The Norwegian website Akamera.no have published a brief review of the digital video software program, Magix Movies on CD & DVD. This program allows you to import videos from DV/Hi8-Camcorder, VHS, TV, Internet, etc and automatically transfer them onto (S)Video CD or DVD.

Website: Akamera.no - Magix Movies on CD and DVD Review

Website: Magix Movies on CD and DVD

As usual Sony are at the forefront of technological innovation. Their latest, greatest idea is a 360? full-circle lens that can take a panoramic image without actually moving!

“Until now, taking a 360? panorama with a normal lens has required taking multiple shots while rotating the camera slowly and then combining (“stitching”) those shots together to form the panorama. In contrast, the 360? full-circle lens allows the full 360? surroundings of the camera to be imaged at the same time with a single lens.

Sony has now developed a camera module that uses this 360? full-circle lens, and is releasing as commercial products both a camera module that uses a 380K-pixel, 30 fps CCD that outputs a ring-shaped image as a composite video signal as well as a high-resolution camera module that uses a 1.28 MP, 7.5 fps CCD with a built-in panorama expansion processing function.”

- Images a full 360 degrees in one operation
- Supports pan, tilt, and zoom without mechanism
- Focus adjustment for distance not required
- Images the whole surround area with a small convex lens

Website: Sony - Full-Circle 360? Camera Module

This press release isn’t really photography-related, except that Epson have published it, but it is quite interesting reading nevertheless…

“Epson Press Release 09/12/03”

EPSON Family Report reveals how typical British family life is changing

The typical British family of 2003 falls into one of five categories

Anyone who thinks that the typical British family has 2.4 children, two parents and a dog called Rover, would be wrong. Independent research commissioned by leading digital imaging company, EPSON in conjunction with leading psychologist, Dr Chris Steele, today sees the launch of the EPSON Family Report. The findings indicate that the typical British family now in fact consists of 1.6 children, has a family income of #24,793 per annum and an annual spend of #1,875 on family holidays.

The report was commissioned as part of a unique social experiment called The EPSON Family. EPSON commissioned the report to learn more about the ‘typical’ British family, their interests, and the kind of purchases that the typical family makes.  EPSON is now currently searching the country for a typical British family to star in their very own web based project that will see them go from anonymity to stardom as it follows the families every move for 100 days.

Electric Shoebox from Constant Time Software lets you organize, edit, and instantly share your photos. Photo tagging allows you to quickly organize and search through thousands of photos. Built-in photo editing includes auto-image enhancement, red-eye removal, cropping, and color adjustment. Electric Shoebox’s sharing functionality lets you share your photos with friends and family via the web without having to use an online service, like Ofoto or Yahoo! Photos. Electric Shoebox uses your own computer to serve shared photos to others. To view shared albums, people just point their web browser at your computer. A personalized domain name is provided for free. Installation is easy, with no need to setup a web server or other software. Also, since Electric Shoebox is running locally on your computer, there are no restrictions on disk space and no long photo upload times as there are with the online services.

Electric Shoebox is for Windows XP and is available for $29 from http://photos.constanttime.com.

Samsung Press Release 08/12/03

SAMSUNG BRINGS OUT 3.2 MEGA PIXELS AT UNDER £150!
08/12/03 - Samsung has just released the Digimax 301, a small and compact 3.2 mega pixel digital camera for under £150!

This latest 3.2 mega pixel offering boats a host of useful features, such as a 3 x digital zoom to get you even closer to your subject. Up to 150 images can be stored on the camera?s 16 MB internal memory, which is upgradeable through SD cards.

Various white balance and flash options ensure you capture your images at their best, in a variety of shooting conditions and environments. You can also select your own sharpness options and get creative with the touch of a button to make your images sepia or black and white.

Captured images are previewed and reviewed on the 301?s bright colour TFT LCD monitor and can be cropped, rotated or resized easily and instantly, without first needing to download them to a PC.

You can capture memories in motion as well thanks to the 301?s movie clip function with sound and add commentary to your still images too. A video out function makes it possible for you to share your movies and still images with others through a TV.

The Digimax 301 is available now from all good photo retailers.

Pentax USA Press Release 09/12/03

GOLDEN, Colorado (December 9, 2003)PENTAX U.S.A. has announced a perfect companion lens for the *ist D digital SLR camera.  The compact, high-performance, interchangeable smc PENTAX-DA 16mm-45mm F4 ED AL lens features a 3X zoom ratio with focal lengths covering ultra-wide to moderate-telephoto ranges for the angle of view equivalent to 24.5mm-69mm in the 35mm format. 

