Sigma Press Release 27/08/04

The Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the launch of Sigma Photo Pro version 2.1. This major update delivers exciting levels of performance to the Sigma Photo Pro program, specially designed for the SD9 and SD10 digital cameras.

Benefits and features of the new update:
- White balance override available as an option in the software, allowing users to change / correct white balance settings after the photograph has been taken.
- Monochrome as a white balance option, allowing users to add a colour tone to monochrome images via the colour adjustment tool.
- Original white balance setting, allowing users to revert back to the default white balance.
- Additional information shown on the Info bar including; lens focal length range, eg. ‘28mm (15-30)’, white balance setting and metering mode.

HP made more than 30 new product announcements yesterday in one single press release. Here’s a brief summary of the interesting products from a photography point of view:

Digital Cameras
- HP Photosmart R607 Digital Camera
- HP Photosmart M407 Digital Camera
- HP Photosmart M307 Digital Camera
- HP Photosmart M-series dock

Photo Printers
- HP Photosmart 8450 Photosmart Printer
- HP Photosmart 8150 Photosmart Printer
- HP Photosmart 7450 Photosmart Printer
- HP Photosmart 375 Compact Photo Printer
- HP Photosmart 325

Deskjet Printers
- HP Deskjet 6840 Color Inkjet Printer
- HP Deskjet 6540 Color Inkjet Printer
- HP Deskjet 5740 Color Inkjet Printer
- HP Deskjet 3845 Color Inkjet Printer

All-in-One Printers
- HP Photosmart 2710
- HP Photosmart 2610
- HP PSC 2355

Flatbed Scanners
- HP Scanjet 4070

Printer Supplies
- HP inkjet print cartridges with HP Vivera Ink
- HP Premium Plus Photo Paper, High Gloss

Each product has a fact sheet (in PDF format) at the following webpage:

Website: HP Press Kit - Digital Photography

HP Press Release 27/08/04

HP Introduces Fall Lineup of Digital Photography, Music, TV, Home Projection and Entertainment Offerings in Time for Back-to-school and Holiday Shopping

HP offers consumers keys to living digitally—simple, personalized experiences

MIAMI, Aug. 27, 2004
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HP today announced its expansion into multiple new consumer digital entertainment and digital photography categories with a range of offerings aimed at making it easier than ever for people to live digitally. The offerings include new digital cameras and photo printers, home theater projectors, plasma and LCD flat-panel TVs, entertainment-based notebooks and desktop PCs, and the Apple iPod from HP - all in time for the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons.

HP Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina unveiled the enhanced digital lineup today during a press conference in South Beach, Fla., where HP is sponsoring the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs).

Leica Press Release 27/08/04

The LEICA CM ZOOM is a high-quality compact camera for silver halide films from Leica Camera AG, Solms. Sporting a robust titanium body, the camera has a brilliant lens for exceptional optical performance. With a focal length range of 35 to 70 mm, the LEICA VARIO-ELMAR f/3.5-6.5/35-70mm offers photographers many possibilities of image composition, such as for selecting subject coverage in portrait photography or for landscapes. The many manual setting options give the imaginative powers of the photographer full scope. The LEICA CM ZOOM is made of high-quality materials and is assembled in Germany. As a long-life product, the compact camera is a companion you can rely on for capturing those unique photographic moments. Whether family celebrations, holidays, leisure time - the superb photos taken with the LEICA CM ZOOM are personal mementos to treasure.

Yakumo Press Release 17/08/04

Licence to zoom - the new Yakumo Mega-Image 84 D.

Braunschweig, 17th August 2004- Yakumo’s latest addition to the Mega-Image family is the new Mega-Image 84 D. This camera is aiming at enthusiastic amateur photographers who have a low budget and high expectations. The Mega-Image 84 D now takes on the role of top model in the Yakumo camera range and offers high performance optics at an amazingly low price of 249 euros. In September, the Mega-Image 84 D will become available at all Yakumo dealers.

Yakumo Press Release 17/08/04

Instant and care-free fun with the new Mega-Image VII

Braunschweig, 17th August 2004 - Another new Mega-Image camera model is entering the Yakumo camera range in September and celebrating its market debut. The Mega-Image VII is a digital snapshot camera with super slim measurements of 86 x 55 x 25mm. This cool silver coloured camera weighs only 85g and can easily fit into the palm of the owner?s hand, his trouser or shirt pocket or her handbag. It also goes easy on the budget. The Mega-Image VII will be available mid September at all Yakumo dealers and have the tiny price tag of 79 euros.

