Digital Photography News Archive!
May 2000

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Wednesday, May 31, 2000

"By incorporating the SanDisk MultiMediaCard into its digital camcorders, THOMSON Multimedia is demonstrating the versatility of the card," said David Guidry, SanDisk product manager. "The SanDisk MultiMediaCard is evolving into a universal solution for video, imaging and sound mediums."Gregory Bourdet, manager CCR & New Product, THOMSON multimedia Europe, said, "The SanDisk MultiMediaCard allows the camcorders to function as both a video camera and a digital still camera. By incorporating the MultiMediaCard, the user can easily transfer digital images onto his or her desktop computer. They can also make an archive of the footage on the card to be kept and viewed for the life of the card."

Marshall commented, "PhotoLoft technology is gaining a highly favorable reception in an Internet market experiencing extremely high demand for turnkey digital-imaging and photosharing solutions with integrated e-commerce functionality. This strong capitalization enables PhotoLoft to move forward with its business strategy of establishing joint ventures and strategic alliances with the major players in these markets through targeted marketing programs.

PhotoLoft is well positioned to pursue its objective of becoming the dominant provider of web-based digital-imaging infrastructure technology not only to Internet companies but to traditional film and photography markets. Thousands of photofinishing minilabs across North America and worldwide need to meet the demand from their conventional film customers for a digitized-and-uploaded web-based alternative. This click-and-mortar market also extends to the conventional wedding/event photography and school and in-store portrait businesses that want to digitize and upload images on to the Internet both for customer and e-commerce transaction convenience.

"We are off to a running start, and I expect to begin reporting favorable results from this strategy in the near future. I would also like to welcome Terren as the new board chairman. He possesses extensive business and financial acumen and I am delighted he will be taking such an active role in PhotoLoft."

"As a company well positioned to capitalize on what promises to be one of the largest applications of the Internet, PhotoLoft has as much or more potential than any emerging growth technology company I have ever worked with before," Peizer said. "I am excited to be actively assisting the company to rapidly realize that potential."

"The PDR-M70 really keeps up with the competitors, and in some areas (especially the non-photo areas like movies and audio), it's ahead of them. This is a very crowded arena right now, with the likes of the Casio QV-3000EX, Canon PowerShot S20, Nikon Coolpix 990, Olympus C-3030Z, and Sony DSC-S70 as direct competitors. At $799, the PDR-M70 is one of the cheapest cameras of the bunch, and one of the best values. Though I do recommend that you personally try out the M70 and its competitors yourself, I can't think of any good reason not to recommend this camera!"

Tuesday, May 30, 2000

"Simplified applications, falling prices, and the wild spread of email use has kept the flatbed scanner on top," said Ron Glaz, manager of IDC's scanners program. "Additionally, the introduction of USB interfaces has averted another obstacle by addressing the need for speed."

• The value of scanner shipments grew 27% year over year to reach $4 billion in 1999.
  
• Average sales prices for 35mm scanners will drop to $721 by 2004.
  
• High-speed scanners are forecast to have a double-digit growth rate, with a 1999-2004 compound annual growth rate of 28.5%.
  
• The value of shipments for batch processing scanners reached $128 million in 1999.

"We're pleased that this third fundamental patent has issued," said Dr. Sabrina Kemeny, president and CEO of Photobit. "Customers feel secure doing business with companies that have a strong patent position."

"Since we filed for these major patents, our engineering teams have reached several milestones using the technology," Kemeny continued. "For instance, we've produced the world's fastest megapixel CMOS image sensor, used in machine vision, and the world's lowest-power image sensor, which will enable video watches, among other devices."

"China continues to astound the world with its pace of development in the Internet industry," said Don Strickland, Executive Vice President of iPIX. "This industry, like the mobile telephone industry in China, will witness dramatic 'technology leaps'. As the industry grows, businesses will demand Internet picture solutions for their Web sites and Internet connected devices to drive e-commerce and traffic. iPIX, in cooperation with its local partners, will provide world-class capture, processing, hosting and distribution of Internet pictures throughout China."

