News from Amazon.comRight now, get a free memory card–up to a whopping 2 GB of photo storage–with the purchase of one of more than 25 top cameras from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and others. Need even more memory? Apply the value of the free card to a higher-capacity card. See details here, and don’t forget about these other great Camera & Photo offers from Amazon.com
We’ll send you a free memory card (valued at $12.49), or you can apply the value of a free card to a higher-capacity memory card, when you purchase select digital cameras in our Camera & Photo Store. Just add the camera and the memory card to your Shopping Cart and use the promotional code PC32U495 for Kingston SD cards or LOK5QYCA for Olympus xD cards at checkout. (Codes are also listed on individual product pages.)
If the cost of the memory card falls below $12.49, we’ll deduct the cost of the memory card, and also credit the difference to your total purchase. Opt for a qualifying higher-capacity card, and we’ll credit your total purchase $12.49. These offers apply only to purchases of products sold by Amazon.com between February 13 and March 17, 2008, and do not apply to products sold by third-party merchants and other sellers through the Amazon.com site.
Samsung Digimax GX-10 Digital SLR Camera
An inexpensive, consumer-level digital SLR, the GX-10 captures well-exposed images, but our test shots weren’t very sharp.
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Can changing the name on a camera save you money? Yes, when you take thePentax K10Dand call it the Samsung GX-10Digital SLR Camera. The former, with a 27-83mm (35mm equivalent) zoom lens sells for $800, more or less, while the latter–virtually identical camera body and same lens–sells for $750. Given the GX-10’s features, it’s a bargain.
A bit on the bulky side, this DSLR still feels solid and comfortable in the hand, and has controls that are well placed for productive photography. I found that my index finger and thumb fell naturally in the right places for using the two setting-selector dials (one is in front of the shutter trigger; the other is on the back of the camera where the end of your thumb rests). The GX-10 looks and feels like it’s ready for rugged use, with a solid body and seals on its battery, media, and I/O port doors. I still wouldn’t take it into rough weather, though, because it has no seals where the lens attaches to the body.
I found only one truly irritating feature with the GX-10’s design: The latches for the battery and SD Card media doors are small, fold-out twist locks. Turning these tiny and somewhat sharp lock tabs with my fingertips was actually painful.
In some ways, the GX-10 is a combination of old and new. Unlike nearly every other consumer DSLR currently on the market, it has no special scene modes (such as action shooting, scenic, beach and snow, portrait, and so on). On the other hand, its dedicated RAW button is unique. If you’re shooting JPEGs and want to quickly switch to a higher-quality RAW image, you simply press the button. The camera will then take the shot in both RAW and JPEG formats. Press the button a second time and you’re back to just JPEG mode.
Another enlightened feature is the stop-down button next to the shutter release (it’s actually a dial that also turns the camera on and off). In one mode, it performs the traditional function of manually stopping down the lens aperture so that you can check your focus throughout the scene (in other words, the depth of field). In the second mode, it displays a preview of your photo on the camera’s 2.5-inch color LCD by taking the shot, but not recording it to the SD Card media. It saves you the trouble of taking a series of pictures and then deleting them until you get it right.
Other highlights include a flexible system for limiting the automatic ISO’s top and bottom range; an extended automatic bracketing feature that lets you pick white balance, contrast, saturation, or sharpness as parameters (this is much more than what you get with most other DSLRs); and a multi-exposure control that lets you overlay one or more images on top of another, in camera, without overexposing the final composite photo.
Mac users will probably want to look elsewhere: The capable RAW processing and image editing applications that Samsung provides are Windows only. You can get an Adobe Photoshop plug-in (Camera Raw 4.3) that supports the RAW format, but you’ll need either Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop Elements, or an image-editing application that recognizes Photoshop plug-ins.
I was generally pleased with test shots produced by the GX-10. They were a little underexposed in many cases, but that’s fairly common with digital SLRs. Colors were accurate and nicely saturated. In shots with extreme contrast, the GX-10 did a good job of maintaining shadow details. My one area of concern was image sharpness: Most shots, when viewed on screen at 100 percent magnification, looked noticeably softer than similar shots taken with aSony Alpha DSLR-A700and aPanasonic DMC-L10Kthat I reviewed at the same time. The PC World Test Center’s formal evaluation had similar findings–the GX-10 ranked third from the bottom among models we’ve tested for image sharpness.
Nevertheless, the GX-10 gives you a lot for the money, even if it is a bit behind the curve in the latest DSLR technical advances. It has the same features as some other consumer SLRs, but the controls are not nearly as extensive, flexible, and nicely designed as, say, those on the Sony A700. Nevertheless, the GX-10 gives you a wealth of options, and as a Pentax in disguise, the selection of lenses available is relatively good.
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Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) — Eastman Kodak Co., the photography company remaking itself in the digital age, said revenue may rise as much as 2 percent this year as sales of electronic cameras and printers compensate for a drop in film demand.
