| Sony sells Compact Flash memory | | Posted Tuesday, January 23, 2007 2:48:03 PM by Blog57 Team | | Sony is to start selling Compact Flash memory cards this spring. It is the first time it has supported a different solid state memory format other than its own Memory Sticks it introduced eight years ago. Compact Flash cards are used by digital single-lens reflex (D-SLR) cameras including Sony's highly-praised Alpha 100. Sony's support for an open standard card like Compact Flash follows its purchase of Konica Minolta, who also used Compact Flash in its cameras. It has also ensured Konica Minolta lenses are fully compatible with D-SLR cameras. In a similar move Fujifilm recently added SD support to its new cameras after four years of supporting only its own xD cards. Compact Flash is based on an open standard that incurs no royalty fees.... | |
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| | | Panasonic DMC-L1 | | Posted Sunday, January 21, 2007 12:48:47 PM by Blog57 Team | | The digital camera industry has seen some highly productive partnerships between big electronics companies and traditional camera brands, particularly in the area of digital SLRs. Sony partnered with Konica-Minolta, which resulted in the Alpha A100, Samsung joined forces with Pentax to launch its re-badged line of GX-series SLRs, and now Panasonic has teamed up with Leica and Olympus to produce the DMC-L1, the companys first foray into the competitive DSLR market, and the first non-Olympus camera to use the Four Thirds sensor and lens mount format. The L1 is a 7.5-megapixel digital SLR featuring live monitor view (only the second digital SLR to do so) and supplied with a fast f/2.83.5 Leica-branded lens. It currently sells on the high street for a whopping 1,349.99, although it is available from at least one online retailer for around 1,150.... | |
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| | | Japanese Stocks Drop on U.S. Rates Concern; Exporters Decline | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 6:48:20 PM by Blog57 Team | | Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks fell after a drop in U.S. unemployment curbed speculation the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in Japan's largest export market, sending U.S. shares lower. Exporters such as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. led declines. ``All that investors are going to care about today is that stocks fell in the U.S., and we can expect the Japanese market to follow,'' said Masayoshi Okamoto, a strategist at Jujiya Securities Co. in Tokyo. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 94.34, or 0.6 percent, to 16,255.68 as of 9:20 a.m. in Tokyo. The broader Topix index dropped 12.70, or 0.8 percent, to 1606.32. Automakers and electronics manufacturers accounted for 25 percent of the decline by the benchmark. Matsushita, the maker of Panasonic brand electronics, slid 45 yen, or 1.9 percent, to 2,370.... | |
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| | | Some way my prints will come | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 6:52:46 AM by Blog57 Team | | In the high-tech here-and-now, people are preserving magical moments using camera phones, digital cameras and, for now, antediluvian film cameras. But film cameras will eventually go the way of the dodo bird, says Andreas Browne, a Ritz Camera sales associate at Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, who admits he often uses film. Nikon Corp. said in January it would focus on marketing digital cameras. Konica Minolta also announced plans to leave the photo business because of the shrinking film market. It all boils down to photo processing. The problem with film is you have to wait until photos are developed to see if they're any good, Browne says. With digital cameras, buyers can capture and save the images and delete unwanted images, which is a money saver. Freelance photographer Ben Scott, 36, of Hazel Park says his $1,400 Nikon D50 digital SLR camera was worth every penny.... | |
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| | | Japanese Exporter Shares Rise on Weaker Yen; Retailers Decline | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 12:53:18 AM by Blog57 Team | | Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's exporter stocks rose after the yen weakened against the dollar on speculation the Federal Reserve won't reduce U.S. interest rates soon. Honda Motor Co. paced gains. ``The exchange rate is the main factor today,'' said Naoki Fujiwara, who oversees $720 million at Shinkin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. ``We're being given a break from a strengthening yen as the possibility of a rate cut fades.'' Fast Retailing Co. led retailer shares lower after saying on Nov. 2 that same-store sales fell 4.5 percent in October as warmer weather discouraged consumers from buying new clothing. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 3.76 points to 16,353.78 as of 2:40 p.m. in Tokyo, after earlier losing as much as 0.9 percent. The broader Topix index fell 0.2 percent to 1616.70.... | |
