Datacolor’s award-winning Spyder3 display calibration device is now more affordable than ever. Effective from 1st June 2008, Datacolor’s award-winning Spyder3Elite is reduced in price from £175 to £155.99 while Spyder3Print is reduced by £60 to £253.99. “Our Spyder3 range has proved to be very successful among imaging professionals who trust Datacolor to get the best from their work. By introducing new, lower prices for Spyder3Elite and Spyder3Print, we are able to bring Datacolor’s advanced colour management technology to a new audience who are also passionate about colour in their work.” commented Christoph Gamper, European general manager of Datacolor.

The new Phase One 645 Camera is now shipping in volume worldwide. Based on an open platform, designed to support the photographers’ choice of lenses and digital backs or film operation, the Phase One 645 is available in a choice of five different configurations. Each camera system comprises the camera body, one 80mm F2.8 lens, P+ digital camera back, and Capture One 4.1 software.

The new Single Person Chair Hide is an easy to erect photography hide with built-in armchair. Folding into a backpack style carry bag, and erected in less than a minute, the Single Person Chair Hide offers enough space inside for a pro-spec tripod and camera bag. Dismantling and packing takes less than two minutes and the hide is shower-proof, shadow-proof and comes supplied with pegs to fix the skirt when in a breeze. Size when open is just 1.2m by 0.8m and has a height of 1.35m, while the fabric is a heavy-duty polyester coated neoprene. Priced at just £64.95, the Single Person Chair Hide is available now from www.thewildlifestudio.com

The new Delux Beanbag hugs car windows, chair backs, railings, tree branches and lots other objects. The cupped top of the Delux Beanbag gives support but still allows a certain amount of panning movement if required. A set of legs allow cushioning even on hard edges such as glass windows, and a pocket keeps flash cards, lens caps and sunglasses safe from loss. A strong caribiner clips the Delux Beanbag to your belt or camera strap for easy transportation. The Delux Beanbag is priced at £12.95, available now from www.thewildlifestudio.com

Fujifilm have released a new firmware update for the FinePix S1000fd, the world’s smallest 12x optical zoom digital camera. Version 1.03 fixes the following issues:

1. The brightness of the captured images when “EVF/LCD mode” is set to “60fps” is darker than that set to “30f/s”.
2. Some words in some languages which have error of spelling, are displayed on the EVF/LCD screen.

Website: Fujifilm FinePix S1000fd Firmware Update 1.03

“Announced on the 23rd of January 2008, the Sony Cybershot DSC-W130 is one of Sony’s latest W series compact digital cameras, and is the cheapest Sony available with optical image stabilisation. The camera features an 8 megapixel sensor, a 4x optical zoom lens, a 2.5” screen that works in the sun, an optical viewfinder and a VGA video mode. The Sony Cybershot DSC-W130 is available from around £130 which makes it great value for money.”

Website: DigiCamReview - Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W130 Review

Adobe Creative Suite 3.3 now incorporates Acrobat 9 Pro, and is available in Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, and Master Collection editions. Acrobat 9 Pro allows you to combine documents, video, audio, and other file types into easy-to-distribute PDF Portfolios, complete with customisable interactive navigation. Thanks to new native support for the Adobe Flash format, PDF files can now incorporate and smoothly play back video, audio, and application files created in Adobe Flash for richer and more engaging experiences. Adobe CS3.3 is available at a at 10% discount compared to CS3 Design Premium in the UK. Creative Suite 3 users can upgrade to Creative Suite 3.3 from £135.

A-DATA have launched the World’s fastest compact flash card, the 350x speed Turbo Series CF. Available in 8GB and 16GB capacities, the Turbo CF 350X offers a read speed of 52MB/sec and write speed of 47MB/sec. The card supports dual-channel data transferring and UDMA 0-5 mode as well as the MDMA 0-4 mode of high-level digital cameras. There’s no word yet on availability or pricing.

Ilford is sponsoring the fourth edition of the festival Triestèfotografia, an Italian photography exhibition and competition. Beginning in Trieste, Italy, on the 24th of June, Triestèfotografia continues with a series of exhibitions in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany and Austria. Alessandro Paderni, a photographer specialising in interior design, was selected by a panel of judges as the exhibition’s overview winner.

PopPhoto have rounded-up the latest AA batteries and tested them from a green angle, emphasizing rechargeable batteries and recycling.

“With plenty of time to plan ahead, we shopped around for the best prices, dropping two Franklins at Wal-Mart. $200 bought seven sets of rechargeable and seven sets of single-use batteries—84 batteries in total. With individual single-use batteries ranging in price from 50-cents to upwards of four dollars (purchased in packs of four or eight), our objective was simple: Calculate cost per shot for each battery.”

