Archive for January, 2006

Survey documents photographers thoughts on RAW

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

A press release today from the OpenRAW website has announced a new survey aimed at learning what photographers think about RAW file formats, and how they use them. Consisting of 25 questions, the survey can be completed in about fifteen minutes, and will run for eight weeks until midnight GMT on March 31, 2006. When complete, the results will be placed online, and should offer a valuable resource to camera manufacturers, software developers and…

PDN, Apple work on Aperture improvements

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

The Photo District News Online website, perhaps better known as "PDN Online", published a news article that caught our attention yesterday. PDN was one of a number of sites to review Apple’s Aperture, a product which has been greeted with both applause and some criticism of RAW image conversion quality. Both Apple and PDN suggest that some of this hails from a misunderstanding, with users comparing non-adjusted Aperture images to auto-adjusted …

DxO Labs announces the closing of a €10.6 million round of financing to boost its international presence

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

Leading private equity group Apax Partners leads new investment Paris, France–January 30, 2006 – DxO Labs, a French software company developing advanced image processing technologies for the mobile imaging industry and other digital consumer imaging markets, today announces the closing of a 10.6 million Euro round of funding. Apax Partners France leads the new investment, joining historic investors including Société Générale Asset Management, SPEF…

REALVIZ TO LAUNCH VTOUR AT IMAGINA 2006

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

New Product For the Creation of Photo-real 3D Virtual Tours Available from February 2006 Sophia Antipolis, France (January 30, 2006) - REALVIZ, a leader in image processing software development, will launch VTour, the latest addition to their software portfolio for content creation, at IMAGINA in Monaco this week. VTour draws on the award-winning technology of Stitcher and ImageModeler and offers users of all levels an innovative and effective solution…

New ‘Photoshop Killer Tips’ Daily Video Podcast Launched By The National Association Of Photoshop Professionals

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

Tampa, FL - Jan. 30, 2006 — Straight from the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), comes "Photoshop Killer Tips, an exciting new daily video Podcast featuring Photoshop® Guru Matt Klowkowski, one of the co-hosts of the top-rated weekly Adobe® Photoshop show "Photoshop TV" (http://www.photoshoptv.com) . This new video Podcast is short and sweet, with each daily segment only one to two minutes in length, but each episode is packed…

Fuji Photo Film to cut 5,000 jobs on falling demand in imaging business (Canadian Press)

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

Canadian Press - TOKYO (AP) - Fuji Photo Film Co. said it plans to cut 5,000 jobs worldwide due to heavier competition in the colour film and digital camera businesses, as the company downgraded its revenue and profit forecasts for the fiscal year ending in March.

RAW Survey launched: An International Study of the Experiences, Requirements, Preferences, and Concerns of Photographers regardi

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

On January 31, 2006, the OpenRAW initiative launched an international survey on its Web site ( http://openraw.org/survey/ ) to collect information about the experiences, requirements, preferences, and concerns of digital photographers and other interested parties regarding RAW imaging technology - a concept that many writers are comparing to a “digital negative”.

Kodak’s digital sales overtake film

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

Kodak digital sales made 54% of total revenue for 2005, marking the first time in the company’s history that digital revenue exceeded film. The news came on the same day that the company reported that total losses for this year could top $1 billion, after the fifth consecutive quarter of losses - due mainly to the restructuring that the shift to digital required. On the positive side, sales of Kodak digital cameras are up.

OpenRAW Survey needs your help

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

The OpenRAW initiative has today launched a survey to collect “experiences, requirements, preferences, and concerns of digital photographers and other interested parties regarding RAW imaging technology.” The results of this survey will be published into the public domain and we will report them in detail here on dpreview. We would encourage all dpreview readers to take part in this survey.

Fuji Photo Film to slash 5,000 jobs, shift production to China (AFP)

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

Japan's photo giant Fuji Photo Film President Yoshitaka Komori talks during a press conference at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Fuji Photo Film said it will slash 5,000 jobs worldwide and shift production of digital cameras to China as it weathers tough competition.(AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno)AFP - Japan's Fuji Photo Film said it will slash 5,000 jobs worldwide and shift production of digital cameras to China as it weathers tough competition.


