ePHOTOzine have reviewed the Samsung Digimax L70, a 7 megapixel digital camera which features a 2.5 inch LCD screen and innovative nine button touch and click control pad.

“The great feature about the L70 is that it looks and feels a lot more expensive than it actually is. The front and main body are black matte metal, with lens is finished in silver and there’s a glossy black backplate around the LCD. The buttons on the top are easy enough to use, and the zoom rocker has a positive feel, even if the zoom does go in steps rather than smoothly, when small adjustments are requested.”

Website: ePHOTOzine - Samsung Digimax L70 Review

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ePHOTOzine have just reviewed the ultra-wideangle Olympus Zuiko Digital ED7-14mm F4.0 lens.

“If you own a 4/3rds system camera, this is the widest lens available and the only one that gets you into true ultra wide-angle photography. But it does so at a price! It does join the market as the widest corrected lens available for any crop camera and should be commended for that. The main problem is likely to be the inability to attach filters without a Heath-Robinson type bit of DIY.”

Website: ePHOTOzine - Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm F4.0 Lens Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Sony W35 which offers 7.2 megapixels, Real Imaging Processor, ISO 1000 and a 3x optical zoom lens.

“The W35 is equipped with a very nice Carl Zeiss 3x zoom lens. Offering you a typical zoom range for a compact consumer model, 38-114mm in 35mm equivalence. This range provides adequate field of view for interiors and landscapes shots, while the moderate telephoto magnification is great for portraits and brings subjects a bit closer. The lens produced sharp results from corner to corner throughout the zoom range, with moderate amounts of barrel distortion at wide angle and pin cushioning at telephoto. Chromatic aberrations were well controlled, with very little purple fringing present in high contrast areas.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Sony W35 Review

The Canon iPF5000 is a 17” (A2+) large-format inkjet printer which has a new 12-colour full pigment ink system. Additional RGB colours ensure a wider colour gamut, and grey and photo grey inks ensure better graduation, reduced granularity and high colour accuracy and consistency. Jon Canfield finds out if the Canon iPF5000 lives up to its promise in our latest review.

Website: Canon iPF5000 Review

Rob Galbraith are reporting that the DIGITAL-MODUL-R 10 megapixel digital back for the Leica R9 camera has now been discontinued. In a low-key notice to US dealers (but not the press) Lecia are apparently “optimistic about the digital developments in the R System in the near future”. PMA in March is probably too “near future” for an upgraded version.

Website: Rob Galbraith

DxO Optics Pro, the software application for automatic digital image enhancement, and onOne Software’s Genuine Fractals, a Photoshop plug-in that produces high-quality enlargements from digital image files, are now available together for a limited time at significant savings.

DxO Starter + onOne Software’s Genuine Fractals ? $179 instead of $239 (£93 instead of £129)
DxO Optics Pro v4.1 Standard + onOne Software’s Genuine Fractals ? $199 instead of $309 (£109 instead of £171)
DxO Optics Pro v4.1 Elite + onOne Software’s Genuine Fractals ? $349 instead of $459 (£195 instead of £256)
(All prices are ex. VAT and sales taxes).

The new Lensbaby Creative Aperture Kit is for use with the Lensbaby 3G (pictured) and Lensbaby 2.0 SLR lenses. Points of light in out of focus areas of the photo take on the shape of the hole in the aperture disk. Photographers can fashion the blank disks into their own custom shaped apertures. The new Lensbaby Creative Aperture Kit is available now for $9.99.

At the CeBIT trade fair in March, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology will present a prototype dubbed aceMedia that independently and intelligently organizes photos when they are saved on a hard disk. aceMedia can recognize, for instance, whether a picture was taken indoors or outdoors, and whether it depicts a landscape or a man-made environment. Researchers have also developed Pocket-PC Photobrowser, a program designed for archiving large volumes of photographs on mobile hand-held devices. It creates a thumbnail of each photograph and analyzes its metadata, searching through thousands of photos in seconds.

shutter stories magazine is a new website that focuses on interviewing photographers and finding out what they have to say about their work. Founder Tomasz Trzebiatowski records conversations with some of the most interesting photographers that he knows, including Noah Grey, Jim Zuckerman and Yasuhiro Ogawa. Next up is an interview with Romanian photographer Irinel Stegaru.

“Photography is a strictly visual kind of art. In order to take a photograph, photographer is looking through the viewfinder of his camera. Later on, a viewer is looking at the photograph. It is all about looking and seeing. But what if photographers started talking about their images? I have always found it extremely interesting to listen to what artists have to say about their works. I am a pianist and I love to listen to other musicians not only playing but also talking about their music. The same applies to photographers. While looking at images of my favourite photographers I have been always wondering what they would like to say about them, about their work, about their ideas. And then, at some point, I decided to stop wondering. Instead, I started talking to them. That is how the shutter stories magazine has come to life. It consists mainly of my conversations with some of the most interesting photographers I know. I hope you will find my conversations with them interesting and inspiring. I surely do.”

Website: shutter stories magazine

HP today announced that its redesigned print cartridge packaging for North America will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 37 million pounds in 2007. This is the equivalent of taking 3,600 cars off the road for one year. Smaller, lighter packages with more recyclable and recycled content are now being used, allowing more cartridges to be be shipped per truck or freighter.

DCResource have reviewed the new Nikon Coolpix S7c, which offers 7 megapixels, a 35-105mm lens and electronic Vibration Reduction.

