Sony Press Release 21/10/03

UPTOWN CHIC MEETS DOWNTOWN FUN IN SONY’S NEW CYBER-SHOT `U’

Ultra-Slim U40 Camera Captures Looks

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 21, 2003 ? Lipstick: check. Car keys: check. Stylish camera to capture an evening with friends: check?if you have the latest Cyber-shot? U-series camera from Sony.

Expected in January for about $200, the stylish U40 camera will come in four colors (silver, black, dark blue and red) that match your mood or your outfit.

Slide the front cover sideways and the two-megapixel camera comes to life in under one second?giving enough time to capture candid shots.

“Life happens in the blink of an eye, and the U40 camera is ready when you are,” said Steve Haber, senior vice president for Sony Electronics’ Personal Mobile and Imaging Division. “It’s about the size of a candy bar, but full featured enough to ensure that the shots turn out great.”

LetsGoDigital have reviewed the Fuji FinePix F410, a 3.1 megapixel camera with an RRP of $499.

“The FinePix F410 is a camera that fulfils that what a camera is designed for. A tight design, a solid body, equipped with the latest technique on image sensors and a high standard of users-friendliness. I can tell you I simply liked the FinePix F410. The camera can be carried around easily and it is striking that when you ask someone that has no experience with digital cameras or whatsoever, to operate this camera they can without asking questions!”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Fuji FinePix F410 Review

LetsGoDigital has 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.

“The speed of being ready to shoot from the QV-R40 is surprisingly fast. Especially for a digital camera equipped with an optical zoom lens it reacts as swift as an arrow after switching on the on/off button. The optical zoom lens also reacts very rapidly so there is almost no interval of release.”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Casio QV-R40 Review

The digital photography website LetsGoDigital have reviewed the entry-level Olympus Camedia C-150, a 2 megapixel resolution camera with a bright lens (f 2.8) and a large 1.8 inch LCD monitor for image viewing convenience.

“The color reproduction is alright, the sharpness of the image looks good and the end result is satisfying. The images are stored on a xD-Picture card that, at the moment, has a higher price level than other rival type memory cards. It?s a matter of time until more manufacturers will produce this type of memory card as well, so prices will be competed too!”

Website: LetsGoDigital - Olympus Camedia C-150 Review

Sue Chastain, editor of the Graphics Software section of About.com, has let me know that several software reviews have recently been published, including a review of the new image management program Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0. Also, expect to see reviews of Extensis Smartscale, Facefilter and ThumbsPlus in the near future.

Website: Photoshop Album 2.0 Review

Website: ACDSee 6 Review

Website: Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9 Review

Website: PhotoArtMaster Gold Review

ACD Systems Press Release 21/10/03

ACD Systems Partners with Morpheus Software to Release New Plug-ins for ACDSee

Cool graphics programs allow users to animate digital images and morph video clips

VICTORIA, British Columbia ? October 21, 2003 - ACD Systems International Inc. (TSE:ASA), the digital imaging company, today announced the distribution of Morpheus photo animator software and Morpheus photo animator pro software. Morpheus is an award-winning graphics program that allows users to morph or warp photos, images and movies. Both programs were developed with ACD’s Software Development Kit (SDK) as a plug-in to ACD’s award- winning digital imaging software, ACDSee?. 

Morpheus photo animator software is a fun and easy-to-use program that enables individuals to create photo animations, presentations and greeting cards.  With the pro version, users can also morph video clips and movies. Designed for the everyday PC user, Morpheus also appeals to professionals such as dentists and surgeons who use morphed images to show before and after images to patients. Both programs support Shockwave Flash, Animated GIF, AVI, and JPEG file formats.  To morph two images together, users simply have to:
1. Load the images to be morphed.
2. Place dots on both images to define the motion of the morph.
3. Align the dots on both images.
4. Use the Preview Window to make minor adjustments to the images.
5. Render the new image into a viewable file format.

Canto Press Release 21/10/03

New version simplifies creation, management and deployment of Digital Asset Management Solutions for users, administrators and system integrators October 21, 2003, San Francisco, Berlin. Canto, the global leader in Digital Asset Management (DAM) solutions, today announced ?Cumulus 6?. Workgroup and Enterprise Editions of this new version will be available at the end of November and are geared to professional users.

