Yes, even though PMA ended on Saturday, we’re still digging news out of the show. Here’s a good one for any photographer considering buying one of HP’s well-reviewed — including in this publication — wide-format Z-Series printers which are seeing some significant price cuts. Usually this means a new model is on the way, but after meeting with HP at the show, this doesn’t seem to be the case. The way it was explained to us, the lower prices are being offered as an alternative to the previous mail-in rebate program which many people find annoying. (Including us!)

The new price breakdown on these big printers from HP is below.

Dan Havlik is Technology Editor at PDN Magazine and Editor of DemystifyingDigital.com. For more professional photography news, visit PDNonline.com.

Here’s the perfectly designed (and named) product for photographers afraid of getting their lenses wet — the Hydrophobia Rain Cover. The cover, which fits 300-600mm lenses, was announced during PMA by Think Tank Photo after 18 months of development. If you think that’s a long time to spend designing a rain cover you haven’t seen this product yet.

Though many waterproof lens covers have been released before, the cool thing about this model is how quickly you can deploy it. When bad weather is threatening, photographers can pre-mount the Hydrophobia Rain Cover ($150) on the front of their lens, and then pull a red cord to unfurl the rest of the sleeve when the first raindrops begin to fall.

Along with protecting your long glass, the rain cover fits over your entire camera body and provides a sealed, visible workspace for your hands if you need to change batteries and memory cards; check settings on the LCD screen; or switch from shooting horizontally to vertically.

To see videos of the Hydrophobia Rain Cover in action, including a blooper reel, check out this link on Think Tank Photo’s website.

Lowepro always busts out some stylish backpacks at PMA and this year compact and convenient were the operative words in Vegas. In their slim and urban Flipside line, we like the 300 ($57), a slender, lightweight backpack with enough room for a professional digital SLR body and 80-200mm f/2.8 lens attached plus up to four additional lenses or flash units. One of these packs would be great for knocking around the city for a day of street shooting. Plus, the price is hard to beat.

For safety nuts, the backpack has back panel access to your gear, a set-up we’re not always crazy about because it makes it hard to quickly grab the lens you want. However, on a demo of the Flipside we saw at the show, it seems you can use the waist belt to secure the pack and then simply turn it around over your shoulder to give you fast access to the back panel. It’s something we suggest you try out before buying though.

On the other hand, the Fastpack is a more traditional camera backpack
with ample room for all your tech gear. The Fastpack 350 ($99) has a
triple compartment design with space for a digital SLR, a bunch of
lenses or flashes, and a 17-inch laptop computer. There’s also a bunch
of extra pouches for a light meters, an iPod and other camera
accessories.

A 180-degree access panel on the bag makes it easy
to grab a lens or flash quickly without taking the backpack off your
shoulder. A side-entry compartment gives you another way to get to
your equipment. Like we said, at it was all about convenience and slim
style for Lowepro at PMA this year

For more info, check out their website: www.lowepro.com.

Dan Havlik is Technology Editor at PDN Magazine and Editor of DemystifyingDigital.com. For more professional photography news, visit PDNonline.com.

Joby’s Gorillapod products have always been a lot of fun and at PMA 2008 in Vegas they debuted a new accessory for these popular bendable tripods — the Go-Go! (their punctuation, not ours) suction cup.

The Go-Go! lets you attach most any small, hand-held device — iPhone, MP3 player, small digital camera — to the tripod for easy viewing. Yes, we know this sounds a little weird but with more and more content coming to mobile devices you’re going to want to be able to view it without having to hold it in your hand for long periods of time.

The best application we could think of is for watching a movie or video clip on your iPod on a long flight by setting the Gorillapod Go-Go! on your tray table in front of you. You’re still going to have squint to see the small screen but at least the Go-Go! will give your arm a rest. (The only hitch is if the jerk in front of you reclines his seat all the way into your lap.)

You can buy the Gorillapod Go-Go! as a package for $34.95 or purchase a pack of three Go-Go! suction cups for $11.95. For more info check out Joby’s website: www.Joby.com.

Dan Havlik is Technology Editor at PDN Magazine and Editor of DemystifyingDigital.com. For more professional photography news, visit PDNonline.com.

