Digital Photography Blog has a post up today showing that 80% of the professional photographers have gone digital as opposed to film based cameras.

The switch to digital has already transpired, with nearly 80% of pros owning a digital SLR and 52% planning to purchase a new one within a year. The immediacy and flexibility of the digital format has clearly made an impact. The new challenge for pro photographers is to find a way to leverage new technologies, software, and services to grow their businesses.

Survey results show that professional photographers across all specialties are taking a large number of shots – 482 per week on average for digital camera users. The vast majority of these images are saved to a computer, and nearly 65% of the photos taken are edited. Many photographers are using RAW conversion and color management software, and a significant percentage of photos are being published to the

The  Casio EXILIM CARD EX-S600 miniature camera has a 6 megapixel, 3x optical zoom to go with the anti-shake technology. The camera is thin, Kate Moss thin, I mean seriously thin. 16 mm would not even leave a dent in your shirt pocket.

To make this small camera work, it has the “Anti Shake” technology, to allow such a small camera take quality pictures.

Digital Lifestyles has this to say about the Casio EXILIM CARD EX-S600 digital camera:

As is de rigeur on consumer compacts, there’s a built in movie mode with the Casio capturing MPEG-4, VGA (640×480 pixels) at 30 frames/second.

Battery life is a beefy 300 still pictures or 1 hour and 50 minutes of movie recording per battery charge, with the EX-S600 connecting to a TV or PC via the multi cradle, which also doubles as the battery charger.

This camera is available only Japan right now, but should be coming to America soon.

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Samsung has announced the new SCH-M709, a 7 megapixel camera phone that is created to make a huge impact in the marketplace. Seriously, most digital cameras do not have high of a resolution. The key criteria is the quality of the lens and the ccd. If it works as well as it seems, it will be revolutionary cameraphone.

BIOS has some interesting points on this.

Another problem is that digital camera’s zoom capability simply enlarges a section of the original image. A zoom is needed to capture sharp close-ups. The SCH-M709 sports an impressive 3x optical zoom lens, which rivals most entry-level digital cameras.

The SCH-M709 is built for CDMA 2000-1X mobile networks and is designed to look like a mobile phone on one side and a digital camera on the other. The camera phone has a 7-Megapixel camera with a 3x optical zoom and a 5x digital zoom and can take digital still pictures and video. It also has a built-in MP3 player and TV output for viewing images on a larger screen. The phone has a 240×320-pixel LCD screen capable of showing 16 million colors.

 

The rest of the world will be able to purchase the Canon IXY Digital Wireless Camera in the next few months. The IXY will have a 5 megapixel 3x Zoom camera will have WiFi built into it, is the another Canon camera to have this feature. The Coolpix P1 and P2 both have this feature already.

The camera will have the ability to transfer pictures and images to a personal computer as the pictures are taken. You also will have the ability to remotely control the camera from the computer.

PC World reports that you will also be able to print from the camera.

Wireless printing will also be possible via a printer adapter that will ship bundled with the camera. The camera and adapter will come preprogrammed to work together so users will be spared the tedious task of setting up the Wi-Fi link between the two devices. A printer with USB port and PictBridge is required for the wireless printing function to work. PictBridge is a standard that allows devices like cameras to control printers.

The retail list price of the Ixy will be $433 in Japan.  

From Nikon USA:

It has come to our attention that in a limited number of COOLPIX 3100, 5700 and SQ digital cameras, an electronic component may, in some instances, fail affecting your camera’s performance and/or operability.

While only a limited number of COOLPIX 3100, 5700 and SQ digital cameras are affected by this advisory, if your camera presents symptoms that can include (1) images with a strong color tint, (2) images that are totally black and/or (3) images with visible defects, Nikon will, upon confirmation that the problem is associated to this Service Advisory, service your camera free of charge.

To obtain complimentary service for cameras affected by this advisory, please click the link below to download and print the Service Return Form. The Service Return Form provides detailed return instructions.

The Frequently Asked Questions button at the bottom of this page offers more information about this advisory and, should you have more questions, also provides information about how to contact Nikon.

We apologize for any inconvenience you may experience.

Click here to download a service return form

A $25,000 US Savings Bond will be awarded to the best photograph of a child 36 months old or younger. The contest will require a $9.95 entry fee, with over half of it being donated to the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation. They are also planning a television special for the contest sometime in January, 2006.

Finalists in the contest will receive a Nikon Cookpix Digitial Family Package, which includes

One (1) Nikon Coolpix L1 digital camera, (1) camera case, and (1) rechargeable battery and charger; and (1) E-Certificate offer for a 5×7 print from Best Buy Imagelab; and, in Nikon’s sole discretion, a 3-day/2-night trip to New York City for Baby Finalist and one (1) parent or legal guardian (who must be at least 18 years of age) to appear in a nationally broadcast television program and/or website in January 2006 (specific dates to be determined by Nikon at time of notification)

To register for the contest, visit the Nikon site “Pride and Joy” to enter.