Both Editions offer many new features and explicit improvements that dramatically simplifies the users? daily work when managing their assets. Administrators now have all possibilities to administer the settings of an entire solution at the server. Furthermore, Cumulus 6 incorporates a new central user management. The newly introduced EJaP technology (Embedded Java PlugIn) enables both customers and especially system integrators to customize the available out-of-the-box solutions to meet customer needs. New functions can easily be added and Cumulus 6 can be integrated into any workflow, Enterprise Portal or Enterprise Content Management solution. Also, with Cumulus 6 Mac OS X clients will be offered for the first time.

One of the three essential design concepts behind Cumulus 6 is the application?s Ease-of-Use. Now all assets can be managed and made accessible centrally in one window. Also, an extra keyword list and the asset location can be displayed in addition to the categories. In Cumulus 6 users can easily switch between different views with preconfigured View Sets and even display the information they find relevant regarding to format or task. Cumulus 6 also offers Asset Handling Sets for optimized handling of different formats. These preconfigured sets can be edited and provided centrally by the administrator.

DPReview have got their hands on some of the biggest Compact Flash cards on the market, including Pretec’s 6Gb card that was announced at the beginning of August and a 4Gb card from Lexar.

“We are lucky enough to have both the Lexar 40x 4 GB and Pretec 6 GB Compact Flash cards on hand and have performed a variety of tests on these very high capacity cards. While the Lexar 40x 4 GB is impressive the Pretec 6 GB is even more so considering that it is similar in design to IBM’s Microdrive.”

Website: DPReview -  Big Capacity Compact Flash Card Review

DPReview have reviewed the Delkin eFilm PRO CardBus 32-bit PCMCIA adapter, which the company claims is the fastest PCMCIA Adapter on the market. DPReview agrees, saying “in our tests the new CardBus CF adapter from Delkin was almost four times faster than a standard PCMCIA adapter.” The CardBus 32 adapter allows CF memory cards to work in the PC Card slot on most Windows based laptops and uses the high speed CardBus PCMCIA standard.

Website: DPReview - Delkin CardBus CF Adapter Review

As part of their interactive preview of the new Olympus E-1 DSLR, DP-Now have posted a comparison of the E-1 with an older Olympus digital camera, the E-10.

“Here is a set of pictures showing, in this case an Olympus E-10, side by side with an E-1 fitted with the ‘standard’ Zuiko Digital 14-54 lens. An E-20 is externally identical apart from gold lettering instead of white.

You don’t get any prizes for noticing that the older E-10/20 body design has been used as the base for the E-1.”

Website: DP-Now - Olympus E-1 vs Olympus E-10 Comparison

Fujifilm Press Release 21/10/03

FINEPIX F420 ZOOM: TINY AND SHINY, BUT NO LIGHTWEIGHT

Smallest Fujifilm camera to incorporate Super CCD HR technology and 30 frames per second video.

Fujifilm today introduced the FinePix F420 Zoom, an A-list compact digital camera that marries style with substance to stand out from the crowd.

Building on the success of the highly acclaimed FinePix F410 Zoom, the FinePix F420 Zoom oozes quality with its robust, metal body, yet measures just 77 (W) x 69 (H) x 26.4 (D) mm - even smaller than its predecessor.

A real show-stopper, the FinePix F420 Zoom is the smallest camera to include Fujifilm’s 4th Generation Super CCD HR (High Resolution) technology and can realise 3 million effective pixels, producing 6 million recorded pixels.  Its diminutive frame also successfully incorporates a 3x optical zoom lens and a voice memo recorder capable of storing up to 30 seconds of sound.

What’s more, the FinePix F420 Zoom’s high quality movie capture capabilities give an encore-deserving performance.  It records at 30 frames per second, a frame-rate that will ensure silky-smooth movie clips.

While this camera’s compact dimensions ensure it will fit into any shirt pocket or clutch bag, usability has not been compromised.  The FinePix F420 Zoom comfortably incorporates a 1.8” LCD monitor into its svelte frame, as well as a Video Out socket for viewing images on a TV.  The camera is also compatible with PictBridge, the industry standard for printing images from a digital camera without using a PC, making the process simpler and more efficient than ever.