Curiously, the resolution of the CMOS sensor in the new "Flagship" Sony camera is a notch lower than a new 24.8-megapixel full-frame sensor Sony announced it was developing yesterday. If it is released as planned, Sony’s new camera would have bragging rights for most megapixels in a current professional full-frame DSLR, trumping the 12.4MP Nikon D3 — which features a Sony-built CMOS sensor — and the 21.1MP Canon 1Ds Mark III and 12.8MP Canon 5D, both of which use Canon-made CMOS sensors.

Sony will be displaying a prototype of the new digital SLR at its booth at PMA.

It’s got face, smile, and blink detection, GPS tagging, in-camera panorama stitching, and electronic image stabilization (optical is usually better but they’ve worked out some of the bugs in EIS). Sounds cool.
The “article” is basically a press release, but whatever.

GE Cameras Score Big Features: Smile and Blink Detection, Better Optics, HDTV, GPS, and More [Business Wire]

Today at PMA, Kodak announced the Easyshare Z1012IS, which is a 10-megapixel, 12x optical zoom wonder with OIS. It also has a lightning fast click-to-capture speed that’s best in class at 0.14 seconds with aufo-focus accuracy. ISO can be cranked up to 3200 for those fast action, low light situations. Kodak’s latest slew of cameras have smart capture technology that automatically identify the scene and adjusts the settings accordingly. The Z1012IS will be available sometime in the first half of this year for $300.

Press Release

The leaked specs earlier today were spot on and I don’t have too much else to add. The most exciting feature on the D60 is the Stop-Motion Movie mode, which allows you to make stop-animation movie clips from a series of as many as 100 consecutive JPEGs. Pricing isn’t yet available, but will be disclosed 30 days prior to availability. That’s cool, but you say it’ll be in stores in February, so shouldn’t we have that pricing info now?

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The cream of the crop has got to be the S600. Why? Because it’s the snappiest of the bunch, has tons of great features and it is the best looking. That being said, you can decide based on the specs. The S600, like the S550, has a 10-megapixel sensor, 4x wide-angle 28-112mm zoom Nikkor lens, image stabilization and the fastest start-up time, 0.7 seconds, in its class. ISO sensitivity reaches 3200. A 2.7-inch LCD shows you everything going on and EXPEED is Nikon’s signature imaging process system that reduces noise and improves signal-to-noise ratio. It also comes equipped with Face-priority AF, in-camera red eye fix, and D-lighting, which compensates for excessive backlight or insufficient flash in images.

The S600 comes in black and will be available to the masses in March for $299.95.

PMA is three days away and Nikon, like everyone else else, is spilling the beans ahead of time to create some buzz. Also added to the Coolpix line is the S550, which is a 10-megapixel point-and-shoot with a 5x zoom Nikkor lens, electronic vibration reduction aka image stabilization and two new shooting modes that are sure to get you the best portrait shots ever. The Smile and Blink Warning modes pretty much do what you’d expect. The smile mode snaps a pic once it senses your subjects are showing their pearly whites and if one of them happens to blink then you get a warning message so you can take another one. ISO on the S550 goes up to 2000. The 2.5-inch LCD features a 170 degree horizontal and vertical viewing angle.

The Coolpix S550 comes in plum, cool blue and graphite black. Storage is taken care of by SD/SDHC formats and comes with an EN-EL 10 rechargeable Li-ion battery. Look for it next month for $229.95.

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To go along with the K20D and K200D, Pentax announced five lenses that range from 18mm to 300mm.

Without getting into exact specifics since I know most of you don’t care, I’l touch on a few key things. The 200mm f/2.8 and 300mm f/4 lenses have Sonic Drive Motors, which basically ensure quiet and fast focusing as well as weather resistant and dust resistant bodies. The 35mm f/2.8 Macro Limited has a fast aperture. The 18-55mm and 55-300mm lenses have been spruced up with the quick-shift focus system and super protect coating to protect the exposed lens elements. Also featured on the 55-300mm lens is ED elements to help compensate for chromatic aberrations.

