News Archive - July 2005 Return to: Current News Archive Index Friday, July 29, 2005 Review posted for the Casio Exilim EX-P505 15:41 EDT - With its tiny size, generous range of preset exposure modes, and 5.0-megapixel CCD, the Casio Exilim EX-P505 is a good option for people looking for a camera with a reasonably long-ratio zoom lens (5x) in a compact package. The plentiful preset shooting modes make it easy for novices to capture good-looking images in just about any situation, while the ability to capture high-resolution images and adjust attributes such as... (More) PRESS RELEASE: New Epson Perfection Scanners Offer Advanced Features At Consumer-Level Prices 15:24 EDT - Epson Perfection® 4490 Photo, Epson Perfection 3590 Photo and Epson Perfection 3490 Photo provide customers with the tools they need to quickly digitize, restore and renew classic photos at affordable prices LONG BEACH, Calif., July 28, 2005 - Epson is introducing its newest scanners to the consumer market - the Epson Perfection 4490 Photo, Perfection 3590 Photo and Perfection 3490 Photo - each... (More) Photo Talk Radio: Five interesting digicams 14:20 EDT - Imaging Resource Founder and Publisher Dave Etchells will soon be making another appearance on Photo Talk Radio, this time to discuss five of what he considers to be the more interesting cameras to have been announced in the last few months. The show will be broadcast live from 11AM - Noon Eastern Time this Saturday, July 30th, and Dave will be the first guest. You'll need Windows Media Player 9 or 10 installed on your computer to listen to... (More) Thursday, July 28, 2005 Fujifilm announces 9mpix long-zoom digicam 00:00 EDT - Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. Inc. has today announced a new digital camera model that couples a powerful 10.7x optical zoom lens with category-leading sensor resolution courtesy of a newly developed nine megapixel SuperCCD HR imager. Of course, resolution is only a small part of the overall picture - and as resolution increases, the difference between successive steps up the megapixel scale become far smaller. Where the FinePix S9000... (More) Fujifilm announces 9mpix compact digicam 00:00 EDT - In its second nine megapixel digital camera announcement of the day, Fujifilm has unveiled the FinePix E900 model - featuring the same SuperCCD HR imager found in its long-zoom S9000 sibling. As we noted in our separate coverage of the S9000 announcement, resolution is only a small part of the overall picture. As resolution increases, the difference between successive steps up the megapixel... (More) Fujifilm updates FinePix S5100 00:00 EDT - In its third digital camera announcement of the day, Fujifilm has today unveiled a replacement for its existing FinePix S5100 model, in the form of the new Fujifilm FinePix S5200. Sharing the same five megapixel image sensor as the existing FinePix Z1 model, the FinePix S5200 will apparently offer above-average high ISO performance, with a maximum sensitivity of ISO 1600 at full... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Fujifilm Boosts Digital Camera Lineup with the World's First Nine Megapixel Consumer Models; New Models Combine Record Pixel Strength with Fujifilm's Breakthrough Real Photo Technology for Sharper High-Resolution Pictures with Less Noise 00:00 EDT - VALHALLA, N.Y. -- July 28, 2005 -- Harnessing the technology excellence of Fujifilm's superior Real Photo Technology and answering the advanced needs of today's skilled digital camera user, Fujifilm today introduced three new models to its digital camera portfolio. Leaping ahead of the competition once again, Fujifilm unveiled the FinePix S9000 and FinePix E900 digital cameras - the world's first consumer... (More) Tuesday, July 26, 2005 PRESS RELEASE: StudioLine Photo 2 Optimizes Image Management Workflow for All Photographers 14:38 EDT - Release 2.11 Brings a New Level of Ease to Archiving and Managing Photos Along With Enhancements for Desktop Publishing and Online Albums Upper Saddle River, NJ; July 25, 2005-H&M Systems Software, Inc. today introduced Release 2.11 of its award-winning StudioLine® Photo 2 digital imaging software. Release 2.11 benefits photographers and designers of all skill levels with ease-of-use enhancements... (More) PRESS RELEASE: New Fujifilm "GetPix" Photo Centers To Expand Retail Digital Photoprocessing Market 14:04 EDT - Modular Kiosk Solutions Will Bring Additional Retailers into the Market, While Expanding Revenue-Generating Opportunities for Retailers Currently Offering Digital Processing Services Valhalla, New York, July 26, 2005 - Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc., is redefining digital photo developing at retail with a new line of digital photo kiosk solutions. The company's GetPix™ Photo Centers, designed... (More) Monday, July 25, 2005 Review posted for the Sony DSC-S60 16:54 EDT - The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S60 is an