Canon has been voted as Europe’s top camera brand for the tenth consecutive year in the Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Brands Survey 2010. Reader’s Digest asked its readers in 14 languages across 16 European countries to nominate the brand they trusted most in a range of consumer categories, including cameras.  Respondents were drawn from the Reader’s Digest customer database of 4.5 million homes in Europe, and more than 32,000 responses were analysed. Canon came out on top in 14 of the 16 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

Create Positivity is a non-profit organisation whose first project will see 8 UK photographers travel to South America and teach a 2 week photography course to underprivileged children. They will provide the children with all the equipment and educational materials they need to get a grasp of photography and the course will end with their work being put on display. The project, entitled Portraits of another life has been inspired by studies which show that by having a creative output children tend to steer away from antisocial behavior allowing them to create community and develop their skills for future life. If you agree with the project’s aims, you can make a donation via the website below.

Website: Create Positivity

PicScout and PhotoShelter today announced a partnership to automatically include PhotoShelter photographers’ images in the PicScout ImageIRC (index, registry and connection platform). This partnership gives individual photographers access to the same powerful PicScout technology used by major image libraries worldwide, enabling them to connect with more image buyers and ensure critical metadata remains accessible to image users anywhere online. “Our partnership with PicScout gives our photographers a truly tangible way to increase image sales by allowing their images to be identified with PicScout’s ImageExchange.  When image users encounter one of our photographer’s images online, whether it be via a search engine, at a content website, or wherever an image resides, the user will be provided a very obvious link directly back to the photographer’s e-commerce enabled site on PhotoShelter,” said PhotoShelter CEO Allen Murabayashi.

Hoya’s financial report on the quarter that ended on 31 December 2009 says that Pentax is making a profit again. While Pentax’s endoscope business is still ailing due to restrained buying by medical organisations, the camera department reports an increase in the number of [digital] SLR cameras sold. This alone would not have led to profits though, as tough price competition has caused Pentax’s operating income to actually shrink despite rising sales volumes - the fact that Pentax turned profitable from making losses in the same period of the previous year has more to do with cost reduction, achieved via reorganisation, Hoya says.

Source: Hoya

MSD Capital, the private investment firm of Michael S. Dell, founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Inc., has bought the entire print archive of Magnum Photos. As a result of this transaction the Magnum Archive Collection, which contains nearly 200,000 original press prints of images taken by world-renowned Magnum photographers, will be preserved, catalogued and made accessible by the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin. Images of icons from Picasso to Marilyn Monroe, from Sinatra to Gandhi, and from Castro to a young Queen Elizabeth coexist in the Collection with depictions of international conflicts, political unrest and cultural strife. Included are famous photos from the Spanish Civil War, the D-Day landings and the Six-Day War, as well as unforgettable scenes of historic events: the rise of democracy in India, Afghanistan and Iraq and the US Civil Rights movement. While the physical press prints have been purchased by MSD Capital, Magnum’s member photographers will retain the copyright and licensing rights to all of the images in the Collection.

Neovoyage is a new photography tour company. Neovovage focuses on a single purpose, to let photographers do what they enjoy while taking care of the logistics, planning and research needed to find the most photogenic sites and to be there when photo opportunities are among their best. As part of the launch, Neovoyage has prepared an amazing 2 week journey to Ecuador from August 9th-22nd 2010. The cost is $3350 USD per person based on double occupancy.

Sales of interchangeable-lens system cameras has grown by 2.3% last year, according to the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA). Lens shipments also increased, by 2.8%. Compact cameras, on the other hand, have experienced a drop of 12.8% in sales. Nevertheless, at 96 million units shipped, compacts still make up almost 91% of the total digital camera market. In 2010, compacts are forecast to grow by 3%, while shipments of system cameras - including DSLRs, Micro Four Thirds et al - are expected to increase by 11.1%.

What Digital Camera have just launched a charity auction to raise money for the DEC Haiti Earthquake Appeal. There are ten lots in the sale, including a Nikon D3000, several compacts and various accessories, all of which have been generously donated by the distributors. The items are being auctioned on eBay, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Appeal. Donations will be boosted further by the Gift Aid tax relief bonus.

To see what’s in the sale, and make a bid, go to:
http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/news/439685/wdc-charity-auction-in-aid-of-the-dec-haiti-earthquake-appeal.html

Datacolor has announced that Manfrotto Distribution (formerly Bogen Imaging) will serve as its U.S. master distributor for the entire line of Datacolor Spyder monitor and print calibration solutions. The Spyder3Studio SR workflow solution (pictured) includes the new Spyder3Print SR (strip reader), a spectrocolorimeter that incorporates significant advancements in ICC printer profile technology; the Spyder3Elite, a monitor calibration tool; and the SpyderCube, which eliminates any need for traditional 18% grey cards. “Clearly the synergy between our target audiences – those photographers that demand the highest in quality, performance and reliability – is evident. We are proud to add Datacolor to our growing roster of first-class partners,” said Andrew Mougis, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Manfrotto Distribution. “Datacolor’s highly-respected Spyder line is widely recognised as the most advanced colour management technology available today.”

Bogen Imaging, the photo-video accessories distributor and part of the Vitec Group which also owns the Manfrotto brand, is changing its name to become Manfrotto Distribution. The rebrand is part of a strategy by the Vitec Group to address the fast growing amateur, high-end P&S and Four Thirds chip DSLR camera sectors, while also maintaining focus on the enthusiast and professional photography and video markets that it is known for. The name change is effective from 1 January 2010, and affects all markets including Germany, France, Italy, UK, Japan and the USA.