Bernard stated, "iPIX will integrate cutting edge Internet picture services into wireless applications capitalizing on China's explosive growth in Internet and wireless technologies."

"We are delighted to have Rodney join our senior management team," said Anthony DeCristofaro, MGI's president and CEO. "He's a well-rounded professional. His proven track record in financial planning and execution along with his successful experience in strategic and business planning are a great asset to our team as we evolve MGI to the next growth stage and launch in the U.S. capital markets."

"MGI is establishing a premier position in imaging infrastructure solutions to support commerce and communications on the Internet," said Davis. "This is an exciting and substantial growth opportunity and I am pleased to be part of a technology Company that is fundamentally changing users' experience of the Web."

Monday, May 29, 2000

• Two outdoor photos
  
• Three "people" photos (outdoor flash off, outdoor flash on, indoor)
  
• Three macro photos
  
• Nine standardised zoom/compression photos (Large Superfine Wide and Tele, Large Fine Wide and Tele, Small Fine Wide and Tele)
  
• Three indoor macro photos

• Arrival of our first Fuji Frontier Series 370 Digital Minilab for online photo finishing. The Fuji Frontier Series 370 Digital Minilab will be used to process online photo print service for digital cameras using Fuji Crystal Archive silver-halide photographic paper.
  
• "My Photosite" and "My Albums" features added to the PhotoChannel site in January 2000. Users can create as many photo albums as desired from the photos that are uploaded to "My Photos". The albums can be customized to include personal text as well as various choices of fonts and background colors. Users can share their albums with friends and families on their personal photosite or just send their albums directly by email. If privacy is required, albums can be password protected.
  
• "My Shows" feature added to the PhotoChannel site in February 2000. This feature allows users to select pictures uploaded and stored in "My Photos" and broadcast them as multimedia slide shows. Alternatively, this feature also enables PhotoChannel users to save pictures as slide shows and list these shows on "My Photosite" for viewing by family, friends and colleagues.
  
• The "My Shows" feature was upgraded to offer a 400 x 400 pixel slide show format.
  
• PhotoChannel site was named Finalist for the Digital Imaging Site or Service Award at the Third Annual Excellence in Imaging Awards co-sponsored by Digital Focus and Popular Science Magazine at PMA 2000.

  Chris O'Malley, Editor of Digital Focus, said "PhotoChannel brings home the importance and impact of photography in a way that both entertains and enlightens its growing audience. It's clearly one of the finest examples of photo web sites we've seen to date."

  
  
• PhotoChannel entered into an agreement with Choices Entertainment Corporation of Seattle, WA, for a private placement of $2.3 million subordinated convertible redeemable debentures. These debentures do not bear interest and matured on April 30, 2000. Subsequently during April 2000, the full $2.3 million was received by PhotoChannel and the debentures were all converted to common shares at a price of $0.50 per share.
  
• PhotoChannel signed a letter of intent with Taurus Capital Markets Ltd. to raise $10 to $15 million on a best-efforts basis through Special Warrants at $1.00 per warrant and closed this financing on May 1, 2000. Each Special Warrant unit allows the holder to acquire securities of PhotoChannel consisting of one common share priced at $1.00 plus one-half of a common share purchase warrant. One full common share purchase warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share at a price of $1.30 per share for a duration of one year from the date of issuance of the Final Prospectus.

Sunday, May 28, 2000

"Nobody could fault Canon for producing the smallest, lightest digital camera yet, and they certainly couldn't fault them for building it with a large degree of precision and an eye to robustness. They've aimed this camera squarely at everyday photographs and it's small enough to be taken out wherever you go... Don't take the camera with you and you won't get that shot."

Saturday, May 27, 2000

"We purchased the worldwide rights to this product because of inherent market appeal, its synergy with our strategy, its unique technology and access to the talented professionals who developed it. This is an important first step in establishing our presence in the Internet and E-Business products arena and it is a natural extension to our global position as the largest provider of visual display products to the education and office markets," stated Michael H. Dunn, President and CEO of PolyVision Corporation.

