PMA 2001 Special Report Our daily reports from the Photo Marketing Association's show in Orlando Florida - February 11 through 14, 2001.

Quick links to info on the new Adobe PhotoShop Elements $99 ASF's ICE3 in New Nikon Scanners Canon FS4000US High-Speed Film Scanner Canon PowerShot A10 and A20 Canon CP-10 Card Printer Canon PowerShot S300 Canon S800 Photo Bubble Jet CanoScan 1230UF & 2400UF Color Flatbed Scanners Canon ZR30MC, ZR25MC, ZR20 Camcorders Casio QV3500EX Plus Contax N Digital SLR 2001 DIMA Digital Camera Shoot-Out Winners eye Q Digicam Features LightView QVGA Display EFS Finally Demo'd by Silicon Film EPSON Stylus Photo 780/890/1280 Printers Epson PRINT Image Matching technology EPSON Stylus Pro 5500 Fujifilm FinePix 2300, 4800, 6800 Kodak MC3 - Camera/MP3/Video Kodak's New Inkjet Media Kodak & Olympus Join Forces Kyocera Finecam S3 3-Megapixel Lexar Media 512MB CF Type I Minolta Dimage S304, 5 and 7 Nikon D1H and D1X Pro SLRs Nixvue Photo Album Panasonic PV-DV851, PV-DV901 PV-DV951 Camcorders Pentax EI-3000 SLR-like SanDisk 512MB CompactFlash Type I Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P30, P50, S75 Sony Mavica MVC-FD87, FD92, FD97 Sony Cyber-shot & Mavica Press Releases Sony TRV30 1.5-Megapixel Camcorder Toshiba PDR-M11, M21, M61, M65

02-13-2001

PMA 2001 - Day 3 - Tuesday Feb 13 I told you that PMA was a "BIG" show - just look at the size of this Sanyo camera!

02-13-2001

2001 DIMA Digital Camera Shoot-Out Winners Announced Fourteen digital cameras took top honors in their categories in the 2001 DIMA Digital Camera Shoot-Out today at the PMA 2001 Convention and Trade Show. Among the entries were 53 digital cameras from 18 different manufacturers, who participated in the Fifth Annual DIMA Digital Camera Shoot-Out. The digital cameras ranged from simple, consumer-level Point-and-Shoot cameras to advanced Prosumer/Professional cameras that competed by photographing live models at two on-site photographic studios. In the Commercial Strobe-Based and Scanning Capture camera backs, which are designed for capturing still-life images, photographed of two challenging commercial tabletop product setups. The following winning entries were selected by votes cast by PMA 2001 trade show attendees, based on criteria that included image/print quality, functionality, and price. The winning cameras are listed with their manufacturers by category. Point-and-Shoot category - Below $100 Crystal Digital Dual Smart 400 $100 to $199 Kodak DC3200 $200 to $299 HP PhotoSmart 315 $300 and $550 Sony DSC-P50 $551 and $750 Olympus C-2040 Zoom $751 to $999 Olympus C-3040 Zoom Digital Video Camcorder category Sony DCR-TRV30 Prosumer/Professional Photographic category Below $2,500 Olympus E-10 Prosumer/Professional Photographic category $2,501 to $5,000 Fujifilm FinePix S1 Pro . $10,000 to $16,000 Kodak DCS660