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Coming out strong for Fuji in the prosumer tier is the FinePix S100FS. It’s pretty much the best of both worlds, in terms of point-and-shoot and DSLR hybrids go. I’m personally not a big fan of these hybrid types, but this one certainly has me interested. It packs an 11-megapixel CCD sensor with 14.3x manual zoom, RP III processor, 2.5-inch tiltable LCD and does some funky sensitivity thing when shooting at 6-megapixels (6400) or 3-megapixels (10,000). It’s nice that you can shoot both RAW and JPEG and capture VGA video at 30fps. When set to 3-megapixels, the S100FS can manage a 50-shot burst at 7fps.

Standard features include DIS, Face Detection 2.0, Automatic Red Eye Removal and wide dynamic range of 100-400 percent. This one also supports xD and SD/SDHC memory cards. It certainly sounds like a killer camera, but I’m not sure I’d fork over $800 for a non-DSLR, DSLR-type. We should see it in stores next month.

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It’s not a direct clone of the Pentax, however. The GX-20 has its own Samsungy interface and a few cosmetic changes. It also has a dedicated RAW shooting button, for when you’re feeling squirrelly and JPEG isn’t cutting it for you.

The camera should hit the US around the 2nd quarter of 2008 and will likely ship as a kit with one basic lens and other accessories for about $1,300-$1,400.

Canon has released the successor to the previous (and excellent) 200mm F1.8 L lens. It seems a little strange that they’d replace a F1.8 with a F2, but consider that they have added Optical Image Stabilization while at the same time lightening it and making it more weather-resistant. And that’s why it costs $6,000. I’m not convinced yet of the efficacy of OIS, but that’s just because I’m a curmudgeon who wants to shoot film through an old steel 85mm F1.4 lens. Time to move on to the new era, I guess. I just have to rob a bank to afford it. And don’t even get me started on the 800mm.

Canon USA Introduces Two Highly Anticipated Telephoto Lenses at PMA 2008

First up you’ve got your PowerShot A590IS and A580

A590IS:$180 A580:$150
The main difference between these two is the Optical Image Stabilization system in the blacker, more expensive one. The Optical vs Electronic debate will rage forever, I’m sure, but in a point and shoot either is welcome. Otherwise their specs are as follows:
8 megapixels, 4x optical zoom (35-140mm equivalent), 2.5″ LCD, face recognition, other features are lost in the PR babble.

Then, the A470:

$130, 7.1 megapixels, 3.4x optical zoom (38-132mm equivalent, slower lens), the rest is the same as above.
A cool thing about these Powershots is you can get a teleconverter, a wide-angle converter, or a macro converter that fits over the fixed lens. It’s a good idea for serious shooters who have to have one of these around for going out to parties but don’t want to lose that “I have a lens for that” feeling.

Powershot SD1100

$250, 8 megapixels, 3x optical zoom (38-114mm equivalent), 2.5″ LCD screen, Optical Image Stabilization
This svelter, thinner little thing sports OIS in a smaller package, but loses a bit of zoom. It’s got more or less the same feature set as the others above when it comes to face recognition and so on, so you’re paying for portability.

Sounds like the A590IS is the best deal here, but if you need something a little thinner you’ve got no choice but to go with the SD110 because the A470 looks chubby, kind of like your mom.

For the fun, zany, quirky folks comes the FinePix Z20fd. The 10-megapixel shooter comes in a variety of colors and features a Fujinon 3x optical zoom lens, 2.5-inch LCD, 45MB of internal storage and a new feature dubbed Dual Blog Mode. What DBM does is quite simple, really. It automagically resizes any image or movie for easier and faster uploading to e-mails or YouTube. Other features like face detection, IrSimple (lets you beam photos to others) and red eye reduction are also included. The latest fashionista is rather sensitive and has an ISO up to 1600 and does MPEG4 video.

There’s a gaggle of other features like dual shot mode that snaps two pics, one with flash and one without. The Dual shutter release takes care of stills and movies. The Z20 is compatible with xD and SD/SDHC cards. It will debut in March for $199.95.

