Sigma has released firmware v.1.06 for its SD14 Digital SLR. The update improves the accuracy of the custom white balance and the review image quality on the LCD and includes another couple of minor modifications.

Detail of the update [Ver. 1.06]

1. Accuracy of the custom white balance has been improved.
2. One-day advance date counter that occurs with X3F images during an intercalary year was corrected.
3. Review image quality on the camera’s LCD is improved.
4. Users now have the option to disable the shutter release if there is no CF card in the camera. This option is found in the ‘Preview Style’ menu.

Source: www.dpreview.com

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Samsung Soul mobile phone : A new Samsung flagship mobile phone has been born. The Samsung Soul, also called Samsung U900, has officially made its debut during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Samsung named вЂ?Soul’’ to honor the completion of its exclusive вЂ?Ultra Edition’ series of cell phones which offer this perfect balance of design and features. Soul, an abbreviation of “The Spirit Of Ultra”, will appeal to style-conscious users who are not willing to compromise between design and technology and search out the best of the best for inspiration and stimulation to enrich their lives. Samsung Soul will be supported by a major global advertising campaign and will be available in European countries from April.

Samsung Soul mobile phone
“We believe that Soul is the answer for today’s style-conscious consumers, excited by outstanding mobile phone quality design and performance,” said Geesung Choi, President of Samsung’s Telecommunication Business. “Samsung Soul is set to continue the success of past Ultra Edition handsets, such as Samsung D900 and U600, and will further enhance Samsung’s leadership in the premium mobile phone category.”

Samsung Soul at Mobile World Congress 2008
Soul is the ultimate essence of mobile; a slim, lightweight and stylish product yet still boasting all the essential functions in one single device. This mobile phone, a sleek combination of highly styled design and functionality, is a triumph of extreme opposite values, вЂ?Portability’ and вЂ?Multi-function.’

Samsung Soul Touchscreen
Samsung Soul enhances the usability for the user with features that adapt to the user depending on the application. With Magical Touch by DaCP, navigation indicators on the keypad of the mobile phone change according to the user’s needs, making navigation of the menus simple, intuitive and direct. The navigation panel’s icons change according to function. For example, when in music mode, music related icons will light up on the navigation indicators. When in camera mode, camera related icons such as zoom and brightness icons will appear. The Samsung Soul mobile phone also offers a new series of graphic user interfaces (GUI) providing three different options for users. With this Thematic UI, users can change the UI according to their personal tastes. Additionally, users can create their own skins with the on-handset User Created Skin (UCS) setup. Display skins are customizable with various options such as background images, fonts and colors.

Samsung Ultra 3 Edition
Continuing the look of Samsung’s popular вЂ?Ultra Edition’ series with extreme minimalism in a slim design, Samsung Soul has a full metal body with a premium look and feel with a natural color and hairline texture. “The fundamental direction of the design concept development of Samsung Soul was to keep вЂ?the epitome of self-discipline’ by minimizing all the factors to a simple while beautiful device,” Minhyouk Lee, a senior mobile device designer said.

Soul by Samsung – 5 megapixel digital camera
At only 12.9mm thin, it is equipped with professional photographic functions including a 5 megapixel camera. Soul answers today’s customer needs as the perfect digital camera and multimedia mobile combined into one single device. Features such as face detection, image stabilizer and Wide Dynamic Range (WDR), which are very up-to-date features even in today’s digital cameras, are also equipped in Soul.

Samsung Soul Mobile Internet
Users can enjoy super-fast Internet access through the 7.2 Mbps High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) browser and share images or video taken with the phone. With 7.2 Mpbs HSDPA, users can also download songs at a faster speed compared to average 3G networks. Soul is also perfect for music listeners with features such as Music library navigation, digital power amplifier by ICEpower technology by Bang & Olufsen ICEpower.

Source: www.letsgodigital.org

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“Dino the Dog is now 15 years old and takes him over 90 in human terms. Suffering from arthritic knees his ‘parents’ take him around on a specially adapted pram. Dino is a husky and has been with the family from the age of a few months”. Taken by Arvind

Source: planetearthdailyphoto.blogspot.com

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Click photo for more images of the Ricoh R8.

Ricoh has upgraded its Caplio R7 point-and-shoot with the R8. The R8 uses a new 10-megapixel sensor and 460,000-pixel, 2.7-inch LCD, and retains the f/3.3-5.2, 28mm-200mm 7.1x zoom lens and sensor-shift optical image stabilization of its predecessor. Ricoh has made a few changes to the design of the ultracompact camera as well. The R8 sports a rubber grip, new strap eyelets, a metal top cover, and metal detailing on the lens barrel, mode dial, and shutter release. In addition, the camera’s Adjust button functions have been expanded for more efficient menu navigation.

Other notable new features include a 1:1 aspect ratio shooting mode, a minimum-aperture-priority mode that sets the lens at the minimum aperture and calculates exposure automatically, selectable autofocus and autoexposure points, and two selectable zoom speeds. There are also new fine-tuning controls for brightness, contrast, and color tone, as well as in-camera cropping.

Like previous Caplio R models, the R8 offers a macro mode that can focus as close as 1 centimeter at wide angle and 25 centimeters at telephoto, a top light-sensitivity setting of ISO 1600, and a shutter speed range of 1/2000 to 8 seconds. The camera does not offer manual or priority modes (except for the minimum-aperture mode), but it does provide some exposure flexibility with autobracketing and a spot meter.

Pricing and availability have not yet been announced.

Source: feeds.feedburner.com

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For the second time in less than two years Kodak has tweaked its Professional Portra 400-speed colour negative film, claiming it delivers ‘finer grain’ than before.

‘With finer grain and an emulsion overcoat specially designed for scanners, Portra 400 films reproduce beautifully, with either optical or digital output,’ claims the company. ‘This enables photographers to easily incorporate their film images into a digital workflow.’

The revamped Portra 400NC and 400VC films will cost the same as the current versions.

There is, as yet, no word on UK availability date.

Portra films are the biggest selling professional-level films in Kodak’s portfolio.

Source: www.amateurphotographer.co.uk

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