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Version 5 of DxO Optics Pro is due to start shipping this month, bringing a new engine for processing raw images, better noise reduction, faster performance and new camera support, according to maker DxO Labs.

The Windows version will ship in October, with the Mac OS X equivalent to follow in November, the company said. The software costs $169 for the Standard version and $299 for Elite, which supports several high-end cameras. Upgrades cost $95 for Standard and $125 for Elite, but are free for those who bought the earlier software version on or after August 1.

DxO Optics can … Read more

With the first of the two cameras Pentax announced today, the company joins the club of manufacturers offering 12-megapixel compact cameras. The new Pentax Optio A40 will sport a 12MP CCD sensor, 3X optical 37-111mm equivalent f/2.8-5.4 zoom lens, and 2.5-inch 232,000-pixel LCD screen when it hits stores this month for about $300. It'll also include mechanical, sensor-shift image stabilization (Pentax calls it Shake Reduction), as well as ISO-boosting digital Shake Reduction, sensitivity of up to ISO 1,600 at full resolution and ISO 3,200 if you don't mind reducing the pixel … Read more

Corel Painter Essentials 4, available for both Windows and Mac, combines the resources of a Photoshop with the carte blanche of a art studio program, but without the attitude of either. The end result is something that's more appropriate for people looking to either paint or artistically tweak their photos and to have fun doing it.

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Last Saturday, the online image backup and storage website PhotoShelter officially launched its new stock photography outlet PhotoShelter Collection, which will compete with high-end stock houses, such as Getty Images and Corbis. With established stock image providers feeling serious pressure from microstock sites, such as Fotolia, which offer their images for as little as $1, it might seem strange for PhotoShelter to enter the game now, but they plan to distinguish themselves from the competition by giving photographers a larger commission, control over pricing, and by promising that they won't participate in what they see as the devaluation of … Read more

Updated: Microsoft now says image uploads to non-Microsoft photo sites will be possible.

BURLINGAME, Calif.--Microsoft developed Windows Vista in part to make it easier for people to manage their digital photos. Now it has released beta software that's trying to refine that experience further.

Windows XP leaves much to be desired with photo management, Mike Nash, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Windows Product Management, said Wednesday in a talk here at the InfoTrends Digital Imaging conference. On the list of gripes: XP lacks abilities to edit, archive, search, tag and edit images; it can't support the … Read more

Whoops! Fujifilm's IS-1 is only an SLR-esque megazoom, not an actual SLR, so I updated the text.

Getting rid of the speckles of image noise in digital photos is an essential part of photo processing, but there can be too much of a good thing.

Evidently, that was the conclusion Adobe Systems reached when preparing updates it released late Thursday night to Photoshop Lightroom and the related raw-image import module of Photoshop C3. Adobe is dialing down the default amount of noise reduction in Lightroom 1.2 (download for Mac OS X and Windows) and Camera Raw 4.2 (… Read more

ACD Systems has released version 2.0 of its ACDSee Pro software, bringing support for Windows Vista and Adobe's Digital Negative (DNG) software to the software for importing, naming, viewing, editing, labeling, displaying and archiving image files.

The company released ACDSee Pro 2.0 Tuesday at a price of $130. The software runs only on Windows.

ACDSee Pro is geared for quick review and "development" of raw files, the higher-quality images taken directly from camera image sensors without in-camera processing. Raw processing features include recovery of details lost in underexposed or overexposed areas, conversion to black and … Read more

Just last week, CNET blogger Stephen Shankland, shared his thoughts that recent changes affecting the professional photography market have a "silver lining that shouldn't be overlooked." While his optimism is a nice respite amid increasingly weary economic times, six professional photographers' trade associations are now speaking out against a new pricing scheme by stock photo giant Getty Images that offers its high-end Rights-managed and Rights-ready images, alongside its lower-priced Rights-free images, for the same low price of $49 when used on the Web. For all but the Rights-free images, this represents a price reduction of more than … Read more

Update 9/6/07: Okay, I got the version names confused--two years ago the "X" in the product name meant "10," then was switched to mean "X." As a result, I miscalculated the product cycle. Corel actually shipped a new version last year. So please ignore my attempt at a clever lead-in.

It's been three years since Corel acquired Jasc Software, and about two years since its last major release of Paint Shop Pro; that's a couple of lifetimes in the consumer software market. Today Corel finally announced and shipped a new … Read more