Sony H9 reviewed at dpreview

Reviews of Interest (RoI)

The review of the Sony H9 has been posted at dpreview! The review was conducted by Simon Joinson... The H9 was a highly anticipated review, as this was the first Sony camera with a 15x (31-465mm eq lens). It is using a tiny 8mp 1/2.5" sensor... As always, I won't spoil the review findings. You have to read it to learn about the roses in the H9 garden :-)

Forum discussion here, and here

Meanwhile, CameraLabs reviews the Olympus E410. Apparently their camera did not have the metering/underexposure issue a couple of the major sites have written about (dpreview, dcresource)

dcresource reviews the Sony W80, and posts new galleries for the Olympus E510, Sony H9 (first 15x H-series Sony) and T100 (first 5x T-series Sony)


New News

Samsung dreams big!. According to a DigiTimes.com story referenced by IR, Samsung wants to jump in the global top 3 of digital camera manufacturers. Certainly an ambititious ...ambition. They expect to ship 13 million digital cameras in 2007. This would have gotten them the global #3 spot in both 2006 and 2005, according to market research firm IDC... Also pointing in that direction is Samsung's jump to #4 in the USA market for the first quarter (Q1) of 2007). But let's not forget that the biggest chunk of digital cameras sold are in Q4 (fourth quarter), which coincides with various secular and religious celebrations.

Goodbye Epson R-D1


Overheard in the Forums

Olympus E330 with the 7-14 Oly lens _vs_ the Canon 5D with the Sigma 12-24. Which would you chose?

Help this forum user decide: Ricoh GX100 or Leica D-lux 3?

More discussion on the Nikon D40x review. Another thread here as well.

Travel pics from Greece in the Pentax SLR forum

Who is still using the Olympus E-1?

How about the Nikon 18-200 VR lens?

Forum users want more reviews

Photographer's in public are a target for complainers.

Who do you think are the top three national parks?

Sample pictures from Japan of the Sony W200


Blogging

Thanks to the Image Sensors World blog for the link back to this blog.

Read the rest of "Sony H9 reviewed at dpreview"...

Nikon D40x review and other stories

Reviews of Interest (RoI)

The Nikon D40x dpreview review has been published!. As always, I won't spoil their findings, you have to read it for yourselves dear readers :-)

Also mentioned by Phil is that their Olympus E410 review has been completed, but won't be posted until Olympus sorts out a problem with the metering system of the E410s they sent out to reviewers. The Olympus forum user perspective as far as ISO comparisons.

The review is heavily discussed, debated and reviewed by the dpreview forum users, in Open Talk", Nikon sub-$1000 DSLR forum, news forum


Overheard in the forums

A Panasonic talk forum user posts his review of the Panasonic FX100. Lots of sample pictures in his review...

Another sky is falling discussion in the Pentax forum

Like Close up pictures? Check the Weekly Closeup thread

A perfect couple these days, Photographers and the Police (and I'm not talking about Sting's music group)

Retailers gone wild!

Another is more megapixels better? discussion.

Read the rest of "Nikon D40x review and other stories"...

Overheard in the dpreview forums

Overheard in the dpreview forums

Pentax owners react to the Hoya-Pentax deal. A list of loaded threads on this topic here

The future of Kodak discussion. And another one here

Oldest camera from the 1890s sold for close to $1 million

For those in Toronto, there is a photo show in town

Buying a camera on eBay?

Blast from the past! Classic TLRs (not to be confused with MTV's TRL!)

How about a camera for grandma?

The Pros discuss the Beginners forum

What do you do with an overexposed dress?


Websites of Interest (WoI)

ImagingInsider.com

Memorial Day shopping ideas

Read the rest of "Overheard in the dpreview forums"...

Overheard in the dpreview forums

Overheard in the Forums

Hoya CEO and Pentax fashion photographer Benjamin Kanarek

Olympus E1 or (future) E3

Another heated full frame debate.

Another popular forum topic, fanboys and their reactions

Who is switching to the sight-unseen Nikon D3?

Bears are mean killing machines!

And a very funny take on full-frame vs non-full-frame DSLRs here. Well done!

What if Ansel Adams was alive today?

