DigitalCameraInfo.com have just reviewed what is sure to be a popular digital camera, the 5 megapixel Canon PowerShot A95:

“Overall, the Canon PowerShot A95 is in the top 30 percent of compact digital cameras in terms of color reproduction. This model tends to over-saturate reds and pinks, but this is common among point-and-shoot digital cameras as these colors are used to render skin tones. To avoid the unflattering depiction of white flesh, many digital cameras will correct for this to create a more favorable rendition of skin. So even though the Canon PowerShot A95 does not receive a perfect color score, some point-and-shooters may prefer the camera?s embellished look, maintaining a naturalistic base for its tones while asserting somewhat of a refined filter on top.”

Website: DigitalCameraInfo.com - Canon PowerShot A95 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Canon PowerShot A95

The Norwegian website DigIT.no have published their review of the 7 megapixel Canon PowerShot S70.

Website: DigIT.no - Canon PowerShot S70 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Canon PowerShot S70

American Society of Media Photographers Press Release 19/10/04

October 19, 2004—The American Society of Media Photographers has posted a new Copyright Tutorial to the public area of its web site: http://www.asmp.org/copyright/. Although modern law gives independent photographers an automatic copyright at the moment a picture is taken, there still are procedures that must be followed to obtain the maximum legal protection for the photographer’s rights. The ASMP tutorial details those procedures, providing step-by-step instructions and annotated sample forms. In addition, it explores several copyright-related issues of particular importance to photographers, such as pictures of public buildings and the distinctions that courts use in deciding whether two images are substantially similar.

Said Eugene Mopsik, ASMP’s executive director, “Photographers would rather make images than file paperwork, but their future income often depends on having properly registered their copyrights. ASMP can’t do the paperwork for its members, of course. But we can educate about the importance of registering, explain the ins and outs of the process, and provide clear, photographer-friendly directions. Our goal in preparing this tutorial was to help photographers protect their legal rights with a minimum of hassle.”

PCMagazine have today posted reviews of no less than 4 new HP printers, including the top-of-the-range HP Photosmart 8450 model (pictured).

“The HP Photosmart 8450 Photo Printer ($299.99 direct) from Hewlett-Packard is a close cousin to the HP Photosmart 8150. Like the 8150, it can serve as an all-purpose printer, with good performance and good or better output quality across the board. And both are notable for their 2.5-inch color LCDs and kiosk-style menu features that let you fix flaws in your photos and print without a computer.”

Website: PCMagazine - HP Photosmart 8450 Printer Review

Website: PCMagazine - HP Photosmart 8150 Printer Review

Website: PCMagazine - HP Photosmart 5740 Printer Review

Website: PCMagazine - HP Photosmart 375 Printer Review

Engadget have reported that Mitsubishi are set to introduce a 4 megapixel, auto-focusing camera-phone module next month.

“That means we could start seeing four-megapixel autofocus cameraphones sometime around next May to June, though as ITmedia notes (in Japanese, so you’ll have to trust us) the image quality problem is shifting to lens and optical zoom technology, or the poorness of it, rather than pixel count per se. In any case, Mitsubishi’s module means that shooting nice 2,304x1,728-pixel photos and VGA video at 30 frames per second with your phone will soon be possible, which can?t bad at all.”

Website: Engadget - Mitsubishi drops four-megapixel cameraphone modules

The Sensor Brush family of products from Canadian company Visible Dust seem to be getting a lot of media attention at the moment. Now it’s the turn of Luminous Landscape’s Michael Reichmann to review this new product which cleans the sensor inside a digital SLR camera.

“But, what you do is spray compressed air (CO2) on one of the appropriately sized brushes called a Sensor Brush, for 10 seconds or so, and then wipe across the sensor with the brush. That’s it. If the crud is stubborn, then a second swipe can be done, after charging the brush again with compressed air (which makes it statically attractive). Blowing the brush bristles again after cleaning removes anything that’s been picked up.

The first time that I tried this was on my Canon 1Ds, which was pretty dirty at the time. Two passes, and it was clean. Not just somewhat clean. Not almost clean. But, totally clean! The first time that it has been so since the day that I took delivery of the camera over two years ago. I have subsequently cleaned other DSLRs sensors with equally impressive results.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Out - Damn Spot!

Website: Visible Dust

Imaging Resource have published a review of Qurio, photosharing software that allows you to instantly share thousands of full resolution photos over the Internet, directly from your own PC.

What if you could just email your friends and family to let them know you’ve just copied some new pictures to your hard drive. To enjoy them, they’d just have to click on some link in your email. Their browser would launch and in a second or two they’d be watching a nice slide show of your images.

Qurio (http://www.Qurio.com) turns that imaginary scenario into reality. And to their credit, they do it in a safe, secure way.

Website: Imaging Resource - Qurio Reinvents Photosharing

Back in August the UK’s biggest photography retailer, Jessops, announced that they were planning to join the London Stock Exchange. Now they have officially launched their offer and made public the details, including how much the company will actually be worth:

Indicative price range of 185p to 220p per share, which will give Jessops a market capitalisation of between £173 million to £189 million…At the price range, the total number of shares in the Company at admission will be between 93.5 million shares and 85.7 million shares.

Website: ePhotoZine - Jessops initial public offering price range

Corel Press Release 19/10/04

Painter IX Offers Creative Professionals Unmatched Speed and Incredible Possibilities

Ottawa, Canada - October 18, 2004 Corel today announced that Corel Painter IX, the world’s most powerful Natural-Media painting and illustration software, is now available across North America and the United Kingdom, and Australia.

Corel Painter IX enables commercial designers, photographers, and professional artists to use their natural talents and techniques to create breathtaking works of art. This highly sophisticated painting and illustration application captures the intricate nuances of traditional art tools while taking advantage of the incredible power of digital media. It is the must-have software for creative professionals, whether they’re in film making, game development, commercial design, illustration, photography, or fine arts.

“Corel Painter IX takes creativity to new heights by empowering creative professionals to use the skills and techniques they’ve developed in the traditional world, while enjoying the incredible benefits of digital media. Whether they are designing commercial illustrations, painting portraits, or developing concept art for feature films and video games, professional artists turn to Painter to create stunning masterpieces,” said Nick Davies, General Manager Graphics for Corel.

DCResource have reviewed the 5 megapixel Canon PowerShot SD20 Digital ELPH.

“The Canon PowerShot SD20 Digital ELPH is what I call a “secondary camera”. It’s the go-anywhere camera that’s always on hand to capture the moment. For more serious endeavors, that’s where you bring out your primary camera—the PowerShot G6, Coolpix 8700, whatever. With that in mind, the SD20 is a very nice ultra-compact camera that can fit in your pocket, ready for action at any time. It takes very good 5 Megapixel photos without major delays like shutter lag. The camera is mostly point-and-shoot, though I appreciate the manual white balance and long shutter speed controls. The camera has an AF-assist lamp for focusing in low light, though I found it hard to see anything on the LCD in those conditions.”

Website: DCResource - Canon PowerShot SD20 Digital ELPH Review

Nikon Press Release 19/10/04

Nikon introduces the Digiscoping System - Fieldscope Digital SLR Camera Attachment FSA-L1, Fieldscope Digital Camera Bracket FSB-1, and Wide DS Fieldscope Eyepieces

Nikon Vision Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Nikon Corporation, is proud to announce the release of several new Nikon Fieldscope accessories - Fieldscope Digital SLR Camera Attachment FSA-L1, Fieldscope Digital Camera Bracket FSB-1, and Wide DS Fieldscope Eyepieces.
With the spread of digital cameras in recent years, super-telephoto shooting using a combination of Nikon Fieldscope with digital camera has become increasingly popular among birdwatchers.

So popular, in fact, that it has led to many requests to Nikon for a Fieldscope accessory that enables shooting with digital SLR cameras. The newly released Digital SLR Camera Attachment FSA-L1 is our response. By using it to attach a Nikon D70 or D100 digital SLR camera to your Fieldscope, you can perform super-telephoto shooting with a focal length of 1,500mm (35mm-format equivalent, with Fieldscope ED82 series).

Pentax have released a new firmware version for the *ist D DSLR, which includes the following changes:

Version 1.11 of the *istD firmware will fully prepare your camera for use with the Pentax Remote Assistant software (available as a separate download). The Remote Assistant software will allow you to control various *istD functions from your computer.

Website: Pentax *istD Firmware Update v1.11

PhotographyBLOG was unfortunately offline from approximately 4am-10am BST today.

If you sent me an email during this time period, please resend it.

DigiCamReview.co.uk have today reviewed the new HP Photosmart R707, a stylish 5 megapixel digital camera.

“Image quality is good - the images have really good pleasing colour, good detail although images could do with a sharpen and suffer from corner softness. Images have fairly low noise depending on how much adaptive lighting changes the image, and there is very little purple fringing. Image compression doesn’t seem to cause jpeg artifacts, and there is an additional high quality (4 star) mode for even higher quality images. The macro mode is fairly poor, although for the odd macro photo will probably be fine.”

Website: DigiCamReview.co.uk - HP Photosmart R707 Review

?2002 Kristen Ashburn, Canon Female Photojournalist Award 2004, Agency: Contact Press Images

Canon UK Press Release 18/10/04

US photographer Kristen Ashburn has become the fourth woman to win the Canon Female Photojournalist Award, for her images depicting HIV in Zimbabwe and its impact on daily life, and the country’s culture and economy. The award was granted by the French Association of Women Journalists (AFJ) at the 16th International Festival of Photojournalism Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan, France, on 3 September 2004.

The Canon Female Photojournalist Award, was initiated in 2001 by Guy Bourreau, Marketing Director of Canon Communication & Image in France and AFJ. It aims to support and highlight the work of female photographers around the world. “Women make up only 11% of the world’s photojournalists,” explains Bourreau. “Through its support and its technology, Canon is committed to meeting the needs of all photographers - male and female. With this award we are aiming to address the under-representation of women in this field and draw attention to the diverse work female photojournalists produce.”

Epson UK Press Release

Epson introduces the most competitively priced multi-format film scanner

Epson’s new F-3200 dedicated film scanner offers a cost-effective, high quality film scanning solution.  It enables professionals and experienced amateur photographers to achieve professional lab-quality results.

November 2004 - The Epson F-3200 is the most competitively priced multi-format dedicated film scanner on the market. Priced at £549 (inc VAT) the scanner is aimed at professionals and experienced amateur photographers who want to scan their film quickly without sacrificing quality.  It is also ideal for photographers who want to digitise their film archive or who still shoot in film but wish to create digital images for manipulation and printing.

The Epson F-3200 is a versatile product which allows professionals and experienced amateurs to quickly scan reflective prints of up to 4” x 6” in addition to 35mm film through to 5” x 4” sheet film. Compatible with either a PC or Mac, the Epson F-3200 features advanced software that enables photographers to scan 35mm and medium format film in batches and at the same time remove dust and scratches from images. The built-in LCD screen allows photographers to preview scanned images quickly and easily.

BIOS have just reviewed the Lexmark P6520 All-in-One printer/scanner/copier, which is aimed at digital photographers rather than business users.

“Lexmark’s P6250 all-in-one printer has consumer-friendly features and all of the components you need to start a home photo lab. Unfortunately, its print quality is disappointing and it takes forever to print large documents. The unit makes it a snap to start making your own albums and digitising your existing photos, but you’ll be disappointed by its ‘photo quality’ prints. In fact, its output can be bettered by much cheaper alternatives, such as Epson’s Stylus CX3600.”

Website: BIOS - Lexmark P6520 Review

The Spanish website quesabesde.com have posted their review of the 4 megapixel Canon PowerShot A85.

Website: quesabesde.com - Canon PowerShot A85 Review

Imaging Resource have just reviewed what is sure to be a popular digital camera, the 5 megapixel Canon PowerShot A95:

“The PowerShot A95 is one of the few digital cameras that just seem to get everything right, with very few weaknesses. In virtually all respects (color, resolution, image noise), its images are good to excellent, and its range of features and capabilities is hard to beat for the price.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Canon PowerShot A95 Review

Digital Outback Photo have reviewed a plugin for Photoshop CS and PhotoShop Elements 3(Windows-only I’m afraid) that aims to brighten up the shadows in your images without causing too many unwanted side-effects.

“Improving the tonality of images is one of the most difficult tasks. Especially the shows are either to flat or even more often to dark. There are quite a few tools on the market that address this issue. The most well known is “Shadow Highlight” in Photoshop CS. In our opinion, “Shadow Highlight” has two major shortcomings:

- It can produce halos
- With its many sliders the use is not really easy

Here we think the Shadow Illuminator plugin offers a great alternative.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Shadow Illuminator Plugin Review