March 1999

03-27-99

PictureWorks Technology Releases VideoBrush Image Stitching Applications DANVILLE, Calif.--PictureWorks Technology announces the availability of three photo and video stitching applications stemming from its acquisition of the VideoBrush Corporation product line. VideoBrush(TM) Panorama v2.0, VideoBrush(TM) Photographer v1.1, and VideoBrush(TM) Whiteboard v1.1 are now available for purchase from the PictureWorks Technology. VideoBrush Panorama turns a video-enabled computer and a camcorder or digital video camera into a wide-angle high-resolution panoramic imager. Simply pan the camera over a scene to build a wide-angle panoramic image. VideoBrush Panorama will automatically compensate for the slight up-and-down tilt and side-to-side rotation of a hand-held camera. VideoBrush Photographer automatically stitches together a series of still photographs into a single high-resolution image. VideoBrush Photographer can stitch photographs in both the horizontal and vertical directions to capture even larger scenes then typical horizontal-only stitching products. No special methods are needed to take photos for VideoBrush Photographer; a simple series of shots with a hand-held film or digital camera is all that is needed. VideoBrush Whiteboard software turns any video-equipped computer into an "electronic whiteboard" which can capture meeting notes from a whiteboard or flip-chart into a full-color high-resolution image with a few quick sweeps by a hand-held camera. This software makes it easy to save whiteboard notes electronically, without the need to take notes by hand, or to scan manual notes or re-draw diagrams into a computer.

03-26-99

Digital Photo of the Day Archives I have taken advantage of this "slow" time in the news world to setup and organize our past Digital Photo of the Day archives. I have received many requests to put all the previous DPOTD pictures online and am happy to report that they are now available. Photo of the Day Archives

03-26-99

Gray Market Nikon 950 Warning (Posted to rec.photo.digital) We've already gotten some calls from folks who want the "english" version of the Coolpix 950 software and documentation. . Obviously somebody has shipped a small quantity of these cameras to the US from Japan to grab some quick dollars (too bad that customs didn't nail them). Only products purchased in the USA or South America are covered under the Nikon USA warranty. If you happen to purchase a Japanese Vintage Coolpix 950, you'll find that you have no warranty coverage and without a valid US purchase receipt, the USA Nikon Technical Support Office will not be able to ship a software CD. Make sure any camera you do purchase has an original US warranty card enclosed. US products ship with software and cables, many of the European Subsidiaries and Japan, Ship sans software and cables. Euro cameras also have PAL video output, which is the reason that our friends in Europe and Australia don't see these products for a good month after they hit the USA. The first folks to get actual production cameras will be the USA Office support and sales staff. These will be the cameras opened for inspection as we've reported on Steve's Digcams. Obviously there will be a pretty big splash on Nikontechusa.com when the stuff actually arrives We normally monitor, but don't post info on this newsgroup, but given the situation is ripe for some folks to take advanatge of the demand for the new camera and hurt the consumers we felt that this info should be made available now. Buying by credit card is always the safest. If you have a "debit card" better check with your bank, as they don't afford the same protection as a credit card. A debit card transaction is treated as if were a real check, in some cases cash. Webmaster NikonTechUsa.com

03-25-99

Olympus Offers 32MB Upgrade Not long ago the Imaging-Resource seemed to owe quite a few news story credits to us so I guess this is payback time. Thanks to my friends at IR for the following two news items. Olympus offers upgrade to 32MB SmartMedia capability! Some time ago, when the 16MB SmartMedia cards were first announced, Olympus took the unprecedented step of offering an upgrade program to their users, letting them upgrade the cameras to 16MB compatibility. (Olympus and a number of other camera manufacturers were caught by a problem not of their own making, in that the standards committee for SmartMedia elected to change the standard to provide for 16MB capacity. To our knowledge, Olympus was the only SmartMedia-based camera company which rose to the challenge and offered their users an upgrade path.) Now, come the 32MB SmartMedia cards! Olympus is offering an upgrade program to make their older camera models compatible with the new 32MB SmartMedia cards. The new program begins April 1, 1999, and replaces the earlier program which provided for upgrade to compatibility with 16MB SmartMedia cards. The new upgrade program costs $49.95 for D-340L/D-340R cameras, or $69.95 for D-500L and D-600L units. D-320L owners can upgrade to 16MB compatibility for $49.95, but the '320 can't be upgraded to handle the 32 MB cards. If you previously upgraded a camera to 16MB capability, and now want to go to 32MB, the upgrade is offered for free if you purchase a 32 MB SmartMedia card from Olympus at the same time for $99.95. If you don't want the 32MB card, the upgrade can be purchased for the $69.95 amount. Owners of the P-330 printer can also get them upgraded to 32MB compatibility, although the information we received did not indicate a price for that service. The following table comes from the Olympus literature, showing what Olympus products are compatible with 16 and 32MB media:  Product 16MB Compatible 32MB Compatible D-220L No No D-320L Yes* No D-340L Yes Yes* D-340R Yes Yes*  D-400Zoom Yes Yes D-500L Yes* Yes* D-600L Yes* Yes* D-620L Yes Yes P-330  Yes Yes* (Note: "Yes*" means the product is compatible after upgrade, "Yes" without the "*" means the camera is compatible "out of the box.")

