Pocket Phojo 3.0 is announced. Pocket Phojo 3.0 allows Nikon digital SLR cameras to transmit images via WiFi directly to a Pocket PC. Price and availability of Pocket Phojo 3.0 to be announced at Focus on Imaging next week.

Idruna Software Press Release

Pocket Phojo 3.0 to launch Feb 27th on Nikon’s stand at Focus Show

Idruna Software Inc. is pleased to announce that the Pocket Phojo 3.0, a major update to the acclaimed handheld photo editing and wireless transmission solution for photojournalists, will be launching on Nikon’s booth at the Focus on Imaging show at the Birmingham NEC, from February 27th to 3rd March.

“Pocket Phojo 3.0 greatly extends the functionality of Nikon’s WT Wireless Transmitters, ushering in a new era of high speed news gathering, and we are honored to have been invited to present our solution at Nikon’s stand.”, said Paul Nolan, CEO of Idruna.

Epson StoryTeller Photo Book Creator is announced. StoryTeller Photo Book Creator is a convenient, easy-to-use kit with everything consumers need to turn their digital pictures into a glossy, hardbound photo book to preserve and share personalized life stories and events. StoryTeller Photo Book Creator kits will be available for purchase in the USA in late April 2005 for $19.99 for the 5” x 7” version, $24.99 for the 10-page 8” x 10” version, and $29.99 for the 20-page 8” x 10” version.

Epson Press Release

Epson’s storyteller Photo Book Creator MAKES PUBLISHING your own “Best Seller” of cherished MEMORIES a snap at home

Easy-to-Use Kit Gives Chief Memory Officers and Photo Enthusiasts Tools to Preserve and Share Special Occasions

LONG BEACH, Calif., Feb. 22, 2005 – Epson America Inc. today announced the debut of the StoryTeller™ Photo Book Creator, a convenient, easy-to-use kit for creating and publishing personalized, hardcover photo books entirely at home that are ideal for gifts or display.  StoryTeller Photo Book Creator provides Chief Memory Officers™ (CMOs) and photo enthusiasts everything they need to publish a book of their own photos to remember and share special events and memories easily and affordably at home.

Lyra Research Press Release

Lyra Research Projects Worldwide Digital Camera Shipments Will Exceed 100 Million Units in 2008

In 2004 Europe surpassed the United States in unit shipments

Coinciding with this year’s Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show in Orlando, FL, Lyra Research’s Digital Photography Advisory Service has issued its worldwide digital camera forecast. Digital still camera shipments surpassed 63 million units worldwide in 2004, up more than 35 percent compared with 2003. Worldwide digital still camera shipments will surpass 100 million units in 2008.

In 2004, for the first time ever, Europe became the largest market in terms of unit shipments, taking the top spot from the United States, which is now second in terms of shipments. Japan is the third-largest market.

Photodex ProShow Gold 2.5 is released today. ProShow Gold 2.5 is a slide show software package aimed at photographers. ProShow Gold 2.5 is priced at $69.95 for electronic delivery. ProShow 2.5 is also available in a standard edition for $29.95.

Photodex Press Release

Photodex(R) Corporation Releases ProShow(R) Gold 2.5, the Newest Version of Its Award Winning Slide Show Software for Photo Enthusiasts and Professionals

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/—Photodex(R) Corporation today released ProShow(R) Gold 2.5, the newest version of its award winning slide show software for photo enthusiasts and professionals. ProShow Gold 2.5 allows users to easily and efficiently create quality multimedia slide show presentations to share with friends and family. Slide motion effects, captions effects, over 280 quality transitions, and unmatched performance make ProShow Gold the industry leading tool for creating quality DVD, PC, and Web slide shows.

Seagate 6 Gigabyte hard drive is now shipping. The new Seagate 6Gb harddrive can store up to 3000 songs and features RunOn and G-Force technology. Price and availability of the 1 inch 6 Gb Seagate hard-drive are to be announced; 5GB and 2.5GB versions are also available.

Seagate Press Release

Seagate Ships 6GB 1-Inch Hard Drive, Highest Capacity in the Industry

ST1 Series Now the Most Widely Adopted 1-Inch Hard Drive for Handheld Music Players

SINGAPORE, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/—Seagate (NYSE:STX) , the world’s leading maker of consumer electronics hard drives, announced today it is shipping the industry’s highest capacity 1-inch hard drive, a new 6GB model of its popular 1-inch ST1 Series hard drive for handheld applications. Seagate began shipping this industry-leading 6GB drive in December 2004. The 6GB Seagate ST1 Series can hold up to 150 hours—or 3,000 songs—of high-quality music files (128 kbps), providing breakthrough value and storage capacity for small music players, PDAs and handheld entertainment devices.

Hitachi 6 Gigabyte Microdrive is now shipping. The new Hitachi Microdrive can store 1500-3000 songs, 6,000 pictures (1 MB each) or 8 hours of MPEG-4 video. The 1 inch 6 Gb Hitachi Microdrive will cost $299 USD, with the 4 Gb version costing $199.

Hitachi Press Release

Hitachi Ramps 6-Gigabyte Microdrive to High Volume; Company Sweetens Arrival of Higher-Capacity One-Inch Hard Drive with Significant Price Reduction

SAN JOSE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Feb. 23, 2005—Users of miniature MP3 players and other storage-demanding handheld consumer electronics can rejoice today as Hitachi Global Storage Technologies begins shipping its 6 gigabyte(a) (GB) one-inch hard drive in high volume. As the leader in one-inch hard drives, Hitachi is raising the stakes by making available the new Microdrive 3K6 with a suggested retail price reduction of up to 60 percent.

Epson UK Press Release

The Epson Stylus Photo R1800 will have its first UK audience with live demonstrations at Focus On Imaging 2005.  Available from April 2005 and designed to meet the needs of the most demanding photo enthusiast and semi professional photographer, this A3 photo printer is the latest addition to the Epson photo printer portfolio. 

Providing border-free printing up to A3, photographers now have the freedom to print in a wide range of formats for portfolios, display, and photographic exhibitions without sacrificing quality. Combined with the Epson UltraChrome Hi-Gloss ink set, the Stylus Photo R1800 delivers prints that really can exceed the quality from a professional photo lab.

Mamiya ZD digital SLR that was announced in August last year will be on show at the Focus on Imaging event next week at the NEC, Birmingham, UK. The Mamiya ZD is a 22 megapixel digital SLR that will cost around £8,000 body only. PhotographyBLOG will be at Focus where I will hopefully be able to try out the Mamiya ZD.

Mamiya Press Release

Mamiya are pleased to announce that initial production tests of the ZD camera have been successful. To ensure that the camera meets the high demands and requirements of the professional photographer there are significant field tests now taking place in Japan. It is estimated that these tests will conclude at the end of March and that once any modifications have been implemented full production will start and then be launched during summer 05.

The Mamiya ZD back is in final development and is also due for launch during summer 05.

The Fujifilm Finepix E550 is a 6 megapixel digital camera that retains the same design as the cheaper Finepix E510 and E500, but crucially improves on those models in a number of key areas. Most obviously the Fuji E550 has 6 megapixels rather than the 5 and 4 of the E510 and E500. Perhaps more importantly than the extra megapixel is the kind of sensor that the FinePix E550 uses, namely Fuji’s Super CCD HR, which allows the camera to offer an interpolated resolution of 12.3 megapixels, plus a RAW file format. The Fujifilm Finepix E550 is also larger than many digicams, which Fujifilm claims makes it more of a photographer’s camera. So does the Finepix E550 appeal to the photographer in me? Read my review to find out.

Website: Fujifilm Finepix E550 Review

Apple iPod Photo 30Gb model is introduced today. The 30Gb iPod Photo will cost $349, holds up to 25,000 digital photos and is available now. As well as announcing the iPod Photo 30Gb, Apple have also sprung a surprise by launching the iPod Camera Connector, a $29 device that allows you to import photos from your digital camera. The iPod Camera Connector sounds very much like something that should have been incorporated into the iPod Photo in the first place, but it’s still good news for everyone who has bought or will be buying an Apple iPod Photo. The iPod Camera Connector will be available in March.

Apple Press Release

Apple(R) today updated its iPod(R) photo lineup by introducing a new slim 30GB model, holding up to 7,500 songs, for just $349 and a new 60GB model, holding up to 15,000 songs, for $449. Designed to take your entire music and photo libraries with you wherever you go, both iPod photo models feature a stunning high-resolution color screen for displaying photos and enhancing the entire iPod music experience. Both models hold up to 25,000 digital photos and will feature the ability to import photos from your digital camera via the new iPod Camera Connector for instant viewing and slide show playback on iPod photo.

Fujifilm had a massive stand at PMA near the main entrance, almost as big as Canon’s, although a large majority of the space was taken up by the photo-finishing sections of the company, rather than the camera side. New digital camera models included the Fujifilm FinePix F10 Zoom, Fujifilm FinePix Z1 Zoom and the Fujifilm Finepix S3 Pro digital SLR.

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Fujifilm FinePix F10 Zoom

Fujifilm Finepix S3 Pro

I visited the Tamron stand today and took a few shots with the new Tamron 18-200mm digital SLR lens that has just been unveiled at PMA 2005 (Tamron AF18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) MACRO to give it its full name - even less appealing than the new 11-22mm lens). I already own the Tamron 28-75mm Di lens, using it on my Canon EOS 10D DSLR for the last 12 months. The Tamron 18-200mm has similar build-quality to the 28-75mm Di lens.

I visited the Tamron stand today and took a few shots with the new Tamron 11-18mm digital SLR lens that has just been announced (Tamron SP AF11-18mm F/4.5-5.6 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) to give it its full name - very catchy). I already own the Tamron 28-75mm Di lens, using it on my Canon EOS 10D DSLR for the last 12 months. The Tamron 11-18mm has the same good build-quality as the 28-75mm Di lens.

