Fujifilm have released a new firmware version for the FinePix Z3 Zoom camera.

The firmware (Ver.1.00 to Ver.1.02) update incorporates the following issues.
1. Fix the issues that some camera operation cause the following effects in very rare cases.
  (a) Some recorded images cannot be viewed and “Read Error” message is displayed on the LCD monitor.
  (b) The full frame of camera recorded image cannot be viewed on PC.

2. Shorten the recognition time of PC when the camera connected to the PC via USB interface.
In the case of 1000 JPEG images in camera, PC recognition time is improved from 20 seconds to 2 seconds.

Website: Fujifilm FinePix Z3 Zoom v1.02 Firmware

DIWA member LetsGoDigital have published a review of the Fujifilm FinePix F30, which offers ISO 3200, 6 megapixels, 3x optical zoom lens and a 2.5 inch LCD.

“The FinePix F30 gives fantastic results with excellent color reproduction, good detailing and a lovely contrast. Thanks to the first rate lens, the pictures are almost completely free of distortion and vignetting The high resolution means that you don’t have to worry making large prints on your printer on in the mini lab. It would be a waste to only look at the photos on the computer. There is a considerable difference between the average screen’s reproduction and a print and if you don’t make prints, you will never be able to appreciate the actual quality.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Fujifilm FinePix F30 Review

Website: Read our Fujifilm Finepix F30 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

DIWA member and German website digitalkamera.de have reviewed the new 10.2 megapixel Sony A100 DSLR camera.

Website: digitalkamera.de - Sony A100 Review

Website: Read our Sony A100 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

With just 3 weeks to go until the start of the show, we’ve opened our Photokina 2006 Report. Photokina is a photography trade and consumer show held in Cologne, Germany from 25th September - 1st October. The biggest names in photography will be there, including the debut of none other than Apple. PhotographyBLOG will also be attending to bring you the lowdown on all of the latest announcements, live from the show floor. We’ve got a round-up of all the new products that have been unveiled ahead of the show so far - expect to see some more additions before Photokina officially starts, so check back often to keep up with all the news.

Website: Photokina 2006 Report

The Kodak P712 is a 7 megapixel bridge-style camera with a massive 12x, 36-432mm image stabilized zoom lens. Other standout features include a 2.5 inch LCD screen, RAW and TIFF file format support, a flash hot-shoe and in-camera video editing. Is the Kodak P712 the right ultra-zoom camera for you? Read our review now…

Website: Kodak Easyshare P712 Review

In the latest installment of this regular series, we cast the spotlight on members of the PhotographyBLOG Gallery and ask them about their photography. The ninth member to sit in the interview chair is gazmaster.

”...the fascination is that nature is always changing, evolving and you never know what’s around the corner. Only the other day I took a shot of a baby Robin, I hadn’t even seen one before, let alone have the pleasure of capturing it.”

Website: Gallery Member Spotlight - gazmaster

Epson launches the PictureMate PM 280 and PictureMate PM 240 portable home photo-labs. The Epson PictureMate PM 240 will cost £129.99 and be available in September 2006, whilst the Epson PictureMate PM 280 will cost £199.99 and be available in October 2006.

Epson UK Press Release

4th September 2006 – Don’t lose your precious memories into the depths of your computer hard drive or leave them trapped on memory cards and CDs.  Epson’s new PictureMate PM range with a contemporary and iconic design empowers you to print superior quality photos at home more conveniently and cost-effectively than ever before, from only 20p per photo.  The two new models, the Epson PictureMate PM 280 and Epson PictureMate PM 240 are premium quality 10x15cm photo printers.  Both work standalone, so there is no need to connect to your computer.  They are easy to use with fast print speeds up to 42 seconds per photo. The PictureMate PM 280, features an internal CD drive allowing you to print directly from a CD or save images from your digital memory card to CD.  Both printers also provide direct printing from digital camera memory cards, “USB DIRECT -PRINT™”, PictBridge and an optional Bluetooth® adapter.