03-25-99

Sanyo Shows New VPC-SX500EX at CeBIT Sanyo has announced a new digital camera, the 1.5 megapixel VPC-SX500EX, according to PC Watch. The new camera has a 1/2" 1.5 megapixel CCD, and marks a departure for Sanyo in that the camera uses Type II CompactFlash instead of SmartMedia. The article notes that Sanyo has made a point of pushing the ability to record animations with their cameras, and this camera is particularly able to do so thanks to the fact that with its Type II CompactFlash capability, the new IBM MicroDrives can be used with the camera, giving a reasonable record time. The camera was displayed in a glass case, and so was difficult for the writer to see, but appeared almost as small as Sanyo's DSC-X110. Two NiMH batteries are used, although it is not certain if these will last long enough to provide a reasonable battery life with the MicroDrive, and video is recorded in AVI format with sound. The camera also has a built-in speaker for playback of videos in the unit, and a 2" LCD display. The camera should ship in Europe in September at a price of about DM1,500 / US$843.

03-25-99

VuePrint Updated To Show DigiCam Info Ed Hamrick just released VuePrint 7.3 - a JPEG image viewer for Windows. The main new feature of interest to us digicam-aholics is that it now displays comprehensive digital camera information when reading files that have embedded EXIF, CIFF, or Olympus APP12 info. VuePrint 7.3 is the most widely used Windows program for viewing images, with more copies downloaded from America Online and CompuServe any other viewer. VuePrint is easy to download and install, easy to use, and easy to remove. You don't need to know anything about images or file formats to use VuePrint - just tell it to open a file, and it automatically displays any image. If you're into using film scanners be sure to check out VueScan 1.4 - a program for the Nikon LS-30, LS-2000, Canon 2700f and HP PhotoSmart film scanners.

03-25-99

JPEG Wizard Plugin for PhotoShop Do you create web images using Photoshop? Save 20-70% in JPEG file sizes using Pegasus Imaging's new JPEG Wizard PhotoShop Plugin. It makes your images download faster! Not only does this plug-in give you better JPEG compression, you can optimize specific regions of an image for better quality--like text on an image. The new WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface lets you decide how much to compress without over-compressing the image. Download and try it for free within Adobe Photoshop. Registration cost $39.00 (Windows only) While you're visiting the Pegasus web site download a free copy of PICSAVER Screen saver for viewing your JPEG images!   It's a $12.00 value--Requires no registration codes, simply download PICSaver from http://www.pegasusimaging.com/products/product.html

03-23-99

Olympus P-330 Printer Wins Three Awards in One Week MELVILLE, N.Y., March 22-- Olympus America Inc., Digital & Imaging Systems Group, today announced that the Olympus P-330 Instant Photo Printer won 3 awards in one week during the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) Show. The awards received are the "PMA Photo Printer Shoot-out Winner," the "PMA Innovative Product Award," and the Digital Focus/Popular Photography Excellence in Imaging Award for "Best Photo Printer." The Olympus P-330 Instant Photo Printer provides filmless photo viewing and printing through a TV set, directly from a camera, or from a computer. Easy to use, the P-330 directly reads SmartMedia cards, thus avoiding cables and printing aggravation. Consumers can easily create prints and reprints in about two minutes at home or at the office, without taking a trip to a photo store. The P-330 printer provides three pass capability for fast and economical printing and four pass printing with a UV overcoat protection for extra image longevity. The printer auto-senses the ink ribbon cartridge (three or four pass) and responds accordingly. It prints a 4" x 5.5" page at a rate of about 2 minutes per page in 24-bit color depth with 16.7 million true colors using dye-sublimination process.

03-23-99

More Olympus News from CeBIT '99 Photo by Marc-Andre Keune Above are a couple of views of Olympus' new C-2500L 2.5MPixel SLR camera that is due in the summer of '99. Pictured below is a as yet unnamed 2MPixel camera from Olympus. It appears to be a lower cost, point and shoot camera aimed at the same market as the Nikon Coolpix 700. Thanks to Marc-Andre Keune for the photos from the CeBIT show. Photo by Marc-Andre Keune 03/24/99 Update: Here's yet another picture of the new Olympus C-2500L SLR and the Japanese PC Watch web site has another five pictures of the C-2500L. And there's more pictures of the yet unnamed Olympus 2MPixel camera on this page too!

03-22-99

Epson Lowers Price of Photo EX to $399 TORRANCE, Calif.--March 22, 1999--Epson America Inc., Monday announced it has lowered the price on its EPSON Stylus Photo EX to $399. Previously priced at $499, the EPSON Stylus Photo EX is a wide-format, 1440dpi, six-color printer designed for advanced photographers who require tools to quickly reproduce superior images. "Almost a year after its introduction, the EPSON Stylus Photo EX continues to remain the preferred printing solution for advanced photographers. No other ink jet printer on the market matches the amazing photo-quality output and superior performance of the Stylus Photo EX," said Fabia Barsic, product manager, Epson. "At this new price point, we've made it even more affordable for professionals and hobbyists alike to produce photographic quality prints at a fraction of the cost of other photo printing solutions."

