Sony released firmware update for its second Alpha series DSLR A700, claiming improved image sharpness and noise performance in addition to better flash performance with non-ADI lenses.

Sony also released patches for the Image Data Converter and Image Data Lightbox softwares which are bubdled with Alpha DSLR.

The updates are applicable only to the early production cameras. To check and see if your camera is applciable, press 'Menu' and 'Display' buttons on your camera simultaneously. 'Ver.1' means the updates are applicable to your A700.

Follow the link to download the updates:

Sony announced iHDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album, an 80 GB storage and slideshow unit featuring HDMI output. Sony digital photo album can import photos from flash media CD/DVD or Ethernet and featuring powerful slideshow-creation software. Photos may be shared via card or disk and also can be plugged to compatible printer from USB port for hard copies. Sony iHDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album is apparently an all in one entertainment box with its viewing, sharing, printing and archiving capabilities.

Availability and Pricing:

Epson Stylus Photo R1900 Printer

Epson Stylus Photo R1900 key features summary taken from the Official Press Release:

New Nikon D3 High ISO Photo Samples by Dave Einsel

Professional photographer Dave Einsel published on his web page several D3 sample high ISO shots that are reaching up to ISO 25600. The photos were taken during a football game and they have been cropped but not resized and had only level adjustments in PhotoShop CS2.

I have to say these high ISO shots are quite impressive, we surely have a new low light champion here. Even ISO 25600 shots are usable for small sized print. Look at the level of details preserved (check the cheerleaders in the middle) despite the high noise on this ISO 25600 photo

Follow the link below to find all the sample shots submitted by Dave Einsel:

Nikon D300 High ISO Photo Samples by Dave Einsel

After publishing of Nikon D3 ISO 25600 photos by Professional photographer Dave Einsel on his web page, this time he published Nikon D300 16 photos all shot during a high school football game.The photos have been cropped but not resized and had only level adjustments in PhotoShop CS2.

D300 ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 shots are a bit noisy but still much better compared to Nikon D200, there may be 1 stop to 2 stop improvement in my opinion. The level of details and sharpness is not as good as D3 but nobody expected it to be anyway. I personally can not wait to see the comparison of high ISO of images from Nikon D300 & D3, Canon 40D & 1D MarkIII and Sony Alpha A700 shot at the same conditions.

Follow the link below to find all the Nikon D300 sample shots submitted by Dave Einsel:

New Pentax 14x Superzoom Lens

Pentax announced a 14x superzoom lens covering 18-250mm focal range (35mm equivalent: 27.5 - 383 mm). The New Pentax-DA 18-250mm F3.5-6.3ED AL [IF] incorporates 1 extra-low dispersion (ED) and 2 aspherical (AL) optical elements to compensate effects of various aberrations in a compact body. This lens also features an Inner-Focus mechanism (IF) to avoid the extension of body during focusing.

NEWS ALERT!! Nikon D90 is officially announced!

Click here for the Price and Specs.

You can even pre-order Nikon D90 from Amazon.com for $999.95 here or pre-order Nikon D90 with 18-105 f3.5-5.6 ED VR lens from Amazon.com for $1.299,95 and become one of the first to experience this exciting DSLR with a video-recording ability!

Next Nikon DSLR: D80s, D90 or D3x?

Short after the announcement of D3 and D300, speculations has started about what the next camera from Nikon will be. One of the possibilities is a higher resolution (25 Megapixel?) Full Frame flagship camera named D3x which will compete with the lately announced 21 MP Canon 1Ds Mark III.

The other possibility which is more likely in my opinion is an upgrade to D80. Looking at some past data, we see that D70s was upgraded 16 months after D70 and D80 was announced (August 2006) 16 months after the D70s. Assuming this 16-month intervals to continue, next announcement may be expected to be in January 2008.

Another uncertainty besides the announcement date and the specifications of the D80 upgrade is the naming of the new model. Will it be a D80s (D80x) or a D90? For minor changes like D70 to D70s, Nikon choose to add a letter like ‘x’or ‘s’ to the end of the code, and gives a totaly new model numbers for the major changes.

Since there are no official announcements or even leaks from Nikon yet, I feel free to speculate that the upgrade will most likely be named D80s with some remarkable improvements like the image sensor and also some minor changes, reserving ‘90’ code for the next upgrade.

New Nikon D80s (D90) low-end DSLR technical specs would be:

Nikon USA released a set of photos taken by Nkon D3 at full resolution under a range of conditions. There are total of 6 photos, 2 of them shot at ISO 6400, 1 at ISO 3200, 1 at ISO 1600, 1 at ISO 400 and the last one at ISO 200.

The image quality and the noise level at ISO 6400 is quite impressive as expected from the previous samples released, thanks to the new full frame CMOS sensor. Sports shooters will especially like what they see here, seems like we are going to see more black lenses, would it be the start of and end of the strong Canon 'L' white domination? Time will tell. ..

Follow the link to find the full resolution samples here:

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2/28 for ZF (Nikon F) and ZK (Pentax K) mounts

Zeiss introduced a new manual focus SLR lens for Nikon and Pentax mounts. New 28mm f/2 Distagon wide angle will definitely attract photographers who are looking for the highest optical quality at the expense of losing the auto focus + almost a $1K. Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2/28 will be shipped with a price tag of US$984 in the U.S. at the end of 2007.

Technical Specifications of Distagon T* 2/28: