CNET have reviewed the Samsung L77 digital camera, which offers a 7x internal optical zoom lens equivalent to 38-266mm, a 7 megapixel sensor and 2.5 inch LCD screen.

“Despite some flaws, the L77’s pictures look good. Colors generally appear neutral and saturated, though dark subjects tend to lose some detail. Noise becomes apparent at levels as low as ISO 200, but it manifests in a gentle grain that generally will only appear on computer monitors and not in your prints. This unobtrusive noise remains even up to ISO 800, though a lot of fine detail, such as small text, and shadow detail is lost along the way…”

Website: CNET - Samsung L77 Review

The 73rd PhotographyBLOG Portfolio has been submitted by Toby Keller.

“These images encompass my Light Paintings series of long exposure photographs. They were made by the light of the full moon and feature traces of light created by various small powered light sources moving across the image plane.”

Website: Toby Keller

The Synchrotech CFExpressPro+ CompactFlash memory card adapter uses the 2.5Gbps PCIe portion of the ExpressCard standard to provide transfer speeds of 2.5Gbps rather than USB 2.0 speeds of 0.46Gbps. The CFExpressPro+ PCIe ExpressCard to CompactFlash adapter provides the fastest access to CompactFlash in both PIO and UDMA modes, taking full advantage of the new Lexar UDMA 300X and SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition cards. CFExpressPro+ slides into a ExpressCard 34 or 54 slot on notebooks, MacBook Pros, and specially equipped desktop computers and supports Mac OS X 10.4 or later, Windows XP, and Windows Vista. The Synchrotech CFExpressPro+ costs $65.00 and is available now.

Website: Synchrotech CFExpressPro+ Memory Card Adapter

Kodak T-MAX 400 is a new professional black and white ISO 400 film. Kodak claim that the improved T-MAX 400 is the world’s sharpest and finest-grained 400-speed black-and-white film. “The new T-MAX 400 film provides a grain structure that is superior to anything I’ve seen in a 400-speed film,” said noted photographer and master print maker John Sexton.  “That, combined with Kodak’s legendary quality control and consistency, makes this film a most valuable tool.” UK availability will be from January 2008, priced at £2.92 for 24 exposures and £3.02 for 36.

Fantasea have introduced an underwater housing, the FS-500, for the Nikon Coolpix S510 compact camera. Depth rated to 60 meters/200 feet, the FS-500 housing has a double O-ring seal on all controls, anti-glare hood over LCD screen, and built-in diffuser. The FS-500 housing protects the Coolpix S510 camera from water, sand, dust, and other damaging elements. The retail price of the FS-500 underwater housing for the Nikon Coolpix S510 is US $200.

Colour Confidence has expanded its checker chart range to replace the Kodak R-27 Card and Q13 and Q14 Greyscale Guides, which have now been officially discontinued. “We were disappointed to see three popular and useful products leave the market, and unwilling to let our customers down”, comments Geoffrey Clements, Managing Director of Colour Confidence. “The products we have sourced are scientifically prepared for the guaranteed neutrality professionals demand, and we are 100% confident in their quality and suitability”. The Colour Confidence Grey Balance Board (£11/€18) replaces the R-27 Grey Card. The Small Greyscale and Colour Separation Guide (£11/€18) and Large Greyscale and Colour Separation Guide (£15/€23) replace the Kodak Q13 and Q14 cards respectively.

Eight of O’Reilly’s top authors will be in attendance at next week’s PhotoPlus International Conference and Expo in New York City. Katrin Eismann plans to share the secrets the best retouchers use to create flawless skin in her seminar titled “Skin, Skin, Skin.” David Pogue, O’Reilly’s Missing Manual series founder, will deliver a keynote talk about his four-month quest to determine, once and for all, just how important megapixels are in a digital camera. O’Reilly is also offering a 30 percent discount on a selection of their titles.

A limited number of Canon A650 IS cameras are suffering from a light leak issue. When shooting with the camera’s variangle LCD monitor open under sunny skies, where sunlight shines directly on the exposed back of the camera, problems like the one shown in the image may occur. All A650 cameras that have a zero in the fifth digit from the left (xxxx0xxxxx) in the serial number listed on the bottom of the camera are affected. However, even for cameras with the serial number described above, if there is a marking on the inside of the battery cover like the one in the image below, this problem has already been corrected and the camera may be used as is. Canon USA will repair affected PowerShot A650 IS cameras for residents in the USA and Puerto Rico free of charge at our Factory Service Centers.

Website: Canon USA Service Notice: Light Leak - PowerShot A650 IS

Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper offers extraordinary blacks, clean whites and a surface texture that is just like a true black-and-white silver gelatin print. So say many of the industry’s leading professional photographers who have contributed to the development of Exhibition Fiber Paper. “When I saw my first print on Exhibition Fiber there was a 3-dimensionality to my color work that I haven’t seen with any paper before. For the first time I can use one paper that looks amazing in both color and black-and-white.” said Greg Gorman, well-known personality photographer and workshop leader. Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper will be available in November.

PopPhoto have reviewed the new Canon SX100, the first camera in the new SX series, offering a 10x zoom, image stabilized lens and 8 megapixel resolution.

“The Canon PowerShot SX100 IS is a cute camera with some powerful functionality hidden beneath an easy-to-use interface. Despite the composite body, it feels good and solid in the hand and it produces very nice images at ISOs 80 and 100.”

Website: PopPhoto - Canon Powershot SX100 Review

Website: Read our Canon Powershot SX100 IS Review

DigitalCameraInfo have reviewed the Olympus Stylus 790 SW, a new shockproof, waterproof digital camera.

