Digital Outback Photo have reviewed Adobe Camera Raw 2.0, which is now integrated into Adobe Photoshop CS. So if you’re buying Photoshop CS, you effectively get this RAW conversion program for free. Does it stand up against the competition, or should you buy Capture One DSLR instead?

“We always liked the colors that we got from even ARC 1.0. Some complained that the images were soft if they used the default settings. We actually like that a raw converter produces slightly soft (not too contrasty) images as we then have some latitude to tune the contrast in PS (actually one of the best tools in CS is Shadow/Highlight with it’s midtone contrast control). Again we like the the colors we get from the default hard coded profiles. But we are more into subjective pleasing colors than “true” colors.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Adobe Camera Raw 2.0 Review

PictureCode, a US-based software company, have released Noise Ninja, which claims to effectively remove noise from digital camera and scanned images. Two versions are available to buy; Home license, which costs $39 and supports 8-bit file output with no batch processing, or the Professional license, which costs $99 with 16-bit file output and full batch processing. There’s a trial version available to download, although you can’t actually save files until the software is registered. (found via Digicamera.net)

“Eliminate noise and grain from digital images - PictureCode’s Noise Ninja software uses breakthrough technology to quickly remove high-ISO noise, scanner noise, and grain from digital images. Compared to other noise removal tools, Noise Ninja does a superior job of suppressing noise while preserving sharpness and detail. In many cases, the results are nothing short of amazing.”

Website: Noise Ninja

Epson Press Release

LONG BEACH, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Nov. 5, 2003—Inaccurate Claims Regarding Residual Ink in Epson Cartridges Causing Consumer Confusion and Potential Damage to Ink Jet Printers

Epson America Inc., responding to inaccurate public reports on the design and function of its ink cartridges, today is providing important information to consumers regarding the reason why its cartridges contain a small amount of ink when consumers are advised to replace them. This response was prompted by allegations from a Dutch consumer group that have since been publicly retracted, as well as several U.S. lawsuits. The recent lawsuits were filed by the same law firm in several jurisdictions and based on these same inaccurate allegations that Epson believes are completely without merit.

Epson’s position that these lawsuits are frivolous is echoed by many of the industry’s leading authorities on printer technology including CAP Ventures and Lyra Research. A sampling of their opinions follows:

“The U.S. lawsuits copying the erroneous Dutch allegations against Epson are frivolous,” said Jim Forrest, imaging expert with Newton, Mass.-based Lyra Research. “An Epson ink jet cartridge that runs completely dry could damage the hardware’s printing mechanism. Yes, there may be some ink left over, but that is by design, for the protection and longevity of the printer. And, since its cartridges are priced by page yields, not volume, consumers are in fact getting all that they paid for.”

“Recent trade press coverage on some of these lawsuits appear to be manufactured and have little legitimacy,” said John Shane, director, Communication Supplies Consulting Service, CAP Ventures, a leading strategic consulting firm for providers and users of business and visual communication technologies and services. “This type of misleading industry discourse does little to accurately educate the marketplace.”

Epson’s ink cartridges are designed to include a small safety reserve of ink. This safety reserve serves an important engineering function to ensure consistent image quality and prevent damage to the permanent print head that could be caused by drawing in air bubbles when there is no ink remaining in the cartridge. The printer will automatically stop working when there is no more safely usable ink in the cartridge. Users benefit from all of the ink they have paid for since Epson promotes and prices the cartridges based on the usable volume of ink reflected in the rated yield, not on the total volume of ink.

The chip included in Epson’s cartridges records the amount of ink that has been used from a cartridge, which not only ensures that the print heads are not damaged by ink cartridges running dry but also enables users to swap out cartridges as needed to handle particular print jobs.

“Our customers get the full benefit of the ink we promote if they use our printers as we recommend,” said Keith Kratzberg, director, photo imaging, Epson. “Therefore we take these abusive accusations very seriously and deny them vigorously. Furthermore, we are concerned that some of the people making these accusations are doing a disservice to consumers by recommending that they override the ink replacement signal which will cause poor quality prints and can damage the printers.”

