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.