Sony Japan have just announced a new 40Gb portable storage device. Called the HDPS-M1, the new device supports memory stick and compact flash card formats, has a 40Gb hard-drive and connects to a computer via USB 2. There is no LCD screen to view your images once they’re downloaded, so it operates in much the same way as my Vosonic XS-Drive. Price will be around $270 - no word yet if the HDPS-M1 will make it outside Japan or not.

Website: Sony Japan - HDPS-M1

Website: DPReview - Sony HDPS-M1

A couple of months ago at the CeBIT show in Germany, Pretec announced that they would ship a 12Gb compact flash card in the 2nd half of 2004. Today DPReview have revealed exactly how much it will cost you to own the largest memory card in the world - a mere $14,900!! I bet that must have been an interesting discussion in Pretec’s marketing department…

DPReview have also published prices for Pretec’s other new cards:

3 GB card - 166,000 YEN ($1,490)
4 GB card - 207,00 YEN ($1,860)
6 GB card - 525,000 YEN ($4,700)
12 GB card - 1,659,000 YEN ($14,900).

Original Pretec Press Release

6GB CompactFlash card pricing reduced, 12GB CF card announced by Pretec

Hannover, Germany, March 18, 2004 - Pretec Electronics Corp. (Hall 19 Booth B06), the 2nd company in the world offering CompactFlash memory card (CF) card since 1995, dropped its pricing for 6GB CF memory card, the largest capacity flash memory card in the world of any small form factors which Pretec demonstrated and started shipping since September 2003, from $7499 to $3499. Pretec also announced 12GB CF card today at CeBIT 2004, 300% larger capacity than any of it??s closest competitors in the world, priced at $9999, to be delivered
by 2nd half of 2004.

DCResource have just reviewed the 6 megapixel Casio EXILIM PRO EX-P600 digital camera.

“I was quite impressed with the Exilim EX-P600—it may be Casio’s best camera yet. It’s not the best looking camera out there, but it takes good quality pictures, is very responsive, and is loaded with features (and some gimmicks too). The P600 takes nice pictures, with much less noise than I was expecting.”

Website: DCResource - Casio EXILIM PRO EX-P600 Review

Bytesector have reviewed the 8 megapixel Canon PowerShot Pro1, which was announced by Canon just before the start of the PMA 2004 trade show.

“It is by far the best camera I have come across. The image quality is realistic, the functions are easy to use, the design is appealing and the overall performance is satisfactory. This is one of the very few cameras I have the least complaints about. The only other grudge I have is that I cannot simply plug in the camera to a USB cable and use it as a storage device. Instead, I have to go through Canon?s provided software to transfer images. A minor downside for me, but it may not concern many consumers.”

Website: Bytesector - Canon PowerShot Pro1 Review

Josh Waller has reviewed the Casio QV-R40, a 4 megapixel digicam which has an amazing start-up time of one second and shutter-lag of 0.01 seconds. The Casio QV-R40 currently retails for around $300 / £200, but apparently is available refurbished at Dixons in the UK for just £99! 4 meagpixels for less than £100 - what a bargain! (sadly they’re out of stock at the moment, not that I checked or anything).

“It’s main selling points are the small size and very fast start up time. The camera is also fast in operation - it’s quick to focus, and quick to take the picture. This is very much a good thing, and has been one of the major drawbacks of using a digital camera, compared to using a film camera. The size of the camera is also very good, it will easily fit into a pocket, and therefore is more likely to be used, meaning you’re more likely to catch the moment.”

Website: Josh Waller - Casio QV-R40 Review

Not satisfied with the detail from your 35mm film SLR, digital camera or even your large-format camera? Then you may be interested in the R1, a 110-pound, 6-foot film camera that produces what experts say are some of the highest-resolution landscape photographs ever made.

“Details of the mountain’s snowcapped peak - 7 miles from the camera - are in sharp focus, as are individual blades of grass only 30 meters away. When sections of the image are magnified nearly four times, other details are clearly visible: the shingles on a barn 1,200 meters from the camera, a red bird in the grass 45 meters away.”

Thanks to Sanj (again) for the link.

Website: Yahoo News - Photographer Makes High-Resolution Camera

Dell isn’t the first name that springs to mind when photo inkjet printers are mentioned, epsecially here in the UK, but Michael Dell is apparently going all out to change that preconception. CNET News.com have taken a look at the forthcoming battle between Dell and HP in the printer marketplace.

