Washington based Britton Mobile Development today introduced Portfolio for iPhone. Described as a “new pocket-sized counterpart to Portfolio for iPad”, this app can be used an ultra-portable portfolio, reference, or pose book. Portfolio for iPhone 1.0 is available now for the introductory price of $4.99.

Sigma has launched a remote camera control application called Sigma Capcture Pro. Designed exclusively for the Sigma SD1 digital SLR camera, Sigma Capture Pro 1.0 allows photographers to tether the camera to their computer and take control over camera settings and capture images remotely. By using a standard USB cable, SD1 users’ can adjust camera settings in the software such as aperture and shutter speed, exposure compensation and ISO value along with releasing the shutter to capture images. Images can be stored either on the camera’s CF card, the PC’s hard drive or both simultaneously. Sigma Capture Pro 1.0 is available for both Windows and MacOS through the website below.

Now open to the general public, the recently launched Morpholio project seeks to create a new platform for presentation, dialogue, and collaboration relevant to all members “of any image driven culture”. Originally initiated by a group of five architects and academics, the Morpholio project has grown to include over 200 contributors including representatives of other visual disciplines including photography. “Our interest is in advancing the ways that we discuss, debate, and critique our work with a global community,” the founders say. They have recently released a free iOS app called Morpholio Beta 1.0 and launched a website where you can learn more about the project.

California-based SugarSync has announced that Japan’s SoftBank Mobile will be preloading SugarSync on two new high-end Android camera phones in order to provide their users with an easy way to auto-sync photos directly from their Android devices to their computers. “As the cameras on smartphones become more advanced, and as more of us use our smartphones as our primary point-and-shoot cameras, most people need a simple solution for getting photos off of their phone and back to their computers,” said Laura Yecies, CEO of SugarSync. “With SugarSync’s AutoSync technology, your photos are automatically synced from your phone to your computers as you take them – without having to fumble with wires.” The two camera phones in question are the Panasonic Lumix phone 101P and the Sharp Aquos phone 102SH.

Lodz-based Lucky Clan has released Noise Master, noise reduction app for iOS devices. Billed as the “fastest and most effective” iOS app to remove noise from photos, Noise Master is claimed to use sophisticated algorithms to eliminate noise “without sacrificing detail”. The app is available on iTunes at the special introductory price of $0.99. The regular price will be $2.99.

DxO Labs today released DxO Optics Pro v7.1 for Windows and Mac. The new version adds support for five new cameras, including the Sony Alpha A65, the Panasonic G3, and the Olympus E-P3, E-PL3, and E-PM1. Additionally, more than new 150 DxO Optics Modules have been added in DxO Optics Pro,  allowing surpassing the landmark milestone of 5,000 DxO Optics Modules. Version 7.1 also includes many enhancements to DxO Optics Pro’s image processing engine, making it faster and more efficient for certain configurations. The upgrade to version 7.1 is free for all DxO Optics Pro 7 owners as well as for photographers who acquired a license for DxO Optics Pro 6 on or after 1 September 2011.

Oloneo has unveiled its new HDRengine, a computer program billed as “the fastest and most accessible HDR application to easily create superior HDR photos”. “Based on Oloneo PhotoEngine, the company’s flagship application for professional HDR and image processing, Oloneo HDRengine perfectly answers the needs of the beginners and enthusiasts looking for an accessible yet powerful application to create high-quality HDR photos quickly, without having to trouble themselves with the technicalities of HDR” said Antoine Clappier, President of Oloneo and main developer. “HDRengine is fast, easy to use and comes with many presets and automated tools to be productive instantly.” Available now at the special introductory price of $59 / €59, HDRengine handles over 380 different raw photo formats as well as JPEG and TIFF.

Cyberlink has released a new public beta version of PhotoDirector 3. The software can be downloaded for free and includes a wide array of new and improved features, including a complete set of new editing tools such as the Wrinkle Remover, Tooth Brush, Skin Smoother and Object Removal. All consumers and photographers that participate in the PhotoDirector 3 Beta program, and complete a survey or report a bug will receive MediaShow 5 (UK £29.99), CyberLink’s media management and slideshow tool, for free, and will have a chance to win a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera. Additionally, users who submit a testimonial describing their experience with PhotoDirector 3 Beta will have a chance to win a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera, PowerDirector 10 and the full version of the official release of PhotoDirector 3 when it’s available in early 2012.

Version 17.01 of PhotoLine is now available for download. Improvements versus the previous release include the addition a new Simple Browse window, image trimming, selective colour correction, smart object removal, “Liquid” scaling, new Quick Selection and Border Matting tools, and more. Available for Windows and MacOS X, PhotoLine sells for €59 through the website below. A 30-day trial version is also available.

Website: PhotoLine

PhotoPlace is a new iOS app that sorts geotagged photos by country, state/province and city based on the geographical co-ordinates (latitude and longitude) of the point of capture. The app has both a free and a paid (”Pro”) version, both of which are available on iTunes.

Irudis, a new company founded by the creators of the highly acclaimed (if no longer updated) RawShooter | Essentials and RawShooter | Premium software, has released Tonalizer | VFX, a “photographic-style” grading tool for serious videographers. Available as a plug-in to Apple Motion, Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro, Tonalizer|VFX employs sophisticated per-frame, as well as temporal computations that take the dynamics of video footage into account. In addition to offering all the essential tools needed to make advanced tonal corrections, Tonalizer|VFX also incorporates noise reduction technology and software-based anti-aliasing to mitigate sampling related artifacts. The plug-in is available now for $179 through the website below.

