DIWA member and Czech website FotoAparat have just reviewed the new Olympus mju DIGITAL 800 digicam.

Website: FotoAparat - Olympus mju DIGITAL 800 Review

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DIWA member and German website Digitalkamera.de have published their review of the Ricoh Caplio GX8, an 8.24 megapixel update of the Ricoh Caplio GX.

Website: Digitalkamera.de - Ricoh Caplio GX8 Review

Website: Read my Ricoh Caplio GX8 Review

DIWA member LetsGoDigital 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).

“The Fuji FinePix S9000 still is a beautiful versatile digital camera and one that works outstandingly. The auto focus does a great and precise job and the exposure is excellent. The lens does have some distortion in wide angle alright, showing some purple fringing, but this is not very surprising and in general the lens is just fine. Color rendition, contrast and sharpness are superb. The ease of creating a white balance is incredible, and it’s one good example for the competitors to look into.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Fujifilm FinePix S9500 Zoom Review

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DCResource 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).

“The S9000 is a large, SLR-like camera that fits nicely in your hands. The camera has a metal frame under a plastic shell and it feels very solid for the most part. Two things I really like about the camera are the manual zoom and focus rings, which are way better than what many other cameras offer. The camera features a 1.8” LCD display that can be pulled away from the body and tilted up or down. Its electronic viewfinder is very good, and perhaps more useful than the main LCD in certain situations. Both the LCD and EVF are very usable in low light conditions. The S9000 features two memory card slots: one for xD, the other for CompactFlash. As far as expandability goes, the S9000 offers both a hot shoe and a flash sync port so your external flash needs are covered. While the lens is threaded for 58 mm accessories, Fuji doesn’t seem to offer any of them.”

Website: DCResource - Fujifilm FinePix S9500 Zoom Review

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DIWA member DigitalMagasinet has published the first online review of the Samsung Digimax A50, a 5 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens and 2.5 inch LCD screen.

Website: DigitalMagasinet - Samsung Digimax A50 Review

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On paper at least the Ricoh Caplio GX8 looks like a very tempting prospect. The Ricoh GX8 is an 8 megapixel compact digital camera with a wide-angle 28-85mm lens, full creative control with Aperture Priority and Manual Exposure modes, minimal shutter lag and quick power-on, and an amazing macro mode that lets you get as close as 1cm from your subject. Other desirable features on the Ricoh Caplio GX8 include manual focus, a movable AF point, hotshoe for an external flashgun, bracketing of both white balance and exposure, and a full range of optional accessories. The good news doesn’t stop there - all of this is available for less than £300. However, Ricoh cameras that I have reviewed in the past have always suffered from one fundamental problem - their image quality, which has mostly been on the poor side. So have Ricoh provided a level of image quality that matches the impressive feature list of the Caplio GX8? Read on to find out.

Website: Ricoh Caplio GX8 Review

The Sigma 28-200mm F3.5-5.6 DG Macro lens is announced today. The new Sigma 28-200mm macro lens uses a multi-layer coating technology that reduces flare and ghosting. At the 200mm telephoto setting, the Sigma 28-200mm lens is capable of macro photography with a 1:3.8 maximum magnification. Price and availability of the Sigma 28-200mm F3.5-5.6 DG Macro lens to be announced.

Sigma Press Release

A compact, high-zoom ratio lens, ideal for full-frame digital SLR cameras.

This lens covers all the focal lengths from 28mm wide angle to 200mm telephoto, the most frequently used focal length range. With a maximum diameter of 70mm (2.75 in.) and length of 77.7mm (3 in.), it has a compact size.It packs a lot of performance in a compact package. Portable and mobile, the lens can be carried anywhere, so it is ideal for travel and other types of photography.

Reduction of flare and ghosting
This digitally optimized ultra telephoto lens is equipped with a new multi-layer coating technology that reduces both flare and ghosting. This also ensures an accurate color balance and high definition results.

CNET have the first online review of the Canon PowerShot A620, which features a 7.1 megapixel sensor, 2 inch LCD screen and 4x optical zoom lens equivalent to 35–140 mm focal length.

“Sliding easily to the head of Canon’s A-series line, the 7-megapixel PowerShot A620 (and its 5-megapixel sibling, the PowerShot A610) steps comfortably into the large shoes worn by the wildly popular PowerShot A95. With a 4X optical zoom that spans a useful 35mm-to-140mm (35mm-equivalent) range, the Canon PowerShot A620 keeps up the A95’s tradition of packing full manual controls and a solid list of scene modes into an easy-to-use, moderately sized camera that will meet the needs of a broad spectrum of photographers. Given the A620’s improved performance, higher-quality movie clips, larger LCD, G-series lens, and high resolution, some current PowerShot A95 users may even want to consider an upgrade.”

