Olympus have launched a new service on their website, called Lensfinder. As its name suggests, the Lensfinder helps you find the right lens for you, by showing you the same scene photographed from the same viewpoint, but at different focal lengths. For each focal length, the Lensfinder displays all Olympus branded FourThirds lenses capable of shooting at that focal length, shows which tier they belong to, and lets you click through to the detailed product page of each. The Lensfinder does not show any of the Sigma and Leica branded FourThirds lenses though.

Website: Olympus Lensfinder

Viewbook.com has released an updated version of its online image presentation service and a refreshed website “to further empower visual creatives around the globe”. Designed for photographers, designers and graphic artists, Viewbook allows visual creatives to be organised, display and present their work simply and stylishly. Viewbook’s features also extend to presentation creation and client delivery, as well as online image archive and flexible presentation formats. In the coming months, more new features are planned, such as plug-ins for use with Adobe Lightroom2 and Apple Aperture.

Website: Viewbook

The Adorama Imaging Resource Center has undergone a significant facelift, and has been renamed the Adorama Learning Center. New features include the ability for visitors to comment on and rate any article. Easy social network bookmarking tools, RSS feeds for every category, and a new blog and podcasts have also been added and the layouts widened in order to accommodate larger illustrations, while navigation has been made more flexible and user-friendly, Adorama claims.

Website: Adorama Learning Center

Tamron has relaunched its website dedicated to photographic lenses in order to make navigation and access to product information easier for visitors. The photo lens section, accessed by clicking photographic lenses at www.tamron.com, or directly at http://www.tamron.com/lenses/default-photo.asp, features a flash sequence of images and roll-out information blocks for top products and promotions. Multiple navigation systems were also added to give users greater access to more information, all from one top-page location.  In particular, the new navigation located directly under the Flash movie uses drop-down menus, allowing our visitors the ability to “drill” deeper into the Tamron website. Something that once took multiple click-throughs can now be accessed in just one click.  Best-selling products are highlighted and links to all other lenses are found in multiple areas.

Website: Tamron’s Photographic Lenses

Ricoh have launched a website devoted to the promotion of the Ricoh CX1 digital compact camera. The CX1 website includes full information on the CX1 camera and explanations of key features such as the Dynamic Range, Double Shot mode, Multi Target Auto Focus and Multi Pattern Auto White Focus. Press feedback is included with links to the very latest online reviews of the camera plus details of awards and opinions from some of the leading photographic media. Full technical specifications, an enquiry form for further information and information on the accessories available for the CX1 are also provided. You may even win a new Ricoh CX1.

Website: Ricoh CX1
Review: Read our in-depth review of the Ricoh CX1

Photozig has introduced Pepcast, a new way of sharing and enjoying online digital photo albums and slideshows in a community. The Pepcast technology offers easy upload, browse, organise, personalise, and email features. The Pepcast website www.pepcast.com is now open to the public, after initially hosting pictures related to NASA Research Park. Pepcast was designed to work with Photozig Albums, a free slideshow software and digital photo organiser that transfers photos and clips from digital cameras, creates and organises albums, produces slideshows with photos, movies, and music, generates screensavers and emails photos.

Website: Pepcast

The website memolio.com is now offering a range of compact, crumple, tear and water resistant photo albums. Memolio team member Doris Tamminga explains, “Memolio allows you effortlessly create a personalised, sweet little photo album in a matter of minutes. What makes these albums special is that they are compact and crumple & tear resistant. They are designed to be handled and are easy to carry and share. The idea is to get your favourite photos off your computer and back into your hands. An additional bonus is that you get an online replica of your album that you can access and share anytime. Memolio marries the print & digital world.” A memolio album measures 103mm x 62mm x 5mm, is made of durable, bright white polyester and costs €14.99 including taxes and shipping..

Website: Memolio

On 24 April, Blurb will be hosting two webinars on creating / designing photo books. Both sessions are free, with the first session aimed at newbies and the second session at more advanced Blurb users. Advance registration is required. After that, you’ll receive an email with a link to join the webinar. When the scheduled time comes, just follow this link then watch and listen to the presentation on your computer.

Animoto has introduced a white label feature for commercial accounts. Photographers can now create high-quality videos free of Animoto branding to sell on DVD or as high-resolution digital files, or to share on websites, blogs, social networks and mobile devices. Animoto for Photography is a subscription service that provides unlimited access to create, present, view, share, download and sell professional-quality videos.

