News Archive - July 2002 Return to: Current News Archive Index Wednesday, July 31, 2002 Minolta announces sweeping firmware upgrade for DiMAGE 7 owners 13:19 EDT - Firmware upgrade brings many of the features and functions of the DiMAGE 7i to DiMAGE 7 owners. I think Minolta deserves big kudos for this one: They've just announced US availability of a firmware upgrade for the Dimage 7 that gives that model many of the enhanced features found in the upgraded... (More) Canon releases firmware update for EOS-1D SLR (See important note though!) 12:45 EDT - New firmware improves several aspects of EOS-1D operation... Canon has just released a firmware update (v1.4.0) for the EOS-1D that offers several improvements in camera operation. The following features are added or improved: Noise reduction tone curve settings... (More) Canon releases new (Windows) driver software for digital SLRs 12:10 EDT - Canon has released new driver software - page also has full listing of current drivers for other models and all host-based software as well. Canon has just released driver software version 4.5.3 for Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, and XP, on their PowerShot download page. No mention of what the new driver software does, but it's required for use with... (More) Tuesday, July 30, 2002 Olympus announces xD-Picture Card (UPDATED) 05:42 EDT - Somewhat earlier than we'd expected, the Japanese manufacturer joins Fuji in announcing the latest flash memory format to hit the market... We just posted news of the official announcement by Fuji of the xD-Picture Card format which has been much-rumored for the last couple of weeks, and had deliberately held back any information related to... (More) Fuji makes xD-Picture Card official 04:00 EDT - First confirmation from the camera manufacturer that the story first leaked two weeks ago has a ring of truth, but not all the rumors were correct... Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd. has today officially announced the new xD-Picture Card memory format. We first mentioned xD after it was rumored in Europe two weeks ago, and shortly afterwards uncovered the... (More) Monday, July 29, 2002 HP announces new digicams, printers 23:35 EDT - 2 and 3 megapixel cameras recently announced in Europe and Asia are coming to the USA... We told you a few weeks ago about three new HP digital cameras that were announced in Europe. Ranging from two to three megapixels, the new PhotoSmart 320, 620 and 720 digicams are apparently to come... (More) Friday, July 26, 2002 NEWSFLASH: Nikon announces firmware upgrade for D100 13:13 EDT - White Balance Bracketing function may give unpredictable results in certain situations... You read it here first: Nikon Inc. has announced on its Canadian and North American websites a firmware upgrade for the Nikon D100 Digital SLR which recently began shipping. According to the notices, the... (More) More new Nikon firmware... 13:00 EDT - Coolpix 885, 2000 users get updates for their cameras as well... We told you earlier today about a new firmware version for the Nikon Coolpix 995 digital camera in Europe, and eagle-eyed Sebastian Pennings of the dcviews website dropped us a line to point out that there... (More) Sample Pictures/Analysis pages posted for Nikon Coolpix 4500, 5700! 11:52 EDT - Test images and in-depth analysis for Nikon's latest digicams... Here's another couple of items I couldn't quite get pushed out the door to my satisfaction before I left, but I'm pushing them out anyway, thanks to the barrage of reader email about these models. I've... (More) Fuji S2 Pro Digital SLR review posted 11:48 EDT - Dave gets hands-on with the latest digital SLR from FujiFilm... I've had a ton of email on this one, so wanted to get it onto the site before I took off on a 3-day business trip. There's a couple of minor holes in the review that I'll plug when I get back (a few of... (More) Nikon Europe: New CP995 firmware 01:14 EDT - Problems with Auto White Balance under incandescent light fixed for European users... Nikon Europe has released an updated version of firmware for the Coolpix 995 digital camera, our friend Peter iNova of DigitalSecrets.net reports. According to the readme file, there's only one change... (More) Thursday, July 25, 2002 MetaFacts releases Digital Imaging