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Pentax has announced the Pentax K-M (or K2000, in the US), a new DSLR that will compete in the now-so-crowded entry-level market.
The camera, which is built around an image stabilized 10 megapixel sensor has been designed to be small, light and easy-to-use. The two lenses available in kits with the camera have also been re-engineered to be lighter.
Slightly different from the previous K200D, the Pentax K2000 can sport these features, in a nutshell:
- 10.2-megapixel resolution captures enough detail for poster-sized prints
- Includes 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 DA L lens and AF200FG flash
- 2.7-inch wide-view LCD panel; Shake Reduction Technology
- Dedicated, reprogrammable Help button displays information on LCD
- Capture images to SD/SDHC memory cards (not included)

The Pentax K2000 offers uncomplicated operation for new digital SLR users and family photographers seeking high-quality digital SLR photography for the first time. Combining Pentax-developed, easy-to-use Auto Picture modes as well as powerful learning functions all housed in one of the smallest, lightest camera bodies in its class, the Pentax K2000 system is ideal for digital SLR beginners. Additional features on the newest digital K2000 SLR body include a 10.2-megapixel CCD, a 2.7-inch wide-view LCD panel and an ultra-compact design that facilitates one-handed operation. The body also features the same Pentax-developed Shake Reduction technology found on more advanced K-series digital SLRs. Pentax Shake Reduction is compatible with more than 25 million Pentax lenses, and delivers sharp images even when hand-held at slower shutter speeds. The Pentax K2000 also features the powerful, Pentax-developed Auto Picture Mode, which selects from Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Action, and Night! Portrait modes to tailor the camera settings to guide and teach you about digital SLR photography.

Olympus today took advantage of the relative quiet to revamp its EVOLT digital SLRs with the Olympus Evolt E420.
The 10-megapixel camera is claimed as the smallest and lightest ever in the category and weighs just 13.4 ounces, or at least 20 percent lighter than the next-best in the class.
It also represents an improved ease of use over the earlier E-410, with both a shadow correction function and a new onscreen autofocus feature that uses the live preview LCD to mark out properly focused subjects.
The combination is said by Olympus to produce a camera that can be used like a compact point-and-shoot while still offering all the control of a full SLR.

Also new to the Olympus Evolt E420 are a larger, 2.7-inch LCD with improved color accuracy and contrast, face detection for portrait shots, and better handling of automatic white balance.
Olympus ships the camera in May, starting at $500 for a body-only version.
A more common kit version will sell for $600 with a 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 lens and should be accompanied by a more specialized, $700 edition with a fixed-focus, 25mm f/2.8 equivalent to 50mm on a conventional film camera.

We were wondering what was missing from PMA 2008 pre-announcements: Nikon!
Here comes the new Nikon D60, supposedly replaces the well-known Nikon D40X, features 10.2 MP and introduces a new anti-dust system, active d-lighting, a stop-motion recording mode and Expeed branding.
Active d-lighting helps in the area where most DSLRs this year will compete on: extended dynamic range.
The stop-motion feature - welding together single frames into a movie - is a first-ever feature as far as we know in a DSLR.

At least three new lenses: a 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, the Micro Nikkor 60mm f/2.8G ED for die-hard macro enthusiast and the PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED offering both tilt and shift movement.

Still have to sort out the number of new Coolpix cameras upcoming; the most prominent may be the P60, a 36-180mm-superzoom compact with optical viewfinder (a rarity) that replaces the Nikon Coolpix P50 losing somehow on the optical side at wide-angle (from 28mm up to 36mm).
The P60 features M exposure mode provides full control over both the aperture and shutter speed settings.

Check the Coolpix L16/L18 for budget-savy users, the S210 (8 MP), S520 (8 MP) and S550 (10 MP).
More details coming up!

Updated! Now Nikon D60 is available for pre-order!

Ok, it may not be due to PMA 2008 and the new Canon Rebel XSI we already wrote about, but now the evergreen Canon Rebel XT 8MP comes in a kit with the standard EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 Lens for as much as US$ 459.95 - a 23% saving over regular price!

PMA 2008 opens on January 31st: there’s already a host of new products, some of them unofficially introduced, a lot of web speculations and too much rumors.

Among the tech trends for 2008 we can spot for sure:

• CCDs are getting past 12/14 MP, 10 MP is now pretty commonplace, although lens quality still matters (and we mean the lenses which sometimes are part of bundle kits),

• Live View: being able to pre-view not only through the viewfinder will become common feature among DSLRs, at last,

• extended dynamic range: in a nutshell the range of luminosity the CCD is able to catch, a much better and technical explanation may be found here on CambridgeInColour.com. Many digital camera are introducing/will introduce algorithms to enhance dynamic range so we’ll have to sort out which just fits better our pictures.

