S3 Pro buffer upgrade available in US
After many months of waiting for the same upgrade that those in Japan were able to get in September 2005, the S3 Pro buffer upgrade is now available in the US.
Valhalla, NY January 16, 2006 - Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc., is now offering a hardware upgrade for the FinePix S3 Pro professional DSLR camera that will improve its continuous shooting capabilities, as well as other performance enhancements.
FinePix S3 Pro
The FinePix S3 Pro has found a home in the camera bags of thousands of wedding and portrait photographers thanks to its world-renowned Fujifilm color reproduction and industry-leading dynamic range. The 12 MegaPixel FinePix S3 Pro has six MegaPixels dedicated solely to the capture of dynamic range with another set of six MegaPixels dedicated to resolution. Together, these MegaPixel sets create high-resolution files with tremendous dynamic range. At its widest setting the FinePix S3 Pro’s dynamic range is 400% percent greater than that of other cameras of similar sensor design.
The hardware upgrade announced today for the FinePix S3 Pro will double the camera’s internal buffer memory capacity (from 128MB to 256MB), increasing its continuous frame shooting capabilities. For example, when shooting in RAW Format at the widest dynamic range setting, the FinePix S3 Pro’s continuous shooting frames jump from three frames to eight frames.
The FinePix S3 Pro hardware upgrade also includes a “wake-up” feature for the camera’s vertical shutter release.
FinePix S3 Pro owners interested in boosting their camera’s performance are asked to submit their camera to Fujifilm for the optional upgrade, which costs $379.95 + tax (return shipping is included) Fujifilm will apply a $30 discount if certain conditions are met. To learn more about these conditions, as well as camera submission information, FinePix S3 Pro owners should visit www.Fujifilm.com and look for the “New Buffer Upgrade” information.
Panasonic DMC-FZ7
Panasonic has a 6.0 megapixel digital camera coming out with a 12x optical zoom, and image stabilization technology, making for a camera that shows the dust on mine. It should be interesting to see the actual size of the camera, as well as its weight, being that they needed to make room for the optical zoom, but from what I can tell, it’s actually quite small for what it is, and does.
Combines 12x Optical Zoom with MEGA O.I.S. in a Compact Body
Panasonic is introducing the incoming LUMIX model 6.0-megapixel DMC-FZ7 with MEGA O.I.S., Optical Image Stabilizer that compensates the hand-shake, incorporating a 12x optical zoom (equivalent to 36mm to 432mm on a 35mm film camera) LEICA DC lens. Differing from the FZ30 with manual focus ring and manual zoom ring, which was already released and highly evaluated by prosumers, the FZ7 is more compact and easy to carry while preserving the same powerful zoom capability and manual controllability.
It is the heir to the 5.0-megapixel DMC-FZ5, but enhanced its excellence not only with the total number of pixels but also with other innovative technical improvements such as incorporation of joystick which allows easy manual control on focusing in addition to the manual exposure setting.
The 1.8-Inch LCD monitor for FZ5 has become large as 2.5-Inch for FZ7 gaining much brightness even in the low-lit situations thanks to the pixel-mixed readout method performed at the CCD. Furthermore, the adoption of 710 mAh big battery extends the battery life realizing 320 pictures shooting per a single charge. Last but not least, the FZ7 gains the High Sensitivity mode for one of the new scene modes that allows shooting at Max. ISO 1600 setting as another anti-blurring measure in addition to the MEGA O.I.S.
Normally, when shooting with high zoom, shooting indoor or nighttime when shutter speeds tends to slow, even a slight hand-shake would be a critical problem. However, LUMIX MEGA O.I.S. solves these problems enabling you to easily take clear, beautiful pictures with no deterioration of image quality even in such situations.
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Casio Announces EXILIM EX-Z600
It is amazing how good the performance of some digital cameras are getting. With the importance of higher megapixels slowly shifting away, Casio has announced a camera that does better outdoors with a brighter LCD, and has all the normal functions and features you have come to expect from a digital camera.
Dramatically Improved Display Nearly 3X Brighter, Easier To See Outdoors
January 23, 2006, Tokyo, Japan — CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD. announced the release of the latest addition to its EXILIM ZOOM digital camera series with the EX-Z600. The latest evolution in this popular series offers 6.0 megapixel high resolution photos in a stylish, compact, and pocket-sized package. The extra large 2.7-inch Super Bright LCD is approximately three times brighter than the previous EX-Z500 model, producing an impressive luminance of 1200 candelas per square meter. This significant advancement makes the LCD easier to see, especially when viewed in the sunny outdoors. In auto mode, the LCD automatically adjusts to the brightness of the surrounding environment. The EX-Z600’s Super Life Battery now has an even longer battery life, supporting a staggering 550 shots per charge.
