Photo.net have published their initial impressions of the 8 megapixel Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT DSLR camera.

“It looks very much like the image quality of the Digital Rebel XT is up to that of the EOS 20D. It’s also evident from using the Digital Rebel, that it’s a Rebel, i.e. a camera aimed at the consumer entry level, while the 20D is clearly aimed at the more experienced and serious photographer. Ultimately in many respects the cameras will be capable of yielding almost identical results, it’s just that doing it with the 20D will be a little easier. Of course there are things the Digital Rebel doesn’t do as well. It has a slower frame rate, a smaller JPEG image buffer, a lower capacity battery, the AF system is different and, as mentioned, the viewfinder is smaller. However for many people saving $400-$500 will make up for all those things. Personally, I’d buy the 20D, but that’s just me. Many people will buy the Digital Rebel XT and be very happy with it.”

Website: Photo.net - Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT Initial Impressions

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creativepro.com have tested 3 noise reduction software programs - PictureCode’s Noise Ninja, Fred Miranda’s ISOx Pro Photoshop action and nik Multimedia Dfine - to find out which one is the most effective.

“In this overview, we’re going to take a look at 3 packages side-by-side, evaluating them for their ability to handle images produced by a digital SLR. Because digital SLRs have much better noise response than lower-end digital cameras, they typically require much less noise reduction. Unless you spend lots of time regularly shooting at high ISO with your SLR, you probably find that you only occasionally need to employ a noise reduction technique, and so want a simple, quick-and-dirty, fix. All three of these applications are well suited to users who only occasionally need to process a noisy image, as well as users who want to make noise reduction part of their everyday workflow. In addition, all three work on either Macintosh or Windows.”

Website: creativepro.com - Framed and Exposed: Quiet Those Noisy Images

Photographer Petteri Sulonen has published an extremely detailed guide to cleaning the sensor of a digital SLR camera using cheaper alternatives to commercial sensor cleaning brushes.

“On the other hand, there’s a far greater variety of artist’s brushes in the right material, shape, and size available. Go to any halfway-decent art-supply store, and look for synthetic brushes. You’ll find easily a half-dozen varieties that look approximately right. The trouble is, in all the art stores I visited, the bristles are always sized together for transport. For an artist this doesn’t matter, since the size dissolves when you dip it in water—but for this purpose, it’s extremely important to get all the size out, not just most of it. This is certainly possible, but an unsized brush is clearly preferable to one with size in it.”

Website: The Pixel Sweeper - A cheap alternative to the Sensor Brush

Imaging Resource have published a brief user report on the new 8 megapixel Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT DSLR camera.

“Now, I’ve placed this camera into the hands of several women, and they all love it. I can see why, as several of the women who have smaller hands have no trouble finding a comfortable home for their thumb, palm, and fingers; just like it was made for them. Even my wife, whose hands aren’t that much smaller than mine, really liked the grip, and the Digital Rebel XT’s light weight, button arrangement, and overall feel were just right (she was fairly familiar with our Digital Rebel, by the way, so this is an informed opinion).”

Website: Imaging Resource - Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT User Report

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The German website PhotoWorld.de have reviewed the 8 megapixel Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200 digital camera, which incorporates anti-shake technology and a swivelling LCD monitor.

Website: PhotoWorld.de - Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200 Review

Website: Read my Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200 Review

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The Hungarian website Index Digicam have reviewed the new 7 megapixel Samsung Digimax V70 digital camera.

Index Digicam - Samsung Digimax V70 Review

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DIWA member and Polish website Fotopolis have posted their review of the 6 megapixel Pentax *ist DS DSLR.

Website: Fotopolis - Pentax *ist DS Review

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DIWA member and Slovenian website e-fotografija recently took the new Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT DSLR for night out at the Stardome club in Tabor. The resulting photographs are well worth checking out.

Website: e-fotografija - Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT

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DIWA member and Czech website FotoAparat have posted a review of two new Canon printers, the PIXMA iP5000 printer, which features the industry’s first 1 picoliter droplets, and the PIXMA iP8500.

Website: FotoAparat - Canon PIXMA iP5000 / iP8500 Review

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Pixmantec RawShooter essentials is updated, adding support for new cameras including the Canon EOS 350D/Rebel XT and Nikon D2X. Pixmantec RawShooter essentials is a free RAW convertor. Version 1.1.1 of Pixmantec RawShooter essentials adds the following new features:

•  Expanded camera compatibility: Canon EOS 350D/Rebel XT, Nikon D2X, Minolta A200, Minolta 7Hi, Epson R1-D as well as improved compatibility with several cameras already supported
•  A new Processing Parameter Panel to control the default processing parameters such as noise / detail / sharpness to be applied across camera type and ISO range
•  Black and white support
•  Improved highlight rendering and tonal treatments, color rendering and noise reduction
•  Enhanced metadata support (EXIF / IPTC)
•  Improved hardware and OS compatibility
•  Various workflow and functionality enhancements

Website: Pixmantec

CNET have posted their review of the 6 megapixel Casio EXILIM PRO EX-P600 digital camera.

”...the P600 combines a mile-long list of features with an excellent user manual and built-in guidance system, making it an appealing option for enthusiasts and enthusiastic newcomers alike. The camera lacks a raw-capture mode, and its distracting live histogram takes some getting used to; in addition, the P600’s 320x240 movie mode can’t match the 640x480 resolutions offered on newer cameras. But the P600 offers solid image quality and very good battery life, which, combined with its versatility and accessibility, help to distinguish this model from its higher-resolution competitors.”

