Digital Shutters

The Tamron User Photo Gallery is offering users of its lenses the chance to share their images with other photo enthusiasts all over the world, gain exposure, rate each other’s work and get technical help too along the way. It’s some kind of a community of photographers to critique each other’s pictures and exchange how-to tips. You may view it through tamron.com. Click on Photographic Lenses and then click on “Share Your Photos� to access the gallery.

“The new Photo Sharing area of our website allows users to get critical feedback on their images and provides a great place for users to find inspiration. Studying what your peers are doing with the very same equipment you own is an excellent way to push your creativity to new levels,� says Stacie Errera, Chief Marketing Officer of Tamron USA, Inc.

However, images to be uploaded are limited to only 95K. That file size will only allow you to upload thumbnail images, like this photo above. How do you hope to critique a photo that small? Even a magnifying glass would be of no help here. Perhaps Tamron could reconsider this and allow a more realistic file size. 95K, are you serious?

[Site: Tamron.com]
[Via: PiranhaDailyNews.com]

tamron, lenses, user, photo, gallery, errera

Here’s a $10 tripod you can use from Argraph Corp. They call this the Samigon Bottle-Top Pod. Of course “pod� is a few miles away from “tripod� if you consult Mr. Webster. But never mind the name.

I think it’s quite useful in parties or some other gatherings where there are plenty of bottles; and not just as a conversation starter, mind you. I mean you can actually use it as a tripod.

Just screw it into the tripod thread of your compact digicam (using it with an SLR camera might be too much of a balancing act), then place it on top of any bottle – even beer bottles – and you have a tripod. It has a built-in ball head too, so you can angle your camera to take a good shot.

Quite handy.

[Via: CameraTown.com]

argraph, samigon, bottle-top, tripod, camera

There is a mouse out there which looks different and pretty exciting, that the Bluetooth SIG (Special Interest Group) chose recently as “Best of CES.�

It looks cool and small and so thin it fits into the PC-card slot of your laptop. And it’s really meant to be there because it’s where it gets its power from. It recharges inside the PC-card slot.

The MoGo Mouse is made by Newton Peripherals. The Bluetooth SIG gave it first place in the Human Interface Design segment as one of the most innovative and consumer-friendly new Bluetooth-enabled products.

Watch their MoGoMercial, which, in itself, is also deserving of an award.

[Site: MoGoMouse]

mogo, mouse, bluetooth, best, ces, newton, peripherals

How did we get through life without a talking photo album? Darn, this is cool. With Valentine’s up ahead, this gives me a new way to say “I Love You� to my sweetheart. How do I love thee? Let me vocalize the ways…

RedSave.com says it’s easy to use: just insert a photo into the album, press the record button and then say a 10-second voice message. To hear it, just press the Play button. Cool.

It’s got pages for 24 photo inserts so you can say your sweet nothings 24 times. The digitally recorded messages will stay with your photos forever, or until recorded over. It’s also a great way to remember where or when they were taken, in case you’ve forgotten how to write on the backside of photos.

[Via: RedSave.com]

red, talking, photo, album, digital, voice

King Jim has announced its DP01-65-WG digital photo frame featuring built-in stereo speakers allowing the user to play photo slideshows with full stereo music. It measures 200 x 170 x 73mm and weighs a hefty 1.2kg.

Its 6.5� LCD screen has a resolution of 320 x 234 pixels and supports JPEG and BMP pictures as well as the MPEG1 format. The photo frame has an internal memory of 128MB and accepts SC memory cards up to 2GB. Its built-in USB terminal allows inputs from USB flash memory sticks.

The King Jim digital photo frame will be in stores starting February 23 with an expected price tag of $260.

[Via: FarEastGizmos.com]

king jim, digital, photo, frame, dp01-65-wg

The Royal Photographic Society in London is inviting entries for the 150th year of the Society’s International Print Competition. The contest is open to amateurs, students and professional photographers all over the world. Deadline is on March 23, 2007.

Over 120 prints will be selected and one Gold, two Silver and three Bronze medals will be awarded. There will be a special Gold award for young photographers under 25 years of age this year, and the prize will include an Olympus E400 DSLR.

The Royal Photographic Society is the oldest photographic society in the world, founded in 1853 to promote the art and science of photography.

