02/29/2000: Four Million Visitors - New Server
We just crossed another major mark in site visitors and all I can say is Thank You to all of our regular and new readers. Last night we turned on our new, high-speed, dedicated server and we're still ironing out a few little file problems but all in all it was a smooth move. The next thing is to get our banner ads onto our own server to eliminate the annoying delays waiting on the webads.bizservers folks. In the next couple of days we will also be enabling the new Message Board with unlimited message archiving and multiple forum capability. We've got all kinds of interesting things to review and more coming ... needless to say it is busy, busy, busy here as always. If I don't immediately answer your email please be patient, I get more than I can handle but I do try to answer as many as...[read more]
02/26/2000: Canon PowerShot S20 Review Posted
I just posted the Canon PowerShot S20 user review complete with the first day's worth of sample pictures -- more to come later. Like the PowerShot S10, the S20 is a super-compact, all-metal bodied camera that is ready to easily take on life's little bumps and knocks. For a palm-sized camera the 3-megapixel images are simply gigantic and guarantee photo-quality prints to 8x10" and beyond. Canon has got another mini-sized winner here. If the review loads but the images don't, check back later, my mirror server is not getting updated properly it seems....[read more]
02/24/2000: Nineteen Companies Newly Support 'Memory Stick' IC Recording Media
CeBIT, HANNOVER, Germany, Feb. 24 -- Sony Corporation today announced that the "Memory Stick" format will be supported by nineteen new companies. These companies from the Computer, Electronics, and Automotive industries in Europe, Japan, the United States, and Asia will now work with Sony to finalize definitive agreements to license the Memory Stick hardware/device specifications. With today's announcement, the total number of companies to license the Memory Stick specifications reached forty-six companies (forty-four for the hardware/device license, and two for the media license). These companies will be able to manufacture and commercialize a wide variety of compliant products. As a result, Memory Stick is certain to enhance its presence in a broad range of industries to become the key transfer media of digital contents in the digital network world....[read more]
02/23/2000: Hoodman LapTop LCD Sunshade
The folks at Hoodman sent me their latest LCD sunshade, this one is the e-clipse E-2000 and it's made for use on laptop computers. It works on iBook, PowerBook and most all of the PC/Windows laptop and notebook computers out there. The e-clipse is very well made and doesn't cost a fortune (.95) and it works perfectly, at least on my Acer TravelMate it sure does. If you want to use your laptop out in the sunshine or in any highly lit environment you'll want to check out my mini-review....[read more]
02/18/2000: DP Review Posts Canon S20 Review
Seems Phil has been very busy lately, not only did he move from Singapore back to the U.K. but somehow he's managed to crank out the only review on the Internet of the upcoming Canon S20 at the same time. Phil's conclusion was: "Well, I loved the S10.. For me it was the first digital camera to have the quality of the best compact film cameras with great features, pocketability, image quality and a robust build. The S20 takes that to the next level with even better image quality, many white and colour balance improvements and the added resolution which places it above the current crop of 2.1 megapixel digicams."...[read more]
02/14/2000: Epson Announces 3.3 Megapixel PhotoPC 900Z
Epson has now joined the 3.3 megapixel race with the introduction of their new PhotoPC 900Z that features a fast F2 3x optical zoom, ISO 100, 200, 400, 15fps Motion JPEG and 2544x1904 pixel resolution. Pictures of the camera can be found on the PC Watch web site in Japan....[read more]
02/09/2000: DC Resource Posts Olympus C-2500 Review
My friend Jeff emailed me to let me know he had just posted the Olympus C-2500L user review, he had this to say about it: The C-2500L is one of the most "powerful" cameras I've used. It's closer to a real SLR camera than any I've tested, though the aperture settings are lacking, and I sure wish I could use the LCD to take a picture. That said, you're able to take very high quality pictures as fast as you compose them, and store them on either SmartMedia or CompactFlash!...[read more]
