03/28/2001: KDS Introduces New Radius FireWire Digital Video Editing Kit
GARDEN GROVE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2001--KDS, a giant global manufacturer of color monitors, notebooks and consumer electronics, today unveiled the Radius FireWire Digital Video Editing Kit, a three-component set that includes all the necessary tools for home users to create professional quality movies with a digital video camcorder. KDS' new editing kit package, which comes with a FireWire PCI interface card, a complete line of software titles and FireWire cable, now makes professional editing capabilities affordable for home users. Suggested retail price is set for .99. The FireWire PCI interface card is Mac and PC compatible, and works with Sony, JVC, Panasonic, Canon and other digital video camcorders. The card, which is an OHCI based IEEE 1394/FireWire design, enables data transfers up to 400 Megabits per second, about 30 times faster than USB. In addition, two external 1394 ports make it easy for hot-swap or plug and play capabilities with...[read more]
03/27/2001: Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED Review Posted
I've just posted our Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED review. This is a 4000dpi desktop scanner for 35mm and APS negatives and slides. Besides high resolution it also has high performance thanks to its FireWire interface, included is a PCI IEEE 1394 card for PC Windows and Macintosh users. The scanner is tightly integrated with the Digital ICE3 suite of tools that corrects surface defects, enhances colors and controls film grain. With an MSRP of just this scanner is a winner!...[read more]
03/27/2001: Kodak's Monthly Tech Brief Details CMOS and CCD Sensors
Eastman Kodak Co.'s Monthly Tech Brief for March presents the company's view on how the battle between CMOS and CCD the sensors that drive digital cameras will unfold. Kodak also unveils the science behind its I.Lab photofinishing system, which uses digital technology to improve pictures captured on film, taking advantage of the convergence of imaging and information technology. Visit www.kodak.com/go/research/...[read more]
03/26/2001: Lexar Media Launches Japanese SayCheese Website
Lexar Media Inc., Fremont, Calif., USA, launched the Japanese edition of SayCheese.com, its digital photography website. The site can be found at www.SayCheese.com/japan. Like its English-language counterpart, the Japan website features digital photography news and articles, product information and specifications, reviews, overviews, tips from professionals, and helpful links. The English language SayCheese.com web site can be found here....[read more]
03/26/2001: Sanyo Show Some New "Concept" Cameras
The folks over at LetsGoDigital.nl have updated their CeBIT 2001 news pages again, this time there are photos of several possible new digicams from Sanyo. Two of them look real interesting. Sanyo is the largest manufacturer of digital cameras in the world and OEMs many cameras that carry other brand names. Sanyo aims for 83% net profit rise over 3 yrs OSAKA, Japan, March 26 (Reuters) - Japan's Sanyo Electric Co Ltd said on Monday it aims to raise group net profit by 83 percent to 73 billion yen (.3 million) in the 2003/04 business year from the estimated figure for 2000/01. Sanyo has a strong grip on some of the world's fastest-growing markets, including digital cameras and the batteries that power mobile phones, which together with a restructuring programme has helped to transform it into a cutting-edge technology firm with strong growth prospects. The group net target is part...[read more]
03/24/2001: Paul Nolan Software Launches Photogenics 5.0 for Linux and Windows
San Diego, CA.-March 21, 2001- Paul Nolan Software Inc. is pleased to announce the official launch of Photogenics 5.0 for Linux and Windows, and the grand opening of the Photogenics eStore, http://photogenics.beyond.com. Photogenics 5.0 is now available for immediate purchase and download via Beyond.com's electronic software delivery technology, for a price of only .00. Paul Nolan's Photogenics is an exciting new graphics package for Linux and Windows. It allows you to create stunning images, either from scratch or by modifying existing pictures. Use this software for everything from simple file conversion, to advanced photo manipulation and re-touching. At the core of Photogenics is an innovative software process, which allows you to maintain a free, flowing rhythm while you work. Nothing you draw is fixed in place until you say so: draw, rub out, and tweak until you find perfection. With this level of artistic freedom, you'll be able to experiment...[read more]
03/24/2001: Nikon Coolpix (Foolpix) Pro One
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03/23/2001: Club Photo Releases New Photo Album Software for Palm OS Devices
