News Archive - March 2004 Return to: Current News Archive Index Wednesday, March 31, 2004 Prime-lens res chart images available from Canon 1D Mark II 17:16 EST - After no small furor over "softness" in images from the Canon EOS-1D Mark II that I and others have posted, I borrowed a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens and shot a few res charts, showing the effect of different in-camera sharpness settings. After I posted the initial gallery of sample images, there was a lot of foment about image sharpness, the gist of it being that the Mark II is a "soft" camera. The default settings apparently do set the... (More) Monday, March 29, 2004 Canon EOS-1D Mark II image gallery posted! 13:46 EST - My assistant Luke and I did a little shooting with the EOS-1D Mark II this weekend... The full review is still a ways (!) off, but I thought people would appreciate seeing some sample pics shot with Canon's new speed (and resolution) demon, the EOS-1D Mark II. - I haven't seen any other... (More) Friday, March 26, 2004 PRESS RELEASE: Fantasea Cameras Adds the CP-3N Underwater Housing for Nikon Coolpix 3200 and Coolpix 2200 Digital Cameras 21:45 EST - Fantasea Line adds a new underwater housing for Nikon Coolpix 3200 and Coolpix 2200 Digital Cameras Fantasea Line, distributor of the world's most popular and affordable underwater photographic products, has announced the addition of a new underwater camera housing, the Fantasea CP-3N, for the Nikon Coolpix 3100 and Coolpix 2100 digital cameras. The CP-3N joins the popular Fantasea CP-4 and... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Ritz Interactive celebrates its fifth anniversary with special discounts, start of $1,000 weekly photo contest 18:55 EST - IRVINE, Calif., March 26, 2004 - Ritz Interactive, the e-commerce network that owns and operates RitzCamera.com, WolfCamera.com, BoatersWorld.com and other popular online shopping destinations, will celebrate its fifth anniversary with special discounts, product promotions and big-prize photo contests at its various Web sites beginning March 29, 2004. In addition to offering consumers money-saving... (More) Wednesday, March 24, 2004 Sanyo announces Xacti DSC-J4 02:26 EST - Sanyo Japan has announced its new Xacti - pronounced Zack-Tee - DSC-J4 digital camera, a significant update to the DSC-J2 model announced last August (apparently skipping the DSC-J3 model for some reason). The DSC-J4 bears little resemblance to its predecessor externally, having been redesigned with noteably smaller body that is 3 millimeters wider, but 9mm shorter and 5mm thinner. Inside, many of the features... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Photodex Corporation Releases ProShow(TM) Gold 2.0 00:01 EST - Austin, TX March 24, 2004- Photodex Corporation announces the release of the newest version of its market leading slide show presentation product. ProShow Gold is known for its ease-of-use, unmatched quality, and blazing fast rendering speeds. Using ProShow Gold 2.0 a user can create amazing slide show presentations using their digital photos, video, and audio. With version 2.0, ProShow Gold continues... (More) Monday, March 22, 2004 Full, production-level review posted for Nikon Coolpix 8700! 18:27 EST - Well, the 8-megapixel derby continues, with Nikon's Coolpix 8700 being the latest model I've tested. Besides the 8 megapixel CCD, the 8700 sports a sharp 8x zoom lens built with ED glass, and the full (!) range of features we've come to expect from Nikon. Given the reputation of the Coolpix series, the... (More) Interesting news from Future Image 14:49 EST - This week's issue of the "Future Image Weekly Briefing", an email newsletter aimed at those in the digital imaging industry, contains a couple of items we found interesting. If you're not familiar with Future Image Inc., the company (amongst other services) offers both the weekly briefing mentioned above, and a monthly "Future Image Report" - each of which can be subscribed... (More) Thursday, March 18, 2004 PRESS RELEASE: SanDisk starts worldwide retail sales of miniSD; company cites growing demand for mobile phones 19:17 EST - First To Market With miniSD, SanDisk Offers Broadest Range of Capacities HANNOVER, Germany, March 18, 2004 - SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), the world's largest supplier of flash memory storage card products, announced today that it has expanded the availability of its miniSD� flash memory cards by offering them through its retail channels worldwide. SanDisk offers the industry's broadest range... (More) PRESS RELEASE: SanDisk opens retail sales in eight East European countries 19:12 EST - Baltic, Balkan Countries Are Moving to Digital Cameras and Multimedia Cell Phones HANNOVER, GERMANY, March 18, 2004 - SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today announced that it has started selling flash memory cards and related products in eight Baltic and Balkan nations. These countries represent nearly 35 million people and range from highly-developed to newly-emerging