The EXILIM line is a culmination of CASIO’s core technologies of miniaturization and digital technology resulting in a smaller, higher resolution camera—the established trend leader in stylish, quick responding, large LCD, and long battery life digital cameras. The EX-Z600 includes the latest version of the EXILIM Engine, featuring the Anti Shake DSP, which along with the Auto Macro and Quick Shutter functions, considerably reduces the incidence of blurred photos due to moving subjects or shaking hands.
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Adobe updates Camera Raw to Version 3.3
Support for the following cameras has been added from Camera Raw 3.2 to 3.3.
- Canon:
- EOS 5D
- EOS 1D Mark II N
- EOS 20Da
- Fujifilm:
- FinePix E900
- FinePix S5200 / 5600
- FinePix S9000 / 9500
- Kodak:
- EasyShare P850
- EasyShare P880
- Mamiya ZD
- Nikon D200
- Olympus:
- E-500
- SP-310
- SP-350
- SP-500UZ
- Pentax:
- *ist DL
- *ist DS2
- Sony DSC-R1
There are also a number of changes to the software:
- Improved redraw speed at some zoom levels.
- Added warning dialogs when attempting to cancel or reset the dialog when there are changes to non-selected images.
- Tuned Bayer demosaic algorithms.
- Fixed DNG decoding for some camera models.
- Write “legacy” IPTC data block (in addition to the existing XMP data block) to TIFF, JPEG, and PSD files saved directly.
Kodak Network of Pro Photographers
Kodak is creating a service in which people will be able to find professional photographers in their area and the right one for their needs. It should be interesting to see if Kodak can get enough professionals to sign up to make the service worthwhile, but if anyone can do it, a big company like Kodak should be able to.
Press Release:
New Service Will Educate, Assist Consumers in Selecting the Right Photographer For Their Needs
AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 22 – Today, Eastman Kodak Company announced the development of a robust professional photographer locator service for consumers, available spring 2006, and is currently seeking professional photographers to populate the database. The KODAK Network of Professional Photographers will act as a reference and referral guide for those seeking the services of a professional photographer.
Professional photographers can register free of charge as Premium Members of ProPass, an e-zine that offers subscribers solutions to achieving their artistic and business goals at www.kodak.com/go/propass. Photographers can list their credentials, professional affiliations, as well as provide links to their web site, directly connecting consumers with samples of their work. KODAK Network of Professional Photographers is yet another tool Kodak is providing in its support of professional photographers.
”Kodak realizes there are a lot of criteria in choosing a quality professional photographer,” said Christopher Van Zandt, Americas Region, Director Professional Output. “Many consumers don’t fully understand the benefits of professional photography, and that different situations are best served by photographers with specific skills and talents. Moments that are irreplaceable require the skill of a professional to capture the composition, reproduction and preservation of a quality image. Kodak’s Network of Professional Photographers is a service that will demystify this process for consumers, guiding them through the process in an effort to help them select the right photographer for their individual needs. ”
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Kodak EasyShare P880 Review
Digital Photography Review did what they do best, and reviewed the P880 from Kodak.
The two cameras in the new EasyShare ‘P’ range are superficially very similar, yet in many respects they are like chalk and cheese. Where the inherent problems of a soft lens and noisy sensor meant Kodak had to process the P850 images to within an inch of their lives, the P880 has what appears to be a very good lens and a perfectly decent sensor. This is important; the images are cleaner and sharper to start with, so the in-camera processing is much lighter (though still a little too strong at the default setting for our liking), and the end results far superior. I was impressed from the start by the excellent color, good edge-to-edge sharpness and (relatively) low level of artefacts in the P880’s JPEG output. If you can live with the very slow raw file writing you can wring even better results out of the lens / sensor combo.
Due to a few factors, it only ends up with a recommended rating rather than a highly recommended rating, which to me was surprising, but these guys are very detailed in their analysis, so I don’t doubt them on their reasonings for the rating. I think that they would rather people looking at this camera step up and buy a full Digital SLR, rather than a camera that tries to be one, but isn’t.
Online Digital Photo Backup from Carbonite
Here is an interesting service. I know that my grandma is worried that at some point her computer will just stop working and she will forever lose her digital camera pictures. Sure she makes CD backups, but what if she has gone two or three months without backing the images onto a CD or DVD? Well, a service from Carbonite might give her some piece of mind. It is a backup service that is only $2.99 a month, and will backup all her images on her PC automatically, and cheaply.
I am definetly going to have to get her set up with this to see how well it works. If it is good enough for a company like Staples to stand behind it, then it should help my grandma out pretty decently.
FRAMINGHAM, MA (PRWEB) January 15, 2006 — Customers who purchased any digital camera at Staples this holiday season (and for a limited time in early 2006) walked away with peace of mind from knowing that their cherished photos will never be lost. Each digital camera purchase will come with a copy of Staples’ exclusive Digital Photo Protection Kit which includes a free 6-month subscription to Carbonite’s PhotoBackup service , a $17.95 value.