“The Nikon Coolpix S7c tries to be the ultimate ultra-compact camera. Offering a 7.1 Megapixel CCD, 3X Nikkor lens, a huge 3-inch LCD, Wi-Fi, and the two gimmicks du jour (face detection and high sensitivity mode), it does just about everything. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do them terribly well. The S7c is mediocre at best, especially with the tough competition out there. While the S7c has some nice features, there are better cameras out there for the money.”

Website: DCResource - Nikon Coolpix S7c Review

Website: Read our Nikon Coolpix S7c Review

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TrustedReviews have reviewed the new 8 megapixel Kodak Easyshare C875 digital camera.

“Image quality is very good, thanks to the 1/1.8in, 8.0MP sensor and an excellent Schneider-Kreuznach lens. Photographs have very good fine detail resolution and edge-to-edge sharpness, although barrel distortion at the wide-angle end is quite noticeable. Corner sharpness is good and there is minimal purple fringing or chromatic aberration. Exposure was usually accurate under normal conditions, although the limited range of aperture and shutter speeds did mean that some shots in low light were under-exposed. Kodak cameras have always had outstanding colour reproduction, and the C875 is no exception, with an extremely good natural look.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Kodak Easyshare C875 Review

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Megapixel.net have just reviewed the slim Casio EX-S770 camera, which offers 7.2 megapixel still images and records high-quality movies in MPEG-4 format.

“The Casio Exilim EX-S770 is a good camera that offers good image quality. It’s body design, however, is so thin that it can be a touch impractical. Too often, while holding the camera, the left-hand index finger touches the DATA button, turning off the capture mode, loosing the opportunity for the shot. So while it may be appealing because of the ease with which it can be carried, users should make time to get used to handling it before trying to capture important photos.”

Website: Megapixel.net - Casio EX-S770 Review

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Greer McNally round-ups the latest photography shows that are well worth some of your hard-earned money and time.

Last chance to see…

Photography Prize at the National Portrait Gallery - Until 18th February
Now in its fourth year under the Schweppes banner, the 2007 exhibition showcases the work of 58 international photographers, chosen from 5065 submissions. The competition is known for recognising emerging talent as well as rewarding those already working in a professional capacity. This year’s winner Richard Boll won the Audi/Next Level Award for contemporary photography in 2004.
National Portrait Gallery, London
http://www.npg.org.uk

Picture Copyright: Richard Boll

Polaroid is the brains behind ZINK (Zero Ink), a new process that allows you to print full color digital images without the need for ink cartridges or ribbons. Dye crystals are embedded in the ZINK paper and are activated by heat from a ZINK printer. The crystals then colorize, producing the final print. Later this year, ZINK Imaging’s partners will launch the first products using ZINK technology later in 2007, with mobile printing the first target.

Day and Moss collaborate again for new addition to NPG Permanent Collection

Acclaimed fashion photographer Corinne Day has produced a new series of portraits of Kate Moss for the National Portrait Gallery. The nine black and white images are all shot in close up in the style of a single frame, capturing both the beauty of the model, as well has her character. Each image is subtly different and reflects a conversation between the sitter and photographer. Day, known for establishing long term relationships with her subjects, has been photographing Moss for over 15 years.

Fantasea has introduced a new underwater housing specifically designed for the ultra-slim Nikon Coolpix S9 digital camera. The Fantasea FS-9 housing has a working depth of 130 feet/40 meters and provides a built in Flash Diffuser and an anti-glare hood over the LCD screen. The suggested retail price of the FS-9 is US $200.00.

Luminous Landscape have a great article on how to free yourself from the tyranny of the standard digital image aspect ratios, and creatively use cropping to improve your photos.

“When looking at a new raw file of my own the first thing I ask myself is that question – What is this image about, and what do I want it to say about the subject? Only when I have a satisfactory answer to this can I proceed to crop and otherwise interpret the image. When this is in hand I then find it easy to arrive at a cropping, because as with Michelangelo’s David, I simply remove everything that isn’t relevant to my conceptualization.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Understanding Aspect Ratios and The Art of Cropping

CameraLabs have reviewed the new Canon G7, which features a 10 megapixel, 1/1.8 inch sensor, DIGIC III image processor, Face Detection, 35-210mm lens and optical image stabilization system.

“So noise (and a slightly unusually shaped shutter release button) aside, the PowerShot G7 is an excellent camera, but there’s just one problem: its predecessors. Canon’s earlier PowerShot G series truly were flagship models, boasting many features you’d rarely if ever find on a compact. Previous models boasted a flash hotshoe, RAW recording, a flip-out screen, an optically bright lens and an upper LCD status screen. Now with the G7, only the hotshoe remains. It’s a terrible shame that Canon chose to strip its latest PowerShot G model of the features which made its predecessors so special, and as a consequence it places the G7 in a somewhat uncomfortable position.”

Website: CameraLabs - Canon G7 Review

Website: Read our Canon Powershot G7 Review

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Steves Digicams have reviewed the 10 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N2 camera.

“When using the 10M Fine setting the images look great. Outdoors, capturing photos that are sharp from edge to edge isn’t a problem, along with showing accurate exposure and color balance. You can also dial in your very own “look” with various image adjustments like color modes, sharpness, and contrast. The Carl Zeiss 3x optical zoom lens helped produce sharp images throughout the 38-114mm (35mm equivalent) range. I did notice some traces of chromatic aberration around subjects with high contrast. At full wide angle there is a moderate amount of barrel distortion, but not enough to cause any major problems with your subject(s).”

Website: Steves Digicams - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N2 Review

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