Imaging Resource have posted their review of the Nikon Coolpix 7600, a 7.1 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical lens equivalent to 38-114mm lens in 35mm format.

“The Nikon Coolpix 7600 rounds out the “x600” line of Coolpix models (other models are the Coolpix 4600 and Coolpix 5600), sporting a 7.1-megapixel CCD and a 3x Nikkor zoom lens using ED glass for improved optical performance. Like the other models in its series, the Nikon Coolpix 7600 features all automatic controls to promote ease of use, and a very small form factor. The Nikon 7600 is very compact, very light weight, and well-suited for shirt pockets. And with its excellent range of user-friendly, almost fail-proof point & shoot exposure modes, the Nikon 7600 should be able to handle just about any shooting situation you care to throw at it.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Nikon Coolpix 7600 Review

Website: Read my Nikon Coolpix 7600 Review

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Hasselblad Press Release

9h January, 2006 - Hasselblad launches the world’s first 39 megapixel DSLR camera, the H2D-39, and a comprehensive line of 39 megapixel camera backs

New products offer professional photographers unprecedented image quality

Hasselblad is creating a new standard of digital image quality for professional photographers with the announcement of a new camera, the Hasselblad H2D-39, and three camera backs based on the combination of Hasselblad’s new, true 39 megapixel CCD sensor and its unique Digital APO Correction (DAC) technology.  This new line of products features the new Hasselblad Natural Color Solution, which takes digital photographic color reproduction to an entirely new level.  The new products also deliver images of unsurpassed sharpness and resolution and at the same time reduce any moiré effect to a minimum – a first in the history of digital photography.

Ricoh UK Press Release

Northampton 2006. January 10th - Ricoh announced today the launch of the Caplio R30 compact digital camera featuring a 5.7x optical wide zoom (28-160 mm in 35 mm camera format) in a trim body only 26mm thick. The new Ricoh Caplio R30 is positioned as a more affordable version of the popular Caplio R3 (Released on November 11, 2005), which featured a 7.1x optical wide zoom lens. Inheriting the Ricoh R3’s unique Double Retracting Lens System, the R30 houses a 5.7x (28-160 mm) wide-angle, high-powered zoom lens in its compact, 26 mm thin body.

Ricoh has historically manufactured products based on the concept of Expandability. In addition to the wide zoom, the new camera achieves increased photographic possibilities, anywhere, by employing an enhanced macro function?Ricoh’s specialty?and anytime by extending the quick response function, a conventional weakness of digital cameras, which contributes to the concept.

Creative UK Press Release

CREATIVE ZEN VISION:M WINS “BEST OF CES” AWARD IN MP3 AND PORTABLE VIDEO CATEGORY AND ALSO WINS OVERALL “BEST IN SHOW” AWARD

Creative Wins “Best of CES” for the Fourth Consecutive Year

January 10, 2006 –Creative (Nasdaq: CREAF) the worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for the personal computer and the Internet, today announced that the Zen Vision:M portable media player won the “Best of CES” 2006 award in the MP3 and Portable Video category and that it also won the overall “Best in Show” award.  This is the fourth consecutive year that Creative has won a “Best of CES” award.

Sanyo Press Release

SANYO Wins CNET Best of CES Award at 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/—SANYO’s pocket-sized Xacti HD1 High-Definition Digital Media Camera has received a prestigious CNET Best of CES Award in the Digital Photo and Video category. The Best of CES Awards were produced and judged by CNET, who announced the winners Saturday, January 7, at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Selected by CNET’s unbiased, expert editors, winners were recognized as the hottest products in their respective technology categories for their unmatched innovation and creativity, and their ability to excite consumers and make their way into everyday life. CNET’s editors received and reviewed hundreds of entries, and combed the CES show floor for products to consider for the prestigious award.

Snitcher Desk Press Release

The Snitcher Desk is happy to announce the first of what promises to be many front-page exclusives submitted by a member of the public.

A quick-thinking amateur photographer landed a front-page photo exclusive for the New York Post with a snap of Yankees baseball star Derek Jeter and his MTV-veejay girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo. The sale was facilitated by the recently launched public paparazzi website The Snitcher Desk. Armed with a small digital camera, the sharp-eyed Snitcher photographed the couple poolside in Maui, earning him a four-figured sum that is still expected to grow from further sales generated through periodical titles. Not a bad return for a couple of minutes of his time.

Transcend Press Release

Transcend releases its latest Memory Card, the 256MB microSD™ Card, which is the world’s smallest memory card

As more and more advanced, and compact mobile devices make their way onto our shelves, the demand for smaller, higher capacity and better performing Flash Memory Cards increases. The multimedia applications that many of the current Smart Phones, PDAs and Pocket PCs, are memory intensive and require the extra memory capacity of a memory card for storing photos, music and data. With this in mind and to ensure you get the most from your hi-tech devices, Transcend Information Inc., a world leader in flash memory devices, has developed its latest high performance 256MB microSD™ Memory Card, and at only half the size of a mobile phone SIM card it is the smallest memory card in the world.

