Shutterbug Staff

Westcott's new Spiderlite TD3 is a compact, portable lighting system
that you can take anywhere. Weighing less than 10 pounds, the unit can operate
off of any standard 120 or 220 volt outlet as well as DC using a battery pack
and inverter. Batteries offered through Westcott include a 14.4 Volt NiCd, and
a 12AH Lead Acid. This system allows you to run either three 50-watt Tungsten
Halogen lamps, three 27-watt Daylight Balanced Fluorescent lamps, or two Studio
Strobes with a modeling lamp.

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Pentax Imaging Company has dropped the price on the *ist DL digital SLR camera
with 18-55 DA lens to $599.95. Well known for delivering small, lightweight,
easy-to-use and affordable SLRs, Pentax now offers a suite of nine digital lenses
specifically designed for use with their digital SLR bodies. Rebates up to $100
on select lenses are currently available through March 31, 2006. More details
are available at www.pentaxslr.com.

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We
are sad to announce that Carl Koch, inventor of the modular Sinar camera system,
died in late December at the age of 89. This Swiss photographer and inventor
introduced the revolutionary Sinar camera in 1948. Koch's primary motivation
was to offer professional photographers the latest technical refinements. He
was steadfastly successful with the logical implementation of his life's
motto: "What can be done better, shall be done better".



Additional milestones were the automation of the camera with the introduction
of a universal shutter for all lenses, selective exposure metering at the film
plane and the simplification of camera settings.



The education of the new generation of professional photographers was also a
major concern to Koch. He authored a series of textbooks and guidelines for
professional photography, of which Photo Know How'--a self-teaching
course for professional photographers that was translated into many languages
including Chinese and Russian--became a worldwide standard text. To this
day, Koch's principles still guide the philosophy of Sinar, the company
that he founded. The world of professional photography mourns the passing of
one of its great pioneers.

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ATP
Electronics Inc. recently unveiled the ProMax line of high-performance CompactFlash
memory cards, designed for use with the latest high-resolution digital SLRs.
Boasting a speed rating of 150X, the water- and shock-resistant ProMax CF cards
feature a 30MB/s data transfer speed for rapid file transfers and seamless multimedia
streaming.

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