Ilford has announced that it is rebranding its popular ILFORD GALERIE range as ILFORD GALERIE Prestige (5*). “The evolution to GALERIE Prestige (5*) paves the way for a series of new product additions to be introduced in 2012 that combines state-of-the-art inkjet technology with in-demand artistic styles,” the company says. “The additions will complement the already robust line of best-in-class media developed for professional photographers and creative professionals. In addition, the GALERIE range is now categorised in a star rating system, enabling professionals and consumers to quickly recognise the media that best suits their printing needs.”

The Lomokino Smartphone Holder allows users to attach their smartphone to the LomoKinoScope to digitise their LomoMovies. “Simply attach the Lomokino Smartphone Holder to your LomoKinoScope, connect it with your smartphone and start recording while you are turning the crank,” Lomography says. “This way you can share your LomoMovies super easily and also carry them with you on your phone wherever you go.” The Lomokino Smartphone Holder is available in the Lomography Store for €19.90.

Conurus and Metabones have released a so-called Smart Adapter that allows Canon EF mount lenses to be mounted on Sony NEX camera bodies. Described as the first fruit of a strategic partnership between the two companies, the new Canon EF-to-NEX adapter allows electronic aperture control via the camera body - but no AF. This adapter is marketed under the Metabones brand name and may be ordered directly from conurus.com or from a Metabones distributor in Japan, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong or China for US$399.

The new Micro Vault MACH is the first family of flash memory drives from Sony with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology.. Available in capacities from 8GB up to 64GB, Micro Vault MACH offers data speeds up to 120 MB/s (read) and 90 MB/s (write). Backward-compatible with USB 2.0, the Sony Micro Vault MACH series of USB 3.0 SuperSpeed flash memory drives is available now.

Rollei has unveiled two new digital picture frames. The Rollei Designline 5130 comes with a remote control and features a 13.3” LED panel with a resolution of 1280x800 pixels and offers additional functions such as a clock and a calendar. The Designline 5160 has a 15.6” display with 1366x768 pixels and offers an automatic slideshow function with background music and ten different transition effects. Both frames can be wall-mounted in either landscape or portrait orientation, and both are capable of playing back HD videos. The Rollei Designline has an RRP or €149.90, while the Rollei Designline 5160 carries a price tag of €199.90. Availability is slated for March.

Sony is expanding its range of SD cards with a new flagship UHS-I series. The Sony UHS-I cards offer significantly higher transfer speeds up to 94MB/s (read) and 45MB/s and maintain Class 10 speed when used with non-UHS-I supported hardware. Available in capacities of 32GB (SF-32UX), 16GB (SF-16UX) and 8GB (SF-8UX), the Sony UHS-I SD cards will be available in March, starting at $44.99.

A virtual tour of the PMA @ CES hall.

Usually held in March each year, for 2012 PMA has moved to join CES, occupying its own hall in the Venetian hotel. With most of the larger imaging companies moving to the main CES site, Pentax Ricoh are the biggest manufacturer in a rather small area Other interesting brands include Lensbaby, Think Tank Photo, Gigapan, Tamrac, Novoflex, Datacolor and Blackrapid.

Take a closer look at the PMA @ CES hall in our extensive photo gallery.

A virtual tour of Tiffen’s CES 2012 stand.

Tiffen have a large booth at CES that’s home to a number of different accessory brands, including Lowel lighting, Domke bags, Tiffen Filters, Tiffen Dfx filter software, and Steadicam camera stabilizing systems.

Take a closer look at the Tiffen CES booth in our photo gallery.

SanDisk and Lexar have both confirmed that they have no plans to release XQD memory cards in the near future. Speaking to Photography Blog at CES, representatives from both companies stated that they’re committed to Compact Flash, which is still popular with photographers. Lexar additionally pointed out that their new 1000x UDMA 7 is actually faster than the first XQD card from Sony, offering a guaranteed read speed of at least 150Mb/s, and that the current CF specification goes up to 167Mb/s, providing additional headroom for even faster CF cards.

In addition neither company is set to release an open-format wireless SD card, following the SD Association’s announcement last week. SanDisk already have a wireless card in Europe with Eye-Fi (but not in the US), while Lexar had a similar partnership that has now elapsed.

BosStrap has reengineered the BosStrap Camera Sling System with an improved one-piece design, the BosStrap OP Camera Sling. This strap incorporates a sliding fitting that moves along the strap, not requiring the strap itself to move. In use, the camera glides smoothly along the strap up to your eye; when not in use the camera rests comfortably at your hip. The one-piece construction of the BosStrap OP means you never have to worry about the camera becoming disconnected from the strap. Made in the USA, the BosStrap OP Camera Sling sells for $39.95 on the website below.

Lowel-Light’s Blender and Ego systems offer easy and intuitive lighting solutions for avid photographers and videographers. Developed in conjunction with cinematographer Tom Robotham, the Lowel Blender LED Light is an easy-to-use lighting solution, ideal for mixed-source environments and run and gun–style video productions. Users can adjust the Tungsten and daylight colour dimmers until they match the ambient light of the location. The Lowel Ego (pictured) is a tabletop fluorescent digital imaging light that creates a soft light ideal for taking digital tabletop shots of food, products etc. It’s an effective alternative to conventional light tent systems that limit the size of objects and the angle in which users can shoot from, the company says.

