Sony Announces Plans To Increase CMOS Sensor Production

In an obvious response to the recent announcement by Canon that the company will begin developing CMOS sensors for its digital point-and-shoot cameras, Sony has announced similar plans and cameras with Sony-made CMOS sensors should be available in the near future.

Official Company Press Release
Tokyo, Japan - Sony Corporation has announced that it would invest approximately 60 billion JPY in Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corporation's Kumamoto Technology Center (Kumamoto TEC) Fab 2 facility, to extend clean room facilities by 5,000m² and reinforce image sensor fabrication capacity. This investment will take place from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal 2009.

Sony is positioning image sensors as a key focus area of its semiconductor business. Through the reinforcement of this facility, Sony will strengthen supply and provide the platform for further image sensor business growth.

Kumamoto TEC has continued to expand its operations as Sony's principle facility for the fabrication of imaging devices, such as the CCDs, CMOS sensors and micro-display devices that are Sony's strengths. In particular, demand for CMOS sensors has demonstrated rapid growth in recent years. In view of this, Sony is enhancing production operations for this market, with mass production having already commenced at Fab 2's existing 5,000m² facility in Spring this year.

Over the next three years, Sony will continue to strengthen its CMOS sensor manufacturing operations to provide growth markets such as mobile phones and digital still cameras with CMOS sensors that combine high image quality with advanced processing speeds.

Garden Photographer Of The Year 2008 Contest

The Garden Photographer of the Year competition has issued an international call for entries in its 2008 contest. Amateur and professional photographers can submit single images or portfolios to the competition until January 31, 2008. The top 100 images selected by a panel of judges will be exhibited at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, from May to September 2008, alongside the images of established garden and landscape photographers.

Prizes that have not yet been announced will be awarded to a winner and two runners up for both single images and portfolios. A small fee is required to enter, and photographs and portfolios may be submitted in the following categories:

My Garden
Garden Views
Plant Portrait
Life in the Garden
Trees

Photographers under the age of 16 can enter their work for free to compete for the Young Garden Photographer of the Year award. In addition, entries received before July 31, 2007 will be judged in a preliminary competition that will award ten winners a copy of the recently published book The Art of Flower and Garden Photography, by Clive Nichols.

Further details on the Garden Photographer of the Year 2008 contest are available at the competition's Web site.
Provided by Aimee Baldridge of popphoto.com

Sharpics Provides New Compact Studio Light Kits

Sharpics, Inc., a leading source for product photography, today revealed its line of enhanced Studio Lighting Kits, designed to offer cost-effective and easy-to-use solutions for achieving professional product photography images.

Sharpics' Compact Studio Light Kit (model LKT-92) and Clamp-on Overhead Light (model CLK-9) are built to ensure accurate product photography and bring out the true colors of the particular object being photographed. Sharpics' compact designs deliver ideal lighting placement for tabletop photography.

The company is proud to announce that it will also include two compact 30-watt fluorescent bulbs with the LKT-92 lighting kit, which provide the equivalent to a 240-watt incandescent bulb. The CLK-9 Overhead Light will feature one bulb. The compact fluorescent bulbs use 75 to 80 percent less power than equivalent incandescent bulbs, offering energy-efficiency, cooler temperature and longevity. The addition of these 'daylight-balanced' bulbs will also offer customers the ability to achieve lighting effects comparable to natural daylight.

"We understand that working under the heat of strong lights to achieve the perfect photo can be exhausting and uncomfortable," said Danica Mazon, co-founder of Sharpics. "We're thrilled to introduce the benefits of energy-efficient light bulbs to customers through our new lighting kits --which will allow for a much more pleasant experience especially when working with tabletop applications or in a small space like a home office. Our customers will now be able to easily adjust their lighting angles when working, without the fear of burning themselves!"

Compact Studio Light Kit
The $129.95 compact studio light kit includes two mini studio lights, designed for applications such as tabletop photography.

Features: Two compact light stands Two 30-watt fluorescent bulbs, Color Temp. 5000K 2-section column with flip grip adjusts from 12" to 18" Two 9" reflectors with adjustable ball bracket On/off switch and 7-ft cord Each light fixture is rated 120V, 250 watts maximum.

Clamp-on Overhead Light
Sharpics' $89.95 Clamp-on Overhead Light extends product photography capabilities to include overhead lighting effects.

