Saturday, May 24, 2008

Stars Against Aids

A photography exhibit featuring 25 well-known women from Russia and Ukraine that aims to raise awareness and reduce stigma associated with HIV/AIDS opened Thursday in Moscow, the Moscow Times reports.
The goal of the exhibit, sponsored by UNAIDS, is to promote public and private discussions about the disease, particularly among women, the Times reports. The exhibit, titled "Stars Against AIDS," will run for two weeks in Moscow at the Stella Art Foundation. The exhibit will then tour the country, and a selection of photographs will be published as a 2009 calendar scheduled to be launched Dec. 1 on World AIDS Day.
According to the Moscow branch of Russia's Consumer Protection Service, of the 28,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the city as of January, more than 50% are women -- a 14% increase from 2007. In addition, most new HIV/AIDS cases among women occur among women ages 20 to 29, the Times reports.
Some experts said the increasing "feminization" of the epidemic in the country is a result of the changing nature of HIV transmission, as well as changes in gender-based social norms and sexual customs, the Times reports. Although injection drug use remains a primary mode of HIV transmission in the country, sexual intercourse is increasingly contributing to the spread of the virus, according to the Times.
In addition, many women cannot negotiate sex or condom use with their husbands or partners. "Some women suspect their husbands have many sexual partners but fear to be abandoned or beaten if they resist their husbands," Maria Ivannikova, head of the information department at the nongovernment organization AIDS Information Service, said. Unemployment and economic insecurity also lead some women to commercial sex work, according to the Times. Surveys conducted in various cities throughout Russia indicate that most sex workers are between ages 17 and 23 and do not consistently use condoms, the Times reports (Osadchuk, Moscow Times, 5/21).
News-Medical.Net republished this article with kind permission from their friends at The Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery of in-depth coverage of health policy developments, debates and discussions. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for Kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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Picture of the day:
frozen spruce treeThe Four Seasons Collection
Winter in Munich Germany - Frozen Spruce


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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Make the Best of Difficult Lighting

Use an old-fashioned darkroom trick to put more light on an underexposed, backlit subject.

A backlit scene--one in which the main light source is behind the subject so you're shooting into the light--is to photography what a 7/10 split is to bowling, or parallel parking on a steep hill is to driving a car.
The problem is that direct lighting in the back of your scene confuses your camera into closing down the aperture or shooting with a faster shutter speed, leading to an underexposed subject. But just because it's a little tricky to shoot with backlighting, that doesn't mean you can't get great results anyway.
This week, let's take a classic backlit photo and punch it up in Adobe Photoshop Elements. If you use a different photo editing program, you can get the same results; you'll just need to adapt the steps to your program.

Dave Johnson's Part 1 of a special five-part series at PC World

Photo of the day:
hand-crafted bird garden artArts and Crafts
Hand-Crafted Garden Art Sculpture


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Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Summer Photo Guide

Every once in a while Photo Reporter uses this column to toot their own horn. This is one of those times.
The next issue of Demystifying Digital: Summer Photo Guide will appear in USA Today on May 23, the Friday 
preceding the busy Memorial Day weekend. Grab an issue of USA Today and take a look.
Photo Reporter continues to publish Demystifying Digital because there is still so much confusion out there among consumers about 
the role of digital in their lives. While digital SLRs and point and shoots are “run of the mill” to those of you reading this column, for most people digital photography is still a source of confusion.
Photo Reporter's objective for Demystifying Digital, as well as their accompanying website, demystifyingdigital.com, is to "make sense 
of today’s technology" for those who are confused or intimidated. Their upcoming issue includes their editor’s picks for digital SLRs, point-and-shoot cameras and camcorders. They’ve also included an article called “Zooming In,” which discusses the advantages of longer lenses on both DSLRs and compacts. And, they have an article on scrapbooking and the many ways in which in-store kiosks can easily be used to print pictures and create other photo items.
If you’d like a copy of Demystifying Digital, or might be interested in having a quantity of future issues shipped to your store, please send an e-mail to
jerry@demystifyingdigital.com.
They’d also appreciate any feedback you might have

