The Sigma 28-105 F2.8-4 DG lens is unveiled. The Sigma 28-105 F2.8-4 DG lens can be used with both digital and film SLR cameras and offers a new multi layer lens coating and lens design to reduce flare and ghosting.

Sigma Japan Press Release

A large aperture standard zoom lens that covers from wide-angle to telephoto and ideal for full-frame digital SLR cameras.

Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the new 28-105 F2.8-4 DG lens. This large aperture standard zoom lens provides superior performance both for Digital SLR Cameras and 35mm Film SLR Cameras. This standard zoom lens covers frequently used focal lengths from 28mm to 105mm and allows a large aperture of F2.8 at the 28mm focal length. It is very convenient for a wide range of applications including snap shots, indoor photography. The new multi layer lens coating and lens design reduce flare and ghost, which is a common problem with digital cameras, and also creates an optimum color balance throughout the entire zoom range. The use of aspherical lens reduces various aberrations throughout the entire zoom range and improves optical performance. This lens has minimum focusing distance of 50cm (19.7 inches) throughout the entire zoom range and it has also maximum magnification of 1:5.5. Because the front of the lens does not rotate, circular polarizing filters and a petal-type hood can easily be used.

The Sigma 28-70mm F2.8-4 DG lens is announced. The Sigma 28-70mm F2.8-4 DG lens can be used with both digital and film SLR cameras and offers a new multi layer lens coating and lens design to reduce flare and ghosting.

Sigma Japan Press Release

Compact, large aperture zoom lens is ideal for digital and 35mm SLR cameras

Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of the new 28-70 F2.8-4 DG lens. This compact, large aperture zoom lens is ideal for digital and 35mm SLR cameras. The new multi layer lens coating and lens design reduce flare and ghost, and also creates an optimum color balance through the entire zoom range. An aspherical lens element is used for excellent correction of distortion throughout the entire zoom range. This lens’ excellent performance makes it an ideal lens for Digital SLR Cameras as well as film SLR cameras. This standard zoom lens has a large aperture of F2.8 at 28mm focal length and yet it is compact and lightweight, with an overall length of 62.5mm (2.5”) and weight of 255g. (9oz.). Ideally suited for traveling, landscape photography and general photography. The supplied zoom hood can be used to obtain a superior light-blocking effect.

The Sigma APO 100-300mm F4 EX DG HSM lens is introduced. The Sigma APO 100-300mm F4 EX DG HSM lens provides a large F4 aperture at all focal lengths and fits both digital and film SLR cameras. Available for Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Konica Minolta cameras.

Sigma Japan Press Release

Fast aperture telephoto zoom lens that provides excellent optical performance for Digital SLR cameras and film SLR cameras

This telephoto zoom lens provides a large F4 aperture at all focal lengths. The new multi layer lens coating and lens design reduce flare and ghosting, and also maintains minimal light-fall-off, superior peripheral brightness is ensured.

Canon has launched a new website to promote its CMOS sensor, as used in the company’s new full-frame EOS 5D digital SLR camera. There are a number of sample images showing off the capabilities of Canon’s sensor, along with the usual marketing spin:

“Wide-angle lenses are an absolute necessity when you’re shooting in a tight spot or in a space too small to give you distance from your subject. The combination of these lenses and a 35mm full-frame sensor will give you more creative options by letting you exaggerate perspective or use larger depths of field. With a 35mm full-frame CMOS sensor that delivers an uncompromised angle of view, all these benefits can be yours to enjoy.”

Website: The World of Canon CMOS Sensors

The Memorex Mega TravelDrive portable storage device is unveiled today. Offering 4Gbs of capacity in less than 2 inches of space, the Mega TravelDrive also features a pivoting USB connector. The Memorex Mega TravelDrive will be available in October for $149.99.

Memorex Press Release

‘Mega TravelDrive’ Delivers Best Combination of Size and Capacity

CERRITOS, Calif., Sept. 15 /PRNewswire/—Memorex introduces the Mega TravelDrive(TM), the latest addition to the award-winning family of TravelDrive portable storage devices.  For business travelers or anyone with a laptop and a massive amount of data to store, the new Mega TravelDrive offers 4GB of capacity in less than a two-inch square—making it the smallest portable USB hard drive available.