Panasonic Press Release

ORLANDO, FL (February 20, 2005)—Panasonic, the leading brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known today, announced that it will expand its “HIGH SPEED Series” SD Memory Card line up by introducing the “HIGH SPEED” 256MB SD Memory Card with up to 2MB/s data transfer speed this April.

Panasonic “HIGH SPEED Series” 64MB and 128MB SD Memory Cards have been already available in the market, and the company plans to introduce larger capacity “HIGH SPEED Series” SD Memory Cards later this year. The “HIGH SPEED Series” SD Memory Cards offer a data transfer speed suitable for storing still images or small-size motion pictures taken with a digital still camera (DSC) and digital video camera (DVC). Together with the current “PRO HIGH SPEED Series” SD Memory Cards (512MB & 1GB) which boast a transfer speed of up to 20MB/s and the “SUPER HIGH SPEED Series” SD Memory Card (256MB) with up to 10MB/s data transfer speed for more advanced usage such as motion picture recording or fast continuous consecutive shooting, the new “HIGH SPEED” 256MB SD Memory Card allows users to select the type of cards depending on consumers’ needs.

Apacer Press Release

Apacer Launches 1GB and the World’s First 2GB MultiMediaCard

Lead in the Trend of High Density Development for the Camera Phone Market

Hertogenbosch 23 February 2005 - Apacer Technology B.V. leads in the trend of high density development for the camera phones market and today launches the world’s first highest-density MultiMediaCard (MMC) compliable with MMC Specification Version 3.X, introduced by the MMCA (MultiMediaCard Association). In addition to storing more than 4000 images at 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, Apacer’s 2GB MMC supports plug-and-play with all MMC slots in mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, PDAs and other compatible multimedia devices.

The Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 EX DC HSM lens which was first announced a week ago is on show here at PMA 2005. I got the chance to have a brief try of the lens on my Canon EOS 10D during an interview with Sigma today.

In the usual Sigma EX tradition, the 10-20mm lens was very well made (despite only being a pre-production model) and it felt compact and well balanced on the 10D with battery grip fitted. Despite the dim lighting on the show floor and a slowish aperture of F4-5.6, the Sigma 10-20mm had no problems with focusing.

The show floor here at PMA is humming with the news that Leica, the venerable German camera company, are in deep financial straits following a 50% drop in share price and the subsequent termination of credit by their banks. This rumour has now been officially confirmed by the company in the following brief statement on their website:

Following the ad hoc announcement of Leica Camera AG, Solms, of February 17, 2005, stating that the Company expects a loss of half of its registered share capital in March 2005, the banks have partially terminated their credit lines. The remaining lines still cover the current liquidity requirements. The Company’s Board of Management has entered into negotiations with the banks on a solution that will carry the Company until the time of its Extraordinary General Meeting on May 31, 2005, at which capital measures are to be proposed to the shareholders.

What this means for Leica is still unclear. Can they survive in their current guise, or will the famous manufacturer find a buyer and continue to live on another day? Even if they do survive, will digital products like the long-delayed LEICA DIGITAL-MODUL-R ever make it out of the factory? We should know the answer by May 31st.

The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT is undoubtedly the star of PMA 2005 show (called the Canon EOS 350D in Europe). An 8 megapixel digital SLR with the same DIGIC II image processor found in Canon’s professional series D-SLR cameras, the Digital Rebel XT is an amazing upgrade of the already very popular Canon Digital Rebel. Build-quality is better than you may imaging, certainly a lot better than the original Rebel, but not as good as the higher-end EOS 20D. The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT also even smaller than the previous model, although not to small for my large hand size. The popularity of the Digital Rebel XT at PMA and also after the show will no doubt be helped by the lack of any new comparative DLSR from Nikon, whose stand here is noticeably smaller than Canon’s. The Canon EOS 350D will cost £750 when it launches in the UK in March.
Click on each picture to see a larger version.

As well as showing their new digicam lineup for 2005 (which looks very impressive), Samsung were also displaying a large picture of an intriguing concept camera (shown above). In a PMA Show of few real surprises, Samsung’s banner at the back of their stand hints at an ultra-zoom model, which would be quite a departure for a company that specialises in compact, easy to use and stylish digicams with a 3x optical zoom. Samsung obviously wouldn’t comment further on the mystery digital camera - time will tell if it actually makes it beyond the designer’s drawing board.

Corel Press Release

Corel Expands Camera Raw Support with RawShooter essentials 2005 from Pixmantec

Free Software Automates Batch Downloads, Saving Photographers Time and Money While Providing Maximum Control Over Digital Images

Orlando, FL- PMA- February 20, 2005 - Corel Corporation announced that, starting today, it will offer RawShooter essentials 2005 as a free download from its website at www.corel.com/downloads. Developed by Denmark-based Pixmantec, RawShooter essentials 2005 enables photographers to automatically import and convert large batches of camera RAW images, saving them time and money with powerful, easy-to-use tools that previously cost hundreds of dollars. RawShooter essentials 2005 works with leading digital imaging software including Corel’s Paint Shop Pro, Paint Shop Pro Studio, Paint Shop Photo Album, and Corel PHOTO-PAINT.