Tech News December 2005

Logitech G5 Laser Mouse @ Pro-Clockers
Pro-Clockers :: Monday, December 05, 2005

Quote: Logitech sits right at the head of the class when it comes to producing all kinds of input devices. From web cams to keyboards there is no denying their dominance in this market. Chances are in your computer experiences you have used a product or two from them. Myself, I am a huge Logitech fan, currently having three mice MX300, MX518 and a MX700. Today Logitech was nice enough to send me one of their newest mouse, the G5 Laser mouse. Will it live up to my trusty MX518? We will see.

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Guide: Building a Light Box @ GideonTech.com
GideonTech :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“Just about everyone has a digital camera in their possession, or has access to one. Most of these cameras are point and shoot, which offer good pictures for every day affairs. However, what happens if you need something a bit more on the professional side? For example, an image for a presentation or slide show. To get that quality feel without spending a fortune on professional photography equipment, you’ll need some quality light settings. We’re going to show you how to make yourself a homemade light box to get that look you need.”

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Sharkoon Xurface Gaming Pad Review
OCIA :: Monday, December 05, 2005

“I used an Xraypad Thunder 8 with dual surfaces for comparison against the Xurface — although the Xurface’s surface was in between the ‘smooth’ and ‘rough’ sides of the Thunder 8, I have to say that I like the Xurface better. The other pad’s surfaces were either too smooth or too rough; the Xurface is a nice medium.”

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Exclusive: Motorola SLVR L6 Cell Phone Review @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“The Motorola RAZR was perhaps one of the most successful flip phones ever and it sold more than all the PDAs in the world put together. If you wanted to show off, this was the phone of choice and having it perhaps increased your “coolness” quotient by a factor of 10. With the L6, however, Motorola is trying to do the same, but for the candy bar phone market.”

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Bluetake Bluetooth Mini Mouse
GideonTech :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“Wired mice are always getting tangled and just in the way of everything. Not so much of a pain for a PC, but on a laptop, it just doesn’t make the laptop all that portable and convenient.

Today we have a wireless offering from Bluetake in the form of a mini mouse. Let’s see how simple it is to set up our wireless bluetooth device. ”

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Nokia 9300i Smartphone @ CoolTechZone.com
CoolTechZone :: Monday, December 05, 2005
“Nokia’s 9xxx series has been one of the best smartphone product lines in the market. It’s truly a smartphone and not just one of the regular Java based phones with an IQ lower than their battery life. Even though it might be a tad bulky, the functionality is more or less adequate.”

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Shooting Color for Purpose
DT & G Magazine :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

What do you do with so many products and such a low budget? You gang products together, of course — and call upon a professional — in this case, my good friend Hubert Gentry of Gentry Photography. In all the shoots, most of the lighting came from a single Paul Buff softbox strobe. We didn’t have time to futz around with lighting. There was also house lighting for ambient fill. The session was about 2.5 hours and cost a total of just under $400, including a dozen rolls of 2.25 color transparency film. I set up the shots, and Hubert came along behind me to shoot them while I set up the next shot.

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Linksys courts Linux hackers with WRT54G”L”
Linux Devices :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

The Linux flavor of the WRT54G is still in production, despite newer VxWorks-based version: Good news for the community of hackers, developers, and experimenters who rely on the Linksys WRT54G to power their projects: while the product sold under this model number will no longer use the Linux operating system as its basis, Linksys has created an offshoot model that will continue down the Linux path under the name WRT54GL.

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http://www.designtalkboard.com/design-reviews.php
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

Adobe Photoshop has become the image editor of choice for graphics professionals. Few designers would argue that its position as the primary bitmap editing tool is rightly at the top of the pile. But this does not mean that there are no other choices for designers who can’t, or don’t want to, use Photoshop.

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http://www.designtalkboard.com/design-news/apple-mouse.php
Design Talk Board :: Sunday, December 04, 2005

After years of sticking with the one button mouse, Apple has finally announced the release of its own branded multi-button mouse. Apple claim that the mouse was designed specifically to work with their new operating system, OS X 10.4 Tiger.

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Olympus Stylus 800/mju Digital 800
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has today announced the first 8 million pixel camera in the Stylus range (mju Digital). The Stylus 800, which is available in silver or dark blue, remains weatherproof like its predecessors and now offers new Bright Capture technology, which optimises the camera’s setting in certain scene modes and brightens the image in the 2.5-inch LCD in low light for easier composition. It also boasts a built-in Guide Function, which shows the recommended use of various functions on the LCD. Other features include 19 scene modes, a 3x optical zoom, 3cm macro mode and 4 fps continuous shooting. It will be available in July for an estimated street price of £350.