At just 1.75” x 1.96” x .56”, the ultra-compact Mega TravelDrive is 20% smaller than today’s pocket hard drives.  The Mega features a pivoting USB connector that easily plugs into your computer’s USB port on planes, trains or anywhere space is tight, without requiring an extra power supply.  And with 4GB of capacity, consumers can store more than 8,000 digital photos; 1,200 songs in MP3 format; or tens of thousands of text files in this stylish, platinum-finish device.  The Mega also features a blue LED indicator that flashes during data transfer.  The product comes bundled with convenience accessories such as a protective, black carrying pouch and a USB cable.

Proud Galleries Press Release

WE ARE NOT AFRAID - A Unifying Message of Peace and Tolerance

We are not afraid to ride public transportation. We are not afraid to walk down a crowded street. We are not afraid of each other.

From Baghdad to New York, from Tel Aviv to Gaza, from Istanbul to Madrid – the devastating repercussions of international terrorism have echoed the world over. On July 7th 2005 London was rocked by a spate of attacks. In immediate response, a global portal was opened - an online voice of protest defying the tactics of aggression and fear mongering. Now, as a unique extension of this, a groundbreaking exhibition will be launched at Sony Ericsson Proud Central. The message is simple: We Are Not Afraid.

DIWA Press Release

Olympus Camedia C-7070 Wide Zoom wins DIWA Gold Award for budget friendly perfection

The Olympus Camedia C-7070 Wide Zoom inherits extraordinary qualities from its siblings and predecessors, in many respects providing the ultimate digital camera. Highlighted by a 4x wide angle zoom lens, 7.1 megapixel resolution, ergonomic design and creative options, DIWA’s experts praise the C-7070 Wide Zoom for overall excellence at a most affordable price.

Amsterdam, 2. September, 2005: DIWA (Digital Imaging Websites Association), a world-wide organisation of collaborating websites, today announces a Gold award to Olympus for their sophisticated wide zoom digital compact camera, the Camedia C-7070 Wide Zoom.

Following the success of its Camedia siblings, the C-5060 Wide Zoom and the C-8080 Wide Zoom, both awarded DIWA medals, it came as no surprise that also the C-7070 Wide Zoom obtained excellent results from the rigorous DIWA test procedure. Its fabulous 4x wide angle zoom lens, with focal lengths equivalent to 27-110 mm and its high quality 7.1 megapixel image sensor proved to be a perfect match for quality conscious photographers.

DIWA Press Release

Pentax *istDS has a lot to offer any Pentax enthusiast considering to go digital. The compact body with distinct Pentax design and ergonomics should make the conversion smooth and straightforward. 6.1 Megapixel resolution, 11 superimposed focusing points in a bright pentaprism viewfinder, 16-segment metering, ISO speeds up to 3200, 2” LCD screen and USB 2.0 High-Speed interface are features that outperform many of its rivals.

Amsterdam, 2. September, 2005: DIWA (Digital Imaging Websites Association), a world-wide organisation of collaborating websites, today announces that Pentax has received their first DIWA Award for a D-SLR camera. Their *istDS model is honoured with a Silver medal for outstanding test results.

Pentax has a long and glorious history from camera manufacturing, at times the most successful of any SLR manufacturer. Thanks to this legacy, the *istDS has a very compact body with excellent handling comfort, an excellent SLR pentaprism viewfinder, outstanding metering and exposure performance, as well as a wide range of high quality Pentax lenses. The *istDS passed the rigorous DIWA testing procedure with excellent results, also many of its digital qualities were highly praised by the DIWA reviewing experts.

The Ricoh Caplio RR530 digital camera is introduced. The Ricoh RR530 is a point and shoot 5 megapixel model with a 3x optical zoom lens and 1.8 inch LCD screen. The RR530 will be available from October at SRP £129.99 inc Vat.

Ricoh UK Press Release

Northampton 15th September 2005 - Ricoh is delighted to announce the release of the Caplio RR530 - a compact 5.0 megapixel, digital camera that makes the joy of digital photography accessible even to novice users.

