Imaging Resource has added a Gallery of photos to their review of the very recently announced Sigma SD10 Digital SLR. Both the original RAW file and the adjusted version are included, along with the settings for each one.

“We’ve now updated our review of the SD10 with some of my better gallery photos (apologies if the subjects I chose aren’t the most interesting, but I was pressed for time and am not very familiar with the Atlanta area…) All in all, I felt the SD10 performed rather nicely, with the exception of a somewhat erratic auto white balance and an occasionally quirky autofocus - the software in particular is very nicely refined!”

Website: Imaging Resource - Sigma SD10 Gallery

The Norwegian website DigIT have reviewed the Casio QV-R40, a 4 megapixel digicam which has an amazing start-up time of one second and shutter-lag of 0.01 seconds. The Casio QV-R40 currently retails for around $300 / ?300.

Website: DigIT - Casio QV-R40 Review

CNET have just published their review of the Canon EOS 300D / Digital Rebel.

“It’s tempting to think of Canon’s EOS Digital Rebel (known outside the United States as the 300D) as a light version of the EOS 10D. But luckily for consumers, the Rebel is more of a middleweight champion, delivering slightly scaled-back performance but similar high-quality, 6.3-megapixel images and most of the 10D’s capabilities. And like its pricier brother, the Rebel combines automatic functions—which enable almost anyone to use it right out of the box—with most of the shooting features serious amateurs want. But the Rebel does it all at the lowest price we’ve yet seen for an interchangeable-lens dSLR.”

Website: CNET - Canon EOS 300D Review

Lexar Media?s New Image Rescue 2.0 Recovers ?Lost? Photos From Any Memory Card Format From Any Manufacturer

Lexar Media Offers Professional Photographers the Industry?s Most Reliable and Comprehensive Digital Media Solution

NEW YORK, October 30, 2003—(PhotoPlus Expo) Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a leading manufacturer and marketer of high-performance digital media and accessories, today introduced Image Rescue 2.0, an enhanced version of its popular image recovery software. With Image Rescue 2.0, Lexar Media has significantly expanded the number of memory cards from which the software can recover data. Image Rescue 2.0 can now recover ?lost? or deleted digital images from any memory card, regardless of format or manufacturer. In addition, Image Rescue 2.0 offers expanded reader support and can be used with all mass storage compliant card readers including FireWire and USB 2.0, which enable considerably faster image recovery time. Image Rescue 2.0 will be demonstrated at PhotoPlus Expo booth #336, from October 30 through November 1, 2003.

Image Rescue 2.0 is designed to go to the root of the card?s data structure to identify and retrieve deleted or lost images, even if the computer does not recognize the card. Image Rescue 2.0 can retrieve image files in all popular file formats including JPEG, TIFF, and most RAW file formats from leading camera manufacturers. In many cases, Image Rescue 2.0 can even recover document files including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

?The most common causes of data loss are due to interruption of power in a host device or premature removal from a host device,? said John Omvik, director, OEM and pro product marketing, Lexar Media. ?In these cases, Image Rescue 2.0 can recover lost image data and reformat or reconstruct the memory card?s DOS FAT file. In addition, Image Rescue 2.0 has the unique ability to permanently erase confidential data from memory cards and prevent data from being recovered in the future.?

Lexar Press Release 30/10/03

Lexar Media Offers Two New Compact, Portable High-Speed Readers Enabling Faster Downloading of Digital Images

Next-generation FireWire and New USB 2.0 CompactFlash Readers Now Available

NEW YORK, October 30, 2003—(PhotoPlus Expo) Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq:LEXR), a leading manufacturer and marketer of high-performance digital media and accessories, today announced two new compact, portable, high-speed CompactFlash readers geared toward serious digital photographers. The next-generation FireWire and new USB 2.0 CompactFlash readers offer data transfer speeds up to 400Mb/s and 480Mb/s, respectively. With these readers, users can expect data transfer from CompactFlash to computer to be approximately 4 to 5 times faster than using USB 1.1.

