Panasonic has launched a bid to take over Sanyo in a deal that would make it one of Japan’s biggest electronics companies. The Guardian says Panasonic is offering ¥402bn (£2.7bn) to secure a majority stake in Sanyo. According to CrunchGear, the new firm “will rival Japan’s biggest electronics company, Hitachi, in terms of sales”. The main reason for Panasonic’s interest in Sanyo, however, is that the takeover would fortify the former’s position in the field of “green” energy.

Via The Guardian | CrunchGear

Fujifilm’s president and CEO, Shigetaka Komori, has been awarded the prestigious decoration, The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star. Mr Komori is being recognised for his accomplishments in industry and in furthering culture through his leadership roles at Fujifilm, Japan’s Broadcasting Company – NHK, and a range of industry and cultural organisations including the Photo-Sensitised Materials Manufacturers’ Association, the Japan-German Society, and the Japan-Netherlands Society, among others.

Kodak have reported grim third-quarter 2009 results, including a 35% revenue drop at its Consumer Digital Imaging Group.. The group’s third-quarter sales totalled a mere $535 million, leading to a $89 million loss for the quarter, compared with a profit of $24 million a year ago. The year-over-year variance was driven by lower intellectual property licensing royalties of $157 million. Excluding the impact of intellectual property royalties, segment earnings improved. This was driven by improved profitability in consumer inkjet systems, including a 128% revenue increase in consumer inkjet printer hardware and ink and lower costs as a result of the company’s move to a more efficient product platform; improved operating performance in Digital Capture & Devices; and reduced research-and-development expenses across the segment. Kodak’s total losses from continuing operations amounted to $111 million, compared with earnings of $101 million in the year-ago period.

Hoya Corporation are saying they will “not shut down” the Pentax business, but admit they definitely need a strong electronics company as a partner. Pentax currently has ties with Samsung, but apparently Hoya are not sure if the Sourh Korean company would be the ideal partner for the future. Bloomber quotes Hoya’s Chief Operating Officer Hiroshi Hamada as saying, “I don’t know whether we’ll go with Samsung or somebody else, but I can say that we’ll have a deeper relationship with some electronics guys”.

Source: Bloomberg via Amateur Photographer

Canon has posted its seventh straight quarterly profit drop, Bloomberg reports. The extended profit decline is blamed on a strong yen, which has hit Canon particularly badly, given that about 80% of the company’s sales are generated overseas. Having said that, Canon is still optimistic about its fourth-quarter prospects, saying the profit decline is expected to turn into growth eventually. Bloomberg also remarks that the company’s profit losses have mainly stemmed from the business machines division, with the camera operations actually enjoying a growth of 5.5%. The problem is that Canon’s prosperous camera business is much smaller than its ailing business machines division, and the growth achieved by the former cannot offset the dramatic decline the latter is facing.

Via Bloomberg

The European photobook market is on track for continued healthy growth, with demand projected to reach nearly 14.5m units this year, up from 10.7m in 2008, according to a new Photobook Market Report from Futuresource Consulting. Online continues to drive the bulk of European purchases, accounting for almost 90% of orders in 2008. However, retail volumes will grow as we move forward, the company says. Western Europe in in the middle of a transition from a fragmented market to a consolidated one, with more than sixty photobook manufacturers still in business, but with the top six taking more than 50% market share. Projections from Futuresource show that more than 23 million photobooks will be shipped in 2012.

The Stock Artists Alliance (SAA) has announced that it will merge with the Alliance of Visual Artists (AVA), an umbrella organisation representing five photographic associations and some 45,000 professional photographers worldwide. With the merger of the two groups, SAA becomes the sixth photographic association to join AVA’s family, which also includes Professional Photographers of America (PPA), Society of Sport and Event Photographers (SEP), Evidence Photographers International Council (EPIC), Student Photographic Society (SPS) and Commercial Photographers International (CPI).

