Shuttertalk have just reviewed the new Crumpler Sinking Barge Photo Backpack.

“The Sinking Barge has 2 main storage areas – the top section being for a laptop, while the front section houses your camera gear. The front compartment of the bag opens up via 2 way zipper to reveal padded compartment with 2 adjustable dividers, giving essentially room for a DSLR with lens attached, and 2 additional lenses/accessories on each side. This compartment is covered by a zippered mesh to hold everything securely in place. It was a snug fit, but it was able to accommodate my Nikon D50 with 18-70 zoom lens, 55-200 zoom lens and SB-600 flashgun. I think if you had a bigger body or lenses, you would probably have to reconfigure the dividers to with some trade off in storage space.”

Website: Shuttertalk - Crumpler Sinking Barge Photo Backpack Review

Norwegian website Akam.no have reviewed the new Olympus SP-350, an 8 megapixel camera that offers a 3x optical zoom lens equivalent to 38-114mm and a 2.5 inch LCD monitor.

Website: Akam.no - Olympus SP-350 Review

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CNET have just reviewed the new 6 megapixel Nikon Coolpix S5 digital camera.

“Nikon’s Coolpix S5 is a slim, attractive 6-megapixel shirt-pocket camera that hits all the right design notes. Its 2.5-inch LCD screen, satin silver finish, and internally zooming 3X optical lens (35mm-to-105mm equivalent) will be a hit with style-conscious snapshooters, and its scrolling click wheel gives users an easy, MP3 player-like interface. The quick-shooting camera boasts very good build quality, color rendition, and sharpness, but some minor image flaws may disappoint eagle-eyed photographers. A simple feature set and basic shooting options will serve casual snapshooters, but they probably won’t satisfy enthusiasts who like to tinker with settings.”

Website: CNET - Nikon Coolpix S5 Review

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DIWA member and Polish website Fotopolis have reviewed the new Olympus mju 700 (also known as the Olympus Stylus 710 in the USA), a 7.1 megapixel camera with 3x zoom, 2.5 inch LCD and a weatherproof body.

Website: Fotopolis - Olympus mju 700 Review

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DIWA member LetsGoDigital have just reviewed the new Kodak Easyshare Z650, which has a 6.1-megapixel sensor and 10x zoom lens.

“The Kodak EasyShare Z650 is an attractive, easy to use digital camera with a lot of features. If you are looking for a good automatic camera, the Kodak Z650 is a good choice. It will work without problems and you will be satisfied with the results. If you want a compact camera, but with more possibilities, this camera has enough pre-programmed settings to allow you to quickly select themes. Its advantages are the perfect pre-programming and its user friendliness.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Kodak Easyshare Z650 Review

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This week’s Gary’s Parries topics are:

1. Nikon D70 Front-Focused Images (Part III)
2. How To Achieve Smaller Image Files
3. Busy As A Bee

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, 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.

A few years ago the word “blog” didn’t exist. Nowadays blogs and blogging are everyday terms that most people in the street are aware of (even if they don’t fully understand them). Photoblogs are a big part of this ever-growing trend, with sites like Chromasia and daily dose of imagery being just two excellent examples. I’ve recently started my own, EverydayEye, in an attempt to make myself get out there and take photos on a more regular basis. Do you have your own photo blog (feel free to list the URL)? If so, what is your principal reason for having it? Is it the main way that you share your photos with the world? Has it had any impact on the way that you take photographs? Shout out now…

Here are the stand-out news stories from the last 7 days:

New Cameras
Praktica Luxmedia 10-X3
Praktica DCZ 6.3
Sony Alpha Interview

New Accessories
Sigma APO 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO HSM Lens
Sony VAIO UX Micro PC
Sanyo Epson Develops Wide-Angle View LCDs
Apple Core Duo MacBook
Vosonic VP8360

New Software
DSLR Remote Pro v1.2
Adobe Photoshop CS2 Update

Other Headlines
Image Stabilisation for Camera Phones
Nikon Exceeds Expectations for 2005/6
Fujfilm Increases Film Prices
World’s Smallest 8 Megapixel Image Sensor
Lead Solder Cameras to be Banned After July 1st
The Great Megapixel Shootout

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX1 is the world’s first digital camera with an image sensor in the new, popular 16:9 wide-screen format. The camera also offers many exciting features, such as 8.4 MP image resolution and a 4x Leica 28mm wide angle zoom lens with optical stabiliser. Its robust metal body underlines the camera’s overall qualities, while a large 2.5” LCD screen and user-friendly design make it suitable for most photo enthusiasts.

Amsterdam, 19th May, 2006 – DIWA (Digital Imaging Websites Association), a world-wide organisation of collaborating websites within digital imaging, today announces a DIWA Gold Award to the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX1 digital compact camera. The LX1 proves that Panasonic has serious ambitions with its LUMIX digital camera range. The public has embraced their compact models for various reasons, but the most obvious benefit is Panasonic’s MEGA O.I.S optical stabiliser. In the LX1, this valuable feature is combined with a 4x Leica DC Vario-Elmarit wide angle zoom lens from the world-renowned lens manufacturer Leica, featuring focal lengths equivalent to 28 – 112 mm f/2.8-4.9. The lens is tailor-made for the camera’s unique 8.4 Megapixel image sensor in the popular 16:9 wide-screen TV format, which also provides the world’s first 848x480 16:9 Wide VGA format movie recording at 30 fps.

Breeze Systems Press Release

New in DSLR Remote Pro v1.2: Canon EOS 30D Support

19th May, 2006: Breeze Systems today released DSLR Remote Pro v1.2. Photographers can now use Breeze Systems’ highly regarded software to control Canon’s new EOS 30D as well as Canon EOS 5D, 350D/Rebel XT, 20D, EOS-1D Mark II and EOS-1Ds Mark II, 10D, 300D/Rebel, EOS-1D and EOS-1Ds models.

