ePhotoZine have reviewed the new Epson 3800 A2 printer with UltraChrome K3 ink and the smallest footprint on the market.

“The print quality is very good as would be expected from a printer of this class and it also has a high build quality. The prints are well balanced and have a nice saturation of colour. Lightfastness is 75 years for colour prints and over 100 years for black and white as long as the images are not subjected to sunlight.”

Website: ePhotoZine - Epson 3800 Review

Website: Read our Epson Stylus Pro 3800 Review

ePhotoZine have reviewed the 10 megapixel Samsung GX-10 DSLR camera.

“The GX10, being the same as Pentax’s K10D, proves that the SLR market is no longer safely ruled by Canon and Nikon. As you see from the specifications above, the Samsung GX10 offers a product that will not only satisfy enthusiasts, but also many pros. It sits in a price point that includes Canon’s EOS30D and Nikon’s D80, yet it has features, such as waterproof seals, that bring it closer to the pro-spec Canon EOS5D or Nikon D200.”

Website: ePhotoZine - Samsung GX-10 Review

TrustedReviews have published their review of the new 10 megapixel Canon Digital IXUS 900 Ti (also known as the Powershot SD900).

“Picture quality is also impressive. The larger 1/1.8” CCD avoids most of the problems associated with small high-resolution sensors, and produces better dynamic range and much better image noise control than some other 10MP compact cameras. The 900 Ti produced usable pictures with fine detail at 800 ISO, and from 400 downwards I’d describe the picture quality as excellent, although I still don’t think there’s a noticeable advantage in choosing a 10MP sensor over an 8MP one.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Canon Digital IXUS 900 Ti Review

Website: Read our Canon Digital IXUS 900 Ti Review

The new DX-1G housing and 1G camera is the world’s most advanced compact underwater digital camera system. The Sea&Sea DX-1G underwater digital camera is based on the Ricoh Caplio GX-100 digital camera, offering the same features including 10 megapixel sensor, 24-72mm lens and RAW shooting mode. Available in the US is early August, the DX-1G system costs around $999.95, and it will be available in several packages with SEA&SEA’s YS-110 DS-TTL strobe and YS-27DX strobe and accessories.

HARMAN have targeted users of the new Epson 3800 printer by launching an A2+ paper size. “The launch of the new A2+ format for all of our HARMAN PHOTO products will provide Epson 3800 users with the first and only bespoke sheet size that will help to unlock the potential of the printer.” commented Howard Hopwood, marketing director at HARMAN technology. The A2+ sheets are will be available from HARMAN stockists throughout the UK from July.

The Transcend JetFlash 185 is a USB 2 flash drive with a zinc alloy body. Now available in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities, the JetFlash 185 has a read speed of 10-12MB/s and write speed of 8MB/s. The new JetFlash 185 costs 27.90€ (1GB), 44.10€ (2GB) and 83.00€ (4GB).

Pentax have released a firmware update, v1.30, for the Pentax K10D DSLR camera.

The following functions has been added in version 1.30:
    1. Correspond to PENTAX DA lens which built-in supersonic motor (SDM System)

Website: Pentax K10D v1.30 Firmware Update

The Plugin Site has updated the Harrys Filters and PhotoFreebies plugins. Harry’s Filters is a free Photoshop compatible plugin containing dozens of image effects. The PhotoFreebies are a collection of 11 freeware plugins with various effects for digital photos. Harrys Filters and PhotoFreebies are freeware and can be downloaded from http://thepluginsite.com/ .

It’s July 4th today, which means that it’s Independence Day if you live in the USA, and also the opportunity to see a great fireworks display. According to Wikipedia, “Fireworks have been associated with the Fourth of July since 1777”. If you are planning to go out and take a few photos of the celebrations, then you may want to take a look at our Photographing Fireworks article, which has links to some great online resources.

Photographing Fireworks

The winner of the Travel Photographer of the Year 2007 contest will be able to photograph His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In addition the winner will receive an Apple MacBook with Aperture 1.5 software, Adobe CS3 Web Premium software, a £2,500 TPOTY bursary, and a Plastic Sandwich leather portfolio book. Entries for TPOTY 2007 are now open to amateur and professional photographers, and the contest closes on October 3rd.