Tiffen is showcasing the new Tiffen Variable ND Filter line at CES. Introduced in August 2011, Tiffen’s Variable ND offers both photographers and videographers convenience in price and performance by combining seven ND filters into one high-performance optical filter, the company says. They allow continuous control over the amount of light coming through the lens in an approximate range of two (ND 0.6) to eight (ND 2.4) stops. “What makes our filter stand out from the rest is the manufacturing,” said Jill Conrad, product manager for Tiffen. “The Tiffen Variable ND is made with high-quality optical glass using Tiffen’s established ColorCore technology. Many variable NDs on the market today use plastic or resin for one or sometimes both of the optical elements. Compared to glass, plastic and resin do not provide optimal image quality.” The filter is already available in 77mm size for a list price of $239.99. At CES, Tiffen is also showcasing the newly released 58mm and 72mm filter sizes.

Available in 4TB and 8TB capacities, the new LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series delivers speeds up to three times faster than FireWire 800. It also features RAID security, hot-swappable disks, daisy chain convenience and a solid-aluminium casing. Videographers working in Final Cut Pro X or other professional software can even stream multiple HD video streams directly from the drive. Photographers using Lightroom or Aperture will notice significantly more responsive photo library browsing, the company says. In addition, LaCie also introduced the new eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series, which connects to a late-model Mac via the Thunderbolt port and features two eSATA ports. This lets the user connect two eSATA external hard drives to the Hub and get full eSATA speeds on their new Mac. The 2big Thunderbolt Series and eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series will be available in the first quarter of 2012.

A virtual tour of Polaroid’s CES 2012 stand.

In addition to their Android camera, Polaroid actually have some interesting products on their large CES booth (cunningly located right next to Canon). There are not one but two 3D cameras, a waterproof dual-view model (iT023), a wi-fi camera (iS030), the Z340 Instant Zink camera, and the Dua flash that has a built-in movie light for shooting video as well as stills.

Take a closer look at the Polaroid CES booth in our photo gallery.

Verbatim has launched its new Store ‘n’ Go Micro USB Drive Plus, a rugged yet sleek and small USB drive, in 4GB - 32GB capacities. The ultra-compact Micro USB Drive Plus features a USB 2.0 interface with a USB connector protected by a flexible cover built to withstand rough handling and comes in multiple colour options. The ruggedised SIP (System in Package) Design encapsulates and protects electronic components from water, dust, and debris, the company says. Verbatim’s Micro USB Drive Plus will be available this quarter starting from $19.99.

The 128GB SanDisk Extreme SDXC UHS-I card features up to 45MB/sec read/write speeds, making it the fastest 128GB SDXC memory card in the world. “Five minutes of Full HD video can consume one gigabyte of storage space,” said Susan Park, director, product marketing, SanDisk. “Our new SanDisk Extreme SDXC card can capture up to ten hours of Full HD 3D video, enough to film an entire day here at the Consumer Electronics Show.” In addition to videographers, the high-capacity, fast memory card can also benefit photographers who like to shoot in Raw+JPEG format. The 128GB SanDisk Extreme SDXC UHS-I card is shipping worldwide, priced at £239. Additionally, SanDisk released a 64GB version of the card, with an MSRP of £119.

Tiffen is showcasing its new line of Domke RuggedWear and Domke clothing products at CES. The company’s new RuggedWear lineup includes a wide range of courier bags, slings and satchels, ergonomically designed for comfort and performance.Features include a soft, well-padded interior that protects camera lenses from scratches, a flap and oversized YKK zipper for quick and easy access, twin tracks of high-friction rubber woven into the thickest, toughest cotton webbing, allowing it to cling to the shoulder, and more. For a complete list of RuggedWear bags, visit the website below.

Panasonic today announced four new conversion lenses that are compatible with the Lumix G X VARIO PZ 14-42mm/F3.5-5.6 ASPH./POWER O.I.S. and the Lumix G 14mm / F2.5 ASPH. Micro Four Thirds lenses. The DMW-GWC1 wide conversion lens turns a 14mm lens into a 11mm, the DMW-GTC1 teleconverter (only compatible with the zoom) effectively doubles the focal length of your lens, the DMW-GMC1 is a macro conversion lens that allows you to focus the 14mm lens down to 0.14m and the 14-42mm power zoom to 0.16m, while the DMC-GFC1 fisheye converter helps you shoot creative and unique photographs with a very pronounced barrel distortion and an ultra-wide 120-degree angle of view. Pricing and availability will be announced approximately 30 days prior to shipping.

SD Association today announced the Wireless LAN SD standard that allows users to transfer pictures, videos and other content wirelessly from most existing digital cameras and digital video cameras to web-based cloud services. This standard is applicable to full size SD/SDHC/SDXC and microSD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards. The Wireless LAN SD memory card standard defines two interface types, including the Web interface, which supports server upload and peer-to-peer functions, and the home network interface, which supports server upload and home network communication functions.

Lexar today introduced new Lexar Professional 600x and 400x SDHC and SDXC UHS-I memory cards, including the industry’s first 128GB SDXC UHS-I card.  The cards include the latest version of Image Rescue 4 software to help with the recovery of lost or deleted photo and video files. The Lexar Professional 600x UHS-I cards are offered in capacities of 16GB (£69.99), 32GB (£119.99), and 64GB (£229.99), and the new Lexar Professional 400x UHS-I cards are available in capacities of 8GB (£34.99), 16GB (£47.99), 32GB (£79.99), 64GB (£179.99), and 128GB (£299.99).  The 16GB and 32GB Professional 600x UHS-I cards and the 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB Professional 400x UHS-I cards will be available in February, while the 64GB 600x UHS-I card and the 128GB 400x UHS-I memory card will be available in March.