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JOBO AG introduces today its new line of JOBO Energy PREMIO rechargeable batteries for today’s most popular digital cameras and camcorders.

The JOBO Energy PREMIO battery line has been developed specifically for use with digital SLRs, compact point-and-shoot digital cameras and camcorders. In total there are about 300 battery models (mostly Lithium-ion, but some NiMH), 60 of the most common of them will be readily available for the 400 most popular camera models.

The new JOBO Energy PREMIO battery line is packaged with an easy to match color coding system making it easy for retailers and consumers to find the right replacement battery for their digital camera or camcorder model. Users simply match the color coded packaging to their camera model.

“For eighty-five years, JOBO has stood for high quality and innovation,” said Johannes Bockemuehl-Simon, JOBO’s CEO. “By introducing JOBO branded batteries for the first time in our company’s history, we are emphasizing our goal to provide the best possible products for a growing digital imaging market while maintaining high profit margins for retailers.”

These new JOBO batteries provide a constant capacity across many charging cycles (300 to 500 depending on usage). JOBO PREMIO batteries do not have a memory effect, are high current capable and quick charge capable. JOBO conducts regular quality control for the whole PREMIO line to ensure high product quality. Precision contacts guarantee maximum energy transfer between the battery and the imaging device. A built-in fuse protects the battery’s electronic microchip against short circuiting, overcharging and overheating. All JOBO batteries are ISO 9001 / 9002 / QS 9000 certified.

About JOBO AG
JOBO is a family-owned company now in its third generation of family leadership. Having been founded in 1923, it has built up a reputation for quality, professionalism, and commitment. These core values remain their keys for continuous success in times of vast technological changes, growing markets, and globalization.

Through innovation and ingenuity JOBO has created standards within the imaging industry. For example, JOBO created the product class of small-volume, high-quality photo processors. And NASA pictures of the first flight to the moon (Apollo 11) were processed using JOBO equipment.
JOBO is also one of the first exhibitors of the most important photo trade shows in the world - photokina, founded in 1950. Since then, close interaction with photo dealers and end users has been critical in making JOBO an indisputable market leader in the world of photography.

Canon U.S.A., Inc. has announced a new addition to its PIXMA printer lineup, the new PIXMA MX850 Office All-In-One (AIO) printer for homes and small offices. The PIXMA MX850 Office AIO printer features printing, copying, scanning and faxing capabilities along with an Ethernet port for networking, making it ideal for the home where mom, dad and children are always on deadline to complete work or school projects. As home offices continue to proliferate and more homes find the need for multiple computers, Canon shows that one AIO printer can be shared for office and photo printing needs. Having a Canon AIO printer on the desktop not only saves space with so much functionality in a single device, it also adds to the look of the office with its sleek and stylish design.

“Canon has a long history of providing products that meet the needs of the marketplace,” said Yuichi Ishizuka, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A. “With the PIXMA MX850 Office AIO printer, consumers can experience the productivity of an all-in-one that serves as the ‘office by day’ and still enjoy vivid photographs from the same all-in-one becoming a ‘photo lab by night’.”

Office By Day:

The Canon PIXMA MX850 Office AIO printer provides users with an automatic document feeder (ADF) which can copy or scan both sides of a document automatically. The Auto Duplexing feature permits two-sided copying/scanning of letter-sized documents, without the need to manually turn over pages and re-feed the document. Consumers are able to print two-sided documents automatically as well. This unit even has the ability to scan and print at the same time, which can dramatically decrease the amount of time it will take to complete a project. When scanning a multi-page document to print, the PIXMA MX850 Office AIO printer will scan the first page and start printing it while the scanner is scanning the second page and so on.

The Canon PIXMA MX850 Office AIO printer features the Canon easy-to-use Advanced Copy Technology so common copy adjustments, such as easily erasing the frame created around a small scan, can be made right from the AIO printer control panel. Waiting a long time for start-up will be a thing of the past thanks to the Canon QuickStart feature that allows the user to start using the AIO in a matter of seconds. The printer also features a large 2.5-inch TFT display for easy viewing of images or printer menus.

Canon even designed the unit’s color Super G3 fax [1] with speed and ease of use in mind. It includes features that allow users to receive up to 250 incoming pages in memory2, one-touch speed dialing (eight numbers) and a coded speed dial function that can store up to 100 locations.

Photo Lab by Night

The PIXMA MX850 Office AIO printer features the Canon five-color individual ink system with a resolution of up to 9600 x 2400 color dpi.3 Employing the Canon FINE print head technology with 4,608 nozzles ejecting ink droplets as small as one picoliter, this printer can produce long-lasting photographs that rival those made by photo labs.