Rumors surrounding this issue began in July 2003 when Consumentenbond, a Dutch consumer organization, alleged that Epson misled consumers by prematurely warning them to replace ink cartridges because they use an integrated chip to prevent the use of all of the ink. Upon further investigation, the Dutch consumer organization publicly retracted all claims and issued an apology, concluding that all brands of ink cartridges have ink remaining when consumers are advised to replace cartridges. In addition, the organization confirmed that Epson cartridges confer a technological benefit in order to maintain the life of the printer.

CNET have reviewed the Kodak EasyShare DX6340 3.1 megapixel digital camera which has an RRP of $329. Here’s a quote from the review:

“The 3.1-megapixel DX6340 couldn’t be easier for novices to use. The controls are well designed, you get instant access to a variety of shooting modes, and compatibility with optional EasyShare docks makes for convenient printing and sharing. And with its 4X zoom lens, the camera has more shooting flexibility than the average 3-megapixel model. More-experienced photographers and beginners who want to enhance their skills will appreciate the extra control offered by the DX6340’s aperture- and shutter-priority modes. Unfortunately, a couple of noticeable flaws mar this digicam’s otherwise pleasing images.”

Website: CNET - Kodak EasyShare DX6340 Review

The weekly UK magazine Amateur Photographer have given the Olympus E-1 DSLR a glowing review in this week’s issue (8 November 2003), awarding it 95%. Specification was awarded 28/30, Build 20/20, Handling 19/20 and Performance 28/30. Considering that the same magazine rated the Canon EOS 300D at 85% last week, that is very good news for Olympus and the E-1. Here’s a short extract from the conclusion:

“Considering that Olympus has not had a new SLR for nearly a decade, and the E-1 is its first digital SLR, the company has hit the proverbial nail squarely on the head first time. This is a fantastic camera in terms of performance and we are seeing digital imaging yet another step closer to offering us the Holy Grail of “film quality”. Indeed, in some respects the E-1 already surpasses it.”

High praise indeed! Amateur Photographer is available from your local newsagents for ?1.95.

Website: Amateur Photographer

Luminous Landscape owner and editor Michael Reichmann has just published his review of the Pentax *ist D digital SLR, which is now on sale in the UK. What does this professional photographer think of the *ist D? Not a lot I’m afraid…

“Let’s do the conclusion first this time. The Pentax *ist D, Pentax’s new 6MP digital SLR, is an adequate offering ? producing image quality competitive with similarly priced and featured cameras from Nikon, Fuji and Canon.

Is it better in any way? No.

Is it more expensive than the others? Yes. It costs more than the Canon 10D or the Nikon D100, but “no” it’s priced less than the Fuji S2 or Olympus E-1. In other words, it runs in the middle of the pack.

If that was all there was to the story it would be simple to tell. But regrettably the *ist D disappoints in a number of areas, and though I have been a fan of Pentax cameras for at least 40 years this model fails to live up to expectations.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Pentax *ist D Review

Many photographs that I take are destined never to see the light of day or be printed, but a few of them can be intriguing none-the-less. This sequence of abstract shots proves that photographic opportunities can present themselves when you least expect it. They were all taken in the space of 20 minutes on a very sunny afternoon on a recent visit to my Mum and Dad’s house. I haven’t told them yet that their bedroom is currently appearing on the Internet (and I don’t think I will!).

Domestic Abstract #1	Domestic Abstract #2	Domestic Abstract #3
Domestic Abstract #4	Domestic Abstract #5	Domestic Abstract #6

Photo.net have published their report of the recent Photo Expo Plus 2003 photography show, held in New York.