SAN JOSE, Calif. March 23, 2001 - Club Photo Inc., the photo processing and sharing service that set the standard for online and PDA-based album sharing, today announced the highly anticipated follow-on to its award-winning software, Album To Go. Album To Go 2.0 makes 'on the go' viewing, organizing, and sharing photo albums easy from any handheld device running Palm OS 3.1 or higher, including products from Palm, Handspring, and Sony. Previous releases of Album To Go were greeted with tremendous success, sparking a new trend and driving hundreds of thousands of users to share their pictures from their Palm OS devices. The Album To Go 2.0 viewer and desktop photo organizer are free and can be downloaded at www.clubphoto.com/tools. Favorite photos can easily be sent from online Club Photo albums or via the desktop, to 'Hot Sync' directly into the Palm device. Its features surpass Palm-centric image viewers that...[read more]
03/23/2001: Ricoh Announces New RDC-i500
Ricoh has announced their latest multi-function RDC-i500 image capturing device (we used to call them digital cameras.) The new RDC-i500 closely follows the RDC-7 in size and shape, it does not have the huge 3.5" touchscreen color LCD of the RDC-i700 or its bulk. It captures 3.3-megapixel stills (2048x1536) and 320x240 motion video with WAV audio at 15fps in AVI format. Still images can be captured in JPEG or uncompressed TIFF format and stored in the camera's 8MB of internal memory or on optional CompactFlash Type I or II cards including the IBM Microdrive. It has a 3x zoom, 2" color LCD, USB data I/O and comes with a rechargeable lithium battery pack. Unusual features include the ability to network via a CompactFlash modem so you can transmit pictures or movie clips via email or FTP without a computer. The camera has all sorts of builtin options for generating...[read more]
03/22/2001: Fujifilm Intros New FinePix 6900 Zoom
According to digitalkamera.de Fujifilm has shown a new FinePix 6900 Zoom at CeBIT 2001 which is essentially the same as the 4900 Zoom but with the newer second generation SuperCCD. This is the same 3.3-megapixel SuperCCD as the one used is the soon to be released FinePix 6800 Zoom and yields a finished image size of 2,832 x 2,128 pixels (6-megapixels). The new imager is said to be faster than the previous generation and also consumes less power. The most noticeable difference is that the camera body is now black. It is scheduled for a June release in Europe -- we'll let you know when Fujifilm USA gives us the U.S. delivery date. Here's the digitalkamera.de Fujifilm FinePix 6900 Zoom spec sheet....[read more]
HANNOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2001-- SanDisk Corporation announced today the launch of the SanDisk SecureMate USB card reader. Designed for use with both Secure Digital (SD) cards and MultiMediaCards, the new reader quickly and easily transfers images, audio, video and data between storage cards and computers via the USB port for plug-and-play convenience. The announcement was made at the annual CeBIT Trade Show and Exhibition, where SanDisk is demonstrating products (Hall 13, Stand D-84.) SanDisk is one of the largest suppliers of SD and MultiMediaCards, which are rapidly becoming the standard removable storage medium for hand held computers, digital video cameras, MP3 players, cell phones and other consumer devices. Many consumers prefer to use a card reader to transfer data directly from their card rather than their camera or music player. The USB port transfers data faster than a serial port connection and offers the plug-and-play capabilities of USB. Additionally,...[read more]
HANNOVER, Germany, March 22 - Kodak Professional today announced a ground-breaking new SLR digital camera with the resolution, robustness and functionality to meet virtually any professional imaging application ? including weddings and portraits, magazine work, on-figure fashion, still life and architectural photography ? in the studio or on location, all at a competitive price. The Kodak Professional DCS 760 digital camera combines Kodak?s true 6-megapixel ITO CCD image quality with the unequaled ruggedness and performance of Nikon?s flagship F5 pro SLR camera body. Kodak then builds in a versatile, high-performance ISO range (80-400, pushable 2 stops), burst rate (1.5 frames/sec.) and burst depth (24 frames) ? which are unmatched capabilities for an SLR camera offering 6-megapixel image resolution and larger image files. The result: the functionality and familiarity of a top film-based pro SLR camera with all the speed, productivity and image quality of a top digital camera. The DCS...[read more]
03/21/2001: FlashPoint Announces Their Latest In-Camera OS: DigitaX
SAN JOSE, CALIF., March 21, 2001 - FlashPoint Technology, Inc., the creator of Digita, the underlying technology for wireless and digital imaging, today announced DigitaX...[read more]
03/20/2001: Digital Outback Reviews Piezography BW
If you've tried printing fine B&W prints with your color inkjet then you know that this isn't the best printer for the job, at least until you discover Jon Cone's Piezography?BW System for Epson 750, 760, 800, 850, 860, 1160, 1200, 1520, 3000, 7000 printers. The folks over at Digital Outback have just given this new printing system a go with the Epson Stylus Photo 1200 and have posted Piezography BW Printing review....[read more]
03/20/2001: Palm Debuts Slim Handhelds
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03/17/2001: Canon S300 First Look Review Posted
