DCViews have just reviewed the new 5 megapixel Sony DSC-P100 digital camera.

“Exposure is spot on all the time and images are simply perfect straight from the camera, so no post-processing will be necessary if you don’t want to. The P100 produces fairly saturated colours by default, but should you prefer a bit more punch this can easily be adjusted by increasing saturation or contrast.”

Website: DCViews - Sony DSC-P100 Review

ByteSector have published their review of the 4-megapixel Olympus C-770 Ultra Zoom digital camera.

“The major component that bothers me is that the lens is not attached to the camera properly. It wobbles a little. I have received e-mails from viewers who have expressed this issue as well and it is one that I think Olympus should fix. When the lens is extended out it wobbles back and forth if you move the camera rapidly or touch it with your finger. When I took a look at the C-740 model a while back, it did not have such an issue.”

Website: ByteSector - Olympus C-770 Ultra Zoom Review

Transcend Press Release 28/06/04

Taipei, Taiwan, June 28, 2004 /Various Agencies—- With high-resolution digital cameras and other multimedia appliances pushing the need for higher capacity flash memory cards, Transcend has proudly stepped up to the challenge. Transcend Information, Inc. a world leader in flash memory cards, has increased the capacity of their Ultra Performance 45X CompactFlash (CF) Cards to an eye-popping 4 gigabytes (GB), the highest capacity of any CF card in the world. Designed for cameras that use the FAT32 format, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and Sony high-resolution digital cameras are verified to be 100% compatible.

About Photography have published an interesting look at correcting lens distortion, both before taking a photograph and afterwards using computer software.

“Digital images can be corrected in various ways after the picture has been shot. Increasingly we can expect digital cameras to incorporate lens-specific algorithms to correct some of the lens faults. This will of course increase the desirability of lenses from the camera manufacturer, as those from the independents are unlikely to be catered for unless legislation for free competition forces the makers to do so.”

Website: About Photography - Correcting Lens Distortion

HardwareZone have just reviewed the new flagship model of the Canon Digital IXUS range, the 5.0 megapixel Digital Ixus 500 (known as the Powershot S500 in North America), which was announced at the start of February.

“In terms of image quality, barrel distortion was visible at wideangle, though it lessened considerably as we zoomed to telephoto. Slight pincushion was observed at the telephoto end too. Vignetting was also visible at wideangle (36mm and f2.8). However, there is not much to fault in its white balance performance. Other than the expected orange cast under tungsten lighting when we used the automatic white balance setting, the rest were pretty much spot-on. A white or gray card can also be used for a custom white balance setting. Its macro performance was great too, offering very decent area coverage. Skintones were rendered beautifully; even when flash is used at close distances, though the colors may be a tad rich or saturated at times.”

Website: HardwareZone - Canon Digital Ixus 500 Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Fujifilm FinePix A330 Zoom, a digital camera that offers 3 million effective pixel resolution, 3x optical zoom and a sturdy but stylish body.

“The FUJINON 3X optical zoom lens produces sharp results throughout its range, with some barrel distortion at extreme wide angle and pincushioning at full telephoto. The operation of the optical zoom is smooth and quiet, but not continuous; it moves through its 38-114mm range in 10 distinct steps, more than adequate for composing most shots.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Fujifilm FinePix A330 Zoom Review

Steves Digicams 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 latest addition to Fujifilm’s “A” series camera line, the FinePix A340 is equipped with a 4.0 megapixel imager and a 3X optical zoom lens. This is a simple point-n-shoot that allows the beginner to obtain good results, while offering several appealing features to the intermediate user, including four scene modes and a 320x240 (10fps) movie mode. And for those who want a bit more control over the exposure process, the Manual mode offers settings for Exposure Compensation (?2 EV), and White Balance (Auto, plus 6 presets.)”

Website: Steves Digicams - Fujifilm FinePix A340 Zoom Review

Imaging Resource have reviewed the Olympus D-580 Zoom which has 4 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom lens (also known as the C-360 Zoom in some parts of the world).

“Since the D-580 Zoom offers only limited exposure control and a small number of external buttons, learning to use the camera shouldn’t take too long, even for relatively inexperienced users. Simply opening the lens cover puts it in Shooting mode. Entering Playback mode is obvious: Just press the Quick View button on the back panel, and the camera will switch to Playback mode if it’s in Shooting mode, or turn on and enter Playback mode if it was turned off.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Olympus D-580 Zoom Review

DCResource have published their review of the Canon PowerShot S60, a 5 megapixel digital camera with a wide-angle 28mm-100mm lens and a new thin body.

“The Canon PowerShot S60 is a nice camera for those looking for a high resolution camera with a wide-angle lens, full manual controls, and a fairly compact body. Most compact digicams have lenses that start at 35 - 39 mm, but the S60’s lens starts at 28 mm—great for indoor shots. If the 100 mm telephoto end isn’t enough for you, then Canon offers a teleconverter which attaches to the tripod mount. The S60’s body is fairly small, but it’s huge compared to things like the Digital ELPH. It’s not a pocket camera, but it’s small enough to carry around for the day. Build quality is good for the most part, though the plastic battery/memory card cover leaves something to be desired.”

Website: DCResource - Canon PowerShot S60 Review

The 15th PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Erica Mabry.

”“These photos were taken in Dooly County, Georgia, specifically Byromville, Lilly, Cordele, and Vienna, in December 2003. The photos reflect my fascination with small rural towns, and my disappointment at the Walmartization of America ? all of these beautiful buildings are in downtown areas that have been all but abandoned.”

Biography
Girl. 26. Currently living in South Carolina. Primarily interested in shooting abandoned places ? especially small rural towns and old mills. Also really like old signs - basically anything rusty!

http://ericablu.my-expressions.com”

Website: Portfolios: Erica Mabry

Pocket-lint.co.uk have posted their review of 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.