Triscape Press Release

Triscape Introduces FxFoto Creative Edition for Digital Scrapbooking

Windham, NH, January 10, 2006 – Triscape, Inc. has released a new edition of its popular FxFoto photography software for the digital scrapbooking market.  FxFoto Creative Edition provides a unique blend of photo organization, editing and layout capabilities with all the tools needed for creating beautiful scrapbook pages digitally.  It is designed to be easy to use while providing advanced creativity tools. 

Digital scrapbooking is an exciting new segment of the $2.5 billion scrapbooking market, feeding on the rapidly growing demand for digital cameras.  Scrapbooking is the third most popular craft in the US and digital scrapbooking provides easy and cost effective means for creating, archiving and duplicating stunning layouts without paper, scissors or paste.  A large number of talented digital designers supply beautiful and often photo-realistic digital scrapbooking kits with background images and embellishments that replace the paper elements used in traditional scrapbooking.  FxFoto Creative comes with a selection of ten digital kits and hundreds of backgrounds from top designers.  It supports virtually all digital scrapbooking kits from third parties.  FxFoto Creative allows scrapbooking retailers to tap this emerging market of new digital scrapbookers and increase sales to customers who need photo editing or want to experiment with digital techniques.

PCMagazine have published a review of the Fujifilm FinePix S5600 Zoom, a 5 megapixel compact digital camera with Fujifilm’s new 5th Generation Super CCD HR sensor with Real Photo Technology (also known as the S5200 in the US).

“With the auto setting, our daylight shots showed little noise. Images exhibited very nice exposure (although some highlights were blown out), excellent color matching, and just the right amount of color saturation. There was some fringing, but not much. We noticed fringing more in our real-world testing. Images of tree branches or leaves against a bright blue sky had areas of strong purple fringing.”

Website: PCMagazine - Fujifilm FinePix S5600 Zoom Review

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PCMagazine have reviewed the Canon PowerShot S80, an 8 megapixel update of the S70 which offers a 28-100mm f/2.8-5.3 lens, 2.5 inch LCD screen and Canon’s advanced image processor, DIGIC II.

“The S80 improves over the S70 several ways. It boosts the sensor to 8.0 megapixels from 7.1, while also improving video features considerably. You can shoot at 30 frames per second instead of 10 and save until you fill the memory card, giving you much smoother, longer clips. And where the S70 has only a 1.8-inch LCD, the S80 has a beautiful 2.5-inch screen. The larger display makes images viewed on the camera look simply stunning. Canon also kept the glass viewfinder—a feature many manufacturers seem to be eliminating.”

Website: PCMagazine - Canon PowerShot S80 Review

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Olympus UK Press Release

Unique images by David Bailey, Amanda DeCadenet, Richard Billingham and the late Lord Lichfield will be hung side-by-side for the first time in what will arguably be the most diverse range of photography ever exhibited in the UK.

The Olympus Inheritance Exhibition (to be held at The Music Room in Mayfair 17th-18th February 2006) will showcase the work of 22 photographers, from the legendary to the up-and-coming. Most genres of photography will be on show, including: celebrity, landscape, fashion, nature, macro, erotic and reportage. Yet despite their obvious differences in subject matter they share a mutual affiliation - to a manufacturer which has been making cameras for more than 70 years.

Adobe have today announced Lightroom, their answer to Apple’s Aperture. Adobe Lightroom is available now as a Beta version for Mac only.

Adobe UK Press Release

Adobe Unveils Lightroom Public Beta and Delivers New Technology for Digital Photography Workflows

Professional Photographers Instrumental in Developing New Modular Software to Import, Manage, Develop, and Showcase Images

London, — Jan. 9, 2006 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) today introduced the public beta of Adobe® Lightroom™, an all-new digital imaging solution for professional photographers.  With its modular, task-based and streamlined environment, Lightroom’s goal is to deliver a complete photography workflow.  As Adobe collects more feedback from photographers, modules and feature sets will likely change, as customers decide on their popularity and priority within digital photography workflows. Initially available as a beta for Macintosh, Lightroom will later support both the Windows® and Macintosh platforms.

As with any major product release, a number of websites have published their initial impressions of Adobe’s new software program, Lightroom. Here’s a handy roundup for you…

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Adobe Lightroom Diary

Website: Luminous Landscape - Adobe Lightroom First-Look & Primer

Website: Luminous Landscape - Adobe Lightroom Tips and Tricks

Adobe have also posted a useful series of Frequently Asked Questions about Lightroom.

