Fujifilm to Shift Digital Camera Output to China
694078
The camera company plans to shift its remaining digital camera production to China and cut an unspecified number of jobs.
354683
China relaxes rules for foreign journalists ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, allowing them more reporting freedom.
697532
NEW YORK -- Eastman Kodak Co. is cutting 3,000 more jobs this year as the picture-taking pioneer wraps up its wrenching transformation into a digital imaging company focused on consumer photography and commercial printing.
587462
TOKYO -- Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. plans to move production of two vehicles to Japan from the United States as a way to save costs on automobiles produced in smaller quantities, according to a news report yesterday.
644544
The digital camera market has turned into a dead heat, with Kodak virtually tied for the top spot with perennial sales leader Sony, according to an IDC report.
654787
Canon Inc. (7751.T), the world&#039;s  largest digital camera maker, expects its 2006 Chinese sales to  rise 30 percent from a year earlier, despite fierce rivalry  from other companies.
436226
Fuji Photo Film said it will spend 262 million dollars to build three plants in Japan to nearly double its output capacity for a type of film that widens the viewing angle of LCD panels.
672414
(InfoWorld) - Fierce competition in the imaging market has prompted many manufacturers to announce their new products days, weeks and even months ahead of one of the industry's key venues, Photokina, which opened on Tuesday. Numerous digital cameras, storage devices and printers manufactured by companies such as Canon Inc. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) were announced in advance of the show, although some of these same vendors saved a few surprises for the Cologne event, which takes place every two years. "We announced many of our new products over the past few weeks to get the news out to retailers and consumers ahead of Photokina so that when they come to the show, they know what to look for," said Canon spokeswoman Kirsten Abicht-Schubert. "Photokina is a very important selling event for us." Despite the move by numerous vendors to "let the cat out of the bag," so to speak, and draw attention to their new products ahead of Photokina, visitors to the show will still find plenty of gadgets shown for the first time in Cologne. Here are a few examples: -- Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd. launched its first digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera, the FinePix S5 Pro. They can also record both JPEG and RAW files to the Compact Flash memory card at the same time. The camera's fact-detection technology detects up to ten faces in a scene immediately after each image is captured. Fuji also unveiled its first pocket-size digital camera to feature the company's face detection technology, the FinePix F31fd. -- Panasonic introduced a number of new digital cameras, including the 7.2 megapixel compact Lumix DMC Fx50 and FX07 with a 28 millimeter wide angle Leica DC lens and 3.6x optical zoom. Both cameras features Panasonic's new Intelligent Image Stabilizer technology, which combines the company's MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) and Intelligent ISO control systems. Panasonic is a pioneer in image stabilizer technology. The Japanese manufacturer also announced a new 10.1 megapixel 12x optical zoom digital camera, the Lumix DMC-FZ50, which can record an image at a maximum ISO 1600-high sensitivity setting at full resolution. -- Canon announced a pair of portable image storage and view devices. The Media Storage MD30 and MD80, equipped with 30G-byte and 80G-byte hard drives respectively, feature a 3.7-inch TFT (thin-film transistor) screen and connect to cameras via a USB 2.0 high-speed cable. Both devices have CF (CompactFlash) and SD (Secure Digital) cards. -- SanDisk Corp. introduced a 4G-byte SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) card, the SanDisk Ultra II SDHC. The card can store more than 2,000 high-resolution pictures or up to 8 hours of MPEG-4 video. The product, to start shipping in October, will be priced at around US$120. Photokina runs through Oct. 1.
223777
Blog: Canon is planning to add a new file format to its digital cameras, according to a photographer who toured the company's headquarters.
525392
(InfoWorld) - Fujitsu will purchase two chip plants in Japan from Spansion Japan, a flash memory chip maker in which it holds a stake, the companies said Thursday. Fujitsu will pay Â¥17 billion ($145 million) to buy Spansion's JV1 and JV2 factories, which are in the city of Aizu-Wakamatsu in northeast Japan, where Fujitsu already operates its own chip factory. Fujitsu will use the plants to produce flash memory embedded microcontrollers, it said. Such chips are used in automotive and consumer electronics applications, and Fujitsu said it expects the market for the devices to grow. The company will also keep producing some flash memory chips at the factories for the time being, it said. SpansionÂ began life as a joint venture companyÂ between Fujitsu and Advanced Micro Devices, before listing its stock on the Nasdaq stock market in the U.S. late last year. ItÂ raised about $506 millionÂ in the public offering, which reduced Fujitsu and AMD's shareholdings to minority status.
748571
Japanese chips-to-computers conglomerate Fujitsu Ltd. said on Sunday it is in talks with Sharp Corp., the world's largest maker of LCD televisions, to sell its loss-making LCD panel operations.
16538
The high-end camera maker is ditching a medium-format hybrid camera that could shoot with either film or a digital sensor.
332794
The company's latest digital camera includes advanced video features.
147638
(InfoWorld) - Electronics manufacturers in China may be gearing up for another attempt to establish a proprietary optical disc format, although some analysts said such a move is unlikely to succeed. The DVD player makers plan to switch to EVD (enhanced versatile disc) in an attempt to avoid paying patent royalties on the DVD format, according to published reports. The world's largest producers of DVD players, Chinese electronics companies would use the format instead of standards such as MPEG-4. Last week, 20 top manufacturers including Haier announced their plans to switch from DVD to EVD entirely by 2008, according to a report in China Economic News. Getting foreign entertainment companies to adopt the new standard would be an uphill battle, however. China has attempted to introduce its own standards before, including S-VCD (Super Video Compact Disc) in the mid-1990s, and its own advanced telecommunications standard, TD-SCDMA. Both faced foreign resistance and a lack of broad support even within China. The move is most likely an attempt at reducing the royalties, according to industry observers. Chinese DVD manufacturers first made a push with EVD in 2003, but months later no players had appeared on the market in China or abroad. Consumer acceptance of an entirely new format will be difficult in both China and overseas. "Unless Chinese DVD manufacturers are prepared to sacrifice the global market and the Chinese market to manufacturers in India and elsewhere, they cannot afford to make a wholesale shift to EVD production at this time," David Wolf, chief executive officer, Wolf Group Asia. "For that reason, it's unlikely to take place." Kristian Kender, editor of China Media Monitor, a Beijing-based industry publication, said: "It'll be pretty hard on a global scale, because the DVD format is so entrenched. On the other hand, they can make a good argument that it makes it much harder to pirate material." "It will be difficult for them to get international firms to come on board, but the Chinese DVD market is so huge on its own that even if this standard is not adopted outside of China, the home market is enough to support the rollout."
542080
Production of even top-of-the-line brands like Tony Lama is shifting to China and Mexico.
99959
Blog: Adobe's latest raw-image converter, due this week, will support newer SLRs and improve sharpening, but only for Photoshop CS3 users.
695726
China on Sunday announced rules   requiring foreign media to seek approval from the state news   agency Xinhua to distribute news, pictures and graphics   domestically.