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March 2004
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| 03-21-2004 |
Canon Powershot A75 and SD110 Reviews PostedJust posted is our Canon Powershot A75 review, the successor to last year's wildly popular 3-megapixel, 3x zoom Powershot A70. It has the same resolution and major features plus some new ones, all at a very attractive price. Perfect for new users and anyone that wants a mid-sized, fully-loaded camera that delivers excellent image quality. And if what you want is a small, durable and very pocketable camera then check out the new Canon Powershot SD110 Digital ELPH. They don't come any smaller and it's classy looking, easy to use and produces high-quality images the equal of much larger cameras.
We will be finalizing the Canon Powershot S1 IS review this week, sorry it has taken so
long but we are already swamped with new cameras and some we don't get as much time with
so we have to prioritize the work accordingly. Currently in-work is the Olympus C8080,
Minolta A2, Nikon D70 SLR and Fuji S20 Pro - and more are coming...
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| 03-21-2004 |
Wetpixel.com Announces Bi-Monthly Photo Contest with Significant PrizesSan Francisco, March 22, 2004 - Wetpixel.com, a website dedicated to the sharing of information about digital underwater photography, has announced a new bi-monthly underwater photography contest for both digital and scanned film images, which will compete on even footing for significant prizes donated by sponsors Aquatica, Pictopia, Ikelite, Gates Housings, Ultralight Control Systems, Marine Camera Distributors, and INON America. Contests will run every two months, and at the end of the calendar year, grand prize winners will be chosen and awarded prizes valued at more than $5,000 USD! The winners of each bi-monthly contest will be awarded smaller prizes. Entering the contest is completely free. Winners will be chosen by a jury of acclaimed underwater photographers including Dr. Alex Mustard, Andy Sallmon, Chris Bangs, David Fleetham, Douglas David Seifert, James Watt, Stephen Frink, and members of Wetpixel staff. The first photo contest ends on April 30th, and additional contests will run through the end of June, August, October, and December 2004. Wetpixel.com also runs a "Photo of the Week" contest for amateur photographers just getting started in underwater photography. Winners are published on Wetpixel.com's home page and receive a $30 credit at Pictopia.com for lightjet printing or other digital photographic services.
For more information about Wetpixel's Photo Contest, visit:
www.wetpixel.com/contest
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| 03-20-2004 |
Kodak DCS Professional SLR/n Review Posted
If you're in the market for a full-frame dSLR there's only two choices and one of them
is the Kodak DCS Professional SLR/n, it
delivers an incredible 14-megapixels of image resolution. It's also priced $3000 less
than the competition. So how does it rate? Check out the review...
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| 03-19-2004 |
DIWA Presents First Awards to Olympus and Casio at CeBIT 2004The Digital Imaging Websites Association (DIWA) was able to complete some unfinished business with Olympus and Casio on the opening day of the CeBIT Fair, Hanover, Germany, this week. Awarded DIWA gold medals for the Olympus E-1 and E-System innovation last month, CeBIT was the perfect venue to present Olympus its two prestigious gold medal award trophies. And Casio was awarded a Digital Imaging Websites Awards (DIWA) silver medal award for its QV-R40 compact digital camera.
Read the DIWA CeBIT press release.
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| 03-18-2004 |
Nikon D70 SLR First Look Posted
I've just posted our Nikon D70 SLR First Look
and it's looking good indeed. This is certainly going to be the year of the affordable
digital SLR with the Canon Digital Rebel and the Nikon D70 both priced under $1000.
Check out the D70's features and I'm sure that you'll agree, it's a winner.
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| 03-18-2004 |
Konica Minolta Announces New DiMAGE G600
Read the Konica Minolta press release.
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| 03-18-2004 |
Kodak Introduces New 14MP Digital SLR with CANON EOS Mount Compatibility
Read the Kodak press release.
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| 03-18-2004 |
Olympus Delivers 6.1-Megapixel Ultra-Compact C-60 Zoom
Read the Olympus press release.
