Essentials 2 for iPhoto is a collection of four software tools to correct color, blur a photo, add creative borders and resize digital images. “These tools are designed to allow amateur and advanced amateur photographers to quickly and easily correct color, creatively add blur effects to images, add realistic frame and borders and enlarge digital images to transform even ordinary snapshots into extraordinary images without having to spend hours in front of a computer.” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. Essentials 2 for iPhoto costs $59.95.

The new Transcend Extreme Speed 300x CompactFlash cards can achieve read/write speeds of up to 45MB per second. Operating in dual-channel Ultra DMA mode 5, the fastest speed available for CF cards, Transcend’s 300X CompactFlash uses only brand name, top-tier SLC NAND Flash chips and premium quality components and has a Lifetime Warranty.

FocalPoint is now available as a software plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. onOne Software’s FocalPoint is a selective focus and vignetting plug-in designed to help photographers easily blur and/or vignette areas of an image. “It’s just like having a lens inside of Photoshop. Users set the location of their ‘sweet spot’ of focus directly on their image and then control the amount, kind of blur used and even lighten or darken the edges quickly and easily.” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. The FocalPoint plug-in is available now for $159.95.

All of the assets of Realviz, best known for Stitcher panorama software, have been bought by Autodesk. “REALVIZ’s technology is complementary to Autodesk’s modeling, visual effects and animation products. It will enable us to increase the use of 3D technology across many industries, including architecture, film, broadcast and game development.” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk Platform Solutions and Emerging Business. Stitcher Unlimited, Stitcher Express, ImageModeler and Movimento will continue to be available as standalone products. Matchmover, Retimer and VTour, Stitcher Pro, Stitcher Unlimited DS, StoryViz, and hardware and software product bundles are all discontinued.

Kodak has won the 18th Annual EDN Innovation Award in the Sensor Category for the Truesense Color Filter Pattern. This groundbreaking new technology allows for the development of digital capture devices that take better pictures under low light or reduce motion blur when photographing moving subjects. Truesense advances an existing KodakTechnology, the Bayer pattern based color filter, that has become a standard in digital imaging. “This recognition of the KODAK TRUESENSE Color Filter Pattern acknowledges our continuing advances in digital imaging technology, for both CMOS and CCD products.” said Herb Erhardt, CIS Business Manager, Image Sensor Solutions, Eastman Kodak Company.

The Public Beta of Spyder3Print, version 3.5PB for Mac and Windows, is now available. A free upgrade for all registered PrintFIX PRO or Spyder3Print owners, this update offers significant improvements in speed, workflow, and convenience.

Sigma have released a new firmware update for the DP1 compact camera. The new firmware version, 1.02, offers the following improvement:

- Correct the phenomenon that the “currently selected file” will be deleted, if the camera is turned off when the camera display remained in Delete Menu.

Website: Sigma DP1 Firmware Update 1.02

Imaging Resource have reviewed the new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S780, 7.2 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom lens and 2.5 inch LCD screen.

“The Sony Cyber-shot S750 has a few issues. Overall exposure is adequate in many cases, but image quality and color accuracy need improvement. Image noise is on the high side, and there’s a good deal of blurring from the camera’s effort to suppress that noise. The Sony S750 is inexpensive, easy to use, very portable, and results aren’t entirely terrible. Our printed results do show that it’s more of a 4x6-only camera, only capable of producing truly sharp 5x7-inch prints at ISO 100; raise the ISO any higher, you’re better sticking to 4x6-inch prints. Most 7-megapixel digital cameras are at least capable of printing sharp 11x14-inch prints, but the Sony S750’s output is too soft at that size.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S750 Review

Today we bring you the World’s first online review of the Samsung NV40 compact digital camera. The NV40 is a new addition to Samsung’s innovative New Vision range, with headline specs including a 10 megapixel sensor, 3x zoom lens, 2.5 inch LCD screen, ISO 100-3200 and full manual exposure control. Samsung have been aggressively chasing market share in recent years and are currently ranked as one of the top 3 compact camera manufacturers. Is the NV40 good enough to keep Samsung there? Read Mark Goldstein’s review to find out…

Website: Samsung NV40 Review

Nik Software have released the Viveza plug-in for Aperture 2.1. Viveza selectively controls light and color in photographic images by placing Control Points directly on colors or objects such as sky, skin or grass to make targeted adjustments. “Viveza perfectly complements Aperture by enabling photographers to make localized enhancements to brightness, contrast, or color without ever having to leave the application.” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. Viveza costs $249.95 / € 249.95, and installs as an Aperture plug-in, fully compatible with Mac OS 10.5.

