Imaging News for week of October 20

Breeze Systems Releases DSLR Remote Pro v1.1
Breeze Systems have released DSLR Remote Pro v1.1. Remote Pro is used to control Canon EOS 5D, 350D/Rebel XT, 20D, EOS-1D Mark II and EOS-1Ds Mark II cameras in addition to the EOS 10D, 300D/Rebel, 1D and 1Ds. It features improved exposure control in tricky lighting conditions by auto bracketing up to 15 images by varying either the shutter speed or the aperture. Great for using the HDR (High Dynamic Range) features in Photoshop. Read more at Breeze Systems.

Photo Mechanic 4.4 will appear as Public Beta.
Camera Bits have been open about their release of v4.4 of Photo Mechanic as a Public Beta. Version 4.4 is workflow-focused and will be available for Mac and Windows. Read more here.

Bibble 4.4 released
Bibble Labs have updated their RAW workflow solution, Bibble, to v4.4. New features include a shadow recovery function called "Fill Light" and also support for the Canon's EOS 5D and EOS-1D Mark II N, the Konica Minolta 5D, and the Pentax *ist DL. Bibble 4.4 is available in Pro and Lite versions for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. Visit Bibble Labs today.

ACDSee Pro Photo Manager announced
ACDSee Systems have announced ACDSee Pro Photo Manager for Windows, an upgraded version of the popular photo browser aimed at professional photographers. Its professional focused features include support for RAW file display and conversion, batch IPTC captioning, and more extensive color management capabilities. Visit ACDSee.

Kodak launches high resolution CCDs
Kodak announced the world's highest resolution sensors for medium format cameras with the 36x48mm, KAF-39000, 39 megapixels, and the 33x44mm, KAF-31600, which offers 31.6 megapixels. The CCD sensors will be featured in Phase One's upcoming P45 and P30 digital backs. Read more here.

Kodak in troubled waters...
Eastman Kodak Co., are having financial troubles and after reporting $1.03 billion loss for the third quarter analysts are wondering how the long term will look for this photography giant. Although they have posted a massive loss their sales of digital products now exceed revenue from film-based photography. They also report that they are No. 1 in sales of digital cameras and digital X-ray systems in the US and of photo kiosks, thermal home printers and online photo services worldwide. Should be interesting times ahead with the expected loss of 25,000 jobs.

Canon announce the Wireless PowerShot SD430
Canon announced a new compact PowerShot model, the SD430 (Digital IXUS Wireless), which features built-in WiFi (802.11b). This 5 mp, 3x optical zoom camera is practically identical to the SD450 but with WiFi added. The camera kit also includes the 'WA-1N Wireless Print Adapter' which provides WiFi printing to PictBridge compatible printers.

Nikon's PictureProject updated to v1.6.1
Nikon has announced an update for its image management, editing and design program, PictureProject. Version 1.6.1 is two different upgrades for the Mac and Windows platforms. All update up to v1.6.0 must have been installed before updating to this version.

Extensis Portfolio 8
Extensis have announce Portfolio 8 which allows you to instantly view, sort and manage all your photos, including RAW files, access your files directly from Photoshop, and also to publish images to the web. Portfolio 8 will be available for download and purchase in December priced $199.95. Read the press release here.

Adobe Updates DNG and RAW Plug-in
Adobe Systems Inc., has added 14 New Cameras to their Camera RAW Plug-in and announced its Digital Negative Specification (DNG) -- an industry-wide initiative to create one unified format for archiving RAW digital images -- is continuing to win support from camera manufacturers and software makers. Adobe have introduced the Camera RAW 3.2 plug-in which now supports over 80 cameras. Using the new plug-in, users can preserve more metadata when saving files in the DNG format. other features include support for GPS metadata, an updated interface for Photoshop Elements 4.0 users and "As Shot" white balance support for Nikon D2X, D2Hs and D50 camera users. The RAW Plug-in can be downloaded from Adobes Site.

Apple announce Aperture

Apple Announced many new things at Photo Plus Expo 2005, one of which is their foray into the world of Professional Digital Imaging Software. It looks interesting but I reserve judgement until I see it action. In apples own words Aperture is; "Designed from the ground up for professional photographers, Aperture provides everything you need for after the shoot, delivering the first all-in-one post-production tool for photographers. ... Aperture’s color-managed workflow and flexible design tools will help you easily create stunning prints, customized contact sheets, elegant books, and web pages as beautiful as the images you capture"

Apeture is certainly aimed at the pro and with features like RAW workflow support, editing, media management, retouching, output and non-destructive editing they look as though they are trying to get into an already busy workspace. Read more at the official website.

This week in Digital Imaging

All told, this past week in the world of digital imaging and photography has been a slow one. This weeks' announcements centre around a number of service advisories from the likes of Olympus, Ricoh, Minolta, Canon, Fuji, Nikon and Sony. It seems like there have been some common problems with CCD's supplied by Sony between 2002 and 2004. For more info; visit DPReview, as they have done their usual excellent job of tracking these issues.

On another front Fujifilm have announced a new camera. The FinePix Z2 which uses a large LCD instead of a viewfinder, offers a wider aperture range of up to F8, longer shutter speeds of 4 seconds and 256-zone metering. Fujifilm have also reduced the price of their FinePix S3 Pro, Digital SLR.

Canon has updated its professional editing and RAW conversion software; Digital Photo Professional. Version 2.0.3 fixes a couple of issues such as missing color tones in images taken with the EOS-1D or the EOS-5D and also changes a setting name in Picture Styles from B&W to Monochrome.

Canon have also released firmware version 1.2.4 for their EOS-1D Mark II and version 1.1.4 for the EOS-1Ds Mark II. The new firmware includes a fix for file numbering errors during bulb exposure shooting and improves the reliability of operation with a few CompactFlash cards. A problem that could lead to horizontal line noise in the EOS-1Ds Mark II has also been addressed.
Breeze Systems have released v1.3 of BreezeBrowser Pro. New features include automatic lens distortion correction and support for RAW files from Canon's EOS 5D and EOS-1D Mark II N cameras.

DPReview have also released the latest iteration of their excellent dpreview resolution chart for testing your digital cameras.

Sony announce the 8MP Cybershot DSC N-1

On Monday Sony announced the compact and clean looking DSC-N1. This new model features a wide viewing angle 3" LCD touch screen designed to act as both camera control and display. The DSC-N1 also records a VGA (640x480) copy of every image you take and stores it internally. Up to 500 of these images can be stored even after the full resolution images have been transferred providing a long term 'pocket album' feature which can be browsed in a variety of ways. The Camera/Album features Sonys' eight megapixel 1/1.8" CCD sensor and supports up to ISO 800. The camera also records video and audio at 640x480 and up to 30 fps on the memory stick pro. visit Sony for more info.

MINOXannounces the DMP-1 Media Device

This great little pocket storage device and media viewer/player is a cool little device from all appearances. "The Minox DMP-1 weighs in at just 62 grams and fits into almost any pocket thanks to its compact dimensions of 75x52x15mm. Incorporating a digital photo album, MP3 player and recorder, FM radio, digital sound equalizer, E-book facility for storing and viewing text files and a selection of pre-installed games to play." For more info, visit Minox...

Nikon Capture v.4.3.2 posted for download

Nikon have posted an update to Nikon Capture. Version 4.3.2 addresses an issue which caused the Capture Editor to quit unexpectedly on some computer systems when images were adjusted using the Color Boost slider displayed by selecting Better Quality (HQ) in the D-Lighting palette. The update is available for Windows and Mac platforms and can be downloaded by clicking on the previous links.