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| 03-18-2004 |
Olympus Announces Entry-Level D-395 Compact Digital CameraMelville, New York, March 18, 2004 – The new 3.2-megapixel Olympus D-395 point-and-shoot digital camera is designed for first-time users who want an entry-level model that exceeds their expectations, and at the low estimated street price of $149. Combining world-class optics, greater megapixel resolution than its predecessor, and PictBridge™ technology for outputting prints without connecting the camera to a personal computer, the D-395 delivers a fast, easy and affordable way for beginners to print vibrant, photo-realistic images up to 8" x 10" and larger and start enjoying the digital experience today.
Read the Olympus press release.
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| 03-16-2004 |
Lexar Media News from CEBIT ShowHANNOVER, GERMANY, March 17, 2004 (CEBIT Hall 20, Stand D28) -- Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a leading marketer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media and accessories, today introduced JumpDrive® Photo, a 40X speed-rated, large capacity USB 2.0 flash drive designed to satisfy the needs of photographers who require professional-level performance, in a rugged industrial design. Lexar today introduced JumpDrive® 2.0 Pro 80X, the most recent addition to the company’s market-leading line of USB flash drives. Featuring a minimum sustained read and write speed capability equal to that of twelve megabytes per second, JumpDrive 2.0 Pro 80X is designed for professionals who need to move stored information from one location to another, instantly.
Lexar today introduced its family of miniSD cards. Available immediately worldwide in capacities of
32MB, 64MB and 128MB, Lexar Media’s miniSD cards first began shipping in Japan in December
2003.
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| 03-16-2004 |
Pentax Announces *ist D Remote Assistant SoftwarePENTAX Corporation announced it will distribute the PENTAX REMOTE Assistant* camera control software to users of the PENTAX *ist D digital SLR camera via the Internet. The software can be downloaded free of charge from the PENTAX Web site beginning on March 18, 2004, for Windows users and after mid April for Macintosh users. The PENTAX REMOTE Assistant is designed to expand the capabilities of the PENTAX *ist D when the camera is connected via USB cable to a personal computer with the software installed. Advanced functions and user-friendly features that the software offers to *ist D users include:
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| 03-15-2004 |
Canon Raises Output of Fast-Selling EOS Digital RebelAccording to a Reuters news story posted today, Canon Japan has raised the production capacity for its hot-selling "EOS Kiss" (Digital Rebel / EOS 300D) digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera by about 25 percent, anticipating explosive growth in the coming months. We reported back in August 2003 that Canon had set the monthly production for the camera at 70,000 and it has been flying off the shelves ever since. The major attraction being its 120,000 yen ($1,085) price tag, well below that of competing cameras from Nikon and other rivals. Analysts expect Canon and Nikon to dominate the market, as they did in the film era when they sold millions of lenses for use with analog SLRs. A key selling point is that interchangeable lenses from that era can be used on digital SLRs. Canon has completed plans to boost monthly production capacity of the "EOS Kiss" to 100,000 cameras in the first quarter of this year. Half of that capacity is housed in a Taiwan plant and the other half in Japan. Canon sold 600,000 digital SLRs in 2003, capturing 70 percent of the rapidly growing market and leaving Nikon, which did not have a camera anywhere near the "EOS Kiss" model's price range, in second place with 30 percent. Nikon, for its part, will launch a new digital SLR this Friday called the "D70" to compete with Canon. It will also sell for around 120,000 yen and is expected to attract solid demand given that Nikon has sold millions of lenses and analog SLRs. While analysts expect the "D70" to help Nikon recapture some of its lost market share, competition will only get tougher with rivals like Konica Minolta planning to launch its new Maxxum 7 digital SLR later this year.
In what could be another headache for Nikon, Canon said it has plans for a lower-priced
digital SLR that could be about one year away. The next target would be to retail a
digital SLR for under 100,000 yen ($900.00).