"We are delighted to join the PolyVision family of companies. PolyVision's commanding leadership in the whiteboard manufacturing industry is a natural complement to our flagship product, Whiteboard Photo," said Peter Hildebrandt, President of Pixid. "Together we will be able to provide the broadest range of solutions for capturing notes in meeting rooms and classrooms."

Friday, May 26, 2000

Mark Braunstein, CEO, stated, "The printer technology that we have acquired from Widecom enables us to print an excellent quality, high-gloss poster in 12 seconds from a digital file for an estimated total direct cost including labor and materials of $1.02; an unprecedented cost/performance combination in the industry."

Mr. Braunstein added, "The team that I am bringing in will, over the next few months, build a world class Web site that will enable users to upload pictures and turn them into a poster for a cost to the user of $10 per poster. Our business model is based on revenue sharing arrangements with strategic online partners and affiliate programs with digital camera manufacturers, etc. With our low cost we have the ability to provide our affiliate partners and internet sites such as photo sharing sites, greeting cards and gift sites, children's sites, pet sites, etc., businesses which have a tremendous need to increase revenues with products that have a high gross margin, with exactly what they are looking for and still provide the customer with an affordable $10 product."

"In addition to the consumer market," Braunstein further stated, "the existing business advertising market for large format digital output, which currently stands at $11 billion, is a prime market opportunity. This will be facilitated through our comprehensive industry specific template-driven online poster/sign making application. Small businesses, who could previously not afford $100 posters/signs for a one-time sale event, will now be able to log onto our site and create a simple poster by scanning in their picture and using simple online templates and typing in a few words and order a poster for a mere $10."

"Opportunities such as PosterNetwork are rare and I am delighted to be a part of this exciting new endeavor", Braunstein concluded.

Thursday, May 25, 2000

"Do I really need any conclusions? Let the whole review serve as my conclusion text. If you want the best inkjet printer for photo-quality images plus all your other daily printing needs -- the new Epsons are the way to go. The only decision is which one to get ... do you need to print larger than 8x10-inches or do you want a printer that's also a card reader? They all feature the same unbelievable print quality and speed."

"PhotoWorks' services are more popular than ever," said Gary Christophersen, PhotoWorks president and CEO. "Customers prefer PhotoWorks as their online image processing company for their traditional and digital images. Last week they e-mailed out more than 70,000 personal photos to friends and family. Our expanded services to digital camera users and dedication to providing consumers with more ways to share and use their photos online have helped continue our leadership in this category."

"We have provided consumers with exactly what they've been asking for all along," said Koichi Kubota, General Manager, Branded Products Marketing and Sales, Seiko Epson Corp. "This is a digital camera that not only captures pictures at a higher quality than film-based cameras, but includes user friendly software that allows them to quickly and easily create projects, as well as touch-up, perfect, and share their photos online and offline. I think it's fantastic that we are able to bundle this amazing camera with the latest award-winning PhotoSuite product from MGI Software."

"The 3.3 megapixel camera is a major milestone and will propel the digital photography market further," said Anthony DeCristofaro, president and CEO, MGI Software. "Now that digital technology has surpassed the traditional 35mm technology, more and more people will go digital and MGI is in a strong position to reap the rewards. We will continue to work aggressively to ensure MGI's PhotoSuite line of products remains the package of choice for both OEMs and consumers."

Wednesday, May 24, 2000

"At Evite, our goal is to provide people with the best tools and services available on the Internet in order to create a fast and easy experience online, to help them spend more quality time offline," said Josh Silverman, CEO of Evite, Inc. "We've integrated the PictureIQ Internet Service to give our users access to the best and easiest online image editing and creativity tools on the market."

"Evite.com has become a leader in the activity planning category by responding to and anticipating consumer needs," said Bill McCoy, President and CEO of PictureIQ Corporation. "User-supplied pictures make an online invitation much more interesting and eye catching, but sometimes consumers are held back from adding their own pictures because they need to be rotated, cropped, or were taken in poor lighting conditions. PictureIQ technology removes this barrier by giving consumers an easy way to fix these problems - from right within the Evite.com Web page."