Not a what if, but a wtf post

Getting started in erotic photography?

HP has an anti-paparazzi technology patent filed.


Reviews Of Interest (RoI segment)

Megapixel.net reviews the Sony H9, and the Sony Talk forum at dpreview is reviewing the review. This review is generatating a lot of discussion.

Digital Outback Photo is posting an experiential blog-style review of the Fuji S5. A highly anticipated camera for some!

Steve reviews the Panasonic FZ8. The first FZ-series to include RAW.

Meanwhile IR reviews the Olympus 770SW, which Pogue of "It's All Geek to me" kept dropping on the floor to see if it breaks.

Read the rest of "Overheard in the dpreview forums"...

Numbers: Q1 2007 in USA by IDC

The latest IDC digital camera shipment numbers for Q1 of 2007 in the USA market are out! The Rochester Business Journal and News.com have the story!


So let's dig into the numbers:
1. Canon 21% market share (no surprise)
2. Sony 16% market share (no surprise)
3. Kodak 13% market share (first growth in five quarter, 5% growth compared to 2006:Q1, growth in $200-$300 range and colorful bijou cameras, esp at Target (!))
4. Samsung 11% market share (big jump from 4% last year). Very big jump and a surprise! (partially thanks to competitive pricing and availability).
7. Nikon 7% (dropped from #4 last year when they had 13%), but did well with DSLRs (as expected)
*. TOTAL 4.9 million digital camera shipments, up 6%

Read the rest of "Numbers: Q1 2007 in USA by IDC"...

Overheard in the dpreview forums

Overheard in the dpreview forums

An educational discussion, Lens Physics 101.

Nikon rumors! Nikon rumors! A rumor-discussion of the rumored Nikon D3 at 1.1x.

A debate on the pros and cons of RAW in the Canon 1D, 1Ds and 5D forum

A discussion on affordable Sony SLR lenses and the lack thereof.

Another philosophical debate, Is Pentax better? in the Pentax SLR forum

A long-time user switches to a new system, and this results, in heavy debate

Let's see some flower shots!

The start of a Beginner Questions forum has created a ...debate

The future of Kodak is discussed here and here

Should I get a camera phone or a DSLR?


New News

New from Sanyo, the Sanyo Xacti VPC-E1, a submersible version of their hybrid camera/camcorder designs. The E1 has 1/2.5" 6mp, 5x optical (38-190), mpeg4 avc h.264, 30fps VGA, 2.5" twist and shout LCD, SD/MMC, LiIon, $500 MSRP. Details at IR

Sears and K-Mart become the first mass-market retailers to offer GE digital cameras. IR story here. dpreview News forum discussion

Canon 1Ds Mark III US shipments begin according to IR

New 5mp CMOS sensor by Kodak News.com story. dpreview also points to a story that Kodak is getting out of "low-end" cameras.


Etc

Photography shows on TV (USA TV market)

Olympus is offering a DSLR trade-in program, when buying the Olympus E410 with the one or two lens kits, and trading in an older DSLR with any lens. As always, read the fineprint!

Interested in a DSLR website? Try SLRToday.com

Editorial column at Photography Town, Gary's Parries

PhotographyBlog has an interesting InfoTrends study on the number of digital photos shared in 2006, a total of 8 billion!

Planning for a Memorial Day shopping spree? Plan ahead



Reviews of Interest

dcresource reviews the Fuji F40fd, a follow-up to the budget-priced F20 with the addition of face detection. Other cameras in their review pipeline: Sony W80, Nikon D40x, Olympus E410 (delayed), and Panasonic FZ8

LetsGoDigital reviews the Nikon D40x

CameraLabs reviews the Sony H9

PhotographyBlog.com reviews the Sony T100, the first Sony T-series with a 5x optical zoom lens instead of the traditional 3x optical zoom lens... They also review the Ricoh R6

Read the rest of "Overheard in the dpreview forums"...

New News and Forum discussions

News!

dpreview quotes a CNET story that Kodak is phasing out low-end cameras. This is discussed in the News forum

New research in Korea may lead to impressive improvements in low light photography. News forum discussion

Memorial Day deals are starting to come up for all you shopaholics!