The BenQ E820 and BenQ C740i digital cameras are upgraded versions of the E720 and C740 models. Both feature a large bright 2.5-inch LTPS screen, face-tracking function and 3x Pentax lens. The BenQ C740i has a 7 megapixel sensor, whilst the E820 offers 8 megapixels. Pricing and availability of the BenQ E820 and BenQ C740i to be announced.

The winners of the Nikon Photo Contest International 2006-2007 have been announced. The Grand Prize was awarded to Mr. Tung Khanh Le of Vietnam for his work entitled ” crossing waves.” More than 16,000 entrants submitted in excess of 47,000 photographs, with works coming from a total of 135 countries and regions.

HP has teamed up with 30 retailers across the UK to offer photographers the chance to try the HP Photosmart Pro B9180 A3+ printer in-store. Additionally, HP is offering a ‘buy and try’ option to photographers, with the option to have the printer collected by HP in the first 30 days for a full refund, less £15 handling fee, if they’re not satisfied with the product.

German Eduardo Hernández Saavedra from El Salvador was chosen from more than 10,500 entries as the winner of HP’s Street Photography competition. Winning entrants will have their photographs exhibited at the Rencontres d’Arles Photography festival. The online street photography gallery (http://www.hypegallery.com/streetphotography) will continue to run for the rest of the year creating a comprehensive collection of Street Photography.

ePhotoZine have reviewed the Casio EX-V7, the world’s slimmest digital camera with a 7X optical zoom lens (equivalent to 38-266mm on a 35mm film camera).

“The zoom shots taken in my barren living room show that the camera can not pull in enough light to cope with the zoom and has to push the ISO to handle it, this instance had the wide angle set at ISO200 and the zoomed image set to ISO800 which seems to me that maybe Casio were in a rush to get a big zoom on a small camera and either didn’t think of light availability or put in some shortcuts to cope with it.”

Website: ePhotoZine - Casio EX-V7 Review

Website: Read our Casio EX-V7 Review

CameraLabs have just reviewed the Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens.

“In this review we’ve concentrated on using the EF 17-40mm with the full-frame Canon EOS 5D, where its enormous wide angle coverage can be truly unleashed. We’ve compared it against the EF 24-105mm f/4.0L and the older EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, as many photographers will actually consider using the EF 17-40mm as their main general-purpose walk-around lens. While it clearly can’t zoom-in to anything you’d describe as telephoto, the 40mm ‘long’ end makes it more flexible for day to day use than you’d think.”

Website: CameraLabs - Canon 17-40mm f/4L Lens with Canon EOS 5D Review

Website: CameraLabs - Canon 17-40mm f/4L Lens with Canon EOS 400D / XTi Review

DigiCamReview have reviewed the Ricoh 500SE, a GPS-ready digital camera with an integrated precision GPS module.

“The camera has good image quality - the camera has good detail and very good colour (accurate, and quite natural) and there was little to no noticeable corner softness in the images - despite the wide-angle lens. Images have good saturation and contrast, although with fairly high noise even at the lower ISO settings. The higher ISO settings of ISO400 and above are probably best avoided as detail is noise is very high. Indoors photos were good, although noise was noticeable in some shots and red-eye occurred occassionally.”

Website: DigiCamReview - Ricoh 500SE Review

The winners of the June 2007 PhotographyBLOG Competition have been selected by a panel of judges. The theme for June was “Rust” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
Rust Never Sleeps by eebee

Prize: Photobird.com one-year subscription with 500Mb of storage space
Kindly donated by Photobird.com.
http://www.photobird.com

The Canon CP740 printer features a two-inch color LCD display, red-eye correction and multiple direct printing options. The CP740 prints borderless, full-photo lab quality, 4”x6” image in approximately 58 seconds. When used with Canon high quality paper and ink, the Canon CP740 Compact Photo Printer produces images that resist fading for up to 100 years. The Canon CP740 Compact Photo Printer will be available in Autumn for $99.99.

The Canon MP470 and Canon MP210 printers offer 46 second 4” x 6” borderless photo printing speeds plus new “AutoImage Fix” and “Quick Start” features. “Canon’s aim with these printers is to raise the bar for performance, design and ease-of-use, while still maintaining a value price point.” commented Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A. The the Canon MP470 Photo All-In-One is $99.99. The Canon MP210 Photo All-In-One will cost $79.99.