The Online Photographer have reviewed the innovative Rotation 360 backpack from Think Tank Photo. With the Rotation 360°, in seconds a beltpack can be rotated from inside of the backpack to the front of the body, allowing photographers to access their gear stored inside without having to take off or swivel the entire backpack.

“The materials and zippers on the Rotation 360 are high quality, and the straps are comfortable and easy to adjust. The placement of the padding that rests against your back is designed for ventilation. The belt strap attaches to the right of center, which keeps the clips from rubbing. I’ve been on multiple 4–5 hour adventures using the Think Tank 360, and it’s quite comfortable.”

Website: The Online Photographer - Think Tank Photo Rotation 360 Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the new Fujifilm S9600 (called the FinePix S9100 in the USA), which is a 9 megapixel camera with a 10x zoom lens.

“The S9100 can also capture RAW images, but its performance suffers. In single shot mode, the S9100 could capture RAW shots at lethargic 6 second intervals, while continuous shooting mode can not shoot RAW at all. Fuji’s software support of RAW images is also disappointing. The supplied Fuji FinePixViewer software only allows you to view RAF image files and save them as TIFF files for later processing by an image editor. In addition the RAF files are enormous at just under 19 megabytes each, exceeded in size only by the 52 megabyte TIFF files saved by FinePixViewer”

Website: Steves Digicams - Fujifilm FinePix S9100 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

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

1st Place
crowded by guitarman74uk

Prize: ShutterPoint.com one-year subscription with 100Mb of storage space
Kindly donated by ShutterPoint.
http://www.shutterpoint.com

A security vulnerability has recently been discovered in Adobe Photoshop, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user’s system. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability allows the execution of arbitrary code. This affects both Adobe Photoshop CS2 and the new Adobe Photoshop CS3, with the current solution being to not open untrusted Bitmap files.

Website: Secunia - Adobe Photoshop BMP.8BI Bitmap File Handling Buffer Overflow

Pentax USA have announced a series of rebates for the company’s DSLR and compact camera products. DSLR products include the K10D (pictured), K100D, AF-360FGZ/AF-540FGZ flash units, BG2 Battery Grip and an array of Pentax lenses. On the compact side you can save money on the Optio A30, Optio T30 or the Optio E30. The rebate offers are valid from May 1, 2007 to July 31, 2007.

Website: Pentax Picture Perfect Rebates

Serif AlbumPlus X2 is a new digital image manager that enables you to easily organise, browse, search and locate digital images, movies and sounds. “We’ve designed AlbumPlus X2 with simplicity and ease-of-use in mind, yet also with powerful functionality to handle extensive media collections, so that our customers can make the most of their digital images with the minimum of effort.” said Gary Bates, Serif’s Managing Director. Serif AlbumPlus X2 launches on Monday 14th May for £39.99, with upgrade pricing available.

Free upgrades are now available for Intellihance Pro 4.2, Mask Pro 4.1, Genuine Fractals 5 and PhotoFrame Pro 3.1, principally adding Photoshop CS3 compatibility and support for Intel-based Macintosh computers. Registered users of previous versions of each product can upgrade to the Photoshop CS3 compatible versions for $69.95. These Photoshop CS3 compatible updates are available now via download from the onOne Software Web site.

The Corsair Flash Survivor USB drives is water-resistant to 200 Meters, CNC-milled aluminum encased, and shock-proof, making it the industry’s toughest USB drive. The drives are pre-loaded with a security application with 256bit AES encryption, and they are 5x faster than other drives. “Corsair has built the Flash Survivor family specifically for customers with a ‘Bring It On!’ attitude – for someone who doesn’t want to worry if his/her equipment can stand up to the active lifestyle they lead,” said Jack Peterson, VP of Marketing at Corsair. The new Flash Survivor is available in 2 models, the Flash Survivor GT 8GB for $129.99, and the Flash Survivor 4GB for $59.99, both available now.

The Gitzo GT2330 and Gitzo GT2340L are new aluminium tripods using advanced materials and production techniques. The GT2340L has four leg sections, maximum working height of 182cm and weighs 1.91kg. The GT2330 offers three section legs, maximum working height of 164cm and weighs just 1.78kg. Pricing is £229 for the GT2330 and £289 for the GT2340L, both available in May.

PopPhoto describe how to easily adapt the Sigma SD14 DSLR camera for infra-red photography.

“The reason the IR filter is so easy to remove on the SD14 is to allow the owner to clean their own sensor. This manufacturing choice is an awesome side effect that makes the SD14 one of the few, if not only, hot-swappable IR/visible spectrum SLRs available. Unlike with most other SLRs, which have the IR cutoff just in front of the chip, the IR cutoff filter of the SD14 sits in front of the reflex mirror, and it’s a simple process to pop it out.”

