ImagingResource have reviewed the 8 megapixel Pentax Z10 camera, which has a 7x optical zoom, Face Recognition for improved portraits and ISO 3200 mode.

“Though it has no manual control and is a little thicker than some, the Pentax PZ10 is quite simple to use and does a good job at all but the highest ISO setting. Its interface is straightforward, and its zoom is smooth and accurate, without a lot of fiddling to get the right framing. Pincushion distortion at telephoto is a bit off-putting, bending straight lines unnaturally. That’s not surprising considering the long zoom, but it’s also unappealing. So while we were impressed with the print quality, the zoom mechanism, and like the idea of a 7x zoom in such a small package, the pincushion distortion prevents a strong recommendation.”

Website: ImagingResource - Pentax Z10 Review

Website: Read our Pentax Optio Z10 Review

Fluid Mask 3 from Vertus Software is billed as the number one application for cutting out images from tricky backgrounds. Available either as a standalone program or plugin, Fluid Mask claims to offer more powerful and easy-to-use masking tools than either Adobe Photoshop or the other third-party competition. Fluid Mask 3 is available for both Windows and Mac platforms for £159 / $239 / €209. Jon Canfield found out just how clean he could make his edges with Fluid Mask 3.

Website: Fluid Mask 3 Review

The BenQ C850 and C750 are new 8 and 7 megapixel compact cameras with 3x zoom lenses and Super Shake Free system. Both the C850 and C750 also feature an elegant front to back leather handle, Smile Catch mode and video recording with optical zoom. The C850 has a larger 2.7” LCD display than the C750’s 2.5 inch screen. The BenQ C750 and C850 will be available in select countries in Asia Pacific and Europe in April.

The BenQ E800 is a new 8 megapixel entry-level digital camera with a 2.7 inch LCD display, 3x optical zoom and ISO 1600. Advanced features include Smile Catch mode, Shake-Free mode, Auto Face Tracking and 13 different scene settings. A high ISO of 1600 lets users take pictures in dim lighting without having to use an artificial flash. The BenQ E800 will be available worldwide from the end of May.

LaCie have introduced a 500Gb version of the portable Rugged Hard Disk, which features a scratch-resistant aluminum shell and shock-resistant rubber bumper. Using an Hitachi Travelstar 5K500, 2.5-inch internal hard disk, the 500GB Rugged Hard Disk is bus-powered by either USB or FireWire and available in either USB 2.0 or a USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 version. The LaCie Rugged 500GB version is available now for $299.99 in the USA. UK prices are £189 for the USB 2.0 version and £229 for the triple-interface version.

You can win 2 grandstand tickets for the Great Britain round of the 2008 MotoGP motorcycling championship in PicStop’s latest competition. These highly sought after MotoGP tickets will entitle the winner to 3 Days of MotoGP action from the home of British Motorcycle racing. This will also include spectacular Redgate GrandStand Seats to watch all the action from. The competition closes on 13th June 2008.

Albelli is a new photo book creation tool for Photobucket’s 40 million users. Seamless integration with Photobucket allows its users to drag and drop their high-resolution images from both their Photobucket account and desktop computer to create their own personalized photo book. After choosing from the varied backgrounds, effects and text options that Albelli offers, the user completes the order and receives a printed, bound photo book in about 7 days.

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3 camera, an 8.1 megapixel entry-level addition to the brand new FS range.

“The image quality of our outdoor shots are pleasing for a camera in this class. Exposure and color were both good even on an overcast day and around water. The Leica 3x optical zoom lens, with a 35mm equivalent of 33-100mm, is great for shooting landscapes and group portraits. The telephoto is not enough to single out distant objects, but it is very helpful when framing shots and shooting individual portraits. At the wide end of the zoom there is some barrel distortion as well as slight edge softness throughout the focal range. The camera did an excellent job of controlling chromatic aberrations (purple fringing), with only slight instances in high contrast areas.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3 Review

The Ricoh G600 is a new compact, lightweight, water and dust-resistant, wide-angle, 5x zoom digital camera featuring enhanced shock resistance for outdoor use. Successor to the Caplio 500G Wide model (which will still be available), the Ricoh G600 is smaller and lighter yet still passes the shock resistance test for a 1.5m fall. The Ricoh G600 will be available in May 2008 for £349.99 inc vat.

The natural history website Loveearth.com has launched a natural history photo contest. Each week 20 images will be selected and published on the site, with the winner drawn at random. The first prize is a digital camera worth £299, and the weekly winners will receive a Planet Earth box set (RRP £20) and £50 worth of Lonely Planet travel guides. Open to all residents of the UK and USA, the Love Earth contest will run until May 31st 2008.

Jobo have released a firmware update for the Photo Display PDJ701 digital picture frame series. The update installs the folder structure function and allows you to arrange up to 10,000 images into individual folders for more organized slideshow presentations.

