Konica Minolta: New A-series Firmware
Konica Minolta USA has released new firmware updates for its DiMAGE A1 and A2 digital cameras in the last few days.
To get to the firmware, you have to use the dropdown menus, as the link goes to a search page rather than directly to the firmware. (I dislike sites that do this)
Available on its support website, firmware versions 1.13u for the DiMAGE A1 and 1.14u for the DiMAGE A2 both list the same changes.
The firmware is said to offer improved memory card write speed, as well as improved USB transfer speed. Installation instructions can be found on the support website.
Casio Exilim EX-Z120 Review
Digital Camera Review takes a detailed look at the Casio Exilim EX-Z120 today with just as much a thumbs down as a thumbs up. The main upsides of the camera are what will make it a top seller in its niche as it is easy to use, and has good battery life.
Packing the ability to capture a whopping 7.2 million pixels, the Z120 also has a 3x optical zoom and 2 inch LCD. Images, movies and audio clips are stored on a SD/MMC memory card.
A big marketing point for the Z120 is its convenience and ease of use. When the “easy mode” is selected on the mode dial, the settings configurable by the user when pressing the Menu button are limited (on purpose). You can set the Flash mode, timer mode, and image size. For each option, there is some short text that describes what the option is. For example, the auto flash option says: “Flash fires when required”.
Safesnaps.com Makes Safe Photo Storage a Snap
So many people ask where a good place to store images online are, and really there are thousands. You just have to make sure it has the features you want, at a price you can afford. Here is one press release that talks about Safe Snaps.
London, England (Nov. 22, 2005) – Unix kernel veterans recently launched a new digital photo archive service for individuals who need to know their snapshots are secure. Safe Snaps (www.safesnaps.com) stores pictures, allows for easy retrieval by subscribers and can backup work on demand.
Off-site photo backup is the gold standard in today’s computer industry. Safe Snaps’ founders want to ensure all photo users the same level of protection without breaking the bank.
“We started the business to fill what we perceived to be a hole in the market for safe, off-site and secure digital photo archival,” said Rod Harrison, Safe Snaps CEO. “None of the other companies around offer the same level of service for a remotely similar price.”
Founders Rod Harrison and Phil Kaye, bring a combined 35 years of experience and expertise in the technology sector to the new venture. The company formally incorporated in January 2005, with the service making its debut in August.
Safe Snaps differentiates itself from other photo storage services in several ways. First, the company charges a flat fee of $7.50 for an unlimited amount of storage. Next, they store, and allow retrieval of, the full-resolution image.
Safe Snaps’ custom-designed PhotoElephant software will automatically save your digital images over the Internet whenever you upload from your camera. No more burning CDs or choosing select files to copy.
“You can forget because PhotoElephant never will,” Harrison said. “We store every version of the file you make, so changes get saved as well as the original,” Harrison explained. “The backup is automatic, it can run hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, as well as on demand. That means you can’t forget to back up, which is a very common cause of lost files.”
Safesnaps will never delete a customer’s pictures. There are no limits on the number of photos and the price is always the same.
Focusing After the Shot
On my daily look around the web I stopped over at Digital Photography Review and they had a short article up about the plenoptic camera, a digital camera that can take a shot, and then you can focus it afterwards.
A very interesting idea, that would most likely allow for faster response time from cameras but lower resolution pictures at first.
Ren Ng, graduate student at Stanford University has developed a hand-held plenoptic camera which takes a shot first and allows you to make the decision about focus point in software after the event. The prototype camera is actually a Contax 645 with a modified Megavision FB4040 back (sixteen megapixel). The back has had an array of 90,000 microlenses mounted in front of the sensor (with a gap between the array and the sensor). These microlenses create a unique image on the sensor surface which includes not only the amount of light deposited at that location, but how much light arrives along each ray. The image is then reconstructed in software and a focus point can be chosen. Note that the final resolution is the same as the number of microlenses.
A very interesting outside the box approach to digital camera imagery.
Lexar LockTight Supported by the Nikon D200 Digital SLR
FREMONT, Ca., November 21, 2005 – Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a world leader in advanced digital media technologies today announced that its LockTight™ technology will be supported in the Nikon D200 creating an ideal solution for photographers who want to fully utilize the advanced feature set in this new camera, including security functionality and burst mode shooting. Lexar Professional LockTight CompactFlash is a unique security technology that allows photographers and organizations to control access to information stored on the user’s memory cards. Following full support in the Nikon D2X and D2Hs digital SLR cameras, the new Nikon D200 is the most affordable digital camera that includes built-in LockTight functionality.