Credits: Jerry Grossman & Alan Levine at photoreporter.com

Photo of the day:
White Lined Sphinx Moth Caterpillar photoDesert Beauty
White Lined Sphinx Moth Caterpillar


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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Eden Prairie firm admits to bizarre yearbook photos

Minnesota company to pay for reprinted yearbooks

A Minnesota company - Eden Prairie-based Lifetouch - says it's taking full responsibility for altered pictures that ruined a high school yearbook and will pay to have the publication reprinted before the seniors graduate.

Students at McKinney High School - McKinney is about 20 miles north of Dallas. - were stunned to get their yearbooks this week and see that some heads had been put on other people's bodies, sometimes of the other sex, and one girl appeared to be nude.
A spokeswoman for Eden Prairie-based Lifetouch National School Studios Inc. said today that the company sometimes touches up photos to cover blemishes and the like.
"What's different in this case is that Lifetouch staff altered the images they sent to the yearbook company," spokeswoman Sara Thurin Rollin said. "That doesn't happen."
The high school in a Dallas suburb had required Lifetouch to make heads the same size and eyes at the same level in all student photos. Rollin said the request was "unusual and definitely very particular, but that's not to suggest what happened here is acceptable."
Rollin declined to say if the company fired or reprimanded the employee who altered the images. She said the alterations were "an unfortunate lapse in judgment" but didn't believe it was malicious.
Rollin said Lifetouch will bear the full price of reprinting the yearbooks, which she estimated at $75,000, and get the new books in students' hands before they leave for the summer.
Lifetouch, takes photos for 28,000 schools and had never run into this kind of problem, she said.
More than 30 students had their photos altered in the yearbooks that were handed out this week. Several heads were atop bodies wearing the same clothes. Some students' necks were stretched, one girl's arm was missing, and another girl's head was placed on what appeared to be a nude body, with the chest blurred.
Lori Oglesbee, the school's yearbook adviser, said the yearbook staff would spend the weekend rebuilding the yearbook.

via St. Paul Pioneer Press
Example photo at kare11



Photograph of the day:
Edinburgh Castle, Scotland - Entrance PortalEdinburgh, Scotland
Castle Entrance at Night


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Monday, May 19, 2008

Olympus E420 Review

Choosing a digital camera has always been an exercise in compromise.
You could plump for a compact camera with all the advantages of portability and low cost but with the limited picture quality inherent in a small sensor.
Otherwise you could go for an SLR with all the advantages of a big sensor and interchangeable lenses but the definite drawbacks that come with greater size, weight and cost.
For many serious photographers (with deep pockets) the ideal solution was to buy one of each device - a small point-and-shoot camera to carry everywhere and an SLR with a selection of lenses for Photography with a capital P.
But now there is a new breed of camera that combines much of the best of both worlds. The Olympus E420 is the trailblazer of this new class of camera and can be best described as a "compact SLR".
On first acquaintance, the E420 is almost unbelievably tiny. It tips the scales at 380 grams (which compares very favourably with Canon's "serious" compact, the G9). When teamed up with the specially produced 25mm fixed lens it's easy to believe Olympus's boast that this is the smallest DSLR yet. Some questions have been raised about whether it is too small for big hands but, while my own hands are far from dainty, I didn't have any problems.
Within this tiny package you get 2.7-inch LCD screen, incorporating live view. This allows you to frame shots and preview exposure in real time.
There is also a face-detect function and a very intuitive menu system. Under the bonnet is a 10-megapixel, four-thirds system sensor.
Image quality is superb, especially with the 25-millimetre prime lens. Digital noise is quite apparent at 800 ISO-plus but otherwise is very acceptable.
Image stabilisation would have been helpful, as would more than three auto-focus points. But, frankly, at this small price and size you can't have everything.

