...It probably is. We just had this tale of caution from regular dpreview reader Terence Song about his problems with trying to purchase a Canon EOS D30 from an auction on EBay. "Don't be fooled by the prices and friendliness of this person. No matter how good the deal seems and how sincere the seller seems, don't be trapped!!!!" Please be careful out there !!!

IBM has sent us a press release about the use of their 1GB microdrive on two shuttle missions to the International Space Station. The pictures were taken using the Kodak Professional DCS 660 and are available on the NASA gallery site for the missions STS98 and STS102, do a search for "digital".

The monthly bilingual webzine Megapixel.Net have released their May edition (in French and English), this month they've reviewed the Casio QV-3EX, Casio QV-2800UX, Olympus C-2040Z and the Fujifilm Finepix 6800Z. They also have a look at the Olympus P400 Printer.

State Street Direct, our official affiliate have a batch of "factory remanufacturered" Coolpix 990's from Nikon, these cameras are recertified to "same-as-new" specifications and include a 90 day warranty. At the amazing price of $649.00 you're making a saving of $250 off the manufacturers list price for a new camera. You must click on the link inside this news article to get this special price.

Olympus US has today confirmed that Olympus Optical Co. Ltd. (Japan) are indeed working on a "concept camera", that is be based around a 4/3" CCD, though they haven't confirmed the supplier (though it's plainly the Kodak KAF-C5100E). "Olympus plans to position the 4/3" CCD as a new industry standard, and expects this new image sensor to encourage competition and to expand the market for digital SLR cameras."

Kodak has today announced it is acquiring Ofoto. Kodak, obviously realising that a large chunk of their future is reliant on consumer digital imaging has today signed a "definitive agreement" to buy the online photofinishing giant Ofoto. "The acquisition enhances our leadership in the growing market for online photo services. By combining Kodak's and Ofoto's technology, marketing and distribution assets, we will be able to deliver the most comprehensive, easy-to-use online photography services to customers and consumers,'' said Shih. "This will accelerate Kodak's growth and drive more rapid adoption of online photography.'' UPDATE: Shutterfly Comment.

Steve over at Steve's Digicams has posted his review of the Casio QV-3500EX, here's what he concluded, "Casio has produced another winner here, the QV-3500EX is a top of the line 3-megapixel camera with all the features needed to make novice and experienced users happy... Dollar for dollar the QV-3500EX Plus bundle with the 340MB Microdrive costs about the same as other 3-megapixel cameras that come with only a 16MB flash card. This camera is a very good choice for those that want point-n-shoot ease or total flexibility and advanced features all rolled up in the same package!"

It's been a few days since Nikon announced the new Coolpix 995 and 775, I'm sure some of you have made up your minds already. So, for those of you chomping at the bit to get your hands on one of these new models you can be one of the first by pre-ordering from our official affiliate State Street Direct. Don't forget that your order helps to support this site!

Ofoto, the Internet photo company, have drawn the results for their Reasons to Smile contest. Congratulations go to the first prize winner Doug White of Fishers, IN who won $10,000, second went to Michele Yurgaitis of Enfield, CT who won a Canon PowerShot Digital ELPH and third went to Carolyn De Anda of Clovis, CA who won a Sterling Silver Frame.

According to a report by InfoTrends titled "Photo Kiosks and Digital Minilabs To Fuel Digital Photography Revolution", they expect Digital minilabs to grow from their current 4% penetration to about 70% by 2006. I personally found this report kind of surprising, while getting Prints is definetly an important part of the "digital revolution" I don't believe it's the most important part, there are lots of other supporting technologies which need to mature more quickly. Fact: Digital Photographers print far less than Film Photographers because they simply don't need to.

Some time back we reported that Olympus and Kodak would be working on joint ventures in the future and that Olympus would be using Kodak sensors. Today Kodak gave a seminar and revealed some details, it appears that Olympus will announce a new digital SLR at PMA next year (Feb 2002) which will be fitted out with a Kodak 4/3" 5.1 mp CCD (KAF-C5100E). More interestingly it appears that this camera (or cameras) will have a lens mount and a selection of up to 5 lenses (though the standard "kit" will include a body and lens). Kodak also make mention that this camera may also support Bluetooth (or via a kit) wireless transfer techology. Thanks to my good friend Yamada Kumio for handing me this piece of news.

Thanks to Brian Woodchek of Imaging Spectrum Inc. (our official Professional Equipment affiliate) we now have access to the first (as far as I'm aware) full-size samples from Kodak's latest Pro Digital SLR the DCS 760. This 6 megapixel digital SLR was announced back in March, it's based on the Nikon F5 SLR. List price is $7,995, though Imaging Spectrum are currently offering it for $6,995.