Olympus, Nikon and Canon Firmware Updates

Olympus, Nikon and Canon have announced firmware updates. Canon’s firmware update for the Canon WFT-E3/E3A wireless transmitter will now make it compatible on the 50D. The firmware update for Nikon D80 and D200 corrects the problem of light flashing empty, inspite of it being fully charged, commonly known as the ‘Dead Battery Syndrome’. Meanwhile, firmware v1.1 for the Olympus E-520 and E-420 improves the brightness level of AF target points in the Viewfinder.

Vivitar Europe makes staff redundant

Vivitar's European arm has gone into administration, making its 26 staff in France and the UK redundant after its parent company in US sold the brand name. Vivitar's parent company, Syntax Brillian, entered Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection in July and sold the Vivitar brand name to Sakar, a consumer electronics manufacturer in August. Under the sale agreement the name, along with intellectual property and goodwill was sold, leaving Vivitar France S.A. unable to continue to trade under the Vivitar name.  

Photokina wrap-up

Photokina is now over for another two years, so as we return to some semblance of normality it's time to reflect on what Photokina 2008 tells us about the state of the industry and to look at some of the emerging trends in digital cameras and digital imaging in general. We've updated our show report to include not only our thoughts on the exhibition itself but also our usual top 10 pick of the products on show.

Just posted! Olympus 50mm F2.0 Macro lens review

Just posted! Our new lens review of the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 50mm F2.0 Macro. With the excitement of Photokina over, it's back to the daily grind at DPReview.com's subterranean nerve-centre, and first off the review production line comes Olympus's stalwart short tele macro. We've long sung the praises of this lens in our camera reviews, but what do our studio tests reveal about it's true capabilities?

Online shopping spree with discounted products

By Ingrid Sure

 Why spend important amounts of time rambling from store to store when you can take care of all your shopping needs while standing at your computer? You can find everything you need, including apparel. So, whether you need to shop for lingerie, panties, jackets, gloves, headwear or shoes, you can purchase all these products without any effort whatsoever. The offers are diverse and you are provided with photos for each product. You also get to see the price and the discount offered. The purchase process is simple, no matter the product you are interested in.
The category for automotive parts offers products like air intakes, alarms and backup sensors. Many people prefer to use the Internet to search for products suitable for cars, such as the ones mentioned above and many others. We are talking about great prices for body kits, brake rotors and carbon fiber hoods. And you should know that online you can also find car MP3 players, cup holders and covers. The choices are numerous and the purchasing part a genuine pleasure.
Perhaps you want to get a cell phone and you do not have the time to visit all the specialized stores. No problem. Just go online and search through some of the most popular brands. Your visit to a virtual store takes just a couple of minutes. You can purchase wholesale products at amazing prices and return real soon for some more. Computer accessories, telephone accessories, toys and wii games are there for you. Plenty of electronics, such as camcorders, DVD player systems and headsets are also presented at discounted prices.
What other products are there for the dedicated shopper hidden inside you? Well, all sorts of stuff. You can even find pets (dogs), sports items and darts to enjoy. Health and beauty products are presented on a wide scale, with plenty of beauty supplies and fragrances to choose from. Medical equipment and personal care products are introduced online for prospective customers, with impressive prices.
We all love to shop. Unfortunately, many of us do not have the time to visit all the stores existent out there. The Internet offers reliable options and it seems that more and more people have become interested in purchasing products at discounted prices. There are several payments options out there, with paypal amongst the most popular. Kids can benefit from this shopping spree as well, with fun toys and games presented especially for them. It all depends on what you are interested in and how much money you are willing to spend.

Welcome to BelowDirect.com! -- A discount store & ebay shop selling: holiday gifts, jewelry, electronics, games, lingerie, auto parts, household items, knives, pet suplies, kids toys, sports and discount!

Cross-industry body publishes metadata guidelines

Photokina 2008: The Metadata Working Group, an alliance between Adobe, Apple, Canon, Microsoft, Nokia and Sony has published its first guidelines on the use of image metadata. The guidelines suggest methods to increase interoperability and storage of shooting settings and other associated data in digital images. It aims at standardizing the availability of metadata across all applications and devices, making it easier for users to create, organize and share their pictures.

Tokina to add in-lens AF motors for Nikon users

Photokina 2008: Lens maker Tokina is working towards adding autofocus motors to its Nikon-mount versions, which will enable AF with the budget D40/D40x/D60 bodies. The first optic to benefit will be the popular AT-X Pro SD 12-24mm F4 (IF) DX wideangle (gaining a 'II' suffix in the process), and a motorised version of this lens is being exhibited for the first time at Photokina; more lenses in the lineup are expected to be updated in due course.

Digital Camera and Photography Tips, How Tos and Tutorials

You've got a cool digital camera. Now find out how to use it best, from taking optimal photos, storing images effectively, sharing images, using software and printing.

Digital Photography Benefits for Beginners

By Ben Needles

 It is no wonder that digital photography has caught on in popularity. You can instantly review the pictures you took and delete the bad photos. In the old days, you would be wasting money developing pictures that turned out bad because you didnt know it. This is no longer the case these days as theres no film to develop. Sure you can go to your local picture developing shop and print off photos from the memory card but why would you? Instead of printing off a few copies of the same photo to send to family members, you can now just email them the photo instead. Talk about cost savings! And this leads to a saving of physical space as well. Where will you put all the thousands of pictures you took? You can save your digital photo album on CD/DVD discs and free up much needed space on your coffee table and book shelves.

With all these benefits of digital photography, you would think that digital camera costs would be high for beginners or that they would be complicated to operate. This is not the case at all as in order to bring digital photography to the masses, camera companies have lowered their cost drastically. Furthermore, with the technological advancements, a lot of the technical aspects of picture taking has been automated. You can now get very good beginner point and shoot digital cameras for very reasonable prices.

So what should people look for when they are shopping for a beginner digital camera? If youre looking to take pictures of family and friends, then a digital camera with 2x or 3x optical zoom is quite sufficient. Also, look for other functionality in the digital camera as well. It is very common nowadays that digital cameras can also take short video clips. This is a wonderful feature to have in addition to static images.

Taking pictures and video is great but there is nothing worse when on a family outing than to run out of batteries or memory capacity. Get nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries as they are great with devices that require lots of recharging. This will save lots of money with these batteries capable of recharging 1000s of times. For memory storage, get extra memory cards/sticks that are at least 1 GB in storage. The prices keep on dropping in memory cards/sticks as well with the advancements in technology.

The financial entry into digital photography is not that steep for a beginner photographer. The important thing to keep in mind is to know your needs and do the research accordingly.

About the Author (text)

Mariam Ma writes for Picture Creative, a digital camera store specializing in Nikon products for photographers. Please visit http://picturecreative.com/

glass shelves

Photohop; A Tilt/Shift Photoshop tutorial

Adobe's Photoshop is a powerful work tool. As the whole world is pretty much using digital cameras now Adobe Photoshop is becoming a household name when it comes to editing photos. But, using Photoshop to do simple contrast and white balance changes seems a bit overkill for me. This blog digs a bit deeper into the tools of photoshop.

Next Page »