nik multimedia, Inc. Press Release

Plug-in software features technology to easily sharpen digital images

San Diego, CA – June 13, 2005 – nik multimedia, Inc. today announces nik Sharpener Pro™ 2.0 is now available through the nik multimedia retail Web site (www.nikmultimedia.com) and specialty camera stores.  nik Sharpener Pro 2.0 provides the easiest way for photographers and digital artists to optimally sharpen their digital images and achieve the best possible detail in their final prints.  As a plug-in to Adobe® Photoshop® and other image editing applications, nik Sharpener Pro 2.0 is the perfect addition to a photographer’s digital workflow.

Fujifilm have released a firmware update for 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.

This Firmware (Ver.1.02) update will revise the internal software of the FinePix F10 digital camera. Installation of this update is optional. It incorporates the following enhancements:

1) Correction of English displayed on the LCD monitor
2) Updates the compatibility of the PictBridge function with some printers
3) Correction of an error that would not allow some computers to start up if the camera was connected and turned on.

Website: Fujifilm Finepix F10 Firmware v1.02 - Windows

Website: Fujifilm Finepix F10 Firmware v1.02 - Macintosh

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Mike Johnston’s “Sunday Morning Photographer” tries to keep up in several different ways this week:

“It’s interesting watching the same thing happen with digital, except it’s happening communally. How to unclog print heads, add curves to Elements, which serial numbers of the 84-3drzl digicam are afflicted with the dreaded ________ bug. (Had to disguise that last one.) Information is shooting back and forth all across the world, as photographers collectively, and happily, amass vital tidbits of information that will, with time, settle down into a permanent state of U —> 0, where U = uselessness.”

Website: The Sunday Morning Photographer: “Keeping Up”

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

“Shooting performance was robust for a camera in this class. Power up to first image captured measured 2.4 seconds. Shutter lag measured less than 1/10 of a second when pre-focused and ~6/10 second including autofocus. The shot to shot delay averaged about 2 seconds between frames without the use of the flash and between 3 and 5 seconds with the flash, depending on subject distance. When the battery is not fully charged, the LCD goes blank and the camera freezes while the flash is recharged. We found this quite aggravating and it will cause you to miss out on some spontaneous photo opportunities.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Nikon Coolpix S1 Review

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Imaging Resource have published their review of the Kodak EasyShare Z700, a 4 megapixel digital camera with 5x optical zoom lens.

” The Kodak EasyShare Z700 is the latest in a long line of Kodak digital cameras bearing the EasyShare name. EasyShare cameras generally live up to their name quite well, being easy to use, with the accompanying software doing a good job of facilitating sharing through a variety of media. The Kodak Z700 is no exception, providing true point & shoot operation with accurate exposure, a very flexible automatic white balance system, and the bright, highly-saturated color that seems to be preferred by most US consumers. At the same time, while the Kodak Z700 sports a very easy to use “green zone” fully automatic mode, it also offers programmed, shutter- and aperture-priority exposure control for more experienced users. Add its 5x zoom lens and 4.0 megapixel CCD, and the Kodak Z700 is a very user-friendly and capable digital camera.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Kodak EasyShare Z700 Review

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DIWA member and Danish website DigitalMagasinet 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: DigitalMagasinet - Ricoh R2 Review

DCResource 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.

“Camera performance is superb thanks mostly to the DIGIC II image processor. The S2 starts up quickly, there’s no shutter lag, and shot-to-shot and playback times are super quick. Focusing speeds aren’t quite as speedy—the S2 is surpassed by the Panasonic FZ5 and the Sony H1 in this area. Low light focusing has been dramatically improved since the S1 and there’s no longer a need to put the camera away when it gets dark. With the right memory card the S2’s continuous shooting mode screams, shooting at 2.4 frames/second until the memory card is full. Battery life is best-in-class, as well.”

Website: DCResource - Canon PowerShot S2 IS Review

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DigiCamReview have just reviewed the super-slim 3 megapixel Casio EXILIM Card EX-S100.