Billed as “the largest documentary project of all time”, Week of Life is a Czech-American initiative that aims to build a “photo archive of humanity”. The basic building block of the project is the period of one week in the life of an individual, who captures each day of the week in nine photographs taken throughout the day. The idea was inspired by the book One Year of My Life in 3285 Pictures by photographer Adolf Zika, published in cooperation with Leica. Zika set a goal of documenting one year of his everyday life in nine photographs a day. Three years after the publication of the book, the idea evolved into the Week of Life project. Every participant who contributes with his or her week thereby becomes an original piece in a neverending mosaic of human originality and uniqueness and a co-author of the whole documentary project, a gigantic photographic library of humankind in the 21st century. To learn more, visit the website below.

Website: Week of Life

From October 9-12, Nikon will sponsor 100 promising young photojournalists in upstate New York for the 22nd Eddie Adams Workshop, also known as “Barnstorm.” At the workshop, students will have the opportunity to use Nikon’s professional digital SLR camera system, as well as the new D300s (pictured above, and recently reviewed here on PhotographyBLOG). Nikon technical experts will also be available onsite to offer advice and guidance. Barnstorm participants will benefit from the experience and advice of legendary professional mentors such as Bill Eppridge, Stacy Pearsall and Tim Rasmussen. In addition to sponsoring the Barnstorm, this is the sixth year that Nikon will award a $10,000 scholarship to the top student from the Barnstorm XXII Workshop. A panel of judges selects a student based on the work he or she presents during the workshop. The scholarship money must be used by the winning student to further his or her education in the photographic arts field, and will be applied towards their tuition and/or housing at the college of his or her attendance.

Following Canon USA’s decision to skip PMA 2010, there was a brief period of uncertainty about Canon Europe’s attendance at next year’s photokina trade show held in Cologne, Germany; but now we know the answer. According to PDN Gear Guide, a spokesperson for Canon Europe has confirmed that the company will attend the world’s largest fair for photography and imaging, which is set to open its gates on 21 September 2010.

Via PDN Gear Guide

Willard Sterling Boyle and George Elwood Smith, who co-developed the first charge-coupled device (CCD) for image capture, have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. They share the honour with physicist Charles Kuen Kao, who won the prize “for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibres for optical communication”. Boyle and Smith have already received numerous awards for the invention of the CCD, including the Franklin Institute’s Stuart Ballantine Medal, the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award and the Charles Stark Draper Prize. CCDs are analogue devices and are used in both analogue and digital video cameras, digital still cameras, electron microscopes and a number of other apparatuses.

Steven Sasson, a retired research scientist for Eastman Kodak Company who is credited with inventing the first digital camera, will receive an “Innovation Award” from The Economist magazine in ceremonies in London on October 29. The invention of the digital camera began with a 30-second conversation when Sasson’s supervisor asked whether it was possible to build a camera with a new type of electronic sensor called a charge-coupled device (CCD). Sasson’s original prototype weighed eight pounds, recorded black and white images to a cassette tape, had a resolution of 0.01 megapixel and took 23 seconds to capture its first image. In 1978, Mr Sasson was issued a US patent for the digital camera and Eastman Kodak was the first company to develop a megapixel digital camera in 1986. For his achievements, the Economist is honouring Sasson in the category of Consumer Products and Services.

Sixtyone North & Chicago Photo Safaris have announced an adventure photo workshop that involves a journey to the pristine southern coast of Alaska. Led by Dave Taylor and Gary Gullett, the eight-day workshop is taking place from 11 through 18 June 2010. Group size is limited to a dozen photographer participants plus spouses and non-photographer friends (limited to one “tag-along” per photographer). The cost is $3990 (Double Occupancy) / $4690 (Single Occupancy) per photographer, and $1990 per non-photographer (Double Occupancy). The - non refundable - reservation fee is $750 per participant. For more information and registration, head to the website below.

Website: Alaska’s Southern Coast

Canon USA has decided not to exhibit at PMA 2010. According to a number of online reports, Canon considered both recent changes in the industry and the relocation of the trade show from Las Vegas to Anaheim when taking the decision. The Japanese giant still plans to attend the Consumer Electronic Show (CEs) in January. There is no word on Canon Europe’s attendance at photokina 2010, which bills itself as “the world’s leading fair for photography and imaging”.

