In the first installment of our new The Peoples’ Voice column, reader Gary Pogoda explains just how tricky it is to buy a new camera for his wife. If you want to contribute an article and make your voice heard (minimum of 500 words), please email it to [email protected]. Now, over to Gary…

Website: The Peoples’ Voice - “Take My Wife’s Digital Camera ... Please !!!”

The Canon Powershot A620 is the 7 megapixel replacement for the very popular 5 megapixel A95 model. As well as the increased resolution, the Canon A620 has a number of important improvements, principally the Digic II processor, which is also used by the company’s high-end DSLR cameras. The twisting, flippable LCD screen is now a 2 inch model, whilst a number of new creative effects are available that you won’t find on other digital cameras. The Powershot A620 has a 4x optical zoom equivalent to 35-140mm, and aperture-priority, shutter-priority and manual modes are all on offer. With a current price of just over £200/$300, is the Canon Powershot A620 worth a look? Click the link below to find out.

Website: Canon Powershot A620 Review

BOE HYDIS Press Release

BOE HYDIS unveils new LCD with spectacular outdoor readability

- Outstanding visibility indoors and out with innovative light reflection control
- Optimal for mobile devices with lower power consumption and wide viewing angle

January 11, 2006 (Icheon, South Korea) … BOE HYDIS has successfully developed a new mobile TFT-LCD with superior outdoor readability under bright sunlit conditions.

The new product is applied with ‘AFFS-Outdoor’ technology that significantly enhances contrast ratio and reduces outside reflections on panels compared to BOE HYDIS’ existing AFFS (Advanced Fringe Field Switching) technology.

The product features improved transmission of 5.9 percent, external LCD reflection of 0.2 percent or lower and higher internal panel reflection that contribute to its enhanced readability.

Centico Press Release

Centico Photo Album Keeps Photos Safe with Time Warp Backup

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (January 12th, 2006) - Centico Ltd. announced today the release of Centico Photo Album 1.0, a digital photo management application for Windows 2000/XP with advanced support for backing up photos.

Centico Photo Album uses an advanced backup mechanism for digital photos called Time Warp Backup. Time Warp Backup backs-up editing changes (such as cropping and sharpening) independently from the photos themselves. In case of data loss, the photos will be restored along with all of the editing changes that had been made to them, even if these changes were made AFTER the photos were backed up. This makes it much easier to backup photos than with regular backup software, because the user only has to backup the photos once in their lifetime, instead of being forced to backup again and again whenever the photos are edited.

Samsung Press Release

Samsung and Microsoft Jointly Bestowed Visionary Award for Hybrid Hard Disk

SAN JOSE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Jan. 12, 2006—Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology together with Microsoft Corporation have been awarded the Visionary Consumer Electronics Award of the 2006 StorageVisions Conference for their pioneering work on Hybrid Hard Disks.

The Fifth Annual Storage Visions Conference (a partner program to the 2006 International CES) awards were presented before hundreds of show attendees at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The trophy was awarded for advancing the state of the art in storage technology for the consumer electronics, media and entertainment industries.

DIWA member Steves Digicams have reviewed the new Kodak Easyshare P880 digital camera. The Kodak Easyshare P880 is an 8 megapixel model with wide-angle 24–140 mm zoom lens and 2.5 inch LCD screen.

“I enjoyed using the lens’ mechanical zoom ring, a great improvement over the motor-driven zooms of most consumer digicams. Like the zoom controls of dSLR lenses, the P880’s enables you to move quickly and directly to the focal length needed for your shot composition. The lens is also equipped with a fly-by-wire manual focus ring. Manual focus is a breeze thanks to the MF assist function, which enlarges the viewfinder image as you turn the focus ring. The quality of the viewfinder image, enlargement of the focus area and intensification of the viewfinder image in dim lighting contribute to a manual focus arrangement which betters that of many dSLR’s.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Kodak Easyshare P880 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

CameraLabs have published their review of the Fujifilm FinePix S9500 Zoom, a new 9 megapixel digital camera with a 28-300mm lens with twist-barrel zoom control (also known as the S9000).

“Of course if you can’t remove the lens you’ll want some decent glass up-front, and the S9500 certainly delivers the goods in terms of focal range at least. Where most compacts and all-in-ones start at a modest wide angle equivalent to around 35mm, the S9500 boasts a considerably more useful 28mm. It then optically zooms right into a powerful telephoto equivalent to 300mm and even offers a ridiculously close Super Macro mode of just 1cm. Try doing all of that with the bundled 3x zoom you get with a digital SLR.”

Website: CameraLabs - Fujifilm FinePix S9500 Zoom Review

Website: Read my Fujifilm Finepix S9500 Zoom Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

Northlight Images have just reviewed the new PrintFIX PRO profiling system from ColorVision.

