DigitalCameraInfo have reviewed the Canon G9, a 12.1 megapixel update of the G7 compact camera, with a 6x zoom lens, 3 inch LCD screen and the return of RAW mode.

“Canon made a lot of improvements on the PowerShot G9 – most notably the image quality, LCD screen, and RAW file capability. The Canon G9 offers more megapixels than its predecessor, the G7, which on paper suggests it will have better resolution but more noise and worse dynamic range. Our tests prove the G9 has significantly better resolution, better than most cameras released this year. Noise levels are high, but not any higher than the G7, which is commendable. Color accuracy is fantastic, as is the Movie mode, both of which have become consistent successes for high-end Canon PowerShots.”

Website: DigitalCameraInfo – Canon G9 Review

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Xerox Digital Print Shop in a Box : Commercial printers can start and quickly build a successful digital printing business by using a comprehensive set of tools and services now available from Xerox. The Xerox Digital Print Shop in a Box, provided at no charge to customers, is an interactive CD and Web-based collection that provides step-by-step guides, business resources, application software and associated services to get commercial printers up and running quickly. Xerox believes there is a huge opportunity for printers to provide digital printing and services. According to the Printing Industries of PIA/GATF 2006 Print Atlas, about 77 percent of the commercial printers in the US have not yet made the move to digital printing.
“This is a single resource that removes the barriers identified by customers to enter the digital print market,” said Quincy Allen, president, Xerox Production Systems Group. “It opens the door to new opportunities for commercial printers to complement their offset businesses and capture everything from simple short-run, on-demand digital jobs to more complex and lucrative one-to-one marketing pieces and Web-to-print collaterals. Digital Print Shop in a Box is another valuable tool to help our customers succeed in The New Business of Printing.”

Comprehensive set of business development resources
Xerox’s Digital Print Shop in a Box complements the company’s ProfitAccelerator Digital Business Resources collection, the industry’s most comprehensive set of business development resources. The offering includes two guides that take a printer through the first months of operating a digital business. The sales and marketing guide is a simple start-up plan that addresses how to train a sales staff for developing a consultative sale that helps build revenue for both offset and digital applications. The operations guide walks a commercial printer through the initial implementation of a unified offset and digital environment. It also pulls together tips that address pricing and personnel, and how to choose the right Xerox FreeFlow Digital Workflow Collection tools.

Xerox Digital Print Shot
The guides direct users through best-practice resources on the CD and the Web from Xerox and leading industry partners. Because Xerox has packaged these resources into one robust collection, print providers can avoid browsing through dozens of materials to decide which to use. “According to the NAPL State of the Industry Report, printers who increasingly compete on price alone are experiencing eroding profits,” said Howard Fenton, NAPL senior consultant, digital technologies and production. “NAPL’s State of the Industry research also shows an increasing interest among printers in complementing offset printing with digital printing and services, but respondents report they need help establishing a digital business.”

Xerox Digital Print Shop in a Box – Resources
• A feature offering from XMPie, Inc. called MakeMagic! that allows printers to develop complete one-to-one, self-promotional direct marketing campaigns at no cost using a Web portal or XMPie software solutions. The site contains templates, software trial downloads, demos and studies.
• An easy-to-install Web-to-print solution from NowDocs called NowPrint ASAP. This is a subscription service for print providers who want to offer digital print order submission, catalogs and personalization with a start-up cost of less than $200. The user interface is simple and a printer can do the initial set-up in about 15 minutes.
• Industry guides from Xerox and PIA/GATF for opening new markets.
• Select Xerox FreeFlow workflow software offerings.
• Digital printing tips and resources for the graphic communications industry from RedHotDigital, a Xerox Web site.
• Resources and toolkits designed specifically for commercial printers from Adobe Systems Incorporated and Pantone, Inc.

Xerox DocuColor 240 digital color printer / copier
The success of Steele Creek Printing and Design, Inc., Pineville, N.C., reflects the positive impact of digital printing. Steele Creek entered the market in 2005 when it acquired a Xerox DocuColor 240 Digital Color Printer/Copier. The small commercial print company has experienced 100 percent growth each of the last two years, which Owner Charles Wilkerson attributes largely to digital printing. “This is a whole different market for our company,” said Wilkerson, who in May 2007 added a second digital system, the Xerox DocuColor 5000 Digital Press. “It’s often overwhelming to see how much is available to develop a digital business. At the last Xerox workshop I went to the speaker said, �Pick one or two, no more than three things to go back and work on.’ It would have been much easier for our company to enter digital if there had been one comprehensive �how to’ kit like this available.”

Xerox Digital Print Shop in a Box – Price & Availability
Xerox’s Digital Print Shop in a Box will be available at no cost to new and existing Xerox printing customers in North America beginning in October, with global distribution planned for 2008. It will be showcased in Xerox booth No. 1219 at Graph Expo, North America’s largest printing show, Sept. 9 – 12 in Chicago, and is available through Xerox sales representatives.

Source: www.letsgodigital.org

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Imaging Resource reviews the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W80 and writes – “It’s hard to call the Sony W80 the bottom rung in the W-Series because it only gives up a few pixels for a lower price. Otherwise the Sony W80 has all the bells and whistles, making it a terrific bargain. It has a Bionz processor, face detection technology, High ISO, Super SteadyShot, in-camera editing, and HD output signal. The Sony W80 does give away detail to hold onto color at higher ISO settings, but most users won’t mind that tradeoff, particularly if you only plan to make 4×6 prints. The color that the Sony W80 holds at ISO 1,600 is pretty good. HD output — particularly when played as a slide show with the built-in special effects and music — was stunning on the Sony W80, but only for stills. This isn’t an HD movie camera, and it even has trouble playing VGA movies through the dock accessory. But to see any HD output from this camera, you’ll have to buy an accessory cable, dock, or dock/printer. Packing that big a technoload (new word, sorry) into such a small package at such a low price makes the W80 an easy Dave’s Pick.”

Source: www.livingroom.org.au

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