nik Sharpener Pro 2.0 is announced. nik Sharpener Pro 2 is a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and other programs that allows you to sharpen digital images. nik Sharpener Pro 2 adds compatibility with 16-bit images, more control over sharpening and a larger preview area. nik Sharpener Pro 2.0 also features a new RAW Presharpening filter. nik Sharpener Pro 2.0 will be available in June. The Inkjet Edition costs $169.95 and nik Sharpener Pro 2.0 Complete Edition costs $329.95.

nik multimedia, Inc. Press Release

New version of company’s award-winning digital image editing software features new tools for photographers

San Diego, CA – April 19, 2005 – nik multimedia, Inc. today announces nik Sharpener Pro™ 2.0, the long awaited upgrade to the popular nik Sharpener Pro software.  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.

M-ROCK Press Release

Biscayne Bay & Denali are Built for Ultimate in Style and Functionality

Aventura, FL, April 19, 2005, M-ROCK, the ultimate camera and accessory bag manufacturer, announced today that it is shipping the Biscayne Bay and Denali (pictured) bags made especially for detail-oriented photographers. 

Biscayne Bay - the Bag for Mini Digital Cameras
New to the M-ROCK camera bag line-up for 2005, the Biscayne Bay is the perfect little camera bag shaped to fit mini digital point n’ shoot digital cameras.  Priced at only $16, the Biscayne Bay beats the competition with loads of user-friendly features packed into a small mini-cam package.

Ricoh Press Release

New Design Reflects Strong Global Commitment

TOKYO, April 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/—Ricoh Company, Ltd. today unveiled its new corporate logo, which will become effective in September this year. The new logo symbolizes the Ricoh Group’s increased global presence.

The simple elegant design reflects Ricoh’s three core values: 1) Simplify knowledge creation, 2) Think solutions that fit, 3) Harmonize with the environment.

The rounded edges of the new logo were designed to express intelligence tempered by a friendly and human disposition. At the same time readability on a global scale is greatly enhanced.

Canon have released a new firmware update, version 2.0.0, for the EOS 20D DSLR camera.

This firmware update (version 2.0.0) incorporates the following additions and improvements:

1. Support for the wireless file transmitter WFT-E1.
This function works when the WFT-E1 firmware is 2.0.1 or later.

This firmware update applies to cameras with firmware versions up to 1.1.0 installed. If your camera’s firmware is already version 2.0.0, it is not necessary to perform this update.

Website: Canon EOS 20D Firmware Version 2.0.0

DigiCamReview have posted a review of the entry-level Olympus C-500 Zoom digicam (also known as the D-595).

” Image quality is very good, the images have good colour, saturation, contrast and good detail - however there is some purple fringing. Images tend to come out of the camera looking very good. The camera did a good job focusing - although in low-light did struggle. Noise was on the low side, even up to ISO400, however I did notice a colour shift at ISO400. I didn’t notice any vignetting in the corners. There is a small range of image sizes and a very small choice of compression options. The super macro mode is very good. Auto white balance and metering seemed to be very good. Red-eye was controlled quite well. The movie mode is slightly better than average, at 320x240 / 30fps with sound.”

Website: DigiCamReview - Olympus C-500 Zoom Review

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Trusted Reviews have just posted their review of the 6 megapixel Pentax *ist DS DSLR.

“I’ve been using a Pentax *ist D professionally for over a year now, and I’ve been very impressed by the results I’ve obtained from it. I was initially a little dismissive of the *ist DS, since I thought it was just a cut down version of the *ist D. However, I’ve been using the newer camera for a couple of weeks now and I am seriously considering getting one. Although it does have many similarities to the D, and even looks superficially similar, it is a completely different camera with a new body design, larger LCD monitor, new image processing engine and a faster AF system.”

Website: Trusted Reviews - Pentax *ist DS Review

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Digimarc Corporation Press Release

Digimarc Enhances Protection of Digital Photographs and Images

MyPictureMarc 2005 raises the standard of security for creative professionals’ online image collections

Beaverton, Ore. – April 19, 2005 – Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC) today announced the launch of Digimarc® MyPictureMarc™ 2005, bringing photographers and creative professionals new layers of security to protect their digital image collections.

Digimarc MyPictureMarc 2005 delivers new digital watermarking technology, enhanced digital rights management tracking, online image backup and free visual watermarking. The new MyPictureMarc 2005 plug-in is immediately available for download at www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc, supporting all current Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) Photoshop 7 and higher products, as well as Photoshop Elements 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0.

