New Digital Cameras: FinePix S2000HD, FinePix F60fd and FinePix J150w

FUJIFILM U.S.A. Inc. has released three new additions to their 2008 digital camera line up -- the D-SLR-styled, HD compatible FinePix S2000HD, the FinePix F60fd, a powerful, technology-rich compact digital camera and the ultra-compact, wide-angled FinePix J150w. Each camera offers the user a different option in features, styles and price points, meeting a full range of wants, needs and desires.

FinePix S2000HD

The FinePix S2000HD is perfect for advanced amateur photographers and sports a 10-MegaPixel 1/2.3" CCD, a powerful 15x wide-angle optical zoom (27.6mm-414mm equivalent) and an extra large 2.7" wide-view LCD. As the first Fujifilm digital camera with HD compatibility, the FinePix S2000HD has the ability to capture still pictures in a true widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio enabling distortion-free full screen playback for the clearest display possible on an HDTV. The S2000HD can also convert movies in-camera into a HDTV signal output compatible with 720p (progressive) allowing the user to realize the full benefits of their home theater system. The FinePix S2000HD is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand and will debut at the retail price of $299.95 in September 2008.

FinePix F60fd

As the latest addition to Fujifilm's award-winning F-Series lineup, the FinePix F60fd, like the FinePix F50fd before it, combines intuitive use with the most advanced features and technology available, enabling photographers of all levels to capture the moment as their eye sees it.

Featuring a 12-MegaPixel 1/1.6" Super CCD HR, 3.0x optical zoom and a new, extra large 3.0" LCD, the FinePix F60fd combines ease of use with a range of powerful features users have come to expect from Fujifilm's more advanced digital cameras. With the addition of Dual Image Stabilization, Face Detection 3.0 Technology with Automatic Red-Eye Removal function and new SR AUTO (Scene Recognition) mode, the F60fd takes compact digital cameras to a new level, arming users with a host of features and enabling them to take pictures never before possible. The FinePix F60fd will begin shipping in September 2008 at a retail price of $299.95.

FinePix J150w

The FinePix J150w is the third model in its recently released J-series digital camera line. As with its J-series predecessors, the FinePix J150w is designed for consumers seeking an affordable digital camera without sacrificing features or style.

Available in a handsome matte black or stylish brushed silver and housed in a compact metal chassis just 22.6 mm thick, the FinePix J150w conveniently fits into a handbag or pocket for quick accessibility. It incorporates a 10-MegaPixel CCD sensor, an extra-large 3.0" LCD and 5x wide-angle optical zoom lens (28mm-140mm equivalent on 35mm camera) from world-renowned lens brand, Fujinon that easily captures large groups or distant subjects. It also features Fujifilm's proprietary Face Detection with Automatic Red Eye Removal. The FinePix J150w will debut in September 2008 at a retail price of $199.95.

New technology could lead to camera based on human eye

Digital cameras have transformed the world of photography. Now new technology inspired by the human eye could push the photographic image forward even more by producing improved images with a wider field of view.

Yonggang Huang, Joseph Cummings, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, has collaborated with John Rogers, the Flory-Founder Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to create an array of silicon detectors and electronics that can be conformed to a curved surface. Like the human eye, the curved surface can then act as the focal plane array of the camera, which captures an image.

The results of this research will be published as the cover story in the Aug. 7 issue of the journal Nature.

On a normal camera, such electronics must lie on a straight surface, and the camera's complex system of lenses must reflect an image several times before it can reflect on the right spots on the focal plane.

"The advantages of curved detector surface imaging have been understood by optics designers for a long time, and by biologists for an even longer time," Huang says. "That's how the human eye works -- using the curved surface at the back of the eye to capture an image."

But exactly how to place those electronics on a curved surface to yield working cameras has stumped scientists, despite many different attempts over the last 20 years. The electronics lie on silicon wafers, which can only be compressed 1 percent before they break and fail. Rogers and Huang have established experimental methods and theoretical foundations, respectively, for an effective way to transfer the electronics from a flat surface to a curved one.

Their creation builds on the strength and innovation of both professors. Rogers created a hemispherical transfer element made out of a thin elastomeric membrane that can be stretched out into the shape of a flat drumhead. In this form, planar (flat) electronics can be transferred onto the elastomer. Popping the elastomer back into its hemispheric form enables the transfer of the electronics onto a hemispherical device substrate. A major challenge is that such a process applied to conventional electronics leads to catastrophic mechanical fracture in the brittle semiconductor materials.

