Kodak has announced a comprehensive settlement agreement with the UK Kodak Pension Plan (KPP), its largest creditor, providing for the spin-off of Kodak’s Personalised Imaging and Document Imaging businesses to KPP for $650 million. The Personalised Imaging business includes still camera film products, photographic papers, retail print solutions and souvenir photo products sold at theme parks and other venues. The Document Imaging business provides a portfolio of scanners, capture software and services to enterprise customers. At present it is unclear what KPP intends to do with these businesses.

SanDisk is sponsoring The Coldest Journey, an expedition across Antarctica where voyagers will attempt take on one of the last remaining polar challenges. During their voyage, the team will undertake a number of scientific tests to capture images and data with the goal to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the true effects of global warming on the Antarctic continent. In order for the team to capture this journey while storing and sharing content on the move, SanDisk is providing the expedition team with SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC memory cards and SanDisk Extreme SSDs. Veteran explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, expedition leader of The Coldest Journey will be leading the team from the UK. “The team will stretch the limits of human endurance, covering 2,000 miles in six months at temperatures approaching minus 90°C,” Fiennes said. “When you’re looking to succeed in nature’s extreme margins, you need to have absolute trust in all of your equipment. We knew that when it comes to flash memory, be it SSDs to store our video, or SD memory cards to record the adventure, SanDisk is the ideal partner to have on board for The Coldest Journey.”

Getty Images today announced that applications for its 2013 Grants for Editorial Photography are now being accepted. Five photojournalists will be selected to receive grants of US$10,000, intended to provide the funding and freedom to pursue projects of personal and journalistic significance. The Grants for Editorial Photography were created in 2004 to provide emerging and established photographers with the means, creative freedom and collaborative editorial guidance to pursue projects of personal and journalistic significance. Previous grant recipients include Bharat Choudhary for “The Silence of ‘Others’,”  Paolo Marchetti for “FEVER – The Awakening of European Fascism,” Sebastian Liste for “The Brazilian Far West” and Kosuke Okahara for “Fragments/Fukushima.” Grants applications are open until 1 May, 2013 before midnight GMT. Winners will be announced in September 2013 at the Visa Pour l’Image photojournalism festival in Perpignan.

The Ilford Group has acquired Germany-based Tecco GmbH, a converter and supplier of coated and uncoated media for the proofing, photographic, production & laser markets. Commenting on the acquisition, Paul Willems, CEO of Ilford Group AG stated: “ILFORD Imaging Switzerland is known for its state-of-the-art product development and as a manufacturer of high quality products. With the company’s goal of expanding its customer base, it was important to align our business with a company that specialises in offering a total customer service. TECCO adds an important and strategic dimension to our business that will immediately benefit our customer base today and also in the future.”

Aptina has signed a patent cross-licence agreement with Sony, which provides each company with access to the other’s patent portfolio. “Patents and innovation are a critical component of Aptina’s strategy, and Aptina’s patent portfolio is the largest and strongest in the image sensor industry,” said Bob Gove, President and CTO of Aptina. “We believe that this powerful blend will advance technology to realise our goal of enabling consumers to capture beautiful images and visual information.”

A 320-gigapixel image of London taken from the top of the BT Tower has set a new record for the world’s largest panoramic photo. The picture, which is made up of 48,640 individual images, shows a full 360 degree view of London in incredible detail. To capture the source frames, 4 Canon EOS 7D cameras with EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM lenses and Extender EF 2x III teleconverters were mounted on Clauss company Rodeon VR Head ST robotic panorama heads and positioned in four secure locations around the 29th floor platform. The raw images were then processed over a multi-week period using Fujitsu Technology Solutions’ Celsius R920 workstation with 256GB of RAM and 16 cores at 3.1GHz, and Autopano Giga panorama stitching software from Kolor. The project was commissioned and financed by the BT Group, and completed by 360Cities.

The Schloßparkmuseum in Bad Kreuznach is hosting a special exhibition entitled, “The World in Focus – 100 Years of Schneider Optische Werke Bad Kreuznach.” In the past 100 years, Schneider Kreuznach played an instrumental role in the history of optics in Germany and gained worldwide recognition especially in the field of large- and medium-format camera lenses. “The company has always aimed for the highest quality rather than quantity; we still feel committed to this aspiration,” says Dr. Josef Staub, CEO of the Schneider Group. The exhibition will be on display from 17 February to 31 August 2013.