Some of the new products we already know something about:

- Canon introduces EOS Rebel XSI (in Europe AKA 450D) that goes far beyond the best-seller Rebel XTi (AKA 400D) with a 12 Megapixel CCD, Live View mode, SD/SDHC card support, a 3″ display and much more: watch out for this, it’s gonna mean a lot of rock’n'roll again for Canon;
- Pentax introduces K200D and Pentax K20D: the first is an entry-level 10 MP DSLR sporting several smart features.
The Pentax K20D features Live View, raises up the ante to 14 MP (!) and extends the previous K10D with a tougher body, new lenses and (need to say?) extended dynamic range;

- Samsung presents GX-20: almost the same as Pentax’s K20D just ‘dressed’ by Samsung; aggressive pricing and kit bundling will give competitors some trouble from this prosumer DSLRs couple;
- Fujifilm announced many new compact cameras as well as the new S100fs: a high-level bridge camera (bridging compact and DSLR, that is) that takes the place for the (glorious, we still love it) Finepix S9100 (AKA S9600).
The 2/3″ CCD reaches now 11 Megapixel, focal length is now 28-400mm (previously the S9100/S9600 lens was 28-300 mm) with optical stabilizer.
Yet again the S100fs its own extended dynamic range system (more to investigate on this) and the brand new Film Simulation mode (hence the name FS) already used in the award-winning DSLR S5 Pro.
Brand new cameras are the S1000fd, self-dubbed “the smallest 12X zoom compact camera”, and the S8100fd, now with 10 MP sensor, that replaces the (still young) S8000fd.

Still many upcoming new products in the next days, both lenses, accessories and memory card.

Goin’ to Las Vegas? Check here for more info on PMA 2008.

Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera (aka EOS 400D) is now available (body only) at the bargain price of US$ 529.65, that’s 56% off its list price!

One of Canon’s best selling DSLRs ever, right after the hit Rebel XT/EOS 350D.

The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi digital camera offers an unbeatable combination of performance, ease-of-use and value.
This Digital SLR Camera has a newly designed 10.1 MP Canon CMOS sensor plus a host of new features including a 2.5-inch LCD monitor, the exclusive EOS Integrated Cleaning System featuring a Self Cleaning Sensor and Canon’s Picture Style technology, all in a lightweight, ergonomic body.
The Digital Rebel XTi is a high performance digital SLR with 10.1 Mega Pixel Canon CMOS sensor and DIGIC II Image processor.

Large 2.5-inch LCD monitor with new user interface and wide viewing angle. Fast 3 frames-per-second shooting with 27-frame burst and a 0.2 second startup time. High precision, wide area 9-point autofocus system. Picture Style settings for a broad range of control over color, contrast and sharpening.
Print/Share button featuring advanced camera direct capabilities for greater user control while direct printing. EOS Integrated Cleaning System featuring a Self Cleaning Sensor Unit Fully compatible with over 60 EF and EF-S Lenses and a wide range of EOS System accessories.

The perfect complement? Canon BG-E3 Battery Grip for EOS Digital Rebel XT Camera! Now retails U$140.17 (36% saving!) and holds up to two Canon NB-2LHbattery packs or six AA batteries.

Please note: currently, this item can be shipped only within the U.S.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1 is a digital SLR compatible with Olympus’ Four Thirds lens mount standard.
The L1 is an interesting SLR at that, with a traditional - perhaps retro - styling aesthetic.
It is based around the same 7.5 effective megapixel Live MOS image sensor that debuted in Olympus’ EVOLT E-330 digital SLR, along with the mirror box unit from that camera (which combines a quick-return mirror, viewfinder, and AE sensor). Panasonic’s proprietary Venus Engine III LSI handles the image processing, and Olympus’ Supersonic Wave Filter makes its first debut in a non-Olympus branded camera.

The Lumix DMC-L1 has a shutter speed dial on the top of the body, while a simultaneously announced Leica 14-50mm lens offers rings to control aperture, focus and lens zoom. As with the EVOLT E-330, the L1 offers a Live View function that allows images to be framed using the LCD display, regardless of whether you’re focusing automatically or manually. In addition, you can use the LCD display as a handy confirmation of focus via an enlarged view when focusing manually.

The L1 offers a 2.5″ LCD display with 207,000 pixels, at the high end of what’s available on digital SLRs at the current time. One other feature worthy of note is that the Panasonic DMC-L1 offers a Secure Digital card slot, and is compatible with the FAT32 file system - meaning that Secure Digital cards larger than 2GB are supported.

Amazon’s offer slashes by 35% the Lumix L1 its list price, from US$ 1.499 down to $968.96 with a gorgeus Leica 14-50mm Mega O.I.S. Lens!

