Fujifilm has developed the first D-SLR factory-produced yet specifically tailored camera for ultraviolet and infrared photography.

Known as the FinePix S3 Pro UVIR Digital SLR (whew!), it replaces the problematic UV and IR filters with a "specially formulated glass protective filter." More importantly, the said camera is able to take pictures of things we don't normally see under the naked eye, such as tattoos on a burnt body (pretty morbid, we know).

This proves to be quite a valuable tool in law enforcement and medical purposes, but it could also be used for art, just like photographers Minor White and Ansel Adams did. According to Mike Brooks, a law enforcement agency consultant, "The enhanced image quality is another great advantage of this camera – it has the ability to capture mid-tones, which is crucial with the contrasty subjects we commonly shoot and it provides a wider exposure latitude than other D-SLRs."

Moreover, it could also be used to detect differences in similar-looking signatures and inks, injuries below the skin, and even detect the presence of gunpowder. The FinePix S3 Pro UVIR Digital SLR camera will be available this September for $1800 USD.

This innovation opens up lots of possibilities in D-SLRs nowadays. Who knows what they'll come up with next?

FujiFilm has released the WP-FXF30 underwater housing unit for the FinePix F30 Zoom, allowing F30 owners to take their precious cameras into the water without fear of FUing-up-their-their gear-BAR.

With the WP-FXF30, you need never fear being shoved into the water while taking pictures of girls by the pool or at the beach. Having a fight with your significant other in the rain and you want to take photographic evidence for the ensuing court proceedings? With the WP-FXF30, that's no problem!

Whew. Seems someone's been watching waaaay too many infomercials.

Made from tough, transparent polycarbonate, the WP-FXF30 is good for dives of up to 40 meters deep while retaining the camera's full functionality. That means that the F30 will retain its 6-megapixel glory as well as the 3x camera zoom while it's all snug and safe in the underwater housing. Plus, the WP-FXF30's ISO 100–3200 sensitivity allows for excellent results in the low light of the ocean.

FujiFilm hasn't forgotten about the owners of older FinePix cameras, too. The WP-FXA500 works with both the FinePix A400 and A500 Zoom cameras, providing waterproof protection up to depths of three meters.

The price range for these babies is $144.99 - $179.99. Considering that new F30 cameras can go for prices of over $400 in some stores, it's a pretty good idea to invest in your camera's protection with the WP-FXF30.

Fujifilm has came up with a new contraption being packaged as a digital camera that is blessed with advanced simplicity. Advance and simplicity may be contradictory to you but for some reason, Fujifilm might be able to pull it off. The FinePix S6000fd joins the growing family of FujiFilm Finepix.

The camera is blessed with 6.3MP with 6th generation Super CCD-HR Technology, 10.7x optical zoom with manual control, dual shot mode, movie recording with sound at 30 fps, 2.5 inch LCD, and 10MB internal memory.

If you think that the digicam is pretty simple to be an advanced contraption, well, the features do not end there. The S6000fd has a feature called the Face Detection Technology which is a new technology designed to significantly improve your picture taking by identifying human subjects' faces in the frame (up to 10 faces) and in real time, determining the optimal focus and exposure settings for the absolute best results possible in any shooting conditions.

Also, the digicam's picture stabilization technology is something to talk about. Perfect for taking pictures of moving objects. This easy to access feature (selectable on the mode dial) lets the FinePix S6000fd choose the correct light sensitivity and best-matching shutter speed automatically, for the highest quality digital pictures. It goes with well with its i-Flash Intelligent Flash. It recognizes scene conditions and determines the optimum flash output to ensure superb results.

If you ain't so sure if you want to use the cam's flash or not, then let the S6000fd decide for you with its dual shot mode. Dual shot mode will take two pictures with one press of the S6000fd's shutter button; one with flash to capture a bright, vivid image; and the other without flash, to capture the natural ambiance of the shot's environment.

It will be available this coming September, and the price tag will be divulged in the coming weeks.

Fujifilm recently announced another addition to their growing digital camera family- the FinePix Z3. This one will be a member of the relatively new Z series of cameras and promises to be lightweight, compact, and packed-up with a lot of features. Well, from the looks of it, it is all that - maybe even more.

Some of it's features include a Picture Stabilization (PS) Mode which prevents blur in photos; now you can say goodbye to those hideous family vacation photos that are ruined by blurry images. This baby also sports an "Intelligent Flash" which captures the subject and the background in an almost perfect manner.

