Alpha 500 and 550 in UK shops

According to Sony UK, the Alpha 5oo and 550 were shipped to UK dealers starting at the beginning of this week (October 19th) – though calls to WarehouseExpress, and to our local Edinburgh Sony ACE dealer, produced no knowledge of the new cameras. WE said that they expected the camera ‘hopefully within the next month’ and Edinburgh Sony Centre Shandwick Place said ‘we will have it in stock on October 29th’.
Paul Genge of Sony UK confirmed that deliveries had in fact been made by October 22nd to selected dealers and that ‘both cameras have been available since the beginning of the week’.
However, a Google search showed no for sale items except Hong Kong based grey market shippers. WarehouseExpress still showed a pre-order status for the Alpha 550 and its kits. We have been trying to obtain one for the past two weeks, as review samples were not available. The initial report in Photoworld magazine has been completed with the help of our Photoclubalpha subscribers round the world who already have the camera, and will appear in the edition printed next week.
UPDATE: Monday October 26th – WarehouseExpress had bodies, 18-55mm and twin lens kits all in stock this morning.
– DK

Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta now available

London. — October 22, 2009 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today introduced Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 3 beta software for Macintosh and Windows®, a public preview of new and improved functionality to be delivered in the next major release. Lightroom is the essential digital photography workflow solution, helping serious amateur and professional photographers quickly import, manage, enhance, and showcase all their images from one application. Available as a free download on Adobe Labs, Lightroom 3 beta delivers a preview of new tools that will be in Lightroom 3, including more intuitive importing, unparalleled noise reduction and sharpening tools and enhanced slideshow capabilities.. Adobe encourages photographers to test this early selection of new features and provide the product team with their feedback.

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Lightroom 3 Beta released

London. — October 22, 2009 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today introduced Adobe® Photoshop® Lightroom® 3 beta software for Macintosh and Windows®, a public preview of new and improved functionality to be delivered in the next major release. Lightroom is the essential digital photography workflow solution, helping serious amateur and professional photographers quickly import, manage, enhance, and showcase all their images from one application. Available as a free download on Adobe Labs, Lightroom 3 beta delivers a preview of new tools that will be in Lightroom 3, including more intuitive importing, unparalleled noise reduction and sharpening tools and enhanced slideshow capabilities.. Adobe encourages photographers to test this early selection of new features and provide the product team with their feedback.
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Vision09 show in association with Sony Alpha

The Sony Alpha division is sponsoring the British Journal of Photography’s Vision09 show which takes place in London on November 27th.
Vision09: The Essential Event for Pro Photographers
Come and learn from the world’s leading experts
Vision in association with Sony Alpha

Eugene Richards lo res
Picture © Eugene Richards/Reportage by Getty Images
British Journal of Photography is delighted to announce its second key speaker for its November show, Vision – Europe’s only event dedicated to aspiring and early career professional photographers.
Eugene Richards will be flying in from New York to speak at Vision on 27 November, where he will be joined on the day by Martin Parr – giving visitors the chance to see two of the biggest legends of photography under the same roof on the same day.
Known for his uncompromising documentary work, award-winning books and critically-acclaimed short films, Richards will present an exclusive insight into his latest project, War is Personal, together with his first major colour series, The Blue Room. Among his numerous honours, the American has won the W Eugene Smith Memorial Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, three National Endowment for the Arts grants, the Leica Medal of Excellence, the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, the Olivier Rebbot Award from the Overseas Press Club, three Canon Photo Essayist Awards, and the Robert F Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Journalism Award.
Vision’s unique one-day event features a packed programme of talks, demos, seminars and portfolio reviews.  Located at the Business Design Centre in the heart of London, Vision provides inspiration, information and essential ideas to help aspiring professionals and early career photographers get their careers moving.  Many of the industry’s leading manufacturers will also be there to showcase their latest products and services.
With an emphasis on creative cutting edge, and focusing on effective tools and solutions to further photographers’ businesses, Vision is this year’s don’t miss photography event.

Nikon D3s – evolution of the breed

D3S_14_24_front34r_lToday sees the announcement of Nikon’s most significant camera body this year so far – bringing the D3 in line with the resr of the Nikon range, and improving it with customer feedback and to continue competing in a rapidly developing sector of the market. With headline grabbing ISO performance and D-Movie, the D3s looks set to repeat the success of the original D3…

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Alamy blacklists compact and bridge digitals

In an unusual move, probably designed to cut down the work of rejecting submissions which fail to make the grade, the on-line picture library Alamy has published lists of cameras (by make) which will NEVER produce a file acceptable to pass their Quality Control. It includes all the Sony Cyber-shots ever made as far as we can tell! They say: “Check your camera – do NOT submit any images from camera models featured on the list below. Camera models featured on this list do not produce files that are capable of passing Alamy’s QC standards.”
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Sony send mains power through thin air

Sony Corporation today announced the development of a highly efficient wireless power transfer system that eliminates the use of power cables from electronic products such as television sets. Using this system, up to 60 Watts of electrical energy can be transferred over a distance of 50cm (at an efficiency of approximately 80%, approximately 60% including rectifier).
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Sony invent 3D movie HDTV camera

Sony Corporation today announced the development of a single lens 3D camera technology capable of recording natural and smooth 3D images of even fast-moving subject matter such as sports, at 240fps (frames per second).  This technology combines a newly developed optical system for single lens 3D camera which captures the left and right images simultaneously, together with existing high frame rate (HFR) recording technology to realize 240fps 3D filming.  Sony will demonstrate a prototype model incorporating this technology at “CEATEC JAPAN 2009”, to be held at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba city, Japan, from October 6th.
High Frame Rate Single Lens 3D Camera Technology(prototype)
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