Faces.com Press Release

Faces.com Photo Service Launches With Unlimited Prints for Low Monthly Fee

Competitive Pricing, Photo Blogs and Social Networking for $7.99 a Month

NEW YORK, June 22 /PRNewswire/—Faces.com (http://www.faces.com), a new online photo service, launched today offering unlimited digital photo printing for consumers.  Faces.com also offers unlimited photo prints for $7.99 per month.  The service is free or with significant extras for a monthly subscription price starting at $3.99.  Faces.com is the only photo service on the Web to offer unlimited prints for one monthly fee, an opportunity which is available to users for the lifetime of their membership.

EDGE Tech Corp Press Release

DALLAS, June 21 /PRNewswire/—EDGE Tech Corp, a leading supplier of DRAM and Flash memory upgrades, portable computing products, storage devices, and other experience-enhancing technology solutions announced that its new 4GB DiskGO! USB 2.0 flash drive will begin shipping today.

“The continued explosive growth of the digital music and photo industries is really driving digital storage to a whole new level—and it’s still early,” stated Win Cramer, EDGE’s Director of Purchasing who oversees the company’s Product Development division.  “For us, the real news of the day is that there are a lot of digital consumers that actually need a 4GB USB flash drive,” Cramer added.

The 4GB DiskGO! USB 2.0 flash drive is the perfect product solution for storing and transferring digital files, including songs, photos, and movies. Its sleek lightweight design provides users extreme portability, weighing in at .5 ounces.

CNET have published their review of the 3 megapixel Canon PowerShot A510 digital camera.

“When comparing shots taken seconds apart with the PowerShot A510 and the PowerShot A520, the less expensive model consistently came out on top. The PowerShot A510’s images had better detail and significantly less purple fringing. Like the 4-megapixel version, this camera’s exposure system tended to favor shadowy areas at the expense of highlights that easily washed out.”

Website: CNET - Canon PowerShot A510 Review

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Nikon Corporation Press Release

Nikon Imaging (China) Sales Co., Ltd. Established to Enhance Sales and Service in Fast-growing Chinese Market

Nikon Corporation (President: Teruo Shimamura) is pleased to announce the establishment of Nikon Imaging (China) Sales Co., Ltd., a wholly owned sales and service subsidiary. This new company has been launched to fully develop our imaging business in China, including digital cameras, and commenced operations in June 2005.

In response to China’s remarkable economic growth and long-term market potential, companies from throughout the world are making aggressive inroads. To date, Nikon has focussed its business development in China on the manufacture of products, at bases such as Nikon Imaging (China) Co., Ltd., but conducted Chinese marketing and sales activities through a subsidiary, Nikon Hong Kong Ltd. Nikon has also established authorized repair shops in China to provide after-sales service and technical assistance.

DIWA member and Norwegian website Digit.no have reviewed the Ricoh R2, a 5 megapixel digital camera with a 4.8x optical zoom and 2.5 inch LCD screen. The Ricoh Caplio R2 is less than 26mm thick and has a battery life of around 500 shots.

Website: Digit.no - Ricoh R2 Review

DigitalCameraReview have reviewed the 4.0 megapixel Canon Powershot S410 (known as the Digital IXUS 430 outside North America).

“Since everyone has different tastes in image quality, I think it’s more effective to show samples images under different conditions and let the reader decide for themselves. That said, the S410 possesses the Canon high-quality images with good exposure, good colors and good detail. When I compare some S410 shots with some SD500 shots, I found slightly different color casts and the SD500 images were a lot sharper. However, some people might find the SD500 shots too sharp (and the SD500 is at least $150 more expensive).”

Website: DigitalCameraReview - Canon Powershot S410 Review

Steves Digicams have published their review of the Canon PowerShot S2 IS, a 5 megapixel digital camera with a 12x optical zoom equivalent to 36–432mm on a 35mm camera.