03-22-99

Sony Offers New CD-Rewritable Drives With USB and i.LINK (IEEE1394) Interfaces SAN JOSE, Calif.--March 22, 1999--Sony today announced its first CD-Rewritable drives to incorporate the popular USB interface and the i.LINK(TM) (IEEE1394 aka FireWire) interface. The Spressa USB drive supports quad speed (4X) recording of CD-R media, double speed (2X) of CD-RW media, and CD-ROM maximum reading performance of 6X. The Spressa USB drive can be used with both Macintosh® and Windows® computers. The Spressa i.LINK drive supports quad speed (4X) recording of CD-R and CD-RW discs, and CD-ROM maximum reading performance of 24X. i.LINK technology enables maximum performance and allows other multimedia peripherals including digital video and still cameras to be daisy chained simply and easily. The Spressa i.LINK drive for Macintosh systems will be Sony's first offering, with Windows compatibility available in the Fall. The Sony Spressa USB drive has a suggested list price of $399 and will be available in March. The Spressa i.LINK drive will be offered in June at a suggested list price of $499.

03-22-99

More Info On The Upcoming Olympus C-2500L From Olympus-Europa comes some more news about the future Camedia C-2500L 2.5-million pixel SLR digital camera. You can read the entire text here but in a nutshell it says: The new high-performance 2/3" CCD is Progressive Scan with "innovative internal software." The C-2500L is like a conventional SLR camera and allows the user to change the most important settings on the camera individually. Precise TTL contrast detection system insures that photos taken even under the most unfavourable situations will result in perfectly lit pictures. A tailor-made addition is the new clip-on flash FL-40 by Olympus which has been especially designed for digital cameras. This flash with precise manual setting mode delivers GN 40 power in tele-situations and GN 26 if wide-angle shots are taken. We'll have to wait until the summer of '99 to see just how well this new camera works so be patient. Any new info will be posted as it surfaces so please don't email for more - I've told you all I know...

03-22-99

Olympus 16MB SmartMedia Upgrade Ends 3/31/99 One of our readers emailed to remind me (and you) that the Olympus 16MB SmartMedia upgrade for D-320L, D-500L, and D-600L digital cameras will be expiring on March 31, 1999. 03/23/99 Update: I just recv'd word that Olympus will be offering a 32MB SmartMedia update in April sometime ... It might be better to wait until we see what comes of this before sending a camera in for the 16MB upgrade?

03-20-99

PCMCIA Announcements at CeBIT '99 HANNOVER, Germany, CeBIT '99 -- PCMCIA, an international standards body and trade association for the modular peripheral industry, announced that it has assumed administration of the SmartMedia Card and Miniature Card Standards from their respective forums. Under the agreements, PCMCIA will centrally coordinate and distribute updates and enhancements to the standards as they evolve. PCMCIA also made several other announcements: CardX Standard. Development of the new CardX standard that adapts the popular USB and 1394 serial interfaces into specifications compatible with the PC Card form factor continues. CardX will offer developers of modular peripheral devices, such as laptops, PDAs and video cameras, the ability to use the 1394 and USB interfaces in the PC Card form factor. The new CardX standard will support applications ranging from real-time video capture, dish drives, and notebook computer/PDA interfaces to Gigabit Ethernet and other high-speed LAN/WAN networks to serial-port applications such as modems. PC Card Release 7.0. PCMCIA also announced that Release 7.0 of the PC Card standard will be available at the end of 1Q99. This release incorporates all proposals approved since April 1998. International Conference. PCMCIA's Annual International Meeting will be held June 8-9 at the Westbury Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. Members from more than 50 companies will participate in workgroups and discuss updates to various modular peripheral standards at the meeting. See the PCMCIA website for details.

03-20-99

Maha C204F NiMH/NiCD Rapid Charger I have bought and used quite a few different battery chargers in the last couple of years and have finally found a reasonably priced one that should satisfy most everyone's needs. The new Maha C204F rapid "smart" charger/conditioner is a small and extremely fast charger for both NiMH and NiCD type cells. It can handle AA or AAA size cells and can fully recharge them in 60-160 minutes on either AC or 12VDC power. You can read my user review of the Maha C204F charger and make up your own mind. I haven't seen a better charger yet and its $29 price is very attractive. You'll find a link on my review page to get one from Thomas Distributing which is also offering a free 12V cord thru 3/30/99.

03-19-99

PC Watch Posts More Nikon 950 Samples The Japanese site PC Watch has posted yet another page of impressive Nikon Coolpix 950 Sample pics along with a user review (in Japanese). You can read an English-translated summary of the review on the Imaging-Resource's News page. I have received many requests for a user review of the Coolpix 950 but will not do so until I get a production model in my hands. It just isn't fair to prospective buyers or to Nikon to review a "beta" product.

03-19-99

DigitaFX Review Posted Last month we reported about FlashPoint Technology's new in-camera image processing application called DigitaFX for users of the Kodak DC220, 260 (and the newly announced 265) and the Minolta Dimage 1500 cameras.   Tony Schreiber emailed me to let me know that he has just posted a short DigitaFX User Review on his website. Tony's www.digitacamera.com site is devoted to Digita-enabled camera users, check it out!   There's all kinds of Digita scripts and other highly useful info to be found there.

