Digital Camera News and Reviews

Corel Digital Studio 2010

Corel has announced Corel Digital Studio 2010 software for editing of images and videos. The special thing about this piece of software is that you can use touch operations (if you got hardware support) to edit the digital files.

Corel Digital Studio 2010 lets you organize and edit photos and videos, and even upload them to the net. You can also create slideshows and make homevideos with soundtracks and voice over.

Corel Digital Studio 2010 is available now for download and cost $99.99 USD or £59 GBP.
Press release:
Introducing Corel® Digital StudioTM 2010

Finally, Photo and Video Come Together in an All-New Creative
Experience on the PC

London, UK – 2 September 2009 – Corel Corporation (NASDAQ:CREL) (TSX:CRE) today introduced its all-new photo and video product Corel® Digital Studio 2010. Now TM it is simple, fast and fun for everyone to enjoy and share their favourite photos and videos all within one integrated and engaging environment.
Offering an elegant design and intuitive tools, Corel Digital Studio inspires creativity and confidence by making it easy for anyone to create beautiful photo and video projects with no previous experience
required.

While the average family takes hundreds of digital photos and video clips each year, various research indicates that less than half edit their photos and fewer still edit their videos. As a result, digital memories sit dormant on family computers without ever being enjoyed or shared. Why? Because most people just haven’t found photo editing and video editing on the PC to be the simple and rewarding experience they’re looking for. Corel Digital Studio 2010 responds to this need by bringing together photo, video, DVD burning and playback, all within one easy, fun and engaging environment.

With Corel Digital Studio 2010, all your photos and videos come together in one simple creative experience. Whether you are making one-click fixes to your photos and videos, creating a photo book, making slideshows or home movies complete with your own soundtrack, or burning high-definition DVDs, you’ll enjoy the same elegant look and feel across the Studio. In this integrated and intuitive environment, once you learn how to do one task, you’ll quickly know how to do them all.

“With Corel Digital Studio, PC users finally have a simple, fast and fun way to enjoy their photos and videos, and create something amazing that they can share with others,” said Daniel Weisbeck, Corel’s Vice President, Global Product Marketing. “With its simple, elegant design and intuitive, all-in-one approach, Corel Digital Studio removes barriers, inspires creativity and gives everyone the ability to create and share something memorable in just minutes.”

Corel Digital Studio 2010 is designed to take advantage of the latest Microsoft® Windows® 7 advances including the natural, hands-on experience offered by Windows Touch. The product also offers a great creative environment for customers using Windows® XP or Windows Vista®. Corel Digital Studio 2010 is just one example of the design innovation that resulted in Microsoft naming Corel its Global ISV Consumer Partner of the Year in June 2009.

“There is no other creative software application on the market that offers consumers new and unique ways to experience creative multi-touch features complementing Windows 7 in the way that Corel Digital Studio 2010 does. Windows 7 & Corel make new things possible” Christian Georgeson, Windows Consumer Product Manager at Microsoft.

Corel Digital Studio 2010: Create Amazing Photo and Video Projects in Minutes
You don’t have to master overly complex software programs or spend hours working on your projects. Corel Digital Studio is designed specifically for users who value simplicity and want results fast.

Movie Making Made Easy: Finally, movie making is something everyone can enjoy. With its simple interface and intuitive controls, Corel Digital Studio offers a groundbreaking, visual approach to video projects that makes it easy for anyone to enhance and share favorite video memories — even in HD.
Creative Photo Projects: Thrill friends and family with beautiful photo books and calendars that you can create in just minutes from within Corel Digital Studio. There’s no lengthy online uploading process to slow you down when you want to get creative. Instead, you can focus on your memories, create your project and when you’re done, print at home or have your creation professionally printed using Corel’s online service.*
All Your Media in One Place: The Media Organizer brings all your photos and videos together so you can more easily search, find and organize your favorite memories. You can also access your music library to add your own personal soundtrack to slideshows and home movies. The Media Organizer is the starting point for all your projects, making it easy to move from one task to another.
Online Sharing Has Never Been Easier: Share your files and projects any way you choose. Use email, Flickr , Facebook and YouTube , or send to your TM TM TM mobile device. With Corel Digital Studio, connecting with friends and family is just a few clicks away.
Simple Backup and Burn: Backup and protect your photo and video memories, burn a professional looking DVD complete with Hollywood-style menus, or create audio CDs and MP3 discs by simply dragging and dropping. It’s never been this easy.
Pricing and Availability
Corel Digital Studio 2010 is now available globally in English, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish and Chinese Traditional as an electronic software download (ESD) at a SRP of £59 incl. VAT. Corel Digital Studio 2010 will also be available at leading retailers around the world starting in mid-September 2009. For more information, to purchase an ESD or download a free, fully featured 30-day trial, please visit www.corel.com. The individual photo and video components of Corel Digital Studio 2010 can also be purchased as standalone products. Corel® PaintShop Photo Express 2010 is available TM at a SRP of £29 incl. VAT and Corel® VideoStudio® Express 2010 £39 incl. VAT.

