PDN is reporting that the entire photo and art departments of BusinessWeek were fired at the end of last week. A new Director of Photography, David Carthias, and a new design director, Richard Turley, have been named. Carthias and Turley are working on a redesign of the magazine due to be unveiled April 23.

Read the article at: PDN.

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Bernard Languiller has interviewed Pentax Product Planning executive Yasuyuki Maekawa at CP+.

Read the interview at: Luminous Landscape.

March 16, 2010

School of Imaging Toronto Grand Re-Opening!

We’re celebrating the School of Imaging Toronto’s move to a bigger and better location!

We are pumped about this great new space and would like to share in the excitement by welcoming you to come check out our new location!

Dates: Thursday, March 18th to Saturday, March 20th, 2010

New School Location: 119 Church Street, 2nd Floor, Toronto, Ontario
(at Queen St. East inside the Henry’s Superstore)

In celebration we will be offering free mini-seminars all 3 days!*

Attend Seminars on:

• Enhancing Your Photos
• Lighting Modifiers & Improving Your Light
• The Future: Video & Your DSLR
• Wireless Portable Flash Studios

Enter to win a Bowens Lighting Kit valued at CAD $999.99!* Fill out a ballot all through March at our NEW Henry’s School of Imaging location at 119 Church St, Toronto, Ontario.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP3

“It quickly becomes second nature to use buttons and touch screen in tandem with each other.”

We’ve added a new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP3 Review to our Reviews Matrix.

PhotographyBLOG has posted their review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP3 [QuickPrice Check], an ultra compact digital camera with 14.1MP resolution (on a 1/2.33-in. CCD), 4x optical zoom (35-140mm equiv.), optical Image Stabilization, 3.0-in. (230k-dot) Touchscreen LCD, Intelligent AUTO, and HD Movie 1280×720 @ 30fps monaural sound.

You can read the Panasonic FP3 Review at: PhotographyBLOG.

Nikon Coolpix S8000

“The world’s thinnest 10x zoom camera is just 3cm thick. Score: 3.5/5”

We’ve added a new Nikon Coolpix S8000 [QuickPrice Check] Review to our Reviews Matrix.

TechRadar has posted their review of the Nikon Coolpix S8000, a compact ultra zoom digital camera with 14.2MP resolution (1/2.3-in. CCD), 10x optical zoom (30-300mm equiv.), optical Image Stabilization, 3.0-in. LCD (921-k dot), and 720p HD movie recording at 30fps and HDMI output for easy in camera playback or your TV or computer.

You can read the full Nikon S8000 Review at: TechRadar.

The use of a large sensor in compact digicams is the long awaited next step in the evolution of digital cameras and we are starting to see this happening. Interestingly — but not surprisingly — this push is being championed by companies who are relatively new players in the camera business.

Of the Big 5 manufacturers of 35mm film cameras (Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Pentax and Minolta), two have changed owners (Minolta merged with Konica, resulting in a new brand, Konica Minolta, which is itself now under the Sony brand; Pentax was sold to HOYA).

As digital cameras started becoming more electronic products than optical products, it was therefore not surprising that the major electronics companies jumped into the fray and started their own digital camera divisions.

The Big 5 digital camera players (as far as DSLRs are concerned) are now: Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus and Sony. Other players include: Fujifilm (a major player in compact digicams but not so far in the DSLR / DIL arena), Pentax (though there is some real concern about HOYA’s commitment to its long term survival), Leica (too restricted and too expensive models that only appeal to a few), Ricoh (going the wrong way with Interchangeable Units concept), Kodak (not a player in the DSLR / DIL arena) and Casio (not a player in the DSLR / DIL arena).

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Olympus America’s DSLR Product Manager, Richard S. Pelkowski, explained back in February that he thought that the mirrorless technology in the mFT cameras had surpassed the traditional mirror/prism/optical viewfinder technology in DSLRs and that it was probably just a matter of time (say 2 years) before even the FT DSLR would go mirrorless. We do not believe he would have said something like this without having been privy to some insider company knowledge and plans.

However, it seems that the 2 year period was a tad too optimistic. According to Toshiyuki Terada, manager of SLR planning for Olympus Tokyo, they are not able to match the lighting fast Phase-detect AF yet using Contrast-Detection AF (when following a moving subject). Also, since Olympus has not been able to gain any size advantage using FT, they have reversed their optimistic projection and will stay with a mirrored Four Thirds DSLR for the foreseeable future.

Is it a fair assumption that mirrorless DSLRs are the future of DSLRs? We think so. It seems a no-brainer that Panasonic is going mirrorless full blast. Olympus seems to be edging its bet. This is a big mistake because it is wasting its first-mover advantage. If either Nikon or Canon makes a mirrorless DSLR move in the next couple of years, the floodgate will open and the mirrored DSLR as we know it will quickly become a collectible. And, even if these two companies do not, then they themselves risk becoming irrelevant like we’ve seen — and are seeing — some of the traditional Big 5 becoming. Besides Panasonic and Olympus, Samsung has introduced a mirrorless DSLR and Sony has presented its compact alpha mirrorless DSLR concept. It’s just a matter of time. And, yes, 2 years seem about right.

[ via 1001noisycameras ]

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 / TZ10

“One of the most significant new features on the camera is a built-in GPS. Unless you’re in the middle of a big city, you’ll be impressed with the speed at which the camera locates itself, and perhaps a bit surprised at how many landmarks it already knows.”

We have added another Panasonic ZS7 / TZ10 [Specs] Review to our Reviews Matrix.

DCRP (dcresource) has posted their review of the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 / TZ10, a compact ultra zoom digital camera with 12.1MP resolution (on a 1/2.33-in. CCD), 12x wide-angle optical zoom (25-300mm equiv.), optical Image Stabilization, 3.0-in. (460K dots) LCD, Intelligent AUTO (iA) mode, PASM, Scene modes, Face Recognition, and HD movie in AVCHD Lite with stereo sound. The Panasonic ZS7 / TZ10 is also GPS-enabled.

You can read the full Panasonic ZS7 / TZ10 Review at: DCRP (dcresource).