As a follow up to the report that we had earlier today, it looks like the large US Retailers are getting into the digital photo processing game. I have used the Wal*Mart site and it has worked very well , and is also very inexpensive. The Washington Post is reporting today, “ So popular is Wal-Mart’s digital photo service that more than half of the visitors to the retail giant’s Web site for the month of July used it, according to research firm Nielsen/NetRatings.“

 While the retail chain is used to competition from rival stores, the melding of online and offline buying has put it up against online-only retailers and even home printing options.

“At some level, our competition is everybody,” said Drew Carpenter, business manager for WalMart.com’s online photo service. He declined to confirm the research firm’s findings.

Competition is pushing more partnerships together between online and offline businesses. Target has teamed with Yahoo Photos for four-hour pickup, and Costco has partnered with Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Snapfish, which powers the online photo center for the membership warehouse.

The online sites of traditional retailers also offer another perk: pickup at almost any location. That means that you can have your order uploaded to another location — maybe across town or across the country — so Grandma doesn’t have to wait for snapshots of the first day of school to be processed and mailed to her. She can pick them up herself later that same day — at a store near her.

Still, industry observers are not convinced that most Americans even want hard copies of their vacation snapshots.

Previous Story: Will the Camera Store Survive?

According to LetsGoDigital, The new version of Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8 video editing software has been released today. This is one of the better software packages available for both the top end professional and the hobbyist.

Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8

Ulead MediaStudio Pro 8 is powerful, versatile and intuitive video editing software for professionals and enthusiasts. Create dynamic HDV, DV or MPEG video content for independent productions, events, business and education. Integrated, quick-to-master tools, including Smart Compositor and Smart Proxy, take you to the forefront of professional real-time video editing.

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With the digital market growing significantly, and the use of film based photography shrinking, the future of the local camera store has been in jeopardy. Fortunately, there death has been premature. It seems the public is still willing to have their prints made professionally, but instead of the roll of film, they are bringing in their compact flash card.

A new study shows that “retail digital photofinishing is becoming an increasingly important segment of the consumer digital printing market. According to an August Internet survey conducted by in 2004, 33% of digital camera owners who print photos had obtained prints at a retail location, up from 14% in 2003. The two major product categories of the retail digital photofinishing market are digital minilabs and photo kiosks. This report looks at these two product segments and accesses their growth over the next five years. “

The full report costs approximately 5,000 USD, so I will not be purchasing it, however, if you so desire, it is over at Research and Markets.

One of the top film camera makers, Lieca, has announce a limited edition digital camera, the Leica MP 3 LHSA Special Edition. The original 1956 film version is one of the most sought after cameras of all times as there were only 400 produced.

From Digital Camera Tracker

Leica Camera Inc., Allendale, N.J., USA, releases the Leica MP 3 LHSA Special Edition camera. Limited to a total of 1,000 cameras, the special edition has a design reminiscent of the first Leica MP released in 1956 and was produced in cooperation with the world’s largest Leica collectors club - the Leica Historical Society of America (LHSA).

The exclusive Leica MP 3 LHSA Special Edition combines the classic design of the early Leica MP with the precision and durability of the current production model of the Leica MP, says the company. The special series consists of three elements, the Leica MP 3 LHSA Special Edition, the Leica Summilux-M f/1.4/50mm ASPH and a Leicavit MP. The camera, lens and Leicavit are available as a set or individually.

The Leica MP of 1956 was intended exclusively for professional photographers and is now a highly sought-after camera model on the collector market as only 400 were manufactured. Following the design of the professional camera of that time, the Leica MP 3 LHSA Special Edition features a top front with a distinctive frame around the three viewing windows of the bright-line rangefinder and mat and non-ribbed glass in the center window. Instead of the standard counter window, the limited edition camera has an exterior number dial. While the viewfinder magnification of 0.72x has been retained, the Leica MP 3 LHSA Special Edition has been equipped with the classic set of bright-line frames for 35mm, 50mm and 90mm lenses, where each frame is reflected in single.

The matching lens for the special edition, the Leica Summilux-M f/1.4/50mm ASPH, offers the outstanding optics of today’s production model while featuring the brass mount design of the lenses of the fifties, says the company. It therefore has no built-in lens hood, and its focusing ring has the typical knurled design of that time. The third component of this special edition, the Leicavit MP, is a mechanical, battery-independent accessory for fast film winding with the rangefinder system camera Leica MP 3, and is attached to the camera instead of the base plate. The easy-access position of the winding lever under the camera permits fast and quiet film advance without the photographer having to take the camera away from his eye.

The Leica MP 3 LHSA Special Edition plus the Leica Summilux-M f/1.4/50mm ASPH lens and the Leicavit MP will be on sale next month. The camera, lens and LEICAVIT MP can also be purchased separately with either a silver-chrome or black-lacquer finish.

Sue Chastain, who writes for About.com, has a great primer on the JPEG format that explains the basics and how the format can be used effectively?

A Great Example:

 JPEGs lose quality every time they are opened, edited and saved.

True. If a JPEG image is opened, edited, and saved again it results in additional image degradation. It is very important to minimize the number of editing sessions between the initial and final version of a JPEG image. If you must perform editing functions in several sessions or in several different programs, you should use a image format that is not lossy (TIFF, BMP, PNG) for the intermediate editing sessions before saving the final version. Repeated saving within the same editing session won’t introduce additional damage. It is only when the image is closed, re-opened, edited and saved again.

News.com has an interesting article on a new tool that can provide privacy for those who do not want digital photos taking a photograph when you do not want them too. Will all of the Hollywood celebrities purchase a mobile version to protect themselves from the paparattzi? Will they have in their entourage a photo blocking guy? The possiblilites are endless.

  Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have come up with an inexpensive way to prevent digital cameras and digital video cameras from capturing that secret shot.

The technology they’ve devised detects the presence of a digital camera up to 33 feet away and can then shoot a targeted beam of light at the lens, according to Shwetak Patel, a grad student at the university and one of the lead researchers on the project.

 That means that someone trying for a surreptitious snapshot of, say, a product prototype or an amorous couple gets something altogether less useful–a blurry picture (or a video) of what looks like a flashlight beam, seen head on. (A video of how the system works can be viewed here.)

The group has developed a lab prototype–which consists of a digital projector with a modified video camera mounted on top–but will soon design a device that could be manufactured and sold commercially. The group, which presented a paper on its work at Ubicomp (The Seventh International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing) in Tokyo last week, is also in contact with large consumer electronics manufacturers.

(Read the rest of the article)