An improved printhead technology helps Canon print a photo-lab-quality borderless 4” x 6” photo in approximately 21 seconds4 (using the default setting of the printer driver). By including two additional rows of nozzles, the printhead can eject more ink in less time. The Canon PIXMA MX850 Office AIO printer features direct photo printing from select memory cards5 and PictBridge ready devices, while the CIS scanner allows for high-quality, high-speed scans.

Photo Paper Plus Glossy II

The new Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II offers vivid color with a high-quality finish to consumers who are looking for a professional look in their prints at a reasonable price. As a five-star paper with an average cost as low as $0.10 per sheet, this paper has the look and feel of high-quality photo paper fresh from the printer. During the printing process, the dye is fixed to the surface of the paper producing a deeper black and a clearer overall photographic finish. The color reproduction is stabilized faster than ever before enabling consumers to enjoy their memories right away.

Generation Green

Canon’s commitment to the environment and helping to make it more sustainable is an inherent part of the Company’s kyosei philosophy and subsequent product offerings. From Energy Star® compliance, to duplex printing and significant changes to product packaging, the Generation Green initiative is designed to provide partner companies, enterprise customers and consumers a way to identify and learn about the various environmentally-friendly product features and solutions Canon printers offer. For more information on Generation Green, and the many eco-friendly aspects of Canon inkjet and laser printers, please visit www.usa.canon.com/green .

The new PIXMA MX850 Office AIO printer has a estimated retail price of $279.99.

Olympus today introduces the high-speed Type M+ (plus) Series xD-Picture Card, which will offer approximately 1.5 times faster1 data-transfer speeds than its predecessor (Type M Series xD-Picture Card) when capturing images with an Olympus digital camera.

“The demand for faster media with higher speed performance is being driven by developments in advanced video-recording functions in digital still cameras,” said John D. Blakeslee, business manager, digital memory products, Olympus Imaging America Inc.

The new Type M+ Series will be available in April 2008. It will be compatible with all Olympus digital cameras that use Type M Series xD-Picture Cards, including the new digital compact cameras (Stylus, Stylus SW, FE-Series and Ultra Zoom) announced today.

Sony is taking the wraps off a new 10.1-megapixel Cyber-shot® DSC-T300 digital camera, featuring a stylish, ultra-compact design and intelligent functionality to help reduce the risk of taking a bad photo.

The new model incorporates Sony’s new intelligent scene recognition (iSCN), a technology that allows the camera to analyze shooting conditions and automatically select the optimal settings for the best photo results. In iSCN mode, the camera can automatically detect up to five scenes, and choose the best setting for the situation.

In advanced iSCN mode, the camera will shoot using the user’s settings and then will automatically step in and take a second shot with optimized settings. If the camera determines that the user’s settings are best, then a second photo is not taken.

“We’re aiming to make cameras smarter,” said Phil Lubell, director of marketing for digital cameras at Sony Electronics. “The T300 camera shows goes beyond face detection to other functions that help customers capture their best photos automatically.”

The unit integrates a wide (16:9), 3.5-inch touch screen Clear Photo LCD PlusTM LCD screen for easy navigation and framing; a Carl Zeiss® 5x optical zoom lens; Super SteadyShot® image stabilization and high sensitivity settings up to ISO3200 to help combat blurry photos; and a powerful Bionz™ processing engine.

More Intelligent Features

The camera’s updated face detection technology can differentiate between the faces of children and adults. Simply select “child priority” or “adult priority,” and the camera will automatically detect up to eight faces in the camera frame, adjusting focus, exposure, white balance and flash for the subjects that matter most.

Lubell said Sony has applied a similar advancement to its “smile shutter” technology, an intelligent camera function that captures smiles automatically by searching for facial movements related to smiles and laughs. Capable of detecting multiple smiles instead of only one, users can apply “child priority” or “adult priority” in smile shutter mode to capture photos only when the intended subjects smile.

New controls on this model include: semi-manual focus, which lets the user set the focus range; improved auto focusing system to cover macro ranges in auto mode; and the addition of Sony’s D-Range Optimizer Plus mode that uses a higher image correction algorithm to retrieve more picture detail in bright highlights and dark shadows caused by high-contrast shooting.

Organize and Playback Images in Style

As storage capacities on Memory StickDuo™ and Memory Stick PRO Duo media cards increase, Lubell said, options for easily organizing, accessing and playing back photos is more of a priority. The new camera’s internal database allows for advanced filtering to later search for photos by date and smile. Images can be viewed in chronological order or displayed in a helpful calendar view, and organized in the camera’s “favorites” folder.

To view your images in stunning 1080 HD resolution slide shows, just connect the DSC-T300 camera to a compatible HDTV set. Slide show includes your choice of background music, including up to eight tracks (a total of five minutes in length) you can upload via USB, and use multiple tracks to create longer slideshows set to music.

The DSC-T300 camera replaces the DSC-T200 model. It will be available in red, black and silver in March for about $400.