02-13-2001

2001 DIMA Innovative Digital Product Awards Announced Among the thousands of digital products displayed at the PMA 2001 Convention and Trade Show, 17 were selected by digital imaging editors and writers to receive the prestigious DIMA Innovative Digital Product Award. This annual award is one of several events sponsored by the Digital Imaging Marketing Association, a section of PMA. An Innovative Digital Product of PMA 2001 is determined by the judges to utilize new technologies and/or applications in such a way as to make the product either unique or the first of its kind. The products are of high quality, and show themselves to be an influence on the future of digital imaging. Whether the product is hardware or software, amateur or professional, photographic or prepress, or any other segment, is irrelevant – the judges were simply asked to cover the PMA Trade Show floor with an eye to the innovative. Companies honored for their innovative digital products, in alphabetical order, are: Adobe Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif. Adobe Photoshop Elements – Photo enhancement software DXG Technology Corp., Taipei, Taiwan Color Wrist Camera Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y. Kodak DCS PRO Back – Professional digital camera back Epson America Inc., Long Beach, Calif. Stylus Pro 5500 – Professional inkjet printer Gretag Imaging Inc., Holyoke, Mass. Photohub 208 – Inkjet workstation Leaf America, Elmsford, N.Y. C-Most – 6.6-megapixel CMOS chip JVC Company of America, Wayne, N.J. GR-DVP3 - Digital video camcorder MGI Software, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada PhotoSuite Mobile Edition – Palm OS version of Photosuite Minds@Work, Irvine, Calif. Digital Wallet -- Portable storage device Minolta Corp., Ramsey, N.J. Dimage 5 – 5.2-megapixel CCD camera Nikon Inc., Melville, N.Y. Super CoolScan 8000 – Film Scanner Nikon Inc., Melville, N.Y. Nikon D1x – Professional digital camera Nixvue Systems Pte. Ltd., Singapore Nixvue Digital Album – Storage and printing system Polaroid Corp., Wayland, Mass. PDC 640 -- Digital modem camera Silicon Film Technologies Inc., Irvine, Calif. EFS-1 – Digital camera insert Vivitar Corp., Newbury Park, Calif. DC-1002 – Consumer Web camera VR Interactive International Inc., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Surroundphoto – Digital hardware for making panoramic photos

02-13-2001

Kodak and Olympus Join Forces to Drive Digital Photography Growth ROCHESTER, N.Y.--Feb. 13, 2001--Eastman Kodak Company and Olympus Optical Company, Ltd. today announced a cross licensing agreement designed to expand the market for digital photography. The agreement includes the mutual cross licensing of patented digital camera technologies. Financial terms of the cross-licensing agreement have not been disclosed. In addition, both parties have agreed to work together to promote improved digital printing of images so that consumers will be able to find better ways of storing and printing pictures. This service is expected to utilize Kodak Internet capabilities, including the Print@Kodak Internet photofinishing service and Kodak PhotoNet Online. Kodak owns a portfolio of more than one thousand patents relating to digital cameras and digital photography systems, including megapixel camera architectures, fundamental and advanced image processing algorithms, CCD and CMOS image sensors, and convergence devices -- such as digital camera / printer devices, digital camera / PDA devices, and digital camera / cell phone devices. "Olympus also owns a patent portfolio of more than one thousand patents. This agreement gives Kodak and Olympus the ability to develop better technologies and products, which will encourage more people to try new ways of taking and sharing their photographs," said Yusuke Kojima, General Manager, Digital Imaging Division, Olympus Optical Co. Ltd. Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. is one of the leading manufacturers of digital cameras, and will be broadening the consumer digital camera market using high-resolution CCDs. Kodak and Olympus are working together to define and develop these high-resolution CCDs, which Kodak will manufacture and Olympus intends to purchase. "The experience and patent portfolio that Olympus holds in the area of digital camera components, optics and printers will make the collaboration between Kodak and Olympus even greater. This will benefit consumers long term and will help drive industry growth," said Kojima. Kodak has initiated a broad digital camera patent licensing program and is committed to making its patented technologies available to the marketplace. Kodak is currently in negotiations with other digital camera manufacturers. "We look forward to working with Olympus, to evangelize the ease and fun of digital technologies to consumers," said Willy Shih, president, Digital & Applied Imaging and senior vice president, Eastman Kodak Company. "Kodak has made substantial investments in the development of digital cameras, image sensors and online photo services for almost twenty-five years, and by licensing the fruits of these investments, we can work with the industry worldwide to deliver better products and services to market." Kodak and Olympus have each pioneered the development of digital cameras, and are recognized throughout the industry as leaders in digital imaging technology. Kodak was issued its first patents on digital cameras and single-sensor color imagers nearly 25 years ago. Olympus launched an 810,000 pixel CCD digital camera in 1996, which captured consumers' attention to the promise of high-quality digital imaging. More recently, Olympus developed the first 4 megapixel camera for the consumer and pro-sumer markets.