Via Amateur Photographer | PDN Gear Guide

Pentax Imaging Company has announced plans organised by worldwide Pentaxians for a global photo shoot scheduled for Saturday, October 10, 2009. Forum members at www.pentaxforums.com plan to shoot locally on that day and submit images to a central website. The global shoot “Pentax World Day” is not intended as a competition, but it is designed for the satisfaction of shooting and sharing images with other forum members. Photos may be submitted to the PENTAXForums.com User Photo Gallery. Access the gallery directly by clicking: User Photo Gallery - October 10, 2009. Directions:  Click the “Upload” link located in the navigation bar to add your photo (you need to be a registered user). You may submit up to three photos taken with a Pentax camera (film or digital, SLR or compact). Each photo’s largest dimension should be between 800 and 900 pixels.

Website: Pentax Forums User Photo Gallery - October 10, 2009

Global imaging giant Kodak commissioned The Future Laboratory to examine how people in the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy view their relationships and the role digital imaging can play. Across the five countries, it found a common desire for ‘reconnectivity.’ The ‘Future of Reconnectivity’ report also uncovered the emergence of ‘Digital Families’ and forecasts the impact of future technologies on relationships. According to the study, we’re waking up to the fact that we’re struggling to nurture personal relationships and are gradually turning to technology for solutions. 53% of us already use cameras to communicate better with our families and over a third (35%) said we want to be able to see and contact other people more face-to-face, but technology is still an important part of this experience. Asked about future innovations in imaging technology, 41% felt that video conferencing would improve or intensify face-to-face relationships, whilst, 30% felt augmented reality would do the same.

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) have just launched two complementary and dynamic photography exhibitions– the ROM’s Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008, and the AGO’s Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, the Condé Nast Years, 1923-1937. Visitors to either exhibition can retain their ticket stubs for presentation at the other venue to receive 20% off the cost of admission. A reciprocal members’ weekend will also be offered on October 17 and 18, allowing ROM and AGO members free admission to the other attraction. The ROM and AGO will also host a panel discussion focusing on the culture of celebrity and photographic portraiture on Monday, November 9. Facing the Lens, Seeing the Light: Observations on Portrait Photography will be moderated by Sophie Hackett, assistant curator of Photography at the AGO and Francisco Alvarez, managing director of the Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the ROM, and will include photographer Nigel Dickson, gallerist Jane Corkin and Dr.Lilly Koltun of the Portrait Gallery of Canada. The AGO exhibition Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, the Condé Nast Years, 1923-1937 and the ROM exhibition Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913-2008 will run from September 26, 2009 to January 3, 2010.

As the hour of twilight moved across the globe, a series of seven games of football were played in seven of the world’s most breathtaking locations. The games took place in the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Argentina and Australia with the Twilight Football finale taking place in South Africa, home of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The Twilight Football campaign from Sony celebrated the beauty and passion of football and was designed to showcase the capability of the recently unveiled Exmor CMOS sensor. For further information on Twilight Football, visit the website below.

Website: Sony Twilight Football

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed frozen water hiding just below the surface of mid-latitude Mars, captured by the unit’s HiRISE camera after meteorites excavated fresh craters on the Red Planet. HiRISE is an acronym for “High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment”, which involves the use of a special on-board camera to survey the surface of the planet. The finds indicate water ice occurs beneath Mars’ surface halfway between the north pole and the equator, a lower latitude than expected in the Martian climate. To view images of the craters and learn more about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, visit the website below.

Website: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Shutterstock, the world’s largest subscription-based stock photo agency, announced that it has acquired BigStockPhoto, a leading credit-based stock photo agency, headquartered in Davis, California. This move signals Shutterstock’s expansion into the credit-based stock photo market, the company remarks. According to the deal, BigStockPhoto will remain a separate entity, and Shutterstock plans to grow the company’s global presence by investing heavily in marketing, infrastructure and user experience.