“The camera is very compact and very stylish being designed very well with a tough metal body - despite the ultra small size the camera feels comfortable in my hands. The camera is very easy to use, the menu system is easy to use and there is a good layout of buttons and controls. There is a very good choice of features and options to suit all levels of experience, manual focus, flash intensity, auto-macro mode, scene modes, as well as manual white balance, live histogram, audio recording etc. The camera speed is very good, with a good switch on time, very good focusing time, very good shutter response. The camera has good battery life despite it’s small size.”

Website: DigiCamReview - Casio EXILIM Card EX-S100 Review

Website: Read my Casio Exilim Card EX-S100 Review

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Pocket-Lint have published their review of the 5 megapixel, 10x zoom Kodak EasyShare Z740 digital camera.

“Build quality is ‘plasticky’. The SD removable storage bay has plastic cover that feels rather fragile, the pop-up flash is activated using a very clunky switch on the top plate and the on/off switch is very sticky to use. However, image quality is generally good but with noticeable blue pixel fringing and edge-to-edge sharpness, it’s rather poor as well. This will lose you any detail at the extremes of the image.”

Website: Pocket-Lint - Kodak EasyShare Z740 Review

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The Norwegian website Akam.no have reviewed the new 5 megapixel Sony DSC-W15 digital camera.

Website: Akam.no - Sony DSC-W15 Review

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The Jobo Giga Vu Pro is a direct competitor to the Epson P-2000 portable storage device that I enthusiastically reviewed back in March. With a 3.8 inch colour LCD screen, 40Gb or 60Gb hard drive, built-in card slot for Compact Flash / Microdrive memory cards, support for video and music playback, and the ability to playback RAW files, the Jobo Giga Vu Pro matches the better known Epson device. Jobo haven’t stopped there though - they have added a host of pro-level options to the Giga Vu Pro, including WiFi support, Levels display, Channels display, a touch screen for entering information, PictBridge compatibility and support for RAW files from over 70 different cameras. Similar in size and weight, can the Jobo Giga Vu Pro compete with the Epson P-2000? Read my extensive review to discover the answer.

Website: Jobo Giga Vu Pro Review

Microsoft have released the Beta version of Acrylic, a new vector and pixel based graphics program that is an obvious rival to the likes of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. ”“Acrylic” is the codename for an innovative illustration, painting and graphics tool that provides exciting creative capabilities for designers working in print, web, video, and interactive media.” You need to have a Microsoft Passport ID and enter some personal details in order to download Acrylic.

Website: Microsoft - Download Acrylic

Macintosh Digital Hub Site have also got hold of the new Epson Stylus Photo R2400 A3+ photo printer, and are publishing their findings in blog format:

“The three prints I’ve made this morning have been on Epson Premium Luster Photo Paper. For one of the prints, I tried the R2400’s advanced black-and-white mode. In this mode, Epson’s driver does an on-the-fly conversion of a color image, and several dialog box options allow you to tweak the contrast and tonality settings of the resulting print (learn more here). The results are amazing. My first test print was easily the best black-and-white print I’ve ever seen come out of an inkjet printer. The blacks are truly black, with no slight tint. It looks like it came out of a photographic darkroom.”

Website: Macintosh Digital Hub Site - Hands On with the Epson Stylus Photo R2400

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Photo-i have just started an interactive review of the new Epson Stylus Photo R2400 A3+ photo printer.

“photo-i was launched three years ago with the first interactive review on the Epson Stylus photo SP2100. Now Epson have replaced this much loved printer with the R2400. Just how much progress has been made in photo quality printing over the last three years or have we reached a quality plateau, whereby improvements are minor? I have a gut feeling that we are seeing real issues being addressed by manufacturers - issues such as cast free monochrome printing. longevity of prints amongst other. It will be interesting to see what innovations manufacturers come up with next as far a photo quality is concerned. Looking at the some old photographs I wonder how much better an inkjet print can get, it is already streets ahead of most photo lab printing.”

Website: Photo-i - Epson Stylus Photo R2400

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Imaging Resource 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.