digital electronics markets.... (More) PRESS RELEASE: SanDisk introduces reduced-size MultiMediaCard 19:10 EST - Tiny, Versatile Flash Memory Card is Used in Mobile Phones HANNOVER, GERMANY, March 18, 2004 - SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today introduced a Reduced-Size MultiMediaCard (RS-MMC) aimed at meeting the needs of some of the new multimedia cell phones that require a smaller card. The announcement was made at the CeBIT 2004 trade show where SanDisk is demonstrating products in Hall 1, Stand 2A14... (More) PRESS RELEASE: SANDISK Announces Availability of Memory Stick PRO Duo Cards for OEM customers to bundle with cell phones, digital cameras and other mobile devices 19:05 EST - New Capacities Range From 32 - 128 Megabytes HANNOVER, Germany, Mar. 18, 2004 - SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) announced today that it has added SanDisk Memory Stick PRO Duo cards to its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) product line. The cards will be sold in capacities that are ideal for OEMs to bundle with their consumer electronic devices. About one third the size of a standard Memory... (More) Konica Minolta announces DiMAGE G600 08:00 EST - Konica Minolta has today unveiled its new DiMAGE G600 digital camera, a six megapixel model with a 3x optical zoom lens. The DiMAGE G600 is a refresh of the existing DiMAGE G500 model, increasing the sensor resolution from five to six megapixels. The body styling has also been slightly refreshed, and PictBridge support... (More) Kodak: 14mpix Canon-mount digital SLR 04:01 EST - Eastman Kodak Co. has today announced a new digital SLR that's a variant of its existing 14 megapixel SLR/n model, but with a Canon EOS-compatible lens mount. Readers may have had their curiosity aroused in the past by Kodak's use of the 'n' nomenclature on its previous 14n and SLR/n models, and now the reason becomes clear - the 'n' standing for Nikon, and... (More) Olympus announces C-60 Zoom 03:01 EST - Olympus America Inc. has today announced a new 6 megapixel, 3x optical zoom digital compact camera, the Camedia C-60 Zoom. Features of the new model include a 6.1 megapixel effective CCD image sensor, 3x optical zoom lens with 2 aspherical elements with a zoom range equivalent to 38 - 114mm on a 35mm camera, a 1.8" LCD with... (More) Olympus announces Camedia D-395 03:01 EST - Olympus America has today announced its new Camedia D-395 digital camera, a 3.2 megapixel model with a 33mm-equivalent fixed focal-length lens. Featuring the same clamshell sliding lens cover design we've seen on a number of Olympus' other popular digicam models in the past, the D-395 is aimed at entry-level users new to digital photography with... (More) Wednesday, March 17, 2004 Review posted for Konica Minolta E323! 18:20 EST - Continuing the review catch-up process, I've just posted a review on the Konica Minolta E323. This is a nice little 3 megapixel/3x zoom point & shoot. There's a lot to like here, including compact size, nice styling, friendly menu structure, generally good image quality, good battery life, and... (More) Olympus E-1 Digital SLR review updated to full production status! 18:19 EST - From the "It's about time" file, I've *finally* updated my review of the Olympus E-1 based on a full-production camera. Apologies to all of you who have been emailing to ask me about this one, it just got caught in the pile of backlogged work that built up at the end of last year as we moved the business and ourselves to... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Lexar Media Rolls-out miniSD Media Cards Worldwide 17:01 EST - Designed For Mobile Phones and Handheld Devices, Japan's Popular Memory Format Now Available Worldwide HANNOVER, GERMANY, March 17, 2004 (CEBIT Hall 20, Stand D28) -- Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a leading manufacturer and marketer of high-performance digital media and accessories, today introduced its family of miniSD cards. Available immediately worldwide in capacities of 32MB, 64MB and 128MB,... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Lexar Media's JumpDrive® 2.0 Pro 80X Sets New Precedent for Professional-Level USB Flash Drive Performance 16:59 EST - HANNOVER, GERMANY, March 17, 2004 (CEBIT Hall 20, Stand D28) -- Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a leading manufacturer and marketer of high-performance digital media and accessories, 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... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Lexar Media Introduces JumpDrive® Photo 16:39 EST - Addresses the Professional Photographer's Need for High-Speed Data Transfer and Large Storage Capacity in a Compact, Durable Design; Value-Added Package Includes Image Rescue 2.0, Lexar Media's Award-Winning Image Recovery Software HANNOVER, GERMANY, March 17, 2004 (CEBIT Hall 20, Stand D28) -- Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a leading marketer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media... (More) Tuesday, March 16, 2004 First sample photos from a production-level Nikon D70! 