
Last
week I attended a trip to Japan organized by Fujifilm UK. This trip included
an extensive tour of the Fujifilm manufacturing plant at Sendai, Japan.
This is the place where the majority of Fujifilm digital cameras are made.
This brief report is designed to give you an insight into what is involved
in the manufacture of a Fujifilm digital camera and how Fujifilm have
built an advantage over others.

Colorplaza
Ltd. has today announced ColormailerPro, an online photo finishing service
aimed specifically at professional photographers. The service can be used
by those who shoot digital or traditional film. Print sizes range from
4 x 6 inch up to 20 x 28 inch and are printed using a Polieletronica LaserLab
processing onto Agfa Digital Professional II Photo Paper. The ColormailerPro
service is available in the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland.

Nikon
Singapore has today announced an eleven city Asia Roadshow providing a
sound advice and training in Digital Photography Workflow. Nikon Tour
Manager Daren Tan emphasizes "There is certainly no lack of individual
product information available... ...we wanted to get out and teach people
face-to-face with solutions of a good synergistic digital workflow (a
combined researched solution with the partners) in a comprehensive and
solution-based approach. We're aiming an audience not just of professional
photographers, but also of 'professionals who take photographs' ".

Nixvue
has announced its new firmware version 1.04 (and soon 1.05) for the Vista
portable storage / display unit. The new firmware adds support for the
display of Nikon RAW (NEF) and Canon RAW (CRW) files on both the internal
LCD and connected TV. Other new features include the viewing of EXIF and
Histogram information and multiple sub-directory slideshow option.

Sanyo
Japan has today posted a press release about their development of a prototype
wireless network digital camera. In parallel they are also demonstrating
this prototype at NETWORLD + INTEROP 2002 TOKYO. The prototype camera
is based on the 1.5 megapixel DSC-SX560. This camera is designed to be
used with an IEEE 802.11b (11 Mbps) wireless CompactFlash card for connection
to both public wireless as well as private indoor wireless LAN. The camera
includes a TCP/IP stack and can be configured to upload the image immediately
to a server on the wireless network. Public 802.11b networks are starting
to become a reality both in Japan and other parts of the world.

Canon
BeBit (Japan) has posted an AF adjustment program for the PowerShot A10,
A20, A30 and A40 digital cameras. This software is loaded onto the camera
via a Compact Flash card and when run (in camera) adjusts and improves
AF accuracy especially at the telephoto end of zoom.

Nikon
US has announced a lower MSRP prices of $299.95 for the Coolpix 2500 and
$999.95 for the Coolpix 5000. This move is no doubt linked to the recent
announcement of the Coolpix 2000, 4500 and 5700 and makes the 2500 and
5000 even more competitive.

Sony
has today announced their smallest and lightest digital camera the DSC-U10.
This tiny 1.3 megapixel digital camera weighs in at just 118 g (4.2 oz)
fully loaded, has a fixed focal length lens, one inch LCD, is powered
by two AAA batteries and stores its images onto MemoryStick. This camera
is expected to hit the stores in Japan on 20th July this year and should
have a street price of 25,000 YEN (approx. US$200).

Delkin
Devices has today announced the 'eFilm PicturePAD', the PicturePAD is
a portable storage and display device for digital photography and appears
to be an OEM Nixvue Vista. The PicturePAD has a 1.8 inch LCD monitor which
is used to navigate menus and display images, the built-in CompactFlash
slot is used to transfer images from CF (or other formats with an adapter)
to the internal hard drive. The PicturePAD initially will be available
in 20 and 30 GB capacities. The MSRP for the 20GB model is $549.

Nikon
US has today confirmed the pricing (MSRP) of the Nikon Coolpix 5700, Coolpix
4500 and Coolpix 2000 as $1195.95, $699.95 and $249.95 respectively. This
brings the price of these cameras in line with the competition and also
distinguishes the 5700 from its lesser-zoom-brother the Coolpix 5000.
According to the press release all of these cameras should be in the shops
in July.