report 19:27 EDT - Market research firm says one in five PC owners now have a digicam... MetaFacts Inc., a Californian market research company, has today released a report looking at home digital imaging, entitled "TUP Target Edition -- Digital Imaging Households". Available now (although... (More) Wednesday, July 24, 2002 JPEG no more? ISO mulls withdrawal of standard 12:21 EDT - 'Register' article suggests the standards body may formally withdraw the JPEG standard altogether if Forgent continues with its patent claims... In an unprecedented move, the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) - a standardisation body established in 1947 which counts some 140 countries amongst its membership - is considering withdrawing... (More) Tuesday, July 23, 2002 Dell considers entering the printer business! 19:03 EDT - Hewlett-Packard doesn't seem too pleased by the news, but will their shareholders be pleased at losing the business of one of the largest computer manufacturers? An interesting news article on c|net News.com details a newly developed animosity between Hewlett-Packard Co. (the world's largest printer manufacturer) and Dell Computer Corp. (the largest direct-order... (More) Polaroid: Eight new digicams on the way! 16:35 EDT - As if we needed more proof that we live in a global marketplace, a Hong Kong subsidiary of a British company will sell its range of digital cameras under the Polaroid brandname through a Chicago-based partner company... Polaroid Corp., the famous name in instant film cameras which last October filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, has signed a deal with Chicago importer Spectra Merchandising International Inc. to sell a line... (More) Shutterfly revenues increase 87%! 14:15 EDT - Online photofinisher says it is nearing profitability... A press release from online photofinisher Shutterfly today announces that it has nearly doubled revenues in the first six months of this year. Revenues climbed 87% as compared to the first half of 2001,... (More) Monday, July 22, 2002 Forgent JPEG claims: groundless? 12:55 EDT - Joint Photographic Experts Group's committee suggests Texan software company will have a fight on its hands over its "get rich quick" scheme to license a patent related to the JPEG standard... We told you on Friday about a press release from Forgent Networks Inc. claiming that the company has rights to a compression technology used in the popular JPEG standard, and has suddenly decided to enforce... (More) Relax, and improve your photos with Arthur Bleich! 01:50 EDT - Unique "Digital Photography Cruises" allow participants to refine their digital photography skills with help from the pros, whilst taking a break and getting away from it all... An email from Arthur Bleich, Feature Editor of Digital Camera Magazine, announces that bookings are now being accepted for an 8-day Digital Photography & Imaging Cruise aboard the Carnival cruise ship... (More) Friday, July 19, 2002 Money rolls in as Forgent licenses JPEG! (UPDATED) 05:37 EDT - Little-known company with a past in videoconferencing uses a company purchase to turn some fast dollars... Forgent Networks Inc., which in 1997 acquired San Jose-based Compression Labs Inc., seems set to turn the purchase into a money earner - but the way in which the company is doing so may not please digital... (More) Wednesday, July 17, 2002 Short Form Review Posted for Canon PowerShot A100! 19:41 EDT - Canon's low-cost 1.2 megapixel sibling to the PowerShot A200 analysed... This is the "little brother" of the A200 model I reviewed just prior to it. Camera functions and features are virtually identical between the two models, about the only difference being the A100's 1.2... (More) Short Form Review Posted for Canon PowerShot A200! 19:39 EDT - Dave examines Canon's 2.1 megapixel entry-level digicam... Until now, Canon has generally eschewed the lower end of the digicam market, preferring to work more in the realm of fully-featured but more expensive models. With the introduction of the 2.0 megapixel... (More) Minolta DiMAGE 7i - Jeff's review! 19:29 EDT - Our friends at the Digital Camera Resource Page try Minolta's updated 5 megapixel, 7x optical zoom digicam... Jeff Keller over at the Digital Camera Resource Page has now posted his full review of the Minolta DiMAGE 7i digital camera, concluding: "Minolta has done an excellent job in designing the DiMAGE 7i.... (More) Tuesday, July 16, 2002 Yuasa to manufacture Rayovac's fast-charging batteries! 