“After my original PrintFIX review, I’ve had a few mails from people who tried the original PrintFIX and had problems. Now some of these were down to faulty measurements (bad scans) or printers that just weren’t very good. However, one area I sometimes found was that people were using the system, without really understanding what was going on. The PrintFIX PRO is an entirely new system and does an awful lot more than the original scanner and Photoshop based approach. To get the best out of colour management you really do need to learn what it is all about. I’m not talking about being able to give lectures and talks on the subject, just having an appreciation of the principles. Fortunately ColorVision have realised this and a lot of effort has gone into the on-line documentation. You can use printer profiles to get better prints without knowing how they are made, but if you are going to create them yourself, it’s time to find out more about the process.”

Website: Northlight Images - PrintFIX PRO Review

A bolt from the blue - Nikon have announced that they are ending production of almost all of their film camera range, as digital cameras take over. The F6 (pictured), FM10 (outside Europe) and a small number of fixed-focus manual lenses will be the only surviving film products after September 2006. All large format cameras lenses and enlarging lenses will also be discontinued. This move is obviously one of the biggest indicators yet of the increasing digital dominance.

Nikon UK Press Release

Nikon prepares to strengthen digital line-up for 2006

Wednesday January 11, 2006 - Following the success of our digital line-up over the last seven years, which has resulted in more than 95% of Nikon’s UK business being within the digital area, Nikon Corporation has made the decision to focus management resources on digital cameras in place of film cameras. This decision will allow Nikon to continue to develop products that match the demands of an increasingly competitive market place.

Despite this growing competition Nikon Corporation has continued to outperform the market, and has recently reported positive financial results which saw group net profit climb by 20% in the fiscal first half which ended in September. Group sales also increased by 9.8% to 342.85 billion yen in the same period. Sales of high end digital SLR cameras and the success of products like the D70s and D50 have helped contribute to these positive figures.

Ricoh have released a new firmware update, v1.28, for the Ricoh Caplio R3, a 5 megapixel compact camera with a 7x optical zoom lens equivalent to 28-200mm and vibration correction of the CCD.

- Improved accuracy of the AF algorithm.

Website: Ricoh Caplio R3 v1.28 Firmware Update (Windows)

Website: Ricoh Caplio R3 v1.28 Firmware Update (Mac)

ACD Systems Press Release

The wait is over for the fastest end-to-end photo management solution for professional photographers

VICTORIA, British Columbia – Jan. 11, 2006 – ACD Systems International Inc. (TSX: ASA), today began shipping ACDSee™ Pro Photo Manager, the highly anticipated advanced version of its award-winning ACDSee photo management software. Developed for professional photographers, ACDSee Pro lets photographers view, process, edit, catalog, publish and archive their photographs with unparalleled speed and ease of use. Led by fast RAW file viewing and batch processing, ACDSee Pro’s feature set is designed to increase productivity with its wealth of professional photo management and customizable workflow tools.

Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show Press Release

An ocean of activity at The Outdoors Show - The British Underwater Image Festival to be held at The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show 2006

17-19 March 2006, NEC Birmingham - The Ordnance Survey Outdoors Show 2006, held in the Birmingham NEC from the 17 - 19 March, promises to be a very visual affair. The show places host to the British Underwater Image Festival and is a major event showcasing some of the greatest untapped sources of talent in underwater imagery.

The competition has been designed to incorporate a range of abilities, from professional television documentary makers to first-time photographers. The films will be shown during the event and the best 50 prints will be displayed in a special Go Diving! Show. The six finalists in the film categories will be shown throughout the show, on both the Friday and the Saturday.

For more information please visit www.divemagazine.co.uk / www.theoutdoorsshow.co.uk

Kingston Technology Press Release

Kingston Technology Launches microSD to Support New Smartphones

[12 January 2006]  Kingston Technology, the world’s leading independent memory manufacturer, today announced the launch of its new microSD memory card, as part of its strategy to support the rapidly growing ‘smartphone’ market.

“The coming year will see a dramatic increase in the take up of sophisticated, multifunctional, mobile handsets and Kingston Technology is ready with multiple formats of expansion memory to support these advanced wireless devices,” said Jim Selby, Product Marketing Manager EMEA, Kingston Technology.”

Planet82 Press Release

Planet82 Demonstrates World’s First Image Sensor That Takes Digital Pictures in the Dark, Without a Flash - First Nanotechnology-Based Image Sensor Debuts in the United States at CES

LAS VEGAS, NV—(MARKET WIRE)—01/05/2006—Planet82 Inc., a global leader of nanotechnology, announced today the first U.S. demonstration of its innovative and highly sensitive image sensor, Single Carrier Modulation Photo Detector (SMPD), which uses nanotechnology to enable cameras to take high resolution photos or video in the dark—without a flash.