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| 03-15-2004 |
Vuescan Adds Infrared Film Scanning For Epson 4870 ScannerHamrick Software has released VueScan 7.6.79 with support for the newly released Epson Perfection 4870 Scanner with infrared scanning capability. This lets you automatically find and remove dust spots and scratches when scanning film, reducing the need to manually touch up scans with Photoshop and significantly improving scanning productivity. VueScan allows you to scan color snapshots, negatives, slides and documents using most high-quality flatbed and film scanners. VueScan automatically adjusts images to optimum color balance, which reduces the need to manually do this in Photoshop. VueScan includes built-in color calibration of scanners, producing colors that look true to life.
The software allows you to produce better looking colors from negative film, with
support for more than 100 different brands of negative film. VueScan has options
for scanning faded slides and prints, batch scanning, IT8 color calibration and
other advanced scanning features.
VueScan 7.6.79 is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. More than 100 scanners
are supported.
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| 03-14-2004 |
X's-Drive Pro VP-300 Review Posted
If you're going on an extended vacation or you're a working pro, you often need a way
to offload and store flash memory cards. We've just taken a look at the latest
Vosonic X's-Drive Pro VP-300 portable image
storage device. It's a small and lightweight, battery-operated combination USB 2.0
hard drive, multi-format flash card reader, MP3 player and image storage device.
No need to drag along a big and expensive laptop, the VP-300 will do the job.
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| 03-12-2004 |
Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 First Look Posted
Just posted is the Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 first
look. It has 8-megapixels of resolution, a manually operated 7x zoom lens, high-res
electronic viewfinder (922,000 pixels!) with 30fps/60fps refresh rates, a tiltable
color LCD, 30fps VGA movie mode and more. First set of sample photos have been posted.
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| 03-11-2004 |
Full Nikon Coolpix 8700 Review Posted
Just posted is our finalized Nikon Coolpix 8700
review. Nikon's new top of the line Coolpix offers 8-megapixel resolution, a
high quality Nikkor 8x zoom lens, fully-articulated color LCD, VGA movie mode at
30fps and more, all wrapped up in a compact and durable magnesium alloy body.
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| 03-11-2004 |
Epson Launches the World's First Rangefinder Digital Camera
The R-D1 dares to swim against the high tide of fully automatic electronic digital cameras. It's a digital camera that still manages to feel like a traditional manual camera. In other words, the R-D1 is simultaneously a state-of-the-art digital camera that offers outstanding performance and image quality, and a throwback that offers camera buffs the look and feel of a vintage film camera, as well as the joy of skillfully using their camera as a tool.
Read the Epson press release.
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TOKYO, Japan, March 11 – Seiko Epson Corporation ("Epson") has launched the Epson
Rangefinder Digital Camera R-D1, the world's first rangefinder digital camera, in
partnership with Cosina Corporation.
| 03-11-2004 |
Konica Minolta Announces Winners In Online Photo ContestMahwah, NJ (March 11, 2004) – Konica Minolta Corporation has selected the Grand Prize winner, as well as one Runner-up and three Honorable Mentions, in its “Photo of the Week” year-end contest. Beginning in January 2003, Konica Minolta asked photographers who use either Konica Minolta digital or film cameras to submit through the www.konicaminolta.us Web site an image that was significant or special to them. Out of the final 52 entries (all of which were “Photo of the Week” winners), Rick Cucuzza of Prescott, AZ, received the Grand Prize of $500 in Konica Minolta photographic equipment for his up-close-and-personal shot of a puffer fish using a DiMAGE X with its underwater housing. “When we created the ‘Photo of the Week’ photo contest two years ago, the goal was to showcase some of the best images created with Konica Minolta photographic equipment,” said Jon Sienkiewicz, vice president of marketing, Konica Minolta’s Camera Division. “We had such a wonderful response to our call for weekly entries on our Web site, that we are honored to be able recognize the best of the best in this way once again.”
Other prize winners included the $250 (in Konica Minolta photographic equipment) Runner-up
Jared Dever of Perris, CA and $100 (in Konica Minolta photographic equipment) Honorable
Mentions Neil Girling of Livermore, CA, Mark Abercrombie of Chandler, AZ, and Allen Conrad
of Centerville, IN. For the second year in a row, renowned Photo Editor Robert Sheppard
and a panel of industry experts selected the winners. All winning images can be viewed on
the “Photo of the Week” gallery on the
Konica Minolta Web site.
