Photokina 2004

[Brendan]

The Superbowl of Photography eqpt. is about to happen!!! And for some of us, its finally here.
I will do my best to compile various reports from the net on the latest and greatest from Photokina 2004.
Hopefully in 2 years I will be able to do the reports from a first hand pov. (hint hint hint Kevin)
Anyway ill do my best to help end your endless searching for various announcements and make this a one-stop shop to find everything. (Yes many will include links to other sites so I do not plagiarize their pics/words
thanks all
-Brendan

[Brendan]

Summary of big announcements:
1. Olympus, after long awaited rumors and teasers, their new DSLR is announced officially with pictures. It’s to be called the E-300 and be 8mp. This is the 2nd camera in the 4/3rds system. Interesting how much it looks like their c8080 More Info here (sry only JP for now):
http://www.olympus.co.jp/jp/news/2004b/nr040928e300j.cfm

NEW 9/30/04: Sensor is by Kodak! read here:
http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/news/articles/story_1871.html


2. Adobe announced a potential universal RAW format.
http://www.thephotostation.net/showarticle.php?s=&threadid=957

3. Kodak, Fuji and Konica Minolta join forces for the preservation of digital photos + videos on CD/DVDs or other media. To be named "PASS" for "Picture Archiving and Sharing Standard"

4. Ulead PhotoImpact 10 announced, photo editing focused at the amateur market www.ulead.com
http://www.thephotostation.net/showarticle.php?s=&threadid=958

5. Extensis Portfolio 7 announced an update to its Pro Photo Raw Image Filter. It is free for existing users to download at www.extensis.com

Various smaller cameras from Ol. and a flash too. Hoping for even more
That’s the highlights from today.
-Brendan

[Brendan]

Today was the day for memory. Sandisk and Panasonic launching high capacity and extreme speed cards of all types. Both are reporting speeds up to 20Mb/sec transfer blowing away any competition.
more info here:
http://www.thephotostation.net/showarticle.php?s=&threadid=968
http://www.thephotostation.net/showarticle.php?s=&threadid=967
http://www.thephotostation.net/showarticle.php?s=&threadid=963

Contex anounced the i4r and the U4r compact digitals, both 4mp cameras that use SD cards. amps.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0409/04092809contax_i4r.asp

Dpreview.com is the first to have samples from the new Minolta D7 the worlds first in body IS DSLR
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0409/04092807kminolta7dsamps.asp

Still no Pentax news... sry keep the fingers crossed

[Brendan]

OK, it was a rather boring day over in Cologne today. Only 2 major announcements.

1. Kodak announced their newfound support for the super small XD cards and will be producing them through Lexar. They also announced their first XD card camera, the LS755.

2. Mamiya beat Pentax in the rumored 645 Digital SLR market. (that’s a Digital only, no backs) It’s a 22mp full frame digital only camera called the ZD that accepts all Mamiya 645AF lenses. It will take CF cards and on a surprising note it will also take SD cards. It seams like SD is becoming the "new" CF. This is the first truly pro camera that will accept SD cards. (The Pentax *ist-DS takes only SD but is classified as adv. amm) However this is the second pro digital to take multiple cards (the S3pro takes CF and XD). No price But I think around $7-10g like the digital backs.
They also announced the ZD Back for Mamiya 645AFD & Mamiya RZ67Pro-IID cameras. Also 22mp full frame (48 x 36 mm) on the 645. Price TBA but expect to be close to existing digital backs ~$7-10000 US

more here:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0409/04092902mamiya_zd.asp
hands on review:http://www.letsgodigital.org/html/events/PHOTOKINA-2004/news/mamiya/ZD_en.html