With a USB 1.1 reader, 100MB of image data would take approximately one and half minutes to download, but with a USB 2.0 or FireWire reader, the same amount of data would take under twenty-five seconds. FireWire and USB 2.0 are particularly fast when combined with Lexar Media?s high-speed and professional memory cards.

?Serious digital photographers find speed very important, which is why Lexar Media strives to provide the fastest speeds available in its digital media and readers,? said Dave Klenske, Lexar Media, director of product marketing. ?USB 2.0 and FireWire are designed for large data transfers of images, music and video, and with Lexar?s high-speed media, end users will see dramatically improved transfer times.?

FlashFixers Press Release 30/10/03

FlashFixers Offers Digital Camera Users Professional-Grade Photo Recovery with ImageRecall 2.0

ImageRecall 2.0 improves the reliability of digital film with new advanced professional features and a 95 percent recovery success rate when photo data still exists on the memory card.

PhotoPlus?New York, NY?October 30, 2003? FlashFixers announces the U.S. availability of ImageRecall 2.0, a professional-grade photo recovery program that retrieves lost images, data and sound files from flash memory cards. According to the Photo Marketing Association, digital camera sales are expected to outpace sales of film-based cameras in 2003. This increasing popularity can be attributed to recent improvements in picture resolution that make it possible to take digital photos that are the same quality as film. Unlike film however, digital images are subject to losses from accidental deletions, reformatting and random corruptions. With more dependence than ever on digital film for keepsake images and professional shoots, losing digital pictures can be devastating.

?Today, lost digital images have replaced the nightmare of ruined film and drug store developing disasters,? according to Kevin Bordley from ImageRecall. ?For professional and amateur digital photographers, we offer piece of mind that their valuable photos can be saved in most cases.?

?We take photos that if lost, simply can?t be replaced,? notes professional wedding photographers, Jay and Aubrey Berry, ?We had a card reader that went bad and corrupted two cards that were filled with wedding shots. When we used ImageRecall and saw that the photos were all there and that no quality was lost in the recovery, we just sat in tears thinking about how the software saved our business.?

Kodak Press Release 30/10/03

Free Trial version of the new DIGITAL SHO Professional Plug-In is now available at www.asf.com

Rochester, NY (October 30, 2003) ? Eastman Kodak Company today introduced the new DIGITAL SHO Professional Plug-In, which optimizes contrast and exposure to reveal hidden details in highlight and shadow areas of digital images from sources including digital cameras, flatbed/film scanners, Picture CDs, and the Internet.

The DIGITAL SHO Professional Plug-In joins the suite of image correction and enhancement plug-ins to provide easy and effective methods for automatically improving digital images in ADOBE PHOTOSHOP and compatible image editing applications. Other members of the suite include the DIGITAL ROC Plug-In for color correction/restoration, the DIGITAL GEM Plug-In for noise and grain reduction, and the original DIGITAL SHO Plug-In for revealing hidden details in shadows or dark image areas. These award-winning software products were developed and launched by KODAK?s Austin Development Center, formerly Applied Science Fiction, which has been a leader in automatic image correction and photo restoration applications since the mid 1990s with its revolutionary DIGITAL ICE Technology for film scanners which automatically removes surface defects like dust and scratches from scanned film.

Epson Press Release 30/10/03

EPSON DEBUTS ITS COLOUR PRINTING SOLUTIONS AND DIGITAL PHOTO ALBUM AT MACEXPO 2003 - STAND 430

20th-22nd November 2003 - EPSON’s first UK viewing of the Stylus Photo RX300, Stylus Photo RX500, Stylus Pro 4000, AcuLaser C4100 and digital photo album - PhotoPC P-1000 will take place at MacExpo 2003.

