As if you needed further evidence that film has been surpassed by digital, at least from a marketing point of view, Kodak have announced (well, more like whispered) that they are ending production of their entire black and white paper range. At the same time, the US manufacturer pledged to carry on producing both black and white film and chemicals - how confusing is that?

“Kodak will discontinue the production and sale of black and white photographic papers as part of its worldwide digital growth strategy,” said a company statement. “As the imaging industry transitions from film to digital technologies, demand for B and W paper is declining by 25 percent per year and no longer represents an attractive market for Kodak.”

Website: PDNOnline - Kodak Announces End Of Black And White Paper Production

Website: Fox News - Kodak to Stop Making Black-and-White Paper

Website: Yahoo News - Kodak to Stop Making Black-and-White Paper

Thanks to the several readers who let me know.

Samsung SPP-2020 and Samsung SPP-2040 printers are introduced today. The SPP-2020 and SPP-2040 use Dye Diffusion Thermal Transfer technology to produce water and fade resistant 4” x 6” prints in 60 seconds. The Samsung SPP-2040 additionally offers a 2” color TFT-LCD and 7-in-1 memory card interface. Price and availability of the Samsung SPP-2020 and SPP-2040 to be announced.

Samsung Press Release

SAMSUNG MAKES BOLD ENTRY INTO THE COMPETITIVE PHOTO PRINTER MARKET

Two New Photo Printers Produce Striking Fade-Resistant 4” x 6” Prints At A Fast 60-Second Print Speed that Lessens the Gap from Snap to Fridge

Irvine, CA – Samsung, the world’s second largest laser engine manufacturer, bursts onto the photo printer scene with a pair of compact, high quality dye-sublimation photo printers—the SPP-2020 and the deluxe SPP-2040—that allow users to print perfect snap shots, with or without a PC. These desktop units feature an industry-leading 60-second print speed and produce beautiful 4” x 6” prints that emerge dry, and with a water and fade resistant finish that protects photos from fingerprints and smudging.

ProFotoSoftware Press Release

London, UK 16th June 2005

ProFotoSoftware have today released V1.73 of PFS Image Darkroom, the Canon EOS Raw Image processor for Windows.

This new version adds support for the Canon 350D/Digital Rebel XT camera. PFS Image Darkroom now supports Raw image processing for the entire range of Canon EOS Digital SLRs.

A 30 day trial version can be downloaded from:
http://www.profotosoftware.com/download.php

DPNow have published a detailed evaluation of the K3 Ultrachrome inkset from Epson, as used in the new Stylus Photo R2400 A3+ photo printer (pictured).

“In this article we focus entirely on colour gamut, the breadth of colour a printer is capable of reproducing. Using Gretag Macbeth ProfileMaker we custom profiled an Epson Stylus Pro 4800 for use with Epson Premium Semi Gloss photo paper and plotted the measured base colour gamut at L:50 (mid-density), L:25 (darker) and L:75 (lighter). The results are compared over the following pages with those from the Epson Stylus Photo R1800, which uses Epson’s UltraChrome High Gloss inks introduced last year and the Epson Stylus Photo 2100 (2200 in some markets), which uses Epson’s original three year old UltraChrome ink formulation. We’ve also compared the results with HP’s new Photosmart 8750 A3 printer and Canon’s i9950 A3 model.

Website: DPNow - Epson UltraChrome K3 inks on test

Check the Latest Prices for the Epson Stylus Photo R2400

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Microsoft have released the RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP. The Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer is a free “PowerToy” for Microsoft Windows XP that provides the ability to view, organize, and print photos captured in RAW image formats from supported digital cameras. Not that the download is 49 Mbs in size and you must have Service Pack 2 for XP installed.

Overview
Often likened to a ‘digital negative,’ a RAW image is the native image format for a growing number of quality digital cameras. Because of the camera-specific nature of RAW files, they are not supported natively within Microsoft Windows. As a result, photographers shooting RAW have not been able to take advantage of the built-in features provided in Windows XP for viewing, organizing, and printing RAW photos—until now.

Like the look of the new Epson Stylus Photo R2400 A3+ photo printer, but don’t want to pay for one? Then Photo-i’s competition will be right up your street, especially if you live in the UK - they are giving away an Epson Stylus Photo R2400 to one lucky reader (but only if you live in the UK).