The Caplio RR530 is the latest addition to the popular, award-winning Ricoh Caplio series, whose high performance, excellent value and style has won favour with digital photographers around the world. The RR530 consistently produces stunning, crystal-clear images that mark it out from the other cameras in its class. Boasting a 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom for a combined 12x zoom, the RR530 is equipped to capture a wide range of scenes.

The Wacom Graphire4 pen tablet range is announced today. Graphire 4 offers a new, ergonomically designed pen and tablet in either A6 or A5 size and silver, metallic design. The Graphire4 Classic is priced at EUR 83.99, the Graphire4 Classic XL at EUR 125.99, the Graphire4 Studio at EUR 167.99 and the Graphire4 Studio XL at EUR 210.00 (all prices exclude VAT).

Wacom Europe Press Release

Wacom Launches New Pen Tablet Range for Easy Picture Editing; Improve Digital Photographs with Graphire4

KREFELD, Germany—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Sept. 15, 2005—Wacom, the leading manufacturer of pen tablets and interactive pen displays, today announces Graphire4 - a range of consumer pen tablets that provide the ideal tools for conveniently optimising digital photographs. Graphire4 is aimed at all amateur photographers who record family events such as birthdays, weddings and holidays, and who want to get the best out of their digital photographs. Offering an intuitive way to achieve natural looking results, Graphire4 can easily correct exposure problems and imperfections, remove unwanted objects and improve the colour of a picture.

Breeze Systems Press Release

Breeze Systems’ Downloader Pro 1.7 creates a backup copy of photos as they are downloaded

14 September 2005: Breeze Systems today released Downloader Pro 1.7, the company’s powerful yet simple tool to transfer digital photos from camera to PC. Downloader Pro renames and stores images with file and directory names chosen by the user to automate the process of transferring images from a camera or card reader to PC.

Downloader Pro v1.7 includes a new plug-in to protect valuable images by automatically making a second backup copy of each image as it is downloaded. Also new in this release is the ability to automatically synchonize the clock in Canon cameras making it simple to synchronize the clocks of mutiple cameras and to avoid annoying problems like forgetting to change the camera’s clock at the end of Daylight Saving Time.

ACD Systems Press Release

ACD Systems Releases ACDSee™ 8 Photo Manager – the Fastest, Most Powerful Software for Taking Control of Your Growing Photo Collection

New search, organize, edit and sharing capabilities will enhance the way photo enthusiasts manage their growing numbers of digital pictures

VICTORIA, British Columbia – Sept. 7, 2005 – ACD Systems International Inc. (TSX: ASA), makers of ACDSee™ photo management software and Canvas™ technical illustration software, today announced ACDSee™ 8 Photo Manager for photography enthusiasts. With the release of ACDSee 8, ACD Systems sets the standard in both speed and usability for enthusiasts who manage rapidly growing collections of digital photos.

According to the Photo Marketing Association, more than 20 billion digital images will be taken this year in the United States alone. As cameras and camera phones create opportunities to shoot and store more pictures, it becomes increasingly difficult for enthusiasts to find, organize and share their digital photos. Family photo lovers, nature photo enthusiasts and creative amateurs alike are discovering they require advanced photo management capabilities when their photo collections exceed 500 photos.

Nikon Press Release

MELVILLE, NY (September 2, 2005) - Nikon Inc. notes the recent announcement made by Adobe(R) with regard to the mutual interest of both companies for the advancement of digital photography and the RAW file format. Nikon looks forward to future developments in this direction. Below is a copy of the announcement made by Adobe:

Adobe and Nikon are both enthusiastic about the continued innovation of digital imaging technology.  Both companies recognize that ongoing advancement in current RAW formats is bringing a new level of control, precision, and quality to the photography community and are excited about helping to foster that innovation.

Adobe is committed to working with Nikon to ensure that our common customers have an excellent experience when using Nikon cameras with Adobe software, and the company is disappointed that there has been confusion about this in the market. Adobe wants to ensure that our common customers get the very best quality from their photos when using our products together.