Fujifilm cut jobs, move some production to China

Tuesday, January 31st, 2006

According to reports on various news wires Fujifilm Japan has announced that it is to cut 5,000 jobs (1,000 in Japan, 4,000 abroad) by September, this out of around 76,000 workers in the photo segment. There will also a shift of some production from Japan to China. A company spokesperson is quoted as saying “structural reforms include the reduction of approximately 5,000 people from the imaging solutions segment”. What future for SuperCCD?

Panasonic NV-GS400

Monday, January 30th, 2006

The Panasonic NV-GS400 offers outstanding value in a camcorder for the discriminating consumer.

Kodak’s Digital Sales Exceed Traditional Film Sales for the First Time

Monday, January 30th, 2006

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Jan. 30 — Eastman Kodak Company today reported that revenue rose 12% in the fourth
quarter, led by a 45% increase in the sale of digital products and services.
The performance includes strong demand for the market-leading offerings from
the company’s consumer digital portfolio and the successful completion of the
company’s acquisition program to support its Graphic Communications business.
For all of 2005, digital sales represented 54% of total revenue, marking the
first time in the company’s history that digital revenue exceeded traditional.

Sony launches ClearVid CMOS sensors

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Consumer electronics giant Sony Corp. has quietly introduced a new type of imager in one of its latest digital camcorders that seems rather reminiscent of Fujifilm’s Super CCD sensor tech. Launched a few weeks back at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Sony DCR-DVD505 camcorder is based around what Sony are calling a "ClearVid" 1/3" CMOS sensor, with a resolution of two megapixels. Readers familiar with Fujifilm’s Super CCD design…

SmartDisk Issued Continuation Patent for FlashTrax® Multimedia Players

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Fort Myers, Fla., January 24, 2006 ­ SmartDisk Corporation announced today that it has been granted U.S. Patent No. 6,987,927 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The new patent, titled "Enhanced digital data collector for removable memory modules," is a continuation in part of U.S. Patent No. 6,658,202 entitled "Portable data transfer and mass storage device for removable memory modules." "Essentially, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has…

Fotonation Announces PTP-IP Analyzer

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Saves Time, Money & Development Headaches by Ensuring Problem-Free Communication Between Digital Cameras and Other Devices FotoNation is the Developer of PTP Standard and Led the CIPA Standardization of PTP-IP Burlingame, California – January 23, 2006– FotoNation Inc. ( http://www.fotonation.com ), one of the world’s leading imaging and connectivity solutions companies for the digital photography industry, announced today the availability of the…

Olympus: Two new FE-series digicams

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Olympus Imaging America Inc. has today unveiled two new digital cameras that are closely related and offer affordable pricing in the neighborhood of $200. The Olympus FE-130 and FE-140 ($179.99 and $229.99 respectively) both offer a 3x optical zoom lens. The FE-130 couples this with a 5.1 megapixel imager and 2.0" LCD display with 85,000 pixels. The FE-140 upgrades the specification with a 6.0 megapixel imager and 2.5", 110,000 pixel…

Kingston’s New “Icons of Photography” Program Offers How-To Tips from World Renowned Photographers

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Douglas Kirkland, Harry Benson, Barbara Bordnick, and Colin Finlay Among the “Icons” Who Share Tips, Techniques and Experiences at kingston.com Fountain Valley, CA – January 23, 2006 – Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, has developed a partnership with several of the world’s most respected photographers to develop a forum on its Web site to educate and inspire photographers everywhere – professional…

Olympus: New shock-proof, water-proof digicam

Monday, January 30th, 2006

One of three Stylus digital camera announcements today, the Olympus Stylus 720 SW sits in the middle of the group price-wise, but offers something its siblings don’t - a shock-absorbing design rated to the MIL-STD-810F standard. As well as the shock-absorption, the Stylus 720 SW is designed with weather-proof sealing that make the camera waterproof to the JIS Level 8 standard. The combination of the weather and shock proofing should make this …

Olympus: New 7mpix Stylus digicam

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Among its announcements in the runup to this year’s Photo Marketing Association (PMA) tradeshow, Olympus America has unveiled three new Stylus digital cameras. The Olympus Stylus 710, priced at $349.99, marks the lowest price point among the three - but still offers the all-weather sealing for which Olympus’ Stylus models have become known. As might be expected from the model name, the Stylus 710 offers a resolution of 7.1 megapixels, and this…