Revenue was projected to rise to $10.4 billion from $10.3 billion, the average of six analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey, after a 22 percent drop in 2007. Digital camera and printer sales will increase as much as 10 percent while traditional film may fall 14 percent, Rochester, New York-based Kodak said in a statement. Shares rose in New York trading.
Chief Executive Officer Antonio Perez said today he will bring out 50 percent more digital products than last year. Demand for inkjet printers, one of the devices unveiled in 2007, may double to triple. Perez said he wants to convince investors that the four-year restructuring he concluded in December will create a lasting flow of revenue from accessories and supplies.
“He’s done a good job of fixing some bad parts,” said Rusty Robinson, president of Brentwood, Tennessee-based Robinson Investment Group, who said he is considering adding to his firm’s 24,000 shares of Kodak. “He’s going to have to accelerate getting out of the low-margin businesses. Ten-dollar ink cartridge refills is the way to go.”
Kodak rose 63 cents to $19.29 at 4:02 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock lost 28 percent in the past 12 months.
Forecasts
Sales for 2008 will be little-changed or rise as much as 2 percent and earnings from continuing operations will be $250 million to $275 million, the company said, without providing a per-share forecast. In 2007, Kodak posted a loss from continuing operations of $205 million, or 71 cents a share, and net income of $676 million, or $2.35 a share.
Perez has spent $3.4 billion on the transformation and cut 28,000 jobs since 2004 to focus on digital products instead of traditional film and processing supplies. Restructuring costs may reach $150 million this year, the company said Jan. 28.
Kodak plans to boost digital-product introduction by more than 50 percent from last year, Perez told investors and analysts at a meeting today in New York. That includes new additions to the inkjet line, commercial printing and digital cameras that produce clearer pictures in low light.
The company expects 70 percent of revenue and 60 percent of profit to come from digital products, Perez said. “We have a proven ability to create digital products,” he said. “We are No. 1 or No. 3 in market share in all of our businesses.”
Printer Supplies
Consumers buying Kodak’s inkjet printers are buying three times as many refill cartridges as those for competing devices, and printing twice as much, Chief Operating Officer Phil Faraci said. Revenue from the ink and supplies is forecast to match that from the hardware by 2011, he said.
While the traditional film sales will decline 12 percent to 14 percent this year, Perez said investors are underestimating the value of that business. Asia and Latin America are leading demand for paper and film products, and most television and movie production hasn’t switch to digital media.
“We are signing multi-year contracts with customers who want film products,” Perez said. “Why you don’t believe us that this business will be there for the next 10 years, I don’t know.”
Kodak cut costs in the film business last year, said Shannon Cross, an analyst with Cross Research in Livingston, New Jersey, who rates Kodak a “sell.”
“Now we’ll see how margins hold up as volume declines,” Cross said.
The photography company said today it expects to generate $400 million to $500 million in cash before dividends and other items this year, with a target of $1 billion a year by the end of 2011. Perez plans to use the money to invest in products this year, and may consider acquisitions, though he declined to name potential targets.
Kodak is rated below investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s. With the company’s progress, that may change, one investor said.
“I see Kodak as a `AAA’ company; it will be investment grade again,” said Joseph Kosinsky, president of the New York- based Joseph Kosinsky Inc. “They’ve done all the hard things.”
Kosinsky bought a stake in Kodak when the stock was trading near $24, and plans to add to his position. He declined to say how much he owns.
To contact the reporter on this story: Courtney Dentch in New York at cdentch1@bloomberg.net .
Thursday, 10 January 2008 10:50 GMT
Press Release:
No. 1 Selling Consumer Photo-Editing Software Combines Power and Simplicity* SAN JOSE, Calif. — Jan. 10, 2008 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the highly anticipated Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 6 software for Macintosh® is now available for pre-order at www.adobe.com/go/buyphotoshop_elements_mac. Photoshop Elements 6 software for Mac® combines power and simplicity so consumers at all experience levels can easily achieve outstanding results with their digital photos. In advance of its early Q2 2008 ship date, the Macintosh community will get its first peek at the new product features during the Macworld Conference & Expo, Jan. 14-17, 2008 in San Francisco (Booth #S1302).
“We’re excited to showcase a brand new version of Photoshop Elements at Macworld,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “In this release, we’ve focused on going beyond the basics to make everyday and advanced tasks even easier to achieve. Photoshop Elements 6 for Macintosh allows people to organize and find photos quickly, unleash powerful editing tricks without any heavy lifting, and creatively share photos that give them all the bragging rights.”