The DA-Series features a responsive ?Quick-Shift Focus System? that allows photographers to instantly switch the focus mode from auto to manual with a slight twist of the focus ring.  Coupled with a simple, functional design and the elimination of an aperture ring, this new mechanism considerably improves the camera?s operability.  The lens also incorporates an Extra-low Dispersion (ED) glass lens element and two aspherical lens elements for true-to-life image reproduction and overall size reduction.  The image circle in DA-series lenses, including the smc PENTAX-DA 16mm-45mm F4 ED AL, is designed to perfectly match the 23.5mm x 15.7mm size of the CCD used in PENTAX digital SLRs to optimize camera performance.  The new design also contributes to a drastic reduction in size, weight and production cost, compared to 35mm-format counterparts with similar specifications. 

PENTAX U.S.A. will preview the lens at the PEPCOM Digital Focus media event on January 7 in Las Vegas during the 2004 Consumer Electronics Show.

PENTAX U.S.A., Inc. is an innovative leader in the production of digital and film cameras, scopes, eyepieces, binoculars, lenses, mobile printers, scanners and internet cameras.  For more than 80 years, Pentax technology has developed durable, reliable products that meet the needs of consumers and businesses.  With corporate headquarters located in Golden, Colorado, PENTAX U.S.A., INC. is a wholly owned subsidiary of PENTAX CORPORATION.

The website Digital Journalist have published Magnum photographer Eli Reed’s enthusiastic review of the Olympus E-1 DSLR, which he used on a recent shoot in Malawi, Africa.

“The Olympus people have done it again. The Olympus E-Digital SLR system has delivered into this new digital age a camera for the ages. It is the first 100 per cent digitally designed SLR. After years of development by the Olympus engineers, they have delivered a camera that is ready-made for the professional photographer and while doing so, have introduced ground-breaking new features that leap over their professional rivals while keeping the price down to reasonable lows.”

Website: Eli Reed - Olympus E-1 Review

Luminous Landscape editor Michael Reichmann has just reviewed the Sony Artisan Monitor.

“Imagine a monitor design specifically for digital photographers. Imagine that it was capable of calibrating and profiling itself, and even able to advise you when it drifted out of calibration. Imagine that it had a resolution of up to 2048 X 1536 and a diagonal measurement of 21”.

I could go on - and will - but you get the idea. The monitor in question is the Sony Artisan, aka the model GDM-C520K. It has a suggested retail price in the U.S. of $1,800 but can be found for about $1,600 from a number of reputable on-line dealers.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Sony Artisan Monitor Review

The Hungarian website Index Digicam have published their review of one of the more popular consumer digicams, the 4-megapixel Canon PowerShot A80, which sells for around $399.

Website: Index Digicam - Canon Powershot A80 Review

DigitalSecrets.Net will release Version 6.0 of the Nikon eBook, “Mastering Nikon? Compact Digital Cameras” on December 4, 2003.

Winning Camera, Championship Optics.

Too small, right? That little 5400 can’t be all Nikon claims it to be, right? It couldn’t possibly do all that iNova says it can do, right? Guess again, shutter finger, this camera packs more into a small place than you (or I) ever believed could be accomplished.

The Version 6.0 Nikon eBook tells all. And reveals the secrets, special techniques, hidden values and extra credit this small, wide angle Coolpix has to offer. New interactive elements add to the spirit of discovery. Roll your mouse over an image and find what lies beneath. Or click on it and reveal even more.

Version 6.0—over 500 pages deep! With new iNovaFX Photoshop Actions to improve, enhance, correct and refine your images—nearly 400 in all, including the new iFish series, iVignette series, iDots graphic series and of course new iBC5.4K barrel correction Actions for the CP5400 plus iCC5.4k color correction actions that whisk away your most egregious color white balance errors.

Website: Nikon eBook Version 6.0

Digital Outback Photo contributor Paul Calwell has reviewed the 3 items that he feels are an essential part of his camera kit; the Manfrotto Carbon 1 3443 Tripod, Really Right Stuff L Bracket for Canon 1Ds and Arca B1 Pro Ball Head.

“Without a doubt, this is my number one tool due to a simple reason; I use a tripod on almost 95% of my shots. Since most of my shooting is a long way from my truck, I want to have a tripod that is lightweight, but still performs like my old Bogen Nature Trekker Tripod. For my work, motion, even the slightest amount, can ruin an image or a series of images. So when I setup my tripod, that?s all I want to have to do. I don?t want to have to make any more time consuming adjustments but instead be able to focus on the process of capturing the image.”