And how about some old News? Here's a blast from the past from my lj blog


Overheard in the forums

Want to help people who write RAW conversion software? You can contribute your own copyright-free RAW samples. Details at rawsamples.ch, and a discussion in the forums

A Then & Now post on photography

More heated debate on the future of the Foveon sensors

A forum user wonders whether the Minolta A2 and A200 are still reasonable purchases

A very interesting point is being made here, where the police is asking anyone who took pictures near a crime scene to upload them in the hope of finding clues and capturing the criminals. As some of the posters pointed out, at times the police may also stop photographers from taking photos or acuse photographers of having "bad intentions". Join the debate!

Decisions decisions! This user decides what to buy: a Nikon D40 or Panasonic FZ50?

Read the rest of "New News and Forum discussions"...

Photography shows on TV (USA TV)

This is for US TV, times are pacific, and check your local listings for airtimes and channels for your area/region...

1) "THS Investigates: Paparazzi" on the E! channel, on Thursday May 24 3pm an Friday May 1 9am
2) "Quality of Light" on BYU-TV (religious themed) on Friday June 1st at 2am

3) "At Close Range With National Geographic", Photographer Joel Sartore shoots in some of the world's most exotic locations on some PBS stations

4) "Radicall sabbatical" includes a wildlife photographer episode on the Fantasy Living channel, on Monday May 28 530pm and 830pm

5) Risk Takers: "High Risk Photographer" Photographer Jim Oltersd risks his life to get the perfect picture on Discovery-HD Theater, Monday May 28 at 5pm and 8pm and midnight, Tuesday May 29 at 1pm, Sunday June 3 at midnight and 1pm

6) Digital camera episode on "It's All Geek to me", repeats on the Science Channel, Friday May 25, 530pm and 830pm, Saturday 1230am and 630am,

7) Adults-only on the Playboy channel: "Fetish photographer" on Monday May 28, 3pm

8) Discovery Channel's "How it's made" looks at photographs in one segment, Wednesday May 23 730pm

9) "Helmut by June", a movie about the life of photographer Helmut Newton on the MovieMax (premium channel). Friday May 25 at 4am and 7am, and Monday May 28 at 830am

10) Another item on Helmut Newton, a one hour documentary called "Helmut Newton my life" airs at 5am on Friday May 25 on the Sundance Channel.

11) The Japan-TV channel (by subscription only) has a "Hobbies and Leisure" episode on DSLRs (in Japanese I presume), on Wednesday and Thursday May 30/31 at 935am each day

12) On some local PBS stations there is an "AIR America" report called "Shooting the War", featuring photographers Kael Alford and Paul Fusco
That's all !

*** remember all times are pacific and may be different in your time zone ***

Read the rest of "Photography shows on TV (USA TV)"...

New 12mp cameras from Casio and Panasonic

If you thought 10mp 1/1.8" sensor cameras stuffed too many pixels on a tiny sensor, you will be thrilled to find out that we now have 12mp 1/1.7" sensor cameras! Two more have been introduced today!

First the Casio EX-Z1200SR (press release at dpreview), at 12mp and 3x optical zoom (37-111mm equivalent), sensor anti-shake (CCD-shift image stabilization) with a 2.8" LCD, and EXILIM Engine 2.

Next we have the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX100, 12mp on a 1/1.72" CCD, 28-100mm equivalent lens with MegaOIS. Panasonic DMC-FX100 (press release and detailed specs at dpreview). The camera uses Venus Engine III (3).

Price and availability in the USA: According to dcresource, the Casio Exilim EX-Z1200SR will ship in mid-July for $400, while the Panasonica FX-100 will ship in July at a yet unspecified price. The cameras CIPA rating is in the low 300 range (both have LiIon batteries).


Samples pictures of the Panasonic FX-100 posted by Panasonic Japan and discussed in the Panasonic dpreview forum. More discussion here. Also speculations of a Panasonic FZ60 and LX3 (just speculation!).

Read the rest of "New 12mp cameras from Casio and Panasonic"...

Overheard in the dpreview forums

Mitsubishi develops a camera that ... refocuses focus!. Discussion here

Always a popular forum subject, the Foveon sensor, now gets a What If thread.