In a natural progression from the portable storage devices that enable you to copy files from a memory card onto blank CDs, Cardmedia (Europe) Ltd has just announced the DigiMagic DM220 DVD Burner. This device enables you to produce a back-up copy of digital photos directly from your camera?s flash memory card onto a CD-R / CD-RW or DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RW disc. The RRP is £350 and it will be available in September 2004. More details can be found at DP-Now.

Website: DP-Now - DigiMagic DM-220 DVD Burner

Website: DigiMagic DM-220 DVD Burner

Imaging Resource have published their review of the HP Photosmart 945 digital camera, which features a 5.3-megapixel total resolution and 56x total zoom (8x optical zoom). The HP Photosmart 945 digital camera is available now and has an estimated U.S. retail price of $549.

“I found my view of the HP 945 evolving quite a bit as I worked with it. My initial reaction was pretty negative - It just seemed bulky and clunky, and so sloooow in the rapid-fire environment of our test studio. Looking at its images up-close on the computer screen, the way the Digital Flash feature emphasized image noise in the shadow areas led me to largely write it off as a marketing gimmick. When I actually went out into the field with the camera for some more laid-back shooting though, I found myself changing my mind, and ended up liking it quite a bit.”

Website: Imaging Resource - HP Photosmart 945 Review

The Pro Gear range of memory card readers from the US-based Atech Flash Technology offer transfer rates of up to 480 Mb/sec via a USB 2.0 connection and support 10 different memory card formats. The Pro Gear Duo consists of two devices; a docking bay that fits into the 3.5” drive bay of your computer, and the cartridge-like PRO Gear USB 2.0 flash media reader, which you can either insert into the docking bay or attach to your computer using a USB cable. Unfortunately my PC doesn’t have a spare drive bay, so this is really a review of the flash media reader (which is also available to purchase separately as the Pro Gear Solo). So is the Pro Gear worth upgrading to? Find out in my short review.

Website: Pro Gear Duo Review

The 29th PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Tom Hall.

“This is a collection out of my vast library of varied topics. Most of them were taken over the last year and all are taken with my Canon 300D. I have a minolta maxxum 7 and am thinking of purchasing the new Canon 20D to get a bit more functionality and a more rugged camera. I work as a self-employed infosecurity consultant and this year I have started making some money on the side by freelancing as a photographer. A number of photographs have been published by two Dutch newspapers, I had my first small exibiton and just started working together with a number of companies in the graphical/ marketing field. My favourite “targets” are urban life and architecture, nature, sports and outdoors activities, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I hide from other topics. I want to keep on evolving and like to experiment. Experimental photography is therefore a huge driving force behind my work. A good example for this experimental work are the laundrymachine photos you see when you visit the website. These were shot during a laundrysession in Manhattan, New York and are part of a larger serie called One and a half hours in the life of a washing machine.”

Website: http://www.photografix.nl

Website: Portfolios: Tom Hall

HP Press Release 27/08/04

HP FULFILS THE NEED…THE NEED FOR SPEED

HP Releases Next Generation Inkjet Print Cartridges Giving Fastest Printing Ever and Longer Life Prints

London, UK, 27 August 2004; HP today announced it had achieved the UK’s fastest ever printing speeds with its new breakthrough technology increasing printing speeds by up to 40%. The groundbreaking range of inkjet cartridges also incorporates a new ink formulation that extends lightfastness to record lengths of more than 100 years(1) and delivers unsurpassed print quality.

“This is a major breakthrough in the quest for faster, more vibrant, longer lasting printing. Whether you’re printing photos or business documents, the new range means time waiting by the printer is dramatically reduced, print-quality is at never-before seen levels, and prints will last significantly longer. This breakthrough makes photo and office printing more efficient than ever.” explained Kerry Hogarth, HP UK Supplies Product Manager. “These advances strengthen HP’s leadership position in the printing market - both hardware and supplies - and illustrate HP’s commitment to research and development for the benefit of HP’s customers.”

You probably won’t have seen this camera on any other website (unless you read Engadget yesterday…). The Oregon Scientific PV100 is a pretty unremarkable 3 megapixel digicam with a fixed lens. So far, not much to write home about. But then you look at the back of the camera and can’t help but notice the massive 3.5” colour LCD screen! The PV100 is available exclusively at Argos stores in the UK for ?199.99.

Website: Oregon Scientific - PV100 Digital Camera

DPReview have reviewed the new 5 megapixel Sony DSC-F88 digital camera.

