It won’t be long before kids think that “going to the chemists for some prints” is some kid of euphemism for scoring drugs, but with the onslaught of cheap digital cameras and high quality printers, the writing’s on the wall for the print developing business.
Keen to hammer a few more nails into the printer’s coffin is the new Stylus Photo RX640, an advanced all-in-one printer aimed at photo enthusiasts.
Like a mini photo-lab in a box, the Epson RX640 is a sophisticated do-everything photo centre offering printing, copying and scanning functionality.
The multifunction device lets users print, scan and copy direct from memory cards, PictBridge and USB DIRECT-PRINT digital cameras.
Images can be read from a built in CD-R drive for printing, with high quality scanning afforded courtesy of a 3200 x 6400 dpi MatrixCCD scanner scanner.
Images can be printed out from images stored on USB flash memory devices, with an optional Bluetooth module letting users print directly from suitably enabled mobile phones.
A neat function lets users print their own designs directly onto the surface of inkjet printable CD’s.
There’s an integrated transparency unit for scanning and printing directly from positive and negative film sources with Epson’s Easy Photo Fix technology claiming to automatically “restore colour to faded photos and film.”
The built in software also includes a dust and scratch removal function for negative and positive film scans.
Users can monitor what’s going on through a high definition (256 ppi) 2.5 inch colour LCD preview monitor, with a USB port for backing up data on to external storage devices (such as CD-R/Zip drives).
The printer uses six individual ink cartridges to help reduce running costs (although replacement ink cartridges will no doubt remain eye wateringly expensive), with Epson’s PhotoEnhance technology automatically detecting image types and adjusting image brightness and contrast accordingly.
Tracey Leslie, Consumer Product Manager – General Purpose Inkjets and All In Ones for Epson UK was on hand to big up the product: “The Stylus Photo RX640 builds on Epson’s strong offering in the all-in-one category. With premium photo quality output and exceptional scanning and standalone features, this will appeal to photo enthusiasts at all levels of experience.”
The Epson Stylus Photo RX640 will retail for around £230 ($410, €338).
For the first time in its long history, Eastman Kodak is generating more annual sales from digital imaging than from film-based photography.
But it’s not all good news though, with the company reporting that total losses could top an eye watering $1 billion, as a result of the hugely expensive restructuring demands required by a potentially risky shift to digital.
The company is still half way through the arduous task of restructuring the business for the digital world, and has already laid off some 25,000 workers.
Fortunately for Kodak, Christmas proved a highly profitable period with sales of its EasyShare Printer Docks surging 95%, and sales of kiosks to drugstores and other outlets up 23%.
We raved about the auto-everything Fujifilm F10, so when we heard that they were producing an updated version of the camera offering more manual controls, we were happy to dust off the chequebook and place an order.
We remain impressed with the results, with the high ISO rating letting us capture natural-looking images where other cameras would be reaching for the flash or crumbling into a noisy mess.
With no new dedicated controls to control aperture and shutter settings, exposures had to be adjusted through a rather clunky interface that involved doubling up the main four-way controller and central MENU/OK buttons – not always without confusion.
For folks seeking a simple, all round point and shoot camera, the F10 remains our first choice, but for photographers keen to take advantage of Fuji’s outstanding low light abilities with the ability to control exposure manually, the F11 is well worth the extra £30 or so.
Shutter speed 3 – 1/2000 th sec
Panasonic has unveiled its new ultra-zoom prosumer digital camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7.
Inherited from Panasonic’s high end Lumix LX1 compact is a new ‘joystick’ control affording fast, easy access to settings such as ISO, image size & quality and white balance.
Like the LX1, the camera also offers a vast array of exposure options, including Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and fully manual, backed up by an exhaustive set of ‘scene’ options covering the useful (‘sports’) to the bizarre (‘soft skin’).
Specifications:
A heady mix of ever plummeting digicam prices, larger memory card capacities and more capacious hard drives means that it’s easy to end up with photos and videos scattered to the four corners of your PC, making it nigh on impossible to find your pictures.
A start-up screen gives new users an overview of features to help them get started while upgraders will be glad to see the program sticking to the tried and trusted three-paned interface, coupled with a useful ‘image basket’ function.
Unlike many other image management programs, you don’t have to ‘import’ images into the program before they can be viewed, so the program also doubles up as an excellent image file browser.
At times, the sheer weight of features can prove a little overwhelming to new users, but for keen photographers keen to keep a vice-like grip on their growing photo collections and looking for a strong, all-round image management solution, we strongly recommend ACDSee.
With a high-end feature set offering auto, scene, aperture and shutter priority modes plus full manual exposure controls, Panasonic’s beautifully sculpted 8 megapixel LX1 is clearly aimed at the discerning photographer who knows their ISO from their f-stop.
On most compact digcams, exposure adjustments are invariably achieved by fiddly excursions through endless sub-menus, but the LX1’s design affords fast, direct access to a host of vital functions like ISO rating, shutter speed, aperture and file size/quality – essential for those looking to capture the ‘decisive moment’.
Although some cameras mimic a 16:9 shooting ratio by cropping off the top and bottom of the picture, the LX1 has a true 16:9 sensor, with users able to switch formats via a handy switch on the lens barrel (no sub-menu burrowing needed).
Camera controls
Photographic modes
Of course, the capable image stabilisation goes some way to compensate for these serious shortcomings, allowing handheld longer exposures at low ISO ratings, but that’s going to be a dead loss if you’re trying to freeze action in low light.
Conclusion
Way back in October last year we reported that Samsung was 
Still, it’s a very capable camera, offering a 6 megapixel sensor, 2.5-inch screen (210K pixels), expansive ISO range from 200 to 3200, a host of shooting modes and a Pentax AF lens mount.
Although some may not see the point in Samsung announcing what amounts to an already released product under a different name, there are clear benefits for both companies.
With more units shifted, Pentax benefit from lower production costs, increased sales and a greatly increased user base for their lenses and their system, thus ensuring the future of its system.
Then there’s the awesome might of Samsung’s marketing budget to consider, with some suspecting that the new camera will be sold as a “loss leader” to help establish the brand.
Casio have announced the European release of their super-slim 6 megapixel camera featuring an ‘Anti Shake’ DSP and MPEG-4 movie recording.
As the name suggests, its not a proper mechanical anti-shake gizmo – instead, the camera employs high ISO1600 sensitivity plus a faster shutter speed to minimize image blur.
An improved battery allows up to 300 shots per battery charge, with the 2.2 inch LCD being “twice as bright” as previous models.
It’s taken some considerable time for the Casio S600 to reach Europe – it’s been available in Japan since October 2005 – but you should be able to pick it on the High Street for around £230 (~€335, ~$406).
A huge photograph of the Orion Nebula taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has been released on the Internet. It is thought to be one of the largest images every produced.
Around two years ago the previous version of this image was also distributed online, but that was a ‘mere’ 6,200 x 6,200, at that time, also claimed at the ‘largest image ever’.
Yesterday afternoon, without much fuss, and with zero trumpets playing, Nikon UK announced that they are to stop production of nearly all of their analog cameras. Err … what did you say?