23:48 EST - My eval sample of the new Nikon D70 arrived yesterday. I took advantage of a break in the clouds late this afternoon to shoot a few random "gallery" photos. My eval sample of a production-level D70 arrived yesterday, and the weather finally cleared a bit this afternoon. I took advantage of the opportunity to go out and shoot some random photos with it, leaving... (More) PRESS RELEASE: VueScan adds infrared film scanning for Epson 4870 scanner 15:45 EST - Hamrick Software has released VueScan 7.6.79 with support for the newly released Epson Perfection 4870 Scanner. VueScan 7.6.79 contains full support for the Epson Perfection 4870 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.... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Digital Photography Making Inroads With Photographers, But Majority Still Shoot Only With Film, Kodak Survey Finds 15:37 EST - Those Using Both Cite Ability to Be More Creative, Offer Greater Variety of Images ROCHESTER, March 16 -- While photographers are continuing to look to digital technology to capture at least some of their images, a majority - 52 percent - continue to shoot images only with film, an Internet-based survey conducted by Eastman Kodak Company finds. Forty-three percent of the survey's respondents use... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Lerner to serve as President-Elect of Photo Marketing Association International 15:32 EST - IRVINE, Calif., March 16, 2004 - Fred H. Lerner, president and CEO of leading e-commerce network Ritz Interactive, has been elected president-elect of Photo Marketing Association International for the 2004-2005 term. Prior to becoming president-elect, Lerner served as the Association's vice president in 2003-2004 and treasurer in 2002-2003. He has also served as PMA Territorial Vice President, Trustee... (More) Monday, March 15, 2004 Sigma announces three new digicam lenses 19:03 EST - Japanese optics manufacturer Sigma Corporation has today announced three new lenses designed for use with single-lens reflex digital cameras. Two of the new lenses are particularly significant, because they mark the first lenses (indeed, the first products!) for the Four Thirds System that are manufactured by a company other than Olympus. The... (More) Pentax *ist D remote control software 10:30 EST - Pentax Corp. has announced that it is preparing to release free software for both Macintosh and Windows-based computers that will allow users of its *ist D (pronounced ist-dee) digital SLR to control their cameras remotely over the USB connection. The Windows version of the software will be available first, starting from this Thursday (March 18th), whilst the Mac version will follow around mid-April. Users will be able to set basic and auxiliary... (More) Review posted for Sony DSC-T1 10:16 EST - Ultra-compact digicams almost always involve significant tradeoffs in image or lens quality, features, or all three. Sony's DSC-T1 is notable then, for how few tradeoffs the Sony engineers had to make to produce it. The T1 is a very full-functioned digicam, in a case that's about the size of a fat stack of credit cards.... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Definitive Digital Photography Guide book from Best-Selling Author Peter K. Burian 10:01 EST - San Francisco, CA, February 28, 2004- Sybex has announced the release of a new book by photographer Peter K. Burian, entitled Mastering™ Digital Photography and Imaging. 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... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Instant Photo Sharing Software Offers a Fast, Easy and Safe Way to Distribute Digital Images 09:53 EST - PiXPO enables instant photo sharing and chat with no downloading, no resizing and no waiting Victoria, British Columbia - March 10, 2004 How2Share Technologies Inc., a second generation digital imaging software company announces the availability of PiXPO, a revolutionary new software program that changes the way people share pictures online. Built on How2Share's proprietary sharing technology,... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Konica Minolta announces winners in online photo contest 09:42 EST - Grand Prize winner receives $500 in Konica Minolta photographic equipment Mahwah, 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... (More) Thursday, March 11, 2004 Epson: Full specs for the digital rangefinder 20:18 EST - Seiko Epson Corp. in cooperation with Cosina Corp. has now unveiled a name and full specifications for its digital rangefinder in the runup to the 2004 Photo Expo scheduled for 19th - 21st March in Tokyo, Japan. First shown at the recent PMA show in Las Vegas, little detail was available at the time - but the Epson R-D1 has nonetheless provoked quite a bit of excitement over the last few weeks. The camera features... (More) Konica Minolta announces 3mpix ruggedized digicam 14:26 EST - Japanese digicam manufacturer Konica Minolta has announced a new digital camera targeted at the