easy-to-use but capable offering, with a 4.1-megapixel CCD, 32 megabytes of internal memory, and a nice range of exposure options. The Sony S60 provides slightly more manual exposure control than most compact entry-level models permit, yet is easy to use in full-auto mode, and its seven preprogrammed scene modes help with tricky subjects.... (More) New USB drive includes flash-card reader 14:35 EDT - A press release from Edge Tech Corp. announces its new DiskGO! portable hard drive, which features a built-in USB 2.0 hub and a flash card reader compatible with six common card formats. With a product name that's confusingly similar to X-Micro's "Mini DisGo" that we covered a few days ago, the Edge Tech DiskGO! is a portable storage device that should offer good capacity and speed, but... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Delkin Devices Introduces Pop-Up Shade Line To Protect Expensive Digital Camera LCD Screens And Take Better Pictures! 12:53 EDT - July 18, 2005 Poway, CA- Delkin Devices, Inc., maker of premium quality eFilm® memory cards and other innovative digital photography products, today introduced its new line of innovative eFilm® Pop-Up Shades™. Pop-Up Shades are LCD screen protective covers, which double as glare guards. These sturdy, lightweight covers are easily installed (and removed), protect a digital camera's... (More) Software Review: Adobe CS2's Bridge 12:29 EDT - Adobe Bridge is a new application in the Creative Suite, which we will be reviewing in several articles, that borrows features from your operating system, Web browser organizer and image editor to make your workflow more efficient. This first incarnation, included with the CS2 versions of Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator or GoLive, proves its mettle and promises even more. It far surpasses the old File Browser, offering some interesting editing options. In addition to extensive metadata editing, Bridge can also hand off a selection of images to its Camera Raw plug-in for... (More) PRESS RELEASE: StudioLine Photo 2 Optimizes Image Management Workflow for All Photographers 10:57 EDT - Release 2.11 Brings a New Level of Ease to Archiving and Managing Photos Along With Enhancements for Desktop Publishing and Online Albums UPPER SADDLE RIVER, N.J.--July 25, 2005--H&M Systems Software, Inc. today introduced Release 2.11 of its award-winning StudioLine(R) Photo 2 digital imaging software. Release 2.11 benefits photographers and designers of all skill levels with ease-of-use enhancements... (More) Review posted for Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T33 09:28 EDT - The DSC-T33 continues a Sony tradition of high quality in the subcompact category, but with a new spin: Affordability! Most impressive is how few tradeoffs Sony was forced to make to achieve this. The DSC-T33 shows good image quality, with good color, and high resolution. Its image sharpness and noise levels aren't quite... (More) Saturday, July 23, 2005 Review posted for Olympus C-5500 Sport Zoom 19:54 EDT - My first take on the Olympus C-5500 Sport Zoom was "nice enough camera, but nothing special." As I learned its capabilities and studied its photos however, I found myself warming to it quite a bit. When I finally got around to checking its "street" prices though, I was very pleasantly surprised: widely available online for well under $250 (under $215 from some merchants), the Olympus 5500 is a real... (More) Friday, July 22, 2005 Pentax announces Optio60 digital camera 14:41 EDT - A press release from Pentax Imaging Co. has announced a new digital camera for its Optio series. The Pentax Optio60 looks to be an update to the existing Optio50 model, with very similar styling - although the new camera is almost half an inch thicker, and uses a slightly larger, higher resolution... (More) Thursday, July 21, 2005 BenQ: Two digicams with Pentax lenses 23:38 EDT - A press release distributed yesterday by BenQ Europe announces two new digital camera models for that market. The BenQ DC E510 and DC E520 are both ultracompact cameras with five megapixel imagers and 3x optical zoom lenses, but with somewhat differing body design and feature set. Unfortunately we don't currently... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Corel Corporation names Blaine Mathieu General Manager, Digital Imaging 16:01 EDT - Experienced Industry Executive Will Lead Corel's Global Expansion in the Fast-Growing Digital Imaging and Photography Sector Ottawa, Canada - July 20, 2005 - Corel Corporation today announced that it has named Blaine Mathieu General Manager of its Digital Imaging business, a key appointment that will help Corel expand its growing presence worldwide with its award-winning Paint Shop Family product... (More) PRESS RELEASE: X-Micro Announces New Mini DisGo 15:21 EDT - Taipei, Taiwan, July 15, 2005 - Today, X-Micro Technology Corp. announced the Mini DisGo a new pocket-sized Slim Mobile Hard Disk Drive. The company is introducing their latest storage device at this year's Computex in Taipei. This easy-to-use HDD has dimensions of 0.85 x 6 x 10cm, which makes the Mini DisGo slightly longer and wider than a credit card and about as thick as a pencil. With disk capacity... (More) PRESS RELEASE: PhotoVu(TM) Launches First Wireless 19" Digital LCD Picture Frame Under $1000 Also Announces Upgraded Support for Latest Versions of Photo Management Software From Adobe(R) and Apple(R) 12:36 EDT - BOULDER, Colo., July 20 -- Today PhotoVu(TM) announced the availability of their new PV1945 19" picture frame at $999, expanding the PhotoVu product line to a portfolio of three full featured, wall-mounted models. "As the LCD panel industry moves forward and prices continue to fall, we are able to rapidly incorporate these newer panel technologies into our portfolio, creating the highest quality customized... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Toshiba announces decision to support SMIA standard for camera modules 10:42 EDT - Company will develop and commercialise SMIA-compliant modules Toshiba Corporation has announced its decision to develop and commercialise camera modules that are compliant with the Standard Mobile Imaging Architecture (SMIA) specification proposed by Nokia and STMicroelectronics. In recent years Toshiba has made a significant contribution to the growth of the camera phone market through its CMOS... (More) Wednesday, July 20, 2005 Panasonic announces new long-zoom Lumix digicam 18:32 EDT - Consumer electronics giant Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. has today announced a new digital camera model to be sold under its Panasonic brandname. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 digital camera features an eight megapixel imager coupled to a 12x optical zoom lens, in a body styled much like an SLR camera, but utilizing an electronic viewfinder. With... (More) Panasonic announces 8mpix 16:9 digicam (UPDATED) 14:08 EDT - In its second announcement of the day, Panasonic has today unveiled its new Lumix DMC-LX1 digital camera, noteable for its use of a CCD imager with a 16:9 aspect ratio, rather than the more common 4:3 and 3:2 aspect ratio imagers found in most other digital cameras. Of course, where 4:3 or 3:2 cameras can simply crop their output to achieve a different aspect ratio (discarding some of the image data in the process), the DMC-LX1 can do likewise, offering up 4:3 or... (More) Panasonic USA: Lumix DMC-FX8, DMC-FX9 (UPDATED) 12:42 EDT - Panasonic has today announced a new digital camera model that updates its previous Lumix DMC-FX8, a camera that was announced some months ago in Europe and Asia, and today was announced for the US market as well. The new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 digital camera is a fairly self-explanatory update to its elder sibling, increasing resolution from five to six megapixels, and increasing the resolution of the LCD display... (More) Kodak to cut another 10,000 jobs 10:50 EDT - A news article published on the website of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper today states that Eastman Kodak Co. will continue to cut jobs over the next two years as it completes its transition to a business model centered on digital imaging. According to the article, the company is now predicting a further 10,000 job cuts by mid-2007, on top of the 12,000 to 15,000 job cuts already planned by the middle of 2006. This would see the company... (More) Tuesday, July 19, 2005 Pentax changes focus as profits fall 14:35 EDT - Several news articles today from Bloomberg.com cover the latest financial information released by Japanese company Pentax Corp. Imaging Resource readers will likely best know Pentax for its lineup of Optio digital cameras, as well as a range of digital and film SLRs, lenses and accessories. The company also deals in a number of... (More) Olympus updates Evolt firmware 11:54 EDT - Olympus USA has this week updated its Evolt digital SLR firmware to version 1.3, with several useful changes. According to Olympus, the new firmware incorporates all updates through version 1.2, plus the following: It is now possible to set the interval between pressing a button and when the control dial can be... (More) Sony, Konica Minolta cooperate on DSLRs 10:12 EDT - A press release today from Konica Minolta Photo Imaging Inc. reveals that the company is to cooperate with consumer electronic giant Sony Corp. to develop single-lens reflex digital cameras. Speculation has been rife for the last couple of years that Sony would join Olympus, Kodak, Fujifilm, Matsushita (Panasonic), Sanyo and Sigma - all participating in the competing Four Thirds digital SLR... (More) Friday, July 15, 2005 Konica Minolta: New X-series ultracompact 22:51 EDT - A press release from Konica Minolta Photo Imaging U.S.A. Inc. today has announced a new digital camera model for the company's DiMAGE X