News

Leaf and Mamiya have announced the latest 22 Megapixel D-SLR, the Leaf Mamiya
ProDigital II. Comprised of the New Mamiya 645AFDII camera and the Leaf Aptus
back, the new ProDigital II offers medium format quality with the convenience
of a small format system.

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Corel Corporation has announced the release of Corel Paint Shop Pro X and Corel
Photo Album 6, two major new products from Corel's digital imaging portfolio
and the first versions of the software to be introduced since Corel's acquisition
of Jasc in October 2004.



With a revamped user interface featuring a new, integrated Learning Center and
Browser palette, Paint Shop Pro X is designed to accelerate learning and increase
productivity. Tools are organized by task within the Learning Center palette,
enabling users of all skill levels to produce professional-looking results with
no previous photo editing experience required.



Below is an overview of the new and noteworthy features included in Corel Paint
Shop Pro X:

The Paint Shop Pro X Learning Center: The new Learning Center
organizes tools logically by task, providing users with a step-by-step guide and
quick access to the instructions and tools needed to complete the most common
photo editing projects.



Browser Palette: The Browser palette is now integrated into the
Paint Shop Pro X workspace to make it even easier for users to access, view, organize,
and work with their images.



Smart Photo Fix: The new Smart Photo Fix analyzes a photo and
suggests settings to auto-correct color, brightness, sharpness, and saturation
-- all in one step. Smart Photo Fix gives users new levels of control by
allowing them to combine the simplicity of automatic corrections with the precision
and control of manual adjustments.



Makeover Tools: Paint Shop Pro X introduces a powerful new collection
of extreme Makeover Tools to help users quickly and easily retouch the subjects
in their photos. The Makeover Tools include the Blemish Fixer, Toothbrush and
Suntan Brush.



Object Remover: The new Object Remover lets users seamlessly
eliminate unwanted elements from photos, intelligently filling in the resulting
gaps with appropriate background detail.



Special Effects for Black & White Photos: With the new Special
Effects filters in Paint Shop Pro X, users can now easily convert images to simulated
black and white infrared or apply color filters while converting to black and
white images.



Corel Photo Album 6 -- Standard Edition: Included for the
first time with Paint Shop Pro X, Corel Photo Album 6 provides efficient organization,
sharing and photo backup options, along with hundreds of new drag-and-drop creative
project templates.



Advanced Features: Paint Shop Pro X now includes support for
16-bit/channel adjustments, ICC-based color management, the ability to import
and export CMYK images using ICC profiles, along with enhanced monitor calibration
that allows LCD screens to be correctly calibrated.



Camera Raw support: Paint Shop Pro X now supports over forty
Camera Raw file formats. Users can open, enhance, process, and convert images
taken in the Camera Raw format.



Batch Processing: Users can easily process batches of images
with Paint Shop Pro X. The Batch Process command lets them use scripts to apply
fixes to batches of images, and users can also convert batches of images to a
different file format.



Perspective Correction Tool: With the Perspective Correction
tool, users can fix buildings, landmarks, or objects in their photos that appear
to be in the wrong perspective or that were taken from an angle other than directly
in front.



Straighten Tool: The Straighten tool lets users quickly align
crooked photos and automatically crop the edges using any line in the photo.



Pricing and Availability

Available for a suggested retail price of $129 US, Corel Paint Shop Pro X includes
Corel Photo Album 6 -- Standard Edition, Pixmantec® RawShooter™
essentials, two hours of free lynda.com video instruction and a printed user manual.
Corel Photo Album 6 -- Deluxe Edition is available for a suggested retail
price of $49 US. It includes PhotoRecovery software ($29 value), Xtras Scrapbook
Templates, Volumes I and II ($40 value), Pixmantec RawShooter essentials, and
a printed user guide. Corel also offers academic pricing to qualified institutions
and students. For more information or to learn more about Corel's K-12 and
Higher Education site license programs please visit www.corel.com/education.
Commercial and government customers can learn more about Corel's volume
licensing options at www.corel.com/licensing.




To learn more about Corel's digital imaging portfolio or to download a free,
fully functional trial version of Corel Paint Shop Pro X or Corel Photo Album
6, please visit www.corel.com/paintshoppro or www.corel.com/photoalbum.

Photo sharing and printing options are becoming more interesting every day.
HP has announced that customers of its Snapfish online photo service can now
order prints online and have them ready for pickup in as little as one hour
at their local Walgreens. The in-store service applies to sizes 4x6 through
8x10 inches. The service is first rolling out for Walgreens locations in Boston,
New York and San Francisco. By late September HP anticipates that the service
will expand to over 4000 Walgreens locations.

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To better meet event photographers' on-demand printing needs, KODAK PROFESSIONAL
will be introducing an upgrade kit and media to enable 5x7- inch borderless
prints on the new KODAK 6850 Photo Printer. The KODAK Photo Printer 6850 5R
Borderless Upgrade Kit includes two plastic flanges for the media roll endcaps,
a metal guide for 5-inch paper and a CD with drivers and easy instructions for
self installation. The 5- inch borderless upgrade kit is to be used with the
new KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTATHERM 6850 5R Print Kit which provides enough media
and donor to make 375 5x7 inch (13x18 cm) prints. Available worldwide in September,
2005, the KODAK Photo Printer 6850 5R Borderless Upgrade Kit and the KODAK PROFESSIONAL
EKTATHERM 6850 5R Print Kit will retail for US$35 (MSRP) and US$280 (MSRP),
respectively.

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Nikon Inc. has announced version 4.3.1 updater of their Capture RAW (NEF) image
processing software. A complimentary copy of the update is available for current
users of version 4.2.x; if using version 4 that is earlier than 4.2, customers
must first upgrade to Version 4.2 and then install the new updater. All Version
4.x updaters are complimentary for owners of the full Version 4.0 and higher.
Upon installing the Capture 4.3.1 update, the D2X, D2HS, D70S, and D50 digital
SLR cameras, as well as earlier Nikon D-Series digital SLR cameras and their
NEF files will be supported. A highlight for the new updater is its significantly
faster performance for NEF operation. Depending upon the platform (Mac or PC),
CPU, and processes in use, this latest updater for Capture software delivers
increased processing speeds ranging from 11% up to 40%, compared to previous
versions.



A key component of Nikon's Total Imaging System, Capture software enables
photographers to perform comprehensive image processing and editing on NEF (RAW)
files produced by their Nikon digital SLR cameras as well as NEF files generated
from Nikon scanners or converted NEF files that have been generated from JPEG
or TIFF file formats. The NEF file structure has been idealized for operation
within the Nikon Total Imaging System. Key imaging data from the Nikon camera
is embedded within the NEF, and is available to strengthen the image processing
capabilities of Nikon Capture software. This nexus of Camera to NEF to Capture
embodies a key element of the Nikon Total Imaging System's ability to
optimize image quality.



www.nikonusa.com

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DXG USA has announced the availability of the DXG-528, a 5.1 megapixel CCD
digital camera. The DXG-528 features a slim aluminum housing, 2.4" LTPS
LCD screen, Pentax 3X optical zoom (with three aspherical lenses), built-in
32MB flash memory, SD/MMC card slot, MPEG-4 video with sound and Direct Print
capability. The camera also offers voice recorder and MP3 functionality, as
well as TV-Out capability for viewing pictures on a television. The DXG-528
is available immediately with an MSRP of $199.

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