Rangefinder Magazine
May 2005

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Focus

Industry News…

Hasselblad and Leica Support DNG
According to Adobe Systems, Inc. (San Jose, CA, www.adobe.com), Hasselblad and Leica Camera AG are among the first camera manufacturers to support Adobe’s new Digital Negative Specification (DNG) file format. Both companies plan to include native support for the new universal RAW format within their new camera models.

The new Digital Negative format is built around a free Adobe DNG Converter, which translates all Photoshop supported proprietary RAW photo formats into the DNG file format. In its latest version it gives photographers the ability to embed the original image within the DNG file format directly from the Adobe DNG Converter. This is useful when DNG is not the original file format within the camera the photographer is using. The first Leica to support the DNG file format is the Digital-Modul-R, an interchangeable digital back for Leica’s 35mm SLR system.

Adobe to Launch Photographers Directory
Adobe is planning to launch the Adobe Photographers Directory, a listing of professional photographers that is accessible from within Adobe’s creative professional products. The new directory will initially be available in North America. In creating the directory, Adobe plans to work with a number of professional associations in populating the site. That includes the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and the Advertising Photographers of America (APA). The Adobe Photographers Directory will be searchable by geographic location or by photographic specialty. For more information about becoming part of the Adobe Photographers Directory, go to the ASMP web site at www.asmp.org/adobe/.

Promotions at Konica/Minolta
Konica/Minolta Photo Imaging U.S.A., Inc. (Mahwah, NJ, www.kmpi.konicaminolta.us) has appointed Tomohisa Saito president and CEO of the company, replacing Henry Okamura who became president and CEO of Konica/Minolta Business Solutions Europe. Saito, who brings with him an understanding of the photo imaging business, was the managing director and general manager of Sales and Marketing at the headquarters of Konica/Minolta Photo Imaging Inc. in Japan. His previous 27 years experience centered on the sales and marketing activities of the imaging segment of the business, primarily in the Asian markets.

Konica/Minolta also announced that Todd Schrader (left)would take over the position of senior vice president of Sales and Marketing. He will assume the marketing and sales responsibilities for all camera and photo imaging products in the United States, besides taking over the overall sales management functions, with regional sales directors of the camera division reporting to him.

Lyson Makes Promotions
Lyson, Inc. (Elk Grove Village, IL), a leading provider of inks and media, has promoted Jerry Fitch (right) to vice president of Sales and a member of the company’s board of directors. Fitch, who has been the sales manager since 2001, will be responsible for sales in North, South and Central America. He has over 25 years experience in the imaging industry, with extensive customer support experience working with distributors, dealers, and direct customers. He also owned his own digital trade shop.

Lyson has named Kenneth A. Holtane (left) as technical support manager for its photographic products. Holtane, who comes to Lyson with a strong background in technical service and field applications engineering, most recently served as senior technical service/applications field engineer for Ilford, where he was responsible for pre- and post-sales technical support and service to sales representatives and direct customers throughout Ilford’s 13-state Midwest region. At Lyson, Holtane’s responsibilities extend nationally.

Lyson named Tim Saul (right) as regional sales manager for its grand- and wide-format ink products. Saul, who comes to Lyson with a lifetime of experience in the imaging business, began his career in the photo lab environment and progressed to sales and marketing positions for various manufacturers in the imaging market. Before moving to Lyson he was a district sales manager for Ilford, where he worked closely with distributors, dealers and direct customers.

Noritsu Makes Personnel Changes
Noritsu (Buena Park, CA, www.noritsu.com) has appointed Thomas Wetzelberger (left) as the company’s sales representative for parts of the East Coast, including North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland. With more than 20 years of experience, he has worked for Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, NY, for the last 13 years. At Kodak he was a sales and applications specialist, besides being the Northeast region team leader for the sale of hardware and software to major accounts. He has also worked as equipment sales manager, digital imaging solutions consultant and digital channel manager.

Noritsu Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of Noritsu America, has appointed Anthony Welch (right) as the company’s national sales manager. Welch’s responsibilities will include directing sales efforts to meet market share and sales goals. Also a former Kodak employee, Welch spent almost 30 years with Kodak, where he was vice president of sales in the Consumer and Professional Imaging Division. He was responsible for all consumer imaging, digital imaging, as well as wholesale and on-site photofinishing. He has a bachelor of technology degree in photographic systems from Ryerson University.