17:24 EDT - New Nickel-Metal Hydrides with their 15-minute charge times still slated for a mid to late 2003 release date... We first told you back in March about Rayovac's new I-C3 rechargeable batteries, which feature some intelligence in the batteries themselvs to monitor charge levels, allowing for quicker charging. A press... (More) xD-Picture Card - it's real! 15:14 EDT - Fuji has registered trademark for the upcoming memory format... We've been doing a little digging of our own since Chasseurs d'Images posted news of the xD-Picture Card (a replacement for the SmartMedia memory card format) yesterday. First, we found news from Germany... (More) Game over for SmartMedia? (UPDATED) 02:04 EDT - French website posts rumors of a new flash memory format, then withdraws the article... Chasseurs d'Images, the French magazine / website which has so many times in the past posted news of the latest digital product well in advance of NDA expiration dates, has again posted something we've... (More) Canon announces three new printers! 01:18 EDT - New 1200dpi models range from an entry-level unit to a $400 device with built-in card reader... Canon U.S.A. Inc. has today announced three additions to its lineup of Bubble Jet and Photo printers, in the form of the S330, S530D and S830D. All three printers have optical resolutions of 1200x2400dpi... (More) Monday, July 15, 2002 Adobe updates PhotoShop Elements! 15:05 EDT - Version 2 will ship in the next couple of months; from today you can buy the current version and upgrade free... Adobe Systems Inc. has today announced a major update to its consumer-oriented PhotoShop variant, Adobe PhotoShop Elements 2.0. The latest version, which will ship in the third quarter of this year (ie.... (More) Electric Fuel products available to military personnel! 14:20 EDT - US Army and Air Force Exchange Service carries the company's Instant Power batteries and chargers... Regular readers may remember that we've reported several times since Comdex last year on the "Instant Power" battery packs sold by Electric Fuel Corp. Our personal feeling is that they are rather expensive... (More) Casio Exilim wins award! 14:07 EDT - Ultracompact digicam named "best of show" at New York tradeshow... Casio Inc. noted in a press release that its Exilim digital camera line (consisting of two very similar models, one with added MP3 playback capability) have received an award at the annual PC EXPO show... (More) Saturday, July 13, 2002 Fuji FinePix S2 Pro: Previews appearing! 15:04 EDT - Mike Chaney offers his first opinions; Peter Burian provides sample images... Mike Chaney, author of the popular imaging utility Qimage Pro (which, incidentally, now offers support for the camera's RAW files through a link to the manufacturer-provided conversion software) has posted... (More) Friday, July 12, 2002 Huge update to Battery Shootout Page! 00:30 EDT - Dave takes a second look at battery performance, and Maha comes out on top again... After *months* of too-busy-to-get-to-it, I've finally dug through a pile of battery testing data and updated our NiMH Battery Shootout! I've run more test cycles on many of the previously-tested batteries,... (More) MonacoEZcolor comes to OS X! 00:24 EDT - Color profiling software now available for users of Apple's latest operating system... Monaco Systems Inc. has announced that it is now shipping its MonacoEZcolor color profiling software for Apple's latest operating system, Macintosh OS X. MonacoEZcolor allows the user to create custom... (More) Review roundup! 00:07 EDT - It's time again for a catchup on other sites' newest reviews... Whilst Mike and Dave were on a brief (and much-needed!) vacation, our friends at the other main digital camera sites have posted several reviews worth reading:Digital Camera Resource Page Apple iPhoto... (More) Wednesday, July 10, 2002 Canon EOS D60: New firmware! 