With the news of Polaroid disontinuing production of film and other photography-related products, PC World's Harry McCracken takes a sentimental look back at Polaroid television commercials over the past 50 years. I'm old enough to remember a few of these.

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World Press Photo has announced the winners of the 51st annual World Press Photo Contest. Tim Hetherington took top honors for Photo of the Year 2007, an image of a US soldier resting in Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. Click here for the winners gallery. I found John Moore's documentation of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto to be particularly moving. Click here to view those images (via the NY Times) with narrative provided by John Moore (Getty Images).

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Alex Lindsay and Scott Bourne have a new photography podcast, titled This Week in Photography. From the PixelCorps description:

Join Alex Lindsay, Scott Bourne, and friends each week as they discuss camera technique, technology, and news. From taking photos of the family to understanding how cameras work to testing state-of-the-art equipment, you'll hear, and see, it all on This Week in Photography.

Check out the podcast site here or click here to visit This Week in Photography in the iTunes Store.

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Mike Johnston recently launched Photoborg.org, a site which deals with "Photography Basics for Beginners and Parents." It's an excellent place for beginners to ask questions about photography. One neat aspect of Photoborg.org is that it features reader pictures from time to time. I'm proud to have had a photo I took of my son Oliver featured today. My interest in photography really began with photography of my children, and the photo Mike accepted is one of my earliest attempts to manually control the elements of picture taking. If you are a beginner, especially a parent interested in family photography, "The Borg" is worth a look. For anyone with a significant interest in photography, I highly recommend Mike's other blog, The Online Photographer.

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A look back over the last several years reveals some significant and high-risk camera introductions by Fujifilm. Each camera is followed by a one-line description and an excerpt from Fuji's own press release.

February 2004 - Fujifilm FinePix S3 Pro
A film-like tonal distribution with a digital camera.

Where once a single photodiode* was responsible for capturing the full range of light strengths at a single location on the sensor, Fujifilm has now paired two photodiodes per photosite**: a larger, primary photodiode adjusted for high sensitivity, with the secondary photodiode for lower sensitivity. When combined, they offer four times the dynamic range† of conventional photodiodes.

February 2006 - FujiFilm FinePix F30
A pocketable digital camera for low light photography.

Building on the success of the award-winning FinePix F10 Zoom, the FinePix F30 Zoom pulls away from the pack with a sensitivity setting that is eight times as effective in low light as a conventional compact with ISO 400. The product of many years of accumulated expertise in sensor technology, this is the closest that any digital compact camera has come to approximating the remarkable sensitivity of the human eye. In practical terms, it is a breakthrough in delivering crisp images, even at night-time, or with fast-moving subjects.

March 2007 - Fujifilm Klasse S
A new high-end compact AF wide normal fixed-lens 35mm film camera?!

Translation by Google: Each time you launch the "KLASSE S", released last December, photo enthusiasts from all our acclaimed "KLASSE W" on the same body, all corresponding to the subject's high versatility focus Fuji 38 mm F2.8 Super EBC covered non-high-performance lens with a 35 mm KONPAKUTOKAMERA luxury... Body is the fastest class and 1 / 500 s high-speed shutter (throttle opening) displayed in the viewfinder and shutter speed, exposure compensation dial independent large, complex dial button operation to eliminate as much as possible, especially to navigate understandable realize, including high-level user with a satisfactory performance camera.

January 2008 - Fujifilm S100FS
Bringing back the bridge camera, 2/3" and all.

The FinePix S100FS is equipped with a 14.3x Fujinon manual zoom lens, Fujifilm’s 8th generation 2/3” Super CCD sensor with 11 Megapixels, third generation RP III processor, 2.5” tiltable LCD... film simulation modes and settings that expand the camera’s dynamic range. The FinePix S100FS has an extended dynamic range (100%, 200%, 400%) similar to that of negative film thanks to the newly developed low-noise 2/3-inch 11.1 Megapixel Super CCD VIII HR and the new RP Processor III.

January 2008 - Model name unavailable.
Fuji releases a new 6x7 (medium format) compact film camera?!

Press release and photo unavailable. See LetsGoDigital for the details available at this time.

The Google translation sums it up nicely as follows:
富士フイルム, as a leading company in the field of imaging, the value of the proposed new photos and photos of greatness, continues to convey the excitement of photography.

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