Anyone interested in the Four Thirds digital SLR camera system, which comprises cameras, lenses and system accessories manufactured by Olympus, Panasonic Lumix, Sigma and Leica (Digilux) has a new online resource at their disposal from today. It’s Four Thirds User (fourthirds-user.com) featuring news, in-depth reviews, tutorials, a wiki-style interactive knowledge base and an integrated discussion forum and user photo gallery.

To celebrate the launch of the new site, Four Thirds User running a prize draw to give away an Olympus E-510 DSLR camera, the most recently introduced Four Thirds camera model.

Being a specialist site catering for an audience with a particular common interest FTU can routinely produce targeted content that more general publications can only justify publishing from time-to-time, if at all. “We’ve received a lot of behind-the-scenes support and encouragement from the companies that form the Four Thirds consortium. I doubt we could have embarked on this project without that encouragement. It’s going to be a lot of fun running FTU,” says Ian, though he’s keen to emphasise that FTU is complementary to DPNow, which will continue to be independent and impartial in its coverage of the general digital photography scene.

Website : Community Site Targets Four Thirds Standard Interest

Fujifilm have been at the front giving a helping hand in investigative photography for a while now and Fujifilm latest line-ups are Fujifilm’s Super CCD Pro and the brilliant Real Photo Processor Pro technology to see light from the ultraviolet, infrared and visible portions of the spectrum.The S3 Pro UVIR and the IS-1 were good and now this, where will they go next, the Super CCD Pro IS Pro DSLR digital camera has 12.3 megapixel which also boasts and wait for it ‘face detection and password protected lockouts’.

How about a rubber body for full protection and CF & Microdrive slots RAW support plus live image preview LCD for good measures. This camera from Fujifilm is fully compatible with Nikon F mount lenses and even iTTL flash systems. There is no information on price but it should hit the shelves next month.

Hasselblad last week released an update to FlexColor, its image capture and processing software. Version 4.7 promises digital lens correction, improved sharpness and focusing, and a continued burst rate. FlexColor 4.7 is free for existing Hasselblad users and is currently available online.

The FlexColor software is included with Hasselblad’s digital back cameras and scanners. The latest version corrects digital lens distortion and light falloff. FlexColor version 4.7 also improves sharpness by reducing vibration during handheld shooting.

FlexColor 4.7 also promises to improve shooting, particularly on the H3D 48mm DSLR, with a continued fast burst rate with the latest generation of CF memory cards. The H3D’s Ultra-Focus function has also been expanded to correct for optical distortion. All Hasselblad H- and HxD-camera bodies will automatically be updated with the latest firmware once users connect their camera to FlexColor via FireWire.

The Hasselblad FlexColor 4.7 is available for download here.

For photographers using long-heavy tele-zoom and telephoto lenses such as the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM lens, gravity is a problem. The lens puts stress on the lensmount and camera body as it pulls the camera in a downward direction–unless it is supported. Typically, this has meant photographers simply would hold the lens by its to take stress off of the camera body (if they remembered). Dowell Enterprises has come up with a clever solution: the Lens Cradle.

The Lens Cradle is designed to fit any lens with a tripod mount. It supports the camera and lens horizontally by utilizing the tripod mounting ring on the lens. Thereby, substantially reducing if not eliminating, the damage and stress that occurs to the camera body at the lens mounting junction. The Lens Cradle gives horizontal balance and stability that a camera strap alone does not provide. You no longer need to support the weight of a large lens with your hands. The natural horizontal position keeps the camera poised to be ready for the next elusive shot and prevents lens creep on push pull lenses. It is selling for $25.

Website :  LensCradle Support for long DSLR lenses

According to the analysis of user trend in Japan for the most popular camera sales ranking from 5/14 to 5/20. The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ3 took the number one spot for a continuous of 3 weeks. This camera is the latest members of the award-winning Lumix TZ family of digital cameras, which is renowned for packaging a remarkable 10x optical zoom in a compact, stylish body. To further add to their appeal, the TZ3 go one step further to feature a 28mm wide-angle Leica DC lens (equivalent to 28-280mm on a 35mm film camera) for wide-angle shooting.