“Speed of use is also surprising good. Power-on to shot-ready is as fast as the camera can pull focus and you can get a frame off in a little over a second in optimum conditions. The shutter response is extremely snappy and the accompanying literatures claim of 0.05 of a second sees reasonable. That said, rapid multiple-frame exposure is not fantastic, nor is the image-buffer, but compact digital cameras are not really designed for this and the behaviour of the 43WR is well above average.”

Website: Pocket-lint.co.uk - Pentax Optio43WR Review

Fred Miranda has just released a new Photoshop plug-in for sharpening Canon EOS 1D Mark II SLR files.

“The Canon 1D Mark II CSpro Plugin is a new sharpening technology specific designed to accommodate Canon 1D Mark II SLR files. This plugin is compatible with JPEG files straight from the camera or TIFF/JPEG files converted from RAW files.

Here is how the interface looks:
http://www.fredmiranda.com/Buzz/Inteface2.html

Although the Canon 1D Mark II CSpro’s interface appears simple and intuitive, complexity makes this plugin very smart: It provides everything from haloless sharpening, edge-sharpening, luminance sharpening, mode sharpening, and more with just the press of a button. With this plugin you can also choose from low or high ISO settings.

Other options allow you to sharpen fine detail. There are pre-designed intensity levels, and options to reduce color noise from high ISO files. You can even create your own sharpening settings, preview settings and tweak intensity results.”

Is a 10x optical zoom still not enough for you? Then you may be interested in the Kowa Prominar TD-1, a Japanese 3-megapixel digital camera that has a 10X-30X zoom lens. Yes, that’s right - a 30x optical zoom. Just the thing for spying on your neighbours. Expect to see the papparazzi using the TD-1 soon…

Website: Engadet - 30X zoom digital camera

The elegant Design by Fire website has posted a guide to converting colour images to black and white, using a technique created by the photographer Greg Gorman (found via Still Journal):

“Gorman has gone digital in the past few years. Recently, he has been sharing his knowledge with many in the photography world. In this case, as you probably know, digital cameras capture light with red, green and blue sensors. It is impossible to shoot digital in black and white, like it is in film. Gorman had been lamenting this fact over dinner almost a year and a half ago, as most of his favorite work is in black and white. Rather than do nothing about it though, Gorman developed this conversion technique, which in all of my time working on Photoshop is easily the best I?ve seen for creating black and white photos.”

Website: Design by Fire - Santorini in black & white

As usual, Steves Digicams is the first website in the world to review the brand new Sony DSC-P73, a 4-megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom.

“The P73’s small size is achieved in part because it uses only two AA batteries for power. But their small size doesn’t mean short life; I was able to capture nearly 250 images before the capacity of the supplied 2100mAh NiMH rechargeables was consumed, and that included extensive use of the LCD as a viewfinder, to test the camera’s menu system, and to field check the test shots. Sony also includes a small NiMH charger that can handle two AA or two AAA size batteries.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Sony DSC-P73 Review

The Canadian digital photography website Photoxels have published an excellent tutorial about the RAW file format.

“Some photographers have mistakenly thought that RAW allowed them to correct exposure errors. Well, to a limited extent, that is true.

However, a picture has to be correctly exposed, whether you are using RAW or not. You cannot take a grossly underexposed or overexposed picture in RAW, and expect to be able to “correct your mistakes.”“

Website: Photoxels - Understanding RAW File Format Tutorial

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have posted their review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1, a rangefinder-like digital camera which is exactly the same as the more expensive Leica Digilux 2 in terms of camera design.

Website: Index Digicam - Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1 Review

CNET has reviewed the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC33, a compact and robust 3-megapixel camera that features a Leica 3x zoom lens.

“With excellent image quality and close-up capabilities, easy operation, and a burst mode capable of squeezing off eight shots in less than two seconds, the 3-megapixel Lumix DMC-L33 looks like a great deal for snapshot photographers who want versatility at a sub-$250 price. Unfortunately, its poky performance when not in burst mode limits its appeal for snapshooters who need speed.”

Website: CNET - Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-LC33 Review

Sandisk Press Release 24/06/04

DISTRIBUTION OF SANDISK SHOOT & STORE FLASH MEMORY CARDS GROWS TO MORE THAN 10,000 RETAIL OUTLETS IN THE U.S.

Rite Aid, Kmart And Other Stores Now Carry the Inexpensive Cards in Their Photo Departments

Sunnyvale, CA, June 24, 2004 - SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today announced that it has passed the 10,000-store threshold in its rapidly expanding efforts to offer inexpensive Shoot & Store flash memory cards to consumers in places where they shop frequently. Rite Aid and Kmart are among the latest retailers to begin selling the line, joining hundreds of other drug and grocery storefronts.

Rite Aid Category Manager Steve Lund said that sales of Shoot & Store cards have been “very encouraging. They are part of our strategy to build consumer awareness of Rite Aid as a one-stop center for digital cameras, flash memory cards and print processing.” At Kmart, the line expands the retailer’s ongoing commitment to digital photography products. Also adding the cards are several major supermarket chains.

The East Finchley Open (EFO) is a new voluntary group of visual artists and craftspeople who work independently in East Finchley, North London.

Our first event is a series of exhibitions showing and selling our members’ work at local venues, homes & studios.

If you want to know more about us, get our catalogue or come to our stand in Cherry Tree Woods at the East Finchley Community Festival on the afternoon of Sunday 27th June.

My interest in this event is entirely selfish, as I’m one of the artists who is exhibiting their work :-)

Website: East Finchley Open