Details on the Panasonic FX-100 at Panasonic Japan. Dozens of threads on this new camera at Panasonic Talk. As you may recall Panasonic's FZ50 and LX2 use similarly-sized sensors (although the LX2 is more wide-angle), so Panasonic Talk forum users are thinking about the possibility of 12mp versions of the FZ50 (FZ60?) and LX2 (LX3?).

A stupid consumer (the author's words, not mine!) writes an open letter to Panasonic

Here's a histogram 101 discussion

10 new lenses from Pentax this year?. Pentax is hoping to icnrease its annual DSLR output to 1 million by 2009, and up to 25 new lenses by 2009. More details also at the PMA newsline... Frequent forum contributor Roland Mabo lists the 10 lenses in the dpreview thread mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph. Six of them are "star lenses", and all ten are DA.

Nudity in pictures posted always creates a commotion. Another one here

A discussion on the absence of cameras with sensor size between 1/1.8" and APS-C and 4/3rds. News forum

Forum user "omr" has a new thread on Kodak announcing a new 5mp CMOS sensor to be used in Kodak digital cameras as well as camera phones. Developed in conjunction with IBM

More on the Pentax/Hoya story here and here

Reaction to the new 12mp cameras announced today here and here and here

Phil renames the "Q&A forum" to "Beginners Questions forum".

This photographer was stopped by the police for taking pics around the harbour

Read the rest of "Overheard in the dpreview forums"...

Weekend Shutter Clicks and ...a TV review!

The high ISO feature in small-sensor cameras!

dpreview.com just posted an article on the high ISO feature found in small-sensor cameras. As you may recall some of them have ISO 3200 and more using tiny 1/2.5" or 1/1.8" sensors... The article is five (web)pages long and includes sample pictures and a summary/conclusions page!... Also forum discussion on the article. And another forum discussion on the high ISO myth


Overheard in the dpreview forums

Popular Science says the Sigma DP-1 will sell at $1000, according to this Other dpreview forum thread

The Marathon Man, photographic edition

What will happen to Pentax? a dpreview News forum user poll

I don't want to start any blamsphemous rumors, but this Olympus SLR dpreview forum user just did. The anticipated Olympus E3 or P1 (or whatever name is given), the rumor said (I repeat RUMOR), will have a 10mp sensor but it will be larger than 4/3rds because 4/3rds lenses have larger image circles... A spirited debate ensues. Again this is a rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor

A new Sigma SD14 four-page magazine review is vigorously debated

Side by side: This dpreview forum user is testing the Panasonic TZ3, FX01 and the Fuji F30 side by side

The planet Jupiter, tens of thousands of webcam pictures, and an amazing movie? Find out here!

The Amazon purchase of dpreview continues to be a hot topic

Selling an expensive camera on eBay? Be prepared for this!

The Lolita debate continues

Another dpreview forum user posts Canon 1D Mark III (3) high ISO tests

Walking alone with a shiny DSLR?

Help this dpreview forum user decide between the Sony T100 and the Canon SD750 (I forgot its Ixus and Ixy model numbers). Oh Canon (and others) why do you torture me by shifting the model numbers?

And to satisfy the millions of Law and Order fans reading this blog, here is a legal question/discussion


TV Review: David Pogue's It's All Geek to me on digital cameras

On Friday May 18, 2007, the Science Channel's "It's All Geek to me" premiered a 30-minute episode devoted to digital cameras. It will re-air a few more times after the first broadcast. Check local listings for details!

If you missed it, it was entertaining and it will be repeating throughout the week on the Science channel. The show is hosted by David Pogue of a NYC newspaper. If his name is familiar, it's because he wrote a "megapixel myth" story that generated a lot of buzz in the forums a few weeks ago...

Don't expect anything advanced, but the show certainly has a comedy twist to it, and it was actually entertaining - including a scene where Pogue kept dropping/throwing an Olympus 770SW to the floor, and doing other silly (camera-related) things in public

He also showed scenes from his megapixel myth experiment of showing three giant prints and asking the public to identify which one had the msot megapixels (13mp, 8mp, 5mp).

Also featured were two big New York City photography shops. One of them was J&R World, I am not sure about the second one.