Website: Paul Calwell’s Essential Tools

FujiFilm Press Release 09/12/03

FUJIFILM INTRODUCES PREMIUM PLUS PHOTO PAPER FOR OUTSTANDING COLOR PICTURES FROM HOME INKJET PRINTERS

Fujifilm brings its legacy of photography excellence to the home printing category, offering premium photo-quality paper that’s compatible with all inkjet printer models

Valhalla, NY, December 9, 2003 ? Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc., a global leader in digital imaging, today introduces its new Fujifilm Premium Plus High Gloss Photo Paper for consumers who choose to produce their pictures at home.

Fujifilm has leveraged its pioneering history and expertise in digital photo processing to develop its own premium photo-quality paper. Consumers have long associated the Fujifilm brand with color excellence and quality and this new paper follows in that tradition, boasting a broad spectrum of rich, vibrant colors, including “blacker” blacks and “whiter” whites.

With its trusted photo brand recognition, Fujifilm is a natural entrant into the photo paper category, which has seen nearly 50% growth in the last year1. Now consumers can print their digital pictures at home on quality photo paper made by the same company they’ve trusted their photos with for generations.

“Fujifilm has been in the photography business for almost 70 years and we recognize the tremendous emotional attachment between people and their pictures,” explained Paul D’Andrea, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Photo Imaging Division, Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc. “This is why Fujifilm is excited to offer picture takers a digital photo printing option that’s convenient for their lifestyle, whether it is in a traditional retail environment or at home.”

Unlike some competitive photo paper products, Fujifilm Premium Plus Photo Paper will work with all inkjet printer models. It is a glossy-type type paper that is water-resistant and quick to dry. Offered in the two most popular at-home photo sizes—4” x 6” and 8?” x 11”—pictures printed to Fujifilm Premium Plus Photo Paper are suitable for framing, photo albums or scrapbooks.

Fujifilm Premium Plus Photo Paper is currently sold in 4"x 6” in 20, 60 and 100 sheet packs or 8?” x 11” in 20, 50 and 100 sheet packs, and is available in select retailers with widespread distribution planned for the first quarter of 2004.

File Viewer Utility Updaters for Windows and Macintosh
Canon is releasing updaters for File Viewer Utility, the latest version of RAW image conversion software for PowerShot and EOS DIGITAL cameras.

File Viewer Utility allows you to process RAW images into 16-bit TIFF files, 8-bit TIFF files or JPEGs. In addition, the File Viewer Utility can be used for image file management and a broad range of RAW file adjustments, including image processing parameters (digital exposure compensation, white balance and color matrix settings, custom tone curves, subject pattern sharpness and edge enhancement), as well as detailed IPTC captioning and even the application of up to 26 different Personal Functions to the EOS-1D and EOS-1Ds. Check the Camera Users Guide to see if your camera supports shooting RAW files.

Notice: The RAW image processing options will change depending on the camera model the RAW images were taken with.

http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/customer/fvu-e.html

PICFA Press Release 08/12/03

PICFA Partners with Micro Solutions to Offer Total Digital Photo Protection

CUPERTINO, Calif., Dec. 8, 2003 - Picfa, a provider of innovative software and unique photo services, today announced the partnership with Micro Solutions to bundle Picfa membership and photo archive service with Micro Solutions’ RoadStor device. The bundle offers total digital photo protection for people to preserve, share, and enjoy their photos online as well as offline.

Described as possibly a “frequent traveler’s favorite toy” by USA Today.com and “a prayer answered” by the Imaging-Resource Web site, the portable and versatile RoadStor from Micro Solutions offers the best offline solution for people to archive, share and enjoy their photos. RoadStor is a CD burner, a DVD player, an MP3 player and a digital photo viewer. It works with major computer platforms and has a built-in 6-in-1 flash memory card reader and a USB 2.0 port. With RoadStor, users can download photos, MP3s, and videos from a variety of memory cards and burn CD-R and CD-RW discs with or without a computer. This innovative product can be connected to a television or a computer for watching DVD movies or viewing digital photos. Measuring only 1.4 inches by 5.4 inches by 8.2 inches with its detachable lithium ion battery pack and weighing just 1.6 pounds, RoadStor travels easily.