03-18-99

Pretec Shows 128MB CF Type II Card At Cebit 99 HANNOVER, Germany--March 18, 1999--Pretec Electronics Corporation, the creator of CompactI/O(tm) card, will be demonstrating the 128MB CompactFlash(tm) (CF+) card, the highest capacity CF+ card available in the world today, at Pretec booth (Booth No. E-2, Stand C16, Hall 9) here in CeBIT. Previous world record of the highest capacity CF+ card (80MB), also developed and manufactured exclusively by Pretec, is available now in production quantity to OEM customers at $200 each. Production of 128MB CF+ card is scheduled in April, and 320MB card will be sampling by 2nd half of 1999. Pretec's high speed CF+ card is fully compliant with CompactFlash(tm) Type II specification, and is compatible with IBM's microdrive -- the smallest hard disk in the world (www.ibm.com/storage/microdrive). Based on the state-of-the-art 0.25um process technology, Multi-Level Cell (MLC) 256M/512M bit AND-gate architecture flash memory chips from Hitachi, and Pretec's proprietary controller, circuit design and packaging technology, Pretec breaks its own record again by offering the highest capacity card in the world.

03-17-99

Olympus Reveals Future 2.5 Megapixel C-2500L SLR Digicam MELVILLE, N.Y., March 17 -- Olympus revealed the C-2500L at CeBIT 99 in Hanover today, a prototype of a future 2.5 megapixel SLR digital camera. The C-2500L has a 2/3-inch CCD with an all-glass 3X (36-110mm) optical zoom lens. It supports external flash units and also has a built-in 4-mode automatic flash. The C-2500L will be available during the summer of 1999 at an expected street price in the $2000 range.

03-17-99

Kodak Digicams Go To The Academy Awards Kodak will be showing off the new DC 265 at the 71st Annual Academy Awards ceremony. Kodak photographers will be using the new camera to take Red Carpet pictures that will be posted to: www.kodak.com/go/oscars Beginning at 5:30 pm (EST) Sunday March 21, Kodak and AOL's Entertainment Asylum will be featuring Red Carpet pictures. Kodak photographers will be downloading these star-studded pictures every thirty minutes throughout the Red Carpet show. After the ABC broadcast of the awards concludes, Kodak will be downloading additional podium and backstage shots taken with Kodak Pro DCS 520 cameras.

03-17-99

New Sharp VN-EZ1 Internet ViewCam MAHWAH, N.J.--March 17, 1999-- Sharp Electronics announced a new breed of digital video cameras designed specifically for use on the Internet. The VN-EZ1 Internet ViewCam(TM), the world's first digital camcorder to employ MPEG-4 data compression, to market in the U.S early this summer. Priced at 60,000JPYen ($507USD). Sharp's wallet-sized Internet ViewCam makes it simple for users to send digitally recorded audio and video over the Internet. The portable digital camcorder lets users shoot and save up to 60 minutes of Microsoft ASF video in 160x120 or 320x240 resolution to SmartMedia cards up to 32MB. The video files can then be e-mailed or posted on Internet Web pages. It can also capture 640x480 digital still images in JPG format. The smallest ViewCam ever, the VN-EZ1 fits in the palm of a hand, measures a mere 3.2 by 3.5 by 1.7 inches and weighs only 5.2 ounces. Whether taking a quick shot or videotaping a long scene, the Internet ViewCam is portable enough to go anywhere. It has a 1/4" progressive scan CCD with 350,000 pixels for 640x480 VGA resolution. It employs a built-in 1.8" LCD screen with 61,000 pixel resolution as its viewfinder. The 37mm lens rotates 270-degrees and retracts into a protective housing when switched off. The PC Watch web site in Japan has even more photos of the VN-EZ1.

03-17-99

PhotoPoint.com Passes the 250,000 Mark Halifax NS, March 15, 1999 - The Digital Imaging market is booming, and nowhere is that more evident than at PhotoPoint.com. Pantellic Software announced today that their free service for sharing photos over the web, launched in August 1998, had passed the 250,000 photo mark. Every week more than 1,000 new members join the rapidly growing service, and over 20,000 new photos are shared. The PhotoPoint.com site features an extremely easy way for people to send in their photos, add captions, organize them into albums, then send out e-mail announcements to friends and family. The site also sports a comprehensive member's photo gallery, organized into Yahoo-style categories. Additional features include a popular "Photo of the Day", a list of the most popular albums, discussion forums and a chat room where people can discuss their photos and albums.

03-17-99

PC Watch Posts 2MPixel Comparison Pictures PC Watch has posted a comparison page with pics from the Olympus C-2000Z, Nikon Coolpix 950 and Coolpix 700, Ricoh RDC-5000, Fuji Finepix 2700 and the Konica Q-M200 cameras. All of these 2-plus megapixel cameras with the exception of the Fuji are still pre-production models so further firmware enhancements can be expected before they ship. There is also a page with magnified examples of the pictures for closer scrutiny of how well each camera captures the details. I noticed they called the Coolpix 700 a "Coolpix 750" so unless there is a secret and unknown new Nikon out there I guess this is just a typo.

