Today Nikon issued a service advisory for the D2H and D70. It mentions that Nikon will repair the cameras with the following malfunctions for free:

Nikon D2H malfunctions:

• The electronic analog exposure indicator is unreliable, the exposure display is fixed at a constant value and images are over- or under-exposed.
• The camera is unable to focus automatically

Nikon D70 malfunctions:

• With a memory card inserted: The green memory card access lamp blinks continuously and camera does not respond to any controls.
• With no memory card inserted: The camera will not turn on despite the battery indicator showing a fully charged battery.

Instructions for contacting Nikon USA and Nikon Europe are available by following the links below:

Website : Nikon USA Service Advisory
Website : D2H Service Advisory (Nikon Europe)
Website : D70 Service Advisory (Nikon Europe)

Adobe has just released their new Photoshop Elements 4.0 with great new tools that help you edit and adjust your photos in less time. New features in this release are including the ability to create entertaining slides with amazing transations in minutes, removing red eye from individual shots without even clicking on the photo, adjusting skin stones for more natural look in poorly lit photos and easily isolating objects from background which will be very useful if you want to enter the microstock photography industry. Here are some Adobe Photoshop Elements Reviews:

“Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 is more powerful than ever, and its excellent features and integration of the organizing/editing functions make it the best choice for handling your digital photo collection.”

Website : PC Magazine Review

“Adobe Photoshop Elements 4 is more than just a scaled-down version of Adobe Photoshop. Aside from the fact it makes the feature set and interface comprehensible to non-graphic-designer types, the program incorporates automatic image enhancements and extremely intelligent selection tools that are missing in Photoshop. However, Photoshop users will find both the tools and the features familiar in both appearance and effect. I actually prefer Elements 4 for editing photos–it’s a bit easier to browse around and perform quick fixes. And though it’s a tiny bit sluggish, especially when loading the different work spaces, we turn to Photoshop only for batch operations or sophisticated color correction. Alas, this version drops Windows 2000 support, and the Mac version is “in the works.” Otherwise, Elements is just about perfect for Windows XP users.”

Website : ZDNet Review

Michael Reichmann from Luminous Landscape received a pre-production Canon 5D camera for field testing. Here is the conclusion :

“The 5D produces images essentially as good as those from the 1Ds MKII – and that’s about as good as it gets. It has slightly lower resolution, of course, but with some theoretical advantages associated with larger pixel size and more recent sensor chip design.

The bottom line then is this – the Canon 5D is an immensely satisfying camera. In a physical size, weight and form factor it is little different than the mainstream of 5 – 8 Megapixel APS sized cameras. But Canon has, with the 5D, provided photographers with a full-frame 35mm of sufficient resolution – 12.8 Megapixel – to meet the print and reproduction size needs of the vast majority of serious photographers. Image quality, whether at normal or at high ISO, is as good as it currently gets. “

Website : Canon EOS 5D Field Report at Luminous Lan

“The Nikon D50 is a solid contender among entry level DSLRs, providing users with a 6 megapixel APS-format sensor, 2.5 frames-per-second burst mode, vibrant color rendition, and excellent noise performance.

Available at an MSRP of $899.95 and selling for around $700 or even below online, the D50 falls into an increasingly crowded segment of the DSLR realm.

Supplying a 2-inch, 130,000 pixel LCD and strong autofocus system, the rugged consumer-level DSLR is even smaller than the D70 and contains a very deep feature set and host of manual controls that will help first time digital SLR owners hone their skills and grow into the medium.”

Website : Nikon D50 Camera Review

The new digital SLR sensor cleaning tool is designed to combine the cleaning prowess of the company’s Sensor Brush with the ability to rid itself of any accumulated guck between swipes of the imager cover glass. To do this with the Sensor Brush, a can of compressed air is required to blow out the bristles and charge them for next use; the Arctic Butterfly accomplishes the same thing by rapidly twirling its built-in brush.

Visible Dust’s Fariborz Degan, the inventor of both Sensor Brush and Arctic Butterfly, says that while the new product’s spinning action cleans and charges its bristles slightly more effectively than the canned air approach, the main reason for the Arctic Butterfly’s development was to give travelling photographers a sensor cleaning option that didn’t require compressed air to be toted along in addition to a brush.

Website : Visible Dust adds Arctic Butterfly to sensor cleaning line

Website : Purchasethe Visible Dust at B&H

Debbie Grossman from Popular Photography Magazine reviewed Nik Sharpener Pro 2.0. It can be summarized at follows :

“nik Sharpener Pro 2.0 is worlds ahead of its predecessor (1.0), with an easy-to-use interface and non-techie lingo that’s clear without being simplistic. It eliminates obfuscating terms like the aforementioned “radius” and “threshold,” and instead lets you adjust sharpness according to output, since different printer/paper combinations, print sizes, and probable viewing distances require different amounts of sharpening. Fill in those factors, and the plug-in determines how sharp your picture should be.

On-screen, though, your pre-output image looks like a poster child for everything Pop Photo warned you about: the grain is speckly, there are halos this way and that—it all seems sharpened to a crisp. But keep your mouse off that Fade command, because when you print, you’ll get just the right amount of sharpness.”

Website : Popular Photography Magazine article