"We're pleased to offer our HP Cartogra.com photo sharing members the ability to incorporate music and text with digital images, which we believe adds enormous value to the photo-sharing experience," said Dan Gilbert, general manager of HP's Digital Imaging Solutions. "These capabilities not only benefit our members, but any of our partners who utilize HP Cartogra photo sharing solutions for uploading and posting images to their Web sites.

"Working with an industry leader like HP demonstrates the wide acceptance and excitement that the SmashCast technology is generating," said Dan Hobin, founder and CEO, SmashCast. "As a company we are committed to empowering our business partners with cutting-edge tools that provide compelling interactive experiences for their customers."

"We are thrilled to be a part of 'The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle' movie," said Amanda Tani, consumer relations manager for HP's North American Consumer Business Organization. "It's a great opportunity for HP to be a part of bringing a classic cartoon into the Digital Age of movie-making. We also hope that we can influence young minds to pursue an education in technology by showing them how technology can be used in a fun and entertaining manner."

"We view the expansion of our Internet presence through our partnership with Outpost .com as a significant competitive advantage," said Chuck Wolf, president and Chief Executive Officer of Wolf Camera. "The partnership with Outpost.com offers us great presentation, as well as outstanding sales, marketing and fulfillment services. Most importantly, today's launch represents a win-win situation for both Wolf Camera and Outpost.com customers."

"'Cameras by Wolf Camera' represents the successful implementation of our business strategy of offering e-commerce services to traditional brick and mortar retailers," said Bob Bowman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Outposts.com. "Our ability to provide 'start to finish' e-commerce solutions in a variety of high-end verticals is a growing and increasingly important part of our business model."

Craig Rotbert, a SanDisk product manager, said, "The StoryBox Smart Picture Frame is an exciting product and gives the CompactFlash standard another unique product win. More than 260 other products have already been introduced with CompactFlash card slots including digital cameras, handheld computers, MP3 Internet players, printers, vehicle navigation systems, pay phones and medical monitors. We expect that over time, these digital picture frames will become very popular and will accelerate the sale of SanDisk CompactFlash cards."

"The CompactFlash design provides the StoryBox Smart Picture Frame with two key competitive advantages," said Mark Hoffman, senior director of marketing and customer service, Weave Innovations, Inc. "By incorporating CompactFlash in the StoryBox design, digital camera owners can take their CompactFlash cards right out of the camera and put it into the StoryBox to instantly view and share pictures with friends and family. Also because of the design decision, our product is the only internet enabled picture frame that can send and print digital pictures without the aid of a PC."

"The ability to use multimedia files in the Macintosh or Windows operating environments was an important consideration," said Willy Shih, senior vice president, Eastman Kodak Company, and president, Digital & Applied Imaging. "QuickTime is established, broadly used and, most important, easy to use. These are key characteristics when you want to make technology broadly useful and fun for consumers."

"QuickTime is the highest-quality and easiest to use software for sharing video, audio and digital images with friends and family over the Internet," said Philip Schiller, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "More than 50 million copies of the QuickTime 4 player have been distributed to Mac and Windows users worldwide and now we're seeing QuickTime extend beyond the desktop and into mainstream consumer devices, with Kodak taking the lead."

"Our new megapixel sensor, along with our turnkey camera reference platform, enables digital camera OEMs to quickly bring to market $150 megapixel digital still cameras that consume less power, offer higher integration and reduce system costs," said Prasan Pai, division director of marketing for CMOS products in Conexant's Personal Imaging Division.

"The acquisition of Sierra Imaging will allow us to aggressively penetrate multiple markets with total OEM customer solutions," said Kevin Strong, senior vice president and general manager of Conexant's Personal Imaging Division."Sierra possesses an outstanding team, an industry-leading portfolio of products and technologies and a new base of top-tier digital camera customers for Conexant. Last year we enhanced our multifunction peripheral systems capability with the acquisition of DeviceGuys. This latest transaction rounds out our camera systems competency and uniquely positions Conexant to become the leader in both of our core imaging markets."

