DCResource have posted their review of the 5 megapixel, 10x optical zoom Kodak EASYSHARE DX7590 digital camera.

“Although not what I’d call “excellent”, the DX7590’s photo quality is very good overall. My test photos were well-exposed with saturated (and accurate) colors. Images are on the soft side, though, and details like grass and leaves seem “overprocessed” and fuzzy (which has been the case with recent Kodak cameras). If you’re making prints 8 x 10 inches and smaller this isn’t an issue. Any larger than that, or if you like viewing images on your computer screen at 100% then you will notice. Purple fringing showed up a few times (it tends to be worst than average on ultra zoom cameras) but I wouldn’t consider it a problem.”

Website: DCResource - Kodak EASYSHARE DX7590 Review

New Digital Photography Search Engine cuts through the Internet “noise” to return only relevant Digital Photography content.

New Digital Photography Search Engine Uses Revolutionary New “Automatic Preview” Function to Summarize Search Results Instantly.

Louisville, KY (PRWEB) September 7, 2004—Photopheed.com unveiled their new Digital Photography-only meta search engine designed to cut through all of the Internet clutter and return only relevant digital photography-related search results.

“Photopheed uses a special algorithm that submits background queries to the major search engines, sorts through the results, ranks them according to relevancy, and then displays them for the user,” according to Nathan Lynch, Director of Marketing for Warren Lynch and Associates, Inc. and Webmaster for Photopheed.com.

“Digital photography is an exploding market segment. Amateur and professional photographers alike are on a constant search for relevant information. Traditional search engines return too much unrelated material. It’s time for a smart digital photography-only search engine,” added Lynch.

James W. Bailey Press Release 07/09/04

DOES DIGITAL MEDIA SPELL THE DEATH OF 35mm FILM AND ITS AFFORDABLE ACCESSIBILITY TO POOR AND MARGINAL ARTISTS AROUND THE WORLD? AN EXPERIMENTAL ARTIST FROM MISSISSIPPI OFFERS HARSH WORDS OF CRITICISM FOR DIGITAL ARTISTS, THE GLOBAL MANUFACTURERS OF DIGITAL MEDIA AND THE CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUMS, CURATORS AND ART CRITICS THAT CHAMPION THE INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL ART DIVIDE

(Reston, Va.) Last year in the United States, for the first time in the history of photography, camera retailers sold more digital cameras than traditional 35mm film-based cameras. Within a few short years many film photographers think it is very likely that film will vanish from your local camera supply store. The current sweeping revolution of DVD replacing VHS as the preferred consumer standard has clearly established the supremacy of digital media in the market place. As digital technology rapidly replaces conventional film techniques and equipment, an experimental artist from Mississippi, doggedly resists the temptation to “go digital,” and in a style worthy of a New Orleans jazz funeral actually celebrates the death of 35mm film.

Artist James W. Bailey calls his violent style of photographic art “Rough Edge Photography.” He buys damaged cameras in thrift stores and mutilates his film and prints. Lenses are scratched, holes may be punched in the film canisters with a needle, and prints may be burned and torn, along with the original negatives. “I push found and discarded equipment to the extreme. I like the radical imperfections, the accidental quality that can be found in mistreating the equipment, negatives and prints,” Bailey says. “For me, classic photography had become too weighted down by its own rules, conventions and practices. This, combined with the impulse among so many photographers to abandon film and rush toward digital, made me want to explore 35mm film in a radically brutal fashion. ?Rough Edge Photography? is the result of my wanting to hang on to film until the bitter end.”

Editor’s Note: Nokia’s Kaleidoscope picture viewer will be available in a few days on the Nokia USA site for $299, according to Reiter’s Camera Phone Report.

Kopin Press Release 07/09/04

Nokia Chooses Kopin Microdisplay for ‘Kaleidoscope I,’ A Breakthrough Accessory for Camera Phone and Digital Still Camera Users

TAUNTON, Mass.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Sept. 7, 2004—Nokia selects Kopin CyberDisplay 180K, responding to strong customer demand for clear and crisp display of images to open a new dimension of cellular phone market

Nokia, the world leader in mobile communications, has selected the Kopin Corp. (NASDAQ: KOPN) CyberDisplay(TM) 180K as the color microdisplay for Nokia’s new Kaleidoscope I, an innovative picture-viewing and storage accessory for users of digital still cameras and next-generation mobile phone systems. The Kaleidoscope I, just introduced by Nokia, reveals the future of cellular phone technology and is the first major foray by a major cell phone company into high-resolution microdisplays.