03-15-99

Lexmark Introduces A Fast and Very Affordable 1200dpi Color Printer LEXINGTON, Ky.--March 15, 1999-- Lexmark International today announced the introduction of the Lexmark Z51 Color Jetprinter, a high performance, business-class color inkjet printer for professionals and families. The Z51 delivers 1200 x 1200 dpi resolution and prints at up to 10 ppm in black text and 5 ppm in color. Using Lexmark's exclusive Accu-Feed system it offers virtually jam-proof feeding of all types of media. The Lexmark Z51 is priced at an affordable $279 ($229 after a $50 rebate). The Lexmark Z51 sets new standards for printers in its price category. It produces 90 percent higher print definition than its traditional 1200 x 1200 dpi for more vivid colors, ideal for photo-realistic prints. As a result, users can produce photo quality output on any paper, with no need to invest in higher priced, specialty media. With the advances in Lexmark's patented ink technology, there is also no need to invest in photo cartridges - resulting in even more cost savings to users. Lexmark has achieved this higher definition because the new color print-head releases smaller drop sizes (7 picoliters) for a better range of color hues and reduced graininess for sharper, vivid color images and graphics -- without the risk of paper saturation. The print head has also been placed closer to the paper, for highly accurate drop placement and smooth transition between colors.

03-15-99

Kodak and FlashPoint Introduce New Digita-Enabled Digital Camera SAN JOSE, CALIF., March 15, 1999 - FlashPoint Technology Inc. today announced that Eastman Kodak will ship its newest digital camera, the DC265, based on FlashPoint's Digita(TM) operating environment. This new Kodak camera delivers improved performance and the ability to be customized through a series of newly introduced software applications. The DC265 joins an award-winning line of Digita-enabled intelligent imaging products, including Kodak's DC220 and DC260, Minolta's Dimâge EX, and Epson's PrintOn photo printer. Digita FXTM, the world's first in-camera image editor, represents a new generation of software applications that run directly inside all Digita-enabled cameras, including the Kodak DC265. Digita FX allows users to adjust images and apply special effects directly in the camera, bypassing the need for a PC. New applications and Digita Scripts are available from FlashPoint and a growing number of independent software developers. These software products automate repetitive tasks, build web pages, guide the picture-taking process, deliver enhanced presentation capabilities, provide entertainment and games, enhance workflow and much more. Currently, FlashPoint has nearly 2,000 registered developers creating solutions for business and personal applications, including MetaCreations, Digitella, Techlogix, PictureWorks and Image Software. "The DC265 is the next evolution in the Kodak and FlashPoint relationship," said Willy Shih, president of Kodak Digital and Applied Imaging. "This new solution offers superior resolution, faster boot times, and can be upgraded using Digita Scripts and applications to customize the camera for any application." The Digita-enabled DC265 captures images up to 1.6 million pixels. It can handle burst modes of 5 to 24 pictures at 0.1 to 3 frames per second. It has a time-lapse capture mode of up to 1800 images in one-minute to 24-hour intervals. Digita improves camera power up and offers USB, Serial and Video output.

03-15-99

Kodak Introduces Three New Megapixel Digital Cameras, One For Under $400 ROCHESTER, N.Y.--March 15, 1999-- Continuing on the success of its line of award-winning megapixel digital cameras, Kodak today introduced three new digital cameras priced under $1,000 - the DC265 zoom, DC240 zoom and DC200 plus. The Kodak DC265 zoom 1.6-megapixel offers a 3X (38 to 115 mm equivalent) zoom and 1536x1024 pixel resolution to provide photo-realistic 8 x 10-inch prints. Features significantly faster boot time, faster shot-to-shot processing and triple the burst capture performance, as well as longer battery life. It has a suggested price of $999. The Kodak DC240 zoom 1.3-megapixel is designed for business. Featuring a compact industrial design, the DC240 is an auto-focus, auto-exposure camera with a built-in automatic flash and a self-timer. Its 6X zoom capability (3X optical, 2X digital, the equivalent of a 39 mm to 117 mm lens) offers close-up focus to 10 inches (25cm), and its CCD sensor captures highly detailed 1344x971 pixel images suitable for prints even larger than a standard 5 x 7-inch print. The DC240 has a suggested price of $699. Kodak promotion for DC265 & DC240 (US sales only) - FREE Card reader, 8MB CF card, PCMCIA adapter, NiMH batteries, albuming software ($150 value) - March 15 thru May 22, 1999 The Kodak DC200 Plus, at a suggested price of $399 Kodak's lowest priced megapixel model, features a 39 mm (equivalent) fixed focus lens and an 1152x864 pixel image sensor, which provides enough detail to produce vivid 5 x 7-inch photo-realistic output. The lens is threaded to accept standard-mount accessory lenses. In addition to megapixel resolution files, users can select VGA resolution pictures.

