Archive for April 3rd, 2006
Casio Offers Upgrades on New Digital Cameras
By Pop Photo Staff
April 2006
Trade In, Trade Up Program Powered by DealTree
Casio Inc. announces the Casio Trade In, Trade Up Program, where consumers have the opportunity to trade in their old camera, regardless of brand, and trade up to a new Casio digital camera. To provide consumers with an easy way to upgrade to the latest technology available in digital cameras, and even receive bonuses when upgrading to certain Casio models, Casio will offer the Trade In, Trade Up program from April 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006.
Consumers can visit, http://exilim.casio.com/tradeup or any participating retailer’s website to check the value of their trade in camera.
Casio has teamed up with participating retailers, and Deal Tree Services, Inc. as a service provider, to provide a way to trade in any brand of an older model camera to receive a check for a trade-in value, and in some cases even an additional bonus, as a reward for purchasing a new Casio Exilim digital camera.
“We realize that people are purchasing their second or third cameras, and often question what to do with their current ones. Casio Inc. is not only offering consumers an incentive to buy a new digital camera, but we are helping to minimize environmental waste and preserve our environmentâ€, said Bill Heuer, Senior Vice President of the Digital Imaging Division for Casio, Inc.
April 3rd, 2006
Nikon wants 40 percent of digital SLR market in 3 years
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
ARNnetÂ
03/04/2006 09:58:41
Japan’s Nikon is aiming for a 40 percent share of the increasingly competitive digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera market within three years, it said Thursday.
The company, which along with fellow Japanese camera maker Canon has long dominated the digital SLR market, is confident that it can see off competition from general consumer electronics companies like Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) that are about to launch their own digital SLR cameras. Some of the new cameras were on show at the recent Photo Marketing Association’s 2006 trade fair (PMA) in the U.S.
“The new entrants to the market like [Panasonic] and Sony will release new models but as far as the prototypes we saw at the PMA, it seems their concept is not so different from our digital SLRs. So, we are confident we can compete with them,” said Susumu Enomoto, a spokesman for Nikon in Tokyo.
Single-lens reflex cameras use a mirror placed between the lens and the film or image sensor to project the image to the camera’s viewfinder. The mirror moves out of the way when the picture is taken. They typically support interchangeable lenses and are generally much faster-responding and more capable than fixed-lens cameras.
Companies are rushing to enter the digital SLR space because competition has squeezed profits in the point-and-shoot end of the market. Digital SLR cameras typically have higher margins.
In 2004 shipments of digital SLRs totaled 2.5 million units, to make up about 3.4 percent of all camera shipments, according to market research company IDC. This is expected to rise to 7.9 million units in 2009, which is 9.6 percent of anticipated shipments, IDC said in a report issued in 2005.
Nikon’s market share is “a little under 40 percent” at present, said Enomoto. “Forty percent is our target but depending on market conditions we may have difficulty in achieving it but we will manage our business with this target in mind.”
In the financial year from April 2008 to March 2009 the company is targeting net sales of YEN 900 billion (US$7.7 billion) on operating profit of YEN 90 billion, it said. In its current fiscal year, which ends Friday, the company is expecting to achieve sales of YEN 710 billion. While digital imaging makes up Nikon’s largest single business sector, the company also has significant sales of precision instruments and equipment used in production of chips and flat-panel displays.
April 3rd, 2006
Your TV Is HD, and Now Your Camera Can Be, Too
New York Times
By JOHN BIGGS
Published: March 16, 2006
The L85 from Samsung, a retro-styled point-and-shoot model, is the first still camera to tap into the high-definition craze. It has a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) port, allowing it to transfer data to high-definition TV’s and other devices.
The 8-megapixel L85 has a 5x zoom and a number of manual features in addition to its automatic picture-taking abilities. Unlike regular cameras, which transfer standard video and images to televisions using RCA jacks, the L85 can communicate directly with digital video devices, allowing owners of HD televisions to view their pictures in their full high-resolution glory.
The camera also has auto-exposure bracketing, which takes three consecutive shots, tweaking the exposure with each shot for later comparison. It can take VGA video and has several automatic exposure modes including Night, Portrait and Fireworks. It includes 32 megabytes of built-in memory and takes SD/MMC memory cards.
