It’s been sweltering hot here in London this weekend (although somewhat inevitably a storm is supposed to be on the way…). A few people and a dog were making the most of the summer sun by pretending that this thin strip of sand and pebbles by the Thames was a proper grown-up beach. In the background are some of London’s most famous landmarks, including St. Pauls. The contrast between the built-up skyline and the sandy beach is what I was trying to achieve in this shot.

Click on the image to view a larger version in a new window.

Imaging Resource have just reviewed the intriguing 93 Photo Street, a web application that lets you download a free map of any place in the USA, drag virtual thumb tacks onto the map where you took photos, and then link your images to a location so other people can see what’s there. Anyone care to develop something similar for the UK?!

“Even for those of us who have seen it all before, know where we’re going and never have to ask directions, a map is a handy thing. And with the extra dimension of a slide show, it may soon become impossible to get lost. You can think of 93 Photo Street as a way to illustrate your maps or as a way to arrange your images by location. But whether you’re a tourist, a real estate agent, a visual blogger or just someone who leaves their house every now and then, this is one tool you’ll use. And delight in using, too.”

Website: Imaging Resource - 93 Photo Street Review

Despite all of its recent well-documented troubles, the photography giant Kodak seems to be turning the corner, at least in the USA anyway. An article on the website BizReport shows that Kodak is the second largest digital camera company in terms of market share, just behind Sony, with Canon in third place.

“In the first six months of this year, Kodak shipped 1.47 million point-and-shoot digital cameras in the United States - 80 percent more than in the first half of 2003 - and its market share jumped from 15.3 percent to 18.3 percent, the market research firm IDC said Friday.

While Sony shipped 1.73 million cameras, up 48 percent from the first half of 2003, its slice of the U.S. market slipped from 21.9 percent to 21.5 percent, according to IDC, which is based in Framingham, Mass.”

Website: BizReport

Digital Outback Photo have today released EasyMask 1.0, a new Photoshop plugin (PC only) that aims to prevent noise being increased when sharpening an image. EasyMask 1.0 costs $24.95 and there is a demo version available so that you can try before you buy.

“Unfortunately during sharpening you may also amplify noise as it looks like detail to the sharpening algorithm. A common practice is to use edge masks to prevent sharpening the noise. Our EasyS sharpening plugin comes with actions that allow to use such masks and will reduce the sharpening of noise.

With EasyMask we now have a tool that creates some more sophisticated masks and is still easy to use. From the documentation: “It goes beyond the simple edge-creation built-into Photoshop by allowing more control over the detection process, plus adds the ability to reject noise from being included in the mask.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - EasyMask 1.0

ByteSector have published a short review of Jasc’s Paint Shop Pro Photo Album 5, which allows you to get your photos from camera to computer and then enhance, organize, and share them with Photo Album’s fast and easy-to-use tools.

“Photo Album 5 builds on the previous version by providing an easily navigable interface and allowing excellent control over moving, renaming, and previewing your pictures.  You can add keywords to your pictures so that you can easily find them afterwards, and you can also view them by the date you captured them from your camera.  From this tab you can also archive your photos, join together various to make a panorama, and do some editing to groups of photos at a time.”

Website: ByteSector - Paint Shop Pro Photo Album 5 Review

Website: Jasc Software

Konica Minolta Europe are doing a great job promoting their Konica Minolta Dynax 7 Digital DSLR, which will probably be officially unveiled at the Photokina show in Germany at the end of September. The company has just launched a new website to promote the new DSLR; the first topic is about the new anti-shake system:

Anti-Shake differs from the lens-based systems conventionally used in camcorders and digital cameras. Unlike such systems, which move a part of the lens to reduce the effects of camera shake, Anti-Shake stabilizes images by shifting the CCD sensor inside the camera body.

As a result, you can look forward to stable images with a wide array of Dynax/Maxxum lenses-not only with telephoto zoom lenses, but also with lens types that until now did not offer camera shake compensation, such as wide-angle fixed focal length lenses and macro lenses.

Website: Konica Minolta Dynax 7 Digital Website

Timo Arnall has just made available the first prototype of a system that uses digital cameras combined with a GPS receiver to make image travelogues. Sounds techy but kind of intriguing.

2At the Iceland inside and out workshop Even Westvang and Timo Arnall collaborated on a project looking at ways of contextualising photographs by time and geography. We chose to shift the balance of representation away from location, towards image and time. This is a summary of our ideas and process, with an initial working prototype.”

Website: ElasticSpace

Coincidentally, there’s a new article over on MacDevCenter about GPS - you may want to read this one first as it’s more introductory in nature.