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| 03-09-2004 |
New Camera Reviews Posted
Just posted is our Powershot S500 review
of Canon's first 5-megapixel Digital ELPH camera. Pocket size, durable and classy
looking and it takes great pictures too! If you don't need five megapixels then
check out the four megapixel Powershot S410, same
small size, stylish looks and great pictures, just a little less resolution and a
little less money. And don't forget the super-slim
Konica Minolta Dimage Xg, it packs three megapixels and a 3x optical zoom into a
really thin and pocketable digicam.
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| 03-09-2004 |
Definitive Digital Photography Guide book from Best-Selling Author Peter K. Burian
Sybex has announced the release of a new book by
photographer Peter K. Burian, entitled Mastering Digital Photography and Imaging
(ISBN: 0782142907). This
all-new, full-color 270 page book gives readers the knowledge they need to master the
technology that is transforming how we capture and work with images. Written and
illustrated by a professional photographer with the needs of photo and imaging enthusiasts in
mind, this practical and accessible guide is packed with expert advice and tips. It covers all
the essentials, from selecting the right digital camera, scanner, hardware, software, and
printer, to optimizing image creation. The book is available now at
amazon.com,
bn.com and through other retailers.
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| 03-09-2004 |
Kodak Sues Sony Over Patent Infringement
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- Eastman Kodak Co. has filed suit against Sony Corp. alleging that
the Japanese electronics maker infringed on its patents on digital camera technologies.
The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, claims Sony violated 10 patents issued by
Kodak from 1987 to 2003. The patents involved digital and video technologies, including
image compression and digital storage.
Kodak seeks unspecified damages and an injunction against further infringement. The suit
was filed against Tokyo-based Sony, Sony Corp. of America and Sony Electronics Inc.
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| 03-09-2004 |
Lensbabies Introduces Flexible Lens for SLR CamerasMarch 3, 2004 Portland, OR. Lensbabies, LLC, introduced The Original Lensbaby, a flexible camera lens that creates a ‘sweet spot’ area of focus that photographers can move around the image area by bending the flexible lens tubing. The Original Lensbaby brings the imperfect Holga™ look to digital and film SLR photography, but with greater versatility and new effects. While Lensbabies have broad appeal, the unique imagery is particularly attractive to portrait, wedding, product, and fashion photographers.
Read the Lensbabies press release.
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| 03-08-2004 |
Creative Ships 3-Megapixel DC-CAM 3200Z for $229
With a burst mode at up to 3 frames per second, it’s easy to capture that perfect
action shot, and with a shutter lag of less than 1.8 seconds, there’s hardly a delay
between pics.
For users who want the advanced digital photography experience, the feature-rich DC-CAM
3200Z also has auto and manual controls for exposure, metering and white balance. The
DC-CAM 3200Z comes with an A/V cable enabling users to share pictures immediately on a TV,
and the included software allows users to perfect images and video clips to share later.
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Creative Technology Ltd. announced immediate availability of the Creative
| 03-08-2004 |
Pentax Announces Second Generation Dunkable Digital
Read the Pentax press release.
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GOLDEN, Colorado (March 8, 2004) PENTAX U.S.A., Inc. has announced a second generation
fully-immersable digital camera -- the new Optio43WR. Featuring 4.0 effective
megapixels, 2.8X zoom lens, and a JIS Class 7 waterproof rating that keeps the
Optio43WR watertight even when the camera is rinsed, splashed or submersed in water.
Measuring 3.2 x 3.0 x 1.2 inches, it weighs 7.3
ounces. A new quick start setting allows users to switch on the power in less than a
second prior to shooting, and a new snap shooting mode ensures sharper results from
consecutive action shots. The Optio43WR features a new high-speed CCD and innovative
image processing circuitry to record movies at the high resolution of 640 x 480 pixels,
and the movie quality has been enhanced with 30fps (frames per second) performance.