Website: PopPhoto - AA Battery Test

Buy-n-Shoot have tested the new Olympus mju 1020 digital camera, which offers a 7x optical zoom (equiv. to 37-260mm), 10.1 megapixels and a 2.7 inch LCD screen.

“The ‘shadow adjustment’ feature along with ‘face detection’ technology – each of which is fast becoming a standard across the entire Olympus range - will ensure properly exposed and evenly lit portraits and happy snaps where both the faces of the subject/s and the background are correctly exposed. Thankfully, the days where your camera sacrificed either one or the other have passed increasing the success of the Mju 1020 as a point-and-shoot even further.”

Website: Buy-n-Shoot - Olympus mju 1020 Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Sony A350, a 14.2 megapixel DSLR camera with a variable angle LCD screen.

“When reviewing our sample images, I found the A350’s image quality results to be very pleasing for an entry-level dSLR. We primarily shot using the 14M Large Fine JPEG setting and Program mode with the ISO set to 100. Doing so, the majority of our samples showed good overall exposure. When using the Standard creative style mode, color saturation was very natural looking. I was impressed with the low noise levels found when shooting available light shots of our M&M man. Noise was very low at ISO speeds of 800 and below.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Sony A350 Review

Website: Read our Sony A350 Review

WORLD EXCLUSIVE! We’ve been testing out the new Ricoh GX200 for the past week, and today we’ve published a selection of JPEGs, RAW images and a sample movie for you to evaluate. Take a look to see the image quality from the new 12 megapixel sensor and Smooth Imaging Engine III processing engine. Our full GX200 review will follow in the next few days…

Website: Ricoh GX200 Sample Photos

The Ricoh GX200 compact digital camera for professionals is the 12 megapixel successor to last year’s GX100 model. Other significant improvements offered by the GX200 include better noise reduction thanks to the new Smooth Imaging Engine III processing engine, a larger 2.7-inch, 460,000 pixel HVGA LCD screen, 5 shot continuous RAW mode and an electronic level function for horizontal and vertical shooting. It also offers the same 24-72mm zoom lens, 25mm thick body and removable tilting electronic view?nder (optional accessory). The Ricoh GX200 costs £349.99, or £399.99 as a kit with the VF-1 electronic viewfinder. We’ve got some exclusive Ricoh GX200 sample photos, and our full review will follow later this week.

onOne Software’s Plug-In Suite 4 combines full versions of six software tools to make your images look their best. Plug-In Suite 4 includes Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro, PhotoTools 1.0, PhotoFrame 3.1, Mask Pro 4.1, PhotoTune 2.2 and FocalPoint 1.0. The new Plug-In Suite 4 is available now to new users for $499.95 - a savings of $799.75 if purchased separately.  In the UK, Colour Confidence are distributing Plug-In Suite 4 for £320/€469 – a saving of £497/€748 on purchasing all six separately. Existing users of Plug-in Suite version 1, 2 or 3 can upgrade to Plug-In Suite 4 for $199.95 / £125 / €187.

Panasonic have released a new firmware update for the DMC-TZ4 / TZ5 digital cameras. Version 1.2 simply “improves auto focus performance”.

Website: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ4 / TZ5 Firmware Update 1.2

The FSD-1100 from Fantasea Line is a new underwater housing fro the Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS / IXUS 80 IS camera. Depth rated to 60 meters/200 feet, the FSD-1100 housing provides access to all camera functions. The Fantasea FSD-1100 housing has a double O-ring seal on all controls, anti-glare hood over LCD screen, removable flash diffuser and a 46mm threaded lens port. As with all other Fantasea Camera Housings, in the event of accidental water leakage, the camera inside is insured.

Memorex SimpleSave DVDs offer an easy and hassle-free way to back up your photos and videos. The Memorex discs are record-once DVDs with embedded software that automatically finds, organizes and backs up photo and video files on PCs and connected drives. More than six in every 10 U.S. individuals now own a digital camera and take an estimated 28 photos per month, but only 4% regularly back up data on their PCs. Memorex SimpleSave Photo & Video Back-Up DVDs are available in packs of five discs with slim storage cases for $14.99 per pack.

KoffeePhoto Premium is a new online photo backup service featuring unlimited online backup of pictures. KoffeePhoto Premium provides fully automated backup and restoration of all digital picture files. KoffeePhoto Premium is priced at 39,99 € a year ($59,99).

Hahnemuhle has redesigned its Certificate of Authenticity, which photographers can use to guarantee the authenticity of their limited edition artworks. Each certificate is made of premium deckled edge mould-made paper with a Hahnemuhle watermark and fluorescent security fibers and a serialized number hologram. The combination of the certificate and hologram assures that each Certificate of Authenticity relates to one particular piece of art. Each box contains 25 certificates in A4 size and 50 holograms.