18:20 EDT - Two significant bugs are fixed in the latest release... Canon Inc. has today released a new version of firmware for its EOS D60 digital camera. Firmware Update Version 1.0.2 has two changes noted: "The following phenomena, which may happen according to the... (More) HP: 3 new digicams, 4th on the way? (UPDATED) 15:05 EDT - New 2 and 3 megapixel models share many characteristics but with differing sensor, lens and LCD choices... Reports are trickling in from around the world (specifically England, Germany [1,2], Russia, Slovenia [1,2,3] and China [1,2] ) of three new digital cameras just announced by Hewlett-Packard, which recently... (More) PhotoWorks announces mail-in digicam 'developing'! 02:05 EDT - Digital camera owners can now get their prints by mailing in CDs or flash cards... PhotoWorks, the mail-order photofinisher once called Seattle Filmworks, has announced that it is now offering a mail-order photofinishing service for digital camera owners who don't want to spend the time... (More) Kodak announces new alkaline digicam battery! 01:32 EDT - AA-sized "Max Digital Camera" batteries claimed to offer triple the battery life of existing alkalines... Eastman Kodak Co. has distributed a press release announcing its new "Max Digital Camera" batteries, currently slated to ship in September in the USA. The company, which already sells a range of alkaline,... (More) Tuesday, July 9, 2002 Argus announces low-cost 2mpix digicam! 19:06 EDT - DC3510 should sell for as little as $149... A press release today from Illinois-based Argus Camera announces its new 2.1 megapixel DC3510 digital camera. We've yet to receive a product photo or in-depth specifications, but a few basic details can... (More) Olympus announces updated pricing! 15:15 EDT - Effective immediately, figures adjusted across the Camedia line-up... We just received a note from Olympus America Inc. confirming new prices for the company's lineup of Camedia digital cameras. The new figures are as follows: Model Number New Price IR Review D-380... (More) Monday, July 8, 2002 I-O Data announces 256, 512MB SD cards! 15:24 EDT - Secure Digital format extended to a new capacity high by the Japanese manufacturer... I-O Data Device Inc., a Japanese manufacturer of computer peripherals, flash memory cards and the suchlike, has today announced its new 256MB and 512MB-capacity Secure Digital flash cards. The company... (More) Olympus Introduces *Full* Featured 4 Megapixel for Under $500! (UPDATED) 10:14 EDT - With an estimated street price of under $500, Olympus' new C-4000 Zoom offers loads of features at an affordable price. Olympus USA has just announced it's latest "value priced" digicam, the 4-megapixel C-4000 Zoom. In the tradition of its earlier "affordable" models (the highly popular C-3000 Zoom comes... (More) Friday, July 5, 2002 To-The-Point Software Releases snapHappy 13:23 EDT - iPhoto gets some competition from this $14 photo browser, editor and manager for OS X. To-The-Point Software released snapHappy, an OS X photo browser, editor and manager that competes directly with Apple's iPhoto. A $14 shareware application, snapHappy 1.1 competes by offering users more... (More) Nixvue Releases New Vista Firmware 12:57 EDT - Version 1.04 includes support for Canon and Nikon RAW image formats plus LCD display of EXIF and histogram data. Nixvue has released firmware version 1.04 for its Vista portable image player. At the same time the company released a beta of firmware version 1.05, offering multiple language support. Version 1.04... (More) Thursday, July 4, 2002 RE: The Pursuit of ... Fireworks on the Fourth 14:23 EDT - If Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness finds you fumbling with your digicam in the darkness this evening, we'll be there to help with a few timely tips. Over the years Imaging Resource has dispensed a good deal of advice about shooting fireworks. Dave Etchells, Mike Tomkins and Mike Pasini have all raised their lenses to the heavens and put their fingers... (More) YarcPlus Introductory Pricing to End on Third Anniversary 14:06 EDT - The Canon RAW file converter celebrates its third anniversary with standard pricing and an update just around the corner. Michael Tapes emailed us today that, on the third anniversary of YarcPlus, the price will increase to $49. The special introductory offer of $35 for the Canon RAW image batch converter and viewer will... (More) Wednesday, July 3, 2002 CaptiVision 2.0 Streams Digital Photo Albums 17:53 EDT - With images served