The Nokia Kaleidoscope I takes the clarity and image quality of phone-based digital imaging to a new level, thanks to the Kopin CyberDisplay 180K, a color-filter microdisplay that contains 800 x 225 (180,000) pixel dots on a quarter-inch diagonal active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) surface.

Xerox Press Release 07/09/04

New Xerox Scanner Helps People Easily Archive Favorite Photos and Restore Heirloom Prints

Xerox 6400 Scanner Offers Image Quality, One Touch Ease-of-Use and Restoration Software Bundle All for $199

PLEASANTON, Calif., Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/—The Xerox 6400 scanner, announced today, is a high-quality flatbed scanner for photo enthusiasts who want a complete archiving solution for photos, negatives and slides in a single piece of hardware.

The desktop scanner delivers outstanding results with its true 3200 x 6400-dpi resolution and built-in slide and filmstrip adapter for conveniently making duplicates or enlargements from 35mm slides and negatives. The scanner also features 48-bit color depth for remarkable color accuracy and a fast Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface for scanning photos, text and graphics with ease. The photo restoration software bundle was custom created for the Xerox 6400 and includes automatic photo-enhancement features and powerful text effects. The Xerox 6400 is the first Xerox flatbed scanner designed with the image-driven consumer in mind. It is a premium quality scanner at an affordable price of only $199.99.

Jasc(R) Software, Inc. Press Release 07/09/04

Paint Shop Pro Studio Ideal for Digital Photographers Ready to Do More With Their Photos

Paint Shop Pro 9 Offers More Advanced Functionality for Professional Results

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/—Jasc(R) Software, Inc. announced today the general availability of Paint Shop(TM) Pro(R) Studio and Paint Shop(TM) Pro(R) 9. The two new products offer digital camera users at all skill levels solutions tailored to their needs.

Paint Shop Pro Studio and Paint Shop Pro 9 are the result of Jasc’s market research that clearly defined a 50/50 split among users. Half wanted a Paint Shop Pro that was more powerful and offered even more professional-strength tools for photo editing, graphic design, and digital art. The other half wanted a Paint Shop Pro that was more fun and easier to use, making photo-editing projects a reality for everybody.

Creo Inc. Press Release 07/09/04

Vancouver, BC, Canada - (September 7, 2004) - Creo Inc. (NASDAQ: CREO; TSX: CRE) announces the latest generation of portable and studio digital camera backs - the Leaf Aptus. This new product line has the portability and ease-of-use of consumer products, combined with the robustness, resolution and powerful workflow required by professional photographers. The Leaf Aptus product line includes the Leaf Aptus 22 and Leaf Aptus 17 digital camera backs with resolutions of 22 and 17 megapixels respectively.

FotoInside.co.uk Press Release 06/09/04

Digital Photography, free software, printing, life style

Cambridge, September 2004. FotoInside.co.uk introduces a new photo software package called Home Photo Service Order Pro, resolving eight common problems of digital photography. For the first two month FotoInside is distributing free copies of Order Pro for download from its website at: www.fotoinside.co.uk/pro

Digital photography popularity is rapidly overtaking traditional colour photography. Once you fill your hard disk with digital images these cause a series of new requirements and needs:

1.- Escape lack of hard disk space and high storage costs.
2.- Back-up photo collections onto CD-R.
3.- Cropping digital images.
4.- Image file conversion to jpeg or other formats.
5.- Quality prints at competitive prices as with traditional (analogue) photo processing (from 10p per print).
6.- Organising image collections and albums find your images back.
7.- Creating a slide shows of your holiday pictures.
8.- Creativity: Printing calendars, frames, greeting cards.

HAIFA, Israel and NEW YORK, Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/—Thanks to mathematics, the quality of underwater photographs is about to get dramatically better. The first-of-its-kind method for radically improving underwater shots combines a mathematical formula or algorithm with a filter normally used for land photography. The findings by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology were presented at the IEEE* Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition in Washington, DC in June.

“This is a brand new solution to solving the problem of underwater image degradation,” notes lead researcher Professor Yoav Schechner of the Technion Faculty of Electrical Engineering.

“Underwater photos tend to be degraded and lacking in clear details because of the ‘veiling’ effect of ambient light,” explains Schechner. “From above the water’s surface, ambient light scatters into the line of sight—an effect commonly known as ‘backscatter.’ This causes poor visibility in even the clearest water.” He adds that the veiling effect increases with distance, making many details undetectable.