Noritsu Wins Awards
The Noritsu America Corp. (Buena Park, CA, 800/521-3686, www.noritsu.com) dDP-421 digital dry printer was selected by editors and writers from the Digital Imaging Marketing Association (DIMA) to receive the prestigious DIMA Innovative Digital Product Award. The annual award is one of several events sponsored by the DIMA, a section of PMA.

The new dDP-421, a second generation digital dry printer, delivers high-quality output, while meeting the unique performance and environmental requirements of low-volume labs. It takes up less than half the size of a standard minilab and operates on standard electrical current. It uses a new 7-color set of pigment inks that yields enhanced color portrayal and natural gradations. The dDP-421 delivers up to 400 3.5x5-inch prints an hour from digital input, and enlargements up to 12x18 inches.

The Noritsu MYTIS-1 Wide-format Inkjet Printer was the winner in the 36–49 inches wide category. The MYTIS-1 is a 6-color, inkjet printing system that uses a special dispersion dye ink sublimation process to produce 720dpi prints in sizes up to 4x16 feet. With an outdoor rating of three to five years, its color quality is similar to that of silver halide prints.

American Photo Editor to Judge Competition
David Schonauer, the editor of American Photo magazine, will be the juror for the 2005 Photo Review Photography Competition, sponsored by Microtek and Calumet Photographic. In its 21st year, Photo Review’s annual photography competition will reproduce the accepted entries in the 2005 competition issue, which will be seen by thousands of people all across the country. Additionally, the prize-winning photographers will be chosen for an exhibition at the photography gallery of The University of the Arts, Philadelphia. This year’s awards will include a Microtek ScanMaker 6100 Pro scanner, a $350 gift certificate from Calumet Photographic and $500 in cash prizes.

The $25 entry fee includes up to three prints, slides, or images on CD. An additional $5 fee will be levied for each additional print, slide or image. All entries must be received by mail between May 1 and May 15, 2005. For a prospectus and details, send a self-addressed, stamped business-size (#10) envelop to: The Photo Review, 140 East Richardson Avenue, Suite 301, Langhorne, PA 19047. The prospectus may also be downloaded from www.photoreview.org/. For further information call (215) 891-0214.

Roland Hi-Fi JET Pro II Wins DIMA Shootout
Roland DGA Corp. (Irvine, CA, 800/542-2307, www.rolanddga.com) recently announced that its Hi-Fi JET Pro II FJ-540 wide-format inkjet printer won the prestigious DIMA Printer Shootout Award in the 50- to 72-inch aqueous inkjet printer category at the Photo Marketing Association trade show in Orlando, FL.

The FJ-540 created the winning print as part of the new d’Vinci Hi-Fi JET Fine Art Printing System. This high-end wide-format printing solution includes Roland’s 54-inch-wide Hi-Fi JET Pro II FJ-540, ErgoSoft’s StudioPrint RIP software, and a uniquely formulated 12-color ink set featuring Roland’s CMYKOGLcLm plus four additional dilutions of black. The FJ-540 also took first in the aqueous ink category for printers 20 inches wide or larger. The 2005 DIMA Shootout competition included more than 122 entries from 37 different companies.

The Hi-Fi JET Pro II FJ-540 features Piezo print heads and a digital servo motor to produce true 1440x1440-dpi resolution. It uses micro-precise ink droplets of three different sizes to produce breathtaking output with beautifully smooth and dot-free tones, even at high speeds.

In Memoriam: Robert F. Lindahl
Robert F. “Bob” Lindahl, of Elkhart, IN, died March 10 of complications from Guillain-Barre Syndrome. A native of Taccoa, GA, he owned Lindahl Specialties, a business that produced hundreds of items for the photography industry. He also was a professional photographer. Lindahl sold his photography business to his daughter and son-in-law last year and sold Lindahl Specialties to a Minnesota-based company in 1999. He was a member of Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and the Photo Marketing Association International (PMAI)

Active in politics, Lindahl served as the Concord Township assessor, Elkhart Plan Commission member and was a former two-term member of the Elkhart City Council. He is survived by his wife, a daughter, two stepdaughters, his father, two brothers, a sister and three grandchildren. Memorials can be directed to the Robert F. Lindahl memorial fund in care of Elkhart Community Bank, 303 S. Third St., Elkhart, IN 46516.

