first photo CD of Bermuda images, the company's owners said yesterday.

"Bermuda Perspectives'', a professional three-CD series of digital images in photo CD format with 300 high resolution images, is ready to use in Macintosh and Windows-based computers or in Philips CDI players, said Ms Wendi Fiedler and Mr. Reimar Fiedler, president and senior vice president of Panatel respectively.

Sold as a three disc package, the product features Island life, the sea, and architecture.

Stored in five different resolutions from 128X192 to 2048X3072, each CD also contains an insert with images in thumbnail form.

"It was the ease of use that convinced us to use digital,'' said Mr. Fiedler, who has several Bermuda and German film projects to his credit.

"We have more than 30,000 slides in our library which we already successfully market in the traditional way, by providing slides to two large European agencies, but it is the digital approach that is the future.'' One of the features of the new product, which sells for $895, is that it is royalty free, he said.

The CD images, selected from that huge slide library, can be used for advertising, marketing, annual reports, brochures, newsletters, multi-media projects; there is no limit to what can be done, he said.

The first release has been limited to 300 sets.

"We wanted to publish a book but there seemed to be a number out there already so we had to find a market niche, the CD photo image was that niche,'' said Mr. Fiedler.

Panatel, a film and video production company which has an estimated 10,000 feet of video footage of the Island, plans to release a second three set CD package of digital photo images.

The company is also working on three other photo image projects "which will be of interest to the international marketplace,'' said Mr. Fiedler.

The first CD series will serve as a foundation for other larger products, such as interactive photo CDs, he said.

"The success of the first set will drive future products,'' said Ms Fiedler.

"We do see a great potential and we have started a marketing campaign for the collection in Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Austria,'' said Mr. Fiedler.

The master discs were made by in the mood Gmbh, a Hamburg company, while pressing took place in Bremen by Polygram.

Panatel, which last year moved form their Washington Mall location to Well Bottom near Warwick Long Bay, was formed 13 years ago by Mr. and Mrs. Fiedler.

Mr. Fiedler directs the "Learnalots'' and "Treasures'' television series to its credit.

He has also created films for Heritage Month focusing on how the sea has shaped the life and times of Bermuda.

Mr. Fiedler followed in the film-making footsteps of his father Mr. Wilhelm Fiedler, a movie director in Germany.

In 1976, while working on a documentary about life aboard the Gorch Fock , a German tall ship, he met his future wife when the ship came to Bermuda from Tenerife on route to the US for bicentennial celebrations.

Prior to making Bermuda home, the Fielders lived in Germany for six years where Mr. Fiedler did documentaries for ARD, Germany's first national television station.

"Every project we do is rewarding, the photo CD learning curve is behind us,'' he said.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE -- The latest product to showcase the Island, "Bermuda Perspectives'', is a set of high quality images on photo compact disc, a first for Bermuda, said Mr. Reimar Fiedler, senior vice president of Panatel VDS Ltd. The CDs feature 300 spectacular images of Bermuda.