OLYMPUS E420
Price $799 (body only)
$899 (single lens kit)
Rating 4.5 out of 5
http://www.olympus.com.au/

Thanks to Nik Galvin at The Sidney Morning Herald for the review.

Picture of the day:
Wildflowers - Siberian WallflowerWildflowers
Siberian Wallflower


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Sunday, May 18, 2008

What Are the Odds?

The Orphan Works Likelihood of Passage

As we consider the viability of Orphan Works, let's not look at the content of the bill, but rather, a statistical history of the last decade or so to fortell it's likelihood of passage this session.

The photobusinessforum blog shows a breakdown of the number of bills that were introduced into the House and Senate. Where it says "Enrolled", what that means is that, of all the bills introduced, that number is the only # that made it out of Congress to go to the President for his signature, which would make it into a law (or a revision of a current law.) The percentage of bills that make it that far are very small, and an even smaller sub-set of bills actually become law. John Harrington has included the last session under President Clinton, and all the sessions under President Bush.

* note: 110th is the number, to date.Source: Library of Congress's Thomas resource.
Hopefully, this will give you an idea as to the likelihood of passage and enactment.



Photograph of the day:
Travel Destinations - Bryce CanyonTravel Destinations
Bryce Canyon and its Natural Bridges


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Saturday, May 17, 2008

Sony Limited-Edition A350

Sony Releases Limited-Edition A350 in Japan

With its yellow-gold body and webbing camera strap, Sony's limited-edition A350 is available in Japan and will cost you the equivalent of $850.

The camera, which came second in Wilson's entry-level DSLR Battlemodo last month, looks pretty spanky in champagne, don't you think?

Check it out in the extensive and gorgeous gallery at gizmodo.com.

Photo of the day:
Seasons - Winter in GermanySeasons
Winter in Germany


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Friday, May 16, 2008

Identity theft is a huge problem

Student's photo captures ID theft danger

A shadowy figure sits at his computer, just waiting for the right moment to steal someone's credit card information.
It's only a photo illustration, but the reality captured in Foran High School junior Molly Weathered's "A Waiting Thief" — the first-place photo in the state Department of Consumer Protection's 2008 Law Day photo contest — is all too real.
Weathered, 16, said she got the idea from her photography teacher, William Domeracki, to superimpose a black-and-white print negative of her boyfriend at his computer over a digital color photo of a credit card.
She wanted to demonstrate identity theft, which often takes place by computer. "I thought Molly hit it right on the head," said department Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. Identity theft "is a growing issue every single year," he said, "despite the fact that there are lots of things that are being done about it."
Both Weathered and second place-winner Leah Pryor, a junior at Amity High School in Woodbridge, submitted identity theft-related photographs, according to the department.
"Anything that we can do to educate and support consumers in protecting their personal information has to be a priority," Farrell said. "Identity theft affects about 2,000 people in Connecticut every year, and the cost for repairing one's good name can be significant in terms of time and trouble, not to mention the out-of-pocket expense."
Farrell said stolen identity, depending on the circumstances, can take up to 36 hours to put right.
Weathered was recognized May 3 at the Westfield Connecticut Post mall, in conjunction with a department-sponsored free paper-shredding event. An aspiring photographer, Weathered said she was "shocked" and excited to learn she'd won.
"Anything to, like, get me started on the right foot with photography," she said.
Farrell said 2008 marked the department's second annual Law Day contest — last year it was an essay — and contestants were to convey the importance of consumer issues and what the department does to protect consumers.
Law Day was founded 50 years ago as a time to recognize the benefits of the nation's legal system and celebrate the heritage of liberty, justice and equality under law, according to the American Bar Association.