“Overall image quality from the F88 is good, though by no means class-leading. Despite the Carl Zeiss lens there is a lack of critical sharpness in scenic shots containing a lot of fine detail (foliage in particular can look a little mushy). For prints at ‘normal sizes’ (up to about 5x7 inches) this is unlikely to be seen, and scenes with less fine detail - portraits and close ups in particular - look superb. There is little or no evidence of Chromatic aberration, and color and exposure are generally excellent. The default settings tend to produce images that look a little flat, and which benefit from some judicious sharpening and saturation boosting. For the kind of point and shoot audience the F88 is aimed at the results are unlikely to cause concern.”

Website: DPReview - Sony DSC-F88 Review

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

“The Coolpix 5200 is a little gem of a camera that proves Nikon is not merely dabbling in consumer-level cameras, and it’s the best proper compact they’ve produced in years. Design, build and ease of use are excellent, and there is a surprising amount of power hidden in the well-designed menus, offering control over focus, metering, white balance and so on for those who like to tweak. The novice market the 5200 is aimed at will surely welcome the hand-holding approach of the scene and scene assist modes, and the overall responsiveness makes using the 5200 a real pleasure.”

Website: DPReview - Nikon Coolpix 5200 Review

An interesting article on creativepro.com looks at the various options for storing digital photos whilst on an extended stay. They’ve reviewed 3 different portable storage devices; SmartDisk FlashTrax,Belkin Media Reader for iPod and the Epson P-1000 Photo Viewer.

“With the emergence of professional digital cameras, photographers have moved away from film to solid-state digital cards as their electronic version of film. Though significantly smaller and easier-to-store, media card-equipped digital cameras create a new kind of problem: where to download images and where to store them when you’re on a long-term assignment.”

Website: creativepro.com - Bit by Bit: On the Road with Digital Storage Devices

CNET have published their review of the new Canon EOS 1D MKII.

“Canon ups the ante with its 8-megapixel EOS-1D Mark II, the fastest-shooting digital SLR on the market. Made for magazine photographers covering news and sports, the Mark II also works well for portrait shooters who want a versatile, small-format digital camera. The Mark II replaces the EOS-1D—which was already at the top of its class—and makes improvements across the board.”

Website: CNET - Canon EOS 1D Mark II Review

DigiCamReview.co.uk have published their review of the new Olympus C-765 Ultra Zoom digital camera.

“Image quality is very good - the images have great colour, good detail, low noise, but seem a bit soft occassionally - there is some purple fringing, which unfortunately is quite normal for ultra zoom digital cameras at the moment. The macro mode is very good. The flash didn’t cause any problems in any of the pictures I took. The movie mode is very good but unfortunately you can’t use both sound and the optical zoom at the same time. I had some of the photos printed by www.photobox.co.uk and they all looked EXCELLENT.”

Website: DigiCamReview.co.uk - Olympus C-765 Ultra Zoom Review

Photo Mechanic is an image browser for both MAC and Windows that is aimed at the professional photographer. Rob Galbraith has posted a great overview of the features in the new 4.2 version.

“Also added is a customizable color class assignment, which can be used to rank or categorize photos, the option of directing photos to a different external editor based on file type, optional automatic launching of Photo Mechanic when a camera card is inserted, a faster photo preview mode (this has been somewhat broken in recent releases), initial support for JPEG and RAW files from the Canon EOS 20D and numerous refinements intended to make the program quicker to use (including renaming of files directly on a thumbnail’s file name).”

Website: Rob Galbraith - Photo Mechanic 4.2

Website: Photo Mechanic

Photo.net have today published an interesting overview of the new EF-S lenses that were announced by Canon at the end of last week, courtesy of Bob Atkins.

“I was a little disappointed that the EF-S 10-22/3.5-5.6 USM was so expensive. I’d hoped that maybe Canon could have made a lens like this for $300 or so, but I guess it’s not easy making a lens of such a short focal length, and a 2.2x zoom at that. Canon seem to have gone for the “upscale” market with this lens, rather than the “low end” market at which the original EF-S 18-55 was targeted. Personally I’d have taken a small hit in performance for a large drop in price - but that’s just me! At $800, if you buy one you have to hope that Canon will stick with the 1.6x sensor size for a while, since this lens isn’t going to fit on any film body, or even any of the “pro” EOS 1 digital models.”

Website: Photo.net - Canon’s New EF-S lenses

The German website Photoworld.de have published their review of the new 5 megapixel Nikon Coolpix 5200 compact digital camera.

Website: Photoworld.de - Nikon Coolpix 5200 Review