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First up in a long list of Fuji point-and-shoots for the day is the F100fd, The latest F-series digi is equipped with a 12-megapixel, 8th generation Super CCD sensor and it has a Fujinon 5x wide angle optical zoom on top of a 2.7-inch LCD. Other features include a wide dynamic range, dual image stabilization, face detection 3.0 (more details in the press release), automatic red eye removal and an ISO of up to 12800. Seriously? Yeah. It comes in black and silver. Look for it this March for $379.95. Full press release after the jump.

Valhalla, N.Y., January 24, 2008 – Following the long line of award-winning F-Series models, FUJIFILM U.S.A., Inc., today announced its latest and greatest, the FinePix F100fd digital camera.

Combining a 12-MegaPixel, 8th Generation Super CCD with a powerful Fujinon 5.0x wide angle optical zoom lens and a 2.7” high-resolution 230,000 pixel wide angle view LCD, the FinePix F100fd is among Fujifilm’s finest compact digital cameras. As with previous F-Series models such as the FinePix F31, F40fd and F50fd, the F100fd is a powerful, feature-packed compact digital camera aimed at consumers looking for something well above the average model. It offers the most advanced technologies available, including Wide Dynamic Range, Dual Image Stabilization, Face Detection 3.0 Technology with an Automatic Red Eye Removal function and ISO settings of up to an unprecedented ISO 12800 – so missing great shots is not an option.

”The FinePix F100fd demonstrates how consumers can ultimately benefit from Fujifilm’s investment in professional photography,” said David Troy, senior product manager, Consumer Digital Cameras, Electronic Imaging Division, FUJIFILM U.S.A., Inc. “The features packed in to this camera like ISO ranges and wide dynamic ranges are unprecedented for a compact consumer model – they first appeared in our Professional line. Combine these advances with our new Face Detection 3.0’s faster, 360 degree detection ranges and Dual Image Stabilization and you have the ultimate consumer digital photography experience.”

Wide Dynamic Range
Dynamic Range, or the gradations of light that exist between bright and dark in any setting, can be easily detected by the human eye, but not by most cameras. Fujifilm expanded dynamic range capture functionality on the professional imaging side with its FinePix S3 Pro digital camera. The technology, now perfected in the FinePix S5 Pro camera, has been brought to the consumer in the FinePix F100fd. Through a combination of advances in Fujifilm’s new Super CCD HR VIII and RP (Real Photo) Processor III, this wide dynamic range dramatically broadens tonal capability and guarantees exceptional rendition of photos with both bright highlights and dark shadows. This expansion of sensitivity captures greater detail, and subtle nuances of brightness and tonality that bring the photo closer to what the human eye actually sees.

Faster Face Detection 3.0
The FinePix F100fd is also equipped with Fujifilm’s proprietary Face Detection 3.0 Technology featuring Automatic Red Eye Removal. As with the original version of Face Detection, it can detect up to 10 human faces in a scene in as little as .036 seconds, automatically correcting focus, exposure, and white balance, regardless of where subjects are located within the frame. Now, however, the FinePix F100fd is able to identify faces at much more extreme camera angles than before. The camera can register faces with up to 90O movement in either direction for profiles, and up to 360O. After the shot is taken, it instantly corrects red eye and then saves both the original and the corrected image file…automatically

The FinePix F100fd features Fujifilm’s Dual Image Stabilization mode which combines a mechanically stabilized Super CCD sensor with high ISO sensitivities for total anti-blur protection. The combination of these technologies reduces the “blur” effect from the photographer’s hand-shake and subject movement even further to provide the highest quality digital pictures yet, with sharp, clean and clear results. Thanks to the 8th generation FinePix Super CCD-HR chip and the RP Processor III, the Finepix F100fd can utilize ISO settings of up to ISO 3200 at full resolution and an amazing ISO 12800 at reduced resolution1, capturing stunning images even in low light while preserving the natural color and clarity of the shot.