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Olympus E-500 EVOLT Review
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Our full in-depth review of the new Olympus E-500 EVOLT digital SLR. Announced just three weeks ago the E-500 is Olympus’s latest Four Thirds system digital SLR, unlike the E-300 it has a more traditional top mounted pentaprism viewfinder and body design. The E-500 is the lightest digital SLR on the market yet has a robust feel and comfortable grip, it also offers a wide range of manual controls and custom features. The E-500’s eight megapixel Kodak CCD is essentially the same as that found in the E-300 but Olympus has made some improvements to noise reduction. Come in to see how the E-500 performed and how it compares to the competition.

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Olympus FE-100 and FE-110
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

check it outIf you’re looking for something simple and easy to use then consider Olympus’s new additions to the FE range. The five megapixel FE-110 and the four megapixel FE-100 are ‘ideal starter cameras’ and each button delivers one function and doesn’t open up a whole host of menu options to confuse the uninitiated. They also feature the obligatory movie mode, macro function and have a 1.5-inch LCD screen. The Olympus FE-100 is priced around $149.99 (£120) and will be available in September and the FE-110 is priced around $199.99 (£150) and will be available in October.

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Olympus E-500 (EVOLT)
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has today announced a new Four Thirds System digital SLR, the E-500 (to be know in North America as the ‘Olympus EVOLT E-500’). The E-500 has a much more traditional SLR appearance than the E-300, it features the same eight megapixel 4/3 size CCD but has a range of improvements and new features including a new metering sensor, new high ISO noise filter, a 2.5″ LCD monitor and better control system. From a features and flexibility point of view the E-500 is clearly a step above the competition. Better news still is that the E-500 appears to breaks new ground in terms of value, the E-500 + 14-45 mm lens kit has an estimated street price of just US$799.

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Pentax DA Fish-Eye 10-17mm lens
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Pentax has announced its first DA Fish-Eye ED IF lens. The optic has a focal length of 10-17mm and aperture of F3.5-4.5. The lens is designed exclusively for use with the Pentax *ist D series and will capture fish-eye imagery with a 180 degree angle of view. The image circle of the lens will match the image recording area (23.5mm x 15.7mm) of the *ist D series to ensure precise optical performance ideally suited to the camera’s digital imaging characteristics. The lens will ship in January 2006 for around $579.95

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Olympus Zuiko Digital Fish Eye lens
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has announced a new 8mm F 3.5 Zuiko Digital fisheye lens for its E-system digital SLRs offering a 180 degree angle of view. The lens has a special multi-layer coating designed to reduce susceptibility to ghosting and flaring and its ED element will help keep chromatic aberration to a minimum. It also offers 2 cm macro mode. The optional PPO-EO4 underwater lens port will allow you to take ultra-wideangle pictures 40 meters under the water’s surface. It will be available in January 2006 at a price yet to be set.

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Olympus Stylus 600
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has today announced the six megapixel Stylus 600 with BrightCapture technology, which enables photographers to frame live pictures more easily in low light conditions as the monitor offers three times the contrast of normal LCDs. The Stylus 600 is one of Olympus’s weatherproof models and is available in range of colors to match your outfit – navy blue, ruby red or arctic silver. It also boasts a real time histogram plus special editing functions such as red-eye-fix, adjust brightness and insert frame and/or title. The Stylus 600 will be available from late September at a price around $299.99 (£220).

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Olympus Camedia D-435 / C-180
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has today announced the five megapixel Camedia D-435 (C-180). Aimed at first time digital camera users, the fixed lens D-435 has a built-in Help Guide that provides a brief description of each function and shooting mode. Despite only having a 1.5-inch LCD, Olympus has decided against the inclusion of an optical viewfinder and has, rather bizarrely, positioned the on/off switch on the front of the camera. It will be available in August priced US$169.99 (approx. €135.52).

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Olympus to cut camera production costs
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus is to cut production for digital camera costs by 30% due to fierce competition, reports Bloomberg. The news follows earlier announcements that Olympus, the world’s fourth largest camera manufacturer, is to cut 4,000 jobs, 13% of its global workforce. The long term aim is to recover some profit after Olympus reported its first ever annual loss last month. The job cuts will save the company around ¥3 bn. Bloomberg says Olympus expects shipments of digital cameras to rise from 8.9m to 9.5m this year with the release of two SLRs aimed at pros and serious amateurs.

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Olympus SP-350 & SP-310
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has added two more cameras to go with the SP-500 ultra-zoom model; the SP-350 and SP-310. The near identical cameras offer 8.0 and 7.1 million pixels respectively, full manual control, 2.5-inch LCD (and viewfinder) plus RAW image capture. The black-bodied SP-350 offers slightly different sensitivity to the SP-310 and additionally has a hotshoe for attaching an external flash. A histogram is available in shooting and playback modes on both models. The SP-350 and SP-310 will be available in October priced $399.99 (£310) (SP-350) and $349.99 (£270).