Full story by NOELLE FRAMPTON at ConnPost



Photograph of the day:
Architecture - Bank of ScotlandFamous Architecture
Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh, UK


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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Precise colors from input to output without new hardware

Precise Color Printing is now possible with SilverFast's Printer Calibration Workflow

LaserSoft Imaging today announced the addition of Printer Calibration with ICC-Profiling to its SilverFast Ai Studio product line. The new Printer Calibration ensures a fully calibrated workflow from input to output.Since the advent of digital imaging, the creation of accurate color profiles for printing has stymied photographers and digital imaging professionals. The normal approach is with specially created, expensive and complicated tools, used to measure printed patches. However, the engineers at LaserSoft Imaging have created a powerful, yet simple to use workflow that creates accurate and precise ICC-color printer profiles, utilizing any existing scanner.

The "1-2-3 Click" SilverFast Printer Calibration uses the existing scanner calibration and any suitable color printer. No other measuring devices are necessary. No more uncertainty about managing colors, and no extra expense for additional hardware and software solutions. A "Zero Error" workflow ensures complete color control from input to output, with the following steps:

First, the scanner is automatically calibrated with SilverFast's patented IT8 Calibration. Second, using SilverFast, a full-gamut color test chart is printed on the printer. Third, the printed test chart is scanned and SilverFast automatically generates an ICC-profile.

The resulting ICC-profile creates a precise ICC managed workflow for accurate color printing with the lowest tolerances, utilizing the full gamut of the printer for the widest reproduction of tones.

This new SilverFast workflow will benefit all serious photographers, from professional to fine art, as well as advanced amateurs and semi-professional users. A major strength of this new approach is that it supports an especially wide range of media, paper types, and inks. One of the limitations of traditional color profiling tools is their sensitivity to many alternative media, which more and more creative users are employing in their work. A so called "closed-loop" color calibration workflow is considered the optimum by experts in color management.

According to Karl-Heinz Zahorsky, President and CEO of LaserSoft Imaging AG, "The new SilverFast Printer Calibration with ICC-Profiler will help our customers to create high quality prints, without requiring to purchase new hardware. We know that demanding users not only need superb quality from their scans and prints, they also need a reliable and easy to manage workflow. We feel that our new printer calibration technology will make that possible.

"LaserSoft Imaging's Printer Calibration with ICC-Profiling is available as an optional SilverFast Ai Studio feature at 99 euros net, both for Mac and Windows platforms. Customers can buy or upgrade via LaserSoft Imaging resellers and LSI's Web shop.

About LaserSoft ImagingLaserSoft Imaging (LSI) was founded in spring 1986 by physicist Karl-Heinz Zahorsky, president and CEO of LSI. Today SilverFast is regarded as the standard software for scanners and digital cameras serving both beginners and professional alike. Only SilverFast is bundled by so many manufacturers world-wide, such as Canon, Epson, HP, Leica, Microtek, Mediax, Pentacon (Praktica), Plustek, Quatographic, Reflecta, SAMSUNG, UMAX and others.

For further informatio, visit www.silverfast.com.

Picture of the day:

Wildlife - Surfing SeagullWildlife
Seagull waiting for a Ride



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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

New Aperture Web themes

Jumsoft has released five new themes designed to be used with Apple's Aperture photography software.
The themes can be used specifically for the Web Gallery and Web Journal layouts that
Aperture features.
Each theme costs US$19.99.

The five themes include Frames Gray, Grid Black, iPhone, Rounded Black and Mental Image. Each theme incorporates artist-designed color schemes and designs to complement galleries of photographs you plan to publish online using Aperture.
System requirements call for a Mac running Aperture 2 or later.

For more Macintosh computing news, visit Macworld.

Credits: PC World

Photo of the day:
Rodeo - Steer WrestlingRecreation and Sports
Steer Wrestling at the local Rodeo


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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Eye-Fi Explore

Eye-Fi is about to release a very cool new product. Eye-Fi, which makes a little digital camera SD memory card that automatically transfers photos from your camera to your PC (and to the Web if you want) via Wi-Fi has announced a card that will also geo-code your pictures.
That means that you won't have to remember or type in where a photo was taken.
The new card, which will be called Eye-Fi Explore, will look for Wi-Fi networks near where you're taking the picture and, if it finds one, it will make a note of the location and add that to the data that is associated with each picture. It will get the geographic information from Skyhook Wireless (formerly known as Quarterscope), a company that has mapped the location of thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots around the country. Even if the hotspot is encrypted, Skyhook can determine where it is physically located and transfer that location information to the new Eye-Fi card and directly to your photograph.
The new card will also allow you to upload pictures from hotspots even while you're away from home, which will be very handy for travelers who want to share their photos from the road.