The world’s first chip of its kind, Planet82’s SMPD image sensor is 2,000 times more sensitive to light than other image sensors. Until now, taking a picture in the dark without a flash or taking a picture of a candle-lit birthday cake without any other light in the room would yield a dark photograph. Planet82 makes it possible to take clear images even when the light level is less than 1 lux (or up to 0.1 lux). One lux is equivalent to the brightness from one candle one meter away in a dark room. Human eyes can barely distinguish images at less than 1 lux.

CompactFlash Association (CFA) Press Release

COMPACTFLASH ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES 10th ANNIVERSARY

Progress in CompactFlash® Capacity, Data Rates and User Costs Have Been Amazing Las Vegas NV - January 5, 2006 - The CompactFlash Association (CFA) is celebrating its 10th anniversary and displaying the history of the progress made by CompactFlash cards over the last ten years. CompactFlash maximum interface data transfer rate is currently 66MB/sec. A revision to the CF+ Specification is underway to increase the maximum interface data transfer rate for True IDE and PCMCIA interface modes to 133MB/sec in 2006, while maintaining forward and backward compatibility
with old and new host systems.

DCResource have published their review of the new Fujifilm FinePix E900 Zoom, a 9 megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens equivalent to 32-128mm and an ISO range of ISO 80 to ISO 800.

“Overall, I’d say that the FinePix E900’s photo quality is very good. Photos were well-exposed, with accurate color and good sharpness. Purple fringing levels were a bit higher than I would like to have seen, but I would not consider this to be a problem. The main complaint I have is that fine details get “mushy”—have a look at the grass in this shot to see what I’m talking about. This only gets worse as the ISO goes up, with these two photos as examples. This won’t be a problem for smaller prints, but at 8 x 10 and above you will likely notice this loss of detail. So, how this affects you really depends on what you plan on doing with your photos.”

Website: DCResource - Fujifilm FinePix E900 Zoom Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

ByteSector have reviewed the Nikon Coolpix S3, a 6 megapixel update of the S1 and S2. The Nikon S3 has a 3x 35-105mm zoom lens and 2.5 inch monitor.

“Getting past the flash issue, the picture turned out pretty well. The colours were realistic and the image was pretty clear. Throughout my entire experience with this camera, the pictures came out pretty well compared to cameras in its class. There were no image defects whether I zoomed in by 3x or didn’t zoom at all. Noise was also practically non-existent. To the novice, there might be no noise at all, but it was pointed out to me by a more experienced photographer that there is a bit of noise. It must be noted though that even though the pictures didn’t have noise, the LCD had its ample share where it was continuously grainy.”

Website: ByteSector - Nikon Coolpix S3 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

Apple Press Release

Major Upgrade Features New Versions of iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD & GarageBand and Introduces iWeb

MACWORLD EXPO, SAN FRANCISCO—January 10, 2006—Apple® today announced iLife® ‘06, the most significant upgrade to Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications ever. iLife ‘06 features iPhoto® 6 with blazing performance, new printed books, calendars and cards, and Apple’s innovative new Photocasting™ for sharing photos over the Internet; iMovie® HD 6 with new motion themes for adding spectacular production value to your movies; iDVD® 6 for authoring custom DVDs for today’s widescreen TVs; and GarageBand™ 3, now the complete solution for creating professional-quality Podcasts. iLife ‘06 also introduces iWeb™, a new iLife application that makes it super-easy to create amazing websites with photos, blogs and Podcasts and publish them on .Mac for viewing by anyone on the Internet with just a single click.

Sigma have issued a service notice about an exposure problem which arises when using some of their lenses with the new Nikon D200 digital SLR camera.

Sigma Notice

Notice to end-users using Sigma’s Nikon fitting lenses with D200 camera

To our valued customers,

Combination of new Nikon 200 digital SLR camera with our following products can cause improper exposure. To overcome this we will be supplying a free upgrade to our customers. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused to our customers.

Sigma have issued a service notice about compatibility issues with some of its flashguns and the Nikon D200 DSLR.

Sigma Notice

Firmware update notice for Sigma’s Nikon fit flashguns (NA i-TTL version) 

To our valued customers,

Responding to enquiries received recently regarding the Nikon NA-iTTL version of the Sigma EF500 DG Super, Sigma EF500 DG ST and the EM140 DG when used with the Nikon D200 DSLR. We would direct you to the compatibility chart on our website which states that these flashguns do not support either the D2X, D2H or D200 i-TTL system.