The Olympus Camedia SP-550UZ camera took the number 2 spot pushing the Canon IXY Digital 900IS down to number 3. The Camedia SP-550UZ is a digital camera with 18X optical zoom (28-504mm equiv.), a 7 Megapixel CCD sensor, 5.6x digital zoom, a 2.5-inch LCD display, ISO up to 5000 and anti-shake protection.

Number 3 is the Canon IXY Digital 900IS, US name of Canon PowerShot SD800 IS Digital ELPH. This camera offers a focal length range of 28 – 105mm (35mm equivalent), and a 3.8x optical zoom lens allows photographers to capture wider panoramas, architectural photos and group shots. The lens incorporates Canon’s optical Image Stabilizer to counteract the effects of camera shake for steadier performance in low light, at full zoom or when shooting from moving vehicles.

The Fuji FinePix F31fd dropped 4 ranking down to the 9th position, and the only DSLR camera that made it to the top 10 is Pentax K10D, at number 10 ranking. Here’s the top 10 ranking between 5/14 - 5/20 in Japan:

1. Panasonic LUMIX DMC-TZ3
2. Olympus CAMEDIA SP-550UZ
3. Canon IXY DIGITAL 900IS
4. Olympus μ770SW
5. Nikon COOLPIX P5000
6. Ricoh R6 DIGITAL
7. Kodak EasyShare V705
8. Ricoh GR DIGITAL
9. Fuji FinePix F31fd
10. Pentax K10D
    

Website : Japan Most Popular Camera Ranking - May 14 to May 20

“There has never been a better time to buy a digital SLR as figures show the average price falling by over £100 in the past year.

In the first three months of 2007, the average selling price of a DSLR (body only) was £466, compared to £567 in the same period in 2006, according to figures released by market analysts at GfK.

That equates to a fall of around 18% in 12 months and 35% since the summer of 2005 when the average DSLR price stood at around £715 – around £250 more than now. However, the news prompted GfK to warn the UK industry: ‘We have seen volume sales grow quite significantly over the last six months but this, of course, cannot go on indefinitely and a decline in volume will likely be followed by a value decline.’

The value of the overall digital imaging market in Britain dropped by 8% in the first three months of the year, compared to the same quarter last year, despite the number of digital cameras sold rising by 3%. “

Website : Digital SLR prices tumble

Website : DSLR Camera for only $299?

SR has introduced an LED ring light that features two flexible arms. The Digi-Slave Flex-Ring 6400 has 32 LEDs mounted on the ring and 16 LEDs on a panel at the end of each arm.

The Flex-Ring 6400 features a variable power dial for adjusting the LEDs’ brightness and can be either switched on as a continuous light source or triggered from a standard PC or hotshoe sync. The ring and side-panel LEDs can also be used separately.

The light mount is threaded to fit on a 72mm-diameter lens and can be used on smaller-diameter optics with a step-down ring. It operates on four AA batteries or an optional AC adapter.

The Digi-Slave Flex-Ring 6400 is available now from SR for $400.

Website : SR Introduces Ring Light With Flexible Arms

Camera manufacturers starting to put DSLR features and apply the DSLR camera technologies to point-and-shoot camera.  The Sigma Corporation recently announced the launch of the new Sigma DP1 compact digital camera featuring a 14 megapixel FOVEON X3 direct image sensor (2652×1768×3 layers) as used in the Sigma SD14 digital SLR.

Wow…a 14 megapixel point-and-shoot camera!! So far point and shoot digital cameras incorporated small size image sensors, and researches for increasing the number of pixels by keeping the image sensor small is still continuing. However, there are limitations in these researches, because keeping image sensor size small will result poor capture of the light poorly. In this respect, enlarging the image sensor will result in better capturing color signals.

The direct image sensor featured in the SIGMA DP1 ensures the capture of full and complete color. This camera incorporates both RAW and JPEG image recording formats. The unique image processing algorithm developed throughout the development of SD9, SD10 and SD14 cameras is incorporated into “TRUE” (Three-layer Responsive Ultimate Engine) and enables high-speed image processing.

The accumulated lens design technology and SD series are used for DP1 development.  A 16.6mm F4 lens, with a wide angle field of view equivalent to 28mm on a 35mm film camera, has been specially developed to maximize the image quality in conjunction with the full color capture image sensor.

Website : Sigma 14 Megapixel DP1 Incorporates DSLR Image Sensor

Download : Sigma DP1 Specification PDF