Website: CNET - Casio EXILIM PRO EX-P600 Review

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Samsung Announces Mass Production of World’s Smallest Multimedia Cards

SEOUL, South Korea—(BUSINESS WIRE)—March 24, 2005—Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today that it has begun mass-production of the smallest memory card available for mobile phones. The MMCmicro(TM) device can read data at 10MBps (megabytes per second) and write at 7MBps, which is 3.5 times faster than that of competing flash memory cards.

The new thumbnail-sized memory card, designed specifically for mobile phones with advanced multimedia features, is one-third as large (12x14x1.1mm) as the reduced size multimedia card (RS-MMC) available today and can support four NAND Flash memory chips, enabling higher performance.

The Wacom Favo Bluetooth has been announced by Wacom Japan. A translation via Google reveals that the Wacom Favo Bluetooth will be available from March 25th and cost 19,824 Yen. The Wacom Favo Bluetooth is an A5 sized tablet and will ship with the same software as the normal wired version of the Favo. The Favo Bluetooth has a 10m working distance and a charge time of 25 hours before needing to be recharged. There is no word yet on price and availability outside of Japan.

Website: Wacom Japan - Wacom Favo Bluetooth

Website: Google Translation

Casio Press Release

TWO CASIO DIGITAL CAMERAS NAMED WINNERS IN THE 2005 DIMA DIGITAL CAMERA SHOOT OUTS

Casio’s EX-P700 and EX-P505 Earn Honors in Point-and-Shoot Category

DOVER, NJ – March 23, 2005 – Casio, Inc., a leading innovator in digital cameras, was twice named a winner in the Point-and-Shoot category of the 9th Annual Digital Imaging Marketing Association (DIMA) Digital Camera Shoot Out at the recent PMA 2005 Show held in Orlando, Florida.  Casio’s EX-P700 and EX-P505 digital cameras were both recognized in the point-and-shoot category – the EX-P700 won in the $500 to $599 category, and the EX-P505 in the digital Video Camcorder category.

The DIMA Awards recognize consumer technology products that exhibit excellence in overall quality of the digital print and accuracy of color as compared by the samples of fabric used in the studio.  Participating camera manufacturers captured images in four live-model studios, and images from the point-and-shoot cameras were printed on three different digital mini-lab systems.

Photo.net have reviewed the Tokina AT-X 124Pro DX 12-24mm/F4 lens, which will be of particular interest to DLSR owners. The Tokina 12-24mm lens is available now in a Nikon or Canon fit.

“I have to say that this looks and feels to be a very well built lens. It’s fairly hefty with a lot less plastic than any of my other autofocus lenses. The lens is a constant f/4 throughout its zoom range and uses 77mm filters. It doesn’t seem to need thin mount filters, even standard polarizers cause no vignetting. It comes with a well designed, sturdy bayonet mount lens hood that fits on rather stiff and should provide good collision protection.”

Website: Photo.net - Tokina AT-X 124Pro DX 12-24mm F/4 Review

Steves Digicams have posted their review of the new 5 megapixel Olympus C-5500 Sport Zoom digital camera (called the C-55 Sports Zoom in the rest of the world).

“The 5x optical zoom lens covers a 35mm equivalent range of 38 - 190mm. This offers flexibility in composing your shots as well as adding to the overall fun factor of the camera. It produces sharp results throughout its range with moderate barrel distortion present at its wide angle extreme, but almost no pin cushioning at full telephoto. The autofocus systems works quickly and has few problems focusing in low-ambient lighting thanks to an onboard AF-assist lamp.”

Steves Digicams - Olympus C-5500 Sport Zoom Review

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

“Looking at prints from the Canon PowerShot A520, we found that its output looked great at print sizes up to about 11x14 inches. (13x19 prints of its photos would probably be entirely suitable for hanging on a wall, but looked a little soft when we got up close to them.) When it came to high-ISO images, we found that the A520’s shots captured at ISO 400 did indeed look pretty rough when printed at 8x10. They looked a lot better at 5x7 though, and entirely acceptable when printed at 4x6 size. All in all, very nice-looking photos from an attractively priced, easy to use digital camera.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Canon PowerShot A520 Review

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ePhotoZine have published a review of a new sharpening tool called Focus Fixer that claims to remove the blur from images.

“FixerLabs have demonstrated that they are a ‘dynamic’ Company, prepared to be guided by their customers and they are to be commended since we have not had to wait long for this significant update. FocusFixer is in my opinion, infinitely superior to USM or High Pass Filtering and I commend it to the house.”

Website: ePhotoZine - Focus Fixer Review

Digital Outback Photo have published a review of the new 12 megapixel Nikon D2X digital SLR by reader Laurin Rinder.

“As soon as I could charge the batteries [101 min each] I shot every thing I could for 10 solid days and nights. Approx. 5000 images , Just for speed sake everything was shot on JPEG/FINE mode. I figured if it wasn’t good at this setting then what’s the use. I don’t shoot RAW and really cant figure out why anybody does unless you cant get it right the first time or, you love to twiddle on your computer. According to nikon there is a 4x loss in image quality shooting JPEG, I have yet to see the difference between the two file formats, if I shot raw it would take me forever to process the volume of work I must do daily. Just don’t ever save anything as a JPEG, work on it then save as a tiff.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Nikon D2X Reader Review

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Photographic have just reviewed the new high-end Canon CanoScan 9950F flatbed scanner.

“The newest generation of mid-range flatbed scanners provides professional scanning capabilities at consumer prices. Canon’s CanoScan 9950F is a good example. The 9950F is a single-pass flatbed scanner that has an optical resolution of 4800x9600 dpi and an interpolated resolution of 19,200x19,200. It scans at a maximum 48-bit color and a 16-bit gray depth. And it does an outstanding job with prints and other reflective material, as well as negatives, slides and other transmissive material.”

Website: Photographic - Canon CanoScan 9950F Review

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