Samsung Press Release

Berlin , Germany - 1st September, 2006 - Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a market leader in consumer electronics, is set to launch the SDC-MS61. This very stylish product combines multiple functions with 6 Mega pixel photo quality and the best MPEG4 recording quality available in a digital still camera. The innovative Samsung SDC-MS61 features ISO 1600, which reduces the effects of camera shake and sharpens subjects in low-light situations with high shutter speeds, giving you greater flexibility for shooting. The SDC-MS61 also incorporates a big new 3-inch wide LCD screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio for a truly eye-opening view. This high-resolution screen offers a crisp, clear picture and wider viewing angle to make shooting, playback and producing images and film clips that are perfect for your wide-screen TV or computer monitor.

Nikon have just updated their Nikon Capture NX digital image editing software to version 1.01.

What’s New:

  * D80 Raw files are supported
  * Batch processes have been improved
  * Gradient tool has been improved
  * Options from the View menu have been improved
  * Soft proofing, printer profiles and color management tools have been improved

Website: Nikon Capture NX 1.01 (Windows)

Website: Nikon Capture NX 1.01 (Mac)

DIWA member and Czech website Fotoaparat have reviewed the new 10.2 megapixel Sony A100 DSLR camera.

Website: Fotoaparat - Sony A100 Review

Website: Read our Sony A100 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

This week’s Gary’s Parries topics are:

1. WANTED: Splashproof 28mm 7x Zoom Ultra-Compact
2. Histogram 101
3. Waiting For Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 Review
4. Telecaster Or Stratocaster

Introducing this week’s Gary’s Parries column. Everything you always wanted to know about digital cameras, but were afraid to ask. No question too difficult, or too easy. As a Senior Principal Software Engineer, and a former Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems, as well as a recording studio owner/operator, inventor, and now, a digital camera enthusiast, GARY has more digital camera knowledge in his entire brain than most people have in their little finger. In the unlikely event that GARY would not know the answer to your question, he will answer it anyway, true to the spirit of the word “Parries”, a fencing term which, in this context, implies “cleverly evasive answers”. So let your imagination run wild. Email all your nagging digital camera questions to: [email protected] , and then, En Garde!

You may also attach to your email an ORIGINAL PHOTO of your choosing. A preview of the photo will be displayed with your question, and a full-sized version will be just a click away. No personal information will be published with your question unless you specifically include it in the text or attached photo of your email, which may be further edited for grammar, content, or other reasons.

The winners of the August 2006 PhotographyBLOG Competition have been announced. The theme for August was “Summertime” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
“Fun with Sprinklers!” by steve cherry
View this entry

Prize: Photobird.com one-year subscription with 100 megabytes of storage space
Kindly donated by Photobird.com.
http://www.photobird.com

And that’s just the news section. Yes, after 3.5 years, we’ve just passed the 10,000 article mark, making this the 10,001th posting, with over 11,000 user comments posted by you. We also have 128 product reviews, 23,700 gallery photos, 51,000 gallery comments and nearly 6,000 gallery/forum members. Which, I’m sure you’ll agree, is a lot of big numbers. Here’s to the next 10,000 articles…

The new 4-colour Epson Stylus D78 and Epson Stylus D88 printers are available immediately for £49.99 and £59.99 respectively.

Epson UK Press Release

Epson’s general purpose, four-colour inkjet printers provide the home and small office with a high-quality, low cost printing solution.

1st September 2006 – The Epson Stylus D88 Plus and Epson Stylus D78 are the latest four-colour general purpose inkjet printers from Epson.  They offer low cost printing solution with four individual ink cartridges from only £6.99 each, as with all of Epson’s new consumer printer range for 2006, you save money by only replacing the colour you use. The Epson D88 and Epson D78 also feature Epson DURABrite Ultra ink that is highly durable and is smudge, fade and water resistant on either plain or photo paper; a printing resolution of up to 5760x1440dpi and Epson’s unique Micro Piezo™ technology. Both printers include Epson’s PhotoEnhance, image enhancing software which automatically detects the scene and corrects your photo accordingly to produce perfect results every time.