Imaging Resource have reviewed the 5 megapixel, 8x zoom Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z20.

“The Z20 did a very good job with color, producing accurate, natural, and pleasing results in just about every instance. Colors were generally hue-accurate and appropriately saturated. Skin tones were very good (just slightly pinkish, but within acceptable limits), and even the very difficult blue flowers in the “Sunlit” portrait shot were rendered very well. The camera’s white balance system also handled the very difficult incandescent lighting of our Indoor Portrait test very well. A very good job overall.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z20 Review

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The Spanish website Quesabesde have reviewed the 5 megapixel Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5. With a 12x image stabilized Leica lens, the DMC-FZ5 improves on the DMC-FZ3 by offering faster auto-focus and improved body design, as well as more megapixels.

Website: Quesabesde - Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 Review

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Pixmantec RawShooter essentials is updated, adding preliminary support for the Nikon D2Hs and a number of other features. Pixmantec RawShooter essentials is a free RAW convertor. Version 1.1.2 of Pixmantec RawShooter essentials adds the following new features:

New functionality and improvements:

- Improved mapping WB to Kelvin scale

- Ability to change background brightness for Thumbnails and preview area

- Improved/faster thumbnail extraction and proxy creation

- Improved color rendering (Minolta/Nikon)

- Optionally Prepend priority # to output

- Star-icon to show that a file was recently converted is now persistent

Kodak UK Press Release

Change Reflects Continued Integration into the KODAK Family of Digital Photography Products; Service Will Maintain Complete Set of Products

London, 19 April — Eastman Kodak Company and its online photo service subsidiary, Ofoto, Inc., has announced that the service will change its name to KODAK EASYSHARE Gallery, effective 18 May.  This powerful new name builds on the success of the award-winning Ofoto service and provides new and exciting opportunities for integration within the KODAK family of products, including the ability to directly access the Gallery from new KODAK EASYSHARE-ONE zoom digital cameras.

With the change, Ofoto.com will become Kodakgallery.com. From now until 18 May, customers will continue to see the Ofoto name and should visit www.ofoto.com to access, share, and print their pictures.

Lexar Media Press Release

Lexar Launches Special Introductory Offer for Free Engraving on New JumpDrive® Lightning

FREMONT, CA, April 19, 2005 – Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a leader in advanced digital media and accessories, recently introduced JumpDrive® Lightning, the latest addition to its vast line of USB flash drives. JumpDrive Lightning is a stylish portable storage device that features a striking stainless steel design. Coinciding with its introduction, all customers ordering JumpDrive Lightning from www.lexar.com will be offered free engraving.

Said Bobby Billman, vice president of marketing, Lexar: “JumpDrive Lightning is our new flagship USB product, and it reflects our commitment to offering uniquely designed products geared toward every consumer’s design sensibility. JumpDrive Lightning’s leading-edge performance capabilities are matched only by its sophisticated design, and our new engraving service adds a fun and useful personal touch.”

It seems that Colab, one of the UK’s biggest photo labs, has survived recent financial difficulties and is now trading as normal again.

Colab Press Release

Colab - The Midlands leading photographic laboratory - Trading as Normal!

You may have heard that we recently encountered financial difficulty. This was correct although we succeeded in trading throughout the uncertain four week period. We have now obtained new investment and so would like to reassure you that we are 100% back to normal. All the staff at Colab would like to say a BIG thank you for your kind letters, e-mails and phone calls over the last few weeks offering your support. We are all very excited about the future and have renewed confidence that we can continue to give our customers the same quality service you have come to expect from the countries leading laboratory.

For more information please visit our website at www.colab.com or telephone us on (024) 7644 0404.
We look forward to hearing from you! Thank You

Kodak UK Press Release

Kodak Introduces First Printer Dock and Digital Cameras Compatible with IMAGELINK Print System

New KODAK EASYSHARE Printer Dock Series 3 Supports Forthcoming Cameras from Kodak, Konica Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Ricoh and Sanyo

LONDON, April 19 — Adding to its award-winning line of EASYSHARE printer docks, Eastman Kodak Company recently announced the first model to support the IMAGELINK print system, making possible one-touch printing from multiple brands of digital cameras.

The new KODAK EASYSHARE Printer Dock Series 3 is now available worldwide, packaged with new KODAK EASYSHARE Z740 and Z700 zoom digital cameras (which are also compatible with the IMAGELINK system). The Printer Dock Series 3 will also ship as a standalone product beginning in May 2005 (RRP £129.99).