Website: CNET - Canon PowerShot A620 Review

Website: Read my Canon Powershot A620 Review

Latest Prices / User Reviews

Google have just added several new features to version 2.1 of their popular Picasa photo editing software.

Google Newsletter Release

If you’re running Windows 2000/XP or higher, simply open Picasa and you’ll be automatically updated to the latest version of the software. This means you’ll enjoy:

Multiple languages - You asked for it, you got it: Picasa is now available in Chinese (simplified and traditional), Dutch, English (US and UK), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian and Spanish. The software automatically matches your system’s native language and locale. To change your preferred language in Picasa, go to Tools > Options. Then just close and re-open Picasa and the changes will take effect.

BlogThis! - The new “BlogThis!” button allows you to post one photo at a time directly to the Blogger.com web editor without going through the Hello software.

Technology website FiringSquad have intriguingly compared the 8 megapixel Canon EOS 20D DSLR and the 8 megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 all-in-one compact digicam.

“Today we’re going to review two cameras. Both are 8 megapixels. Both allow you to reach the “super telephoto” range of at least 400mm in 35mm equivalent measurement. Both represent fourth generation products within their company line-up. The catch is that one is a $600 all-in-one point-and-shoot camera and the other is an over $5400 digital SLR and lens/accessory package. It would seem to be an unfair fight, but we’ve all been told that it’s the photographer that’s responsible for good pictures, not the camera. How true is that statement? What does that extra cash buy you? What shots will be missed with the lower-end camera? What shots are missed with the digital SLR? This is an article for anyone interested in digital photography. It doesn’t matter if you think you know the outcome, or even if your budget doesn’t come close to this price range.”

Website: FiringSquad - Canon EOS 20D vs Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30

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Breeze Systems Press Release

BreezeBrowser Pro v1.3 adds lens distortion correction, Canon EOS 5D and EOS-1D Mark II N Raw Conversion

14th October, 2005 : Breeze Systems announce the immediate availability of BreezeBrowser Pro v1.3, latest release of their acclaimed image browsing and raw conversion software. BreezeBrowser Pro v1.3 introduces Canon EOS 5D and Canon EOS-1D Mark II N raw conversion and automatic lens distortion correction.

New! Automatic correction of lens distortion for batches or single images. Barrel distortion was removed from this interior shot using BreezeBrowser Pro while maximizing image quality. BreezeBrowser Pro uses high quality resampling algorithms and Thomas Niemann’s highly regarded PTLens profiles to correct for barrel and pincushion lens distortion. Automatic lens distortion correction can be applied to images from both zoom and fixed focal length lenses and is available when converting raw files or when generating proofs from raw files and other image formats.

Imagenomic Press Release

Monterey, CA, October 12, 2005: Imagenomic announced this week at the Mobile Imaging Summit (Americas) the release of several new Noiseware image enhancement products aimed at the exploding mobile imaging and camera phone markets. With over 300M unit sales in 2005, camera-equipped cell phones are the fastest growing digital capture device on the market, and are forecasted by Future Image, sponsors of the Mobile Imaging Summit series, to become the most popular consumer electronics product in history before the end of the decade.

Addressing the ever-increasing Mega Pixel capture capability with the bandwidth-constraints of over-the-air wireless transmission, Noiseware ME (Mobile Edition) is the initial implementation of Imagenomic’s popular noise removal engine for Symbian based camera phones, including the Nokia Series 60. Noiseware ME brings digital still camera (DSC) picture quality and order of magnitude compression benefits within a seamless and transparent end-user experience.

FotoInsight Press Release

Britain’s largest photo paper processing and photographic gift items range reaches Italy

Cambridge, UK. 6 October, 2005. – FotoInsight of Cambridge provides photo processing and a large range of gift items to consumers and businesses through its website http://www.fotoinsight.co.uk since November 2003. The company announces today the start of its Italian service site. Over its first two years the business has expanded, shipping photographic paper prints to now 20 countries with sites in three languages. The company started operating a German language site in June this year, apart from its original English language services in Pound Sterling and Euros. The FotoInsight photo processing service is backed by 20 production sites, strategically located throughout Europe. Customers can take advantage of the same low delivery charge to all 20 European destinations. Managing Director Klaas Brumann says: “The Italian photographic processing market is known for its high standards in print quality and its demanding consumers. We are very excited about FotoInsight’s expansion into Italy. We think Italian consumers and businesses will particularly appreciate our emphasis on quality and realistic colours.”