Plus, it also has a Natural light &/with Flash mode which enables continuous shooting in flash off / flash on modes for on-the-spot comparison. And for added kicks, the Fujifilm peeps are claiming that the 2.5 inch LCD Monitor gracing this baby is highly scratch-resistant and has a reinforced glass coating

The FinePix Z3 is scheduled to hit retail shelves this July in both silver and metallic blue variants. As for the financial damage it would bring? It will carry an MSRP of $279.95.

Since it's nho bigger than a deck of playing cards, you'd think that the Fujifilm FinePix F470 wouldn't be big enough to hold a 6-megapixel CCD sensor, a new digital signal processor, a 3x optical zoom and a large 2.5-inch color LCD monitor. Well, it can.
Let's Go Digital has reviewed this lightweight wonder - let's see how they found it.

With its slim-line aluminum-finish body, the Fujifilm FinePix F470 gets the vote on the looks alone. But what about performance? The FinePix F47 offers an array of optimized automatic photography settings, allowing users to select 10 scene positions via the mode dial. The scene modes include the familiar “Portrait”, “Sport”, “Landscape” and “Night” settings, as well as more defined settings such as “Beach and Snow”, “Sunset”, “Museum”, “Party”, “Flower Close-Up” and “Text”. The Manual mode enables photographers to control the image quality at will.

The large 2.5-inch color LCD has an automatic gain-up that senses low-light and brightens to compensate. Live image from the LCD can be further brightened with a manual control, a big help when shooting in dimly lit places.

The 3x Fujinon lens has a focal length range of 35-105mm, typical of most cameras in its class, but FinePix F470 is able to produce good center sharpness throughout its zoom range. The downside is that it showed a noticeable amount of barrel distortion at full wide angle, but little pin cushioning at telephoto. Some shots have also exhibited chromatic aberrations, with purple fringing evident in high contrast areas. Well, that's not a good thing. But overall, the F470's shooting performance is up to par. The reviewer concludes:

The F470's shooting performance is good. From power-on till the first image was captured measured under just over 2 seconds. I was happy with the quality of the Fujifilm F470's 6M Fine mode. Indoors it produced pleasing portrait shots, with good flash exposure and natural skin tones, but the flash red eye reduction mode was only marginally effective. The F470's review mode is useful for field-checking your results, providing up to 4.4x magnification for critical examination.

 

Fuji Photo Film has already developed a CMOS sensor that they think should be used for digital cameras soon. Although Fuji has not yet disclosed when the CMOS sensor will be released for use in cameras, many enthusiasts are already looking forward to using it.

The new CMOS sensor which was first shown in January's IS&T/SPIE Electronic Imaging Science & Technology conference is supposedly the modified version of a previous research which used organic photoelectric conversion film combined with an imaging tube. This, though, was only able to take monochrome images. The newly-developed CMOS sensor will use red and blue organic photoelectric conversion films compared to the prototype's green photoelectric conversion film which means it could use all visible light.

The CMOS sensor's integration to FujiFilm's digital camera would cut the production costs significantly.

Because you have to.

If your kit includes a FujiFilm FinePix S3 or S2 Pro body paired with a Nikon VR 18-200mm lens, you'll want to get the updated firmware to fix a focusing bug.  In fact, the Nikon 18-200mm lens may also have the issue on Nikon's D70, D2H, and D100 camera bodies. 

The Problem: (quoted from FujiFilm's website)
"When the zoom is set to the wide-angle position, if you attempt to focus using AF (Auto Focus) when the distance scale is set to infinity (∞), the camera may very occasionally fail to focus on close- up subjects."

If you fit the hardware setup, and this issue sounds familiar, get on over to Nikon or FujiFilm's websites for the fix.

The Frontier 500 Digital Lab System, Fujifilm's most compact stand-alone printer processor,can print 800 4R (4x6 in) prints per hour and print in sizes up to 8 by 12 inches. It also consumes 20 percent less power than its predecessor, the Frontier 340. According to the company, the Frontier 500 will be available starting May.

Businesses requiring more muscle power will have to wait until June for the arrival of the Frontier 590. It has print speeds of up to 2,400 4R prints per hour using Fujifilm's Crystal archive paper type II and the company's CP-49E chemistry. It offers a dry-to-dry film processing time of 1 minute and 22 seconds and can print in sizes up to 12 by 18 inches.