Adobe Photoshop Express has just been updated, adding support for Flickr and Save As functionality. Photoshop Express creates special effects and sends them back into Flickr without leaving the community environment. In addition a new embeddable player will allow users to post their slideshows to sites such as Facebook, Myspace, blogs and more. Photoshop Express is a free website available to anyone who wants to store, sort and show off their digital photos.

Fantasea’s FS-51 underwater housing is compatible with the new Nikon Coolpix S52 and S52c digital cameras. The FS-51 Housing is depth rated to 60 meters/200 feet, has a double O-ring seal on all controls, anti-glare hood over LCD screen, built-in flash diffuser and a 41mm lens port. As with all other Fantasea Camera Housings, in the event of accidental water leakage, the Coolpix camera inside is insured. The Fantasea FS-51 housing costs $245.

MAGIX Xtreme PhotoStory on CD & DVD 7 Deluxe converts your photos and videos into a dazzling TV experience. A new user interface now makes it even easier to access optimization features, effects, animations, or camera movement via the completely reworked Media Pool. Photos from digital SLR cameras and scanned images in 3:2 format can also be displayed automatically on the entire screen without black edges. MAGIX PhotoStory on CD & DVD Deluxe is available for £39.99.

BreezeBrowser Pro v1.8 adds full support for RAW conversion from an additional 8 digital cameras. The full list is the Nikon D3, Nikon D300, Pentax K20D, Pentax K10D, Olympus E-3, Sony Alpha DSLR-A700, Canon EOS 450D/Rebel XSi and Canon PowerShot G9 cameras. Shooting data display for Nikon DSLRs has been improved and now include focus point overlay display for recent cameras. BreezeBrowser Pro v1.8 also includes a new HTML template which uses PicLens for dynamic viewing of web galleries.

Website: BreezeBrowser Pro v1.8

Peartree are offering photographers the chance to upgrade their DSLR systems to the brand new Leaf AFi camera. The Leaf AFi is a new 6 x 6 medium-format digital camera for professional photographers. Leaf will pay £5,000 for your Nikon, Canon or Kodak DSLR and two lenses when choosing the AFi 7, or £3000 for an AFi 5. This promotion is running for a limited period only. See www.peartreephoto.com for full terms and conditions.

World-renowned photographer Greg Gorman is holding a series of week-long exclusive digital photographic workshops. This workshop series is aimed at any photographer looking to enhance their camera, lighting, color management, image editing and fine art printing skills. The weeklong workshops cost $4250 and are offered from June 8-13, August 3-8 and September 21-26, limited to nine attendees each.

The five winners of Elevation 2008, PhotoShelter’s first annual student-to-pro award and competition, have been announced. The five grand prize winners will receive a portfolio from the award’s sponsors, and be a featured photographer in the PhotoShelter Collection’s May 2008 Editors’ Showroom. “We’re thrilled to recognize the 2008 ELEVATION student winners and assist in their transition to the pro level with the help of outstanding judges and sponsors,” said Meagan Ziegler-Haynes, Director of Photography of PhotoShelter.  “Today’s winners should be proud – our distinguished judges felt that their work stood out among hundreds of entries, and now they’ll stand out in the market too.”

The Pentax Photo Gallery has been voted as the Best Use of Photography of the year in a website in the Webby People’s Voice Awards. The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile Websites. “We went in a new direction creating the PENTAX Photo Gallery to offer 24/7/365 virtual access to the best photography captured by Pentaxians around the world. This nomination honors the PENTAX photographers.” commented Ned Bunnell, president, PENTAX Imaging Company.

Buy-n-Shoot have reviewed the Kodak V1073, a new 10 megapixel camera with 5x zoom lens and 3 inch LCD screen.

“he V1073 is also able to record High Definition video with audio in QuickTime and MPEG 4 format and can be marked in camera with either text or sound tags. This feature is also available for still images and proves useful when searching for favourite videos/photos at a later date. While the playback sound is fairly soft in-camera, even at full volume, this is not a problem once uploaded to your computer using the provided Kodak EasyShare software.”

Website: Buy-n-Shoot - Kodak V1073 Review

The new Canon SELPHY CP770 and SELPHY CP760 compact photo printers offer a combination of lab-quality photo printing and ease of operation. The Canon CP770 features an integrated storage case, carry handle and optional battery pack. The ultra-compact Canon CP760 offers a large LCD screen and improved user interface. Both the SELPHY CP770 and SELPHY CP760 print to a variety of different-sized media – including standard print sizes, credit-card size papers and miniature stickers – in as little as 52 seconds. