The Danish website Digital Magasinet have just reviewed the new 5 megapixel Sony DSC-P100 digital camera.

Website: Digital Magasinet - Sony DSC-P100 Review

DCResource have published their review of the 5 megapixel Samsung Digimax V50.

“The Samsung Digimax V50 is a great example of a camera that sounds great after reading the spec sheet that turns out to be a disappointment after start using it. With a 5 Megapixel CCD, large rotating LCD, manual controls, VGA movie mode, and dual memory card slots, it sounds like the camera to beat in the lower-cost 5MP market. In reality, its photo quality is hit-or-miss and performance is subpar.”

Website: DCResource - Samsung Digimax V50 Review

LoneStarDigital have posted their review of the Nikon D2H digital SLR.

“The D2H’s 4.1 megapixel LBCAST sensor produces in-camera Compressed Raw files running from 3.2 to 3.9 megabytes apiece. Compared to my Nikon D100’s 8.9 megabyte Raw files, I’ve more than doubled my in-camera memory card and computer hard drive picture storage capacity. It means I can store more than twice as many pictures per disk when I need to archive old pictures to CD-ROM. And it means faster transfers from my memory cards to my computer’s hard drive and faster file-open times in Nikon Capture and Adobe Photoshop software. All this with no real-world loss in picture quality.”

Website: LoneStarDigital - Nikon D2H Review

Ian Lyons over at Computer Darkroom has published an excellent tutorial on understanding and getting the most out of the File Browser in Adobe Photoshop CS.

“When Adobe first released Photoshop CS much was made of improvements to the File Browser feature set and flexibility; yet months later we still find that it is causing many new and established Photoshop users a great deal of confusion. This tutorial is intended to provide you with a better understanding of the new features and how File Browser can be incorporated into your digital workflow.”

Website: Computer Darkroom - Working with the File Browser

DigitalCameraInfo have published their review of the new 5 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 5200 compact digital camera.

“From the graph above, it is apparent how much the Coolpix 5200 relies on over-saturated tones to gain depth in its imagery. While most cameras exaggerate some tones a bit for richness and vibrancy, most do not to the extent of the 5200. In particular, the blue, green, red, yellow, and orange tones all have difficulty in naturalistic rendering of tones. There is some consistency in the both the degree and direction of error (moving towards the edge of the page is over-saturation, towards the center is dulled), however, many of the tones produced by the 5200 stray from the ideal. The degree of error is not extreme in any one hue, however, all-in-all color rendition is not a particular strength for the Coolpix 5200.”

Website: DigitalCameraInfo - Nikon Coolpix 5200 Review

The Norwegian website Akam.no have posted their review of the Panasonic DMC-FZ10 Lumix ultrazoom digital camera.

Website: Akam.no - Panasonic DMC-FZ10 Lumix Review

Last week it was Lexar cards that were on special offer; this week it’s the turn of SanDisk cards to be heavily discounted. Noel from the Leaves Rustle weblog has let me know about several tempting deals on Amazon and Buy.com, which you can see by following the link below. A SanDisk 512MB Ultra II card can now be yours for just $67.34 on Amazon…

Website: Leaves Rustle - SanDisk CompactFlash Discounts

Norwegian photographer Bjorn Rorslett has published his review of the new AFS Nikkor 200 mm f/2 VR Lens.

“You would expect a long, fast lens to render the background pleasantly unsharp. The manual precedessor, the 200/2, did this and the AFS version does it one better. In fact, it has about the nicest bokeh of any lens I?ve ever used. So soft, veiled and delicate as baby?s skin. Designating the out-of-focus rendition of this lens as “Creamy ” isn?t encompassing enough, there are much more to it than that.”

Thanks to Giallauk for sending me the link.

Website: Bjorn Rorslett - AFS Nikkor 200 mm f/2 VR Lens Review

BIOS magazine have just reviewed Epson’s latest flatbed scanner, the Epson Perfection 4180 Photo.

“Epson’s latest A4 flatbed scanner is targeted at amateur photographers and home photo enthusiasts. The scanner sits towards the top-end of Epson’s Perfection line and offers an impressive optical resolution of 4800x4800ppi. It also comes with three clip-on adapters for scanning negative strips, slides, and medium-format transparencies, and supports an optional multi-photo feeder and ADF for batch scanning. As with all new Epson scanners, the Perfection 4180 Photo also includes colour restoration software to help restore faded photos and film, as well as dust removal functions that remove ‘dust’ and scratches from scans. Quality is key though, and the Perfection 4180 Photo doesn’t disappoint. It’s very slow when scanning at its highest settings, but you’ll be hard pushed to find such a capable scanner for under ?200.”

Website: BIOS - Epson Perfection 4180 Photo Scanner Review

cam2pc Press Release 12/09/04

Nice, France (September 12, 2004) - Following its nomination in the “Best photo program” category of the Shareware Industry Awards 2004, cam2pc reaches a significant milestone by integrating RAW format capabilities.

All prosumer cameras feature RAW image output which allows to record exactly what the digital camera’s CCD sees. No processing is performed on the data and allows the photographer to “develop” its pictures with a dedicated software allowing him to get the results he intended when shooting his pictures.

Using the same routines used in AdobeR PhotoshopR, cam2pc allows the tweaking of most development parameters: white balance, saturation, sharpness… Unlike many other packages, cam2pc is even able to produce 48-bit images for an outstanding quality!

PhotographyBLOG has teamed up with the website PhotoBox to offer you a great range of affordable online printing and storage services. I reviewed PhotoBox last year, awarding the online print service 4.5 stars out of 5 and commenting “PhotoBox’s overall package definitely impressed me. The combination of an amazingly quick delivery time, good packaging, competitive pricing and good print quality (although not the best) ensures a high overall rating.” Since my review, PhotoBox has got a lot cheaper, at only 15p per 6x4 print, whilst maintaining the same high quality and standards. PhotoBox also offers 200Mb of free storage for your images, gifts featuring your favourite photos and a range of cameraphone services.

Register for a free PhotoBox account

Canon USA Press Release 10/09/04

Canon’s Two New Scanners Deliver Unparalleled Performance and Quality for Professional and Home Use
 
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Sept. 9, 2004—Canon’s New CanoScan(R) 4200F and 9950F Color Image Scanners Deliver Fast, Clear Scans With the Ability to Support Film, Negatives and More

Some of the most poignant memories of the past have been captured on film or printed in documents, prompting consumers and professionals alike to preserve slides, printed photos and documents. Canon’s new CanoScan 4200F and 9950F scanners produce clear, sharp and exceptional color that provides consumers with a simple and high quality solution for conserving and restoring old images and documents.

“Canon’s history as a leading imaging technology provider has been the backbone for our understanding of the products that will meet the needs of today’s consumers and professionals,” said 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). “Whether scanning old family photos or documents for a presentation, Canon’s newest scanners deliver exceptional color and provide ease of use with features such as outstanding speed, advanced Z-Lid(TM) Expansion Top, and an easy one-touch push button design.”

Konica Minolta Europe have revealed that the upcoming Konica Minolta Dynax 7 Digital DSLR will have a 6.1 megapixel CCD “with primary color filter and advanced image processing technology”.

“Konica Minolta’s basic thinking on image processing is to “capture and faithfully reproduce what is there.” To accomplish this, Konica Minolta believes four factors must be properly balanced - contrast, color reproduction, gradation reproduction, and noise reduction - and this is reflected in the Dynax 7 Digital/Maxxum 7 Digital. Its large CCD captures the full range of visual signals so that rich gradations and natural hues, such as the glistening of skin or the luster of hair, closely match what the photographer sees.”

Website: Konica Minolta Dynax/Maxxum 7 Digital Website

Imaging Resource have published their First look at the 7 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-V3 that was announced a few days ago.

“The new Sony V3 is still boxy and relatively compact, shaped like a familiar 35mm rangefinder models of years past, but with a decent grip. The DSC-V3’s 7-megapixel CCD captures high resolution images, and its full complement of exposure modes provides as little or as much control as you might want. Like the V1, the V3 includes Sony’s NightShot, NightFraming, and Hologram AF technologies, which greatly add to the camera’s flexibility and usefulness in low-light shooting conditions. Scene exposure mode offers nine preprogrammed exposure modes, and a choice of Sony’s “Smart Zoom” or “Precision Zoom” technologies offers better image quality with digital zoom. MPEGMovie VX format allows movie and sound recording at VGA quality, to the capacity of the memory card, without any arbitrary limits imposed by buffer memory capacity. Finally, the V3 features true Through-The-Lens (TTL) flash metering, a rare feature in the digicam marketplace.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-V3 First Look

Coming soon to your local camera store - the pocketable Acme 1 gigapixel camera with 50x optical zoom, yours for only $99. Well, not all of that is actually true, only the 1 gigapixel part. The European Space Agency is building a 1 gigapixel digital camera for its Gaia space telescope, due to launch in 2010. The camera is made up of over 200 9-megapixel CCDs (found via Digital Photography Blog).

“The size of each CCD presents some unique manufacturing challenges. Even in the purest silicon, defects can occur. Typically, with the CCDs that are used in our digital cameras on Earth, perhaps 20 or more are manufactured from the same silicon wafer and one or two rejects are tolerable.

However, the Gaia CCDs are so large that only two will fit onto each silicon wafer. So the chance of a defect occurring in a Gaia CCD is considerable.”

Thanks to Ricky Nichols for letting me know about the story.

Website: Universe Today - How About a Gigapixel Digital Camera?

Digital Outback Photo and Glenn E. Mitchell II have teamed up to write an excellent sereis of articles about how to get the best out of your shots. Part 3 looks at using levels and curves to adjust tonal range, contrast, and brightness.

“In the previous tutorial, we took a brief look at the features in Adobe Camera Raw II (ACR II) for adjusting tonal range, contrast, and brightness. For some images, all you need are a few adjustments with ACR II and your global adjustments are complete. You can even do capture sharpening and noise reduction in ACR II.

Some images present greater challenges. The Gerber Daisy in Figure 1 is an example. I took the shot in bright sunlight. I was afraid of burning out the saturated yellows, so I underexposed the image: rather severely, it turned out. I should have paid more attention to the histogram and less to the image on my Canon 10D.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Developing Photos That “Pop” Part 3

Wacom Technology Corporation Press Release 08/09/04

Wacom Announces New Intuos3 Professional Pen Tablets, First with Built-in ExpressKeys and Zoom/Scroll Touch Strips

Other Key Features Include New Industrial Design, Redesigned Grip Pen, Improved Mouse, Doubled Resolution of 5080 Lines per Inch, and a New Software Bundle

VANCOUVER, WA., Sep. 8, 2004—Wacom Technology Corporation today introduced its new Intuos3 professional pen tablets offering an array of meaningful improvements that provide higher levels of productivity for digital photographers, designers, and artists.

Intuos3 tablets incorporate ExpressKeys and Touch Strips. An on-board set of customizable ExpressKeys default to keyboard modifiers Ctrl, Alt, Shift, and Spacebar and are completely customizable. In addition, new finger-sensitive Touch Strips allow users to zoom or scroll with their non-dominant hand while working with a Wacom battery-free pen or mouse with their dominant hand.

Canon have released a new version of firmware for the Canon PowerShot S1 IS digital camera.
 
Firmware specification changes (Version 1.0.2.0)

- Improvements in the communication processing with the CF card.

* This update includes the previous firmware update (version 1.0.1.0) as well as the current one.

- Specification changes for the way images are displayed in Continuous AF Mode.

- Improvements for the overexposure phenomenon that occurred during daytime synchronized shooting.

Website: http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/pss1is/firmware-e.html

Sigma Press Release 10/09/04

Multifunctional Macro Flash designed to work with new Digital SLR cameras. (2004.9.10)

ELECTRONIC FLASH MACRO EM-140 DG

- Ideal for Close-up photography, especially medical and scientific applications.
- Fully dedicated with the latest TTL auto exposure systems.
- Flash tubes can be switched on or off for creative flash control
- Wireless Flash Control
- High Speed Synchro Flash
- Guide Number of 14 w/ISO100

Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the new ELECTRONIC FLASH MACRO EM-140 DG.
ELECTRONIC FLASH MACRO EM-140 DG is designed to work with both AF 35mm film and Digital SLR cameras of all-popular manufactures.

Sigma Press Release 10/09/04

Large aperture standard zoom lens provides superior performance both for Digital SLR Cameras and 35mm Film SLR Cameras.(2004.9.10)

24-70mm F2.8 EX DG MACRO

- EX DG Lens Series; Designed to give a superior performance with Digital SLR Cameras as well as 35mm Film Cameras.
- Excellent image quality is provided by two Special Low Dispersion (SLD) glasses, plus one Glass Mold Aspherical and two Hybrid Aspherical lenses.
- It has a minimum focusing distance of 40cm (15.7 inches) and a maximum magnification ratio of 1:3.8.
- The Dual Focus (DF) system ensures ease of operation.

From 24mm super wide angle to 70mm medium telephoto, this lens provides a large F2.8 aperture at all focal lengths. It incorporates “Super Multi Layer Coating” to reduce the influence of harmful light caused by reflections from the digital image sensor.