Kodak UK Press Release

February 7th 2005 - Young people visiting the Tower of London during Local Schools Weeks 2005 will be given further opportunities to bring history to life thanks to a $50,000 donation to the Royal Armouries from Kodak’s Corporate Charitable Contributions Programme. Kodak’s support will finance the three annual Schools Weeks events held at the Tower’s award-winning Education Centre by way of teacher packs, pupil worksheets, information sheets, single-use cameras, film processing and Picture CD vouchers.

“Recording their experiences in pictures will not only help our young visitors to bring history to life - thus enhancing the value and quality of their studies - they’ll also be learning about photography at the same time,” said Head of Fundraising for the Royal Armouries, David Williams. “Donations from external sources are vital if we are to continue to fund the centre’s growing popularity.”

Mike Johnston’s “Sunday Morning Photographer” column this week urges you to remove all those UV and Skylight filters from your lenses which you use to protect the front element - they could be causing flare in your photos…

“Here’s the news flash, though, although it’s not exactly news, since it’s been true for a good long while now: good modern lenses have very hard glass objectives, and/or scratch-resistant coatings. They make it difficult to scratch or mar a lens. With reasonable care, and perhaps a decent lens hood for physical protection if the objective is not recessed, there is almost no chance you will scratch the objective of your lens. Empirically, this is confirmed when you survey used lenses for sale. How many do you find that are scratched? How many eBay auctions for lenses don’t say “glass mint” or “glass perfect”? Don’t overestimate lens owners: if it were so easy to scratch up a lens, there would be a lot more scratched lenses out there than there are.”

Website: Sunday Morning Photographer: The Filter Flare Factor

DPReview have today published their review of the 4 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-L1.

“The price is good, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the DSC-L1 as a second camera - in the couple of months I’ve been testing it, this is the one camera that I’ve had with me virtually every waking minute. It is cameras like this that help maintain the significant advantage a dedicated camera has over a camera phone - and it’s a lot smaller than most cell phones too. It doesn’t do much more than point and shoot, but it does that very well (Canon et al could learn a lot about fast focus from Sony), and my only serious complaint is that I’d like a slightly more powerful flash - everything else is fairly minor.”

Website: DPReview - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-L1 Review

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DIWA member and Danish website DigitalMagasinet has posted a review of Picasa 2, a software program that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC.

Website: DigitalMagasinet - Picasa 2 Review

Sigma 55-200mm F4-5.6 DC Lens announced, designed specifically for digital SLR cameras. Supports Sigma, Nikon, Canon and Pentax lens mounts.

Sigma Press Release

Compact and lightweight, high-performance telephoto Zoom Lens
This compact telephoto zoom lens was exclusively designed for use with digital SLR cameras. The image circle was designed to match the size of the image sensors of digital SLR cameras that also allows compact body and lightweight. Characteristics of digital cameras were taken into consideration when designing the lens power layout, making high-quality images reality through the entire zoom range.

Sigma 18-50mm F3.5-5.6 DC Lens announced, designed specifically for digital SLR cameras. Supports Sigma, Nikon, Canon and Pentax lens mounts.

Sigma Press Release

Zoom lens that designed to suit the characteristics of digital cameras.
Exclusively designed to suit the characteristics of digital SLR cameras. The image circle was designed to match the size of the image sensors of most digital SLR cameras and this has resulted in a compact lightweight lens. The use of aspherical lenses provides correction for various aberrations and makes high quality images a reality throughout the entire zoom range. Corresponding AF Mounts: SIGMA SA mount, NIKON mount, CANON mount, PENTAX mount.

Apogee Photo Magazine has posted a brief review of the photo-management application ACDSee 7 (found via CameraTown).

“Have you noticed that you can’t see thumbnail previews of the RAW files from your camera in the Windows file browser or in many other asset management programs? ACDSee supports RAW files from all of the major brands of digital cameras. Has the need to have an expensive editing program to manipulate your RAW files kept you from using this powerful file system? You don’t need to go to another program.  You can do all of your adjustments to RAW files within this program. And I think you’ll be surprised, because it has features we’ve all wished for in Photoshop.”

Website: Apogee Photo Magazine - ACDSee 7 Review

AnandTech have just reviewed the 5 megapixel, twistable Pentax Optio X (found via CameraTown).

“In our review of this camera, we discovered several strengths and weaknesses. For starters, it isn’t the fastest camera available, but in most cases, it puts in a decent performance. For example, it has respectable startup and write speeds. Unfortunately, the auto focus can be somewhat slow. In our test, the camera took nearly a full second to focus and take a picture. With respect to image quality, the Optio X generally does a good job taking even exposures with accurate color. However, we found clipped shadows and highlights in some of our samples in addition to jaggies along diagonal lines.”

Website: AnandTech - Pentax Optio X Review

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Presenting the Olympus Mju Mini Digital: on paper, a compact digital camera with 4 megapixels, 2x optical zoom lens that’s equivalent to 35-70mm on a 35mm camera, 1.8 inch LCD monitor, all housed in a weather-proof metal body. So far, so run-of-the-mill. Lots of other digital cameras offer a similar if not better specification at the same pricepoint, so why should you consider the Olympus Mju Mini Digital? Take it out of the box and you soon see why - Olympus have designed one of the most stylish compact digicams on the market today. Your friends will definitely be impressed, but in the long-run will you? Carry on reading to discover the answer.

Website: Olympus Mju Mini Digital Review

TrustedReviews have today reviewed the Pentax Optio SV, a compact digicam with 5 Megapixels and 5x zoom lens.

“Pentax has created an excellent camera in the form of the Optio SV and although it’s not completely perfect, it’s pretty close. The maximum four second shutter priority could be better and the detail resolution isn’t quite on a par with the Ixus 500, but the long zoom, live histogram and excellent user interface make the Optio SV a winner.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Pentax Optio SV Review

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DIWA member website LetsGoDigital have just posted their review of the 6 megapixel Fuji FinePix E550.

“The compact size of the Fujifilm FinePix E550 and the traditional design don’t show immediately what the camera is capable of. The camera offers ease of use and is very user friendly. It also offers many extra settings at the same time which gives the beginner the possibility to grow and enhance his photographic skills. The Fujifilm E550 is available for a few months now and is certainly worth considering as your new digital camera or to replace your old one!”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Fuji FinePix E550 Review

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DIWA member and Norwegian website digIT.no have just reviewed the new slimline 5 megapixel Casio EXILIM Card EX-Z55 digital camera.

“My conclusion is that the camera is a significant upgrade from previous versions of the same model. The image processor handles the increased resolution better than earlier upgrades and the lens is now sharp over the entife field - at last. However, Casio has still some way to go before they can compete on image quality.”

Website: digIT.no - Casio EXILIM Card EX-Z55 Review

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Lomography Fisheye film camera announced. Lomo have just announced a new addition to their line-up of wacky film cameras. As the name suggests, the new Lomography Fisheye gives a unique fisheye perspective on the world.

Thanks to Siim teller for letting me know - visit his site at http://spotphoto.blogspot.com/ for more details.

Lomography Press Release

The Fisheye View - How Goldfish and Lomographers See, Experience and Live Life

Lomographers love everything that gets their eyes going and keeps them on their ocular toes, so to speak: the most varied of commonplace and exceptional atmospheres, colours, people and animals in all possible and impossible situations, action, distortion, shifts, deformation and reversals. They simply can’t get enough of all the stuff that expands their visual horizon.

On the lookout for a new genuine kick for our thirsty little eyes, we’ve delved differently, totally fresh, into the topic of seeing, and explored fish’s eyes and the way they see in unfamiliar surroundings - on land, in the fresh air. We concentrated our research on all those goldfish, little ones and big ones, that observe our world out of their aquariums, in homes, in bars, offices, restaurants, shop windows, zoos and other public aquariums, on camp sites etc. Looking out at the world of people, dung beetles and dromedaries! We focused in particular on the optical dimensions of these goldfish’s existence.

ExpressDigital has announced ExpressDigital Darkroom in 3 different editions - Core, Professional, and Assembly. ExpressDigital Darkroom is a software package that helps you to manage the daily photography workflow and is priced from $495 (for the Core edition).

ExpressDigital Press Release

ExpressDigital Launches New Software Product Line: ExpressDigital Darkroom

ENGLEWOOD, CO—February 3, 2005— ExpressDigital, the leading provider of digital workflow software, internet storefronts, and lab solutions, has announced the launch of their new software product line: ExpressDigital Darkroom.  Based on recommendations from its 14,000 plus customers and extensive dealer network, ExpressDigital has consolidated its niche based software titles into a simplified full-featured product line.  The ExpressDigital Darkroom family is software that manages the daily photography workflow. 

Three editions of ExpressDigital Darkroom are being launched: Core Edition, Professional Edition, and Assembly Edition.

A user over on the PhotoHobby.net forums has posted quite a thorough review of the new Konica Minolta Z5 digital camera.

“Only one draw back of Z5 which I don’t like is the reduced longest shutter speed. In Z3, you have T mode which have max shutter speed of 15 sec. In Z5, it’s now gone. No more T mode and you have to live with max 4 sec only. I think that it because of the inherit noise profile of the smaller sensor size lead KM to make such decision. Whether it is right or wrong, only the potential buyers will be the one who decide.”

Website: PhotoHobby.net - Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Review

About Photography has an interesting article that explains how you should read a photography book. “Surely I already know how to read a book?” I can hear you asking yourself. Trust me, it’s well worth the 10 minutes of your time that it will take to read.

“‘The Americans’ is a book perhaps best thought of as a film. In the edition I own it starts with an introduction by beat poet/writer Jack Kerouac; although of interest, it isn’t really essential to read before you look at the pictures, and the book for real starts with a page blank except for the single word ‘Photographs’. Turn over and you see the opening image, two people at separate windows and the cropped American flag, watching a street parade in New Jersey. They, like you, the reader, are looking at America and the Americans.”

Website: About Photography - Reading Photography Books

Olympus m:robe goes to the Super Bowl. The m:robe 500i, a digital music player with built-in digital camera, is to be advertised by Olympus during the American Football Super Bowl this coming Sunday.

Olympus Imaging America Press Release

Olympus Goes To The Super Bowl To Launch First Picture-Taking Digital Music Player

Olympus m:robe - the First Digital Music Player With a Built-in Digital Camera - will be Featured in the Brand’s First Super Bowl Commercials Since 1981

Melville, New York, January 6, 2005 – A wild blend of digital music, photographs and extreme alternative dance will appear on the telecast of Super Bowl XXXIX, as Olympus Imaging America Inc. launches m:robe 500i, the first digital music player with a built-in digital camera. The Melville, NY company has announced plans to run two 30-second television commercials promoting m:robe on the Super Bowl XXXIX telecast, scheduled for February 6, 2005 on the Fox Television Network.

Olympus m:robe 500i is a portable digital music player unlike any other. It stores and plays as many as 5000 digital songs and also includes a digital camera. With m:robe users can create personalized dynamic “remixes” that blend music and pictures together to, as the Super Bowl commercials’ tagline suggests, “Let Your Pictures Groove.”

Konica Minolta this week announced a 1.3% rise in quarterly operating profit, helped by sales of its new 6 megapixel Konica Minolta Dynax 7D digital SLR camera (pictured).

“Konica Minolta’s digital camera business turned to the black in the past quarter thanks to the successful launch in November of its “Dynax 7 Digital,” the firm’s first digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera with interchangable lenses for non-professionals. This helped the firm’s photo imaging and camera division enjoy an operating profit of 1.4 billion yen in the quarter, marking its first profit in five quarters. In the year-ago period it posted a loss of 1.7 billion yen.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Profit Rises for Konica Minolta

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DCResource have published what I think is the first full online review of the 5 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-M1 digital camera.

“The Cyber-shot DSC-M1 is unlike any digital camera you’ve ever seen. It looks more like a camera phone crossed with a camcorder than your typical digital camera. With the LCD in the closed position, it looks more like a camera, but most people will hold it like so. What you can’t see in this picture is where the person’s fingers are located on the other side of the camera. You need to be very careful about hand placement on this camera! It’s all too easy to block the flash and/or AF-assist lamp, so watch those fingers! Holding and especially operating the camera is awkward, in this reviewers’ opinion.”

Website: DCResource - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-M1 Review

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DigitalCameraInfo has just reviewed the compact 4.1 Megapixel Fuji FinePix F440 Zoom.

“The handling on the F440 is well-designed, displaying a user-friendly lay-out that allows for quick access to essential shooting features and advanced options, such as flash or macro mode. The lack of external control features makes handling the camera smoother than other competing models, although the absence of immediate control may be frustrating for some users accustomed to exterior options. Fortunately, there are grips on both the front and back of the camera, and the flash is placed far enough out of the way that the chance of obscuring it with a finger is greatly diminished. The viewfinder is small, but is still usable in most circumstances. With the light located directly beneath the eye, the user can actually see the lamp when using the viewfinder–sometimes a distraction, sometimes an asset.”

Website: DigitalCameraInfo - Fuji FinePix F440 Zoom Review

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