®
Digital
Photo
Video
Volume 23 Number 37
December 2011
Industry
Snippets
Landmark Ruling in Photobook VAT Case HM Revenue and Customs may scrap VAT on photobooks after a three year court battle. A tax court has ruled that HM Revenue & Customs was wrong to charge Truprint £545,800 in VAT for selling photobooks as they should be classed as books, which are zero rated. HMRC had charged the tax on the basis that photobooks fell into the same category as products such
News
as notebooks and diaries, on HMRC must now repay the which VAT must be paid. £545,800 to Truprint to cover VAT Tribunal Judge Roger Berner the tax years 2006 to 2009; the stated: "A book can have conlegal costs involved in the case tent that is exclusively text, or and refund thousands of pounds exclusively material The court ruled that photobooks such as photographic should be classed as books, which images, diagrams or are zero rated. drawings, or any mixture of that content.’ George Osborne has been urged paid by Truprint to cover VAT to scrap the 'unfair' tax policy. from 2009 to 2011. Truprint said that the VAT had caused the company to lose business to rivals outside of the UK who were paying lower VAT rates and that the burden had endangered the business, its UK premises and the 350 jobs it provides in Devon.
Are You a Power Director? Video enthusiasts who use CyberLink’s PowerDirector now have a new outlet for their creations. CyberLink have unveiled a new community, www. iamapowerdirector.com. The only qualifications to become a Power Director are enthusiasm for PowerDirector and the submission of a testimonial—which can be a video, photo or short essay—describing the unique benefits it brings them. Many prospective Power Directors already actively participate in the DirectorZone website.
Product
New Bridge Camera from Fujifilm designed to cater for every photographic need and features a bright f/2.8 maximum aperture at the wide-angle setting. This optical range is boosted by Fujifilm’s Intelligent Digital Zoom capability, which effectively Fujifilm's Intelligent Digital Zoom doubles the focal capability effectively doubles the range without the focal range drop in picture quality normally associated with standards, with a high-quality digital zoom functions. As a relook and feel, metal dials, a sult, the X-S1 offers users a 52x rubberised coating and superior zoom range of 24-1248mm handling characteristics. (35mm equivalent). The centrepiece of the X-S1 is The lens comprises 17 glass the Fujinon 26x optical zoom elements, which includes four lens. Offering a range of 24aspherical elements and two 624mm (35mm equivalent) it is Fujifilm has announced a third model in the Fujifilm X series of premium cameras – the X-S1, due to be launched in the UK in February 2012. The X-S1 will be built in Japan to exacting
ED lenses, to deliver images with superb edge-to-edge sharpness. The X-S1 is also ideally suited to capturing subjects close up. In standard mode, the zoom focuses down to 30cm, but by selecting Super Macro Mode, users can focus down to 1cm for frame-filling close-up images. Furthermore,
the lens’ aperture is made up of nine blades for excellent bokeh effect. The X-S1 features the same 2/3-inch 12 megapixel EXR Continued on Page 27
Pixel 1