*Online printing services available starting mid-September 2009 in the US, Canada, UK,Germany, Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands. Online printing services to follow in other regions.

Pentax K-7

Nissin has announced a new flashgun for both Canon and Nikon cameras. The flashgun is called Nissin Di866 Professional Speedlite has an USB-port making it possible to upgrade its firmware. The Canon version works with DSLR cameras from Canon and Powershot cameras using ETTL and ETTL-2 systems. The Nikon version also works with Nikon DSLR cameras and Coolpix hotshoe cameras using i-TTL.

The Nissin Di866 Professional Speedlite will cost about £370.

Press release:
New Nissin flash gun available now

The new flash gun from Nissin, the Di866 Professional Speedlite, is now available to UK photographers, as first announced by Kenro at Focus on Imaging earlier this year.

The Di866 is available with either a Canon or Nikon fitting. The Canon version is compatible with Canon Digital SLR and Powershot hotshoe cameras using ETTL and ETTL-2 systems, while the Nikon model fits Nikon Digital SLR and Coolpix hotshoe cameras using i-TTL. The unit carries a SRP of £369.95 including VAT.

The Di866 has been specifically designed for use with digital SLR cameras and comes with many ‘world’s first’ features. This new clip-on type flash unit is simple to use and incorporates an easy to read rotating colour display, it can also be fired wirelessly where it can be used as a master or receiver.

With a guide number of 60m (ISO 100 @ 105mm) the Di866 features Nissin’s original ‘My TTL’ user adjustable TTL light output level and is firmware upgradable thanks to an onboard USB port.

The gun also features high speed synchronisation, allowing synchronisation for shutter speeds over 1/250th second and a recycling time of 3.5s which is able to offer up to 150 full-power flashes per set of batteries. Furthermore the Di866 features a fill in sub-flash (12m100 ISO), which is activated while the main flash is bounced and also a built-in wide angle diffuser and catch-light reflector.

“Nissin has been a world-class manufacturer of high quality electronic flash units for over 40 years and this latest addition to their range is a truly impressive piece of kit. A recent reviewer described the Di866 as ‘the most powerful hotshoe flashgun available,’ and I think everyone who uses the flash will agree with that statement.” says Kenro managing director, Paul Kench. “The technological advances contained in the Di866 make it the perfect choice for professional and advanced photographers.”

Kenro is the official UK distributor for the range of Nissin flash guns. See http://www.kenro.co.uk for details of your nearest stockist, or call Kenro on 01793 615836 for more detail.

Canon Digital IXUS 110 IS

Lets Go Digital has reviewed the Canon Digital IXUS 110 IS compact digital camera (also known as Canon PowerShot SD960 IS in some markets). This IXUS camera feature 12 megapixels and 4x wide angle zoom.

Some key features for the Canon Digital IXUS 110 IS:
-12 megapixel image sensor
-4x optical zoom lens (28-112mm)
-Optical image stabilization
-720p HD video
-2.8″ LCD screen
-HDMI connector

Lets Go Digital ends up giving the Canon Digital IXUS 110 IS a “Recommended” 77 % rating. The camera is able to take pretty good pictures, but at higher ISO values the quality goes a bit downhill and there is some chromatic aberration. The IXUS 110 IS is a good choice for the every day photographer, but you might want to look at another camera if you are a more serious photographer.
Read the full review of the Canon Digital IXUS 110 IS / Canon PowerShot SD960 IS camera here.

Pentax K-7

Trusted Reviews has reviewed the flagship DSLR model from Pentax, the Pentax K-7 camera. This DSLR looks very exciting with 14.6 megapixels, HD video, environmental sealing and many more features. It will be interesting to see what the reviewer thinks about the K-7.

Some key features for the Pentax K-7:
-14.6 megapixel sensor
-environmental sealing
-720p HD video
-top shutter speed 1/8000 second
-3.0″ 920,000 dot LCD screen
-ISO sensitivity from 100 to 6400

Trusted Reviews ends up giving the Pentax K-7 a “Recommended” 9 out 10 rating as the camera has excellent build quality and list of features. The K-7 actually scores high on all points so it seems like it is a fine DSLR camera so it seems like a fine choice for semi-professional photographers.
You can read the full review of the Pentax K-7 camera here.