Two people each won Paint Shop Pro 9 (worth £99.99 each).
Kindly donated by Corel.
http://www.corel.co.uk
- Two people each won a copy of "Advanced Photoshop CS for Photographers" by Martin Evening (worth £29.95 each).
- Two people each won a copy of "Adobe Photoshop Elements for Digital Photographers" by Philip Andrews (worth £19.99 each).
- Two people will each win a copy of "The Advanced Digital Photographers Workbook" edited by Yvonne Butler (worth £29.99 each).
All books kindly donated by Elsevier.
http://www.elsevier.com

If you haven’t won anything, then don’t worry, as a brand new contest for May has just started!

To have any chance of winning, you must subscribe to the PhotographyBLOG Newsletter.

The Nikon Coolpix 7900 is a stylishly designed 7 megapixel compact digital camera that was first announced at the PMA show back in February 2005. The Coolpix 7900 is one of the first Nikon digital cameras to feature some new technologies, including Face-Priority AF (Autofocus), which automatically detects a face in an image and focuses on it, D-Lighting, which intelligently lightens overly dark images, and Advanced Red-eye Reduction, which corrects red-eye in most situations. Other standout features on the Nikon Coolpix 7900 include a 2 inch LCD screen, 16 different scene modes to help you take better pictures and a long battery life of approximately 270 images. This is also one of the first Nikon digital cameras that I have reviewed, so did the Coolpix 7900 impress me with both its cutting-edge features and overall design? Carry on reading to find out.

Website: Nikon Coolpix 7900 Review

Subscribe to the PhotographyBLOG Newsletter now to have a chance of winning one of eight prizes in our April Contest. You can win:

- Paint Shop Pro 9 from Corel
- “Adobe Photoshop CS for Photographers” by Martin Evening
- “Advanced Photoshop Elements for Digital Photographers” by Philip Andrews
- “The Advanced Digital Photographers Workbook” edited by Yvonne Butler

If you are already a Newsletter subscriber, you do not have to do anything to enter this competition. Your name will automatically be entered in the prize draw. If you are not currently a subscriber, then what are you waiting for? Enter your email address to subscribe now.

The 51st PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Ron Szajerski.

“Ron is a studied film photographer who received a digital camera as a freebie for making a computer purchase and he got hooked on the instant gratification of the digital realm. He is 58 years old, married and retired. This portfolio, his first, is a compilation of macro images taken in his yard. They awakened in him a new interest in photography and started him on a road of discovery as well as a study of reflective and translucent light.”

Website: Ron Szajerski

The Sanyo Xacti C4 is quite unlike any other digital camera available today, looking more like a tiny version of a digital camcorder than a conventional digicam. The Sanyo C4 has been designed like this principally because it allows you to record both 4 megapixel still images and 640x480, 30fps MPEG-4 movies, with a separate shutter button available for each function and a flip-out, rotating LCD screen to frame your images and movies. Other notable features on the Sanyo Xacti C4 include a macro mode that allows you to get as close as 2cms away from the subject, and a 5.8 optical zoom lens that is equivalent to 38–220mm on a 35mm format camera. Sanyo have improved on the older Sanyo Xacti C1 by adding the 4 megapixel sensor, image stabilisation and a larger 1.8 inch LCD screen. So is the Sanyo C4 the perfect fusion of still and moving images, or just a compromise between the two? Read on to discover the answer.

Website: Sanyo Xacti C4 Review

As you can see (or not…), there is currently a problem with graphics not loading across the site. The Gallery is closed for the moment. Normal service will be restored today, hopefully sooner rather than later…

UPDATE: Everything is now showing again - please leave a comment here if you experience any problems.

The Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 is the replacement for the popular DiMAGE Z3 digital camera and is currently Konica Minolta’s highest-specced ultra-zoom digital camera. The Konica Minolta Z5 offers a 5 megapixel CCD sensor and a 12x zoom lens that is equivalent to 35–420mm on a 35mm camera. To help ensure that your photos don’t suffer from camera-shake, the Konica Minolta Z5 features a unique CCD-shift anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. In addition, the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 offers a full range of semi-automatic and manual exposure modes, futuristic body design, 2 inch LCD screen, rapid autofocus, advanced movie mode and a macro function that that lets you focus as close as 1cm from your subject. Currently available for less than £300 / $500, is the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 the ultimate ultra-zoom camera? Carry on reading my review to discover the answer.

Website: Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Review

The Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z20 is an ultra-zoom digital camera that promises a lot in exchange for a relatively small amount of money. Based around a 5 megapixel CCD sensor and an 8x zoom lens that is equivalent to 36-290mm on a 35mm camera, the Konica Minolta Z20 has an amazing list of advanced features that make you look twice at its budget price-tag. The Konica Minolta Z20 has a very fast start-up time of around 0.5 second, semi-automatic and manual exposure modes, futuristic body design, rapid autofocus and a macro mode that that lets you focus as close as 1cm from your subject. Six months ago I enthusiastically reviewed the Z20’s predecessor, the 3 megapixel DiMAGE Z10. Can the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z20 maintain the same high standards that the Z10 set? Carry on reading to discover the answer.

Website: Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z20 Review

The 50th PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Krystof Krizstrong.

“I am graduating this year in the Birmingham Institute Of Art And Design in Visual Communication, Photography. I am working now on the project which turns together two cities Prague and London on an unusual link. I am sending you the images from another project which was called The Rust. The topic was about the time, about the imagination, about the abstraction, about the hidden images which are for the first view invisible, but they are real. There are the colours, the past, the future and heavy metal…”

Website: Portfolios: Krystof Kriz

The Olympus E-300 / Olympus Evolt E-300 is the second digital SLR camera based on the FourThirds System. The Olympus E-300 / Olympus Evolt E-300 is an 8 megapixel DSLR that looks a little unusual - Olympus have replaced the traditional pentaprism with a TTL Optical Porro Finder, which uses a horizontal viewfinder with four mirrors instead of a prism and enables the camera to have a more compact flat profile. The Olympus E-300 / Olympus Evolt E-300 can be used with all of the existing E-system lenses, flashguns and accessories. It also offers built-in dust protection, often a problem for DSLR cameras, via its Supersonic Wave Filter. So is the Olympus E-300 / Olympus Evolt E-300 an attractive proposition in a sector of the market that is becoming increasingly more crowded? Read my review to find out.

Website: Olympus E-300 / Olympus Evolt E-300 Review