Website: Photo-i - Epson Stylus Photo R2400 Contest

Check the Latest Prices for the Epson Stylus Photo R2400

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Wacom Press Release

Wacom receives international award for product design

The Intuos3 pen tablet system from Wacom was awarded the coveted “red dot” for high design quality in the product design category by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen. Deciding factors for the independent jury’s decision included the clear, straightforward design of the pen tablet system, coupled with the emotional appeal achieved through the use of high-quality material and backpainting to provide optical depth.

These electronic input devices, manufactured by market leader Wacom, are characterized by the manner in which they transfer the intuitive feeling of using pen and paper to a more technical workflow in an incredibly realistic way. For many professional users, who use a pen tablet on a daily basis for many hours at a time, the character and personality of a product play just as important a role as functionality.

Fujifilm USA Press Release

“Digital accents by Fujifilm” Offer a Range of Accessory Options for Digital Photographers

Valhalla, NY, June 16, 2005 - As digital camera penetration increases, amateur photographers are looking to accessory products like camera bags, tripods and media wallets to accent their digital imaging experience. Research shows that almost half of all consumers are likely to purchase related accessories at the time if their digital camera purchase*.

Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc., is responding to this trend by creating a new, universal line of digital camera accessories called “Digital accents by Fujifilm.” Designed to mesh perfectly with the lifestyles and photo habits of a wide variety of digital photographers “Digital accents by Fujifilm” accessories enhance the imaging experience, empowering consumers to take great photographs in exotic places around the world or in familiar surroundings around the corner from their home.

Extensis Inc has released free updates for all its Photoshop Tools products, including Mask Pro, PhotoFrame, Intellihance Pro and pxl SmartScale. The free updates for registered users will provide Adobe Creative Suite compatibility.

Website: Extensis - Product Compatibility Information

Sandisk Press Release

SANDISK’S EXTREME III FLASH MEMORY CARDS WIN MAJOR TIPA DIGITAL IMAGING AWARD—BEST 2005 IMAGING STORAGE PRODUCT

TIPA Award Is Europe’s Highest Prize For Best Photo Products

COLOGNE, GERMANY, June 16, 2005 -SanDisk® Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today announced that the Technical Image Press Association (TIPA), an organization of 30 top photography publications from across Europe, has given its Best Imaging Storage Media Award For 2005 to the SanDisk Extreme™ III line of high-speed storage cards. SanDisk Extreme III cards, the world’s fastest flash memory cards, were recognized by leading editors, many of whom are professional photographers, as setting “a new standard for industry performance.”

Imaging Resource have reviewed the new Fujifilm FinePix F10 Zoom, which has an ISO range of 80 to 1600, Super CCD sensor with 6.1 megapixels and a 2.5 inch LCD screen.

“Very low noise, though strong blurring and loss of detail at the highest ISO settings. Images from the Fuji F10 were just remarkably “clean,” with image noise levels far below what I’m accustomed to seeing from consumer-level digital cameras. Noise was pretty much non-existent at low ISO settings, and with very little loss of subject to the anti-noise processing. At ISO 400, the anti-noise processing just began to blur the finer details, but the results were far better than any other consumer-grade camera I’ve tested in recent memory. At ISOs 800 and 1600, the images blurred quite a bit more, but the noise levels remained surprisingly low. ISO 800 shots were a little marginal for 8x10 inch prints, but looked great at 5x7, and even ISO 1600 ones looked OK at that size. Shots at ISO 400 looked just great when printed as large as 8x10 inches. All in all, a very impressive performance!”

Website: Imaging Resource - Fujifilm FinePix F10 Zoom Review

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DIWA member and Czech website FotoAparat.cz have published the first online review of the Ricoh Caplio GX8, an 8.24 megapixel update of the Ricoh Caplio GX.

Website: FotoAparat.cz - Ricoh GX8 Review

Website: Read my Ricoh Caplio GX8 Review

DCResource have reviewed the Nikon Coolpix S1, a 5.1 megapixel digital camera with a 35-105mm 3x Zoom-Nikkor ED lens.

“Photo quality is really the S1’s weak point. While photos were well-exposed with low noise and purple fringing levels and accurate colors, there was way too much blurring around the edges of the images in my opinion. While all ultra-thin cameras have some issues like this, it was noticeably worse than average on the Coolpix S1. And, as you’d expect from a compact camera, redeye was a problem. The S1’s movie mode was not great, with poor quality at the highest resolution (VGA) and a sluggish frame rate. Camera performance was average in almost all areas, save for the decent continuous shooting mode.”

Website: DCResource - Nikon Coolpix S1 Review

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MacWorld have reviewed the Canon Digital IXUS 50, a 5 megapixel digital camera with stainless steel finish that is Canon’s smallest ever 5.0 Megapixel optical zoom camera (also known as the SD400).

“The PowerShot SD400’s startup is almost instantaneous, and shutter lag virtually nonexistent. Continuous shooting mode takes a shot every second or so, and I managed to snap a dozen pictures before the camera began pausing to write the images to memory (performance will depend on your memory card).”

Website: MacWorld - Canon Digital IXUS 50 Review

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CNET have published their review of the new Nikon D70s DSLR camera.

“With the D70s, Nikon upgrades its popular D70 consumer digital SLR. The improvements are minor, but they should be sufficient to keep this camera, already one of the best in the sub-$1,000 class, competitive with smaller rivals, such as the Pentax *ist DS, and ones with higher pixel counts, such as the Canon Digital Rebel XT. This tweaked 6-megapixel model retains the solid design, the impressive performance, and the excellent image quality we liked in the original, while repairing a few of the more frustrating shortcomings.”

Website: CNET - Nikon D70s Review

Website: Read my Nikon D70s Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Nikon D70s

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CNET have just reviewed the 6 megapixel Konica Minolta DiMAGE G600 digital camera.

“Who says affordable point-and-shoot cameras have to be dumbed down? Despite its small size and moderate price, the Konica Minolta Dimage G600 incorporates a 6-megapixel sensor, a 3X optical zoom, dual card slots, and full manual alternatives for most of its automatic settings. It’s a highly capable digital camera, with the built-in signal processor kicking in for exposures longer than 1.2 seconds, providing nearly noise-free low-light photos.”

Website: CNET - Konica Minolta DiMAGE G600 Review

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CNET have just reviewed the 6 megapixel Olympus CAMEDIA C-60 ZOOM.

“Picture quality was generally good. Most shots exhibited accurate colors, though we saw a tendency toward a slight red or yellow color cast. The best photos were exterior shots with plenty of light; however, when we lowered the light, the visual noise increased dramatically, with a corresponding degradation in sharpness and detail. Some of our ISO 400 photos were so riddled with noise they resembled frames from a video shot.”

Website: CNET - Olympus C-60 Zoom Review

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DigiCamReview have published the first online review of the new Konica Minolta DiMAGE X60, which has a large 2.5inch LCD screen (but no optical viewfinder), 5 megapixels and a sliding lens cover.

“Image quality is fairly average: The images have quite nuetral colour with low saturation and contrast - some people may prefer this but unfortunately the camera offers no controls to customise this - so you will need to make sure you’re happy with the camera’s colour reproduction before buying. Images are quite soft, have fairly low detail and also suffer with vignetting, and red-eye problems. Purple fringing was low. The camera did a good job focusing. There is a good range of image sizes and a good choice of compression options. The macro mode is very good. Auto white balance and metering seemed to be good. The movie mode is good.”

Website: DigiCamReview - Konica Minolta DiMAGE X60 Review

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DIWA Press Release

Fujifilm constantly pursues perfection in their image sensor development, presently peaked by the Super CCD II SR. The professional FinePix S3 Pro benefits from Fujifilm’s latest sensor technologies, a fine display of their achievements in simulating the advantages of film, yet maintaining the digital versatility.

Amsterdam, 15. June, 2005 – DIWA (Digital Imaging Websites Association), a world-wide organization of collaborating websites, today has the pleasure of announcing a DIWA Gold Award to the professional FinePix S3 Pro digital SLR.

JVC Press Release

NO TAPE, NO DISC – NEW JVC CAMCORDERS FEATURE LARGE CAPACITY, BUILT-IN HARD DISK DRIVES

New Everio G Series records more than 10.5 hours of DVD-quality video.

NEW YORK, June 14, 2005 – JVC today announced a new series of camcorders that eliminates the need to carry tapes, discs or any media at all, yet can record up to seven hours of DVD movie-quality video. They also record more than 10.5 hours at a quality level comparable to a DVD camcorder’s 30-minute mode. The new JVC Everio G Series camcorders record to a built-in hard disk drive and will be available in 20 and 30 gigabyte (GB) versions, offering unprecedented camcorder storage capacity.