“At $299, the Olympus Stylus 790SW is the least expensive camera in the manufacturer’s waterproof line. The 720 and 770 models sold for $399. The Pentax W30 sells for the same price. If a waterproof body isn’t a priority, there are plenty of better-looking and better-performing cameras on the market for much less. Consumers should consider purchasing a budget camera with a separate underwater housing; the total cost will likely be less than $300 and the pictures will turn out better.”

Website: DigitalCameraInfo - Olympus Stylus 790 SW Review

The Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd is the fourth ultra-zoom camera of 2007 to offer an incredible 18x zoom lens, joining the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 and Olympus SP-550 / SP-560 UZ. The S8000fd‘s lens starts at 27mm wide, just beating the 28mm lenses of the Panasonic and Olympus models, and ends at 486mm. There’s a new CCD-shift image stabilisation system to help ensure that your photos are sharp, an essential feature given the huge zoom range on offer, plus an 8 megapixel sensor, 2.7-inch LCD screen, electronic viewfinder, 1cm macro mode and Face Detection. With a retail price of £299 / $399, and a street price of around £225 / $350, the Fujifilm S8000fd is also a little bit cheaper than its rivals. On paper at least the Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd has a feature list that should meet the needs of most photographers, but does it live up to its potential? Carry on reading the world’s first review to find out…

Website: Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd Review

ThinkCamera have reviewed the Ricoh GX100 digital camera, which features a 10.01 megapixel CCD, fast 24-72mm wide zoom lens and a removable electronic view?nder.

“Those with geeky historical knowledge of the camera industry often talk about how the original Leica of 70+ years ago changed the way 35mm film was thought of and paved the way for the acceptability of smaller, lighter cameras. Although today, Leica makes a digital heir to that heritage in its M8 camera, one can’t help thinking the stunning Ricoh Caplio GX100 is the little camera that takes on what the Leica originally did so well. Ricoh’s made another classic here.”

Website: ThinkCamera - Ricoh GX100 Review

Website: Read our Ricoh GX100 Review

PhotoReview have reviewed the Canon G9, a 12.1 megapixel update of the G7 compact camera, with a 6x zoom lens, 3 inch LCD screen and the return of RAW mode.

“Robustly built, comprehensively feature-packed and small enough to slip into a jacket pocket, the PowerShot G9 has a lot in its favour.  Because it offers many of the same shooting controls and supports raw file capture, it would make an excellent compact back-up camera for DSLR users. It would also provide some useful features that are not provided in DSLRs. You get good range of video formats (including widescreen) and facilities for adding sound bites to pictures or making audio recordings.”

Website: PhotoReview - Canon G9 Review

Website: Read our Canon Powershot G9 Review

TrustedReviews have reviewed the Nikon Coolpix L11 digital camera, which offers 6 megapixels, 2.4 inch LCD screen, 3x zoom lens (37.5-112.5mm), maximum ISO of 800 and a choice of 16 Scene modes.

“I was surprised to find that despite the obvious similarities between the L10 and L11, the latter has significantly better image quality. Whether the 6MP sensor simply suits the lens better, or some slight changes have been made to the lens for this model I do not know, but the L11 suffers from slightly less wide-angle barrel distortion, and the image is noticeably sharper right across the frame, with no trace of the slight chromatic aberration that I noticed on the L10.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Nikon Coolpix L11 Review

33 photos have been selected to stand the chance of winning the prestigious RSPCA Young Photographer Awards. “The Young Photographer Awards has always been a difficult competition to win, but 2007 will be the toughest yet. The standard of the entries has been exceptionally high and the judges had great difficulty in reducing the images down to these shortlisted finalists.“ commented chief RSPCA photographer Andrew Forsyth. Awards will be given in categories including Overall Winner, Olympus Portfolio Prize, Under 12, 12-18 and the new Pet Personalities categories. Prizes range from an RSPCA photoshoot to top of the range cameras.

Brother have unveiled three new colour All-in-One inkjet printers which include the first widescreen color LCD screens. The catchily named MFC-465CN ($149.99), MFC-685CW ($199.99), and MFC-885CW ($249.99) will be available in October. “These new models follow Brother’s blueprint of exceeding the expectations of today’s home and home office consumers by delivering many more features at a better value than the competition”, said Joyce Brittingham, Senior Product Manager at Brother International. “Our new widescreen color LCD models show Brother’s dedication to enhance the user experience and provide a unique customer value”.

Photographers have until November 15, 2007, to postmark applications for the next two $20,000 Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography, to be announced in February 2008. Applicants must include a written proposal of 550 words or less explaining their project, along with a supporting portfolio of between 30 and 60 images of their previous work. Each grant consists of $20,000 as well as project execution support from Getty Images photo editors.

PCMag have reviewed Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, the latest version of the No. 1 selling consumer photo-editing software.

“Unlike most competitors, Adobe has the advantage of starting with an extraordinarily powerful program, Photoshop. The developers’ challenge is to make the application useful to mere mortals, rather than the editing professionals who use it daily. I never doubted that Photoshop Elements would be powerful—the question was whether it would be usable. That appears to have been a major focus of the new version, and the results are very good.”

Website: PCMag - Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 Review

DigitalCameraInfo have reviewed the new Canon EOS-1D Mark III DSLR camera.

“The focus problem is a tragic flaw worthy of Sophocles. We used the Mark III with a 24-70mm and a 70-200mm zoom. Those lenses should not challenge the 45-spot autofocus system, but the problem was bad enough to show up with it. After the firmware fix, we couldn’t reproduce the problem, but that’s really not good enough. It doesn’t prove the problem is fixed for more challenging conditions. Canon is in the difficult position of proving a negative: that the focus problem no longer exists.”

Website: DigitalCameraInfo - Canon EOS-1D Mark III Review