The Konica Minolta DiMAGE X1 is a stylish 8 megapixel digital camera with a slimline body that is just 19.5mm deep. Available in silver, black or red, the Konica Minolta X1 features Konica Minolta’s Anti-Shake technology, as used on the company’s range of digital SLR cameras. This enables you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than usual. The Konica Minolta X1’s anti-shake system is different, however, to the other Konica Minolta cameras, in that the lens unit is moved to compensate for camera shake, rather than the CCD sensor. The Konica Minolta DiMAGE X1 also offers a large 2.5 inch LCD screen (at the expense of an optical viewfinder) which is is protected by an acrylic panel to reduce scratching. Finally, there is a a newly designed “flat” 3x optical zoom lens, which means that the lens doesn’t protrude when zooming and is therefore truly 19.5mm deep. So is the Konica Minolta DiMAGE X1 the perfect union of style and substance? Carry on reading this review to find out the answer.

Website: Konica Minolta DiMAGE X1 Review

Hungarian website Index Digicam have reviewed the Olympus mju DIGITAL 600 digital camera which has 6 megapixels, 2.5 inch LCD screen, a weatherproof metal body and a 3x zoom lens.

Website: Index Digicam - Olympus mjuDIGITAL 600 Review

Website: Olympus Mju Digital 600 Review

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DIWA member and German website Digitalkamera.de have published their review of the eagerly-anticipated Panasonic DMC-FZ30. This is an 8 megapixel compact digital camera with a 12x Leica optical zoom lens equivalent to 35-420mm, optical image stabilizer, addition of a manual zoom ring and rotating LCD screen with 235,000 pixels.

Website: Digitalkamera.de - Panasonic DMC-FZ30 Review

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Kyocera Japan have issued a service advisory for their Finecam S5R, Finecam S5,Finecam S3L and Contax TVS DIGITAL digital cameras for the same CCD problem that has plagued almost every digital camera manufacturer recently. I’m not sure how likely it is that owners of those cameras will actually be able to get them repaired, as they are now all effectively obsolete outside of Japan.

Website: Kyocera Japan CCD Advisory

Smoky City Design Press Release

Pittsburgh, PA - October 17, 2005—Smoky City Design, LLC today released version 4.0 of The Panorama Factory, its popular software product for creating panoramic images. The quality of images produced by The Panorama Factory has been significantly improved and new stitching methods were added to accept images with camera rotation or tilt. Other improvements include: controls for initial view and automatic rotation of VR viewers (QTVR, IVR, PTViewer); export to layered Photoshop PSD format; and restart of the stitching Wizard on previously stitched panoramas.

Pricing and availability
A 30-day trial of The Panorama Factory version 4.0 may be downloaded from www.panoramafactory.com. Purchasing a registration key at The Panorama Factory web site converts the trial version to the full version. The full price of a new license for The Panorama Factory is $69.95. The upgrade price for current customers who own a registration key for V3 is $29.95. An introductory special, valid until November 30, 2005, reduces the price of a new license to $59.95 and the version upgrade to $24.95.

CNET have published the first online review of the new 6 megapixel Casio Exilim EX-Z110 digital camera.

“The Casio Exilim EX-Z110 doesn’t have the sleek and sexy form factor of its siblings, but this 6-megapixel, 3X zoom camera offers a broad range of features—including manual exposure controls and a wealth of scene modes—that will appeal to an equally varied array of photographers. Its image quality falls a little short of good, and its performance is mixed, but snapshooters who want more than just a basic point-and-shoot may find this camera appealing.”

Website: CNET - Casio Exilim EX-Z110 Review

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Two Pilots Press Release

MAKEUP PILOT - YOUR PHOTO COSMETIC KIT!

Two Pilots has released MakeUp Pilot, a Windows application that makes it easy to have perfect, professional-level photo portraits.

Don’t be upset if your skin doesn’t look perfect on a photo. If you have the MakeUp Pilot program, it means you have a cosmetic kit built into your computer. Use it to retouch any spots on the skin (moles, warts, pimples, heat-spots, etc.). The program will make any photo into a perfect portrait to send to friends or save in the family album.

You will also be able to restore your old photographs after scanning them. MakeUp Pilot allows you to remove any defects arising from long-term storage of a still picture: fixer stains, scratches and worn spots.

Digital Foci Press Release

Displays Photos, Slideshows and Music at Home or Office

Los Angeles, California, October 18, 2005 – Digital Foci, Inc. (www.digitalfoci.com) introduced today the powerful Image Moments digital photo album frame, which lets you display and share photos directly from digital camera memory cards at home or at the office on beautiful maple or walnut picture frames.  Just insert any digital camera card into Image Moments and memories will instantly come to life in sharp, vibrant color on its big 8-inch high-resolution LCD screen. 

Photo Slideshows with Music
Instead of seeing the same picture day in and day out as you do with traditional print photo frames, Image Moments lets you easily change photos at your whim.  Remember cherished memories – your wedding, the birth of your baby, or your family vacations with Image Moment’s “Photo Slideshow Mode,” which lets you automatically scroll through collections of photos.  Since Image Moments supports MP3 and video formats, you can even add music to your slideshows and play movies.

Epson UK Press Release

Epson again successful in halting sales of infringing ink cartridges

In on-going activities to protect its intellectual property rights, Seiko Epson Corporation (“Epson”) recently filed patent infringement proceedings in the English High Court against CybaHouse Limited to stop the importation from China, and supply within the UK, of certain Epson compatible printer cartridges (IM JET brand).

Epson has now agreed to settle the case out of Court, based on undertakings from CybaHouse, their sister company Nutronic Limited and their directors that they will cease trading in the Epson compatible cartridges. The settlement terms also include the payment by CybaHouse Limited of Epson’s legal costs plus an undisclosed sum in respect of damages. The full terms of the settlement are confidential.

Creative UK Press Release

THE AMAZING ZEN MICROPHOTO: NOW SHIPPING IN THE UK!

Winner of a ‘Best of CES’ award for 2005, Creative’s new MP3 and photo player features advanced colour screen, storage for up to 4,000 songs* and a choice of ten colours.

London, 18th October, 2005; Creative (Nasdaq: CREAF) the worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for the personal computer and the Internet, announces first shipments of the new Zen MicroPhoto. This MP3 player for music and photos, which is optimised for Windows XP and Windows Media Player 10, stores thousands of images or up to 4,000 songs* on its 8GB hard disk, enabling people to enjoy their favourite music or share photos with friends. Winner of ‘Best of CES’ for 2005 in the ‘Audio to Go’ category, it’s a player that’s made to fit in the hand, with a solid construction designed to withstand the rigours of day-to-day life. It’s also exceptionally easy to control, thanks to its Vertical Touch Pad. It features a built-in FM radio for extra entertainment on the move, while the rechargeable and removable battery offers playtimes up to 15 hours.

PhotoVu Press Release

PhotoVu™ Compatible with World’s First Built-in WiFi-Enabled Digital Camera, the Nikon® COOLPIX P1

For direct wireless viewing of photos from camera to PhotoVu Digital Wireless Picture Frames

Boulder, CO—October 18, 2005—Today PhotoVu™ announced the compatibility of their PV1945 and PV1750 wireless digital LCD picture frames with the world’s first built-in WiFi-enabled digital cameras, the Nikon® COOLPIX™ P1 and P2. By easily accessing the WiFi features of these new cameras, a person can immediately view the photos they’re taking on their PhotoVu frame.

“At a birthday party, a wedding or any gathering where photos are a must, individuals can now add to their enjoyment by viewing the event as it unfolds,” said Robert Jordan, Partner, PhotoVu. “Using WiFi technology to save a step and automatically display new photos on the PhotoVu frame is just one new way we’re taking photos out of the shoebox and on to the wall.”

JP Distribution Press Release

JP Distribution is pleased to announce the Gepe Card Safe (TM) range.

Digital memory cards are now used in almost every electronic device such as digital cameras, video cameras, MP3 Players, cell phones, PDAs, etc. For these devices different type and sizes of cards are used. All cards have one point in common however; the personal value of their contained data that needs to be protected. For transport, safekeeping and optimal protection of these memory cards Gepe has developed the unique Card Safe series.