Rogers and Huang got around this by creating an array of photodetectors and circuit elements that are so small -- approximately 100 micrometers square -- they aren't as affected when the elastomer pops back into its hemispheric shape. Think of them like buildings on the Earth -- though flat buildings are built on the curved Earth, the area they take up is so small that the curve isn't felt.

In addition, each of these devices on the array is connected by thin metal wires on plastic, which form arc-shaped structures that Huang and Rogers call "pop-up bridges." These bridges interconnect the silicon devices, thereby relaxing all of the strain associated with return of the elastomer to its curved shape.

The researchers also designed the array so that the silicon component of each device is sandwiched in the middle of two other layers, the so-called natural mechanical plane. That way, while the top layer is stretched and the bottom layer is compressed, the middle layer experiences very small stress.

When tested, more than 99 percent of the devices still worked after snapping the elastomer back to its hemispherical shape. Researchers found that the silicon in the devices was only compressed .002 percent -- far below the 1 percent compression where silicon fails.

Early images obtained using this curved array in an electronic eye-type camera indicate large-scale pictures that are much clearer than those obtained with similar, but planar, cameras, when simple imaging optics are used.

"In a conventional, planar camera, parts of the images that fall at the edges of the fields of view are typically not imaged well using simple optics," Huang says. "The hemisphere layout of the electronic eye eliminates this and other limitations, thereby providing improved imaging characteristics."

Huang and Rogers will continue to optimize the camera by adding more pixels.

"There is a lot of room for improvement, but early tests show how well this works. We believe that this is scalable, in a straightforward way, to more sophisticated imaging electronics," Huang says. "It has been a very good collaboration between the two groups."

PhotoArtMuseum.com Announces Official Release to the Public

As one of the newest providers of online user-generated art and photography commerce, today PhotoArtMuseum.com announces its official release to the public.

Members of the PAM community have taken full advantage of the depth and functionality it has to offer. As Darin Anderson of Little Mountain Photography and user of PAM notes, "Photo Art Museum is a professional way for photographers and artists to easily catalogue and market their work to large groups of interested buyers. At the same time it easily allows those buyers to rapidly search artistic works from a wide range of art professionals in one convenient location."

Beyond simply providing artistic variety though, Anderson continues, "Buyers are able to search by photographer/artist, artistic category, geography, keywords, even by dominant color (as well as other means) and have convenient access to purchase items from multiple art professionals from around the world at the same time. It's straightforward, easy to use, and a wonderful tool for the artist and artistic buyer alike."

However, despite the depth of art available and the ease of use for end-users, founder Dean Smith wanted to hold off on officially releasing PAM to the public until all the features contributing to the site's community interaction and ease of use had been added. "We recently announced the addition of profile pages to PhotoArtMuseum.com, which serve to give artists and art-buyers a place to clearly share their contact information, art interests, a link to their website, an 'About Me' section, and much more."

Website: http://www.photoartmuseum.com/

iStockphoto Gives Exclusive Artists More Than $200,000 on 100 Percent Royalty Day

iStockphoto, the world's royalty-free multimedia sales leader, just did it again. The world's leading digital media marketplace rewarded exclusive artists with a 100 percent royalty giveaway day on Aug. 25 for the second year in a row. Last year, iStock gave more than $100,000 to exclusive artists on a single day. Due to phenomenal site growth, iStock exclusive artists will receive more than $200,000 in revenue from yesterday's sales. The giveaway is related to iStock's Punctum Day Awards, whose cash and prize winners in several categories were announced last week.

iStock is well-known as one of the first successfully crowdsourced businesses and is featured in Jeff Howe's, newly released book, “Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of Crowds is Driving the Future of Business.” iStock is one of the first and few Web sites to share revenue with its members and continues to expand rapidly worldwide. The site now serves more than 3.6 million users in nearly every country in the world and sells an image or video nearly every second. In less than two years, the iStockvideo collection has grown to more than 100,000 clips.

iStock imagery is everywhere, from the screened pictures of dewy vegetables suspended above the produce in your local grocery, to Web and print ads internationally, to billboards and band posters. iStock pictures also illustrate innumerable newspaper and magazine articles worldwide. iStock video clips are seen in documentaries, on nationally-televised news shows, music awards broadcasts and in international films.

Website: http://www.istockphoto.com/

Foodieview Launches Daily Photo Segment Celebrating the Visual Appeal of All Things Food

This week, FoodieView will introduce a new feature called Foodie Views Of The Day, showcasing food photography from around the food blogosphere.