In addition to these advances, the FinePix F100fd possesses a number of other impressive features:
Dual Image Stabilization: Combine mechanical image stabilization with the effects produced with higher ISO.
Continuous Shooting: Top/Final 3 at 1.7 frames per second at full resolution and Top/Final 12 at 5 frames per second at 3-MegaPixels.
High Speed Playback: No waiting for high resolution images to load during play back. The FinePix F100fd can display images at full resolution at 10 frames per second.
Portrait Enhancer Mode: Mimicking a professional photo studio setting, by using Face Detection and preset camera settings, Portrait Enhancer minimizes fine lines and small skin blemishes for smooth, natural looking portraits.
Dual Shot Mode: In this selectable mode, the FinePix F100fd quickly shoots two images in rapid succession – one with the flash and one without – and saves both. This convenient function lets users perform a comparison at their convenience and select the most pleasing image.
Special Scene: The FinePix F100fd has 16 pre-programmed scenes, including a special underwater scene mode for use with a special underwater casing. Also, a Blog mode that automatically reduces the size of copied images for easy posting to a blog, Web page or email attachment.
Micro Thumbnail: A playback feature that allows for viewing an index-style print on the LCD. The FinePix F100fd will show up to 100 images in micro form, then the control buttons are used to select specific images. An innovative wheel navigation dial makes it easy to quickly find a single image by being able to jump to particular segments of images in the time sequence.
IrSimple™: Infrared communication via IrSimple™ technology for fast, easy wireless image transfer to a compatible device.
xD / SD / SD-HC Compatible slot: The FinePix F100fd features a “xD/SD Compatible slot” which accepts not only Fujifilm’s traditional xD-Picture Cards but also Secure Digital (SD) and SD-High Capacity/SD-HC cards too.

The FinePix F100fd will debut in March 2008 at a retail price of $379.95.

Today Canon introduced the EOS Rebel XSi and everyone should start shaking in their collective boots. The 12.2-megapixel (APS-C size Canon CMOS censor) Rebel has an improved AF sensor, 14-bit A/D conversion, Live View, Digic III Image processor and an optically image stabilized EF-S kit lens (EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS) to boot.

Other improvements include a 3-inch LCD, durable ABS and Polycarbonate resin body that comes in black or silver. The new sensor uses large microlenses over each pixel and that’s said to reduce noise and boost sensitivity up to ISO 1600. The Live View feature has been improved with a “Live Mode” contrast detection AF function, which means it will focus automagically without the reflex mirror being lowered. The XSi is the fastest Rebel to date, capable of continuously capturing 3.5fps for bursts of up to 45 images in large/fine JPEG mode and 6 frames in RAW mode. One other notable change for the XSi is the adoption of SD/SDHC.

The XSi will most likely ship in April. A lens kit as well as body-only kit will ship for $899.99 and $799.99, respectively.

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Press Release

Cybershot DSC-H10

13.4 oz, 8 megapixels, 10x optical zoom (38-380mm equivalent), f3.5-14.4, ISO 100-3200, 3″ LCD
This SLR wannabe is still pretty solid, and 10x optical zoom is great for getting up people’s nostrils. Good range of aperture too. Bizarrely, it lets you upload mp3s onto it for playing during slideshows. Who has a slideshow on their camera? Why doesn’t Sony focus on reducing shutter lag instead?

Cybershot W-Series

These more ordinary consumer-oriented cameras have a range of specifications and prices, going from about $200 to about $300.
4.3 – 5 oz, 7-10 megapixels, 4-5x optical zoom (the better ones have a better lens too), 2.5-2.7″ LCD, ISO 100-3200, and that creepy smile detection built in.

Cybershot S-Series

4.5 oz, 8 megapixels, 4x optical zoom, ISO 100-1250, 2.5″ LCD
These cameras have to be the bargain bin ones. They shoot video at 320×240. I’m sure they’re perfectly capable, but really, spend the extra $50 and get something cooler, like the following:

Cybershot T300

5.3 oz, 10 megapixels, 5x optical zoom (33-165mm equivalent), ISO 80-3200, 3.5″ LCD
Here’s what I’m talking about. The replacement for the T200 has a monster 3.5″ touchscreen on the back and looks sexy as hell (the pic at the top of the story shows the back). Sony may have some poor business practices but they can put together a nice little point-and-shoot. Too bad it costs $400! You could get a used Rebel XT for that. Still, it’s a sweet little piece of hardware.

Check out DP Review if you’re looking for more stats.

Digital Photography Review