Website: PopPhoto - Capture Invisible Light with Your Sigma SD14

Two new Digital Survival Kits aim to make sensor cleaning in the studio or while traveling a whole lot easier. A reusable nylon zippered pouch contains 4 original Sensor Swabs, ½ ounce (15mL) container of either Eclipse or E2 Optic Cleaner fluid, a 10 sheet pack of PEC*PAD ultra pure lint free cleaning wipes, and an e-WIPE packet. The Digital Survival Kit costs $20.00.

DIWA member LetsGoDigital have reviewed the Canon A570 IS compact digital camera, which offers a 7.1 megapixel sensor, 4x optical zoom lens, Face Detection Technology and Red-Eye Correction, plus an Optical Image Stabilizer to combat camera shake and full manual control.

“he image quality of the Canon PowerShot A570 IS camera is great. The colours are saturated and appear natural. The saturation is a bit strong for my taste, but that is a personal preference. The Canon PowerShot A570 IS may not perform perfectly in extreme artificial lighting, but a simple white balance correction will resolve this problem immediately. The images are rich in detail, and even very high contrast situations are no problem.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Canon A570 IS Review

Imaging Resource have reviewed the new Sony T100 camera, which has a 5x optical zoom lens and 3-inch LCD screen, with red, black and silver colours available.

“I’m a sucker for high ISO shooting, and just couldn’t resist one night as I wandered around North Beach taking a few shots at ISO 1,600 and 3,200 at the full 1,920 x 1,080 pixels of a 16:9 image size. Color was dead on. Detail left something to be desired, and you could detect noise when enlarged. But I was happy with the shots. They captured a scene I otherwise would not have been able to shoot.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Sony DSC-T100 Review

Website: Read our Sony Cyber-shot DSC T100 Review

DigitalCameraInfo have reviewed the FujiFilm S5 Pro digital SLR camera.

“The Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro is Fujifilm’s latest attempt at the perfect camera for wedding photographers. It has a new version of the company’s extended-range SR sensor, with new adjustments meant specifically to handle facial highlights and white clothing (wedding dresses). The S5’s strong dynamic range and pleasing color are its unique selling points. Really, they are the sum total of its unique propositions of any kind, given that the Fujifilm sensor and image process rig are dropped into an otherwise unchanged Nikon D200.”

Website: DigitalCameraInfo - FujiFilm S5 Pro Review

Website: Read our FujiFilm S5 Pro Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Sony DSC-S700, which offers 7.2 megapixels, 2.4 inch LCDa, ISO 1000 and a 3x optical zoom lens.

“Image quality is pleasing for an entry-level 7-megapixel model. Outdoors, the majority of our images were sharp, well exposed, and showed good color saturation. When viewing an image at 100%, you can see some traces of image noise, even at ISO 100. However, these are average amounts and it is unlikely you will see this in your prints. Just remember, as the sensitivity is increased, so is the amount of noise in your photos.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Sony DSC-S700 Review

TrustedReviews 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.

“I found the overall picture quality to be outstanding. The EX-Z1050 uses very low file compression, so it can take full advantage of the extra resolution generated by that big sensor. File sizes average around 5MB, but go as high as 7.5MB for some more detailed subjects. While the gain in fine detail over a seven or eight megapixel camera isn’t hugely significant, it is there if you look.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Casio EX-Z1050 Review

General Electric digital cameras, first announced at PMA back in March, will be available for the first time on the Home SHopping Network (HSN). On May 1 HSN will introduce the GE G1 as “Today’s Special.”  “The significance of our partnership with HSN is underscored by the fact that May is National Photo month,” said Rene Buhay, vice president of sales North America for General Imaging. GE cameras are expected to be on store shelves later in May.

Phase One have released version 3.7.7 of Capture One PRO, which adds camera support for the Leica DIGILUX 3, Fuji S5, Nikon D40, Pentax K10D, Pentax K100D and Olympus E-400

Website: Capture One PRO 3.7.7 (Windows)

Website: Capture One PRO 3.7.7 (Mac)

Ulead VideoStudio 11 and Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus are the newest versions of Corel’s award-winning consumer video editing and DVD authoring software. VideoStudio now includes the industry’s first AVCHD editing solution, whilst the Plus version provides an end-to-end solution for capturing, editing, authoring and burning HD DVD videos. Ulead VideoStudio 11 costs $89.99 USD for the standard version and $129.99 USD for the Plus version.

Genuine Fractals 5 and Genuine Fractals Print Pro 5 Photoshop plug-ins are now shipping. Genuine Fractals 5 enables you to enlarge digital images over 1000% with no loss in image quality. “Perfect for any photographer who needs to make sharp large format and poster sized prints as well as graphic designers, this complete overhaul of Genuine Fractals makes it easier than ever to produce prints with no loss of sharpness or details from their digital image files.” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. Pricing for Genuine Fractals 5 is $159.95 for new users and $69.95 for users upgrading from a previous version bought before December 18, 2006.