Make Photos Look Their Best
Photoshop Elements 6 software helps photo enthusiasts achieve desired results quickly and easily. New features based on proprietary Photomerge® technology let users easily combine the best facial expressions and body language from a series of shots to create a single, perfect group shot. The new Quick Selection Tool reduces a once time-consuming select-and-adjust task to a single click. Photographers - beginner to expert - can choose from one of three edit modes, each geared toward a different experience level. A new Guided Edit mode helps walk users through the steps of improving a photo. Photoshop Elements 6 software streamlines editing with clean, uncluttered screens that draw focus to the photos, with new tabs providing simple access to the many capabilities of the program. Additional enhancements include an improved conversion tool that dramatically converts color images into elegant, nuanced black-and-whites.
Create and Share Photos in Fun, Unique WaysPhotoshop Elements 6 software offers creative options to tell stories in fun and engaging ways. Customizable layouts let users create scrapbook pages, photo books, greeting cards and burn to CD/DVD for high impact sharing which requires no previous experience. Additional sharing options include ordering prints, creating personal online albums for sharing photo creations on the web, printing photos into real U.S. postage stamps, and showcasing creations on a CEIVA Digital Photo Frame™.
Pricing and AvailabilityAdobe Photoshop Elements 6 for Macintosh will run on Leopard, (Mac OS X v 10.5), as well as previous versions of Mac OS X starting with 10.4.8., and is immediately available for pre-order at www.adobe.com/go/buyphotoshop_elements_mac for an estimated street price of US$89.99. The software will later be available at Amazon.com, or from one of the following retailers: Apple Stores, Best Buy, Staples, Costco.com, Fry’s, Circuit City, Microcenter, J&R, Buy.com and NewEgg.com. Information about other language versions, as well as pricing, upgrade and support policies for other countries is available on www.adobe.com/go/photoshopelmac
*Source: The NPD Group / Retail Tracking Service (April 2002 to November 2007) based on units sold.
Pre-PMA 2008: In just over two weeks the most important photography trade show of the year will kick off. The Photo Marketing Association show begins in Las Vegas on 31st January and will open the floodgates on a raft of new digital cameras and other digital photography related products. So that you can keep up to date with his growing list of new products we have enabled our show report and new product index which will also provide direct access to our live ‘from the show floor’ reports as they happen. We’ve also added a little preview / predictions list. Bookmark our show report page or subscribe to our PMA 2008 RSS feeds
PMA 2008 preview / predictions / hopes
New digital SLRs - We’re likely to see several new DSLR announcements at this PMA, last PMA saw four new DSLRs, I’d expect to see at least this many and probably a couple more. I’m pretty confident that 2008 will go down as the year of the digital SLR with perhaps up to 25 new DSLRs over the course of the year.
HD video - One of the ‘buzz words’ at this years PMA will likely be improved video capture capability in digital cameras, with many models achieving 720p and some 1080i/p. I’m also hopeful that some manufacturers will embrace a better video compression codec such as AVCHD which will mean more than a few seconds on a 1 GB card. We’d also like to see more adoption of digital (HDMI) output to avoid the cost (and fuss) of component video cables.
Bigger zoom - “Bigger, better, more” will be the mantra when it comes to zoom on compact ‘bridge cameras’ this year, expect to see zoom ranges beyond 500 mm equiv. and starting at a wide 28 mm equiv. Again, another attempt to attach a ‘big number’ to sell something, we can’t help wondering what optical compromises have to be made to build such lenses.
Frames per second - Casio’s EX-F1 may well be a glimpse into the next ‘unique selling point’, the ability to shoot continuously at very high frame rates (the F1 can do 60 fps at six megapixels; full resolution). In this model at least this tech is enabled by the Sony IMX017CQE CMOS sensor.
CMOS in compacts - This prediction is a bit more left-field, I won’t be putting any money on it in the Vegas Casinos, however it won’t be “before time” if we see more compact cameras featuring CMOS sensors with some of the advantages they bring (one of the biggest issues for CMOS at small sensor sizes is fill factor, which could mean lower pixel counts on such models).
Even bigger storage cards - In response to the increased numbers of ’solid state’ camcorders which record directly to flash media such as SD cards plus the new digital cameras with HD video support it’s likely that the memory companies will announce larger cards (some of which have been announced at CES).
Fewer pixels please (we care about image quality) - It’s a straightforward prediction that we’ll see fourteen megapixel compacts at PMA, which in our opinion will be yet another step back for image quality. Other than subtle improvements in image processing overall image quality in compact digital cameras hasn’t improved since the six megapixel era, to make things worse the marketeers have decided that high sensitivity will sell compact cameras. There’s simply no worse combination than tiny photosites and high gain. So we’d be happy to pat any manufacturer on the back who delivers improvements in overall image quality without the obvious step in megapixel count (great high ISO performance will be a natural consequence of larger photosites and/or larger sensors).
Shelf stuffing - Lastly, please, lets move away from the practice of ’shelf stuffing’. That is producing four or five product variations on the exact same model with very subtle differences (such as LCD screen size) with the intention of getting more shelf space for the brand. It’s counter productive as it only leads to confuse the consumer and in these days of online purchasing the gains of such practices must surely be questionable
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