Features: 2" clamp with molded knob. One 30-watt fluorescent bulb, Color Temp. 5000K 2-section vertical column and 2-section horizontal column with twist lock. 9" reflector with adjustable ball bracket. On/off switch and 7-ft cord. Rated 120V, 250 watts maximum.

Sharpics is also the creator of the D-Flector -- a patent-pending portable photo studio that quickly unfolds into a tabletop background stand to support the product photography needs of everyone from professional to novice photographers. The product is ideal for individuals to easily create high-quality product images needed for selling items via the Internet, designing print catalogs, marketing and promotional materials, art projects, etc. The D-Flector has also proven to be helpful for documenting items for insurance claims, appraisals, home and office inventories or estate planning.

Product Availability
Sharpics' lighting products are available for purchase online at sharpics.com and in a variety of retail camera stores.

Adobe Photoshop Users Encouraged To Take Survey

Inform the Adobe Photoshop engineering team if any features within the image editing application need to be faster.

Adobe Photoshop Product Manager John Nack has just posted a link to the Photoshop engineering team's performance survey. The short survey seeks to provide one of those "reality checks to make sure we're focusing on the right areas," according to Nack.

In a recent blog entry, Nack quotes performance expert Adam Jerugim, who explains, "The survey is an opportunity for users to give us -- the Photoshop engineering team -- specific feedback that we can then use to make PS a better and more productive tool for everyone."To take the survey, visit the Photoshop Performance Survey.

Vertus Releases Fluid Mask 3 Upgrade

Vertus has announced the official release of Fluid Mask 3 for both MacIntosh and Windows (XP and Vista) operating systems for an SRP of $239.00.

This professional masking and separation tool is a Photoshop plug-in, but can now also be utilized as a stand-alone application.

Read more about this new update on popphoto.com.

Macworld Reviews Epson Stylus Photo 1400 Printer

Rick LePage from Macworld.com reviews the new Epson Stylus Photo 1400 ink jet printer. Here is an excerpt.

… The USB-based printer sets up in a jiffy. The six ink cartridges (black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, and light magenta) snap into place, and a single CD installs the print driver, CD-printing software, and manual. A second disc includes Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for the Mac, a $100 value.

Print quality is Epson’s hallmark with the Stylus Photo line, and the 1400 doesn’t disappoint. I printed test pages in Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, and Apple’s iPhoto and Aperture, and the prints were all top notch. Photos on both glossy- and matte-finish papers showed bright, true-to-life colors, with excellent shadow detail, and resistance to both scratches and moisture. And, while the 1400 really is designed as a photo printer, you can print very good quality text documents too, which makes it serviceable as a general-purpose printer…

Read the entire review on macworld.com.

Ricoh Launches New 7MP Caplio RR750

Ricoh has launched its new Caplio RR750 a new addition to the company’s point-and-shoot digicam line. The 7.1MP camera adds increased LCD screen resolution, while retaining many features from previous Ricoh cameras. The Ricoh RR750 borrows most of its features from the earlier RR730, including its 7.1MP sensor. The RR750 also shares the 3x optical zoom and 2.5-inch LCD monitor size. The updated RR750, however, increases screen resolution to 153,600 pixels, up from 115,000 pixels on the RR730.

The new RR750 offers six scene modes . The new point-and-shoot also has a macro mode for shooting subjects as close as 6cm, a slight downgrade from the 5cm macro mode of the RR730.

The Ricoh RR750 also carries 32MB of internal memory, and is compatible with SD media. The camera accepts AA batteries. Pricing for the RR750 has not yet been announced.

Canon Plans CMOS Sensors For Digital P&S Cameras

With plans to open a new manufacturing plant in Japan, Canon Inc. will invest 55 billion yen ($451 million) to double CMOS production, according to a recent Reuters report. With the increased image sensor production, the digital camera manufacturer will broaden its CMOS implementation by installing the chip into, not just DSLRs, but also into its compact cameras, according to Reuters.

Traditionally, Canon and other digital camera manufacturers have used CCD (charge-coupled device) sensors in compact and point-and-shoot models; however, it appears Canon is now taking strides to reap the benefits of CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductors) chips, such as cheaper manufacturing costs and power efficiency, in its compacts models.

The company plans to produce 3 million CMOS chips a year.

In May, Canon began construction on the factory in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo, Japan. The manufacturer plans to open the CMOS plant in July 2008.