What is Lightroom Beta?
Adobe Lightroom Beta is a new, exciting product built from the ground up for professional photographers. It is an efficient, powerful way to import, select, develop and showcase large volumes of digital images. It allows you to spend less time sorting and organizing images, so you have more time to actually shoot and perfect them. Project Lightroom aims to get direct product feedback from the photography community, via our new Adobe Labs web site, so that photographers will have a huge say in what Adobe actually ships.

Adobe Press Release

Adobe Labs Delivers Early Access to Emerging Technologies - New Web Site Provides Customers and Developers Early Access to Next-Generation Adobe Software Innovations

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Jan. 5, 2006 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the launch of Adobe Labs, which builds on the initial success of Macromedia Labs to deliver next-generation products and technologies to Adobe’s extended community of developers and customers.

Originally introduced in October 2005 by Macromedia, Adobe Labs will provide an unprecedented opportunity for developers and technology enthusiasts to experience, evaluate, and share feedback about new and emerging Adobe innovations, technologies, and products before they go to market. In return, Adobe will benefit from insightful feedback and the opportunity to make adjustments to product strategy before shipping. Earlier this week an update to Flash® Pro 8 software was made available on Adobe Labs, http://labs.adobe.com , for building mobile applications with Flash Lite™ 2 software. This along with Alpha versions of the Flex™ product line and Flash Player 8.5 are the beginning of an ever-expanding roster that will evolve as Alpha and Beta versions of new software become available. Since the first Labs release in September, developers have posted suggestions, feature requests, and questions in public forums. Much of this input is actively being incorporated into upcoming releases.

Wacom Press Release

New Wacom® Intuos®3 12x19 Pen Tablet Anticipates Needs of Professionals Switching to Large Widescreen Displays and Multiple Monitors

Vancouver, WA - Jan. 9, 2006 - Wacom Technology Corporation’s new Intuos3 12x19 pen tablet is specifically designed for photographers, designers, artists and engineers who are using multiple large monitors or a large widescreen display such as the 30” Apple® Cinema® HD display. Like the recently introduced Intuos3 6x11, the Intuos3 12x19 features an active area with an aspect ratio (height-to-width) that is a great match to the screen aspect ratio of either a widescreen display or standard displays used together. This provides optimal pen control and efficient use of the entire tablet.

ArcSoft Press Release

New version of Embedded Auto Red-Eye Removal for Digital Cameras and Printers - Now with improved accuracy and detection rate for a better consumer experience

Las Vegas, NV— Jan 05, 2006—ArcSoft®, a leader in multimedia technologies and software solutions, today announces Version 1.6 of the red-eye removal solution SDK, an improvement over its previous solution to the age-old problem of red-eye created by digital cameras using a flash.

The ArcSoft red-eye solution embedded into the firmware of a digital camera enables users to automatically remove this common problem in their photos without the need for a computer. The feature will empower consumers to work directly on their cameras; photos can be enhanced instantly, and then sent directly to a photo-finishing printer. This flexibility and time-saving capability is a huge step toward creating a better experience for any digital camera user.

Kodak Press Release

Kodak’s Perez Says Consumers Will Set the Rules for the Future of Digital Imaging - Delivers Speech at International Consumer Electronics Show

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6—Just as consumer desires drove the evolution of photography during the past 125 years, today’s consumers are defining the rules that will drive the future of digital imaging, said Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK). It’s a future where all digital content is automatically identified, organized and instantly accessible anytime, anywhere.

In a keynote address today to attendees of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, Perez reflected on the current state of the digital imaging industry and asserted that consumers want full ownership of and instant access to all their images and information in order to creatively tell their life stories. Yet, Perez noted, the imaging industry continues to make this a difficult proposition by adding complexity through the proliferation of stand-alone devices and rapidly changing, proprietary technology standards that confuse consumers.

DIWA member Steves Digicams have published a review of the 8 megapixel Nikon Coolpix P1 Wi-Fi digital camera.

“I was pleased with the outdoor image quality results when using its 8-megapixel Fine mode. The majority of our samples were sharp with good overall exposure, however I did notice some softness to them. This is preferable over being too sharp, and you can manually adjust this via the record menu (Auto, Normal, Low, and High settings available.) The white balance and exposure system did well under various lighting conditions, producing beautiful sky detail (when there are some clouds in the sky.) Noise levels were low, especially at ISO speeds of 100 or lower, becoming more detectable as you increase the sensitivity.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Nikon Coolpix P1 Review

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The Norwegian website Akam.no have just reviewed the new 10.2 megapixel Nikon D200 digital SLR camera.

Website: Akam.no - Nikon D200 Review

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