02-13-2001

Concord Camera's eye Q 3x Digital Camera Will Feature Displaytech, Inc.'s LightView QVGA Display Module Viewfinders HOLLYWOOD, Fla & LONGMONT, COLORADO--Feb. 13, 2001--Concord Camera Corp. and Displaytech, Inc. today announced they entered into a supply relationship for the new Concord eye Q 3x digital camera as well as for certain other digital cameras in development utilizing the Concord eye Q design and development platform. Displaytech, the leader in the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of ferroelectric liquid crystal ("FLC") microdisplays, will supply full-color viewfinder displays for use in the new Concord eye Q 3x digital camera. Displaytech's LightView QVGA display module features the Company's patented FLC technology, which combines excellent image quality with small size, low cost and negligible power demand. The compact and sleekly designed Concord eye Q 3x digital camera, at less than 1" thick, is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, and includes market leading features such as 3X optical zoom, playback image capability, storage of up to 72 images, USB connectivity and yet weighs only 4.1 ounces. "We're excited to be working with an innovative industry leader such as Displaytech," stated Ira B. Lampert, Concord's Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President. "Displaytech's microdisplays provide Concord both superior product quality and design simplicity which complements our market leading digital image capture engineering design, development and manufacturing processes. Combining our respective industry strengths with how well our business and technical teams have worked together gives us confidence that we will enjoy a long and successful relationship." According to Displaytech Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Haviland Wright, the marriage of Concord digital cameras and Displaytech viewfinders is particularly appropriate. "Concord has pledged itself to making high-quality, low-cost digital cameras," said Wright. "It has been Displaytech's aim from the beginning to provide innovative products of exceptional quality for just this kind of application." The LightView QVGA display module features 320 x 240 resolution and full, 24-bit color. Displaytech's LightView family of FLC-based personal viewing products has generated keen interest in the digital camera industry, as well as from manufacturers of camcorders and head-mounted displays. Displaytech's strategic manufacturing alliance with Japanese precision display manufacturer Miyota makes Displaytech the world's only dual-sourced microdisplay producer. Displaytech's agreement with Concord demonstrates to the marketplace its capacity for mass production of quality components for a world-class manufacturer like Concord in an increasingly competitive global market.

02-13-2001

Kyocera/Contax N Digital SLR We got a look at Kyocera's upcoming Contax N Digital SLR, unfortunately my look was like most everybody else's and was restricted by a piece of glass. This appears to be a very high preformance/low noise camera with its 6-megapixel CCD sensor that is the same size as 35mm film. It's based on the Contax N1 35mm film camera and therefore uses the same series of Zeiss lenses and other accessories. The focal length of the lenses will be unchanged because the sensor is equal in size to 35mm film. Scheduled to be on the market in summer of 2001 with a price of $7000 or less.

02-13-2001

Nixvue's Digital Album - Very Cool Nixvue's Digital Album is a $599 palm-sized, stand-alone device, integrated with a high capacity (10GB) 2.5 inch hard disk, incorporating image retrieval, viewing and direct printing capabilities. The battery-operated Digital Album is very portable, digital camera users can carry it out into the field and download images from their storage media (CompactFlash, SmartMedia, MemoryStick, Microdrive) with a simple button operation. It has a PC Type II card slot and enough capacity to store thousands of high resolution images. Nixvue's Digital Album is designed to dock into a matching cradle unit. Precise guide mechanisms are built-in to ensure safe and easy docking. Power is supplied through an external power adapter and the cradle unit also acts as a battery charger for Nixvue's Digital Album when in use. Printer port on cradle unit may be used for direct print to printers without the need of general purpose computers. For advanced users, Nixvue's Digital Album can communicate with PCs through a USB port, appearing just like another disk drive. The Cradle unit connects via video cables to common household TVs. Organise and select images for viewing together with family and friends in total comfort of your living room. The Digital Album's user friendly Menu allows users to easily select, organise, print, delete, rename and activate slide show functions etc. effortlessly and conveniently via an IR remote controller from a comfortable distance. Users need not compromise by shooting at lower resolution than cameras can deliver just to conserve storage space as is commonly the case. Storing the highest possible resolution translates into better quality prints now or in the future. The Nixvue Photo Album will be sold through JOBO Fototechnic, Inc. here in the U.S. For more informatio see our Nixvue user review.

PMA 2001 News Index