This camera is a real crowd pleaser, and powered by its rechargeable battery (with an option to use AAA batteries should it run low), you can be confident the FinePix F420 Zoom will last the night - even if you don’t.

Adrian Clarke, Fujifilm’s Director of Consumer Products, commented: “Earlier this year, the FinePix F410 Zoom set some serious standards in photography; heavyweight picture power, contained within a small metal shell.  The FinePix F420 Zoom crams greater firepower into an even more discreet package. “This camera is that rarest of combinations - it looks great wherever you take it, and you can be sure the pictures will, too.”

Michael Reichmann has published a very interesting article called “Understanding Mirror Lock-Up” on his Luminous Landscape website. The article strongly encourages you to use the mirror lock-up function on your camera (if it has it) to ensure optimum image sharpness. Despite this being accessed through a number of menus as a custom function on the Canon EOS 10D, I intend to follow Michael’s advice in the future. But I won’t be trying this test:

“Here’s a small test that you can do. Set your camera on a firm support, such as a tripod, and then place a small glass of water on the hot-shoe (balance it carefully). Set the exposure time to about 1 second, and once the water is very still press the shutter release.

What you’ll likely see are ripples on the surface of the water. This may be caused by your touching the camera to press the shutter and / or the mirror flipping upwards. If you know how to set mirror lock-up on your camera body, do so, and then do the experiment again, but also instead of pressing the shutter release manually, use a remote release, cable release or the camera’s self timer. See any difference in the ripples?”

Website: Understanding Mirror Lock-Up

Epson USA Press Release 20/10/03

New Epson Stylus Pro 4000 Offers 17-Inch-Wide Professional-Level Photographic Printing and Seven-Color UltraChrome Ink System with New Eight-Channel Printhead

LONG BEACH, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Oct. 20, 2003—

Epson Stylus Pro 4000 Offers Nearly Twice the Speed of Previous Epson Stylus Pro Printers and New Ink System Automatically Switches Between Matte Black and Photo Black Ink Modes

Epson’s newest and most advanced professional-level photographic printer to date is taking the form of a desktop design. The new Epson Stylus(R) Pro 4000 creates exhibit-quality images up to 17 inches in width at speeds that nearly double that of previous Epson Stylus Pro printers. The printer features a new eight-channel printhead and seven-color Epson UltraChrome(TM) pigmented ink system that automatically switches between Matte Black and Photo Black inks for optimum print quality on different media surfaces. It’s also packed with several other advanced features designed specifically around the needs of today’s professional photographers, graphic designers, commercial printers, GIS mapping, CAD users and more.

“We’re confident the Epson Stylus Pro 4000 will be the most popular and best selling Stylus Pro printer yet,” said Mark Radogna, senior product manager, professional graphics, Epson. “The combination of this printer’s amazing image quality, dramatically faster performance and unique 17-inch-wide media handling, will make it a must-have product for any digital imaging professional—especially with an estimated street price of only $1,795.”

The Slovenian website e-fotografija have reviewed the HP Photosmart 945 digital camera, which features a 5.3-megapixel total resolution and 56x total zoom (8x optical zoom). The HP Photosmart 945 digital camera is available now and has an estimated U.S. retail price of $549.

Website: e-fotografija - HP 945 Review

CNET have reviewed the 4 megapixel Kyocera Finecam L4v, which has a huge 2.5 inch LCD display on the back of the camera.

“Like the Finecam L3v, the otherwise ordinary L4v stands out from the point-and-shoot crowd, thanks to a large, 2.5-inch LCD. It’s really handy for framing shots and playing slide shows for friends, but poor power management negates whatever small advantage a large screen might have given the L4v over its competitors.”

Website: CNET - Kyocera Finecam L4v Review

The Olympus ?[mju:]-III Wide 100 is an advanced compact camera with a wide 28mm-100mm zoom lens, autofocus system with 11 autofocus-points, 3-way Auto Exposure (AE) system for accurate exposure of images and six different flash modes. With a retail price of ?169.99, the Olympus ?[mju:]-III Wide 100 is positioned at the more expensive end of the compact camera market. Do all those features justify that cost? Read my review to find out.

