PMA Highlights (preliminary)

• Leica Four Thirds lens
• Panasonic Four Thirds SLR announced
• New types of paper introduced
  • glossy/semi-glossy fine art papers (Crane, Innova, Hahnemuehle)
• Canon and HP now also use pigment inks
  • Too early to tell about the quality of these printers
  • We try to cover all of them (complex task)
    • Prio #1: Image Quality (Gamut, ink/paper interaction, dmax, resistance, permanence ratings)
    • Prio #2: Handling (usability, drivers, reliability, ....
    • Prio #3: speed and cost
• Nik Software UPoint Technology (in Nikon Capture NX)
• Canon's new aRGB projector (3500 lumen at $7K!)
• Some new interesting new lenses from Nikon and Canon

Latest news:

• 2/28/2006 Aperture 1.1 for March announced
  • RGB color readout
  • Versioned raw conversion
  • Controls to tweak the raw conversion quality

   

• 2/27/2006 HP Disrupts Retail consumer Photo-printing Market (source HP)

• 2/27/2006 Sigma launches 5 Four Thirds lenses (source DPReview)

• 2/27/2006 Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 for Mac

• 2/26/2006 Nikon Capture NX

  We saw a demo today of Nikon Capture NX which includes the UPoint technology by Nik Software. As much as we have seen Nikon Capture NX has a very impressive feature set. We see forward to review an early version of this software.

  Note: Nikon Capture NX can work with JPEG and TIFF files that have been created with other software. This means Nikon Capture NX can also be interesting for users of other cameras.

• 2/26/2006 Olympus & Panasonic Four Thirds System SLR cameras

• 2/26/2006 Leica lenses for the Four Thirds System (see Olympus press release)

• 2/25/2006 Free Pixmantec RSE 2006 released

  From the press release: "RSE 2006 Features Faster Workflow, Additional RAW Formats and Now Supports RawShooter Color Engine"

• 2/25/2006 Nik Software's UPoint Technology (used in Nikon Capture NX)

We had a first view at Nik's new UPoint editing technology (will be used first in Nikon's Capture NX). UPoints allow a selective correction of color, brightness and saturation for images. From what we have seen so far this is at least a very interesting technology.

• 2/25/2006 New Hahnemuehle paper

We did not hear a final name for this paper yet. But the surface of this paper (not RC paper) looked very nice indeed. We will try to get samples soon.

• 2/25/2006 Graham Nash signs his prints for Epson

picture published with permission of Graham Nash (photo Gerhard Rossbach)

This was a highlight also on a more personal note:

• Nash Editions had a strong influence on what we call today fine art printing especially on inkjet printers (see our visit at Nash Editions)
• We find Grahams photos very strong (own his latest book)
• We just happen to love CSN(Y) music

• 2/25/2006 Bibble 4.6 with Noise Ninja
• 2/23/2006 HP Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo Printer

previous news also see below

Orlando, 2/25-3/1/2006

Normally a PMA in the same year as a Photokina has fewer breaking news than in years with no Photokina because many manufacturers reserve the big news often for Photokina.

Here is a list of topics we plan to cover

Cameras/Lenses

• Canon

Canon EOS 30D

This seems to be a moderate yet useful update to the popular 20D at a reduced price.

• Nikon
  • AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm F2.8G IF-ED
• Sony DSLRs (heritage of Konica Minolta, first DSLR in summer?)
• Phase One P45

Printers

• Epson
  • no news here but the K3 printers are just 9 months old)
• HP

  HP Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo Printer

HP Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo Printer featuring (fact sheet):

• 8 colors (2 shades of black)
• Pigmented inks
• Both matte and photo black in the printer at the same time

Clearly HP aims with this printer at the Epson R2400. Only real world tests will tell how these two printers compare. We try to get a review sample ASAP.

 

• Canon

  Canon Pixma Pro9500 pinter

Canon Pixma Pro9500 is a 13" printer featuring:

• 10 colors (2 shades of black)
• Pigmented inks
• Both matte and photo black in the printer at the same time

Clearly Canon aims with this printer at the Epson R2400. Only real world tests will tell how these two printers compare. We try to get a review sample ASAP.

Canon imagePROGRAF iPF5000 professional printer

This is a 17" printer featuring:

• 12 colors (3 shades of black)
• Pigmented inks
• Both matte and photo black in the printer at the same time

Clearly Canon aims with this printer at the Epson4800. Only real world tests will tell how these two printers compare. We try to get a review sample ASAP. We are waiting when Canon will announce 24" and 44" wide variants with the same inkset.

 

Papers

• Crane (read our preview on Museo Silver Rag, so far one of our PMA highlights)

• Hahnemuehle
• Innova (we have in Innova Art FibaPrint Gloss for a preview. It is in the same category as the Museo Silver Rag paper.

Software

• Apple Aperture (1.1 announced)
• Bibble 4.6 with Noise Ninja
• Nikon
  • Capture NX Software

If you hear any news then please send us a note: uwe@outbackphoto.com