O’Reilly Press Release

A Complete Course in Macintosh Digital Photography
O’Reilly Releases “iPhoto 5: The Missing Manual”

Farnham, UK—With iPhoto 5, a cornerstone of Apple’s iLife ‘05 software suite, Apple has eliminated the infamous “chain of pain” of transferring photos from a digital camera, organizing them, and
publishing, printing, or sharing them. This version offers fifty new features—but not one printed manual.

“iPhoto 5: The Missing Manual” (O’Reilly) comes fully loaded—and in full color—so readers can exercise all the power, flexibility, and creativity of the stunning new iPhoto 5. “The color images take this book to a new level,” says coauthor Derrick Story. “Not only are we able to more effectively explain how to use iPhoto 5, but it’s fun just to flip through the pages.”

PhotoshopNews are reporting that Nikon have encrypted the whilte balance data contained in NEF RAW files written by the new 12 megapixel Nikon D2X and D2Hs digital SLR cameras. This is a problem for all third-party RAW convertors, such as Adobe Capture RAW and Capture One.

“Adobe is still going to support the D2X in the upcoming Camera Raw 3.1 release. However, because of the white balance encryption, Camera Raw will not be able (unless Nikon backs down real soon) to read the “as shot” white balance from the camera, and users will be more likely to have to adjust the while balance manually in the Camera Raw dialog, since Camera Raw’s default white balance will not match the cameras default white balance.”

Website: PhotoshopNews - Nikon encrypts D2X white balance metadata

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Kyocera announced last week that they were discontinuing production of all Contax branded cameras, including the Contax 645 system. Find out why pro photographer Michael Reichmann believes there may be plenty of mileage left in the Contax brand yet…

“Contax is one of, if not the oldest and most venerable names in photographic history. Carl Zeiss owns the brand name, and Zeiss is very much a going concern. In fact there are few photographers who don’t appreciate, if not actually covet owning and using Zeiss lenses. For Zeiss to abandon the Contax brand and its flagship camera now doesn’t seem like a sensible thing that any company would do, (especially since it was Kyocera who took all the losses in recent years – which of course is why they bailed out). So, assuming that the designs and tooling for the 645 bodies and accessories are available to Zeiss (the lenses of course are), I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the 645 Contax camera either resurrected, or re-released in an updated form in the not too distant future.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - CONTAX 645 R.I.P. or Resurrection?

Canon USA Press Release

“CASH IN WITH CANON” REBATE PROGRAM RETURNS WITH AN ARRAY OF REBATES

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., April 15, 2005 — Baseball season, picnics, family gatherings and other outdoor activities are in full swing. Canon U.S.A. helps make it easy and affordable to capture and share memories of important activities and events with a digital camera system through “Cash In With Canon” Rebate Program from April 15 — July 15, 2005.

Canon is offering mail-in rebates from $10 to $500 on select products, including the professional EOS-1D Mark II, EOS 20D and a variety of EF lenses. Additionally, Canon is offering mail-in rebates on select EX-series Speedlites and IS (Image Stabilizer) Binoculars.

“The Cash in With Canon Rebate Program makes the speed and precision of SLR photography even more affordable to consumers,” stated Yukiaki Hashimoto, senior vice president and general manager of the consumer imaging group at Canon U.S.A., Inc., a subsidiary of Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ). “We feel that this type of rebate program expands the variety of photographic possibilities for photographers while keeping their experiences affordable.”

Imaging Resource have published a review of the Microtek ScanMaker i900 flatbed scanner.

“Looking for a scanner that can handle film as well as flats is like looking for a camcorder that can take great stills. If you ever did find one, no one would believe you. They really address different problems. But the i900 attacks the problem with a large dual bed design, adequate optical resolution precisely controlled for multiple scans and a high DMax to capture shadow detail. And Microtek supplies the IT8 targets you need to calibrate it. Our tests showed that whether we ran it from ScanWizard Pro, SilverFast Ai or VueScan, we were able to get excellent results with both flats and film (positive and negative). We’re starting to wonder about that dual-purpose camcorder and even the Fountain of Youth.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Microtek ScanMaker i900 Review

DIWA member and German website digitalkamera.de have just reviewed the ColorVision Spyder2 Plus. Dubbed the “Digital Darkroom in a Box”, Spyder2 Plus is a suite of tools for colour calibration and digital imaging. ColorVision Spyder2 Plus has a recommended price of $269.

Website: digitalkamera.de - ColorVision Spyder2 Plus Review