The Spanish website quesabesde.com have just reviewed the Canon Powershot S1 IS digital camera, which offers 10x image stablised zoom, 3 megapixels and high-quality 640 x 480 video at 30 frames/second with sound.

Website: quesabesde.com - Canon PowerShot S1 IS Review

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have reviewed the Pentax Optio43WR. This digital camera features 4.0 effective megapixels, a 2.8X zoom lens, and a JIS Class 7 waterproof rating that keeps the Optio43WR watertight even when the camera is rinsed, splashed or submersed in water.

Website: Index Digicam - Pentax Optio43WR Review

Steves Imaging Resource have just reviewed the Konica Minolta DiMAGE X31, a stylish new 3.2-megapixel compact digicam that is easy-to-use and affordable.

“The Minolta DiMAGE X31 is one of the latest in Minolta’s line of subcompact DiMAGE X models, using a unique “folded” lens design to achieve a remarkably compact form factor and very fast startup times. Minolta really turned heads when they introduced the original DiMAGE X, now nearly three years ago. A two-megapixel camera in the form of a square block of metal, just barely over three-quarters of an inch thick, the DiMAGE X was an immediate hit, as popular as a fashion statement as it was for its status as a go-anywhere, shoot-anytime digital camera. The X20 was the first affordable version of this popular camera, reducing the price by enclosing the same mechanism in a plastic body. While the metal versions of the X-series have gone as high as 5 megapixel, the X31 is the first resolution bump at the low end, now to 3.2 megapixels.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Konica Minolta DiMAGE X31 Review

The Slovenian website eFotoGrafija have posted a review of the new Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3, specifically focusing on its anti-shake capabilities.

Website: eFotoGrafija - Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3 Review

Check the Latest Prices for the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3

The Norwegian website Akam.no have published their review of the A4 Epson Stylus Photo R800 printer.

Website: Akam.no - Epson Stylus Photo R800 Review

Website: Read my review of the Epson Stylus Photo R800

PhotographyBLOG was hacked by a malicious user early this morning, forcing me to roll back the site to the most recent backup. Therefore all comments, photo uploads and user registrations etc. made in the last 12 hours have been lost. Please accept my apologies for this temporary problem, and let me know if you find anything that doesn’t seem quite right.

The 40th Photo of the Week contest is now closed.

I have choosen what I think are the best photographs in my opinion. Now it’s your turn to vote for the overall winner of the contest. A Public Poll has been setup on the PhotographyBLOG Forums and you have 7 days during which you can vote for your favourite photo from the ones that I have chosen. Voting will end on Monday 13th September. The Poll will then be closed and the overall winner announced.

Vote now for your favourite image from the Photo Of The Week 30th August - 5th September 2004 contest

The 41st Photo of the Week contest is now open. This is a weekly photography contest with no set theme and you can enter as many photos as you like.

Click here to read the Photo of the Week Rules.

The voting for the 39th Photo of the Week contest has now finished.

The winners are “Another world” by gav_davies and “Perrons Tree Frog” by tootsie.

Congratulations to the winners!

You can view all of the entries that were submitted in this gallery.

It’s not all good news for the digital camera boom, as a report by RBC Capital Markets Inc. has indicated that digital camera shipments from Japan dropped by 6% in July. Japanese vendors make up an estimated 80 percent of the market. The biggest geographic slowdown was in Europe and North America, down 9 percent and 8 percent respectively.

“The majority of the weakness is attributable to lower-end cameras [below 4-megapixals], with year-to-date shipments down 10 percent to 13 million. “We are not wholly surprised by the continued softness as we believe the industry continues to rationalize excess inventory exiting Q2, as noted by both Sony and Canon,” according to the report.”

Website: EE Times UK - Digital camera shipments down 6% in July

Digital Outback Photo contributor Paul Caldwell has taken a look at the BH-55 Ball Head from Really Right Stuff. Don’t know what a ball head is? Let Paul explain:

“With a ballhead, you have a very versatile shooting platform. The basic layout is to have a ball which has a shaft that is attached to your quick release platform, and a case around the ball. The case provides both a method to capture the ball and apply friction to the ball. You need to be able to have a friction mechanism that is variable. This will allow you to free up the ball to allow movement so you can position it for the next shot, but also then tighten down on the ball after the correct position is achieved.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ball Head Review