“Security and controlling access to digital images continues to be a critical feature for vertical markets such as law enforcement, insurance, medicine or government. With LockTight, Lexar is offering a unique secure digital imaging solution for these markets,” said John Omvik, director of professional product marketing, Lexar. “With the introduction of the D200, photographers and organizations in these markets now have three different Nikon cameras to choose from with varying feature sets and price points,” he added.
Beyond security, the Lexar Professional CompactFlash with LockTight delivers a minimum sustained write speed capability of 80X, enough to take advantage of the D200’s burst mode of 5 frames per second – without delays in writing the data to the memory card (Lexar defines “X” within its speed-rating system as equivalent to a minimum write speed capability of 150 kilobytes per second). Any Lexar Professional CompactFlash card used with a Nikon D200 digital SLR camera is the ideal combination for shooting at weddings, sporting events or any venue where missing the perfect image is not an option.
“The comprehensive feature set of the D200–including the unique LockTight compatibility and functionality–will appeal to many professionals around the world,” said Kazuyuki Kazami, General Manager of Marketing, Nikon Corporation. “Among the D200’s target customer base are organizations that have a real need to protect their content, demonstrate a chain of evidence and restrict access to confidential or sensitive image data. Lexar’s LockTight system offers us a unique way to address these requirements from our vertical market customers,” he added.
(more…)
Corel Photo Album 6.0 Adds Raw Support
OTTAWA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nov. 22, 2005–Corel Corporation today announced a major enhancement to its popular photo management system, Corel(R) Photo Album(TM) 6, that will enable consumers to easily work with digital camera raw file formats. With support for more than 40 digital camera raw file formats, Corel Photo Album 6 enables photographers to easily open, enhance, process and convert images into the highest quality photos.
Functioning as a digital negative, digital camera raw file formats are gaining popularity among photo enthusiasts and professional photographers who want to preserve their digital image’s authenticity. As consumers are seeking more and more ways to produce higher quality photos, they are discovering that the digital camera raw file format provides them with greater detail, true-to-life color and increased control over their image data. Now with Corel Photo Album 6 joining Corel(R) Paint Shop Pro(R) X in support of digital camera raw file formats, photographers have an easy-to-use platform for downloading, organizing, sharing, editing and protecting this valuable photo format.
With digital camera raw file support, Corel Photo Album 6 customers can now:
- Detect digital camera raw images instantly
- Seamlessly download digital camera raw images from the camera to the computer
- Easily preview digital camera raw formats on their cameras
- Manage and organize digital camera raw image formats by time and date, just like they would any other image
- Open and make edits to the digital camera raw file, then save it as a JPG
- Use these files in slideshows, VCD, printed photo projects and web pages
- Quickly e-mail and share digital camera raw file formats with others
“As the digital photography market evolves, photo enthusiasts and professional photographers are seeking more sophisticated ways to maximize the richness and detail inherent in the photos they take,” said Blaine Mathieu, General Manager, Digital Imaging at Corel. “By offering our customers digital camera raw file support, we are enabling them to have more control over the photos they take and more choices in how they use Photo Album to manage, store and produce high quality images.”
Pricing and Availability
Corel Photo Album 6 - Deluxe Edition is available for a suggested retail price of $49 US and is available from major retailers and resellers across North America including Amazon, PC Mall, Dell.com, Atomic Park, STAPLES Business Depot, Office Depot, CDW, PC Connection, SHI and Software Spectrum. Existing Corel Photo Album 6 users can download the digital camera raw file format update at www.corel.com.
Kodak Increases Lead in U.S. Sales
For the fourth straight quarter Eastman Kodak Co., better known as just Kodak for most people, has taken the lead over its Japanese rivals Canon and Sony, but not only are they leading, but they are pulling away and taking more and more marketshare, as they capitalize on some decent product launches and their strong brand name.
In the July-to-September period, digital camera shipments to domestic retailers rose nearly 13 percent to 5.6-million from 5-million a year earlier, research firm IDC of Framingham, Mass., reported.
Photography equipment maker Kodak shipped 1.25-million digital cameras in the quarter - 21 percent more than in last year’s third quarter - and its market share rose to 21.3 percent from 19.8 percent, IDC said.