03-15-99

Photo-Request, A Set-top Box That Stores, Organizes, And Displays Your Digital Photographs On Any Television Troy, New York -- March 15, 1999 -- ReQuest, Inc., an innovator in consumer interactive multimedia, today announced Photo-ReQuest, a set-top box that stores photos from digital cameras and displays them on any television set. Photo-ReQuest will ship in July for an estimated retail price (ERP) of $399. Customers can pre-order Photo-ReQuest through ReQuest's online store for a special introductory price of $349. Photo-ReQuest acquires photos directly from CompactFlash or Smartmedia memory cards or floppy diskettes. Photos are organized into digital "albums" and stored on Iomega 100-Megabyte Zip disks. Up to 500 high quality megapixel photos will fit on each Zip disk. A simple remote control permits users to organize and display photos on any NTSC / PAL / S-Video television. Photo-ReQuest features thumbnail, full screen, and slideshow viewing options to enhance the digital photo album experience. Music and voice annotations can be played during slideshows. Editing capabilities allow users to easily brighten, sharpen, rotate, crop, and remove red-eye from pictures. These images can then be sent to an optional photo printer. Photo-ReQuest is a stand-alone system that makes digital photography fun and easy to use. Digital images that have been saved onto floppies or Zip disks from PhotoReQuest can be shared with others or viewed on a PC. Photo-ReQuest can also be attached directly to the PC with a parallel (printer) connection. Music in the popular MP3 format (widely used on the Internet) can be transferred directly to PhotoReQuest to add a variety of songs to complement slideshows. Photo-ReQuest will ship with RCA cables for video and sound, S-Video cable, and a remote control. Optional accessories include brand name photo printers and scanners, a wireless keyboard, and PC connectivity software with parallel cable.

03-14-99

Qimage Pro 3.3 Now Removes CCD Noise! Qimage Pro's author Mike Chaney just let me know that he has made some substantial improvements to his already excellent image printing utility. Qimage Pro v3.3 has new CCD Corrective Filters! They remove dark current and high ISO noise without the use of dark frames! Mike does a much better job of explaining it than I can do here so check it out by clicking on the Qimage Pro v3.3 link above. Here has some good examples of how this new filtering process works - he cleaned up one of my excessively noisy Nikon 950 pics that was shot at 8sec exposure with the ISO boosted to max. And ... after using the remove dark current and/or high ISO noise filter you can save the adjusted image back to disk as either a TIFF uncompressed or JPG at whatever quality you specify.

03-11-99

DCS315 Info Update and Quantum Mechanic My good friend and fellow digicamaniac John Cowley has just updated his Kodak DCS315 "Issues" page. John gives us the straight poop on what happens to the focal length of regular Nikon lenses when used on the DCS315. Turns out that both Nikon IX and F series lenses have the same 2.6 focal multiplier. On this same page John also visually shows us a nifty PhotoShop plugin called Quantum MechanicTM at work "cleaning" up one of his digital images. Quantum Mechanic is an Adobe Photoshop® filter plug-in that reduces digital camera artifacts in photographs taken by many professional digital cameras. To learn how it does its magic check their technical description page. This is truly an amazing filter! John has just finished his Kodak DCS315 Review, check out this awesome (but expensive) pro digital camera and see some of John's digiphotos.

03-10-99

Japanese Digicam Growth Figures Out! From the Imaging-Resource comes the following: The PC Watch website in Japan has posted figures for digicam sales from the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association. Shipments for the period Oct-Dec '98, covering 19 Japanese manufacturers as well as one unnamed foreign manufacturer, totalled 1,073,000 digital cameras worth 52,450,000,000 yen (US$431,438,677). Of these cameras, 395,000 (37%) were sold in Japan, with the remaining 678,000 (63%) sold overseas. Total shipments are expected to reach 3,900,000 for the 1998 fiscal year, with a value of 180,000,000,000 yen (US$1,480,628,444). JEIDA expects the digital camera market to reach 6,000,000 units with revenues of 400,000,000,000 yen (US$3,290,285,432) for the 1999 fiscal year (April '99 to March 2000).

03-10-99

Canon Introduces New Image Transfer Technology LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. -- Canon U.S.A., Inc., today announced the availability of Transfer Replication Media, a revolutionary new image transfer technology that enables users to imprint digital artwork and photographs on a variety of surfaces, including ceramic tile, stone, wood, glass, fabric, metal and paper. The Transfer Media is designed for use with Canon's award winning CLC- series digital laser copier/printers. The Transfer Media technology is the first of its kind, and will allow printing vendors to offer clients custom-designed products for homes and commercial areas by transferring images onto furniture and wood paneling, tapestries and windows, and glazed or ceramic tile. The process of transfer replication takes just a few minutes of preparation and basic graphic skills: users copy the image as they normally would, only using the transfer paper as the media. For more sophisticated applications, such as tiling or multiple prints, users will need a PC.