Professor Wins Prize
Steven B. Smith, a professor of photography at the Rhode Island School of Design, has been chosen to receive the second Center for Documentary Studies/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography. He will receive the award for his black-and-white photographs of the surreal intersection of suburbia and desert in California, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado.

Smith was chosen because of “his intelligent choice of a subject hidden in full view that is of paramount importance,” said Maria Morris Hambourg, curator in charge of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Photographs. “The mindless subjugation of the land to lockstep suburbia is wretched even when carried out in more forgiving terrain, but in an ecosystem as fragile as the desert, this misuse will be fatal unless it is shown and stopped.”

Smith will receive a grant of $3000, publication of a book of photography and inclusion in an exhibition featuring the first three winners of the prize. The book, The Weather and a Place to Live: Photographs of the Suburban West, will be published in the fall by Duke University Press in association with CDS Books of the Center for Documentary Studies. Smith, who holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of Art, has a Guggenheim and an Aaron Siskind Fellowship for Photography.

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Product News...

Sinar Bron Announces New View Camera
Sinar Bron Imaging (Edison, NJ, 800/456-0203) recently announced a new view camera, the Limited Edition Sinar x3, designed to help photographers work faster and more accurately. The x3 features the Sinar gear-driven movements, the smooth and self-arresting precision drives, and it’s based on asymmetric tilts and swings.

The x3 features the unique Sinar focusing technique. The built-in scales permit accurate determination of depth of field, tilt and swing angles, which lead to perfect focusing without the camera distracting from the creative task. It also has integrated contacts and electrical bellows, which makes it possible to control the electronic between-the-lens shutters of Sinaron Digital CMV lenses without additional cables.

The x3 is available as part of a limited production kit. The x3 camera and the Quick Clamping Adapter are included at no additional charge when purchased with 2 Sinar CAB Lenses and the Sinar m camera.

Westcott Lighting News
The F.J. Westcott Company (Toledo, OH, 800/886-1689, www.fjwestcott.com), an industry leader in quality products for lighting control, is now offering the Spiderlite and the Spiderlite TD5 for still and video imagemakers.

The Spiderlite is less than five inches deep and is constructed of solid metal, with an inner metal surface that offers a highly reflective surface. Any light falling backwards is again reflected back into a Soft Box allowing for maximum output of the lights. Its new light head provides 3200 degrees of constant light source for still, digital, video or high-definition image capture, while filling the soft box with a very even spread of light due to the unique design of the 500 and 1000 Watt lamps.

Westcott’s second version of the Spiderlite is the TD5, which stands for Tungsten/Daylight, five lamps. Up to five lamps can be used in the Spider TD5 using a standard E26 base. It can run either five 150 Watt (3200 Kelvin) halogen lamps or five 23 Watt (5100 Kelvin) fluorescent lamps (with the equivalent output of 500 Watts).

Westcott is also offering a 96x96-inch Scrim Jim System. This collapsible diffusion and reflection system is constructed of anodized aircraft aluminum and weighs less than five pounds. It can be used to create four easy-to-handle frame sizes, 42x42, 42x72, 72x72 and now 96x96 inches. Its fabrics have hook and loop fastening tape sewn around the perimeter for an even, taut and secure fit to the frame, even during periods of strong winds. Fabric types include diffusive fabrics, reflective fabrics, single and double nets, reversible Chroma-Key Green and Blue, and Egg-Crate grids.

In addition to the Scrim Jim System, Westcott is marketing the Master’s Brush, which delivers the ultimate light source in directional control. It’s designed to take the guesswork out of portraiture lighting by providing a self-feathering light source. The Master’s Brush Wide is 45 inches in diameter and fits directly into the umbrella mount of the light.

Sekonic FlashMate and Sekonic
X-Rite Digital Suite Sekonic (Elmsford, NY, www.sekonic. com) recently introduced the new Sekonic L-308S FlashMate. Offering the same features as the popular Sekonic L-308BII, the new meter has been redesigned to accommodate the demand for a more affordable, lighter-weight, digital-ready light meter.

The L-308S has the latest in component technology and precise calibration for accurate digital exposures. Software enhancements now offer photographers a choice of full, 1⁄2 or 1⁄3 f-stop increments to complement digital camera displays. The new meter supports a 1⁄10 f-stop measurement and display, which guarantees accurate and consistent exposures for digital SLRs or point-and-shoot digital cameras. Additional improvements include a more easily readable LCD display, with enhanced icons and symbols for better readability. The Sekonic L-308S has a street price of $179.

