Fantasea Line, diving and underwater photographic equipment manufacturer, has recently announced the upcoming release of the F350D housing for the Canon Rebel XT digital DSLR. The F350D housing features a unique o-ring and gasket seal and is rated to a depth of 200 feet (60m).

The F350 will be available on February 20th for US$999

PRESS RELEASE

Fremont, Ca., January 17, 2006– Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a world leader in advanced digital media technologies announced availability of its new Professional CompactFlash® (CF) and Secure Digital™ (SD) flash memory cards designed to deliver optimal performance in all digital SLR cameras and speed-rated 133X, or capable of a minimum sustained write speed of 20MB per second. Lexar’s new flash memory products signify the company’s continued commitment to providing professional photographers with reliable flash memory cards that deliver near instantaneous image read and write speeds, and seamless operation throughout each step of the digital imaging workflow process enabling the user to spend more time taking pictures.

“Our new 133X cards allow digital SLR cameras to optimally perform as they were designed, to transfer images and information almost instantaneously, beneficial in a number of ways to the photographer’s digital imaging workflow,” said John Omvik, director of professional product marketing, Lexar. “Lexar’s new 133X cards are ideal for those photographers who require reliable, high-performance flash memory that makes the most of all the professional-level features available in their digital SLR camera.”

Like all of Lexar’s Professional series CompactFlash memory cards, the new 133X cards include Lexar’s Write Acceleration Technology (WA). The WA technology allows digital cameras to exchange and store images faster, thus attaining near instantaneous image-write speeds in cameras supporting this feature. In addition, the new 133X CompactFlash and SD cards include Image RescueÔ 2.0, Lexar’s award-winning image recovery software, a trial version of Photo MechanicÔ 4.0, the popular image browsing software from Camera Bits, and Corel® Paint Shop Pro® 9, an image editing and enhancement software package. As with all of Lexar’s professional products, each card includes a lifetime warranty and unlimited access to Lexar’s dedicated technical support team for professional photographers.

“Second to reliability, speed is the name of the game in digital photography, and Lexar has a lengthy history providing cards and accessories that are not only fast but also substantially improve workflow,” said professional photographer Vincent Laforet. “Having 133X cards in both card formats allows me to leverage both slots in my Canon EOS 1D Mark II. By storing RAW files on my CF cards and JPEGs on my SD card, I maximize my camera’s technology and reduce administrative time when I’m back in my studio,” he added.

“I am constantly working from remote locations like the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge and the Australian rainforests, so I need fast cards with the maximum capacity, said professional wildlife photographer Moose Peterson. “I am very impressed with Lexar’s new 133X CompactFlash card because I know that they are capable of rapidly storing and uploading large images, especially those taken during burst mode shooting with the Nikon D2Hs. I love taking as many pictures as I can without changing cards and I shoot confidently knowing that in addition to an immediate write speed, the 4GB 133X has plenty of room for my largest files.

In addition to a valuable suite of software, Lexar is providing additional value to its 2GB SD flash memory card package by including a high-speed USB 2.0 Card Reader with its 133X cards to proactively address an industry compatibility issues that may otherwise arise with some SD card readers. Lexar’s new 133X speed-rated Professional Series CompactFlash and SD flash memory cards are currently available in photo specialty stores and through online resellers.

Additional information regarding Lexar’s new 133X Professional Series flash memory cards can be found on the company’s digital photography website, located at www.lexar.com/dp. Lexar’s digital photography website includes valuable information and tutorials to help photographers fully utilize the unique features Lexar products offer and achieve a more rewarding experience shooting and working with digital images. Additionally, this popular site provides detailed information about new photography techniques, products and services, as well as interesting feature stories, a pro blog and background information about the many professionals who count on Lexar’s flash memory cards and accessories to help them succeed.

Jack S. Winberg has recently posted his review on ColorVision PrintFIX Pro at Luminous-Landscape.

He likes:

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Pantone has announced the availability of Pantone Huey, a combination of hardware and software designed for calibrating and profiling all types of monitors – LCD and CRT. Each individual package includes a huey measurement device (emission only colorimeter) with ambient measurement capabilities, and software for monitor calibration.

PRESS RELEASE

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We’ve been receiving some e-mails lately complaining about the Sensor Brush, a CCD/CMOS cleaning product by Visible Dust. It’s reported that the brush is too large for the sensor and therefore the brush smeared the sensor with grease from the mirror box.

Here’s one of emails from our readers sent to us about a week ago:

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PRESS RELEASE

Adobe Lightroom Learning Center Launched By The National Association Of Photoshop Professionals

TAMPA, FL - JAN. 9, 2006 - Today, on the heels of Adobe’s public beta release of Adobe Lightroom, the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) has launched the Lightroom Learning Center - the most complete resource for learning Adobe Lightroom, the amazing new workflow tool for professional photographers. (NAPP’s learning center is found at http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom .)

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Adobe has announce their latest software for professional digital photographer called Adobe® Lightroom™. The program will help digital photographers to import, select, develop, and showcase large volumes of digital images.

- Download Adobe® Lightroom™ Beta 1
- Watch Adobe® Lightroom™ video tutorial
- Lightroom Beta General Discussion
- Lightroom Beta Feature Requests
- Lightroom Beta Bug Reports

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Apple has just updated their imaging software which addresses a number of issues related to reliability and performance. It also delivers improved image export quality and metadata handling. Some improvements are including white balance adjustment accuracy and performance, image export quality, book and print ordering reliability, auto-stacking performance, and custom paper size handling

Download Apple Aperture Version 1.0.1

Christian Harris at BIOS Magazine has just reviewed the Canon PIXMA iP8500, a printer with Canon’s ChromaPLUS print technology utilises eight coloured inks: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Light Cyan, Light Magenta, Black, Red and Green which produce vivid colours, reduced graininess and better contrast photo quality when compared to many pigment-based inks used in some other photo printers.

In conclusion BIOS Magazine wrote that Output from Canon’s Pixma iP8500 looked excellent in tests, with a broad dynamic range and sharp detail rendering in bitmaps. It rendered excellent curves and sharp text on coated paper, making it a good candidate for proofing page layouts. It also offered surprisingly full range of tones in the reds and oranges, as well as lots of detail in both shadows and highlights in landscapes dominated by grass, trees, and other greenery. If anything, saturation for these tended to be a bit too brilliant. Skin tones were warm but acceptable and relatively accurate. On the downside, text and graphics quality were more than acceptable, but not impressive on regular paper. Print speed was moderate, outputting at a rate of around 3.5ppm for monochrome text and 0.6ppm for colour photographs.

Debbie Grosman reviewed the ACDSee 8 Photo Manager at PopPhoto Magazine and wrote:

“For total beginners, ACDSee 8 may be all you need; you can do a good job fixing pics simply and keep track of all those images you’ve been snapping. For seasoned enthusiast, the program is a thorough tool that’s fun to use to manage your images, repair your snapshots, and figure out which ones you’re going to put the time into fixing in earnest. For everyone, the speed and simplicity of the interface makes working with the program a simple pleasure”