“The S2’s shooting performance is very good, noticeably improved from the S1. From power-on until the first shot was captured measured just under two seconds, while waking the camera from its Display Off power-saving mode took only 1.5 seconds. Shutter lag, the elapsed time between depressing the shutter and capturing an image, measured 2/10 second when pre-focused and 8/10 second including autofocus time; about 1/10 second of that is attributable to the delay in the live image presented on either of the S2’s viewfinders. In Single shot mode, the S2 IS captured 5-megapixel Superfine images at the rate of one every 1.5 seconds without flash; with flash, the shot-to-shot rate was one every 2.5 to 8.5 seconds, depending on the distance to the subject.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Canon PowerShot S2 IS Review

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DIWA member Steves Digicams have published their review of the new Sony DSC-H1 digital camera. The DSC-H1 has a 12x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 36-432 millimeters), 5 megapixel CCD and 2.5 inch LCD screen.

“I was pleased with the H1’s results outdoors. The power of the 12x zoom lens gets you very close to the action, allowing well-composed shots even from the spectator areas at sporting events. The autofocus system and lens combined to produce sharp results, although the Continuous AF did have some difficulty keeping a moving subject in focus. Images were well-exposed and richly saturated right out of the camera, but you can override the degree of sharpness, contrast and saturation using the camera’s menu system. Image noise was good for a camera in this class, noticeable throughout at ISO 400, present to a lesser degree at ISO 200, detectable in shadow areas at ISO 100, and essentially absent at ISO 64.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Sony DSC-H1 Review

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The Spanish website Quesabesde have published their review of the 6 megapixel FujiFilm FinePix F810 Zoom.

Website: Quesabesde - FujiFilm FinePix F810 Zoom Review

Website: Read my Fujifilm Finepix F810 Review

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DIWA member and Norwegian website Digit.no have published their review of the Ricoh Caplio GX8, an 8.24 megapixel update of the Ricoh Caplio GX.

Website: Digit.no - Ricoh GX8 Review

Website: Read my Ricoh Caplio GX8 Review

DPReview have published their review of the Canon PowerShot S2 IS, a 5 megapixel digital camera with a 12x optical zoom equivalent to 36–432mm on a 35mm camera.

“In an increasingly crowded and competitive marketplace Canon had to make the successor to the S1 IS something more than a mere upgrade, and no one can deny they did just that, bringing improvements to virtually every aspect of the camera’s performance. The DIGIC II processor makes everything zip along at high speed, the AF illuminator gets rid of some of the low light focus problems and the beefed-up macro mode - though perhaps not quite delivering on its promise - is a real improvement. Image quality is very good - certainly on a par with most of its competitors - but still suffers from a slight softness and a slightly ‘over-processed’ appearance…”

Website: DPReview - Canon PowerShot S2 IS Review

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CNET have published their review of the 4 megapixel Canon PowerShot A520 digital camera.

“Canon’s functional and practical A-series digital cameras have always made great complements to its sleek Digital Elph line. This compact 4-megapixel replacement for the PowerShot A85 isn’t as light and pocketable as its Elph counterpart, the PowerShot SD300, but it offers the full range of manual controls that photo enthusiasts require, outdoes its stablemate in number of scene modes and zoom range, and costs less to boot. The PowerShot A520 has significant improvements over the model it replaces, too, including a 3-ounce weight reduction.”

Website: CNET - Canon PowerShot A520 Review

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TrustedReviews have published the first online review of the Olympus C-180, a 5 megapixel digital camera with a 1.5 inch LCD screen and a fixed focus lens that is equivalent to 36.7mm on a 35mm camera, plus a 4x digital zoom.

“A better quality alternative to the cheap, unfamiliarly-branded cameras you’ll see in supermarkets and catalogues. Build quality is excellent, picture quality is acceptable for snapshots and there has never been a digital camera that’s so easy to use. Slow performance, no manual functions and the lack of an optical zoom are handicaps making its value mediocre. One for the kids, but splash out more if you want something with greater functionality.”

Website: Trusted Reviews - Sony DSC-H1 Review

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Danish website Akamera.dk have reviewed the HP Photosmart R717, a 6.2 megapixel digicam with a 1.8 inch LCD screen and 3x optical zoom lens in a stylish stainless steel body.