Square Group Ltd in association with Adobe, Apple and a slew of other partners organized an Adobe Creative Suite CS3 seminar at BFI Southbank in London last Tuesday, May 15, 2007. The seminar featured presentations from both Adobe and Apple about the new features of the many applications that make up Adobe’s new crown jewel, CS3, alongside demonstrations of related products from the likes of Eizo, Wacom, Extensis, HP and G-Tech. SourceCrowd was in attendance and can bring you an exclusive report from the event.
Before the seminar, attendees were able to peruse stands with a few interesting products on show. Eizo wowed the crowd with its stunning professional quality displays like the ColorEdge CE240W sporting hardware colour calibration, 14-bit color processing and easy profiling. Extensis was showcasing two of its software products for asset management: Suitcase Fusion, a font manager to organize, categorize and activate/deactivate fonts on the fly, and Portfolio, a complete multimedia files management tool. HP was showcasing the HP B9180 Photosmart Pro Printer, an eight-tanks pigment ink powerhouse which demonstrated stunning results on some of HP’s custom papers (especially impressive were the results on canvas-textured paper). Wacom had both the A4 Intuos3 graphic tablet and the Cintiq 21UX display available for hands-on demonstrations, making precise editing of pictures a breeze. Last but not least, G-Tech had the whole range of its external high speed hard drives solution on display. The elegant silver enclosures sport the latest in eSata and Firewire connections on the G-Raid2, G-Drive 250GB External FW400/USB2, G-Mini and G-Safe, with high-end fibre-channel RAID solutions also available in the G-Speed models.

Then it was finally time to immerse into the presentation!

The first speaker was Richard West, Apple Business Development Manager for the UK and Ireland. He started by stressing how important it is, in a multimedia communicational landscape, to put to good use the plethora of different ways that businesses have to reach clients, by customizing communications to target and focus on different markets. Adobe Creative Suite CS3, he argued, is the tool of choice to do so, allowing the use of a single creative process for multiple disciplines through its multiplicity of applications. Since output is so important to the designers and developers who use CS3, he then went on to demonstrate how colour calibration devices (in this case, the Pantone Huey Pro MEU113) can work in tandem with OS X ColorSync Utility (found in the Applications>Utilities folder) to prevent disparity between screen output versus print/web output. In particular he showed how it is possible to compare colour spaces graphically, and onscreen proofing of different colour spaces just by dragging and dropping images on the application. Microsoft’s Windows has “borrowed” the same functionality for its latest OS, implemented in Vista under the name Windows Colour System (located in the Control Panel).

Stay tuned for the second part of our report - coming soon!

TIPA (Technical Image Press Association), a consortium of Europe’s leading photography magazines, has today announced its annual awards, dubbed as the European ‘Oscars’ of the Photo Imaging Industry. The prestigious recognitions are given to products excelling in a number of categories, from consumer point&shoot cameras to DSLRs, plus related software, printers and accessories.

Nikon has once again picked up the Best Entry Level DSLR award, with the Nikon D40x 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera following last year’s winner D50. SourceCrowd had reported about the introduction of the new Nikon here.

A great recognition in the Best Photo Software category goes to Apple Aperture 1.5, especially since a lot of criticism had been leveled at the 1.0 version of the pro application. Aperture is a complete workflow and image management app with Apple’s trademark cool design and ease of use, and has now reached full maturity with the update to 1.5. It follows in the path of past winners like Adobe’s Photoshop.

As part of the ongoing celebrations for the 20th Anniversary of its famous EOS Camera System, Canon is set to launch a slew of rebates on some of its flagship products.

The cash back offer is available starting April 1st, 2007 through to June 30th, 2007 and involves a long list of camera bodies, lenses and flashguns with discounts ranging from EURO15-200 (GBP10-130) in Europe (at the time of this writing, no information has been posted on the Canon USA website).

Here is the complete list of the products involved in the Anniversary offer:

• Canon EOS 5D
• Canon EOS 30D
• EOS 400D / Rebel XTi
• Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
• Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM
• EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM
• EF 300mm f/4L IS USM
• EF 180 mm f/3.5L Macro USM
• EF 24mm f/1.4L USM
• EF 35mm f/1.4L USM
• Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
• EF 70-200mm f/4L USM
• EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
• EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM
• EF 135mm f/2L USM
• EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
• EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM
• EF-S 17mm - 85mm f/4.0-5.6 USM IS
• EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
• EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
• MR-14EX Macro Ring Lite
• EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM
• EF 50mm f1.4 USM
• Canon EF 1.4X II Extender
• Canon 430EX Speedlite Flash

For details of the cash back deals and the full terms and conditions to take advantage of this offer, click the following link and select your country:

• Canon Europe Offer
  

Nikon D40X: an excellent update to Nikon’s best-selling D40 (actually an upgrade!).

For less than USD 800 you get a handy DSLR sporting a 10 MPixel-resolution DX-format CCD with Color Matrix 3D exposure metering, speeds up to 3fps, a 2.5″ LCD and much more.