I just posted our Canon PowerShot S300 First Look review. Canon has cranked out yet another miniature marvel of digicam technology. Only slightly larger than the S100 and this time with a full 3x optical zoom lens. I hope to give it a workout tomorrow if the weather permits but have posted a few sample pictures for you to peruse in the meantime....[read more]
03/17/2001: Our New Forums Are Now Online
This evening we flipped the switch on our new Forums discussion groups, I hope you enjoy the new "look and feel" of them. You'll probably also notice that the entire site is now much more robust -- we also flipped the switch on our new high speed server and are distributing the load across two servers now instead of just one. Enjoy the changes -- and the speed!...[read more]
03/16/2001: Epson Stylus Photo 780 Review Posted
If you're in the market for your first (or a new) photo printer then take a serious look at the new Epson Stylus Photo 780. This is one great printer at a really great price of just and that's before the current mail in rebate for U.S. and Canadian buyers. With print quality rivaling my Epson 1270 and the new full bleed printing capability this is a true contender at an entry-level price....[read more]
03/15/2001: Qimage Pro 2001 Released
Today, Qimage Pro, the premier digital image printing application for Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 and ME, enters the next phase in it's evolution: Qimage Pro 2001. Here are some of the things that make this edition more than just a name and version change! Reduced system resource requirements: The amount of system resources used by Qimage Pro has been reduced by nearly a factor of three in QP 2001 when compared to prior versions, allowing you to perform more complex imaging operations without fear of running out of resources. "Stickier" filters: Batch filters now "stick" to your images through copy/move/delete commands in QP 2001. Prior versions would leave the filters behind. Slide show keys: The delete key can now be used while viewing a windowed slide show to delete the image, and page up/page down can be used to move through the queue. EXIF for TIF images: QP...[read more]
03/14/2001: LoneStarDigital Posts PhotoShop Tutorial
John Cowley tells me that he has just posted a new Tech Corner article with a step-by-step tutorial for correcting the all too common harsh orange, yellow, and red skin tones we all encounter at times when taking flash pictures, or pictures in the late afternoon sun. The correction procedure specifically addresses the "pancake makeup" look....[read more]
03/11/2001: The Top Photo Papers - Here Today Gone Tomorrow?
ARS ANALYST OUTLOOK -- March 8, 2001By Patricia Lloyd, Print Media Analyst In the past two years the number of photo papers available in retail has doubled. Not only do consumers have more to choose from, but also, in general, the papers cost less. A variety of package size allows the user to select from 10, 15, 20, 50 and 100 sheet packs. Due to increased marketing efforts, users are also more open to buying photo papers for printing images from the web, digital cameras, scanners, and more. Awareness is also enhanced through promotions, which have doubled in the past few years. In the race for market share in the coated photo paper arena Hewlett Packard proves to be a steady performer, while Kodak and Jet Print Photo charge past Epson, which seems drastically in need of a pit stop. HP has carved out a solid fourth of this market...[read more]
03/10/2001: Computer Darkroom: Epson Stylus Photo 1290/1280 Review
Ian Lyons wrote to tell me that he had just posted his initial Epson Stylus Photo 1290 review. This printer will be sold as the Stylus Photo 1280 here in the U.S. very shortly along with its two other "sister" printers. Many have already asked me if it was worth buying a 1280 to upgrade from their 1270 and Ian has addressed this question in his review "Is it worth upgrading a 1270 to the 1290 for this feature? Balancing quality against the time it takes to make the print, the additional ink it uses, NO! Yes the prints are a tad sharper and do contain a tad more fine detail, but at nearly twice the print time and a fair percentage of additional ink (not double as some commentators have suggested), I think the above Epson warning is well made." Ian covers many other topics such as B&W printing,...[read more]
03/10/2001: Sony DSC-S75 Final Review Posted
We've now got a production model camera so I have finalized the Sony DSC-S75 review and added some more sample pictures to the gallery. Sony has vastly improved last year's S70 model by giving it a larger handgrip, dedicated buttons for major functions and simplifying the menu system. The Carl Zeiss lens and quick autofocus insures sharp images and the new 14-bit A/D converter and 3-megapixel imager yields excellent image quality. And the best news for the consumer is that it is priced at only , that's a hundred less than last year's model....[read more]
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03/08/2001: Epson Announces PhotoPC 3100 Zoom
