Canon has updated the firmware for its EOS-1D Mark III digital SLR. According to the company, version 1.0.9 enhances the look of images when enlarged on the camera’s LCD by applying a slightly stronger sharpness setting to the screen, and improves the consistency of AI Servo autofocus under certain conditions. It reduces the tendency of the camera to autofocus on high-contrast backgrounds in AI Servo AF mode when shooting in conditions where AF detection is difficult, such as when the main subject is not completely covered by the AF frames or when the main subject contrast is low.

The update also corrects errors in the Italian and Simplified Chinese menus, and fixes a rare error in the main dials that causes the controls not to respond or to travel several clicks when turned only one.

Firmware version 1.0.9 will be available for download from Canon’s Web site at the end of July 2007. Mark III owners who can’t wait that long and are willing to pay for shipping can send their cameras to a Canon Factory Service Center in Jamesburg, NJ or Irvine, CA. Canon says it will install the firmware and cover return shipping costs.

Website :  Canon Upgrades EOS-1D Mark III Firmware

Jill-e has introduced a line of camera bags designed for professional and serious amateur female photographers. The line will launch with eight bags and a small wrist pouch. The bags offer sturdy padded interior compartments for holding professional gear, with exterior materials and designs that are more akin to those of high-end handbags than the typical camera bag.

The Jill-e line will launch with the following bags:

• Large black nylon rolling backpack with brown crocodile-pattern trim ($309.99 retail price)
• Large black leather and suede rolling case with laptop sleeve ($259.99 retail price)
• Large moss suede bag with brown leather trim and laptop compartment (price not yet announced)
• Medium black leather bag with cream trim ($209.99 retail price)
• Small cream leather bag with brown crocodile-pattern trim ($159.99 retail price)
• Small red leather bag with brown crocodile-pattern trim ($159.99 retail price)
• Small yellow weatherproof nylon bag with cream leather trim ($129.99 retail price)
• Small brown weatherproof nylon bag with black leather trim ($129.99 retail price)
• Yellow weatherproof nylon wristlet with bone leather trim for point-and-shoots ($24.99 retail price)

The bags feature padded interiors with Velcro-attached dividers, interior net pockets, carrying handles and detachable padded shoulder straps, outside pockets, and detachable matching pouches for carrying personal items. The rolling bag can be carried as a shoulder bag or pulled with a telescoping handle.

The new bags will be available in July 2007.

Website :  Camera Bags for Serious Amateur Female Photographers

According to the 2007 PMA U.S. Digital Imaging Survey, 72 percent of digital camera owners transfer their images onto computer hard drives for storage and 53 percent burn CDs and DVDs. Still 54 percent of digital camera owners leave their images on their camera’s memory card. Combined with the fact that almost a third of memory cards sold in 2006 were 1GB or larger, the needs for on-camera organization and better kiosk upload capacity is certain to intensify in the near future.

The trend of cheaper, larger memory cards becoming more readily available to consumers is not expected to stop or ease soon, either, especially in light of flash memory technology expanding into the laptop hard drive space.

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In-Lens Systems

Advantages
1. More effective with longer lenses
2. You don’t pay for it except with the lenses you need it for
3. You see the stabilization effects through the viewfinder

Disadvantages
1. More expensive, especially if you want the feature in more than one lens
2. Not available with all lenses

In-Body Systems

Advantages
1. Works with every lens you mount to the body, and may be the only option for many shorter and faster lenses
2. Less expensive, especially if you want the feature with more than one lens

Disadvantages
1. Progressively less effective with longer and longer lenses
2. Progressively harder to implement with larger image sensors.

Website : In-Camera versus In-Lens Image Stabilization

Polls Archive

Pentax Corp., Tokyo, Japan, agreed to a takeover offer by worth up to about ¥105 billion (US$864 million) by rival Hoya Corp. on Thursday, a move that underlines the growing influence of shareholders, says The Associated Press.

Hoya is offering ¥770 (US$6.34) a share for the Pentax shares, and plans to start the tender offer to shareholders in early June, with the goal of making Pentax a wholly owned unit, both sides said. Details, including the deadline for the offer, will be announced later, the companies said in a joint statement.

Pentax management had resisted a stock-swap offer last year from Hoya, a Tokyo-based optics and glass maker, which had coveted Pentax’s medical equipment expertise, says the AP.

The companies originally agreed to merge in December 2006, but Pentax scrapped the plan in April. Under pressure from shareholders, Pentax released a mid-term business plan, but that failed to convince investors and analysts, and the latest announcement ends more than a month of wrangling.

Hoya President and Chief Executive Hiroshi Suzuki said the tender offer is Hoya’s biggest acquisition ever. Suzuki said he plans to make Pentax a wholly-owned unit by November, and will maintain Pentax’s camera operations. The tender offer will be a friendly one, but a hostile takeover had been a possibility had the two companies failed to agree, he continued.

The offer comes amid increasingly tough competition as more traditional camera makers, including Pentax and Nikon Corp., are struggling against electronics companies such as Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. to gain the lead in digital cameras, says the AP.

Download : Pentax agrees to $864 million takeover offer by Hoya (PDF Joint Statement)

SanDisk, together with Supply Consultants Limited, are holding a contest in Hong Kong where those who purchase their Extreme IV 8GB CompactFlash or UltraII 4GB SDHC cards in marked packages could win solid gold versions of the cards.

First prize is a gold version Extreme IV Compact Flash weighing in at 150g and worth about $38,800 HKD. The second prize is Ultra II SDHC golden card weighs in at 35g worth around $18,000 HKD. The contest runs from now until June 22 in Hong Kong.

Website : SanDisk Gives Gold Memory Cards Away in Contest (in Chinese)

Camera & Imaging Products Association(CIPA) is an organization in Japan made up of members engaged in the production or distribution of silver halide cameras, digital cameras, and related devices, instruments and software. They recently announced the data on the shipment and production numbers by product-type for January 2007, compared to January 2006.

Once again, the SLR camera shipment went up an amazing 172%, the fastest growing among all categories of digital camera. The total SLR camera shipment units went up to 483, 195 and total sales amount is around US$ 286,270,740. If you look at the destination of shipment of these SLR cameras, around 40% are shipped to Europe, 34% are shipped to North America and the rest 26% are shipped to Asia. Interesting to see such a high 40% shipment are for the European’s market.

Download :  DSLR Cameras Shipment went up 172% in January 2007 (PDF with raw data)

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