“Photo Expo Plus is a great place to see the latest gear and take the pulse of the industry. This year, as for the previous few years, the pulse has been ...0101010101…! I’d say digital cameras certainly dominated the P&S and 35mm displays, often to the point that you had to look hard to find a film camera. Even at the Medium Format displays the emphasis was on digital.”

Website: Photo.net - Photo Expo Plus 2003 Report

The Slovenian website e-Fotografija have posted a detailed review of the Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens, which is only available as part of the Canon EOS 300D kit. Again there are a lot of sample images and product shots, so the review is worth a look. And you can always try out the Slovenian Translator below…

Website: e-Fotografija - Canon EF-S 18?55mm Lens Review

Website: Slovenian Translator

The Slovenian website e-Fotografija has posted the first ever review of the Olympus CAMEDIA C-5060 camera. As usual there are a lot of sample images and product shots, so even if you’re not fluent in Slovenian, the page is still worth a visit.

Website: e-Fotografija - Olympus C-5060 Review

Website: Slovenian Translator

SmartDisk Press Release

FORT MYERS, Fla.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Nov. 3, 2003—SmartDisk Corporation today introduced 40GB and 80GB models of its award-winning FlashTrax(TM) handheld portable multimedia device for offloading and storing digital images and music.

FlashTrax safely stores high-resolution images transferred from any flash memory card onto the built-in USB2.0 hard drive and displays them on a 3.5” LCD that outperforms tiny on-camera screens. By using the sleek control pad, the user can change the image, zoom in, zoom out and pan, or choose a slide show function without the need of a PC. In addition to rapid JPEG view and zoom, FlashTrax can display most RAW format files using the JPEG data typically embedded in such files. The LCD folds to ensure that both the screen and control buttons remain protected while in field use. Images may be viewed on the LCD screen or on any TV using the included remote control. To facilitate portability, FlashTrax includes a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery.

“The Professional Photographers Association has just recognized FlashTrax as one of the hottest new imaging products of 2003,” says Charles Klinker, Vice President-Marketing for SmartDisk. “With our new FlashTrax models, professional photographers will find even more flexibility for field applications.”

A built-in MP3 player makes this device even more attractive—more than 7,000 compressed audio files can be stored and played back through the built-in speaker, or through headphones or external speakers. Various play modes are easily controlled from the user-friendly screen display and control pad, making music selection quick and easy.

FlashTrax also supports video playback of motion picture JPEG files, a format typically used for the short “movies” supported by many digital still cameras. With transfer speeds of up to 480Mbps, FlashTrax can also serve as an external hard drive to transfer, store and access data or act as a simple backup device.

Availability
The new FlashTrax models are available now through retailers and distributors, as well as through the company’s Web site at http://www.smartdisk.com.

The Plugin Site Press Release 03/11/03

November 3, 2003 - The Plugin Site (http://www.thepluginsite.com) is proud to announce Version 1.01 of FocalBlade, a Photoshop-compatible plugin for sharpening your photos for screen display and printing as well as for producing great looking blur, soft focus and glow effects on 8bit and 16bit images. FocalBlade lets you sharpen photos without amplifying noise or artifacts and produces impressive sharpening results even on low quality images. FocalBlade is the second product in our new PhotoWiz product line, which sets a new standard for photo correction tools.

New in Version 1.01
FocalBlade 1.01 can now process huge images with very little RAM and renders up to 10% faster at low RAM. It features better sharpening, because it increases saturation and brightness less when sharpening. There are new Highlights and Shadows sliders on the Fix tab sheet for reducing the sharpening or blurring in the highlight and shadow areas. The White/Black Halo sliders work more precisely and also affect the surface area. Support for grayscale images (8 bit and 16 bit) has been added, too. Version 1.0 displayed a semi-transparent preview when applied on layers in 16bit mode in Photoshop CS. This problem has been fixed in Version 1.01. Smaller enhancements include the usage of the Alt key to move the preview image with the left mouse button, the improvement of the Undo button to remove or restore the sample area and an expanded Tips section in the manual.