"We look forward to joining with Conexant to offer 'best-in-class' digital imaging solutions," said Wendell Balc, Sierra Imaging president and chief executive officer. "We are particularly excited about taking advantage of Conexant's imaging expertise, complementary communications solutions, manufacturing strengths and global sales force.

This will complement Sierra's relationships with the world's leading digital camera companies such as Agfa, Eastman Kodak, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Polaroid and Toshiba Corp."

Tuesday, May 23, 2000

"BellSouth continues to make great strides to penetrate the Internet space by continually enhancing our customers' online experience and the power of e-Interaction," said Alice McCall, vice president, BellSouth Consumer Strategy and Marketing. "BellSouth customers will have access to the free Snapfish.com service to print, store and share their memories with family and friends."

"BellSouth is a perfect partner for Snapfish.com's complete photo service," Suneet Wadhwa, Snapfish.com co-founder and vice president, business development said. "Both companies provide convenient, cost-effective solutions for millions of families who use the Internet to keep in touch, share their memories and run efficient households."

"We believe this order, from a proven leader in the electronics and information technology sectors, demonstrates that our products are gaining added recognition in the new niche markets of the electronics industry," said C.W. (Roy) Ho, Chairman and President of Score One. He said that with the recent World Trade Organization recognition of China and the country's imminent "Most Favored Nation" status in the United States, the company expects an influx of accounts with other U.S. companies. He added that Advanced Technology anticipates manufacturing PCBs for other of Polaroid's products once the initial order is filled. "By capitalizing on strengthening trade relations, our experienced management team and tight quality control practices, we intend to expand the business to paramount levels in the new IT era," Ho added.

"This is an exciting opportunity to work with CompUSA to provide a wide range of digital photography products from Lexar Media as well as the convenient, high-quality prints that PrintRoom.com offers," said Jack Peterson, Vice President of Consumer Products at Lexar Media. "CompUSA's position as a leading digital imaging retailer and their incorporation of our high performance digital film cards into CompUSA's product line is an acknowledgement to the strength of our products and the exploding growth of the digital camera and online photo-finishing market."

"We are excited about our ongoing partnership with Lexar Media," said John Lostroscio, Vice President and General Manager of Merchandising for CompUSA. "The combination of CompUSA's retail expertise, customer service and broad product selection along with Lexar's brand of fast, high-quality digital film offers tremendous added value to our digital camera customers."

Monday, May 22, 2000

"Over the last few weeks, customer feedback on the new Z52 has been outstanding," said Paul Curlander, Lexmark's chairman and CEO. "Our business customers have told us that the affordability, print quality and reliability of the Z52 are ideal for their needs. The Z52 Business Edition sets a new benchmark for personal business printing."

"By crossing the half-million mark, FlashPoint is rapidly building momentum for next-generation intelligent imaging products that help photographers do more," said Stephen Saylor, executive vice president and general manager at FlashPoint. "Global industry leaders who license Digita add power, flexibility and extended functionality to their newest digital cameras and printers."

"We are excited to be back in Times Square - the Crossroads of the World - where thousands of people visit every day," said Joan Rutherford, Vice President of Advertising and Marketing Communications, Fuji Photo Film U.S.A. Inc. "Our ads encourage people to take everyday pictures by showcasing the range of Fujifilm products all under the umbrella `Get the Picture' theme in a highly visual manner."

"I see the PDR-M70 as a well-armed soldier in the three megapixel camera battle. It has plenty of features, lots of speed and better than average image quality. Size and weight considered it is the kind of camera you can take along on all-day outings without fatigue. In automatic mode it is very easy to operate and qualifies as a "no brainer" point-n-shoot that anyone should be able to use. For those who feel like playing with knobs and dials, there's plenty of manual camera features to stimulate your creative side. I think this camera will sell well against the current offerings from Canon, Fuji, Olympus and Nikon."