“Lately, Dell has been making up for lost time. Since it started selling Dell-branded printers a little over a year ago, shipments have risen at an encouragingly rapid pace. The CEO predicts “tremendous growth” for his company’s computer printer business over the next five to 10 years and vows to change the economics of the industry. This week, Dell plans to announce that it will begin selling printers for the corporate and home market that it claims will reduce the cost of some printing jobs by 30 percent or more.”

Thanks to Sanj for the link.

Website: CNET News.com - The distributor vs. the innovator

‘WITH IMAGINATION’, WE’LL ALL BE PLAYING FINGER FOOTBALL THIS SUMMER

Canon launches pan-European ‘Finger Football’ advertising campaign to support UEFA EURO 2004 sponsorship

Campaign links into ‘You Can’ brand platform - empowering customers to create and achieve with the help of Canon products and solutions

If Canon Europe’s advertising campaign does what the digital imaging company hopes it will do, football fans across Europe will be using their imagination and enjoying a quick bout of finger football as part of this summer’s UEFA European Championships.

‘Finger Football is Canon Europe?s new 18 million plus pan-European advertising campaign, designed to link the company?s ‘You Can’ brand platform to its sponsorship of UEFA EURO 2004 through themes of creativity and imagination.

The campaign depicts office workers from across Europe using Canon products to create postcard-sized pictures of their favourite stars. By inserting their fingers through the cards and using them as ‘legs’, they are able to create miniature ‘finger footballers’ and use their imagination to take part in a desktop version of UEFA EURO 2004.

The server move is now complete and all sections of PhotographyBLOG, including the Forums, Gallery and User Reviews, are up and running :-)

If you experience any problems using the site during the next few days, please don’t hesitate send me an email and let me know.

Yes, that’s right, PhotographyBLOG has become too big for it’s boots and is moving to a lovely new dedicated server with more disk space and bandwidth. The changeover is scheduled to happen from 17.00 BST today, when we’ll move everything across to the new server.

Consequently certain sections of the site, such as the Gallery, Forums and User Reviews, will be closed from 16.00 BST until the new site is up and running.

If you experience any problems using the site, please send me an email and let me know. Something is bound to go wrong somewhere…

A few more shots from my recent lunchtime venture into the country (well, just up the road from where I work anyway). The G3 seems to be working it’s magic as I’ve been out a few times to use it when normally I would just sit at my desk - kind of the reason why I bought it…

You can click on each image to view a larger / better quality version over on my personal website, markgoldstein.co.uk

You can also view the Spring album of 12 photographs

If you’re a Canon DSLR user who’s interested in long-lens photography, then you will want to take a look at the new article from Michael Reichmann over at Luminous Landscape. Michael has tested the Canon 100-400 f/5.6L IS against the Canon 400mm f/5.6L using the DxO Analyzer optical testing system. Can the zoom lens beat the prime?

“Recently I started testing some of my existing cameras and lenses with DxO Analyzer. Based on e-mails that I receive and the numerous questions that I see on various equipment Forums around the Net, one of the most common questions concerns what is the best moderately priced 400mm solution for Canon lens owners? This test is intended to partially answer that question, at least with regard to measurable optical performance.”

Website: Two Canon 400mm Solutions Compared

Imaging Resource have just reviewed the 3-megapixel Nikon Coolpix 3200 compact digital camera.

“Nikon’s Coolpix line of consumer digicams has always been well-received, appreciated for their image quality and ease of use. From the sharp Nikon optics to the full range of exposure control, the Coolpix series has satisfied a wide range of users. The Coolpix 3200 continues this trend, with its 3x Nikkor lens (with exceptional macro capabilities), 3.2-megapixel CCD, and well-rounded offering of preset shooting modes.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Nikon Coolpix 3200 Review

Digital Outback Photo have started their diary review of the new 8 megapixel professional DSLR from Canon, the EOS 1D Mark II.

“Today we made our traditional Los Gatos tour with our brand new 1D Mark II. There is not to much learning coming from a Canon 1Ds. The only thing to reevaluate is the reading of the histogram (e.g. how much to the right can we go without blowing out any highlights). We rather accept some mild under exposure than risk to lose highlights. Also here a low noise helps as the underexposed areas won’t show that bad noise with the Mark II.”

Website: Digital Outback Photo - Canon EOS 1D Mark II Diary Review

Finnish photographer Pekka Saarinen has published a great review of the new 8 megapixel professional DSLR from Canon, the EOS 1D Mark II (found via Digicamera.net).

“One of the most obvious changes when you upgrade 10D to Mark II is 1.3X crop factor. Wide angle is more like wide angle and on long lenses you loose some reach. Most lenses feel a bit odd first and it will take some time before you mentally tune yourself to the new focal system. Choice of lenses may change: with 10D you collected extreme wide angle and zoomed quite far with 200mm, now you can cope quite nicely with 17-40 and you start wishing for 300 and 400mm lenses. With Mark II L series lenses are very recommended, because fast AF needs fast and accurate lenses and sharp camera is not sharp without sharp lenses.”

Website: Pekka Saarinen - Canon EOS 1D Mark II Mini Review

Tom’s Hardware have just compared the 8 megapixel Canon PowerShot Pro1 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 digital cameras.

“As our results show, the Sony DSC-F828 and Canon Pro 1 are not ideal cameras for professional applications due to their slowness. It is interesting, however, that they can deliver A4 images at 300dpi, a standard that has typically been the domain of printed media. So who are these 8-million pixel high-end digicams really designed for? The answer is: informed amateurs (or prosumers, as they are now called). Serious professionals could also be interested in these for specific uses that are not related to photojournalism, where the SLR reigns supreme.”

Website: Tom’s Hardware - Canon PowerShot Pro1 vs Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828

An interesting article by Reuters reports that the price of flash memory has recently been drastically cut by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Toshiba Corp, who are attempting to prevent new competitors from entering the market. This has in turn resulted in a decrease in compact flash card pricing (found via Digicamera.net).

“The average price of 512-megabit flash chips has tumbled to $9 from a $21.50 peak in October, according to www.dramexchange.com. For consumers, that has resulted in bargains such as a 512-megabyte SanDisk memory card reduced to $97.99 from $221.41 at www.buy.com.”

Website: Reuters - Flash Memory Prices Slump as Market Showdown Looms

Pixology Press Release 21/05/04

Pixology plc, (LSE:PIX) the digital photographic software expert, announces today the launch of Embedded Pixology IRISS, an automatic solution for removing the problem of red-eye instantaneously, at point of source, as the image is taken in the digital camera.

Developed six months ahead of schedule in a successful collaboration with Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI), the new product is now available on TI’s digital media processor, which manages the majority of a digital camera’s image processing once the image is captured.

Pixology and TI, the world leader in digital signal processing technology, have jointly developed a unique method of embedding Pixology IRISS onto a camera chip and have optimised it for the digital media processor. This enables Pixology’s award winning red-eye detection and correction technology to run automatically when a digital image is captured and is still in the camera.

Minox Press Release 19/05/04

MINOX DD100 - Compact digital camera with stainless steel look

The MINOX DD100 is a true companion for every occasion and comes in a distinguished stainless steel look. But this small, flat camera features more than an excellent design. All the sophisticated controls you need are ready at your command.

With a resolution of 3 million pixels and 4x digital zoom, excellent imaging results are guaranteed. Despite ultra compact dimensions of just 94 mm x 56 mm x 26 mm the new MINOX DD100 features a 1.6” TFT colour monitor which allows instant assessment of the image during and after the shot. A fast picture sequence and minimal release time lag capture spontaneous snap shots in every situation. The integrated flash switches on automatically when needed and guarantees perfect illumination, even in critical light conditions.

dotPhoto Press Release 24/05/04

DOTPHOTO PHOTO PROCESSING SITE WINS HI-TECH PIONEER AWARD

First Site to Email Photos Directly from Any Camera Phone with Patent Pending Technology - No Software to Email Photos from Camera Phone to Internet

West Trenton, NJ, May 24, 2004 - dotPhoto announced today that it has been honored with the 2004 Hi-Tech Pioneer Award for its innovative online photography site at www.dotphoto.com.  Selected by Hale and Dorr LLP, KPMG LLP, NextStage Advisors, and Silicon Valley Bank, dotPhoto was one of only four companies chosen as the tri-state’s top emerging technology companies, based on uniqueness, market desirability, management team quality, funding, and technological/market success.

Winner of numerous awards, including the 2004 DIMA Innovation Award, dotPhoto is a pioneer in online photo-printing and sharing.  The first site to offer online photo processing and storage directly from any camera phone without special software (as well as from digital and film cameras and computers), dotPhoto has provided wireless connectivity services since February 2001.  dotPhoto has also created unique technology to allow users to add sound, text and voice to their online images; as well as edit and organize them into their own portfolio, album or sound-captioned slide show.