The popular photoblog directory website Photoblogs.org has recently undergone a dramatic redesign, with a less cluttered interface and a new way of ranking websites. Photoblogs.org members can now help determine Top 100 rankings by creating their own favorites lists.



PhotographyBLOG is currently languishing in 87th place, so I need your help to boost the ranking :-) All you have to do is create an account at Photoblogs.org and then add this site to your list of favourites.



Vote for this site at Photoblogs.org by adding it to your personal favourites list.

Website: Photoblogs.org

The first ever PhotographyBLOG Photo of the Week contest starts tomorrow.

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. Just make sure that you submit your photos to the Photo of the Week Gallery.

The photo with the highest rating at the end of the week wins the coveted PhotographyBLOG Photo of the Week award, You can then proudly display the Photo of the Week logo on your website. Competition #1 starts on 3rd November 2003 and ends on 9th November 2003.

Please read the Photo of the Week Rules before submitting your entry. The contest is worldwide and open to everyone.

UPDATE 03/11/03
The Photo of the Week contest is now open :-)

See the Contest Entries

Imaging Resource 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 950? Read Imaging Resource’s review to find out.

“For $299, HP’s engineers put together a fast 4800-dpi printer using three cartridges with up to eight inks. It includes an LCD monitor, a card reader that can handle 10 formats, a scanner and some intelligent firmware. That firmware can calibrate the printer automatically when you change cartridges, plus print and read a proof sheet to automatically print images from your storage card, among other things.”

Website: Imaging Resource - HP Photosmart 7960 Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Fuji FinePix F700, which has a 6.2-megapixel Super CCD SR and is supposed to capture more detail in the shadow and highlight areas of an image than Fuji cameras have previously captured.

“Announced earlier this year (2003) with an MSRP of $599, the Fuji FinePix F700 would have been a good value if the promise of its Super CCD SR had been fully realized. We’re not surprised that the F700’s street price has since fallen to under $400; it simply doesn’t compete well as a 6-megapixel camera at a 6-megapixel price.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Fuji FinePix F700 Review

Website: Read my review of the Fuji FinePix F700

Rob Galbraith has tested the 4Gb Microdrive from Hitachi. The 4Gb Microdrive is relatively cheap compared to other similar storage options, selling for around $499.

“the Microdrive, at any capacity, is no longer universally quicker than competing flash memory CompactFlash cards, as it was in the early days. Durability should be improved, thanks to smart design changes in the latest generation of Microdrive. But again, flash memory Compactflash should still be able to better withstand the jolts typical of on-the-go photography.

What’s left for the Microdrive to really call its own? Price.”

Website: Rob Galbraith - Hitachi 4Gb Microdrive Test

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

“With its ease of use, advanced features in an entry-level camera, Canon quality optics, DIGIC image processor, and affordable price, the PowerShot A80 continues the A70 tradition of being the best digital camera in the beginner to serious amateur category.”

Website: Photoxels - Canon Powershot A80 Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the new Casio EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z4U, which packs the first high-resolution 4-megapixel CCD of the EXILIM lineup into a stylish and thin card size body. The EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z4U retails for $399.99 and is available now.

“Most of today’s super-compact cameras use small 1.5-inch LCD monitors. The EX-Z4 utilizes a large 2-inch color LCD monitor which covers almost two-thirds of the back and makes it easier to use in the bright sunlight. Since the monitor is a full 1/2-inch larger than most, the menu text is bigger and more legible.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Casio EXILIM ZOOM EX-Z4 Review

Mike Johnston’s weekly column looks at large format camers this week, oh, and Halloween!

“So that you know where I’m coming from, my two favorite 5x4” view cameras are the Wista 45DX or DXII, and the Arca-Swiss F-line. The latter is like a Honda Accord. I say this as a compliment - I drove a succession of Honda Accords in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, and found them to be very close to “transparent”.”

Website: Sunday Morning Photographer: My Favorite View Cameras