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Pentax *istDS firmware v2.00
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Pentax has announced a firmware update for its DSLR, the *istDS. Version 2.00 incorporates many new changes including AF mode which has been added to Rec. mode, and auto sensitivity is now available in the ISO menu. There is now also an AE-L button on M in the custom menu. The firmware allows you to select the strength of the digital filters and adds Dutch and Swedish to the language options. For a full list of changes see the next page.

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http://www.dpreview.com/news/0508/05082908oly_sp500uz.asp
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has today announced a new range in its lineup with the six megapixel, 10x zoom SP-500 Ultra-Zoom. The solid looking camera offers full manual control as well as RAW capture, an electronic viewfinder, 21 scene modes and 143-area AF. It also borrows the predictive AF function found on the C-7070 WZ, which predicts the location of a moving subject at the moment the shutter closes. It also boasts a 2.5-inch LCD and 3cm macro mode. The SP-500 Ultra-Zoom will be available from October priced $399.99 (£300).

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Olympus profit falls 62%
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has reported a 62% drop in profits in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, reports the PMA daily news. In the period April-June 2004, the Japanese company made a net profit of ¥1.06 billion ($9.5 m) compared to ¥403 million ($3.6 m) in the fiscal first quarter of this year. Despite disappointing figures the company still hopes to make a net profit of ¥23 billion ($206 m) in the year to March following its first ever consolidated net loss of ¥11.8 billion ($105 m) in 2004-2005.

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Olympus Evolt E-300 underwater housing
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has announced an underwater housing for the Evolt E-300. The PT-E01 Underwater Case will protect the eight megapixel D-SLR down to a depth of 60 meters. There are also three underwater lens ports available which are compatible with four Zuiko Digital lenses as well as the PFL-E01, an underwater case for use with the FL-36 external flash unit. All underwater housings will be available in June.

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Olympus service advisory
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has now announced that the C-5050 Zoom and the C-730 Ultra Zoom are affected by defective CCDs, which have been plaguing several other manufacturers. The press release, from Olympus’s Japanese website, says that pictures may have a purple and gray color and that Olympus will repair the cameras affected from 13 October (C-5050 Zoom) and the middle of November (C-730 Ultra Zoom). For information regarding repairs outside of Japan, please contact Olympus support in your country.

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Olympus C-315 Zoom
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has announced the successor to the TIPA-winning C-310, which was only announced at PMA in February. The Olympus C-315 Zoom boasts a higher resolution at 5.1 megapixel but a slightly shorter 2.8x zoom. Looks-wise the C-315 is practically the same; 1.8-inch LCD and basic controls. Like its predecessor it’s aimed at the ‘ambitious’ beginners. It will be available at the end of July.

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Olympus ME-1 Eyecup Magnifier
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has announced a new accessory for the Four Thirds digital SLR, the E-500, in the shape of the ME-1 Eyecup Magnifier. The device increases the performance of the camera’s viewfinder by 1.2 times and is said to enable easier focusing and framing. The eyecup has two lenses and measures 40x30x12mm. It is available next month at a price yet to be confirmed and will also fit the E-300.

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Olympus SP-700
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus has today announced a 6.0 megapixel addition to its new SP series of cameras. The SP-700 squeezes all the controls on the back of the camera to one side to make way for a huge 3-inch LCD, the biggest yet on an Olympus camera. The company is hoping the ‘design-led’ SP-700 will be the camera to be seen with. The SP-700 has a special guide function for beginners, which explains the different menu options and scene modes and will be available in time for Christmas 2005.

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Olympus FE-120
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005

Olympus has announced a third camera into the FE range. The FE-120 is a six megapixel beginner camera that is easy to use and offer 16 scene modes, a 1.8-inch LCD screen, 2 cm macro mode for super close ups and movie function. Images are recorded on to Olympus’s proprietary xD-Picure Card and powered by two AA batteries. The Olympus FE-120 will be priced $249.99 (€203).

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Olympus to reduce digital compact production
DPReview :: Saturday, December 03, 2005
Olympus plans to reduce production of compact digital cameras in favor of digital SLRs in a bid to boost profitability, reports Reuters. The Tokyo-based company is simply responding to a fast-growing DSLR market which offers higher profit margins. Sales of compact cameras currently account for around 72% (2004), and the company aims to cut this to 40% in five years’ time. Olympus hope that DSLRs will make up 30% of its sales in five years, up from 3% last year.

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