"The bottom line is that this camera is small and rugged and capable of taking incredibly detailed pictures. Is it a 4.3 megapixel camera, no -- but it does create images equal to that of the current 2.x to 3.x megapixel cameras. You won't be dissatisfied by its image quality when printed on photo printers like the new Epson Stylus 870 or 1270. The printed results are nothing short of spectacular when you consider that they came from a camera that is only slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes. Battery life is not terrific but you can always carry another pair of batteries with you just as you do with any other digicam. The zoom lens is sharp with only moderate barrel distortion and does respectable closeups down to about eight inches. Autofocus is quick and accurate in all but the poorest of lighting conditions and there's a manual focus option to fall back on if needed. For those looking for "king" of the pocket cameras -- the Fuji FinePix 4700 Zoom is the one."

"The C-3000 Zoom is a C-3030 Zoom without the large (and expensive) 32MB DRAM buffer. Unless you want or need the 3.5fps burst mode of the C-3030 Zoom, the C-3000 Zoom has all the rest of the features for several hundred dollars less. Outside, the only difference is the body is dark gray where the C-3030 Zoom is black. Inside is the same 3.34 megapixel imager and robust processing firmware."

Friday, May 19, 2000

• 9 ISO 400 images from the S1 Pro, shot in normal, basic and fine mode at 1440 x 960, 2304 x 1536 and 3040 x 2016 pixels.
  
• S1 Pro ISO comparison, ISO 320, 400, 800 and 1600.
  
• Nikon D1 comparison images, Basic, Normal and Fine.
  
• All S1 Pro images taken with a beta camera and auto white balance

• Three outdoor pictures
  
• 6 indoor pictures
  
• All pictures taken with a beta camera, auto white balance, at a resolution of 3040 x 2016 pixels

Wedding Dress 3: 1/197 sec, F2.8, ISO320, Aperture Priority AE, +0.7EV compensation

SmartMedia gets colorful!
By Michael Tomkins, The Imaging Resource
(Friday, May 19, 2000 - 17:11 EDT)

An unusual image on the excellent digitalcamera.gr.jp website caught our eye, and prompted us into a little translating today... It turns out that a Japanese manufacturer by the name of Bitstream has come up with a variation on the SmartMedia theme - SmartMedia cards customisable with your own pictures, logos and artwork! The Bitstream SmartMedia cards are made of clear polycarbonate plastic, and can be made in quantities as low as 100 pieces. They're going on sale in Japan this month, and have only one small catch - they can only be made in capacities up to 32MB - presumably the chips used for the 64MB cards won't fit in the packaging...

Whilst this might sound like a thoroughly bizarre idea initially, it strikes us that it might be rather nice to have a selection of differently colored/patterned cards - it'd certainly help when you reached in your pocket trying to remember which card you'd already filled, and which was empty... Or perhaps cards customised with your own name and address, to try and ensure that if you lose one they come back to you? ;)
Source: Bitstream SmartMedia web page
Thanks to digitalcamera.gr.jp / Kumio Yamada for this item!

Thursday, May 18, 2000

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News from PC Photo Review!
By Michael Tomkins, The Imaging Resource
(Thursday, May 18, 2000 - 16:56 EDT)

An email from our friend Alexander Ismail at PCPhotoREVIEW.com notes that the site now includes a Sample Photo Gallery of photos taken by
various digital cameras. Each photo lists resolution and compression level to showcase the quality of the camera. The gallery is at: http://www.pcphotoreview.com/gallery/cameras/

Until 5/28/00, PCPhotoREVIEW.com is running a contest for photo submissions to the Sample Photo Gallery. The main prize is a $500 gift certificate. To enter, visit http://www.pcphotoreview.com/contests/samplephoto.htm

Kodak and PC Connection cooperate!
By Michael Tomkins, The Imaging Resource
(Thursday, May 18, 2000 - 16:00 EDT)

PC Connection Inc. and Kodak Professional today announced that PC Connection will serve as the first computer direct marketer of a wide range of Kodak's high-end, digital imaging products. The products are available immediately from PC Connection and are aimed at customers who require high-quality imaging products for corporate and professional applications.