“Do you ever look back through your vacation photos and wonder where all of the photos were taken? What if there was a way to have all those images automatically show up as pins on a map or an aerial photograph? It may seem too good to be true, but it can be done. No mirrors or smoke; it’s just making use of existing GPS technology.

As you are out recording pictures, your GPS receiver is busy making a digital popcorn trail of your movements. Then when you’re back on the computer, a topo map or aerial photograph is pulled from a terraserver on the Internet, and your shots show up on the map as clickable links to your photographs.”

Website: MacDevCenter - A Brief Introduction to GPS Photo Linking

Express Digital Press Release

EXPRESS DIGITAL & ACADEMIC SUPERSTORE OFFER DISCOUNTED PRICING FOR PHOTOGRAPHY STUDENTS & SCHOOLS

Englewood, CO - August 9, 2004 - Express Digital, the leading provider of professional digital imaging workflow, e-commerce and lab connectivity solutions for the digital photographer, announced today that it is teaming with Academic Superstore to provide special educational pricing of Express Digital Darkroom for qualified students and schools. 

Express Digital Darkroom for Windows provides all the tools a digital photography student needs to effectively capture, manage and enhance their photos.  Students can proof their work, create professional-quality photo packages and print directly to ink jet and dye-sub printers.  Express Digital Darkroom provides photo storage, image enhancement tools, connectivity to Adobe PhotoShop, lab printing with the Express Digital?s Labtricity, Internet publishing, and storefront integration to sell photos with Express Digital?s PhotoReflect.

TETENAL Press Release 06/08/04

TETENAL introduces a new LFP-paper Photo Fine Art Carton 308g.

Artistic and historic photography “extra large”

Integration in the high quality hardware and software complete solution “spectra jet concept”

Norderstedt, July 2004. TETENAL extends its huge spectra jet roll paper range with another high quality special paper for large format ink jet prints. The Photo Fine Art Carton combines the precision of a modern photo paper with the classical grace of traditional art paper due to its 308 g weight and matte coated surface. It is therefore especially suitable for reproducing exclusive images, such as portrait photography or artistic and historic images. Due to the exact colouring, high colour gamut and ability to reflect the finest b/w nuances, it is aimed specifically to photographers and artists who want their images printed to the highest quality as large format prints. Furthermore the acid free Photo Fine Art Carton 308 g is especially suitable for distinctive applications such as certificates or special POS displays. Because of its extreme high colour saturation the results, when used with pigment inks also are of excellent quality. The users of pigment-based ink printers, such as the EPSON Stylus Pro range, therefore have the benefit of long durability when using this exceptional material.

“Digital Photography Hacks” by Derrick Story is an up-to-date collection of 100 tips and ideas that will really help the digital photographer to improve their technique. Each of the 100 “hacks” has been contributed by real-world photographers who use them in their day-to-day jobs. The book is aimed at the photographer who is looking to move beyond the basics and contains sections on daytime and night-time photo secrets, using flash, photo projects, digital camera attachments, Photoshop and more. As the book was first published in May 2004, it even contains a section on getting the most out of your cameraphone! So is “Digital Photography Hacks” worth adding to your library of photography books? Read my short review to find out.

Website: Digital Photography Hacks Review

The 25th PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Salvador Moreno.

“These are 8 pictures of the “Semana Santa” (holy week) of my hometown, this is a religious celebration that mixes the faith and the party. Children are an important part of the celebration and their eyes are the best way to feel the atmosphere of the “Semana Santa”.

Website: Portfolios: Salvador Moreno

Buried amongst the announcement of the Kodak EASYSHARE DX7590 a few days ago was a brief mention of the Kodak EASYSHARE CX7525, which has now magically appeared on Kodak’s website. Not exactly a great start in life for this 5 megapixel camera., which has the following specs:

- Striking picture quality for prints up to 20"x30” (50x75 cm) with 5.0 MP
- 3X optical zoom
- Point-and-shoot simplicity
- 9 scene and color modes, plus video capture
- Sharing is one-touch simple

Website: Kodak EASYSHARE CX7525

The Norwegian website DiGIT ran this story earlier in the week, but now Samsung have issued the official press release for their new 6 megapixel camera, the Digimax V6. The best news seems to be the price, which is “set to retail at well under £300”.

Samsung Press Release 05/08/04

Samsung Introduces the V6, its Most Powerful Digital Camera to Date

Building on previous success, Samsung Cameras introduces its most powerful camera ever to the acclaimed V range, the V6.

Developed with the more demanding photographer in mind, where high definition shooting is required, it features 6 million megapixels in a stylish aluminum design and is set to retail at a well under £300.

The Samsung Digimax V6 provides more enhanced manual photograph functions for advanced users who expect true professional quality photography. Three kinds of manual creative adjustments are available: Aperture priority, Shutter priority, and Manual adjustment. The manual focus adjustment function allows fine focusing and total user control.