series, which consists of ultracompact models that feature a prism-folded lens design offering potential improvements in camera size, battery life and reliability. (Our apologies for the tardy posting, but email problems prevented us from getting details on the camera until after the NDA had expired, and News Editor Mike is currently in the process of moving home as well!) The new Konica Minolta DiMAGE X1 features significantly updated styling compared to past models, with softly curved edges and a rather attractive two-tone color scheme. Resolution is a whopping eight... (More) Konica Minolta announces Maxxum 5D 01:36 EDT - Konica Minolta Photo Imaging U.S.A. Inc. has today announced a new consumer digital SLR camera that reduces the size of the existing Maxxum 7D digital SLR model while retaining the resolution, lens mount and much of the feature set. Pricing and availability for the camera have yet to be announced, but it looks set to compete with consumer DSLR offerings from other manufacturers with a number of changes obviously having been made... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Konica Minolta Announces Development Of Three New "DT" Interchangeable Lenses Designed For The Maxxum Line Of Digital SLR Cameras 01:33 EDT - Konica Minolta AF DT ZOOM 18-70mm F3.5-5.6(D), AF DT ZOOM 11-18mm F4.5-5.6 (D), and AF DT ZOOM 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 (D) lenses will be available in the fall of 2005 Mahwah, NJ (July 15, 2005) – Konica Minolta Photo Imaging U.S.A., Inc., announces the development of three new “DT” lenses – interchangeable Digital Technology (DT) lenses designed for the Maxxum Series digital... (More) Thursday, July 14, 2005 Rollei announces new digicams 15:15 EDT - Rollei Europe has quietly announced two new digital cameras for that market, although we've only managed to obtain a press release for one of the models. The Rollei dp6200 and dp8300 are both compact point and shoot models with 3x optical zoom lenses, differing mainly in the styling and choice of imager used. The Rollei dp6200 is slightly smaller and lighter,... (More) Wednesday, July 13, 2005 PRESS RELEASE: SanDisk First To Offer 512-Megabyte microSD Card - Now Officially Adopted By SD Card Association 14:20 EDT - SUNNYVALE, CA, July 13, 2005 – SanDisk® Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) today announced that the microSD specification, which is based on SanDisk’s TransFlash™ card, has been officially adopted by the SD Card Association (SDA). The new microSD card is fully compatible with the TransFlash card and is designed as a small, flash memory storage card for mobile phones and devices. SanDisk... (More) Tuesday, July 12, 2005 Canon website teaches DSLR basics 13:32 EDT - A new website from Canon Japan aims to teach newcomers to digital SLR cameras the basics about their design and purposes. The Canon "Enjoy! Digital SLR Cameras" website presents information in a simple and easy to understand manner, and even though that information is accompanied by pictures of Canon's DSLRs, it will mostly... (More) Addonics announces speedy CF adapter 13:20 EDT - A press release from Addonics Technologies Inc. today announces a new high-speed SATA (Serial ATA) CompactFlash adapter compatible with Type-I or Type-II cards including Microdrives. The announcement notes the extremely high speeds possible with SATA devices, which are capable of throughputs up to 1.5Gbps - far in advance of the more common USB 2.0, FireWire or PC card readers. It... (More) Review posted for Sony DSC-T7 13:09 EDT - The new Sony DSC-T7 takes "thin" to a whole new level for a sophisticated digital camera design. By far the thinnest Cyber-shot to date, the Sony T7 is noteworthy not only for its amazingly thin profile, but for the range of features and image quality that the Sony engineers managed to pack into its... (More) ASMP states position on RAW formats 10:36 EDT - An interesting press release from the American Society of Media Photographers Inc. has just come to our attention. The release, which is undated and posted on the ASMP website, states the society's position on RAW file formats and their place in photography. The release is interesting, particularly because it identifies... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Federal Court Reinstates Patent Infringement Lawsuit Filed By Sandisk Against Ritek, Pretec And Memorex 10:28 EDT - SUNNYVALE, CA, JULY 11, 2005 - SanDisk® Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) announced today that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) on July 8, 2005 reversed a summary judgment ruling of non-infringement by a California District Court regarding SanDisk's U.S. Patent No. 5,602,987 ("'987 Patent"). As a result of the CAFC decision, SanDisk will renew the prosecution of its infringement... (More) Monday, July 11, 2005 I/O Magic announces DataStation 2 11:47 EDT - A press release from storage peripheral company I/O Magic has announced a new addition to its product line that could be interesting for laptop or notebook computer users. With space at a premium, these machines often forgo any form of floppy disk drive. While they aren't often used these days, floppy disks invariably seem to show up when you're without a way to read them... (More) Software Review: nik Sharpener 2.0 10:59 EDT - In the five years since we first reviewed nik Sharpener, the world of digital imaging has evolved significantly. And Sharpener's latest release catches up by providing a Raw Presharpening filter and 16-bit mode. It goes a good bit further, however, by incorporating Sharpener Selective, which lets you apply its sharpening filters to your image by (drum roll) brushing them on with your image editing application's... (More) Thursday, July 7, 2005 PRESS RELEASE: Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America's Photo Imaging Division Announces The Immediate Availability Of X-Rite's ICC Profiles For Its Digital Color Printers 15:40 EDT - IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, July 6, 2005 - Mitsubishi's Photo Imaging Division and X-Rite (NASDAQ: XRIT) today reaffirmed their agreement to license ICC profiles created by X-Rite's award-winning MonacoPROFILER software into Mitsubishi's family of digital photo printers. This agreement provides professional photographers with higher levels of consistency and integration between photographic printers and... (More) Wednesday, July 6, 2005 PRESS RELEASE: Adobe-Sponsored Photoshop World Conference & Expo Opens Registration And Offers $100 Advance Registration Discount 13:39 EDT - Photoshop World Conference & Expo - September 7-9-2005 - Boston TAMPA, FL - July 6, 2005 - For the first time ever, Photoshop World Conference & Expo is bringing three days of the most amazing and inspiring Photoshop® and digital imaging education and training to the Northeast. Scheduled for Sept. 7-9 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Photoshop World is the main educational event for Photoshop... (More) Tuesday, July 5, 2005 Microsoft updates Digital Image Suite 22:38 EDT - Software giant Microsoft Corp. has released a new version of its imaging package Digital Image Suite, offering tools to organise, edit and share your photos. Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 includes a number of new features, such as support for video files, RAW support for Canon and Nikon cameras, a "Hover Thumbnail" function that shows a larger version... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Epson To Build New Distribution Center In Plainfield, Ind., To Accommodate Growing Demand 22:09 EDT - Facility Will Create More Than 130 Additional Jobs for Indiana Residents LONG BEACH, Calif. - July 5, 2005 - Epson America, Inc. today announced plans for the construction of a new distribution facility in Plainfield, Ind., a suburb of Indianapolis. The new 750,000-square-foot facility will create more than 130 additional jobs and expand Epson's capacity to meet growing demand for its vast array... (More) Friday, July 1, 2005 Full review posted for Nikon D70S 18:05 EDT - In the bit over a year since the introduction of the original Nikon D70, rival Canon has answered that camera's challenge strongly with their Digital Rebel XT model, catching up quite a bit in the areas of startup time and responsiveness, as well as in resolution and detail rendition. That said though, the Nikon D70S retains the advantage of a superior lens with a wider zoom range and slightly wider maximum aperture. It also retains the superb in-hand feel and ergonomics of the original... (More) Review posted for Canon PowerShot S2 IS 18:01 EDT - The long-zoom digital camera market is getting pretty crowded these days, so it takes a lot for a product to really stand out. Despite the stiff competition though, the Canon PowerShot S2 IS is indeed just such a standout product. Building upon the already very popular S1 IS model, the Canon S2 IS shows substantial improvements... (More) PRESS RELEASE: Travel Plans This Summer? Here's Advice From SanDisk about Flash Memory Cards For Your Digital Camera 17:46 EDT - Which Cards Should You Buy? How Should You Handle Them? Are They Safe In Airport Scanners? The Experts at SanDisk Offer Tips For Vacationers. SUNNYVALE, CA, JUNE 30, 2005 - If you're getting ready to pack your suitcase, your sunscreen lotion and your digital camera for a summer getaway, don't forget to pack extra flash memory cards. And, since you'll be capturing plenty of magic moments, the experts... (More) June POTD Winners Selected! 14:38 EDT - Another month, another batch of great photos in the IR Photo of the Day (POTD) contest! Yet another fine batch of photos has been whittled down to three winners after quite a bit of careful deliberation. You'll note that two of the winners were shot with Sony F-series cameras, known to be... (More) Return to: Current News Archive Index