03-09-99

PIE 2.81 Released Author Holger Jungk emailed me today to tell me that he has just released PIE 2.81. PIE now has an improved picture viewer with zooming and panning and supports different file formats, especially uncompressed TIF files. PIE is a 32-bit Windows utility that renames digital camera .jpg files such as PIC000XX.JPG filename to a more computer friendly name keyed to the date and time as well as other photo information. PIE shows you exposure information for each picture like shutter speed, flash use, aperture, zoom position and quality setting. PIE 2.8 preserves exposure information in standard textfiles which also may be imported into a spreadsheet or database. PIE is also a file manager, it can Move, Copy, Delete and Rename JPG files. It also allows you to rotate JPG pictures without any loss of quality! Rotation is done without decompression or re-compression. PIE is the best way to transfer your images from SmartMedia or CompactFlash-card to your Computer. Visit the PIE web site to download the new version. 3/11/99 update: I emailed Holger a Nikon 950 image and he has now added the EXIF header info into the latest build of PIE and it reads the embedded camera info perfectly - will also work for the new Coolpix 700 camera too!

03-09-99

Toshiba Announces World's First 4-Inch VGA Resolution LTPS LCD DEERFIELD, Ill.--March 9, 1999--Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc. (TAEC) Tuesday announced that Toshiba Corporation has developed the world's first 4-inch Low Temperature Poly-silicon (LTPS) TFT LCD with VGA resolution (640 x 480 pixels). The new LTM04C380S offers ultra-high resolution, high durability, light weight, and low-power consumption. Toshiba's new 4-inch LCD positions the company ahead of others in achieving the first commercial production of a LTPS TFT LCD with VGA resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The addition of Toshiba's 4-inch LTPS LCD provides a lighter, more versatile solution with high resolution capability. Higher durability, low weight and low-power consumption make Toshiba's 4-inch LTPS TFT LCD panel ideal for palm-top and hand-held portable applications including digital cameras, personal digital assistants, telecommunication devices as well as other information equipment. Maybe we'll start seeing digital cameras getting a little bigger to be able to accomodate a 4" LCD display -- and the battery needed to run it!

03-07-99

Welcome to Supreme Video + Electronics I'd like to welcome our newest site supporter, Supreme Video and Electronics.  If you're looking for a great price and great service after the sale, check them out.

03-07-99

Do You Really Need 2 Megapixels? The Imaging-Resource has a very insightful article called "How Many Pixels?" that asks the question - do you really need a two megapixel digicam? This article points out that there is very little difference between the images created by the current crop of 1.3 and 1.5 megapixel cameras and the much-anticipated new 2.whatever megapixel cameras. There are resons to buy the new cameras but do you need what they offer versus picking up last year's megapixel camera at the current bargain basement prices. It's good reading!

03-06-99

PC Watch Posts Pictures of New Konica Q-M200 Konica Q-M200 pictures online! The Japanese PC Watch website has posted pictures of the upcoming Konica Q-M200 digital camera on their site. The accompanying (Japanese) text notes that the camera will ship in Japan for 89,900 yen (approx. US$732) at the end of April. The camera has an aluminum case with motorized lens cover, compact flash media (8MB supplied with the camera) and resolutions of 1600 x 1200, 1152 x 872 and 640 x 480 pixels are available. Three AA batteries can be used (with a life of about 90 shots for alkalines, no LCD), however an optional lithium ion battery will be sold for 6,500 yen (approx. US$53) which will give a life of about 300 photos with no LCD usage. The camera takes about 3 seconds to "boot" when first turned on, has a shot to shot interval of up to 8 seconds, and if I'm translating this correctly takes 0.5 seconds to take the shot (not sure if this is prefocused). A note is made that Konica has used a proprietary technology to improve color reproduction in shadows and highlights. Thanks to the Imaging-Resource for this item.

03-04-99

megapixel.net March 1999 Issue Online The megapixel.net March 1999 issue is now online. From the editors, "We're on a new server, which hopefully should be more reliable than Globalserve was. This issue has reviews of the Sony DSC-D700, the Olympus D-400Z, the Canon Powershot A5 and the somewhat-past-its-prime-but-still-sold Agfa ePhoto 1280. We've also got an article that offers a simple explanation of how compression works, and what it does to an image."

03-04-99

Minolta and Olympus Price Drops From one of my reliable "deep throat" sources comes word of more price cuts on some of the most popular megapixel digicams. "This is still very hush-hush, but Minolta is dropping the M.A.P. (minimum advertised price) of the Dimage 1500EX from $899 to $799 effective now. Olympus will drop the price of the 340R ($499 map) and the 400L ($799 map) by $100 each, and the 620L ($1199 map) will drop by $200.

