W/E Sunday Jan 13th

[Kym]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/04/polaroid_fotobars/


In a bizarre business plan that had El Reg checking if it weren't April already, Polaroid has announced a plan to open 10 shops in the US this year offering photo printing from customer's smartphones.

Visitors to the retail units, dubbed Fotobars, will be able to upload their photos from cameras and smartphones wirelessly to in-store terminals, where they can be cleaned up by staff called "phototenders". The amended pictures can then either be uploaded to social-media sites then and there, or customers can order a mounted copy on a variety of frames and have them shipped within a few days.

The first Fotobar, a 2,000 square foot outlet in Delray Beach, Florida, will open next month, and the company has plans for 10 more across the US, including branches in New York, Las Vegas, and Boston. The company says it expects them to become "a recreational and entertainment destination in addition to a place to shop."

"There are currently around 1.5 billion pictures taken every single day, and that number continues to grow in tandem with the popularity and quality of camera phones," said Warren Struhl, founder and CEO of Fotobar, in a statement

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130102005255/en/Polaroid-Announces-Plans-Launch-Ten-Polaroid-Fotobar


LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Polaroid will use the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) as a platform to announce its plans for a series of experiential retail stores where consumers can quickly and easily liberate their favorite images from the confines of their digital devices and turn them into museum-quality art. Polaroid Fotobar stores will be the first of their kind retail destinations designed to capitalize on the meteoric rise in people taking pictures. These cool, hip, experiential stores will make the process of turning peoples’ best pictures into cherished pieces of art both rewarding and fun.

[ricktas]

Samsung announced the NX300 mirrorless camera with a 20MP APSC sensor and 3D capabililty:

http://www.samsung.com/us/news/20331

[ricktas]

Adorama have come up with a series of predictions for 2013, that include:

Full frame mirrorless cameras (Leica are the only manufacturer with one out right now)
More Full Frame DSLR's at entry level prices

and more.

http://www.adorama.com/alc/0014000/blogarticle/8-Photo-Industry-Predictions-for-2013

Will be interesting to see how many of these come true by year's end.

[ricktas]

Fujifilm have announced the X100s. Built on the X100 template, but with a not of upgraded features:

http://www.fujifilm.com.au/news/pro-cameras/bid/168962/The-FUJIFILM-X100S-FUJIFILM-launches-a-high-speed-successor-to-the-X100-with-the-world-s-fastest-AF-of-0-08-seconds-1

[Warbler]

Free Adobe software, apparently.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/news/adobe_releases_creative_suite_2_for_free.html

Maybe this should go in a different forum. Feel free to move it.

Cheers,
Tim

[Kym]

Free Adobe software, apparently.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/news/adobe_releases_creative_suite_2_for_free.html


All good.

CS2 for free, the only problem is that it won't import raw images from most modern cameras.
It's supposed to help quash piracy, but given how easy it is to get CS6 I can't see it helping at all.

[Warbler]

CS2 for free, the only problem is that it won't import raw images from most modern cameras.
It's supposed to help quash piracy, but given how easy it is to get CS6 I can't see it helping at all.

Yes, I wondered to myself whether that would be a big problem, but in the end I figured that Canon owners could open their RAW files in DPP and then directly open them into CS2. It will at least give some folks some experience in PS before they lash out and buy a copy. 30 days with the trial version is not long enough to learn any of the good stuff.

[Lance B]

Adorama have come up with a series of predictions for 2013, that include:

Full frame mirrorless cameras (Leica are the only manufacturer with one out right now)
More Full Frame DSLR's at entry level prices

and more.

http://www.adorama.com/alc/0014000/blogarticle/8-Photo-Industry-Predictions-for-2013

Will be interesting to see how many of these come true by year's end.

I think these predictions will be quite accurate.

[Kym]

http://www.mobileworld.com.my/devices/others/2973-ces-2013-pentax-mx-1.html


Pentax has revealed its latest compact camera which spots a slick brass clad retro design that comes in two finishes, chrome or black paint and it even has an exposure compensation dial on the top for fast and easy adjustment. What is to love about this camera is its 28-112mm f/1.8-2.5 similar to the lens that will make taking picture in dark area an easy task. This beauty is also able to close focus as little as 1 cm, good news for those who enjoys taking macro shoots.

This 12 megapixel CMOS sensor camera is able to support Raw image capture and can be easily converted to JPG format in-camera. It does not have Wi-Fi capabilities but can be is easily remedied with Eye-Fi memory cards.

Its build-in retractable flash can be controlled with a physical button, so does the ISO setting, Exposure Lock, as well as Macro focusing and Drive mode. Unlike many of its competitor, MX-1 lacks a hot shoe and touch screen features.

Also: http://www.dpreview.com/previews/pentax-mx-1

[Kym]

CES 2013 Cameras....

http://www.popphoto.com/category/tags/ces-2013

[ricktas]

Yes, I wondered to myself whether that would be a big problem, but in the end I figured that Canon owners could open their RAW files in DPP and then directly open them into CS2. It will at least give some folks some experience in PS before they lash out and buy a copy. 30 days with the trial version is not long enough to learn any of the good stuff.

Or download the Adobe DNG convertor and convert their CS2 files to DNG RAW files and open them in CS2.

[ricktas]

Samsung have announced the world's first 8-core mobile phone processor, that will be used in phones being released this year:

http://www.youmobile.org/blogs/entry/Samsung-Officially-reveal-Exynos-Octa-8-Cores-to-be-included-on-Products-this-year-Video

Will it not be long before we can use a full-size version of photoshop on a mobile device?

[Lantern]

The kind folks over at Adobe are offering CS2 for free.

You can download the whole CS2 or any of the components.

Available at

http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/index.html#

Daniel

Edit: Thread Merged (Kym)

[ameerat42]

Gee! Back to the Past.
(That's what I use already - CS2:2abnor:)

[agb]

Not quite what it seems though.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/adriankingsleyhughes/2013/01/07/download-adobe-cs2-applications-for-free/

[ameerat42]

Ditto, as denied here also...
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/creative-software/adobe-denies-free-cs2-downloads-are-giveaway/
Am.

[Kym]

Jessops in the UK in administration

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2013/01/09/Jessops-Britains-biggest-camera-store-enters-administration


Edward Williams, Rob Hunt and Matthew Hammond of PwC were appointed joint administrators of The Jessop Group Limited on 9 January 2013.

Jessops is a major high- street retailer of photographic equipment and growing on line business. Turnover in the year to 31 December 2012 was £236m and Jessops operated from 192 stores with around 2000 employees throughout the UK. It has a well-known brand, strong reputation for service
and a significant national footprint.

However, its core marketplace has seen a significant decline in 2012 and forecasts for 2013 indicate that this decline would continue. In addition, the position deteriorated in the run up to Christmas as a result of reducing confidence in UK retail. Despite additional funding being made available to the company by the funders, this has meant that Jessops has not generated the profits it had planned with a consequent impact on its funding needs. This was exacerbated by a credit squeeze in the supplier base.

Rob Hunt, joint administrator and partner, PwC said:

“Over the last few days the directors, funders and key suppliers have been in discussions as regards additional consensual financial support for the business. However these discussions have not been successful. In light of these irreconcilable differences the directors decided to appoint
administrators and we were appointed earlier today.

“Our most pressing task is to review the Company's financial position and hold discussions with its principal stakeholders to see if the business can be preserved. Trading in the stores is hoped to continue today but is critically dependent on these ongoing discussions. However, in the current economic climate it is inevitable that there will be store closures.”

Finally, at present Jessops is not in a position to honour customer vouchers or to accept returned goods.