Olympus Japan has announced that no less than five new companies have joined Micro Four Thirds. The newcomers include Kodak licensee JK Imaging, innovative digital cinema camera manufacturer Blackmagic Design - which has already launched a Micro Four Thirds model, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera MFT (pictured) -, high-speed digital imaging expert Photron, as well as Germany’s SVS-VISTEK and Japan’s ViewPLUS. “With the addition of exciting new products from these companies, the Micro Four Thirds lineup will become much more diverse, further increasing the potential of this advanced digital imaging system,” Olympus said in a statement.

Adobe today announced that it has acquired Behance, an online social media platform that enables creatives to showcase and share their work.  In the last 30 days, portfolios on Behance-powered sites have received over 90 million views and today there are over 3 million projects hosted on the Behance platform. “Behance will play a key role in Adobe’s efforts to serve the creative world in the years to come and will accelerate our efforts to enable a more open and collaborative creative community,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager, Adobe.

Kodak has sold its digital imaging patent portfolio for approximately 525 million dollars. The price will be paid partly by 12 intellectual property licensees organised by Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation, with each licensee receiving rights with respect to the digital imaging patent portfolio and certain other Kodak patents; partly by Intellectual Ventures, which is acquiring the digital imaging patent portfolio subject to these new licenses. “This monetization of patents is another major milestone toward successful emergence,” Antonio M. Perez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said. “Our progress has accelerated over the past several weeks as we prepare to emerge as a strong, sustainable company. This proposed transaction enables Kodak to repay a substantial amount of our initial DIP loan, satisfy a key condition for our new financing facility, and position our Commercial Imaging business for further growth and success.”

In the wake of a far-reaching outcry against proposed changes to its Terms of Use - including a notice issued by National Geographic saying that it’s “suspending new posts” and “may close” its account -, Instagram has announced an upcoming revision to the most controversial section of the text. “Legal documents are easy to misinterpret,” said Instagram’s co-founder Kevin Systrom in a post published on the company’s official blog. “We need to be clear about changes we make — this is our responsibility to you. One of the main reasons these documents don’t take effect immediately, but instead 30 days from now, is that we wanted to make sure you had an opportunity to raise any concerns. You’ve done that and are doing that, and that will help us provide the clarity you deserve. “

Eight months after buying Instagram, Facebook has issued a modification to the service’s Terms of Use, allowing it to sell users’ photos to advertisers. According to the updated terms, you “agree that a business or other entity may pay [Instagram] to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.” Commenting on the news, The Guardian’s Charles Arthur speculates that the move “may give a boost” to Flickr, adding that “[a]lthough Flickr has resale deals in place with a number of companies, it shares revenue from those with users and only uses photos with users’ explicit permission.” Instagram users who do not agree with the new terms may opt out until 16 January 2013 by deleting their uploaded photos and terminating their accounts.

Website: Instagram / Updated Terms

Update: Instagram Backtracks on Terms of Use Update

The new and restyled VICTOR Photography Book One is now available in print format. Priced at £15, €20 and $25 and sold by exclusive magazine shops in London, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Madrid, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong,, the new VICTOR includes contributions from a wide range of top photographers,.Photographers anywhere in the world can obtain the magazine from the website below at the cover price plus shipping costs.

Website: Newsstand UK

Fitch Ratings have cut the debt ratings of Panasonic and Sony to ‘junk’ status citing “weak demand… as well as continuing price competition from overseas companies.” The ratings agency acknowledges that Panasonic is “in the right direction in its restructuring efforts” but remains “cautious that the benefits of the restructuring may be marred by the weak performance in Panasonic’s electronics products and components businesses and lead to a slow recovery in profitability.” With respect to Sony, Fitch points out “continuing weakness in the home entertainment & sound and mobile products & communications segments will offset the relatively stable music and pictures segments and improvement in the devices segment which makes semiconductors and components.” From a photography point of view it’s interesting that the ratings firm believes CMOS image sensors are among the most profitable products in Sony’s portfolio and finds it “likely that Sony will use its strength in imaging sensors to promote its next range of smartphones as best-in-category for photography.”

