Samsung have also just announced a new 4-megapixel compact digital camera, the Digimax V4, in what is becoming a very crowded and competitive marketplace. You certainly have a lot of choice if you’re thinking of buying a mid-range digital camera in the next few months.

The Digimax V4 has a very impressive, Macromedia Flash mini-site on the main Samsung website - no ordinary text-based press release for this camera! As for the camera itself, its spec certainly looks promising, with a 3x optical zoom, 4 megapixels, Schneider lens and an unprecedented 9 possible power sources!

Website: Samsung

“Whether you are new to digital photography or are looking to upgrade, the Digimax V4 is the perfect digital camera. The introduction of this highly specified and sophisticated digital camera makes a strong addition to the wide range of Samsung digital cameras.”

Minolta yesterday announced the new 4-megapixel Dimage S414, ahead of PMA 2003.

I was considering the popular Dimage S404 before choosing the Dimage 5 instead, so it will be interesting to see what improvements they’ve made to the new S414.

Minolta’s Press Release also contains links to detailed background and specification information.

Website: Minolta Press Release

“Minolta Corporation announces the new easy-to-use DiMAGE S414 featuring a 4.1 megapixel CCD, a high-quality Minolta GT 4x optical zoom lens, Minolta’s CxProcess, and additional versatile features. With a design based on the highly-regarded DiMAGE S404 and DiMAGE S304, the stylish new DiMAGE S414 also features a built-in flash, video recording capability, USB interface and Compact Flash card compatibility.”

The UK-based photographic retailer Jessops have launched a new store card, which allows you to buy an item and not pay for it for up to 9 months (depending on how much the item costs). Customers can choose to pay nothing for three months on any purchase over ?200, or pay nothing for four months on purchases over ?400. Longer interest-free terms are also available for six and nine months, for purchases over ?600 and ?900 respectively.

ePhotoZine have the full news story:

Website: ePhotoZine

I found these PhotoBlogs tonight which are well worth some of your valuable surfing time; I’ve also posted them on the Links page.

Website: 28MM

Website: PhotoJunkie

Website: Photobloggies

Website: Improving your Shot

I’ve just sat down and worked out how many photographs I’ve taken so far in 2003. My equation reads:

Canon EOS 300
3 x 36-exposure colour films
4 x 36-exposure black and white films

Olympus Mju II
1 x 24-exposure colour film

Minolta Dimage 5
Approx. 50 images

Total
326 images

The fact that I haven’t taken that many photographs in the last 6 weeks, combined with the fact that I’ve just worked this all out, means that I should probably get out and take more pictures! I’ve only gone out 6 times to specifically take photographs.

The next thing I’ll do is try and work out how many of those 326 images I actually like…

Contax have just announced the Contax Tvs Digital, their first entry into the compact digital camera market. The 5 megapixel camera comes in either a black or silver finish and has a Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar f/2.8-4.8 lens.

You can read a roughly translated but very detailed article about the camera at this website:

Website: Contax Tvs Digital

Here are a few photos of the recent snowfall in London, a rare event that caused widespread chaos in Southern England. You will never believe that less than 2 inches of fluffy snow caused some people to be trapped overnight in their cars. The Northern half of the country had a big laugh at our expense, calling us Southern Softies on the national News :-)

These images were taken through the back window of my home, using my Minolta Dimage 5 digital camera.

Snow 2003 #1	Snow 2003 #2	Snow 2003 #3

The beans have been well and truly spilled…Nikon have involuntarily revealed their new digital Coolpix camera, the Coolpix SQ. It seems that Nikon posted all of the Flash teasers for the new camera onto their web server. An “enterprising” visitor has downloaded all of the teasers and made them available before Nikon!
This is the main news story on digitalkamera.de at the moment and they are also showing the 6th and final teaser, which shows the new camera in all its square glory:

Website: digitalkamera.de

There’s also a thread on the DPReview forums that has links to all of the teasers:

Website: DPReview Forums

and DCViews have the links as well:

Website: DC Views

Vincent Oliver over at photo-i is in the middle of preparing a comparitive review of the Epson Perfection 3200 and Canon 9900F flatbed scanners. The review seems to be a work-in-progress at the moment, so keep checking back over the next few days.

Website: photo-i

Following on from January’s news that Epson was releasing the Perfection 3200 flatbed scanner, Canon have followed suit with their equivalent model, the CanoScan 9900F. Both scanners offer a breakthrough 3200 x 6400 dpi scanning resolution. Though I guess it’s not quite as break-through for the Canon…!