A special feature of all Card Safe models is the innovative MultiCard insert. Each card space can be used for different card types. Without having to change the insert MMC/SD cards, Smart Media, Memory Stick or Compact Flash cards can be stored tightly and safely. The design and special material used, protect the cards from shocks and keeps them securely in place, whilst the unique, Anti-Static lining material prevents valuable data from being erased, or damaged, due to electrostatic effects.

Digital Railroad Press Release

The Digital Railroad Marketplace Will Provide All Members with Worldwide Distribution Opportunities; Buyers Will Have More Resources in One Professional Marketplace than Ever Before

New York, NY – October 18, 2005 – Digital Railroad, Inc. (http://www.digitalrailroad.net), the leading provider of Web-based application services for the professional photography industry, today announced plans for the Digital Railroad Marketplace. This initiative is another direct response by the company to address requests for additional features by its photographer, agency and photo buyer members around the world.

The Digital Railroad Marketplace will continue to allow members to maintain their personally branded archives, while giving them the most efficient method to simultaneously publish images through an aggregated marketplace. Digital Railroad’s members include award-winning photographers and agencies in 40 countries, from Afghanistan to Italy, from the U.S. to Indonesia. A partial list of members can be viewed at the following directory: http://www.digitalrailroad.net/corpsite/directory.html

Lexar Card Readers Provide Photographers With Easy, Efficient Management Of Images And Information

New Professional Compactflash Reader Is The Latest Addition To The Company’s Award-Winning Line

FREMONT, Ca., October 18, 2005 – Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a world leader in advanced digital media technologies, is demonstrating its focus on meeting the needs of professional photography workflow by strengthening its line of memory card readers from the new Professional CompactFlash Reader and high-speed multi-card readers to the single slot unit ideal for the mobile photographer.

“The big trend today for the pros is turning images around quickly, and that means they need workflow tools that will enable the speed of transferring images. We see this trend emerging for pro-sumers as well, as they are discovering and exploring the multitude of features that their new SLR camera has to offer, and the real need for tools that will help them manage volume better,” said John Omvik, director of professional product marketing, Lexar. “Our newest product, the Professional CompactFlash Reader is a high quality, durable device that streamlines the photography workflow and improves the experience for professionals.”

ACD Systems Press Release

ACD Systems International Inc.: ACDSee Pro Photo Manager Streamlines Professional Photography Workflow

VICTORIA, British Columbia—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Oct. 17, 2005—New software that helps professional photographers confidently manage their photos to be unveiled at Booth #801 during PhotoPlus Expo

ACD Systems International Inc. (TSX:ASA), today announced ACDSee(TM) Pro Photo Manager, the advanced version of its award-winning ACDSee photo management software. Developed specifically for the professional photographer, ACDSee Pro will be showcased from October 20-22 at PhotoPlus Expo in New York. ACDSee Pro delivers advanced functionality designed to streamline the workflow of professional photographers, while incorporating the viewing speed and organizing capabilities synonymous with ACDSee products.

ACDSee Pro is a single platform where professional photographers can view, process, edit, organize, catalog, publish and archive their growing digital photo collections. Key features include advanced workflow functionality, support for DNG (Digital Negative Specification) and the latest RAW formats, RAW processing capability, batch IPTC editing, powerful color management functionality and professional publishing options.

BitShelter LLC Press Release

Photographers Laforet, Frakes, Ashburn choose PhotoShelter as their Online Image Archive; Award Winning Photographers Making Full Use of PhotoShelter’s Low Cost, Geographically Redundant Storage System

PhotoPlus Expo 2005 Booth 582

NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Oct. 17, 2005—Digital storage platform provider BitShelter LLC today announced the launch of PhotoShelter (www.PhotoShelter.com), an online image archive service and marketplace.

Vincent Laforet, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer with The New York Times; Bill Frakes, a staff photographer for Sports Illustrated Magazine; and 2004 Canon Female Photojournalist Award winner Kristen Ashburn are among PhotoShelter’s initial clients.