Website: Manfrotto Distribution

Kodak has announced that it has completed the previously announced sale of its OLED business to an entity set up by a group of LG companies. “As we said earlier this year, OLED is one of the businesses we wanted to reposition to maximize Kodak’s competitive advantage at the intersection of materials and imaging science,” said Laura G. Quatela, Kodak’s Chief Intellectual Property Officer and manager of the company’s OLED business. “This action is consistent with that strategy. Our OLED intellectual property portfolio is fundamental; however, realising the full value of this business would have required significant investment.”

Photobucket and Ontela have announced an agreement under which the two companies will merge their operations. The new company will be called Photobucket Corporation. News Corporation, which acquired Photobucket in 2007, will hold a significant equity stake in the combined company and will be represented on the company’s board of directors. The Photobucket management team will continue to operate the business, while Ontela’s investors will make an additional capital commitment as part of the merger and will hold significant equity positions in the combined company.

Kodak has decided to sell all the assets associated with its OLED business to a group of LG companies. This move follows the signing of a contract earlier this year that has enabled LG to use Kodak’s OLED technology in their devices. Kodak scientists had developed the world’s first OLED (organic light-emitting diode) material back in the seventies, and the American giant has used the technology in a variety of products ranging from digital photo frames to digital cameras. After the sale of its OLED-related assets - a transaction which is expected to close by the end of the year -, Kodak will continue to have access to the technology for use in its own products, the company said in a statement.

Hasselblad’s Chief Executive Officer, Christian Poulsen, has left the company. According to Amateur Photographer, Poulsen will remain as the Swedish firm’s Strategic Technology Adviser, but as CEO, he is replaced by Chairman Larry Hansen. Poulsen had founded Imacon in the mid-1990s, and has been leading Hasselblad since the merger of the two companies in 2004. At around that time, Poulsen was quoted as saying, “They finally realized there was no future. It was impossible to keep Hasselblad alive without digital.” Since then Hasselblad has introduced the H1D, H2D, H3D, H3D II and H4D system cameras, among other products aimed at digital photographers.

TweetPhoto and Eastman Kodak Company have announced that the two companies have entered into a collaborative agreement on initiatives focussed around real-time photo sharing. The companies have signed an agreement with the intention to work freely together to develop, test and release products and services that leverage the viral nature of the real-time web and social eco-systems. “Real-time photography is currently used across social networking sites to start a conversation or give context to a tweet,” says Sean Callahan, Co-Founder of TweetPhoto. “Photo sharing on the real time web is only going to continue to grow, and we are pleased with the opportunity to collaborate with Kodak, the world’s leading imaging innovator.”

Fujifilm announced that effective 1 January 2010 it is creating a new organisation, Fujifilm North America Corporation. The new corporation will merge Fujifilm U.S.A., Inc. and Fujifilm Graphic Systems U.S.A. Inc. Fujifilm Canada Inc. will become a subsidiary of the new company as of 1 April 2010. Fujifilm North America will bring together five operating divisions: photo imaging products including digital photo processing equipment and services supplying commercial and consumer customers; graphic systems products and services supplying the printing industry; consumer digital cameras; motion picture films; and the Canada Division which markets multiple Fujifilm products.

Retired Kodak research scientist Bryce Bayer, whose invention of a colour filter array enabled digital imaging sensors to capture colour, is today being honoured by the Royal Photographic Society with its Progress Award at a ceremony in London. Bayer invented the colour filter array that bears his name (the Bayer filter), which is incorporated into nearly every digital camera and camera phone on the market today.  The red, green, and blue colors of the Bayer filter are fabricated on top of the light-sensitive pixels as the image sensor is manufactured. In addition to his work on digital colour imaging, Bayer developed widely cited algorithms for storing, improving, and printing digital images.

The PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association (PMDA) announced today that Michio Kariya, President, CEO and COO of Nikon Corporation, will receive the association’s 2010 Person of the Year Award. Michio Kanya has worked for Nikon since 1967 (when the company was still called Nippon Kogaku), and as an engineer, he was personally responsible for the successful development of Nikon’s first ED lens. He was promoted to Director, member of the board and President of the Nikon Imaging Company in 1999. His vision and leadership skills have led to his present position at the helm of Nikon Corporation. The award will be presented at the annual PMDA awards dinner on February 20, 2010 in Anaheim, California, prior to the opening of the 2010 PMA show.

Website: PMDA

9 out of 10 people in the UK share their photos, according to a survey by Futuresource. “The survey found that on-camera and via email are the most popular methods of sharing pictures. However, nearly half of all respondents are still sharing physical prints with friends and family, though this behaviour varies widely depending on the age of the respondent. Females are also more likely to share physical prints than males” commented Simon Bryant. 70% of all respondents said that they shared video. The Futuresource consumer research study was carried out online with a UK sample size of more than 1,000 respondents aged 16 and over.

Canon has announced a three-year renewal of the World Press Photo (WPP) Foundation. World Press Photo, an independent, non-profit organisation, was founded in 1955 and is universally acknowledged as the world’s most prestigious competition for photo journalists. The 2009 competition saw over 5,000 professional photographers from 124 countries submit images in 10 categories. The World Press Photo Exhibition 2009 will be on show at the Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre from 7th November – 13th December 2009.  Admission is free and the exhibition is open daily from 10am – 11pm.