The new Pixel Blend Pro iPhone app enables users “to manipulate their digital photos in dramatic ways previously only possible with film”, says developer Michael Valdez. Pixel Blend was inspired by Polaroid SX-70 time zero film manipulation, a process that used original tools such as paperclips to distort the film’s soft emulsion into a beautiful new look. In the app, photographers can choose from unique tools to manipulate their photos. Based on the iPad app Pixel Blend HD, Pixel Blend Pro for the iPhone adds many new features including changing tool sizes, applying new textures, and an eraser tool. The app sells for $1.99 on iTunes.

Sony Digital Network Applications have released Photo Movie Creator HD, an Android tablet app that allows you to present your photos in the form of a movie. All you need to do to make a “photo movie” is select a group of photos from the image files stored on your tablet. The movie is then automatically generated by adding music and animations/transitions to the photos you have chosen. Available now in the Android Market, Photo Movie Creator HD is priced at £4.99/$7.49.

ACD Systems have launched two new products, acdVIDEO Converter (for Windows and MacOS) and ACDSee Duplicate Finder Standalone Edition (MacOS only). acdVIDEO Converter converts HD video files for playback on all popular media devices including an iPod, iPhone, PSP, Zune, mobile phones from Blackberry and Nokia; and game consoles including PS3 and Xbox 360. “While there are currently several open source programs that offer a degree of this functionality, they are often unreliable and do not cover the same breadth of formats as acdVIDEO Converter,” the company claims. The program is available for purchase at the ACDSee website for a limited time offer of $14.99. ACDSee Duplicate Finder - the standalone Mac-only version of a popular feature currently integrated into ACDSee Pro 5 and ACDSee 14 - helps people with large photo or video libraries locate hard-to-find duplicate files. Duplicates can then be eliminated, freeing up valuable disk space. Though the MSRP is $9.99, it will be available in the Mac App Store starting Thursday, 22th December at a discount of $4.99 through 9th January.

Unified Color has released today announced the latest upgrade to itsr HDR image editing software offerings, HDR Expose 2, and 32 Float v2. HDR Expose 2 is a standalone application, while 32 Float v2 is a Photoshop plug-in. Built upon Unified Color’s Beyond RGB colour technology platform, both HDR Expose 2 and 32 Float v2 separate an image’s colour component from its luminosity component, enabling photographers to adjust each independently; thereby preventing the tell-tale colour shifts often associated with HDR photography and producing much more natural-looking tone mapped results, the company claims.“With these upgrades, Unified Color has reengineered its base architecture to significantly improve performance and expand the programs’ tool sets to offer additional fine control over global and local tonal adjustments,” said Alfred Zee, CEO of Unified Color Technologies. “This new architecture powers a real-time processing engine that enables image adjustments to be visualised immediately while applied to the full image, not just a proxy or scaled down preview version.” The program and the plug-in are available for direct purchase through the company website.

Photography game and education site PhoozL has released version 1.1 of its photo IQ quiz app, PhoozL IQ for iPhone and iPod touch: The free edition of PhoozL IQ includes 50 challenging questions and allows a longer time period for answering the questions. The pro version ($0.99) includes 100 more-difficult questions and a shorter time clock. An optional “Extended Play” mode in the pro version enables players to answer all 100 questions in one, intense, non-stop game session.

proDAD has announced availability of the newest member of its Adorage video effects family – Effects Package 13. Included in Adorage 13 are hundreds of effects and transitions based around the themes of holiday, family, festivals, weddings and romance. Adorage Effects Package 13 is available for immediate purchase and download from the proDAD online shop and is available for a special introductory price of $79 until 15th January.

Over the next 7 days we’ll be revealing our favourite products from this year in our first ever annual awards, looking back at the essential photography kit that has helped to define 2011.

Kicking things off is the Software of the Year 2011 award.

There aren’t too many applications that we consider to be a must-have addition to any photographer’s camera bag, but Silver Efex 2 from Nik Software is certainly one of them.

“There are some features that you will be able to do in any editing suite available. The main difference with Silver Efex is the ease in which you can apply the changes and the vast amount of preset monochromatic settings available. If you enjoy playing around with your pictures and you have around 200 euro to spend on a Photoshop plug-in, then this will provide hours of fun.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Nik Software and Silver Efex 2!

iLightningCam 1.2 allows you to capture a lightning strike using the 8-megapixel camera of the Apple iPhone 4S. In full-resolution mode, the app builds on the increased speed of capture offered by the iPhone 4s, which “should capture almost all lightning strikes within range”, the developer says (the app works on the iPhone 4 too, but fast lightning strikes might be missed “due to hardware limitations”). iLighningCam 1.2 also works in video mode, where it analyses the footage and grabs the frame in which the lightning occurs and saves it - along with the next one - as a JPEG with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels on the iPhone 4 and 1920x1080 pixels on the 4S. The app is available on iTunes for $0.99.

Ecce Terram has launched a new photo book app for Facebook. The application enables members of the social network to create and order photo books from their favourite photo services provider, using photos stored in their Facebook albums. Order processing is handled by Ecce Terram’s Photo2Lab CentralHub middleware. For large retail chains with the Photo2Lab infrastructure already in place, configuration and deployment of the new app to work with their existing order processing system can be completed within a matter of days, the company says. Facebook members who log in to the Share Your Photostory app can simply select one of their albums, choose a background colour and pick the photos they want to include in their photo book, add some text, define the sort order and determine the cover image, and order the book, without ever leaving Facebook.