According to InfoTrends’ most recent survey research, nearly 73% of Americans print their photos at least occasionally. The real change is happening in the devices used to take photos, as 45% of survey respondents say they own a smartphone, which is up from 31% in 2011. 30% of smartphone owners also say that they use their phone most often to take photos, which is up from just 17% in 2011. “Smartphones have evolved into legitimate cameras and have the potential to make the print ordering process easier than before since they’re always connected and users can order directly from their phones,” says David Haueter, Associate Director of InfoTrends’ Photo Printing Trends and Photo Merchandise Services. “However, those processes need to be user-friendly and consumers still need to understand the value of print to make them want to order in the first place,” he continues. “Printed photos are one of the safest ways to insure that important photos will be available and easily accessible in the future, and this message still needs to be taken more strongly to the consumer market.”

The Consumer Electronics Association’s Board of Industry Leaders unanimously voted to rename ‘4K’ video to ‘Ultra High-Definition’ or ‘Ultra HD,’ and also defined the core characteristics of Ultra HDTVs, monitors and projectors. Minimum performance attributes include display resolution of at least eight million active pixels, with at least 3,840 horizontally and at least 2,160 vertically. Displays will have an aspect ratio with width to height of “at least 16x9.” To use the Ultra HD label, display products will require at least one digital input capable of carrying and presenting native 4K format video from this input at full 3,840 X 2,160 resolution without relying solely on up-converting.

Pictured above is the EOS C500, Canon’s high-end professional 4K cinema camera.

The renowned Dutch online photo and video specialist Foto Konijnenberg has been renamed ‘Photospecialist’ in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. In the near future Photospecialist will open online and physical shops in more countries in Europe, with the logistics, sales and marketing remaining centralised in the Netherlands. “Our ambition is to bring our service and range of products to more countries within Europe - we were already specialists by reputation, now also by name!” says Henk Konijnenberg, CEO. In The Netherlands and Belgium the company will continue to operate under name Foto Konijnenberg for the time being.

Olympus and Sony today announced that the two companies have entered into a business alliance agreement and a capital alliance agreement through a third-party allotment of Olympus’s common shares to Sony. Under the terms of the capital alliance agreement, Olympus will issue 34,387,900 common shares at a price of 1,454 yen per share. The agreements affect both the medical and the camera divisions. With respect to the latter, the two companies’ stated aim is “to enhance their competitiveness, primarily in the area of compact digital cameras, by exploring opportunities for mutually beneficial transactions and collaboration between their respective camera businesses, including the supply of Olympus technologies such as camera lenses and mirror cells to Sony, and the provision of Sony image sensors to Olympus.” As opposed to the medical field, in which Olympus and Sony have agreed to establish a business venture company with a capital ratio of 49%-51%, the two companies’ camera businesses will continue to function as separate entities.

(Pictured above is the Olympus OM-D E-M5 compact system camera, which features a 16-megapixel Sony sensor.)

Following the news that Hasselblad’s VICTOR magazine is to revert to print format following a period as an online only publication, the first issue is now available for purchase. Issue one of the new look VICTOR includes contributions from a wide range of top photographers, including Anton Corbijn, Marco Grob, Mark Zibert, Edward Burtynsky and Rodney Smith. “I am delighted that VICTOR is now back in print format, as this is the ultimate format to enjoy images,” says Chris Russell-Fish, Hasselblad’s Global Marketing Director. “We hope the long time fans of VICTOR magazine will enjoy this new publication and that it will also attract many new fans and lovers of photography.” The magazine is available from exclusive magazine shops in London, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Madrid, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong, priced at £15, €20 and $25, while photographers anywhere in the world can obtain the magazine from www.newsstand.co.uk at the cover price plus shipping costs.

Hasselblad has decided to work with Sony to “cultivate new markets for photo enthusiasts and consumer digital imaging products.” Dr. Larry Hansen, Hasselblad Chairman and CEO says: “This partnership will enable us to access an area of the photographic sector, which we have never reached out to before, by tapping on Sony’s excellent state of the art technology and spirit of ground breaking innovation. Owning a Hasselblad, made in Sweden, will no longer be just a dream for many photographic enthusiasts.” The first fruit of this cooperation is the new Hasselblad Lunar compact system camera - essentially a Sony NEX-7 in disguise - which will be available from the first quarter of 2013.