03-03-99

Canon's New BJC-8500 Realizes Print Quality Surpassing Traditional Photos BOSTON--Canon today unveiled the third and most advanced stage of its PhotoRealismTM printing standard with the introduction of the Canon BJC-8500 Color Bubble Jet Printer, capable of producing output that does more than rival the image quality of traditional photographs -- it surpasses it. The new Canon printer provides graphic design professionals and corporate offices with a powerful tool that brings flexibility, versatility and quality to a wide range of creative and business printing jobs. Users gain state-of-the-art Adobe® PostScript® 3TM technology optimized for the BJC-8500 with the new Adobe PressReadyTM software, also announced today. The BJC-8500 combines a range of Canon technologies and innovations to deliver superlative printing performance at an affordable price, even when outputting on plain paper. Offering compatibility with both Windows(r) and Macintosh operating systems, the new model is expected to have an estimated street price of less than $1,700 and be available worldwide between the second and third quarters of this year. MicroFine Droplet TechnologyTM, realized through a new refined printhead design and enhanced ink formulations, makes possible a microscopic drop size at an output resolution of 1,200 x 1,200 dots per inch, which translates to more than 1.4 million dots per square inch. The newly designed printhead of the BJC-8500 utilizes a total of 1,536 nozzles, achieving a 4-page-per-minute (ppm) print speed when outputting in full color, and 5 ppm for monochrome output. The model accommodates all paper sizes up to Tabloid+ (13" x 19"), making it ideal for design comps, computer-aided design, large-format desktop publishing and other professional jobs. A new ink cartridge design with separate high-capacity ink tanks for each color contributes to reduced operational costs. The feature enables users to replace each ink color as it runs out rather than having to replace the entire cartridge along with the ink that may be remaining for other colors.

03-03-99

Sony Intros New Mavicas, FD88 Features 1.3 Million Pixel Resolution PARK RIDGE, N.J., March 3 -- Sony has taken the Digital Mavica®, the nation's best-selling digital camera since September 1997, to the next level in picture quality with the introduction today of a 1.3 million pixel camera (MVC-FD88). Sony's new Digital Mavica camera line includes three units, models MVC-FD73, MVC-FD83 and MVC-FD88. The MVC-FD88 and MVC-FD83 will be available in June 1999 for $999 (MSRP) and $799 (MSRP), respectively. The MVC-FD73 will be available in May for $599 (MSRP). The MVC-FD88 Digital Mavica camera, features a choice of Super XGA (1280 x 960), XGA (1024 x 768) and VGA (640 x 480) resolution options. It also has an 8x optical/16x Precision Digital Zoom lens with auto macro. The MVC-FD83 camera offers interpolated mega-pixel for increased digital enhancement of your pictures (1216 x 912). This technology produces a 17 percent increase in image size, resulting in a one million pixel image for viewing or printing. Both the MVC-FD88 and the MVC-FD83 Digital Mavica cameras have four times high-speed floppy disk drives (FDD), which means that files can be recorded and played back four times faster than the conventional floppy disk drive. The units also have A/V out connectivity, which allows for playback of images and MPEG movies as well as JPEG still images on a television. In addition to producing high-resolution images, the MVC-FD83 and MVC-FD88 have MPEG Movie Mode, which captures up to 60 seconds of motion video and audio, and Voice Memo Mode, which adds narration to still images. The Digital Mavica line also has the Whole Disk Copy feature that lets users make a copy of images, MPEG videos or voice memos -- right inside the camera -- onto another blank floppy disk. The Digital Mavica MVC-FD88 and MVC-FD83 cameras offer these additional features: High-speed Scan Auto Focus with auto macro capability to deliver the highest level of focusing accuracy; Precision Digital Zoom, which removes jagged edges even when zoomed to 6x or 16x the original image; Two slow shutter speeds for extra versatility for capturing pictures in low light; Four pre-programmed special effects. The MVC-FD73 camera, which is priced at $599 (MSRP), features a powerful 10x optical zoom, two-times high speed floppy disk drive, E-Mail Mode and a 2.5-inch LCD screen. All Digital Mavica models employ standard 3.5-inch floppy disks, which are inexpensive, reusable and eliminate film and processing costs.

03-02-99

Epson Redefines the Large-Format Printer Market With High-Speed Photographic-Quality Solution TORRANCE, Calif.-- Epson America Inc., creator of high-quality, award-winning imaging products, Tuesday announced the EPSON Stylus® Pro 9000, the company's first wide-format printing solution designed to handle paper up to 44 inches wide on media as thick as 1.5-mm cardboard. Targeting in-house corporate graphics departments, print-for-pay shops and professional photography and fine-arts houses, the EPSON Stylus Pro 9000 is a high-performance photographic-quality output solution capable of producing astonishing prints at some of the fastest print speeds in the industry. The EPSON Stylus Pro 9000 ships in April in two configurations. A non-PostScript version with standard drivers will be available for an estimated street price of $7,995. An Adobe PostScript 3 version bundled with Epson's RS-5100 Fiery X2 RIP will be offered at an estimated street price of $13,995.

03-02-99

Epson's New Printer Line Features USB digitalkamera.de has a page full of specs and pictures of Epson's new line of printers; the Stylus Photo 750, Stylus Photo 1200 (A3+ size) and the speedy new Stylus Color 900 which is rated at 12ppm! All of the new Epson printers feature a USB port connection which we figure is pretty much the standard of the future - the PC world and the Mac world have finally found something to agree on ...

03-01-99

Agfa Announces Price Cut for ePhoto 1680 Digital Camera WILMINGTON, Mass.--March 1, 1999--Agfa Desktop Products Group (DTP), a leading provider of award-winning digital cameras and desktop scanners, announced today that it has lowered the price on the ePhoto 1680 - its top-of-the line, megapixel digital camera. Effective immediately, the ePhoto 1680 is available in the United States for the suggested price of $699.

February 99 News

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