The Digital Journalist have published their review of the A4 HP Photosmart 7960 printer. Can this new printer compete with the likes of the Canon i950 and the Epson Stylus Photo R800? Read The Digital Journalist’s review to find out.

“I have found printer narvana and it’s the HP7960 from Hewlett-Packard.

Let’s cut to the chase and work back:

1. Beautiful Black & White with no color shifts or metamerism. 2. Excellent Color that matches your screen.

All this within the simple-to-use HP Printer software.”

Website: The Digital Journalist - HP Photosmart 7960 Review

SMaL Camera Technologies Press Release

SMaL Camera Technologies Enables Slim and Stylish Digital Cameras by NHJ

World’s Thinnest Digital Camera with Color LCD Launched in Target Stores

Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA (April 27, 2004) - SMaL Camera Technologies, a developer of digital imaging solutions and enabler of award-winning super-thin digital still cameras, announced today that it has enabled two new ultra-slim digital cameras by NHJ Limited, which is making its debut in the North American consumer electronics market. The 9.8mm thin Foxz2 ? the thinnest digital camera in the world with an LCD display ? is now available nationwide in Target Stores for $99.

In the OEM partnership between the two companies, NHJ leveraged SMaL’s Ultra-Pocket 3 and 4 rapid development kits to design and develop the Foxz1 (1.3-megapixel resolution) and Foxz2 (2-megapixel resolution), respectively. Due to the industry-leading low power (Longevity?), Autobrite? wide dynamic range, and high integration of SMaL?s Ultra-Pocket kits, the Foxz products feature stylish designs, worry-free battery life, and ease of use at an affordable cost.

Luminous Landscape’s latest article is a technical look by Jonathan Wienke at using linear and non-linear RAW file conversions to produe a black and white image.

“As I refined my B&W technique, I began using linear RAW conversion because it allows one to easily make use of 100% of the dynamic range captured by the sensor. Linear RAW conversion is difficult to use for color images because no tone curves are applied to the image data; there is no profiling or color adjustment done during the conversion process. In addition, images converted in linear mode tend to be extremely dark, and require fairly radical gamma adjustment to get the image to look “right”. But the slightly odd-looking color common to linearly converted RAW images is not an issue when the image is being converted to B&W. I discovered that if I normalized the color channels of a linear RAW conversion (basically “stretching” the values of each color channel so that they ranged from the minimum to the maximum values) and then applied a gamma adjustment of about 4 to 5, I would have a color image that, while frequently looking a bit odd in color, would always convert to a very nice B&W.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Hybrid RAW Conversion

Imaging Resource have posted their review of the Fujifilm Finepix S20 Pro digital camera, which currently sits at the top of the FinePix range.

“There’s no question that Fuji’s S20 Pro offers a unique solution to the problem of limited dynamic range in digital images. - And it does so at relatively modest cost, compared to the price of high-end photo gear these days. It also offers an excellent level of integration with a controlling PC or Mac, making it ideally suited for various event-photography and other highly automated applications.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Fujifilm Finepix S20 Pro Review

Website: Read my Review of the Fuji FinePix S20 Pro

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

Website: Index Digicam - Canon Digital Ixus 500 Review

It’s a refreshing change to link to a review of a film camera :-) ePhotoZine have just tested the Hasselblad XPan II, a 35mm film camera that shoots 21 extended 24X65mm “panoramic” frames on a 36 exposure roll of film.

“Having been a full digital convert for the last few years I thoroughly enjoyed a film revisit, especially on a camera as unique as this. It’s heavy in the hand for the size, which is something missing from the latest plastic digital cameras. It’s also slower so an “every shot has to count” approach is refreshing to return to. The shutter sounds good, the operation is quiet compared with an SLR and the focusing is smooth. Picture quality is razor sharp with no distortion or darkening at the edges.”

Website: ePhotoZine - Hasselblad XPan II Review

Dphoto.us have just reviewed the recently announced 14 megapixel Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n.

“The autofocus system in continuous mode was adequate enough to catch some of the action of kids playing in the park. Although adequate, you don’t get the tracking speed of a Canon 1DS or 1D. An object coming towards you rapidly is an example of a situation that migh cause the autofocus system difficulties. There is also somewhat of a shutter lag compared to other professional bodies. Although not huge, it is there none the less. Keeping in mind the target market for this camera, it is very acceptable.”

Website: Dphoto.us - Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n Review

In the latest part of their The Art of Digital B/W series, Digital Outback Photo have reviewed Roy Harrington’s Quad Tone RIP. This is currently a Mac/Linux only quad tone driver for the Epson 2200/7500/7600/9600 printers. Digital Outback Photo seem to love it, concluding “Excellent! We think you are mainly limited by your own B/W photos and style you like. Wonderful tool for all Mac users (we did not test the Linux version) at a bargain price.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Quad Tone RIP Review

Jamie Harrison, Technical Editor of the magazine What Digital Camera, has just started a new blog. Jamie explains that “the idea is to encourage our readers to set up blogs, and develop a sense of community. It will give both the editorial team and other readers the chance to see how readers are using their cameras, as well as providing an impetus to take more pictures.” Cliff Smith of the sister magazine Better Digital Photography has also posted a site. Creating your own blog is one of the ideas in my recent “Beating the Photography Blues” article. So now is as good a time as ever to start sharing your photos.