The Stylus Photo RX300 is the first standalone A4 printer that combines long lasting premium quality printing and compatibility with the widest selection of digital cameras on the market.  Capable of storing images directly to a CD-R or Zip drive without the need to be connected to a PC, the Stylus Photo RX300 also supports 9 different types of memory cards, without the need of an adaptor.  Other features include CD face printing, high speed output and a droplet size of 3pl for smoother finer detail.  The Stylus Photo RX300 is aimed at the experienced or recently converted digital camera user.

Next in line, the Stylus Photo RX500, the first all-in-one home photo centre providing high quality scans, premium photo printing and copying.  Further flexibility is offered with the inclusion of integrated memory card slots and the support of XD format.  Direct printing facilities and the ability to scan faded photographs and negatives make the Stylus Photo RX500 an ideal
solution for the semi-professional photographer and photo enthusiast.

The Camedia C-5050 Zoom is one of the most advanced compact digital cameras in the Olympus range. It’s clearly aimed at the kind of photographer who requires full control, with a wide range of advanced photographic options. Is the C-5050 Zoom trying to do too much, or is it the perfect compromise between being full-featured and compact? Read my review to find out if the C-5050 Zoom has found the right balance.

Website: Olympus Camedia C-5050 Zoom Review

After 3 weeks and 362 total votes, Inkjet Printer was the clear winner as the most popular way of printing your photographs in the PhotographyBLOG Poll with 173 votes. Photo-lab was second with 109 votes and Don’t usually bother came third with 44 votes.

The new PhotographyBLOG Poll asks the question: “Which photo editing software do you use?”. Are you all rich enough to be able to buy Adobe Photoshop? Is Paint Shop Pro still popular? Or are more of you using Photoshop Elements? Cast your vote now.

The first ever PhotographyBLOG Competition starts on November 1st, which is just a couple of days away from now!

This is a monthly photography competition with a specific theme and prizes for the top 3 photos. The winning entries will be decided by a panel of judges. You just have to submit a single photograph to the Competition Gallery that best interprets November’s theme, which is “Autumn Colour”.

Please make sure that you read the Monthly Competition Rules before submitting your entry. The competition is worldwide and open to everyone.

The popular photoblog directory website Photoblogs.org has just 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. Photoblogs.org’s database currently holds listings for 2,389 photoblogs in 49 countries and 24 languages, so if you’re ever short of photographic inspiration, this is the place to go :-)



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

Website: Photoblogs.org

Michael Reichmann has published a great article on his Luminous Landscape website which clearly explains how to use contrast masks in Photoshop to open up the shadow areas of an image. This looks like a brilliant and relatively simple technique that you will use again and again.

“Given that digital cameras have a dynamic range of 5-7 stops (about the same or slightly greater than transparency film), one often finds that the shadow areas of a frame are rendered darker than one would wish. What to do?

The solution is to use what is called a contrast mask. This is now done digitally, but it is nothing new. It’s been around since the early years of the 20th Century. This used to involve the production of a B&W negative copy of the original which was then placed in superimposition with the positive while a print was made. This caused a flattening of the contrast as shadows received extra exposure while highlights were held back.”

Website: Luminous Landscape - Understanding Contrast Masking

Canon have released a new version of firmware for the Canon EOS 10D DSLR.

This Firmware update (Version 2.0.0) incorporates the following changes:

- PictBridge support*
Improvements or corrections to the following:
- The release time lag when using Microdrives
- C.Fn-04 AE lock operations
- Exposure compensation display errors when using the Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2

*PictBridge is a new industry standard for direct printing that allows you to print images without using a computer by directly connecting digital cameras and digital camcorders to a printer, regardless of the devices’ brand and model.

This firmware update applies to cameras with firmware versions 1.0.0 or 1.0.1. It is not necessary to perform this update on cameras that already have version 2.0.0 firmware.

Website: Canon EOS 10D Firmware

It seems that the Nikon Coolpix 3700 announced a couple of days ago will only be sold through the high street retailer Dixons in the UK, according to DP-Now.com. This explains why Nikon UK have declined to issue a press release for the new digicam. I wonder what Jessops, the largest UK photographic retailer, thinks of that!

