INXS.com wants to send you to the Hammersmith Apollo in London for the INXS show on Thursday, 21 June! Your job…to be Rock Photographer for the night! Win a trip to London for you and a guest with three night’s hotel, roundtrip airfare and tickets to the INXS show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on June 21. Guido Karp, a renowned rock photog, will take the winner under his wing and into the photographer pit during the show. Plus, the winner and guest get to go backstage to help out with a photo shoot and meet INXS.  All you have do for a chance to win is enter your contact info; the sweepstake is open to anyone 18 and over. The contest ends June 11 and winner is confirmed on June 12.

Website: INXS Rock Photographer Contest

DCResource have reviewed the new Nikon D40x DSLR, which features a 10.2 megapixel sensor, producing 3,872 x 2,592-pixel images, 3D Colour Matrix Metering II system and 2.5 inch LCD screen, all in the most compact Nikon DSLR ever.

“If I could describe the D40x’s photo quality in one word, it would be “vivid”. Nikon has turned up the color saturation to “Kodak” levels, which I think is a little over-the-top. If you agree then you’ll want to play around with the various color settings on the camera. So what else? Exposure was spot-on in all of my real world photos. Being a digital SLR, photos are a bit on the soft side, and this too can be addressed by modifying a setting in the menu, should you feel the need. The camera is capturing plenty of detail, though, with nearly no noise, and no “smearing” from noise reduction. Purple fringing did pop up with both of the lenses I tested (the 18-55 and 55-200), but it was fairly minor.”

Website: DCResource - Nikon D40x Review

Website: Read our Nikon D40x Review

Imaging Resource have reviewed the new Olympus SP-550 UZ. This is the first digital camera to offer an 18x optical zoom lens, equivalent to 28-504mm.

“While I had a little trouble focusing on subjects that wouldn’t sit still, the Olympus SP-550 UZ let me shoot things I couldn’t even see without looking through its lens. And I found that a lot of fun. A whole new world of birds, fish and buffalo, in fact. But the Olympus SP-550 UZ was just as capable taking shots at wide angle and in Macro mode. Some of my flower shots really surprised me with the quality of the color and detail. And its optical image stabilization and high ISO performance took great low-light shots as well.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Olympus SP-550 UZ Review

Website: Read our Olympus SP-550 UZ Review

The Mamiya ZD 645AFD II Digital System consists of the Mamiya 645AFD II Medium Format Camera with 80mm f/2.8 F lens and the newly introduced Mamiya ZD 22 Megapixel Digital Back. Mamiya have also introduced two new digital lenses – the Mamiya Sekor AF 75-150mm f/4.5 D and a full-frame 28mm f/4.5 D Aspherical – that are designed to work on the 645AFD II with both film and digital backs. The Mamiya ZD 645AFD II Digital System will cost $9,999 / £7,500 (including VAT). To celebrate the launch in the UK, JP Distribution will be supporting a special introductory price of just £6000 including VAT. This offer will be available until the end of November 2007.

The new Mamiya ZD 22 megapixel Digital Back is compatible with the Mamiya 645AFD II, 645AFD and RZ67 Pro IID cameras. The Mamiya ZD Back offer 1.2 fps, simultaneous RAW & JPEG recording, and ships with Adobe Lightroom. The street price of the Mamiya ZD Back is $6,999.

Rob Galbraith has published an interesting report about a recent trip to Canon’s headquarters in Japan.

“Canon intends to offer a new file format in future digital cameras, says Masaya Maeda, Chief Executive of Image Communication Products Operations for Canon. The format could be in addition to or in replacement of either JPEG or CR2 RAW, but the company is still studying its options and hasn’t committed to any one format as yet.”

Website: Rob Galbraith - Notes from Canon headquarters

To celebrate their 90th anniversary, Nikon are offering £60 / 90 Euros off a select number of Nikon D40 and D40x kits. The offer is valid for purchases made between June 1st and August 31st 2007. Registrations must be made before September 15th 2007.

The SAA PLUS Packs Calculator is a free open-source software tool from the Stock Artists Alliance. PLUS (the Picture Licensing Universal System) is a multi-industry coalition dedicated to making rights managed stock image licensing easier. “We hope that by SAA making this Calculator freely available, we can spur adoption, especially among smaller and specialist archives, portals and independent photographers who have so much to gain by making RM licensing a more attractive option to more customers.” commented Betsy Reid, SAA’s Executive Director.

ePhotoZine have reviewed the new Sigma SD14 DSLR camera.

“To get the best from this camera does require shooting in the RAW X3F format and self-processing with this software. The results from the built in JPEG options are very good but with very little control over the output, the menu adjustments restricted to Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation and Colour Space.”

Website: ePhotoZine - Sigma SD14 Review

Megapixel.net have reviewed the new Olympus E-410 DSLR camera.