The L85, which will be available in retail stores and online next month for about $500, also has a Text Recognition mode for taking photos of text. The included Digimax reader software can convert the text into files readable by most word processors. JOHN BIGGS
April 3rd, 2006
New security camera keeps an eye out for you
Monday, 3 April 2006, 12:44 pm
Press Release: Moreton Bay Systems
New security camera keeps an eye out for you
Moreton Bay Systems launches the Digilant® Intelligent Portable Security Camera System in New Zealand
Hamilton, New Zealand – The new Digilant® Portable Digital Security Camera, released today in New Zealand by Moreton Bay Systems, marks a new frontier in security camera technology, making it more affordable for the average householder or small business to have an image based security system.
Digilant® is available in New Zealand from Hamilton-based Indepth Forensics.
Dennis Parsons of Indepth Forensics in Hamilton, says Digilant® is the perfect choice for many security applications in the home or business as well as for using in external situations because of its low cost and portability.
“The camera with its high resolution photos provides the perfect security choice for monitoring remote areas like sheds, gates, garages and boats, putting the digital security system streets ahead of its competitors,†said Dennis Parsons from Indepth Forensics.
Digilant® is the first intelligent portable security camera designed to connect directly to existing alarm systems, providing clear still images of intruders.
Its unique ultra low power video processing technology also enables it to operate as a battery powered surveillance camera for up to nine weeks on one small internal battery, compared to only six hours for its closest competitors. This opens up thousands of different applications across many fields.
According to David Hill, managing director of Moreton Bay Systems, which developed the technology, Digilant® marks a real shift in thinking in the security camera industry.
“It revolutionises the digital video security market by offering a different technical approach to capturing and processing images, and a longer battery life than anything else on the market,†Hill said.
“This provides an added insurance policy so that if someone does break in, you can access the images and get a full visual history leading up to the break in.
“You get very clear JPEG images from the camera, which are better for getting convictions.â€
“We’ve had interest from all sorts of groups – including police, industrial and mining, department stores, fast food chains, tourism operators, Government and small business – through to domestic household sites.â€
“Digilant® can easily be moved from site to site because of its cost effective ‘no wires’ installation, which makes it great for commercial, domestic and remote applications, and for protecting high risk goods.â€
The camera has been tested and approved to meet standards in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Europe. For more information contact Indepth Forensics on 7838 2265. or visit www.digilant.com.au or contact Moreton Bay Systems on 07 3488 1000.
About Moreton Bay Systems
Moreton Bay Systems was established in Brisbane, Australia, in 2001 by former Motorola Semiconductors General Manager David Hill, to develop advanced, low power wireless digital-camera technologies (WDCT) for the security and home automation markets. The R&D has been funded by its sister company TE Australia, which for 17 years has been a major Australian distributor for semiconductor manufacturers such as Toshiba and Epson. This relationship has kept Moreton Bay Systems at the forefront of technology and it now has international patents pending in Australia, U.S., Europe and other countries based on their unique ultra low power digital camera technology.
Background
Customer Comments
Digilant® has been tested in the marketplace for the last 12 months. Here are some of those applications.
Applications in Mines and Hotels
Gary Sorensen of runs a security solutions company and has been trialling Digilant® with great success in the mining and hotel industry.
“We’d been looking at setting up video surveillance for my mining clients to monitor gate access,†Gary said. “This was going to be pretty expensive to do.
“I ditched that video idea as soon as I saw the Digilant® cameras,†Sorensen said. “I could see the use for them and bought them basically on the spot because they were much cheaper and easier to operate as a standalone item and we can leave them there for weeks at a time.
“The Digilant® cameras take up to 65,000 photos triggered by a motion detection sensor and they’re dead easy to disguise.â€
Sorensen now has 12 cameras in use at mining sites and in the hospitality industry.
“We’ve put them on the gates to monitor access to the various mine sites. This works both for when gates are accidentally left open or to detect and gather legally admissible evidence if people are doing things they shouldn’t be doing, such as taking items off site illegally.
“Some of my mining clients are also using the cameras to monitor wildlife activity at waterways and dams to fulfil their environmental duties, make sure that birds and other wildlife are returning to the areas and also detect pests such as wild pigs or goats so that appropriate action can be taken.
“In hotels and pubs, we’re using the cameras to monitor ATMs, gaming machines and high risk stock such as alcohol. The photos we get are all date and time stamped and digitally encoded so it is admissible evidence in court if someone is caught doing the wrong thing, or if there is a violent incident in the venue.