construction and engineering fields. Offering compliance with the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's CALS standard (an abbreviation of "Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support") which defines specific requirements... (More) Wednesday, March 10, 2004 PRESS RELEASE: Reindeer Graphics, Inc. announces the release of Optipix 2.0.1 and 10% off Optipix until April 15th. 15:09 EST - Reindeer Graphics has released Optipix 2.0.1, the latest revision to the acclaimed suite of tools for digital photographers. This free update to all users of Optipix 2 provides performance improvements and reduced memory usage. A complete list of changes can be found on the Reindeer Graphics' website, As a Tax Day special, we're giving a 10% discount on Optipix 2. Optipix 2 will be available for... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Kodak Helps Machine Vision System Manufacturers Improve Device Throughput 15:07 EST - New Interline CCD Sensor Offers Customers Faster Frame Rates and High Sensitivity Rochester, N.Y., March 8, 2004 Eastman Kodak Company is making it easier for machine vision camera manufacturers to design and build high throughput camera systems, allowing end users to increase production while maintaining product quality. Using the new KODAK KAI-0340M image sensor, manufacturers can now design... (More) Tuesday, March 9, 2004 Komamura updates its "Rolleiflex"-themed digital 13:43 EST - A press release from Komamura, the Japanese distributor for German camera company Rollei, announces an update to the RolleiFlex MiniDigi digital camera model it first announced a year ago. The original RolleiFlex MiniDigi featured a 1.3 megapixel CMOS image sensor and a 9.9mm fixed-focus lens in a body designed to look like a medium-format twin-lens reflex camera, the RolleiFlex 2.8F. The... (More) Review posted for Fuji Finepix A205! 12:47 EST - This is one that's been languishing in the "todo" pile for a while, but I'd already put it in Dave's Picks as a decent camera at a rock-bottom price. This is the 2-megapixel "little brother" of the 3.2-megapixel A210 that I reviewed a little while ago. Overall performance is virtually identical to that of the A210, meaning very good daylight color,... (More) Review posted for Canon SD10! 12:44 EST - There have been a lot of attempts to bring high style to the digicam market, but most efforts have fallen short in the image-quality department. A cool-looking camera is great, but only if it takes pictures that look as good as it does. To my eye, Canon has done exactly that, with their SD10 model. This is a sleek, svelte digicam that's definitely... (More) Review posted for Nikon Coolpix 3700! 12:38 EST - Bearing the well-respected Nikon Coolpix name and a svelte, rugged, stylish all-metal body, the Coolpix 3700 is one of the most compact Coolpix models available. Its compact size and sleek body style suit pockets well, making it a ready travel companion. While it's truly a point & shoot camera, there are enough options to let you bring back good-looking photos... (More) Pentagram announces 3mpix, fixed focus digicam 12:34 EST - Polish vendor Pentagram has today announced a new digital camera model that will be sold in that country, amongst other Eastern European countries. The Pentagram Photon 304 is a 3.1 megapixel model that features a 45mm-equivalent lens, 16MB built-in memory and Secure Digital storage, 1.6" TFT LCD display, built-in flash, and USB connectivity. The... (More) Thursday, March 4, 2004 Photoshop CS update to add X3F support 13:46 EST - A press release on the website of Sigma Corporation Japan notes that a planned update to the Camera Raw Plugin for Photoshop CS will add support for the X3F (RAW) file format used by the Sigma SD9 and SD10 digital SLRs. The updated plugin should be available by June 2004, and Sigma's press release suggests that the X3F format won't be the only one being added. The Adobe Camera Raw plugin was recently updated to add support... (More) Sigma confirms Four Thirds lens plans 13:40 EST - Our friends at the Digital Photography Review website caught a press release on the Sigma Corporation Japan website from a couple of weeks ago that confirms the company's plans for the Four Thirds System standard that's backed by Olympus, Kodak and Fuji. Regular readers may remember that we told you back on February 13th that Sigma, Sanyo and Matsushita (Panasonic) had decided to join the alliance of companies planning to offer Four Thirds products. At... (More) Tuesday, March 2, 2004 Gateway, Nikon cameras share award (UPDATED) 13:17 EST - A press release issued last week by Gateway Inc. calls attention to its DC-T50 digital camera, which received an award from Best Magazine at the recent Digital Focus press event held before this year's PMA show. The Gateway DC-T50, which appears to be sourced from Taiwanese manufacturer Premier Camera, is a 5 megapixel model with a 3x optical zoom lens. Other manufacturers offer the model under their own brands... (More) Return to: Current News Archive Index