Carbonite is the first “set and forget” online backup service that automatically discovers all the photos on your PC and backs them up securely over the Internet. Carbonite offers unlimited photo backup capacity for only $2.99 per month.
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Konica Minolta Withdraw from Camera Business
When I first saw the title, I figured they were just going to drop production on any non-Digital camera parts, but it looks as though they are handing over the reigns to the company they partnered up with last year, and are totally getting out of marketing and selling their own camera lines. Very shocking, eventhough I knew there was high competition happening in the camera world, I did not think any big recognizable brands would fail under the pressure.
Press Release:
Konica Minolta has long been a leading company in photo imaging business covering wide range of imaging from input to output. In addition, we have provided inspiring products and services by fusing our unique technologies.
In camera business, we have expanded picture-taking opportunities by developing innovative technologies such as the world’s first autofocus cameras. In 1962, our camera, well-accepted for its high reliability, boarded on the US’s first manned spaceship “Friendship 7.” Also, ever since introduction of the world’s first body-integral autofocus SLR camera, Maxxum/Dynax series, in 1985, SLR cameras have become more popular among picture-takers, and we have succeeded in selling 16 million units of interchangeable lenses since then.
However, in today’s era of digital cameras, where image sensor technologies such as CCD is indispensable, it became difficult to timely provide competitive products even with our top optical, mechanical and electronics technologies.
In photo business, represented by the silver-halide photography such as color film and color paper, we have produced Japan’s first photographic paper in 1903, and Japan’s first color film in 1940, thus pioneering joy of photography for more than a century. In 1984, we introduced the world’s first compact washless photofinishing system known as a minilab system. The minilabs contributed to the expansion of worldwide photographic market by making photos closer to consumers and amazingly shortening delivery time.
However, traditional silver-halide photographic market is shrinking astonishingly by the surge of the worldwide digitization. In such a changing world, profits for camera and photo businesses worsened in recent years, and it became necessary to drastically reform business structure for the further growth of Konica Minolta. Ever since we decided and announced restructuring guidelines of our businesses on November 4, 2005, we have been considering practical and detailed plan, and we would like to announce our decision made today as follows:
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Fairchild Imaging to Exhibit at Photonics West 2006
Hybrid CCD/CMOS low-light digital camera. Does that sound like a lot of buzz words, but at the same time get you interested in what it could be? Well, Fairchild Imaging will present a hybrid CCD/CMOS camera that features the high fill-factor of a CCD with the high speed, low noise, and low power of a CMOS readout.
Fairchild Imaging will present custom imaging solutions at the Photonics West 2006 Conference and Exhibition in San Jose, California. A new four megapixel CCD and cooled, multiport, scientific CCD camera will be shown as well as a new hybrid CCD / CMOS low-light-level imager.
Milpitas, CA (PRWEB) January 17, 2006 — Fairchild Imaging announced today that it will exhibit at the Photonics West 2006 Conference and Exhibition from January 24 through January 26 in San Jose, California. The event draws world class optical and instrumentation engineers and is an excellent venue for the company to unveil custom imaging solutions for this demanding audience.
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Lexar 133X CompactFlash and Secure Digital Memory Cards
Reading the press release you would think that Lexar had the best thing since sliced bread with their new memory cards, but as was shown in the recent post about the testing of the cards, they are unable to reach the 20MB per second peak performance.
One of the reasons such cards are coming out though is that pictures on the newer cameras are larger and larger, especially the RAW format pictures which are uncompressed. To be able to take multiple shots as quickly as possible you need the information to get to the memory card as fast as possible. It looks like these faster memory cards are what we need, but it would be nice if they were not based on a rating which is not very true, and only lends itself to marketing purposes, more than actual real world abilities.
Fremont, Ca., January 18, 2006– Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a world leader in advanced digital media technologies, announced availability of its new Professional CompactFlash® (CF) and Secure Digital™ (SD) flash memory cards designed to deliver optimal performance in all digital SLR cameras. Speed-rated at 133X, Lexar’s new flash memory products are capable of a minimum sustained write speed of 20MB per second and signify the company’s continued commitment to providing professional photographers with reliable flash memory cards that deliver fast image read and write speeds, and seamless operation throughout each step of the digital imaging workflow process enabling the user to spend more time taking pictures.
“Our new 133X cards allow digital SLR cameras to perform optimally and support the high speed transfer of images and information, and help improve the photographer’s digital imaging workflow,” said John Omvik, director of professional product marketing, Lexar. “Lexar’s new 133X cards are ideal for those photographers who require reliable, high-performance flash memory that makes the most of all the professional-level features available in their digital SLR camera.”
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