Movies now may be recorded to the full capacity of your chosen memory media.
| 03-07-2004 |
Ricoh Announces Caplio RX with Quick Startup and Fast Shutter ResponseRicoh has announced the release of the Caplio RX, a slim, 3.2-megapixel wide-angle digital camera that boasts the "world’s fastest shutter response" (as of March 4, 2004) of 0.12 seconds and quick start-up time of just 0.9 seconds. Caplio RX’s 28mm-100mm (35mm film camera equivalent format) wide zoom has a 75-degree angle of view – compared with just 62 degrees on conventional 35mm digital cameras.
The Caplio RX also captures up to 120 seconds of AVI video clips, records "voice memo"
stamps of up to eight seconds to photos, can be used as a multipurpose voice recorder and
comes equipped with six scene modes (portrait, sports, landscape, night scene,
text and high-sensitivity). It's extremely portable and comfortable to hold, weighing
just 170 grams (without battery) and only 29mm thick. The sleek and curvy aluminum-alloy
body feels nice in hand and fits perfectly in a shirt pocket. The Caplio RX comes equipped
with a 8MB internal memory chip and can use optional Secure Digital memory cards that
store plenty more information.
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| 03-05-2004 |
Steve's Digicams Joins DIWA
 Friday, 5th March 2004: The Digital Imaging Websites Association (DIWA) is delighted to announce that Steve's Digicams (www.steves-digicams.com) has joined the DIWA team. The number one* U.S.-based online digital photography review site, Steve's Digicams joins 8 existing DIWA members based across Europe. "I'm delighted to confirm my association with DIWA," commented Steve Sanders, founder and webmaster of Steve's Digicams. He added: "I look forward to being an important part of the DIWA team, helping to establish DIWA's digital imaging product awards as the most valued and trusted in the industry, both for consumers and the industry." Ian Burley, DIWA general manager, explained: "The addition of Steve's Digicams to the DIWA line is a huge boost for the realisation of DIWA's ambitious goals." He added: "DIWA has a regular dialogue with product manufacturers in the industry. Again and again we are hearing that the DIWA formula of rigorous and standardised product test scoring is just what the industry has been looking for. With Steve's Digicams onboard, DIWA has a vital presence in the USA. This news makes DIWA no longer just an interesting new idea from Europe, but a global force to be reckoned with." Like all DIWA members, Steve's Digicams adopts DIWA's unique product test scoring system to evaluate products being reviewed. By statistical comparison of standardised data from a minimum quota of test scores per product, DIWA determines if that product has met the strict criteria for a Gold, Silver or Bronze award. These awards are made throughout the year in addition to annual Platinum awards for the single most outstanding product in its category. The DIWA website, at www.diwa-awards.com, functions as a multi-lingual portal to reviews on all member websites, now spanning the USA, Norway, Denmark, Turkey, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Poland, the UK and Spain. DIWA is actively seeking to include members from more countries and expects to make further announcements later this year. For more information, please email info@diwa-awards.com or visit our home page at www.diwa-awards.com.
*According to Alexa web traffic data.
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| 03-05-2004 |
Breeze PSRemote Supports New Canon Powershots5th March, 2004: Breeze Systems today announced Breeze PSRemote Version 1.2 software supports Canon’s new PowerShot Pro1 camera, as well as the PowerShot A75, S500, S410 and SD110 announced by Canon at PMA in February. PSRemote has been designed to learn the settings of PowerShot cameras when the camera is first connected. This usually enables the program to support new PowerShot models without modification. PSRemote enables Pro1 and other PowerShot users to: See large high resolution previews of shots on a PC within seconds, control of settings for Canon cameras during tethered operation, enable tethered operation of the camera from a distance, specify the time interval between shots and number of photos in a sequence, live viewfinder display on a pc (some models only), superimpose live viewfinder data over last image taken, store images directly onto a PC hard disk, remember camera settings and restore them when PSRemote is next used, and much more.
PSRemote supports a wide range of Canon PowerShot cameras. For a full list of features
please see the
PSRemote Features Page.
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| 03-03-2004 |
HiTi 730PS Photo Printer Review Posted
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Just posted is our
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