“With its excellent image quality, be it at the lowest JPEG compression or with the RAW format, its complete set of shooting modes, its advanced Live View mode, or even its effective dust reduction system, the Olympus Evolt E-410 has one of the best price to value ratios of cameras currently on the market. Moreover, the advantage and value that the 2-lens kit offers should place this camera high on the list of any person wanting to move to a digital SLR camera.”

Website: Megapixel.net - Olympus E-410 Review

Website: Read our Olympus E-410 Review

CNET have reviewed the Samsung L74 Wide digital camera, which features a 3.0 inch touch screen LCD, 7 megapixels, 3.6x optical zoom and 28mm wide-angle lens.

“Photos taken on the L74 Wide range from mediocre to terrible, sporting some of the worst noise we’ve seen in recent months. Noise filled a majority of our shots, appearing heavily at levels as low as ISO 200. The noise appears as a muddled, fuzzy grain at low levels, though at ISO 800 and 1600 it becomes a maelstrom of blurry static. Besides the massive amount of noise, the L74 Wide’s photos also suffered from heavy fringing.”

Website: CNET - Samsung L74 Wide Review

Lacie has expanded the capacity of its Ethernet Big Disk to 2TBs. “No other solution on the market offers such large capacity in a single, compact device for easily storing your personal digital library.” said Marie Renouard, LaCie Product Manager. The LaCie Ethernet Big Disk 2TB is available end of May at the suggested retail price of $1,099.

The new HP Gallery at Calumet Photo in Manhattan, New York has opened with the Francis Hills exhibit, “The Accidental Photographer,”. The HP Gallery will host a number of exhibits created on HP professional printing technologies. “Since our mission is to empower the world of image makers, we are delighted to join forces with HP in our New York store gallery,” said Michael Miller, president of Calumet Photographic.

Tamron has announced a photo contest for scrapbookers called “An Emotional Appeal.” The contest winner will receive the new Tamron AF18-250mm lens. The overall winner and 20 favorites will be featured in Tamron’s online gallery. The Tamron “An Emotional Appeal” Photo Contest 2007 deadline is 11/30/07.

Transcend is supplying wilderness photographer Philippe Jacquot with 120x speed compact flash cards, as he embarks on the “40 pictures in 40 days” project in Alaska. The expedition Alaska 2007 will take place from the 16th June till the 29th July. Jacquot will use Transcend’s 4GB and 8GB 120X Ultra Performance CF cards.

The Pioneer DVR-X122 and Pioneer DVR-R200 are two new high performance, multi-format DVD/CD writers. The Pioneer DVR-X122 external DVD/CD writer uses a high speed USB 2.0 port, whilst the Pioneer DVR-R200 is an internal DVD/CD writer. “Knowing that many computers purchased just three years ago lack a DVD writer solidifies the need for an external model like our DVR-X122 that delivers a simple ‘plug and preserve’ process to easily organize and archive a sizeable amount of digital content.” commented Andy Parsons, senior vice president at Pioneer Electronics. The Pioneer DVR-X122 external drive and DVR-R200 internal drive are currently available for a suggested price of $99.99 and $69.99, respectively.

DIWA member LetsGoDigital have reviewed the FujiFilm S5 Pro digital SLR camera.

“I’m less enthusiastic about the S5Pro’s menu structure, because of the two buttons to survey the menu, and the menu itself. I need to search too much. I know that it just takes getting used to, but still, in my opinion it can be a lot better. I’m also not very enthusiastic about the face detection. It’s fun, but it doesn’t work as well as I’d hoped, and to be honest, I don’t see what its use is.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - FujiFilm S5 Pro Review

Website: Read our FujiFilm S5 Pro Review

CNET have reviewed the Casio EX-Z1050, a 10.1 megapixel digital camera which features a new 2.6-inch wide, 14:9 aspect ratio LCD display.

“The Casio Exilim EX-Z1050 proves how just one flaw can almost ruin an otherwise fine camera. While it takes nice photos and works well, the blurry screen makes framing the simplest shots difficult. For a larger, much more legible screen with the same solid features and small size, consider instead the lower-resolution EX-S770.”

Website: CNET - Casio EX-Z1050 Review

PCMag have reviewed the CanoScan 8600F, a 4800 dpi scanner which replaces the CanoScan 8400F.

“The Canon CanoScan 8600F ($180 street) has a lot to live up to. The model it replaces, the CanoScan 8400F, was one of the first inexpensive flatbed scanners to scan film—both slides and strips of film—reasonably well. That was enough to make it an Editors’ Choice. Today, however, plenty of inexpensive scanners can handle film well. Quality that blew away the competition in the 8400F’s day is no longer as impressive. On top of that, the 8600F costs 20 percent more than the 8400F, which means it has to do better to match it on bang for the buck. The good news is that the 8600F does do better.”

Website: PCMag - CanoScan 8600F Review

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

1st Place
A fine set of teeth by julianora

Prize: 1 x 24x24” or 24x18” Canvas Print of a Photo of Your Choice
Kindly donated by Photo Artistry.
http://www.photoartistry.co.uk