Website: Jamie Harrison’s Blog

Website: Cliff Smith’s Blog

The Czech website FotoAparat.cz have published their review of the 6 megapixel Nikon D70 DSLR.

Website: FotoAparat.cz - Nikon D70 Review

Digital Outback Photo have tested an early beta version of Noise Ninja 2.0 for Windows.

“Already version 1.0 was one of the strongest noise removal tools in the market (in the league of Neat Image). The new version 2.0 implements now quality noise removal in a much better to use application. This and the new Mac support will make Noise Ninja a leader in the market of noise removal tools.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Noise Ninja 2.0 Preview

Website: Noise Ninja

The Norwegian website DigIT have just reviewed the new 8-megapixel Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom digital camera.

Website: DigIT - Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom Review

Website: Read my review of the Olympus C-8080 Wide Zoom

The Danish website Akamera.dk have just reviewed the 3-megapixel Nikon Coolpix 3200 compact digital camera.

Website: Akamera.dk - Nikon Coolpix 3200 Review

Iomega Corporation Press Release 27/04/04

SAN DIEGO, April 26, 2004 Iomega Corporation (NYSE: IOM), a global leader in data storage, today announced availability of the new Iomega Floppy Plus 7-in-1 Card Reader. Iomega’s new host-powered drive is ideal for photographers and mobile users, bundling a convenient 1.44 MB floppy drive with the seamless capability to read and write all of the most common flash media formats.

Striking Industrial Design
The Iomega Floppy Plus 7-In-1 Card Reader is designed for simple, portable convenience. Just one inch tall and with a smaller footprint than a CD jewel case, the attractive two-tone design in silver and grey travels easily in any laptop computer bag and weighs just 12 ounces (340 g). A single USB cable handles all power and data requirements. Front-loading slots let users read and write the most common memory card formats and transfer data between different media types, providing an all-in-one solution that can replace multiple card readers.

The Fuji FinePix S3000 Zoom is a very stylish and affordable update of the FinePix S304 Zoom. It has a 3 megapixel sensor, like most other digital cameras at the entry-level end of the market, but it stands out from the crowd due to its 6x optical zoom, which is equivalent to 38?228mm on a 35mm camera. The Fuji FinePix S3000 Zoom has significantly fallen in price since its launch in August 2003 and can now be purchased for under ?200 / $250. But is it the right budget digicam for you? Read my review to find out.

Website: Fuji FinePix S3000 Zoom Review

The winner of the 21st PhotographyBLOG Photo of the Week contest is tootsie with the entry “Leaves of Gold”. There are no prizes as such for this contest, but the winning photo is displayed on the PhotographyBLOG homepage for a week, and the winner can display the Photo of the Week logo on their website if they wish.

The 22nd Photo of the Week contest is now open. This is a weekly photography challenge where you decide who the winner is by voting for your favourite photos. It’s an open 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 Czech website Digineff have posted their review of the new 6 megapixel Nikon D70 DSLR today.

Website: Digineff - Nikon D70 Review

Nabocorp 25/04/04

cam2pc, the digital imaging solution gets a “video update”!

Nice, France (April 25, 2004) - Bringing on the successful cam2pc 4 series, nabocorp. softwares brings video capabilities to cam2pc, its award winning digital imaging solution.

Most of today’s digital cameras feature the possibility to shoot small videos. This terrific added value makes video files a new key element of digital imaging although no easy-to-use tools are available to users. But with cam2pc 4.3, nabocorp. softwares has the answer!

In May Phase One will launch three new versions of C1 RAW workflow software for Mac and PC: PRO, SE and LE. In addition to a series of new features (described in C1 NEWS no. 15) new camera support has now been included:

PRO
Canon 1D Mark II
Nikon D2H
Nikon D1H
Nikon D1X (New: Mac)
Nikon D100 (New: Mac)
Nikon D70
Fuji S2
Olympus E1
Olympus E10
Olympus E20
Pentax *istD

SE
Canon 1D Mark II
Nikon D2H
Nikon D1H
Nikon D1X (New: Mac)
Nikon D100 (New: Mac)
Nikon D70
Fuji S2
Olympus E1
Olympus E10
Olympus E20
Pentax *istD

LE
Nikon D70
Olympus E1
Olympus E10
Olympus E20
Pentax *istD

From May C1 Rebel will be discontinued as a stand-alone product. The PRO, SE and LE versions all support the Canon 300D and existing Rebel users can upgrade to any of these versions.

Registered C1 Rebel v 1.0 users who were expecting a free upgrade to C1 Rebel v. 2.0 will receive an email about future upgrade opportunities in connection with the May launch.

http://www.c1dslr.com

In this week’s Sunday Morning Photographer column Mike Johnston looks at a picture which you are not intended to see…

“It’s not for me to tell you what to feel about this picture. You might interpret it as an anti-war photograph. You might interpret it as a paean to patriotism and noble sacrifice in the service of the republic. You might feel sadness and loss. You might feel anger. It’s up to you. I merely think it should be up to you - that government censorship is un-American, and bad for democracy.”

Website: Sunday Morning Photographer: ‘Almost Every Night We Send Them Home’