The show's official website is discovery.com/geek

Read the rest of "Weekend Shutter Clicks and ...a TV review!"...

Weekend Roundup

Reviews of Interest

dpreview reviews the Nikon P5000, Nikon's return to the mid-range+ segment of the market. A long discussion of this review resides in the dpreview Nikon forum

Dyxum.com reviews the Sony Carl Zeiss 16-80mm F3.5-4.5 DT ZA zoom lens.

more coming up...


Overheard in the forums

coming soon...


Not-new News

You may have heard of Nikon school, or Canon or Sony or Olympus seminars. If you are a non-traditional photography company and you want to be taken seriously, you should consider starting one. At least this must have been the thinking behind Panasonic Lumix's Digital Photo Academy


Articles and debates

The OnlinePhotographer blog has an article on choosing a P&S (point and shoot) digital camera. A 50+ comment discussion follows the story. You can find my opinion in the comments section of that blog post.

Andy Piper of the Lost Outpost blog has a blog write-up as well


Rumors

The PMA Rumors blog has a series of rumors on a potential Canon 40D DSLR.

Read the rest of "Weekend Roundup"...

Nikon's Reality show

If you like reality shows, you will be thrilled to find out what Nikon did. They gave a Nikon D40 to everyday people in a small town in South Carolina, which they affentionately named Picturetown. And what happened? What else, they all started taking pictures of course. More on this:

Nikon's official Picture Town page

Nikonblog at CafePress

BuzzTracker

ThreeMinds

Read the rest of "Nikon's Reality show"...

Photography documentaries on DVD

This is an on-going effort trying to assemble as long of a list as possible of photography documentaries and training programs on DVD. The items included are not recommendations, they are listed for reference and research purposes. Some of these may be masterpieces, others may be boring or not very useful. The pictures are links to the Amazon product page. This section will grow over time. If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to let me know!



























Books with Bonus DVD documentary

Yann Arthus-Bertrand: Being a Photographer. This is from the photographer behind the "Earth from Above" series. The DVD documentary is a sleeve on the inside back cover of the book.


Titles without DVD cover pictures available

An American Experience - Ansel Adams

MORE COMING SOON...

Read the rest of "Photography documentaries on DVD"...

Overhead in the forums

Sources say that Pentax will accept Hoya's offer with conditions according to Reuters

The dpreview-Amazon story continues to be a hot topic in the dpreview forums, particularly in the News forum. Also reaction to this at CNET

But the most controversial one is the Lolita thread in the dpreview Open Talk forum. Also discussed at lightstalkers.org

Discussion of a new batch of Olympus E410 samples in the dpreview Olympus SLR forum.

A forum user compares his experience with the Minolta A2 and the Sony A100

Even the question of Coke or Pepsi generates a commotion!

A Ritz camera salesman confesses, and the forum users discuss it


Reviews of Interest

PhotographyBlog reviews the Ricoh R6

The new mid-range-AA darling Canon A570-IS gets reviewed at dcresource after they had to put their Olympus E410 review on the backburner.

A more polished looking mid-range, the Nikon P5000 gets reviewed at CNET

CameraLabs.com reviews the Nikon D40x

A popular bijou gets reviewed at IR. I'm talking of course about the Canon SD1000 (I forgot its Ixus and Ixy model numbers).

Read the rest of "Overhead in the forums"...

Amazon acquires dpreview.com!

This is not an April Fool's day joke! Amazon.com has acquired dpreview.com!

Extended coverage of this story at:

dpreview news, with a brief "green commentary" from Phil Askey (Green commentary refers to comments Phil makes in news announcements and press releases in green color).

Forum reaction and overreaction. Links coming soon

Photography Town story

More coming soon...

dpreview also has a new item, on new Panasonic MOS sensor technology, the Robust Image Sensor. Phil draws our attention to the new "digital microlenses" formed by concentric rings and color filters. Read all about it!

Read the rest of "Amazon acquires dpreview.com!"...

Overheard in the dpreview forums (and new Fuji in UK)

New from Fuji UK

Spotted by dpreview forum user "Cubensis" is the Fuji F47fd on the UK webpage of Fuji.