The exclusive 1400mAh Li-ion battery, enables users to take up to 380 images in succession. This feature provides unlimited ability for advanced users who want to take many pictures at once.

I’ve not been following this too closely, as I’m perfectly happy with my Canon EOS 10D (and won’t be upgrading), but the rumour about an 8 megapixel Canon EOS 20D, complete with an EF-S lens and 1.6x sensor , seems to be the most prevalent one at the moment. At least according to Bob Atkins and his Canon EOS Rumours page.

Website: Bob Atkins - Canon EOS Rumours

Lexar Media, Inc. Press Release 05/08/04

Lexar Unveils New Corporate Identity To Reflect Expanding Innovative Product Portfolio

FREMONT, CA, August 5, 2004 - Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a company known for digital media products and accessories, unveiled today a new corporate identity reflecting its growing worldwide popularity, leadership in digital media technologies and expanding portfolio of innovative products. Moving forward, Lexar Media will be known as Lexar, more accurately depicting its broadening market opportunity as removable digital media pervades consumer electronics.

“Providing advanced solutions for digital photography is a mainstay of Lexar, and the new look symbolizes its spirit of innovation that has led to advanced solutions in digital photography, USB flash drives and digital music players,” said Jim Gustke, general manager, marketing. “By creating a new logo and evolving the name, we are aligning the corporate identity to better illustrate who we are today and how we are growing to meet the future needs of our customers.”

One of the best-known photographers in the world, Henri Cartier-Bresson, died yesterday in Cereste, south-east France, aged 95.

Website: BBC.co.uk

Website: The Guardian

Website: Magnum Photos

Konica Minolta Europe have distributed a very interesting interview about the imminent Konica Minolta Dynax 7 DSLR, which all registered users of the Konica Minolta Photo World website received. I’ve posted the full text of the interview below…

Konica Minolta Europe Interview Text

Since Konica Minolta Europe is constantly receiving many requests for updates about the development status of the Dynax 7 Digital, Clemens Helberg, Marketing Manager from Konica Minolta Europe, has gained more information from the Japanese Development Centre.

He was able to ask Keiichi Ishizuka, General Manager of the Konica Minolta Development Center most of the questions posed by registered users of the Konica Minolta Photo World website.

Since Konica Minolta Europe is constantly receiving many requests for updates about the development status of the Dynax 7 Digital, Clemens Helberg, Marketing Manager from Konica Minolta Europe, has gained more information from the Japanese Development Centre.

He was able to ask Keiichi Ishizuka, General Manager of the Konica Minolta Development Center most of the questions posed by registered users of the Konica Minolta Photo World website.

BenQ Press Release 03/08/04

BenQ Introduces DC S40 Mega Multimedia Camera

Europe, 3rd of August, 2004 - BenQ launched the DC S40 Multimedia Digital Camera, the entertainment hub that combines superior image quality with a myriad of multimedia entertainment options. Targeted at trend-setting music and digital photography lovers, the S40 features a 4.24 mega-pixel with advanced 3x optical zoom, MP3/ FM radio player and a 180? flip- out LCD preview screen.

The BenQ DC S40 boasts four independent entertainment options including a MP3 player, high quality digital camera, digital video recorder and radio player. Despite its small size, the S40 also features a built-in speaker and microphone utilizing British Wolfson 8751 DAC for outstanding audio quality.

PC Magazine have reviewed the Fujifilm FinePix A340 Zoom, a digital camera that offers 4 million effective pixel resolution, 3x optical zoom and a sturdy but stylish body.

“The silver-colored A340 is cigarette box-shaped, with a gentle curve on one side for a comfortable grip. The camera is activated by sliding the lens cover away from the lens; pushing the cover back towards the lens causes the lens to recede and be protected when the camera is not in use. The mostly plastic body feels reasonably sturdy, though the ports on the left side (AV, USB, and DC) are exposed. Most cameras protect them with a rubber or plastic flap.”

Website: PC Magazine - Fujifilm FinePix A340 Zoom Review

The Gadgeteer have posted what I think is the first online review Sony’s new portable photo storage device, the catchily-named HDPS-M1 (found via Engadget).

“I personally like everything about the HDD Photo Storage device. If you happen to own a Sony DSC-F828 digital camera, there is nothing else on the market that will meet your portable storage needs as well as this device. Anyone using Memory Stick or Compact Flash would find it very handy to have in their gadget bag. If you want a small LCD for viewing photos, you will need to look at one of the other products on the market. I use my on-camera LCD for that purpose. Alternatively, I prefer my laptop for more detailed viewing.”

Website: The Gadgeteer - Sony Photo Storage Device Review