Website: Olympus ?[mju:]-III Wide 100 Review

PhotographyBLOG reader Shaun has recently had a bad experience with the popular online print service Ofoto, which is owned by Kodak. Shaun has allowed PhotographyBLOG to publish the full details of the whole sorry saga, including the email exchange, so without further ado here is Shaun’s review of Ofoto…

Website: Ofoto Reader Review

Website: Ofoto

Steve’s Digicams posted no less than 5 new reviews on Friday and Saturday of last week, so rather than post separate entries, here’s a round-up of the reviews.

Pentax *ist D

“The PENTAX *ist D digital SLR camera combines a high-performance, APS-sized 6.1 effective megapixel CCD image sensor, Pentax K lens mount, pentaprism viewfinder, and a 1.8 inch LCD monitor in one of the world’s smallest and lightest camera bodies in the digital SLR category. The *ist D measures a very compact 5 x 3.7 x 2.3 inches and weighs just 18 ounces without batteries.”

Website: Steve’s Digicams - Pentax *ist D Review

Pentax Optio S4

“The Pentax Optio S4 is the same height and width of a credit card yet is packed with features that you wouldn’t expect to find in such a small camera like a 4-megapixel imager, 3x optical zoom lens, 11MB of built-in memory, 3D Imaging, Panorama Assist and Digital Filtering for color and image effects.”

Website: Steve’s Digicams - Pentax Optio S4 Review

Canon PowerShot Digital ELPH SD10

“Stretching the limits of style, size, and resolution, Canon have produced (at least for the moment) the worlds smallest 4-megapixel digicam, the PowerShot SD10 Digital ELPH. This tiny, unintimidating (dare I say cute?) point-n-shoot will please beginners with its ease of use in automatic exposure mode, yet it offers a limited range of adjustments in Manual mode that will help the intermediate user deal with less common shooting conditions.”

Website: Steve’s Digicams - Canon PowerShot Digital ELPH SD10 Review

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P92

“The DSC-P92’s images are excellent. The P92 is accurate even in low light conditions. The overall image quality, sharpness and color balance is on the same level as much more expensive cameras with the same image resolution capabilities.”

Website: Steve’s Digicams - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P92 Review

Canon i860 Photo Printer

“The Canon i860 is an incredibly fast printer and is the perfect replacement for both an all-purpose text and graphic printer and a photo printer. Most people don’t print enough photos to justify a dedicated photo printer and with today’s inkjets like the Canon i860, i960 and i9100 you no longer need a dedicated photo printer. These printers are up for both of these tasks and do them extremely well.”

Website: Steve’s Digicams - Canon i860 Photo Printer Review

Photo-i have just reviewed the Hi-Touch 640PS Photo Printer. This dye-sublimation printer features stand-alone, direct printing of 6x4 inch lab-quality photos at an increased 403dpi (equivalent to inkjet 6400dpi) in only 75 seconds.

“For a professional studio photographer the HiTi printer gets my vote of the day. I had to think hard about this one, again I was apprehensive as to what use this small print size was going to be. But after playing about with the printer and seeing how many different ID sized portraits it can produce, including UK passport size pictures, I can see the advantages that this printer offers over other instant film systems.”

Website: Photo-i - Hi-Touch 640PS Photo Printer Review

One of the most recent worst-kept-secrets on the Web has been the Epson Stylus PRO 4000 printer, which the website Photo-i has now made official by publishing the specifications, sample images, price and their initial impressions:

“The Stylus Pro 4000 promises to give professional photographers a cost effective replacement to the traditional darkroom. The colour prints I have seen from this printer are stunning, I don’t know if Epson have re-formulated the inks but they certainly seem to have more punch than the original 2100 UltraChrome inks, perhaps it is due to better profiles and improved media.”

The A2, 8-colour, 2880x1440 dpi Stylus Pro 4000 will, however, cost the equivalent of a digital DSLR camera - ?1,495 + VAT to be exact.

Website: Photo-i

UPDATE 21/10/03
Epson UK are now listing the Stylus Pro 4000 on their website. If you are interested in buying one, you’d better be quick, as Epson have issued the following statement:

“Available from January 2004, however, we anticipate demand to be extremely high, so please contact your reseller from the 1st November to place an advance order.”

Website: Epson UK