According to the folks over at digitalkamera.de in Germany, Epson has announced the successor to the PhotoPC 3000Z. The new 3.34- megapixel PhotoPC 3100Z looks almost identical to the 3000Z except it is all gray in color and sports a new knob on the back that lets you dial in the desired DPOF printing information. The 3100Z also supports the new Print Image Matching Technology, this should come as no surprise as it is Epson's new standard. All the other camera features are the same and the good news is that it is priced lower -- a trend we have seen recently from many manufacturers and is most welcomed by the consumers. digitalkamera.de has posted their usual specifications page for the new camera, you can read it here: Epson PhotoPC 3100Z spec sheet...[read more]
03/08/2001: Olympus C-3040 Zoom First Look Posted
I just posted the Olympus C-3040 Zoom First Look and am quite impressed with this camera. It's everything the C-3030 is plus the new, fast F1.8 lens and many other improvements to an already excellent camera. I've got a good start on a sample picture page with more to come like low-light, long-exposures which I hope to get tonight....[read more]
03/07/2001: IR Posts Review of Nikon Converter Lenses
Confused by what all those add-on lenses do for the Nikon Coolpix 950 or 990? Well, you're not alone. The folks at Imaging-Resource have just posted their Nikon Coolpix Converter Lenses review which describes what the lenses do along with sample photos from each of them. Good reading and information if you're about to buy any of the Nikon auxilliary lenses....[read more]
Feasterville, PA & San Francisco, CA (March 7, 2001) - Kaidan Incorporated, the leading manufacturer of Photographic VR hardware, announced today an alliance with REALVIZ, a leading developer of 2D/3D image-based modeling software. Effective immediately, Kaidan will offer bundles with REALVIZ Stitcher, immersive imaging software, along with Kaidan's multi-row panoramic tripod heads. Initially, the first bundled version of Stitcher 1.5 will support the Windows NT/2000 environment. Both companies are working together to introduce broadened support for Windows and other user platforms. These new versions and next-generation automated solutions will be demonstrated at the REALVIZ stand (#M 8945) at the upcoming NAB show in Las Vegas, April 23-26, 2001. According to Kaidan President, Jim Anders, "We're very excited to be working with REALVIZ. Their Stitcher software technology is extremely powerful and is a natural product to bundle with our multi-row tripod heads. It provides an excellent solution for those looking...[read more]
03/06/2001: Olympus Introduces Fast New 1.3-Megapixel Camedia Brio D-100
Melville, NY, March 6, 2001 ? Olympus America Inc., the world leader in film and filmless photography, today introduced the first member in its new family of point & shoot digital cameras, the Camedia Brio D-100. Featuring a high quality 5.5mm f2.8 ?f11 Auto Focus Olympus lens with digital 2X Telephoto, a super fast shutter release time of 0.3 seconds and easy data transfer via a standard USB connection, the Brio D-100 is an excellent choice for first-time digital camera users seeking high quality images and simple operation. Compact and stylish, the Brio D-100's easy to use design was developed by the same team that created the popular Olympus lines of Stylus and Epic film cameras. Weighing just six ounces, the camera is about the size of a cellular phone and just as portable. The Brio D-100 offers a fast start-up time of less than one second, and is as...[read more]
03/05/2001: ImageBuddy v1.3.0 For Macintosh Upgraded
Kepmad Systems today released ImageBuddy v1.3.0, an improved version of its popular photo printing software. This release is a major update to the programs Page Layout Panel including the addition of transparent image drop shadows, image key lines, colored backgrounds & image name titles. Also added to the Page Layout Panel is a new Print To File feature with the ability to set the export file size allowing you to quickly save layouts for emailing to clients or for archive. ImageBuddy v1.3 is a digital photo printing program for the MacOS that lets you View, Grade, Layout, Crop, Mask and Overlay your digital photo's quickly and easily. With ImageBuddy you can produce high quality contact sheets using Drag & Drop to quickly sort your photo's. ImageBuddy's Page Layout functions allows you to select just the photo's you want printed and size them in several standard sizes. You can also crop...[read more]
03/05/2001: Outback Photo Posts NikonCapture Review
If you're a Nikon D1 owner or user and are interested in the capabilities of Nikon's special software for it then check out the Nikon Capture review posted over at Digital Outback Photo. Nikon Capture was specifically designed to manipulate the D1's raw NEF files to let you get the best possible image quality out of this fine camera....[read more]
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Kodak is offering a mail-in rebate on the DC4800 Zoom camera which will lower the consumer's final cost from to . This makes it the least expensive, full-featured 3-megapixel zoom camera on the market. The rebate runs from today (March 2) through May 5, 2001. See the links below for U.S. and Canadian buyers, no other countries sorry. Here's the Kodak DC4800 rebate info page for U.S. buyers. For our Canadian buyers it is a CDN rebate and the offer is March 4 - May 5, 2001. Here's a link to the Canadian rebate coupon in .pdf...[read more]