Click over to EYE-FI UNVEILS AUTOMATIC GEOTAGGING AND HOTSPOT CONNECTIVITY WITH EYE-FI EXPLORE to read all about it.

Eye-Fi Explore is expected to be available in early June for $129.00.

And also check out MAGID ON TECH: Digital photos easier to share with Web sites
at Burlingame Daily News

Photo of the day:
Chimney Rock Canyonlands photographyAmazing Travel Destinations
Chimney Rock, Canyonlands, Utah


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Monday, May 12, 2008

Essentials 2 Imaging Software for iPhoto

onOne Software Announces Availability of Essentials 2 Imaging Software for iPhoto

iPhoto version features four easy-to-use tools for color correction, creative image blurring, frame and border effects and resizing for high quality large prints

Portland, OR - May 12, 2008 - onOne Software, Inc., announces today the availability of Essentials 2 software for iPhoto users. Essentials 2 for iPhoto is a collection of four easy-to-use software tools to help correct color, creatively blur a photo for dramatic visual impact, add creative borders and resize digital images for high quality large prints. The software tools included within Essentials 2 for iPhoto are based on technology used in the professional level onOne Software Photoshop® plug-ins PhotoTune 2.2, FocalPoint 1.0, PhotoFrame 3.1 and Genuine Fractals 5.
The Essentials 2 for iPhoto software suite provides users of the popular iPhoto image editing and organizing software with four important plug-in solutions to solve common digital imaging problems. With Essentials for iPhoto, users can easily correct the color of their photos using technology from PhotoTune, simulate the effect of selective focus or tilt-shift lenses, helping photographers selectively blur and/or vignette an image to focus the viewers attention using technology from FocalPoint 1.0, add unique borders and edges around their photos using technology from PhotoFrame and increase the size and resolution of their photos to get larger print sizes by using technology from Genuine Fractals, the industry standard for resizing digital photos.
"Make it Better! Blur It! Frame It! and Enlarge It! These are the four important tools incorporated in onOne Software's new Essentials 2 for iPhoto," said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. "These tools are designed to allow amateur and advanced amateur photographers to quickly and easily correct color, creatively add blur effects to images, add realistic frame and borders and enlarge digital images to transform even ordinary snapshots into extraordinary images without having to spend hours in front of a computer."
Make It Better
With the Make It Better tool, users simply compare color, contrast and brightness adjustments side-by-side and pick the best looking images to adjust an image. This module combines the power of several image adjustment steps that would be found in more expensive image editing applications into a single interface. This allows users to make complex image adjustments without the need to understand complex image controls.
Blur It
The Blur It tool provides photographers with a way to create realistic depth of field control, plane of focus control and selective focus to any digital image after it is photographed allowing for more control and precision. The focus bug control in Blur It has a tangible, hardware feel much like using a lens. Photographer can quickly define the "sweet spot" either in a round shape or a plane and then control how much and what kind of blur they would like to add to the image.
Frame It
The Frame It tool makes it easy to add realistic film and darkroom edge and border effects to images. Users can also add artistic edges like torn paper, brush strokes or even realistic frames and mats. Frame It allows users to stack multiple edges and frames to create unique designs. This tool features more than 500 edges and frames to choose from. The creative possibilities are limitless with the Frame It tool.
Enlarge It
The Enlarge It tool increases the size of an image without the loss of sharpness and detail that would normally be expected. It can resize images up to 400% and still maintain sharp edges and minute details. It's equivalent to taking a 4x6 print and making it as big as a poster size. It is a must have for any photo enthusiast who makes big prints or needs to crop a section out of an image to get just the right composition.