As part of the agreement, PC Connection will carry Kodak Professional photo printers, thermal printers, film scanners, large format printers, and high-end digital SLR cameras. PC Connection is marketing the new products on-line and in print promotions. PC Connection's web site features a Kodak showcase located at http://www.pcconnection.com/kodak, with complete product information on the entire range of Kodak Professional products that the company carries. In addition, many of the these products were featured in a special section of PC Connection's latest catalog, which was distributed to more than 3.5 million businesses and individuals earlier this month.

"We are very pleased to be authorized as the first computer direct marketer carrying Kodak Professional's latest top-of-the-line digital imaging products," said Jerry McDougal, PC Connection's Vice President of Product Management. "Today's marketplace offers greater opportunities to effectively use and distribute high-quality photos, images and marketing materials. Kodak Professional's suite of products is aimed at serving this growing and technologically savvy customer base."

Source: Yahoo! Finance / BusinessWire

DPReview gets hands-on with the new Canons!
By Michael Tomkins, The Imaging Resource
(Thursday, May 18, 2000 - 15:10 EDT)

We received an email overnight from Phil Askey, editor of the excellent Digital Photography Review website, pointing out something we completely missed in our rush to get news posted ASAP of Canon's two new cameras yesterday. Believe it or not, Phil's managed to get hands-on with not one but both new cameras already! Hop on over to the Digital Photography Review for a look at what Phil thought of the new cameras - there's no conclusions or sample photos yet but certainly plenty to fire up your interest... Congratulations are due to Phil for the scoop (us, jealous? Never! :)

Imacon bundles Altamira software!
By Michael Tomkins, The Imaging Resource
(Thursday, May 18, 2000 - 15:05 EDT)

Altamira Group has established a formal bundling and marketing agreement with Fremont, Calif.-based Imacon, maker of drum scanners targeted at the professional graphic arts and photography markets.

Imacon will be including a full version of Altamira Group's Genuine Fractals 2.0 software with its line of FlexTight scanners. In addition to receiving Genuine Fractals 2.0 with their Imacon FlexTight scanner, Imacon customers have the option to upgrade to Genuine Fractals PrintPro for a special price of $139. Genuine Fractals PrintPro is Altamira's plug-in with enhanced CMYK and CIE-Lab capability for professional graphics users.

"With Altamira Genuine Fractals, our users will be able to further expand Imacon's capacity and create very large and high quality output that they previously could not. The value-add versus cost advantage is tremendous," stated Andy Chang, President of Imacon.

Genuine Fractals 2.0 is consists of scaling software which allows graphic artists, photographers and other digital image users to work in small- to medium-sized original files and create higher resolution output. Users can increase the size of an image beyond capture resolution without significantly degrading the image quality.

"With Imacon's complete range of high-quality, high-value drum scanners and Altamira's award-winning graphics software, imaging professionals will benefit from greater convenience, improved quality, and increased affordability in their imaging solutions," said Dennis Aubrey, CEO of Altamira Group.

Source: Yahoo! Finance / BusinessWire

Altamira showing at Digital Photo 2000 Expo!
By Michael Tomkins, The Imaging Resource
(Thursday, May 18, 2000 - 14:57 EDT)

Altamira Group is showcasing its Genuine Fractals resolution-on-demand software at the May 17-20 Digital Photo 2000 Expo and Conference at the Rosemont Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., according to a press release today. It will be demonstrating scaling technology that allows photographic images to be rendered to virtually any output size from a single low- to medium-resolution digital file.

Altamira Group will be leading a number of industry panels and discussions. Dennis Aubrey, CEO of Altamira Group, will be speaking about the future of image compression technology. Charles Mauzy, Altamira Group's vice president of business development, will be hosting a panel discussion titled "Matching Analog, a Digital Challenge for News Photography." Director of business development, Bob Goldstein, will be discussing "digital photography workflow for the Internet" and artist-in-residence Vincent Versace will be participating in a panel about "digital capture and large format output."

"In a world where more and more is demanded of digital imagery, users require technology that adds control and flexibility to their assets," said Aubrey. "In the past, Compression has been the prim