02/07/2000: Kodak Digital PalmPix VGA Camera
Thanks to reader Rommel Feria for pointing me to the Kodak site for the Kodak PalmPix - an add-on color digital camera for the Palm III, IIIe, IIIx, and IBM Workpad, as well as the new Palm VII and TRGpro. PalmPix adds visual capture capability to your Palm. Compact, lightweight and easy to use, PalmPix turns your Palm into a digital camera. Take 24-bit color VGA (640x480) pictures and view them in grayscale. Then transfer to your desktop or laptop just like your other data using the HotSync ® cradle. PalmPix includes a 2X zoom to help you get you closer to the action. Once uploaded to the host computer, images can be saved, manipulated and e-mailed as standard BMP or JPEG files....[read more]
02/07/2000: Casio's JK-710DC Digital Camera Card
Not to be outdone by Kodak, Casio also has a new JK-710DC Digital Camera Card. It includes driver for the Casio Cassiopeia E-100/E-105, viewing program for PC and software the bundles viewer with still and mini-movie images for e-mailing. The miniature camera features: 640 X 480 Image Display Thumbnail Indexing Album Capabilities Memory for Storage Swivel Lens 45 Minute Battery Life Weight: 1.6 ounces Still Images in JPEG format Movie Images in CMF format...[read more]
02/07/2000: IR Posts Fuji S1 Report
Dave Etchells from the Imaging-Resource has posted a closeup and hands-on report on the new Fuji FinePix S1 Pro camera from the floor of the PMA 2000. Included are some good closeup shots of the camera and several sample pictures from the camera itself....[read more]
02/07/2000: QuickTime VR of Nikon Coolpix 990
The folks at Kaidan have loaned me one their new PiXi Turntables and some 360-degree panoramic tripod heads for various digicams. I'm totally a novice at this VR stuff but have managed to crank out a 360-degree view of the Nikon 990 and just recently I also did a 360-degree view of the Nikon D1 Professional too. I will be doing a complete user review of the Kaidan VR gear shortly and will cover the PiXi Turntable and the Panoramic tripod mounts in detail. But I will tell you that it was relatively easy to generate this VR of the Nikon. The turntable has stops every ten degrees so you simply shoot 36 pictures and then feed them into the Spin PhotoObject software. A short time later you have a 360-degree QTVR object file ready to be posted, royalty free, on your web site....[read more]
02/04/2000: Qimage Pro 7.44 Now Has High ISO Filtering
Mike Chaney has again upgraded his Qimage Pro program, this time he has added a filter that effectively reduces and eliminates most of the noise and banding that occurs in digital images when you use those high ISO settings or long shutter speeds. This will be most welcome news to owners of the Nikon D1 when shooting at ISO 1600. These shots after being filtered by Qimage Pro now look as if they were shot at ISO 200! Mike has some excellent "before and after" shots on his web site to clearly show what the new filter is capable of doing. As always he offers a free download of the trial version of Qimage Pro but believe me this is the best multipurpose printing and image enhancing program on the market. Check it out for yourself by going to the Qimage Pro web site....[read more]
02/03/2000: Canon's New Digital EOS and Other PMA Info from The Imaging-Resource
Our good friends Dave and Mike are roaming the floor at PMA 2000 and sending in all the latest info and pictures of the new cameras -- and doing a bang up job of it! Be sure to visit the Imaging-Resource's Special PMA 2000 reports. Check out the PMA Day Two report for the info and pictures of the much rumoured Canon Digital EOS camera expected later this year....[read more]
LAS VEGAS--Feb. 3, 2000-- Lexar Media today announced an agreement with Nikon to provide Lexar-branded 16MB USB enabled CompactFlash digital film cards with the new Nikon 990, the company's first three-megapixel digital camera. "We are pleased to offer Lexar's premium brand of digital film with our high- performance digital camera," said William Giordano, National Marketing Manager, Nikon USA. "The combination of Nikon 990's high-resolution and Lexar's fast USB enabled digital film creates an ideal solution that gives savvy photographers the flexibility and performance they have come to expect from Nikon." In the professional photography channel, Lexar plans to offer USB-enabled CompactFlash digital film cards in 80, 128 and 160MB capacities. A JumpShot USB cable is included with each digital film card....[read more]