Long dpreview discussion of this in the Fuji Talk forum

Direct Fuji UK page for the F47fd

This has drawn the ire of some Fuji fans because they are using the higher-megapixel sensor which is not as good when it comes to noise performance as the "magic" 6mp sensor.

However, kudos to Fuji for continuing with the xD/SD-compatible slot. This is something I have been saying for many months now (and I wasn't the only one, other forum/Fuji users talked about this as well).


Overheard in the dpreview forums

A first-time poster has some rumors on a possible "Nikon D3"

Meanwhile the Pentax saga continues with a May 12 update according to the JapanTimes

The Nikonians are discussing a Fuji S5 review

Meanwhile Canon 1D Mark III mania is sweeping the dpreview forum nation here, and here, and here, and here!. Enjoy!

Is 6 megapixels enough? wonders a dpreview forum user in the Nikon forum

Will Nikon make an announcement or not in the dpreview Nikon SLR Lens Talk forum.

Pentax SLR dpreview forum users are discussing Photozone's review of the K10D

The Sony H9 goes to a concert!

Do you like Nikon vs Canon boxing matches? Here's one for you here!

And to wind down, here are some flower macros discussion, the pictures taken by a forum user's Sony Cybershot H9.

Discussions on Pentax's financial results here, and here, and at Bloomberg, and Amateur Photographer... Pentax sold around 300K in the last fiscal year (ending March 31, 2007), and they are projecting around half a million for the next fiscal year.

Another CCD vs CMOS discussion.

Meanwhile the print magazine Digital Photo Pro has a story on the road ahead for DLSRs.

Read the rest of "Overheard in the dpreview forums (and new Fuji in UK)"...

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes at Pentax?

Dollars and Sense

A very detailed look at the latest financial results of Olympus, in this Olympus dpreview forum thread. Lots of juicy details, a must read. Among other things, Olympus hopes to double their DSLR shipments if all goes well...

Another Olympus dpreview discussion here

Rebates rebates rebates! An interesting discussion in the dpreview Open Talk forum. Mentioned in this discussion is an AOL Finance story on rebates. From my personal experience, the best rebate systems right now are online submission of rebates using data from the cash register receipt. My award goes to Staples and Rite Aid for their online rebate systems. I wish the other retailers and manufacturers followed suit. (Please note not everything sold there can be submitted online, check each rebate form before buying and submitting).


Update on the Pentax situation!

New information has come out, including a Reuters story, a Yomiuri Shimbun story, and a Reuters Technology article.

The sale of their Tokyo HQ will bring them around $100 million. Not a bad real estate deal :-)

The dpreview News forum has a discussion of a Nikkei Japan story (full article for subscribers only). Among the things mentioned is that Pentax will sell their Tokyo headquarters, and withdraw from less profitable businesses. The original poster of the said forum thread says they will stop the never-ending development of the 645D as well. I do not have a subscription to Nikkei Net so I do not know what the full article says... This is also discussed in the Pentax SLR dpreview forum. More on this as more information becauses available...


Photography, Etc

Inspirational?

Cool Free Online Gadget!: Measuring your camera's lag time using this webpage at Shooting-Digital.com. Mentioned by dpreview forum user ledittmar.

Here is a cool Linux-based site offering that checks camera prices at various retailers: StreetPrices.com

Salon.com has a photography-related story by Jody Jenkins that deals with the protecting children, camping, nudity, and paranoia.

New network cameras from Panasonic

GE cameras find a US distributor!. The Attack of the GE Clones! Direct link to GE digital cameras page

Remember, the old blog is still there and the static content will eventually be ported here. Photography Etc


Reviews of Interest (RoI)

The highly anticipated Olympus E410 gets reviewed by CNET.com... Then the CNET review gets reviewed by the dpreview Olympus SLR forum users

The trendy and hot-selling Panasonic TZ3 gets reviewed by CameraLabs

The Canon A570-IS gets reviewed at dcresource.com

25 sample Sony H9 photos at Photographyblog.com, as well as 25 sample Ricoh R6 photos.

Photoxels.com reviews the Olympus SP550

Good news for Ricoh GX100 fans, the camera will be added to the (long) review queue at dpreview.

Read the rest of "Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes at Pentax?"...

Two new from Canon!