In other news, Sekonic and X-Rite introduced the Sekonic X-Rite Digital Suite. The new suite combines the latest light metering technology from Sekonic with the precision monitor calibration of the Monaco OPTIX XR, guaranteeing correct exposures before capturing an image and then seeing the image accurately on the monitor.

The new Digital Suite includes the Sekonic L-558R multi-function, wireless radio triggering light meter, which provides the most accurate and sensitive light measurements for both incident and reflective light. It also features the award winning Monaco OPTIX XR colorimeter, which calibrates and profiles CRT’s and LCD displays. Purchase the Sekonic X-Rite Digital Suite before June 30, 2005, to get Scanner and Printer Profiling capability too. It carries a street price of $699.

Konica Minolta Develops New Lenses
Konica Minolta Photo Imaging U.S.A. (www.kmpi.konicaminolta.us) is developing three lenses for the Maxxum 7D digital SLR camera. The new lenses, which will incorporate a new optical system that’s specifically formulated for digital SLRs, will include the AF DT ZOOM 18–70mm f/3.5–5.6(D), AF DT ZOOM 11–18mm f/4.5–5.6 (D), and AF DT ZOOM 18–200mm f/3.5–6.3 (D).

The new zoom lenses will include the company’s anti-shake blur correction effect, which lets photographers use shutter speeds two to three steps slower then they would normally use. They also support the company’s Advanced Digital Integration (ADI) to flash metering. Konica Minolta developed the new lenses because it wanted lenses that cover both the APS-C imaging sensor and the conventional 35mm film formats. They are expected to go to market during the fall of 2005.

New LumiQuest Soft Screen Flash Diffuser
LumiQuest (New Braunfels, TX, www.lumiquest.com) is marketing the new LumiQuest Soft Screen, a flash diffuser designed to fit most digital and film SLR pop-up flashes. The new Soft Screen diffuser, which takes the edge off the harsh light emitted from the digital SLR pop-up flashes, installs in seconds using three Velcro dots. When not in use, it folds flat and fits into a convenient storage “envelope.” The Soft Screen differs is available at all authorized LumiQuest dealers and carries a list price $12.95.

Epson P-2000 Firmware Upgrade
Epson America (Long Beach, CA, www.epson.com) is offering upgraded firmware for the Epson P-2000 Multimedia Storage viewer that is designed to increase the functionality and usability of the device. The upgrade includes the ability to view digital images taken from 17.8-megapixel cameras or lower, the addition of a histogram and added RAW formats. The firmware upgrade is designed for units that have firmware version 01.01 or lower.

Designed as a self-extracting file that can be transferred to the P-2000 using the built-in memory card slots, the upgrade includes a histogram to show the intensity values of JPEG images. Pressing the Display key twice when an image is displayed full screen will display the Y value (brightness) as YUV together. Only JPEG images can be viewed with the histogram. The upgrade also includes support of RAW files for Konica Minolta A7 digital (.mrw) and Pentax *ist DS and *ist D (.pef) files.

Lighting CD Now Available From David Bentley
New from Bentley Studios is the “Patterns” CD, which includes 52 instructional plates of black-and-white and color photographs with 35 illustrative lighting diagrams, all including lighting descriptions, hints, tips, theory and shortcuts for creating beautiful images in any situation. The new training CD was introduced at WPPI 2005. Suggested retail price is $95. For more information, contact, Bentley Studio Ltd., 10403 Clayton Rd., Frontenac, MO 63131; (314) 991-2502.

Jigsaw Puzzle Machine From Brooke International
Brooke International (www.BrookeCutters.com) recently introduced the Jigsaw Puzzle Machine, made by Hope Development of Korea. The Jigsaw Puzzle Machine can make many sizes of puzzles from a 4x6-inch 30-piece puzzle, up to 12x17-inch puzzles with 150 pieces. Many popular sheet size dies are also available. The Jigsaw Puzzle Machine is fast, simple and safe, using power to advance the dies through the machine. Puzzle materials are available with packaging sleeves in each size.

Jigsaw Puzzle Machine is an ideal value-added solution for maximizing profit in today’s economy. Brooke International is the exclusive distributor for the Jigsaw Puzzle Machine in the U.S. and Canada.