A new online photo community called snapizzi enables photographers to manage and sell their photos online with a new tagging technology and website. The service is possible through snapizzi’s digital barcode and tagging technology that automatically captures and manages photos for sale.

Cooliris Inc. has released version 1.10 of its popular browser extension, Cooliris. The plug-in is availbale for Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari, and allows you to browse photos, videos, games, and news stories from all of your favorite sites on an interactive “three-dimensional” wall. Version 1.10 works under Linux as well as Windows and Macintosh, introduces raw support for images stored on users’ computers, and gives users the ability to search through the My Computer icon and be able to access any of their image galleries in Cooliris.

Infinite Photograph is a new Web 2.0 application from National Geographic, which turns hundreds of online media users’ photographs into infinitely clickable photo mosaics. Infinite Photograph - As Seen On Earth is part of The National Geographic Green Guide and can be reached via the first link below. The application is great fun if a bit slow to load. By clicking your way deep into the Infinite Photograph, you are promised to “get a truly boundless picture of Earth”. If you would like to submit an image, you can do so by visiting the second link. You will need to create a National Geographic account first if you haven’t got one yet, but after that, things are pretty straightforward. Submitted images must be in JPEG format and at least 1,600 pixels in the longer dimension.

Website: Infinite Photograph As seen On Earth
Website: Submit Your Photos

liveBooks Photojournalism is a new, cost-effective, pre-designed website offering and community for photojournalists. The service promises to provide photojournalists with an opportunity to have a professional web presence at an affordable price. liveBooks Photojournalism users can choose a website look and feel that best fits their style by selecting from 78 variations of page designs. Do note however that these pre-designed websites are available to members of the partnering photojournalism organisations only. Subscription costs $44/month or $444/year. Alternatively, the sites can be purchased for a one-time fee of $1,144.

The family-friendly online photo sharing website kizoa.com has just relaunched. Kizoa.com, also accessible via kizoa.co.uk, allows users to create slideshows with drag-and-drop simplicity, organise photos into albums and join groups, and also provides them with an easy-to-use online editing interface.

B&H Photo Video’s New York SuperStore and offices will be closed for Passover from Wednesday, April 8th through Thursday, April 16th. A notice posted to B&H’s website says that orders must be placed by 11:00AM EDT on Tuesday, April 7th in order to ship before the holiday. Any order placed after this time will only ship when B&H reopens.

Consumers now have access to the largest professional photography collection online. Beginning today, LIFE.com will provide users with access to more than seven million photos from the LIFE and Getty Images archives, with approximately 3,000 new photos from Getty Images added daily. LIFE’s archive includes photos from as early as the 1850s, the vast majority of which were never published in the pages of the magazine. Users can search for photos by topic, time period, interest and by photographer and purchase framed prints

Photo: Keystone/Getty Images, 1956

Fashionable Wedding Photography: Roundtable with Claudio Basso is a free webinar taking place on 17 April. The speakers of the roundtable are David Fisher and Claudio Basso. The webinar begins at 2pm EDT and lasts an hour. Advance registration is required. US residents also get a chance to win one of three prize giveaways of the Metz 45 Cl-4 Digital Handle Mount Flash, a value of $474.

Website: Registration to Webinar

DxOMark.com has just published new data for the Olympus E-410 and SP-570UZ cameras. DxOMark.com is a “controversial” website that attempts to “measure” image quality, or a few aspects thereof, using raw data from the sensor. Use of the site is free.

Website: DxOMark

Photo sharing community website picli.com has moved out of beta into version 1.0. The site, which was founded exactly 2 years ago, is still run by just two guys from London, but has been entirely rebuilt, optimised and redesigned from the ground up. Among the improvements are a brand new interface, multiple photo uploads, publishing and privacy options and more. Use of the service is free of charge.

Wozofoto.com is a new fine arts photography website whose goal is to bring high-quality photographic prints to aficionados at affordable prices. Every day a new photograph from a different photographer is posted and every day it’s the same price: $10 + shipping. This applies to 5x7” and 8x10” prints; poster sizes are available for an additional fee. Each photo is available for purchase for one day only, and the photo of the day is always changed at midnight CST. Photographers interested in selling their work are welcome.

Website: wozofoto.com