Overheard in the Forums

Everybody is anxiously waiting for the next DSLR preview at dpreview. According to forum posts, there are seven DSLRs in Phil's queue. Discussion here

Buzzworthy camera? A dpreview forum discussion on the Ricoh GX100

The dpreview Nikon DSLR forum is discussing the Canon 1D Mark III first impressions of a pre-production model at Luminous Landscape. This is bound to generate some "excitement".

Noise, panic and a new camera are frequent hot button issues in digital camera forums. The Olympus E410 in this instance (Olympus DSLR dpreview forum discussion)

What is an artist?

Open Talk Speculation on why they dropped RAW from the Canon G7 and Nikon P5000

I got the power! Another discussion on AA, rechargeables and LiIons (not Lions)


New Camera Announcements

Canon announced two new cameras on Monday, details at dpreview: The S5 IS (8mp 1/2.5", 12x IS lens) and the SD850 IS (also known as IXUS 950), 8mp 1/2.5" CCD, 4x optical (35-140). Check the dpreview links for all the details... Face detection was highlighted in the press releases...

According to dcresource.com, the S5 IS will be available in early July for $500 (450 shots with 2500mah AAs) and the SD850 IS in early June for $400 (230 shots with LiIon)... dcresource by the way has posted new galleries for their upcoming reviews of the Fuji F40fd, Panasonic FZ8, Nikon D40x, and Sony W80. There is a problem with their Olympus E410 so expect delays in that review!


Photography Etc

Thanks to the Finnish website DigiCamera.net for the link to my previous blog post on the 2006 global digital camera shipments. I think I learned a new finnish word today, "arvio" which means "review" :-)

Straight from the Canon's mouth: Chuck Westphall, a familiar name in the Canon dpreview forums, has Canon-related tech tips in The Digital Journalist.

And here's a Mother's Day Gift Idea, the Sony W55 pink camera bundle, with case and USB memory card reader included!

Read the rest of "Two new from Canon!"...

Reliable Rumors: Two new Pentax DSLRs this year!

Reliable Rumors: Two new Pentax DSLRs this year!

Forum super-user "benjikan" is reporting back after a long long long meeting with the Pentax People.

dpreview forum discussion

Pentax Life forum discussion

Pentax World discussion

At least two new Pentax DSLRs will be announced this year, while the K100D and K10D will continue as current products. This in addition to the 645D... More lenses coming up and new factories in China and Vietnam.

For all the juicy details, discussions and debates, visit the two forum discussions above!

As you may recall from an earlier post, Pentax was the fastest growing DSLR maker in terms of percentage of global shipments from 2005 to 2006. Details here (or scroll further down)


Reviews of Interest

The innovative Casio EX-V7 gets reviewed at dpreview by Simon Joinson. This camera has a 7x folded optics lens. Find out how it did!

Fuji S9100 at Steve's Digicams

Olympus SP-550Uz gets reviewed by photographyblog.com

Two Nikon P5000 reviews at photoreview (Australia) and digitalcamerareview.com

Lens review: Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM

Sony T100 at IR

A review in progress at dcresource.com raises a question for all Olympus E410 users: Do you have severe underexposure problems?



News Desks

Adorama joins the world of blogging on the latest photography news with the Adorama News Desk!.

PhotographyBlog.com has a number of interesting tidbits, such as ACDSee Pro 2.0 Beta, Yahoo Photos closing and moving everyone to their 2005 acquisition Flickr. They also have a May 2007 prize giveaway, and a number of other interesting news items.


PMA Global Events

Happening this weekend is PMA Australia 2007

Global calendar of PMA shows and PMA-related events

More details on the upcoming PMA shows in Europe


Reading is fundamental!. This book Kindsight, Images and words from the flow, by Robert Zuckerman, (hardcover, 120 pages), takes random everyday human encounters and turns them into something much more profound. Each photograph comes with accompanying text.

Read the rest of "Reliable Rumors: Two new Pentax DSLRs this year!"...

May is national Photography month!

Don't forget, May is national Photography month in the USA! So let's celebrate and enjoy photography! On a practical level, various retailers and outlets may be having special events and special offers during this month!

Read the rest of "May is national Photography month!"...