from NetGUI's servers, CaptiVision taps into Flash technology to deliver digital photo albums. NetGUI Inc. today announced it has begun volume shipments of CaptiVision 2.0. The $49.95 product provides a simple and quick method of creating and distributing streaming media digital photo albums via... (More) Canon Posts AutoFocus Improvement for A10, A20, A30 and A40 14:15 EDT - The AF Adjust Program "improves the AF accuracy close the the telephoto end," Canon said. Camera firmware is not affected by the program. Canon BeBit in Japan has posted software to improve focusing accuracy in the telephoto range of the PowerShot A10, A20, A30 and A40. After downloading and copying it to a CompactFlash card, the program... (More) Tuesday, July 2, 2002 Dazzle OnDVD 2.0 Burns Slide Shows on CD 12:46 EDT - Using inexpensive CDs coupled with DVD software, you can put your slide show on television with Dzzle OnDVD. SCM Microsystems, Inc. today announced the release of its next generation Dazzle OnDVD slideshow creation software for Windows. The $19.99 product allows users to create digital photo slideshows that can... (More) Hamrick Releases VueScan 7.5.35 12:33 EDT - Ed Hamrick has updated VueScan for LinoHell scanners and fixed problems with Microtek and Umax scanners. VueScan runs many different scanners under Windows, Mac OS 8/9/X and Linux. Easy to use, it has advanced features for restoring faded colors, batch scanning and other features appreciated by professional... (More) Alain Briot Publishes Epson 9600 Diary 12:22 EDT - Arizona landscape photographer Alain Briot calibrates the Epson 9600 for color and prints black and whites using two profiles in the latest entries of his online diary. The Epson 9600 Diary by Alain Briot follows both his color and black-and-white printing experience with the new Epson. After installing profiles made by Uwe Steinmueller with the Gretag McBeth Eye One... (More) Full review posted for Olympus C-720 UltraZoom! 12:08 EDT - Dave has mysteriously managed to post his review of Olympus' new 8x zoom, the C-720 Ultrazoom, while enjoying a little holiday. Olympus has been a player in the "long zoom" camera market for some time now, starting with the excellent C2100 a couple of years back, followed by last year's C-700 UltraZoom. Now, they have the 8x C-720... (More) Monday, July 1, 2002 Kingston Releases 128-MB MultiMediaCard 20:10 EDT - The larger 128-MB card joins the previously released 32-MB and 64-MB size cards. Kingston Technology Company, Inc. today announced the immediate availability of a 128-MB MultiMediaCard. About the size of a postage stamp and weighing less than two grams, MMC is increasingly used as... (More) Summus and Snapfish to Create Wireless Photo App 20:04 EDT - Snapfish Mobile will tap Summus' wireless multimedia architectureand target Snapfish's three million users. Summus, Inc., a developer of information processing solutions for mobile and wireless devices, and Snapfish, an online photo service, today announced they have signed a multi-year revenue-sharing agreement... (More) FotoWire Active in CPXe Initiative 19:55 EDT - Online photofinisher FotoWire has been actively involved in the CPXe initiative to broaden options for digital photographers. FotoWire, a pioneer in online photofinishing, today disclosed its active participation in the International Imaging Industry Association initiative to provide increased photofinishing choices for consumers... (More) Plugin Site Announces Galaxy Contest 2002 19:42 EDT - Best Photo Shot and Best Photo Composition are just two of the categories in the Plugin Site's Galaxy Contest 2002 with over 70 prizes to award. The Galaxy Contest 2002: Submit your graphic artwork and win one of 70 great prizes! The Plugin Site has announce the Galaxy Contest 2002, showcasing what can be done with edges, frames, photos, textures... (More) Photoshop 7.0 Review Posted 14:00 EDT - Newsletter Editor Mike Pasini has posted his review of Photoshop 7.0. There are new magic tricks, but even more impressive are its new productivity tools. After working with the beta and production release on three platforms, Newsletter Editor Mike Pasini has posted his review of Photoshop 7.0. There are new magic tricks, but even more impressive are its... (More) Return to: Current News Archive Index