
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.