[Via: DPNow.com]
Photo: Gabriel O’Shaughnessy ARPS

royal, photographic, society, print, competition

Pentax has announced a rebates promo, from January 10 through March 27, on their DSLR kits, flash units and lenses. The rebates range from $25 to $200.

For example, you get a rebate of $200 if you buy a Pentax K110D kit complete with a P-DA 50-200mm lens and AF360FGZ Flash. Note that if you bought them separately, you’ll earn $50 for the K110D body, $50 for the lens, and $25 for the flash; a total of $125.

The Pentax smc P-D FA 100mm F2.8 Macro lens has a rebate of $100 and the Pentax P-D FA 50mm F2.8 Macro will give you back $50.

See link below for a full list.

[Via: CameraTown.com]

pentax, dslr, rebates, promo, lenses, flash units

Bummer…and bummer. The best in show according to CNET and smartest idea according to CNN at the just concluded CES 2007 was the dual-format LG BH100 high-def disc player that was supposed to be able to play both HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs.

Yes, it can and no, it can’t. It turns out that the BH100 can indeed play HD-DVDs but only play it straight away; it can’t navigate the format’s iHD interactive menus and the DVD Forum is frowning on this, Microsoft too. The BH100 can’t really play HD-DVDs the way they were intended to be played; no iHD, no HD-DVD.

After the weekend respite, perhaps LG execs can issue a public reply to this. My suggestion is for LG to just remove that HD-DVD sticker on the BH100 and solidify their stand with the Blu-ray camp and come out on top. The Blu-ray format after all appears to have the upper hand at this stage.

But my guess is that LG will play the cautious businessman and tweak the insides of its BH100 to make it comply with the HD-DVD specs. They still have time before its announced public release next month.

Oh, bummer. Wish we could have just one format for this.

[Via: BetaNews.com, CNN, CNET]

lg, bh100, blu-ray, hd-dvd, format, disc, player

Start ‘em young, as they say. And these digital cameras from Disney and Digital Blue are just the thing for your budding photographer.

These Disney-themed cameras allow children to express their creativity through real pictures, with real software for them to manipulate their creations on computers.

The kid cameras range from the $20 Disney Pix Micro that fits in the palm of a hand and can be used as a camera keychain, in colors of The Little Mermaid, Cars, and Pirates of the Caribbean, to the $80 Disney Pix Max, a 3-megapixel model that accepts additional flash memory via its SD/MMC card slot.

The Disney-themed cameras are designed for ages 9 and up, including tweeners and teens who are “old enough to know what they like…but are not buying the $250 product,� said Digital Blue Vice President of Marketing Julie Gibbons.

[Via: DigitalCameraInfo.com]

kid, camera, disney, digital blue, pix, micro, max

The 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has come and gone after hosting 2,700 companies and 140,000 attendees from all over the world on an exhibit area the size of 35 football fields.

On pre-opening day, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates keynoted the trade show with a speech about the wonders of Windows Vista. Dell chairman Michael Dell also delivered his speech on the second day, which coincided with a presentation by Apple’s Steve Jobs at another venue, the Macworld confab in San Francisco.

But the more curious keynote speeches were those by Disney CEO Robert Iger and CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves, extolling the virtues of technology and emphasizing cooperation between studios and device makers. Media giants, exemplified by Disney, used to oppose what they considered “disruptive technologies� that they cannot control from showing the studios’ movies.

Not much in the field of photography though, only one professional UV camera and sixteen new point-and-shoot models from Samsung, Fuji, Kodak, Casio, and Pentax were introduced. Kodak made a good show with their colorful new offerings.

The digital SLRs of Canon, Nikon, Sony and Sigma or any cameras from HP, Panasonic and Leica were no-shows. Only two new Epson printers made it to the show.

But the other tech gadgets were out in full force. Many shiny new things made their debuts at CES 2007. Optical media players, camcorders, cellphones, computer hardware and software, home video and audio, MP3 and portable audio, HDTVs. LCD – they were all out in force to show their mettle in the biggest electronics show on earth.

As we say goodbye to CES 2007, we look forward to another trade show two months from now: PMA 2007 of the Photo Marketing Association on March 8-11 also in Vegas. We expect a lot of new and exciting things there in the realm of digital photography.

[Via: DigitalCameraInfo, CNN]

ces, pma, 2007, consumer, electronics, gadgets, gates, jobs , dell