Sigma have announced the APO 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO HSM lens, a large aperture zoom lens designed specially for digital SLR cameras with close-up capability. This large aperture telephoto zoom lens has a minimum focusing distance of 100cm (39.4”) and has a maximum magnification ratio of 1:3.5 and it is optimized for digital SLR cameras. This lens’ super multi layer lens coating reduces flare and ghost, which is a common problem with digital cameras. ELD (Extraordinary Low Dispersion) glasses and SLD?Special Low Dispersion? glasses are used for utmost correction against chromatic aberrations, high image quality is assured throughout the entire zoom range.

Praktica Press Release

Praktica announces the Luxmedia 10-X3. 10.0 Mega pixels digital camera with 3x optical zoom, 4x digital zoom, 2,4“ TFT color monitor (diagonal: app. 6,1cm), 32 MB built-in memory.

Praktica Press Release

PRAKTICA DCZ 6.3 – The passion of photography - If modern colour psychology is right, red stands for passion and the desire for happiness. PRAKTICA is adapting this passion – this fire –to its latest model – the DCZ 6.3. Every single pixel of the six million on the CCD sensor is taking care that even the most filigree detail is stored accurately and brought to life on the 2.5” monitor afterwards. High resolution video clips are no problem either. Whether you record with 320x240 or 640x480 pixels with a constant rate of 30 frames per second – the world around you starts to move.

InvenSense Press Release

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 16, 2006 – InvenSense, the leading provider of motion sensing solutions for mobile applications, today announced it is addressing image quality problems in the high-growth camera phone market with its miniature image stabilization system, due out in the second half of this year. Global camera phone sales are skyrocketing and are projected to be the most common image capture device in the world within a few years. Gartner Group estimates that nearly 300 million camera phones were shipped in 2005, while Infotrends/CAP Ventures projects that number to reach one billion units by 2010.

Nikon Press Release

TOKYO – Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce that the D200 Digital SLR Camera has been selected by Japan’s Camera Press Club to receive the Camera Grand Prix 2006 award. The Camera Grand Prix is the Japanese photo industry’s most prestigious award for a camera. It is determined by a panel of 49 (in 2006) respected photographers, scholars and technical writers in the field of photography, as well as chief editors and magazine representatives of each of the 12 magazines that comprise the Camera Press Club. A total of 149 cameras - all released between April 2005 and March 2006 - were nominated for the Camera Grand Prix award 2006. The Nikon D200 was chosen as the most outstanding camera from among these nominees to receive the Camera Grand Prix award.

Zorpia Press Release

Zorpia photo editor can enhance your photo sharing and blogging experience with your own creativity.

(PRWEB) May 18, 2006—Bring photo editing online with an effortless process, a pleasing result and no software installed. The solution is the Zorpia photo editor where photographers can enhance photo sharing and blogging experience with their own creativity. Zorpia developed a flash-based photo editor which integrates the most popular photo editing functions into a simple, self-explanatory platform. The web-based editor includes features like crop, rotate, brightness, saturation, hue, tint, unlimited undo or redo, save a copy, and also supports non-destructive editing.

Redbug Press Release

(Carlisle, PA) - Redbug Technologies has announced Mapwing Creator, a $39 shareware application for turning digital photographs into virtual tours. Redbug has also updated Mapwing Creator Pro to version 1.5, adding support for high resolution maps and improving web page integration. To learn more about Mapwing, visit http://www.redbugtech.com/mapwing.php. Mapwing is a software technology for building, sharing, and exploring virtual reality (VR) tours. It enables anyone with a digital camera and a computer to create tours quickly and easily. Users can create VR locations or “points” out of images and connect these together to form tours. A tour can be enhanced with an interactive map, text comments, web site links, and detail image hotspots. Mapwing tours can be viewed in web pages using Adobe’s Flash Player or explored with OpenGL using Mapwing Viewer.

DPReview have reviewed the Canon PowerShot S3 IS, a 6 megapixel camera with an image stabilized 12x zoom lens, ISO 800 and a 2 inch LCD screen.

“Comparisons with it predecessor aside, the S3 IS Image quality is very good - certainly on a par with most of its competitors - though the results are still a bit on the soft side, something the fairly high default sharpening doesn’t really help. Again, experimenting with the in-camera parameters and a little sympathetic post-processing means that in the right hands it can produce images every bit as good as anything else in its class.”

Website: DPReview - Canon PowerShot S3 IS Review

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TrustedReviews have reviewed the new Epson Stylus Photo R2400 A3+ photo printer.

“Epson has really tried with this machine to provide a semi-pro finishing printer or a professional-level proofing machine. The flexibility of its paper handling, combined with its three-black greyscale printing, will see it adopted in a number of different business and creative offices, where its undoubted high print quality will shine through.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Epson Stylus Photo R2400 Review

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CNET have just reviewed the Olympus mju 720 SW, a 7.1 megapixel, 3x zoom, 2.5 inch LCD, weatherproof digital camera.

“The most weatherproof Stylus to date, the Olympus Stylus 720 SW is a waterproof, 7.1-megapixel camera that’s fully submersible up to 10 feet, for an hour at a time. This ultracompact Stylus also happens to be shockproof (putting the S in SW), rated to withstand a drop of five feet. Sleek, responsive, and outfitted with image stabilization, the Stylus 720 SW makes a rugged and welcome travel companion.”

Website: CNET - Olympus mju 720 SW Review

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