The G–RAID Pro hard drive offers RAID data protection, a triple interface and storage capacities up to 4TB. The G–RAID Pro drive’s on–board, hardware RAID controller supports both RAID 0 and fail–safe RAID 5 operation with auto–rebuild functionality, and utilizes four hot–swappable 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s disk drive modules. Available in June, the G–RAID Pro drive will be available in 1, 2, 3, and 4 TB configurations with prices starting at $999.

The second annual ASMP Arnold Newman Prize has been awarded to photographer Jonathan Torgovnik. The work of Torgovnik, “Intended Consequences: Genocide Mothers, Children of Rape,”, was selected from nearly 300 images submitted in the 2008 contest. He will receive a grant in the amount of $2,500 cash from Getty Images and a Canon EOS 30D camera. The ASMP Arnold Newman Prize prize recognizes the work of a contemporary environmental portrait photographer whose imagery is grounded in the traditions and values that Newman pioneered.

Eye-Fi users have now wirelessly uploaded more than one million photographs to the Web. The Eye-Fi Card is the world’s first wireless memory card for digital cameras. “With the Eye-Fi Card, uploading digital memories is automatic and effortless, so users are sharing photos with friends and family while the memories are still fresh.  They aren’t waiting until their memory card is full or they have spare time to transfer pictures from their cameras.” said CEO Jef Holove. The 2GB Eye-Fi Card retails for $99.99 USD and is PC and Mac compatible.

The version 1.10 firmware update for the Nikon D3 DSLR has been removed from Nikon’s support site following customer feedback. Image data may be corrupted if the D3 is upgraded to v1.10 and a certain combination of camera settings is made. Nikon are instructing anyone who has upgraded their D3 to the v1.10 firmware to shoot with different settings until a revised firmware update is released in late April.

Panasonic UK have confirmed that the WiFi-enabled DMC-TZ50 camera announced last week will not be released in the UK or Europe.

Mark Robinson, Lumix Product manager, commented “Panasonic is currently exploring new opportunities with potential alliances and wireless technologies. The United States was selected as the testing ground for TZ50 due to the availability of a unified HotSpot service provider with coverage throughout the country. At the moment the provision of HotSpot services in Europe is very fragmented, and therefore less suitable for our first launch. A decision about the possibility of the Wi-Fi camera concept (not necessary TZ50) coming to Europe in the future is still under review”.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ50 is a 9 megapixel, 10x zoom compact camera with built-in Wi-Fi, retailing for $449 in the USA.

First stocks of the new ColorMunki colour management device from X-Rite are now available in the UK. “The launch of the ColorMunki range has been the most successful in our history, with unprecedented levels of pre-orders and a universally positive response from our customers, the industry and press alike”, comments Geoffrey Clements, Managing Director of Colour Confidence. We awarded our highest 5 star / Essential rating in our ColorMunki Photo Review. ColorMunki Photo and ColorMunki Design are available now, priced at £319/€429 ex. VAT.

The RAW converter software Silkypix Developer Studio 3.0 now supports the Canon Digital Rebel XSi / EOS 450D, Pentax K20D and Sony A350 DSLRs. Version 3.0.18.3 also records ens information into the JPEG/TIFF file using the XMP standard, which was standardized by Adobe. Silkypix Developer Studio 3.0 costs $149.00 and a free trial version is available.

Website: Silkypix Developer Studio 3.0.18.3

Steves Digicams have reviewed the the Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd, an 8-megapixel ultra-compact camera featuring a 2.7 inch LCD screen and 5x internal zoom lens.

“Image quality from the Z100fd was very good. The outdoor exposures were good, with images being sharp and pleasing color saturation. The 5x Fujinon optical zoom lens has a 35mm equivalent range of 36-180mm. This gives it a moderate wide end for shooting landscapes and small group portraits, while the telephoto end is great for individual and close-up photography. You will find some barrel distortion as well as slight edge softness at the wide end of the zoom and slight purple fringing (chromatic aberrations) throughout in areas of high contrast.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd Review

Website: Read our Fujifilm Finepix Z100fd Review

The specification for CFast, a new CompactFlash card with a SATA (Serial ATA) interface, is due to be published in May. The SATA interface of the CFast cards will provide interface data rates up to 3Gb/sec, much faster than the 133MB/second rate of standard CF cards. “The development of a CompactFlash card with a SATA interface will maintain the dominance of CompactFlash in the non-consumer (embedded systems, single board computers, data recorder, etc.) markets as well as promote its use in other applications such as digital SLR cameras and professional video cameras. Having the SATA interface will be a significant step for CompactFlash.” commented Mr. Shigeto Kanda of Canon and the CFA chairman of the board.