With the explosion of blog culture, as well as recipe and review sites, searching on the web for food information can be an overwhelming and time-consuming process. Foodieview takes all of the information from leading food sources and aggregates it into one cohesive site.

They will now continue in that spirit with "Foodie Views Of The Day," a daily feature highlighting the web's best food photography.

"Our site is designed to be a one-stop shop catering to the interests of the food enthusiast," said FoodieView creator Howie Wang. "This new feature is designed to gratify the visual cravings of our foodie readers and to celebrate the beauty of food."

Foodie Views Of The Day will allow food bloggers, photographers and enthusiasts to submit their favorite pictures and share them with the foodie community. These photos will be posted daily. Foodieview will handpick its favorites and place them in a "featured" category. Users will also get to vote on their favorite images.

Initially launched in 2005, FoodieView is the web's leading recipe search engine catering to any taste or nutritional preference. The site also features a restaurant guide based on reader reviews and "Best-Of" lists from online newspaper, magazine, food blogger and review sites. The restaurant guide currently covers nine metropolitan areas.

Website: http://www.foodieview.com/

Rural Photography Award 2008

Applications have now opened for the Federated Farmers of New Zealand Rural Photography Award 2008, organised in conjunction with the New Zealand Guild of Agricultural Journalists and Communicators.

This award is open to any New Zealand-based journalist, photo-journalist, or photographer and is not restricted to NZGAJC members. However, an entry fee of $25 is required for non-members. The prize is $750.

What is required for entry:

One photograph that:

 illustrates a rural event or activity – agricultural, horticultural, industry, human interest, on-farm/off-farm, or any activity reflecting life or work in rural New Zealand;
 has appeared in a newspaper or magazine;
 either supports a news or feature article or is a stand-alone photo with a simple caption;
 can be either black or white or colour;
 was published in the 12 months prior to 31 August 2008.
 This award is for agricultural news or feature photography. It does not include photographs taken for advertising or promotion use or for commercial use – for example calendars or brochures.

The judges will be considering entries against a number of different criteria, including composition, news value, impact, and relevance to the article it supports (if relevant).

Closing date: Monday, 15 September.

Entries to be sent to:
Mail: The Awards Administrator, NZGAJC, P O Box 54 234, Wellington 5247.
Courier: Sue Miller, 112 Pope Street, Camborne, Wellington 5026.
Phone 04 233 1842, email: kotuku.media@xtra.co.nz

BDN Aerospace Marketing (BDN) Global Photo Contest

Inquiries and entries are flying in for the BDN Aerospace Marketing (BDN) Global Photo Contest. And with four weeks left until the Sept. 15 entry deadline, the competition is heating up.

One top-prize winner will receive $1,000. To enter, send an e-mail to photocontest@bdnaerospace.com. You'll automatically receive a detailed information package, including forms and complete contest rules.

The contest offers professional and aspiring photographers the opportunity to have their best work seen by aerospace industry experts and influential publishers and photo editors in the aerospace publishing world.

"This contest will showcase the creative talent and artful eye of photographers who love flight," said Caroline Sheen, the long-time Photography and Art Editor for Air and Space Smithsonian magazine and a judge for this event. "Aviation is a fairly narrow subject, so the best photographers bring something interesting and original to each shot," said Sheen, who also served as Picture Editor for National Geographic. "Photos should show aircraft in novel, expressive ways that make a statement about the purpose or 'personality' of the subject."

One top-prize winner will receive $1,000, and the front cover spot on BDN's 2009 calendar. Thirteen others will receive $100 each. Their photos will also be featured in the calendar, which will be distributed to aerospace companies and personnel worldwide.

Entries will be accepted through Sept. 15. Winners will be announced by Oct. 31.

Website: href="http://www.bdnaerospace.com/">www.bdnaerospace.com

Amrazzi.com Turns Amateur Photographers into Real Live Paparazzi

Celebrity stalkers will now officially have a place to show off their amateur taken celebrity photos with the official launch of Amateurazzi (a mash-up of the words Amateur and Paparazzi) at http://www.amrazzi.com/.

Created by CEO Stephanie Goldfinger, the idea came to her when she took a snapshot of Matt Damon getting off a "hop-on hop-off" tour bus on vacation in London. "I was so excited that I got this completely random candid shot of Matt Damon, his wife, his mom, his kids, and a couple strollers having a completely normal vacation," Stephanie said. "I started e-mailing it to all my friends. Everyone kept saying I should post it online somewhere but there wasn't really a site dedicated to this kind of thing. So I started thinking 'Why not just start one myself!'"

