Carnival of Digital Cameras and Photography is a weekly round-up of all the latest news, trends, digital camera reviews, top blogs, photography tips and professional advice.

Are Third-Party Lenses OK? – Chris has a nice article about third-party lenses and the snobbery associated with camera purists.

A New File Format – Looks like Microsoft wants to take on the mighty JPEG. We’ll see if the new Windows Media Photo can upheave the most common format in photography.

Improve Your Technique – Photodoto has a nice post about composition in landscape photography. i speak film writes about using the edge of light to make your photos look more natural. I’m always on the lookout for a deal, so Storbist post about using sunsets as free backgrounds piqued my interest.

Nikon Annoucements – The big news from Nikon is the new D2X update, called the D2Xs. This thing isn’t going to send shock waves through the photo community, but it includes some nice small upgrades – the biggest being the new viewfinder. Nikon also annouced a firmware upgrade to the D2X that will give it some of the D2Xs features. It’s nice that Nikon does this as I was able to upgrade my D70 to get some of the benefits of the D70s.

Digital Camera Reviews:

• Casio EX Z850 eBay Digital Camera – A camera marketing to eBayers.
• Canon PowerShot A700 – Good camera when a beginner and advanced user need to share the same camera.
• 30D – Another review of the latest Canon prosumer offering.

The Carnival of Digital Cameras will run weekly. To find out more about the carnival, see my main Carnival of Cameras.