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| | | Japan's Topix Declines, Led by Retailers; Toyota, Canon Advance | | Posted Monday, November 06, 2006 2:51:08 PM by Blog57 Team | | Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's Topix index dropped to the lowest in three weeks. Fast Retailing Co. led declines by retailer stocks after saying same-store sales fell in October as warmer weather discouraged consumers from buying new clothing. ``We've experienced a number of warm days'' this autumn, said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees $468 million in assets at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co. in Tokyo. ``If this turns into a mild winter that's going to be a bearish development for retailers.'' Exporters including Toyota Motor Corp. and Canon Inc. rose after the yen weakened against the dollar, boosting the value of overseas sales. The Topix fell 2.31, or 0.1 percent to 1616.71 at the 3 p.m. close in Tokyo, the lowest since Oct. 12. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 14.74, or 0.1 percent, to 16,364.76, after earlier losing as much as 0.9 percent.... | |
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| | | UPDATE 2-Konica Minolta H1 profit up 17 pct on copiers, yen | | Posted Thursday, November 02, 2006 10:51:04 PM by Blog57 Team | | TOKYO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Japan's Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. on Thursday posted a better-than-expected 17 percent rise in first-half profit and raised its annual forecast on strong sales of colour copiers and a weaker yen. The office equipment maker, set up after Konica Corp. and Minolta Co. merged in August 2003, is betting on growth in toner sales and materials used in flat panels after it exited from camera and photographic film businesses earlier this year. Operating income came to 46.26 billion yen ($394.5 million) in the six months ended Sept. 30, compared with 39.4 billion yen a year earlier. Sales fell 4.6 percent to 493.95 billion yen due mainly to its withdrawal from the photo film market. The profit result beat the average estimate of 41.9 billion yen from five analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.... | |
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| | | PREVIEW-Canon, Olympus to star as precision makers report | | Posted Thursday, October 26, 2006 2:52:30 PM by Blog57 Team | | TOKYO, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Canon Inc. is expected to report a 22 percent rise in operating profit for the latest quarter and may raise its full-year outlook, helped by strong demand for digital cameras and a weaker yen. The yen's fall against the euro and the dollar should help most other Japanese precision equipment makers report upbeat earnings for the July-September quarter, with Olympus Corp. seen posting the biggest year-on-year gain. Canon, Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. , Olympus and Nikon Corp. may revise up estimates for this business year Mizuho Securities analyst Ryosuke Katsura said. "Momentum going into the second half of this year will remain strong," Katsura said. The financial year is April-March except for Canon, for which it is the calendar year. Seiko Epson Corp.... | |
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| | | Newest SLR digital feels like good old 35-mil | | Posted Saturday, October 21, 2006 12:47:55 PM by Blog57 Team | | Sony's new 10.2 megapixel Aplha digital SLR features Super SteadyShot technology that moves the photo sensor in the direction of the camera's movement making for sharper pictures at slow hand-held exposures as shown, left with the feature off and on.Steve Makris, the JournalEmail to a friendPrinter friendly .... | |
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| | | MTB news & racing round-up for October 14, 2006 | | Posted Sunday, October 15, 2006 10:48:17 PM by Blog57 Team | | Gripped Films, the production company that released Off Road to Athens at the Sea Otter Classic in 2005, has just concluded filming of their next mountian-bike feature documentary; 24-Solo. For the project, the filmmakers followed multi-time 24 Hours of Adrenalin World Solo Championships winner Chris Eatough (Trek/VW) through the year shooting race footage, background and interviews. Jason Berry, the film's producer and director, says they shot the final footage for the movie in and around the October 7th World Solo Championships in Conyers Georgia, where Eatough was upset by Australian marathon and 24-hour national champion Craig Gordon (see additional story below). Berry says he's pleased with the raw material. "We got everything I wanted to get. Except for Chris Winning.... | |
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