“Beginning through intermediate users will be right at home with the W5, and advanced users will enjoy its excellent portability and new manual exposure control option. Although the W5 is technically a high-end point-and-shoot digital camera, it has a lot of creative options and enough image adjustments to handle a wide variety of shooting situations. So, while it’s designed to relieve you from complicated exposure decisions, advanced amateurs and business users will appreciate it for its quality, portability, and varied shooting options. It appears well-built and its lens mechanism is impressively fast. Accessory lenses make it more versatile for wide or telephoto use. Overall, an excellent “all around” camera, with impressive speed and resolution.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Sony DSC-W5 Review

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DPReview have reviewed the new Casio EX-Z750 Exilim Zoom, which has a 7.2 megapixel CCD sensor, large 2.5-inch LCD screen and offers a battery life of 325 shots.

“It’s a surprisingly rewarding camera that manages to squeeze a lot of features into its tiny body, and - just as importantly - makes using the wealth of controls and features as easy as possible given the lack of surface area for extensive external buttons or switches. It’s fast, easy to use, and reliable, with very few focus or exposure problems (save for the occasional metering error in scenes with lots of contrast or large areas of sky). In the final assessment the EX-Z750 has a bigger feature set than any of its pocket-sized competitors and has a very impressive movie mode with some pretty advanced options thrown in for good measure.”

Website: DPReview - Casio EX-Z750 Exilim Zoom Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Casio EX-Z750 Exilim Zoom

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CNET have posted their review of the Nikon Coolpix 7600, a 7.1 megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical lens equivalent to 38-114mm lens in 35mm format.

” A pared-down version of the Coolpix 7900, this 7-megapixel, 3X optical-zoom model squarely targets the snapshot set with many of the same hand-holding features as its slightly more sophisticated sibling. The 7.1-ounce Nikon Coolpix 7600 is a little chunkier and doesn’t have the same aesthetic appeal, but it delivers where it really counts: helpful features and very good picture quality.”

Website: CNET - Nikon Coolpix 7600 Review

Website: Read my Nikon Coolpix 7600 Review

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Write a Review of the Nikon Coolpix 7600

StockPhotoFinder.com Press Release

New York, NY (June 9, 2005) – As ‘War of the Worlds’ cruises into theaters, the War of the Widgets has also begun for the multi-billion dollar stock content licensing industry. In the battle for desktop search, StockPhotoFinder.com has entered the fray by offering photo buyers a free Widget to facilitate searching the databases of stock photography agencies and commercial photographers.

This free tool roars from the Mac Tiger Dashboard (OS 10.4), empowering users with simplified search directly from their computer desktop of millions of stock photos from all kinds of websites. Similar in functionality to a web browser, the Widget is faster, more direct and easier than other options for searching commercial imagery. It leverages the dynamic, new Dashboard technology from Apple Computer. 59% of StockPhotoFinder.com users search for stock imagery on Macintosh computers.

O’Reilly Press Release

Inspiration and Instruction for Creating Spectacular Panoramas

Farnham, UK—“A beautiful photograph—whether panoramic or not—is born of one-third technique and two-thirds creativity,” says Sacha Popovic, one of the eight visionary photographers showcased in the new “Assembling Panoramic Photos: A Designer’s Notebook” (O’Reilly, US $19.95). A one-of-a-kind collection of panoramic photos by renowned French artists, this book serves as both creative inspiration and serious technique training for amateur and professional photographers, graphic designers, and digital artists.

Intemos Press Release

A SAFE, NON TOXIC LIQUID TO CLEAN DIGITAL SLR SENSORS.

IOptic, the first totally safe liquid for cleaning digital camera sensors, lenses and optical surfaces, is now available from Intemos (www.intemos.com).

Unlike other sensor cleaning liquids, IOptic, is non flammable, non toxic and is completely travel safe. Because it is not alcohol based, IOptic will not evaporate in the bottle as other cleaners do, and so lasts much longer.

Formulated to remove sticky particles, such as pollen or pollution from the sensor, IOptic can be used in conjunction with other Intemos’s DSLRClean swabs.