Sigma UK Press Release

The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain this year awarded the longest running and most prestigious award, the Progress Medal, to three directors of Foveon Inc. in recognition of their innovation, research and development of the highly regarded X3 direct image sensor.

The medals were awarded to Dr. Carver Mead, Founder of Foveon, Mr. Richard Merrill, Foveon’s Technical Director and Mr. Richard Lyon, Foveon’s Chief Scientist. The Progress Medal is awarded to persons or companies in recognition of research and development which has resulted in an important advance in the scientific or technological development of photography or imaging worldwide.

President of the Royal Photographic Society, Roger Reynolds Hon FRPS, said “the decision to award the Progress Medal to Foveon was due to the unique technology used in their sensor design which is considered to be one of the most significant steps forward in digital photography”.

PCMagazine have published a review of the HP Photosmart M517 digital camera.

“If you’re looking for an affordable entry-level printer/camera combo, the M517 bundled with the 428 printer is a good buy. If you’re looking for a cheap camera and don’t need the printer, though, we still recommend the M417, especially since it is now $20 less. And if you’re willing to step up to the next price level, the HP Photosmart R717 has both better picture quality and faster speeds, and keeps the same great usability.”

Website: PCMagazine - HP Photosmart M517 Review

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Adobe Press Release

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Oct. 13, 2005 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) and Macromedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) today announced they have received clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for Adobe’s proposed acquisition of Macromedia. The closing of the transaction remains subject to regulatory approval in a few European jurisdictions. The companies continue to anticipate the transaction will close sometime this Fall.

On April 18, 2005, Adobe announced a definitive agreement to acquire Macromedia in an all-stock transaction. Pursuant to the terms of the acquisition agreement, holders of Macromedia common stock will receive 1.38 shares of Adobe common stock for each share of Macromedia common stock they own at the closing of the acquisition. In August, the stockholders of each company voted in favor of the transaction.

Imaging Resource have published their review of the waterproof Pentax OptioWP digital camera.

“Pentax is a camera maker with a long tradition in the film-based world, and among the company’s digital lineup, its WR-series digital cameras have proven popular for their water resistant bodies, braving conditions in which other digicams might not survive. The Pentax Optio WP takes things a step further, with its compact camera body rated waterproof to a depth of 1.5 meters for as long as 30 minutes. Coupled with a relatively high resolution 5.0 megapixel CCD, a 3x optical zoom lens, and a wide range of post-exposure controls that cater to fans of computer-less printing, the WP proves a fairly versatile camera that is particularly well suited to family and travel photography.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Pentax OptioWP Review

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ePhotoZine have reviewed the new Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens, suitable for the Canon EOS 300D and 20D cameras.

“The lens is a well-built example that feels sensibly weighted, not being too plasticy but not too heavy either. The mount is slightly different to the standard Canon mount and is denoted by the absence of the usual red dot for location. This is replaced by a raised white spot that locates with a similar spot on the appropriate cameras, just to the left of the standard location dot. The S in EF-S stands for ‘short back focus’ and means the lens cannot be used on any of the older cropped sensor cameras such as the D30/60 or the 10D, as the rear element protrudes into the camera body and would hit the mirrors on these models. Do not try to fit it to the 1D/5D series either, as the same problem occurs!”

Website: ePhotoZine - Canon EF-S 10-22mm Lens Review

The Samsung Digimax A40 digital camera is introduced today. Samsung UK have quietly added the Samsung Digimax A40 to their lineup. The Samsung A40 is an entry-level 4 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens and 2 inch LCD screen. 640x480 pixel Mpeg-4 VGA movies at 30fps, 10 different scene modes, exposure compensation and custom white balance complete the Samsung Digimax A40’s specification. Price and availability to be announced.

Website: Samsung UK - Samsung Digimax A40

The Samsung Digimax A4 digital camera is introduced today. Samsung UK have quietly added the Samsung Digimax A4 to their lineup. The Samsung A4 is an entry-level 4 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens and 1.8 inch LCD screen. 640x480 pixel Mpeg-4 VGA movies at 24fps, 10 different scene modes, exposure compensation and custom white balance complete the Samsung Digimax A4’s specification. Price and availability to be announced.

Website: Samsung UK - Samsung Digimax A4