To safeguard photos from computer hard disk crashes, virus attacks, loss of CDs and backups, Picfa offers a unique permanent photo archive service with total protection without recurring storage charge that allows members to pay a one-time only storage fee to safely store all their photos permanently on the Internet. Picfa members pay only as much space as they need for as low as just a few cents per megabyte. Picfa members can use the free Picfa Album software to backup photos on the internet with just a single click. Picfa Album is a unique and innovative photo album software designed for people to preserve, share, and enjoy their photos with versatile multimedia support, comprehensive slide show features, and convenient one-click Internet backup and P2P (Peer-to-Peer) sharing features. Picfa also offers comprehensive security/privacy protection for archiving and sharing photos online or via P2P sharing.

Swich Press Release 09/12/03

—SWiSHpix HAS ARRIVED—

SWiSHpix lets you create animated Flash photo albums from your favorite digital photos. Simply select your photos, edit or crop to make them perfect, choose one of the presentation themes, add music, callouts or clipart (WMF, EMF, SWI, GIF, JPEG, BMP, PNG) and you’ll have a stunning photo album in minutes. You can burn to an auto play CD ROM, create files ready to upload to the web (HTML etc.) as well as publish as a standalone EXE file or a self-installing screen saver, which you can email to your friends. You can make your own themes, or edit the themes we offer to truly personalize your album. You can also incorporate SWiSHpix’s Flash photo albums into your existing Flash web site - the possibilities are endless!

Download the 15 day free trial here:
http://www.swishzone.com/index.php?area=downloads&tab=downloads&product=pix

—SWiSHpix $10 DISCOUNT SPECIAL—

To celebrate the release of SWiSHpix and help you get those festive season snaps on the web, we’re offering $10 off SWiSHpix until January 30th!

At only $19.95 that’s a 33% discount on the RRP of US$29.95. This offer ends January 30th, so get in quick!

Purchase SWiSHpix here:
http://www.swishzone.com/index.php?area=purchase&product=pix

After months of wondering why the PhotographyBLOG RSS feeds wouldn’t validate, I’ve finally tracked down the problem and they now work properly :-) So you should be able to subscribe to any of the 4 available feeds (RSS v0.92, 0.93, 1.00 and 2.00) and read PhotographyBLOG in your favourite news aggregator without any issues.

The URLs for the 4 feeds are:
http://www.photographyblog.com/index.xml
http://www.photographyblog.com/index_rss092.xml
http://www.photographyblog.com/index_rss100.xml
http://www.photographyblog.com/index_rss200.xml

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then please ignore this post (or do a Google search on RSS…)!

LetsGoDigital and DCViews are both reporting this morning that Minox have announced their second new digital camera of the week, following
yesterday’s announcement of the DD1 Diamond camera. Thankfully the Minox DC5211 is a little more grown-up than the DD1 Diamond (which has 8 synthetic diamonds built into the camera body). The DC5211 has 5 megapixels, a 3x optical zoom and a 1.5 inch LCD screen, all squeezed into a very compact body (93 x 35 x 58 mm to be exact). According to Minox the new camera will be in the shops in time for Christmas. A quick search on Google reveals that European retailers are listing the DC5211 for between 395 and 450.00 Euros.

Website: Minox

Website: LetsGoDigital - Minox DC5211

Website: DCViews - Minox DC5211 Press Release

Photo.net have published an extremely comprehensive and useful overview of underwater housings for various film and digital cameras - essential reading if you ever intend to take your camera diving with you.

“Every housing works fundamentally the same way. It’s a metal or plastic case, usually molded to fit a specific camera, and uses silicone O-rings to create a watertight seal at the joints. Trusting a $5 O- ring to preserve your $2000 camera seems like madness, but the simplicity is what makes it work. Unless the O-ring is damaged or contaminated, it can work remarkably well. Ironically, as you dive deeper, the O-ring compresses under pressure and the housing becomes even more watertight.”

Website: Photo.net - Underwater Housings

Imaging Resource have completed their review of the Pentax Optio 555, a 5 megapixel updated version of the popular 550 model.

“Now, the Optio 555 broadens the line even further, with a 5.0-megapixel CCD and 5x zoom lens, in addition to a well-rounded feature set. It’s very similar in design and function to the Optio 550 model, but features a longer maximum shutter time (15 seconds) and movie recording limited only by the card capacity. (The Optio 550 had a maximum recording time of 10 minutes per movie clip.) The Optio 555 offers a lot of functionality and good image quality in a tidy little package.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Pentax Optio 555 Review

The winner of the 5th PhotographyBLOG Photo of the Week contest is JonRead with the entry “Lone Boat”. 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 6th 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.