Photo-i seem to have the only report on Canon’s Scanner at the moment; here’s a brief excerpt:

Website: photo-i

“Canon, leader in imaging technology, is pleased to announce the CanoScan 9900F a new flagship film capable flatbed scanner incorporating two significant technology firsts for Canon. An optical resolution of 3200 x 6400 dpi is achieved from a new 6-line Hyper CCD and a new advanced development of Canon’s own FARE automatic film retouching technology has been added called FARE level 2. These features combine to deliver unparalleled quality scans together with outstanding productivity making this the best quality, highest performance flatbed scanner yet from Canon. The CanoScan 9900F is aimed at the high-end photographer and graphic arts professional.”

ePhotoZine are currently running a photography competition. So what, you might say? What caught my eye was the amazing prize on offer - a Canon CanoScan FS4000US film scanner worth around ?650!

Website: ePhotoZine: February Competition

Produce a photograph that you consider to be sensual or erotic, but to make it a little more interesting the photograph cannot be a nude! To help here’s a dictionary description of sensual:
1. Of or relating to any of the senses or sense organs; bodily.
2. Strongly or unduly inclined to gratification of the senses.
3. Tending to arouse the bodily appetites.
This competition closes on 01 Mar 2003.

DPReview has just taken it’s usual in-depth-look at the HP Photosmart 850, which competes with the Canon G3 amongst other diigial cameras. Can HP betray their non-photographic roots and produce a photographer’s camera? Find out by visiting DPReview.

Website: DPReview

“Just posted! Our full review of HP’s four megapixel, eight times zoom Photosmart 850. The 850 is the second of the ‘new generation’ of HP digital cameras and marks an improvement in both image quality and feature set since the 812. In our review the 850 is compared to the current king of the four megapixel class, the Canon PowerShot G3. Come in and see how the 850 performed in our tests.”

ePhotoZine has also recently posted a review of this camera, if you need another opinion:

Website: ePhotoZine

The very first PhotographyBLOG review has just been published! I’ve taken an in-depth look at 2Flyer Screensaver Builder Pro, the program that was used to create the screensaver that is free for all new PhotographyBLOG members. If you are looking for an affordable, easy to use screensaver program then 2Flyer is well worth checking out.

Read the Review

This is one of the most interesting and well executed photography portfolio websites that I’ve ever seen. And I’m not exaggerating that much.

Website: Paul Anton

The site layout mimics a traditional photography lightbox, with the visitor being able to click on negative strips to view images. Very simple but very effective.
Somewhat bizarrely I saw this site mentioned on a web design discussion list, buried in a thread about auction websites!

Visitors to this site may have noticed one of the following display problems since we launched a few weeks ago:

• in Internet Explorer 6, on the first page, the text was cut off at the bottom in line with the navigation menu on the right-hand side
• in Netscape Navigator the navigation menu appeared below the main content of each page, rather than on the right-hand side

About a week ago I fixed the first IE issue, but this in turn caused the Netscape problem. Happily, thanks to Jeffrey Zeldman, I’ve now (fingers crossed) fixed both problems. An Internet Explorer 6 bug was to blame…

Each month ePhotoZine publishes 6 new photographic techniques, which encompass a wide range of topics and are always interesting to read.

This month you can find out how to combine bracketed images in Photoshop, why you should get up early to take landscape photos, and how to cost-effectively make panoramic prints, amongst other things.

Nikon have announced two new entry-level digital cameras ahead of PMA in March.

Nikon are currently running a teaser advert on their website which doesn’t give much away about the new Coolpix, other than the cryptic clue “Starting February 3, meet a fascinating stranger.”

However, someone has spilled the beans over on the DPReview forums so it seems that everyone who was hoping for a high-end Nikon 6700 may be disappointed…

The very first, completely free PhotographyBLOG screensaver has been released and is now available to all registered members.

If you are already a PhotographyBLOG member you should shortly receive an email containing download instructions. If you’re not a member then what are you waiting for? Register now to receive your free screensaver…

I literally stumbled across this excellent photo-sharing site called PhotoForums at Yahoo. It’s the kind of site that I wish I ‘d designed myself. I’ve already signed up and will be posting some photos in the near future…

Website: PhotoForums

PhotoForums is an online community for those people interested in sharing their passion of photography, videography and the creation of images. It’s free. It’s easy and it’s for you.

Okay, so maybe that’s a slight exaggeration designed to catch your attention, but here in deepest Hertfordshire (just north of London) we’ve had several inches of snow this afternoon.

What has this got to do with photography, you may be asking? Well, I’ve ventured out to take a few snaps with my Olympus Mju II compact, and I’m now wondering if the camera will have exposed for the snow correctly. If I had my digital or film cameras with me then maybe my chances of getting some good pcitures would have been increased.

So what sort of camera do you carry round on a daily basis? Do you even carry a camera all the time? How many times have you missed that amazing photographic opportunity? Leave a comment and let us all know.