“So for example, one of my clients had a complaint from someone using the ATM that it had swallowed $500. Using the Digilant® photo sequence we can now see if this actually happened or if the person is trying to scam the hotel.â€
Peace of Mind to Vandalism Victims
Digilant® has brought peace of mind to landscape architect Bronwyn*.
Brownwyn has been victims of a vicious vandalism campaign for the last twelve months and installed Digilant® cameras at their private residence, which has a 40 metre long driveway and is in a quiet, remote area.
“We’ve had sump oil thrown all over our new concrete driveway, had intruders on the property slashing our tyres and had bottles thrown over the fence on numerous occasions,†she.
“We just weren’t game to go anywhere because of these incidents, and certainly didn’t feel we could go away on a holiday.â€
With Digilant® in place they are able to get clear photos of intruders on the property to show to police if any damage is done.
“Now we feel more confident that we can see people coming to the house when we’re not there and even when we are there, we’ve got photographic evidenceâ€, she said. “We’ve now been able to go away for two weeks and the camera batteries lasted the whole time, recording anybody coming onto the property. It was great for our peace of mind.â€
April 3rd, 2006
Kodak Receives FCC Approval for Bluetooth Digital Camera
READ MORE: Bluetooth, Digital Cameras, FCC, Kodak
Gizmodo
It appears that Kodak has received FCC approval for a Bluetooth-enabled module for a digital camera. It wasn’t entirely clear if this was an add-on unit for an existing camera, an entirely new model, or both.
Either way, it would be convenient to transfer photos wirelessly using Bluetooth. Besides just moving photos from camera to PC, maybe you could transfer photos from your camera to your cellphone and back. We welcome any opportunity to get rid of that rat’s nest of tangled cables underneath our desk. Bring it on.
Kodak Bluetooth Digital Camera Revealed [Mobilewhack]
April 3rd, 2006
Digital photography help on the Web is only a few clicks away CLICKS ‘N’ PICS GREGG ELLMAN
Times Leader
Are you looking for a simple Web site to help you buy a digital camera, or to help with your digital photography?
Not a problem; just go to Google and search “digital photo Web sites†and you can look over the millions of sites it finds.
To make it a little easier, here are a few that can help with subjects ranging from finding that perfect point-and-shoot camera to helpful digital photo shooting tips:
www.digital-photo-secrets.com: A neat thing about this site is that it offers a free e-mail course on digital photo secrets. After you sign up, every day for three weeks you will get a digital photography secret from David Peterson, who runs the site and is author of “Digital Photography Secrets,†a good book for improving your digital photography.
Some of the e-mail secrets cover how close you should get to subjects, the best way to photograph nature, getting better photos of children, the photographic rule of thirds, using the correct accessories and the advantages of using optical rather than digital zoom.
In his book, Peterson goes over many more topics to improve your photography and bridge the gap between film and digital.
www.betterphoto.com: This site offers courses, contests, blogs, reviews and helpful shooting tips.
The site also has camera reviews, links to other photography Web sites, books for sale and all kinds of tips.
www.digitalcameras.com: If you want to buy a digital camera, this site can be helpful. It’s broken down into categories that will link you to retail sites of all the big camera manufacturers. Categories range from cheap digital cameras to the high-end models. Accessories from underwater camera cases to tripods are linked off the home page.
www.digitalcameratracker.com: Another site with multiple reviews and links to get the best price on the camera of your choice. The reviews are broken down by brands and manufacturers, so it’s easy to find the model you might be looking for.
www.dpreview.com: Digital Photography Review is a popular site with an audience of 18 million visitors a month. It offers original content with detailed articles.
Included is a digital camera database, forums and galleries. What distinguishes this site from others is the in-depth digital camera reviews. At the end of each review is a chart showing the cost at various retailers.
www.digitalcamera-hq.com: This site is a great start for finding out information on a particular camera. It has a lot of reviews, along with links to various other handy sites.
Finally, this should give you an indication of the growing popularity of digital photography: Last month, Nikon announced that it would now only manufacture two film cameras: the flagship model F6 and the FM10.
Nikon said the film market is shrinking as customers shift from the compact digital cameras to digital SLRs.
April 3rd, 2006