The idea quickly caught on and during its beta-testing stage, Amrazzi.com began receiving dozens of new uploaded photos every day. So many photos were uploaded that Amrazzi.com added categories in sports, television, movies, and music. Users have posted photos of stars George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Patrick Dempsey, Bill Gates, Jennifer Garner, Meryl Streep, Elton John, Beyonce, Bill Clinton, Jonah Hill, and many more.

"We soon learned," added Stephanie, "that whether it's a picture of a celebrity walking the red carpet, a star athlete on the field, or even a local news reporter waiting in line at Starbucks, just about everyone has a great celebrity moment that they want to share!"

Amrazzi.com has also begun running promotional contests where nominated users face-off in a user vote to win the title of Best Celebrity Photo and a $500 high-tech digital camera, perfect for practicing their amateur paparazzi skills. Hundreds of celebrity-photo fans have come to the site to vote on their favorite photo during contest periods. Previous winning photos include a candid photo of Hillary Duff exiting her hotel while filming a movie in New Jersey, and a shot of Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger at the Brothers Grimm premiere in Los Angeles.

And the media has started to take notice. Buyers from print magazines, celebrity websites, newspapers, and tabloids have visited the site to scour for pics they can purchase from the Amateurazzi users. "But we refuse to take a brokerage fee," said Stephanie, "We want to strictly be a community forum for amateur paparazzi, and leave the ownership-- and all the fame and fortune of a published photo-- to our loyal users."

Online Portfolios From Outstanding Advertising Photographers

Viisual(TM) at www.viisual.com announced new features and online portfolios from outstanding advertising photographers and commercial photographers today. Viisual's efficient and clean website is ideal for researching assignment photographers or exploring inspiring photo galleries. Art directors, photo editors and other art buyers can view new portfolios from both established and emerging photographers, including many award-winning photographers.

Although Viisual features portfolios, many photographers license images or maintain their own rights-managed stock photography collections. "You never know what projects are up ahead," adds Ciccone. "I encourage creatives and other art buyers to email Viisual photographers they like to ask about images or just connect, even if their current needs are for stock photos, stock illustration or other stock media."

Work from featured photographers includes aerial, action, adventure, automotive, beauty, cars, celebrities, CGI, children, conceptual, conceptual humor, documentary, entertainment, environments, fashion, food and beverage, in studio, interiors, landscapes, lifestyle, music, on location, people, photo-illustration, photojournalism, portraits, products, sports, still-life and travel.

Viisual Pro at www.viisualpro.com provides a quality promotional vehicle at reasonable rates that can enhance marketing campaigns and self-promotion for photographers, including a new program for emerging photographers. Viisual's new Exposure Target provides a confirmed number of exposures so photographers can relax and focus on creating imagery.

Turn Personal Photos into Magazine Covers

A new website has launched an easy and fun service that turns personal photos into full fledged magazine covers. The website, http://www.magmypic.com/, introduced an easy process that allows even novice users to put their picture on the cover of a magazine. MagMyPic's newest feature allows users to purchase these magazine covers as full size prints.

MagMyPic.com first launched in October of 2007 as a free tool to make fake magazine covers online. Over 15 million magazines were created and distributed online within the first 10 months. After users clamored for the ability to purchase their magazine covers as real prints, MagMyPic built a system to do just that.

The result is a simple process that automates nearly everything for the user. Once a photo is selected, the site automatically uploads, crops, positions, and resizes it all behind the scenes. The user then simply selects which magazine cover to use. When a magazine is selected, an instant preview shows exactly how the final print will look.

The feature to purchase the magazine covers launched on July 16th, 2008. A standard 8x10 magazine cover costs $9.95. Covers can be printed as large as a 16x20 poster. This new feature also allows users to frame the pictures and purchase other novelty gifts such as mouse-pads and tee-shirts.

Matt Parrett, the lead developer behind MagMyPic.com, thinks the timing is good for buying prints. "With the economy and gas prices how they are, it's nice to have such a unique gift that's affordable and available from home."

Matt gives many examples of how these prints can be used as novelty gifts. A husband can surprise his wife with wedding pictures on the cover of Bride. A father-son photo on a sports magazine or a framed picture of the family dog on PetFancy are other examples. With over 30 magazines ranging from Style to Outdoors, a wide range of options are available.

"A lot of publishing companies have tried to make systems like this, but they always overcomplicated them," said Andy Holloway, the site's creator. "Our site actually makes it fun to make the magazine covers and users have been really impressed with their prints."