Steve’s Digicams have published their full review of “the world’s smallest and lightest 2-megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom”, the Minolta DiMAGE X20.

“Another of the X20’s unique features is its lack of an optical viewfinder. The 1.6-inch color TFT LCD monitor serves as its viewfinder as well as its information display, menu access and review display. Thankfully Minolta has used a good color LCD with an anti- reflection coating so it’s easier to see when used outdoors. We were pleased with its brightness, contrast and color rendition in all but a few outdoor environments.”

Website: Steve’s Digicams - Minolta DiMAGE X20 Review

DCResource are the second website this week to review the Fuji FinePix S7000, which is the successor to the popular FinePix S602 model. The S7000 uses Fuji’s 4th Generation Super CCD HR with 6.3 Million Effective Pixels output and 12.3 million recorded pixels. It costs around $799.99 and is available now.

“The Fuji FinePix S7000 is a camera with a lot of potential that was ultimately a let down in the image quality department. In what seems to be a trend lately on their cameras, Fuji is processing and compressing their images to death, causing higher than average noise and other digital junk. I can live with a little “grain” in images, but when it starts eating away at details, it’s too much.”

Website: DCresource - Fuji FinePix S7000 Review

Website: Read my review of the Fuji FinePix S7000

CNET have published their review of the tiny Canon PowerShot SD10 (also known as the Digital IXUS i in some countries). The SD10 has a street price of $349 in the USA and ?299 in the UK.

“It’s fitting that Canon’s latest Digital Elph, the 4-megapixel SD10, debuted during New York’s Fashion Week at the runway show of Patricia Field, costume designer of Sex and the City. Great-looking and available in several classy finishes, this Canon is just as fashionable and expensive as the Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo shoes that play such a large role in the life of Carrie Bradshaw, SATC’s lead character. The SD10 also takes some darn good pictures. But with a fixed 39mm focal length, this camera, like designer pumps, is more about style than utility. If you want it, shop smart and don’t pay retail.”

Website: CNET - Canon PowerShot SD10 Review

CNET have reviewed the 5-megapixel Sony Cyber Shot DSC-P10, which was first announced way back in February just before the PMA 2003 trade show.

“The diminutive, bullet-shaped DSC-P10 travels nicely in a purse or a jacket pocket. With its portability, its 3X zoom lens, and its easy-to-understand controls, the camera should appeal to a wide range of buyers who need 5-megapixel images from a pocket-friendly point-and-shoot. But the P10’s average image quality, sluggish low-light performance, and ho-hum feature set prompt us to suggest that you check out some of the alternatives before ponying up the bucks.”

Website: CNET - Sony Cyber Shot DSC-P10 Review

Well, it looks as if Epson may be releasing the printer that was announced in Japan a few weeks ago to the rest of the world. jasonB over on the DP-Now Forums has spotted a new printer on the Epson USA website. The A4 Epson Stylus Photo R800 printer, which uses UltraChrome pigment inks, will cost $399 and will ship in February 2004! At last, an A4 printer that uses archival-quality inks :-)

Here are the specs:

- Product Available February 2004
- Epson UltraChrome? Hi-Gloss pigment ink for archival quality glossy and matte photos lasting up to 80 years
- Eight individual cartridges, including matte black ink and gloss optimizer
- World’s first 1.5-picoliter droplets and up to 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi for unsurpassed clarity and detail
- Prints a 5” x 7” color photo in as fast as 45 seconds and black text at up to 17 ppm?
- True BorderFree? photo printing in popular photo sizes (4” x 6”, 5” x 7” and 8” x 10”)
- Print directly on ink jet printable CD/DVDs
- Fast connectivity with built-in USB 2.0 High Speed and IEEE 1394 FireWire

Website: Epson USA - Epson Stylus Photo R800