Built by the engineers behind the success of HotJobs.com, PhotoShelter offers professional photographers a truly affordable and robust archive system, along with the tools and resources they need to turn their storage into sales.

Lexar Media Press Release

FREMONT, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Oct. 14, 2005—Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq:LEXR), a world leader in advanced digital media technologies, today announced that the trial court has entered final judgment in Lexar Media, Inc. v. Toshiba Corporation et al. In entering the judgment, the Superior Court for the State of California affirmed the jury verdict delivered in March in the case against Toshiba Corporation (JP:6502) and Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (PNK:TOSBF.PK) in which the jury awarded Lexar over $465 million in damages based on Toshiba Corporation and Toshiba America Electronics Components’ breach of fiduciary duty and theft of trade secrets from Lexar.

“We are very pleased that, after six months of Toshiba’s efforts to challenge the jury verdict, the Court has rejected those challenges and entered judgment confirming that verdict in every respect,” said Eric Whitaker, executive vice president and general counsel, Lexar. “The jury’s verdict was based on a mountain of evidence, mostly from Toshiba’s own files, establishing that Toshiba deliberately violated its duties to Lexar and that a large number of the products currently manufactured and sold by Toshiba contain Lexar’s trade secrets. We are confident that Toshiba’s remaining efforts to challenge the verdict, including its inevitable appeal, will fare no better than Toshiba’s earlier attempts.”

Samsung Press Release

Samsung Introduces Mobile Phone with 3GB Hard Disk Drive

SEOUL, Korea—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Oct. 17, 2005—Samsung today introduced a 3GB HDD embedded phone, model SPH-V7900. This is Samsung’s latest model equipped with a hard disc drive following the world’s first mobile phone equipped with 1.5GB hard disc drive, model SPH-V5400, which Samsung introduced in September of last year.

The V7900 allows users to store two or three full-length movies (at 1.1-5GB each) or more than 700 music files (at 4MB each).

The V7900 also supports the latest multimedia compression technologies -MPEG-4/H.264 (for video) and MPEG-4 AAC/AAC+ (for audio). High-performance dual speakers are mounted on the exterior folder to provide 64-polyphonic stereo sound.

This model comes with harmonic color, a new feature that converts all musical elements such as scale, octave, tone and volume into visual images in a variety of colors and patterns. It also comes with a 2 megapixel camera that includes 2x optical zoom, MP3 player, and document viewer functions.

Bibble Labs releases version 4.4 with support for the Canon 5D, 1D Mark II N (1d2n), Konica Minolta A200, 5D, and Pentax *ist DL.

Bibble Labs Press Release

Bibble Labs releases version 4.4 Update with support for Canon 5D & 1D Mark II N

Includes new Fill Light control and improved sharper output.

Austin Texas (October 17th, 2005) - Bibble Labs today announced availability of version 4.4 of its popular Raw Workflow software. Now supporting over 60 of the most popular DSLR and prosumer cameras, this update includes support for the new Canon 5D and 1D Mark II N cameras, as well as the Minolta 5D, A200 and Pentax *ist DL. Using Bibble’s integrated Photoshop plug-in, users of older versions of Photoshop including 7.0 and CS can now open raw images from the latest cameras without having to pay for a costly upgrade.

The new “Full Light” Feature allows photographers to easily brighten overly deep shadows and reveal detail in the dark areas of high contrast photos. Combined with the existing “highlight recovery” feature, photographers now have two powerful yet easy to use tools to enhance their digital images .Further refinements to the raw processing engine results in sharper output then ever before

Sony Press Release

Analysts agree. Sony’s Cyber-shot® digital cameras are proving to be a popular choice among women.

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 17, 2005 - According to the NPD Group, 53 percent of all digital camera purchases from May to July were made by women. Of Sony digital camera purchases, 56 percent were made by women, beating the industry average. This is up from 42 percent a year ago.

In a research study conducted in April entitled Closing the Technology Gender Gap; What Women Really Want, analysts from IDC found that women were not only tech savvy, but also very busy, pragmatic individuals, who demand performance and convenience from the products they buy. According to the study, women don’t have time to “tinker” with their gadgets; they require reliable and intuitive devices that are ready when they are.