The French website Zone Numerique have just published their review of the Canon Digital IXUS 700 digital camera (also known as the Canon PowerShot SD500 Digital ELPH).

Website: Zone Numerique - Canon Digital IXUS 700 Review

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CNET has a roundup of 5 of the latest photo scanners, including the new high-end Canon CanoScan 9950F flatbed scanner (pictured).

“When it comes to judging specs, be sure to read the box carefully and cynically. Some manufacturers quote the interpolated resolution rather than the optical resolution. The former conjures up pixels where none exist, by mathematically approximating the pixel value based on its neighbors, while the latter figure represents the actual number of photo-sensitive sites on the sensor. Optical density can also be a tricky spec. It’s a measurement of the range of tonal values a scanner can capture, on a scale of 0 to 4.0; the closer to 4.0, the more detail you’ll see in the highlights and shadows. But there’s no standard defining the scanner settings with which the measurements are taken, so we can take the manufacturer’s quote as only a rough approximation.”

Website: CNET - Photo Scanner Roundup

Computer-Darkroom have taken a look at GretagMacbeth’s new Eye-One Display 2, a solution for calibrating and profiling all types of computer monitors.

“The original Eye-One Display, which I reviewed last year was pretty good but lacked some of the attributes that users now seem to demand (i.e. it needs to be fast, have DDC capabilities, and have the ability to measure ambient light) . Whilst the original Eye-One Display produced high quality display profiles it was slower than the competition and had been to a large extent bettered by. With the introduction of the Eye-One Display 2 colorimeter GretagMacbeth have been able to significantly speed up the calibration process without compromising quality and included an option to measure ambient light. The hardware actually includes a new enhanced sensor that provides very good repeatability for consistent calibration and profiling results along with high sensitivity in dark areas for better control of shadow detail and more neutral gray scale.”

Website: Computer-Darkroom - GretagMacbeth Eye-One Display 2 Review

Casio have released a new firmware version (v1.02) for the Casio EX-S500, a 5 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom and a 2.2 inch LCD screen.

Improvements Provided by This Update
V1.01-V1.02
- Fixed a problem that sometimes made it impossible to achieve the desired results at shutter speeds slower than one second.

Website: Download the Casio EX-S500 Firmware Update

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The French website Zone Numerique have reviewed the new Nikon Coolpix 7900, a 7 megapixel digital camera featuring a 2.0-inch LCD screen, new graphical user interface and a 3x Zoom-Nikkor ED lens equivalent to 38-114mm lens in 35mm format.

Website: Zone Numerique - Nikon Coolpix 7900 Review

Website: Read my Nikon Coolpix 7900 Review

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CNET have just reviewed the new Olympus mju DIGITAL 800 digicam.

“With 8 megapixels, aperture- and shutter-priority exposure controls, and a top-notch built-in help guide, the compact, 3X-zoom Stylus 800 sits solidly at the top of Olympus’s weather-resistant-camera lineup. It’s also one of the smallest and most affordable 8-megapixel cameras on the market. But if you are opting for a high-resolution model because you have poster-making aspirations, you’ll need to save some money and step up to a more advanced 8-megapixel model; the Olympus Stylus 800’s photos are generally good enough for 8x10 prints, but we wouldn’t suggest blowing them up.”

Website: CNET - Olympus mju DIGITAL 800 Review

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CNET have reviewed the new Sony DSC-W5 digital camera, which offers 5 megapixels, a 2.5 inch LCD screen, battery life of 380 shots and 32 megabytes of internal memory.

“A junior version of the 7-megapixel DSC-W7, the 5-megapixel Sony Cyber Shot DSC-W5 boasts the same no-nonsense, compact, metal-alloy body; gorgeous 2.5-inch LCD (which is coupled with a modest optical viewfinder for use in bright ambient light); 3X Carl Zeiss zoom lens; and basic array of automatic and manual controls. Decent image quality, a versatile burst mode, and convenient AA battery power make this Sony suitable for photo fans who want a pocketable camera with a useful set of mostly automatic features.”

Website: CNET - Sony DSC-W5 Review

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