Worldwide, Kodak ranks third in digital camera sales behind Sony and Canon.
Canon SD550 Review
The Canon SD550 is going to be a pretty popular consumer digital camera as it has everything the average camera user will want, and DCViews has a detailed review on why it will be so popular.
With a 7-megapixel sensor, a fast 9-point AiAF autofocus system and 3x optical zoom the SD550 is now Canon’s top model in the series, sporting a huge 2.5″ LCD screen and an ultra compact stainless steel body. As we have come to expect, all Elphs are built like the proverbial tank and will be good for many years of photo fun.
One of the only downsides listed on this camera is the viewfinder is a bit small, but with an increasing amount of people using the LCD only to take their shots, I don’t see this as a major issue for most users of the Canon SD550.
DxO Optics Pro V3.5 Software Now Available
New York, NY–November 17, 2005 – DxO Labs announced today that DxO Optics Pro v3.5 Digital SLR and lens automatic image quality enhancement software is available for download at the company’s e-store (http://store.dxo.com) and via selected resellers.
DxO Optics Pro v3.5 incorporates DxO Optics Engine v2, a more powerful edition of DxO Labs’ award-winning optical correction engine extending the software’s capabilities for automatically removing unwanted color fringes including “purple fringing”; preserving greater image detail through improvements to DxO’s Lens Softness removal capabilities; as well as preserving up to 40% more image area when eliminating geometric distortion. Other improvements include an enhanced user interface as well as dramatically increased batch processing speed (by up to 100%) on multi-processor computers.
“The quality of the corrections and the final results look better than ever with this new version,” said Luc Marin, vice president of the Photography Business Unit at DxO Labs.
DxO Optics Pro v3.5 Elite Edition now also supports the new, full-frame, Canon EOS 5D and an initial selection of lenses.
Upgrading to DxO Optics Pro v3.5 is free for registered users of DxO Optics Pro v3.0 Standard or Elite editions. Users of DxO Optics Pro v3.5 continue to benefit from unrestricted access to all DxO Lens Modules for a given set of supported camera bodies.
Availability and pricing
DxO Optics Pro v3.5 is available on both Windows (2000 and XP) and Macintosh (OS X 10.3 and above).
- DxO Optics Pro v3.5 Standard Edition is for use with advanced amateur Digital SLRs including unrestricted access to DxO Lens Modules $149
- DxO Optics Pro v3.5 Elite Edition supports professional Digital SLRs including unrestricted access to DxO Lens Modules $299
Quoted prices in U.S. dollars and Euros are excluding VAT/Sales Tax. Prices in British pounds are inclusive of 17.5% VAT. Full System requirements can be found on www.dxo.com
About DxO Labs and its DxO Technology
DxO Labs is a software company developing image generation and enhancement technologies. We provide reliable off-the-shelf solutions for serious amateurs and professional photographers, photography journalists and experts as well as companies in the imaging business such as digital camera or cameraphone vendors, mobile operators, and printing or photofinishing professionals.
The company’s patented DxO technologies, the DxO Technology Foundations, are the result of state-of-the-art academic mathematical research. The DxO Technology Foundations comprise a set of software components to generate images or correct major imaging defects, such as color, contrast, blur, various optics faults, JPEG artifacts, etc.
For more information, visit DxO Labs online at www.dxo.com
Konica Minolta DiMAGE X1 Review
An interesting and slim digital camera from Konica Minolta finds space for an 8 megapixel CCD sensor in its compact frame, and Imaging Resource put it through its paces. Is high resolution in a compact container a good idea?
The Konica Minolta DiMAGE X1 is an unusual digital camera, packing an 8 megapixel sensor, a 3x zoom lens, and anti-shake technology into a compact, stylish case. Its image quality is good, with a much better than average lens for a subcompact camera, very accurate color, and loads of resolution. Packing all those pixels into a tiny sensor does make for higher image noise, and the X1 has taken some knocks from other reviewers on that score. As is often the case with high-resolution digital cameras though, we found that noise that was very evident on-screen became much less so when printed at typical photo sizes. Even at its (modest) maximum ISO of 200, 8×10 prints from the X1 looked surprisingly good: There was noise there, but we didn’t find it nearly as obtrusive as that from many cameras we’ve tested, including some with significantly lower pixel counts.
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