Availability & Pricing
onOne Software's Essentials 2 for iPhoto is available direct from onOne Software (http://www.ononesoftware.com/) and from authorized retailers including select Apple Stores. The MSRP for Essentials 2 for iPhoto is $59.95.

About onOne Software
onOne Software develops time-saving software solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers in the digital photography and graphic design industries. onOne Software solutions have been created to help photographers spend more of their time behind the camera taking pictures instead of the computer workstation. Such solutions include a wide range of easy-to-use plug-in enhancements for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and QuarkXPress®.

More at
Cameratown.com Digital Imaging News

Image of the day:
Architecture - Saint Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, ScotlandArchitectural Details
Inside St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland


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Sunday, May 11, 2008

Zeiss ZA Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm f/2.8 SSM (Sony SAL-2470Z) Review / Test

The Zeiss ZA Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm f/2.8 SSM is a hint of the things to come. It is a full format standard zoom lens that is more or less openly targeting Sony's upcoming professional-grade 24mp FF DSLR but it does naturally work perfectly on the existing lineup of APS-C DSLRs where its field-of-view is equivalent to about 36-105mm in classic terms.

Regarding its weight of nearly 1kg the Zeiss ZA 24-70mm f/2.8 feels like a massive block of glass. However, this is not overly unusual - the Canon and Nikon counterparts are in the same weight- and size-league. Upon closer inspection you may be a bit surprised that the lens is not an all-metal construction. The inner tube as well as the lens hood are made of metal indeed but Sony used plastics for parts of the outer body. Plastics may sound bad but it is a high-quality variant ... although it does still not feel really right regarding the positioning of the lens. Unfortunately the lens does not feature any seals which is also a bit of a faux-pas. The zoom ring operates a bit stiff - surely a side-effect of the heavy weight of the glass. The handling of the focus ring is smoother. Typical for most Sony lenses both control rings have an inevitable tendency to collect dust in no time "thanks" to the fluted rubber design.

Looking at the product shots at photozone.de you may notice that the lens extends when zooming from 24mm towards the long end of the range. The Zeiss uses an internal focusing design so the front element does not rotate during focusing (nor zooming) operations.

One of the interesting features of the lens is the SSM - the SuperSonic AF Motor which is similar to Canon's USM or Nikon's SWM. The SSM is not really a new thing for Sony/Minolta users - Minolta released the first SSM lenses several years ago - but so far Sony was quite shy to take advantage of it for whatever reason. The SSM of the Zeiss is ultra-fast, near silent and very accurate. More of this please! Sony/Zeiss did also incorporate a focus-lock button plus a dedicated AF/MF switch.

Take a look at the Specifications, and read on here

http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/47-sony-alpha-aps-c/380-zeiss_za_2470_28?start=1

and see samples here

http://www.photozone.de/Reviews/47-sony-alpha-aps-c/380-zeiss_za_2470_28?start=2

Image of the day:

Wildlife - Mountain Goat with BabyWildlife
Mountain Goat carrying a Baby on her back


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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Two New Digital Lenses for Mamiya Medium Format Cameras

Mamiya has announced two new high performance digital (Mamiya Sekor D Series) lenses for the Mamiya 645AFD II and the newly announced 645AFD III camera systems.

Mamiya’s newest lenses
- Mamiya Sekor AF 150mm f2.8 IF D and
- Mamiya Sekor Zoom AF 45-90mm F4.5 D Aspherical
are important additions to Mamiya’s growing line of high performance digital lenses. Consistent with all new lenses being developed for the D Series, these new lenses contain a 16bit CPU allowing easy firmware upgrading, finer lens characteristic correction and faster, more reliable communication between the lens and camera body.