Wacom Press Release

1 September 2006 - Wacom, the leading manufacturer of pen tablets and interactive pen displays, today launches the Intuos3 A6 Wide pen tablet, aimed at wide-screen notebook users as well as professionals and enthusiasts from the digital imaging and photography markets. The growing number of wide format monitors has resulted in a higher demand for Intuos3 pen tablets in a specific aspect ratio. The Intuos3 A6 Wide is the latest addition to the Intuos3 pen tablet range. It replaces the Intuos3 A6 and extends Wacom’s offering of wide format pen tablets which already includes the Intuos3 A5 Wide and the Intuos3 A3 Wide.

Pretec has released an 8GB SDHC card, the highest capacity SD card in the world. No word yet on price or availability.

Pretec Press Release

FREMONT, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Aug. 31, 2006—Pretec, the world record keeper of highest capacity flash memory cards of CF card (12GB, March 2004), USB Flash Drive (8GB, January 2005), SD card (4GB, July 2005) and MMC (4GB, September 2005), has now released an 8GB SD card, the highest capacity SD card in the world. Pretec 8GB SDHC card is fully compliant with SD 2.0 (SDHC) specification with access speed up to 20MB/sec. The maximum capacity of SD card is 2GB under SD 1.1 of Secure Digital Alliance (SDA) specification; however, by using file format of FAT32, many SD 1.1 host devices can use 4GB SD card which Pretec pioneered since 2005.

Ilford Photo Press Release

With its manufacturing plant and administrative head offices now fully operational following the company’s reconstruction over the past 18 months, ILFORD Photo has re-organised its US presence to reflect the company’s determination to progress the American black-and-white photography market. Throughout the restructuring of its North American operation, ILFORD Photo’s parent company, HARMAN technology Ltd, has maintained consistent supply and support of its full line of black-and-white photographic products, and now announces its new organisation which provides the foundation for its ongoing business in the USA.

Bogen Imaging Press Release

Bogen Imaging To Distribute Will Crockett’s ShootSmarter Series of Professional Photographic Training DVDs In The US

Ramsey, NJ (September 1, 2006) – Bogen Imaging is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with ShootSmarter University to serve as the exclusive distributor of its highly acclaimed line of professional photographic training DVDs in the United States. The complete line of DVDs comprises seven disks, ranging from Digital Portraiture Basics to an extensive PhotoShop training. “We are extremely pleased to be working with Will Crockett and ShootSmarter University,” noted Paul Wild, President of Bogen Imaging, USA. “Will is one of the world’s most prominent and distinguished photographers and has received unending praise for his work as an author and educator on the principals of digital photography. Crockett’s ShootSmarter professional photographic training DVDs deliver exactly what professionals and serious amateurs need to help fine-tune their skills and take their digital photography to new levels. Bogen is looking forward to building a successful relationship with ShootSmarter University in years to come and to increasing the availability of Crockett’s educational DVDs to photographers in the US,” concluded Mr. Wild.

Stock Artists Alliance Press Release

Stock Artists Alliance Actively Engages in Developing the Next Generation of Rights Based Licensing

Through dialogue with Getty Images and participation in industry initiatives, the trade organization of stock photographers is an active proponent of new approaches to stock licensing that balance the needs of customers with the interests of photographers. Stock Artists Alliance is pleased to announce that Getty Images revised their “rights ready” model in response to concerns voiced by SAA and photographers about the unlimited license term originally proposed by the company. The “rights ready” model-launched earlier this week in the new Riser collection-now has a ten-year term limit.  While SAA had urged Getty to cap licenses at five years or less, this revision has addressed the organization’s chief concern about tying up images for an indefinite future.

ExpressDigital Press Release

Englewood, CO-August 31, 2006- ExpressDigital, the foremost authority on digital photography software and software solutions, has launched a podcast series for customers called “Digital Dialog.” The podcast can be streamed or downloaded to a personal MP3 player at www.expressdigital.com. The first edition of “Digital Dialog” expands on CEO Graham McFarland’s Keynote Address from the recent ExpressDigital User Conference in Denver. The podcast features excerpts from his keynote as well as a conversation with McFarland to expand on his comments. Future editions will explain new ExpressDigital products and product features, provide insight into the digital photography industry and recap important company and industry developments.