Website: Akamera.dk - HP Photosmart R717 Review

Website: Read my HP Photosmart R717 Review

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AnandTech have published their review of the 5 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-M1 digital camera.

“In our review of the Sony DSC-M1, we discovered that although the camera has quite a bit going for it, the camera falls short in the end because of the quality of its still images. For example, the camera does very well in terms of startup time, cycle times without the flash, and auto-focus/shutter lag times. The video mode is exceptional, offering the use of the optical zoom during recording as well as a few image adjustment options. The true downfall of the M1 is in its mediocre still image quality. In our sample images, virtually every image suffers from soft/fuzzy details. We were also surprised to find JPEG artifacts in a number of images from the M1. In general, the images were also much noisier than they should have been (even at ISO 100).”

Website: AnandTech - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-M1 Review

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InfoTrends/CAP Ventures Press Release

(Weymouth, MA) June 22, 2005…According to a groundbreaking new report from InfoTrends/CAP Ventures, the U.S. digital photo printing market could easily be in decline by 2010 unless vendors and market conditions change course.  The study examines significant changes that will occur, such as a continued decline in film prints, a shift to printing digital photos outside the home, and the growth of camera phones as a photo source.

This may come as a surprise to those that have witnessed such astounding growth in digital photography. Recent InfoTrends/CAP Ventures forecasts show that U.S. consumer digital camera penetration will reach 55% and shipments of around 25 million in 2005, growing to 81% and about 21 million units shipped in 2010.  Camera phone penetration will grow from 31% and just over 36 million units shipped to 86% and nearly 80 million units shipped over the same period.  But the growth in unit placements may not offset print volume decline.

LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drives are announced. Swipe your finger over the sensor to unlock the LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drive while connected to any PC or Mac. LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drives are available in 40GB or 80GB capacities for $149.99 and $199.99 respectively.

Lacie Press Release

LaCie Unveils SAFE Mobile Hard Drive With Biometric Control Access

· Protect confidential files from unauthorized use
· Unlock the drive by fingerprint recognition
· Ideal for parental control
· Compact bus-powered Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hard drive*

PORTLAND, OR (June 2005) – Today LaCie unveils the revolutionary LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard Drive with cutting-edge biometric technology. Fingerprint authentication grants access to the drive. Thanks to embedded software, no installation is needed on the host computer making this storage solution completely mobile, user-friendly and secure. Compact SAFE drive casing created by Porsche Design GmbH is small enough to fit comfortably in a shirt pocket or bag.

Rollei Press Release

Rollei Announces High Speed 50 MM Lens From Schneider-Kreuznach—Auto Focus f/2.8 Lens Is Designed for Rollei’s 6008 Professional Cameras

STROUDSBURG, PA, June 21, 2005 - Rollei, manufacturer of the classic twin-lens 6x6 Rolleiflex, today announced a new Schneider-Kreuznach high speed, versatile AF lens for the Rollei 6008 family of high-end professional cameras.

The ruggedly built AF Super-Angulon HFT PQS interchangeable auto focus lens features a high speed f/2.8 lens for a brilliant viewfinder image and a classical 50 mm wide-angle focal length. The new high performance lens will be available beginning this week in the U.S. for $4,499.

Gepe Press Release

In 2004 Gepe introduced their new product a range of memory card boxes called The Card Safe.  These innovative boxes feature the revolutionary Multi Card compartment, which holds all relevant memory card types in the photo video market.  All Card Safe models offer unique protection to the cards and their content.

The new Card Safe Mini widens the product range to also hold the smaller memory cards that are used in more and more electronic items.  The new concept of the Multi Card compartment safely holds different types of memory cards: XD, SD, MMC, RS-MMC, SD-Mini and the Memory Stick Duo.

Samsung USA have unveiled the price of the hotly anticiapated Samsung Pro815 digital camera, which is an 8 megapixel digital camera with a 15x optical zoom lens and a 3.5” LCD screen. $849 will buy you the Pro815 when it is released (as yet unknown).

Website: Samsung USA - Samsung Pro815 Press Release