Click over to Mamiya.com to read all about the
Mamiya Sekor AF 150mm F2.8 IF D Lens and the
Mamiya Sekor Zoom AF 45-90mm F4.5 D Aspherical
from there you can also Download full size image of Mamiya Sekor AF 150mm f2.8 IF D and Download full size image of Mamiya Sekor Zoom AF 45-90mm F4.5 D Aspherical

Picture of the day:
Steer Wrestling at the RodeoSports and Recreation
Steer Wrestling at the local Roedo


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Friday, May 09, 2008

Kodak’s Image Sensor Solutions Wins EDN Innovation Award in Sensor Category for 2008

On May 07, 2008 Eastman Kodak Company announced that its Image Sensor Solutions (ISS) business has received the 18th Annual EDN Innovation Award in the Sensor Category for the KODAK TRUESENSE Color Filter Pattern. This groundbreaking new technology allows for the development of digital capture devices that take better pictures under low light or reduce motion blur when photographing moving subjects.

“We are honored to receive this award from EDN,” said Herb Erhardt, CIS Business Manager, Image Sensor Solutions, Eastman Kodak Company. “This recognition of the KODAK TRUESENSE Color Filter Pattern acknowledges our continuing advances in digital imaging technology, for both CMOS and CCD products.”

EDN presented the 2008 Innovation Awards in San Jose on April 14, 2008, at the Summit Center. An audience of engineers and engineering managers as well as a panel of EDN magazine editors selected the winning products based on their industry impact, innovation and excellence.

“Every year the difficulty of technical challenges increases, the pressures of schedule, cost, and energy efficiency grow, and the resources available to design teams dwindle. That makes the achievements of this year’s EDN Innovation Award winners all the more impressive,” stated Ron Wilson, executive director of EDN Worldwide. “Selected by their peers in the design community for their outstanding results, these innovators stand in the front rank of the best and brightest electronics engineering has to offer.”

The KODAK TRUESENSE Color Filter Pattern advances an existing KODAK Technology, the Bayer pattern based color filter, that has become a standard in digital imaging. Kodak researchers created the new KODAK TRUESENSE Color Filter Pattern technology as they sought to improve upon the Bayer pattern. The new technology adds panchromatic, “clear” pixels to the red, green and blue elements of the Bayer pattern that form the image sensor array, and enables a 2 times to 4 times increase in sensitivity to light (from one to two photographic stops). This increase provides much better pictures and video in low light conditions than are possible with conventional technology. It also enables faster shutter speeds that reduce motion blur when imaging moving subjects. Low light performance, for both stills and video, is a critical need in mobile phones, which is a major market for the new KODAK KAC-05020 CMOS Image Sensor that utilizes the KODAK TRUESENSE Color Filter Pattern. Kodak CCD products – used today in commercial applications such as Machine Vision and Security – can also benefit from the enhanced sensitivity provided by this new technology.

For additional information regarding this technology, please contact Image Sensor Solutions, Eastman Kodak Company at (585) 722-4385 or by email at imagers@kodak.com, or see the posting describing this technology on Kodak’s technology blog at PluggedIn.kodak.com. For more information on Kodak’s entire image sensor product line, please visit www.kodak.com/go/imagers.

About Eastman Kodak Company
As the world's foremost imaging innovator, Kodak helps consumers, businesses, and creative professionals unleash the power of pictures and printing to enrich their lives.
To learn more, visit http://www.kodak.com/, and our blogs: 1000words.kodak.com, and PluggedIn.kodak.com.

Kodak corporate news releases are now offered via RSS feeds. To subscribe, visit www.kodak.com/go/RSS and look for the RSS symbol. In addition, Kodak podcasts are viewable at www.kodak.com/go/podcasts. The podcasts may be downloaded for viewing on iTunes, Quicktime, or other PC-based media players. Users may also subscribe to Kodak podcasts via the iTunes application if already installed on your computer. From the iTunes store, type “Kodak podcast” in the search field to view all of their podcast offerings.

Photograph of the day:

Winter in CanadaSeasons
Winter in Canada
Winter Landscape in Canada


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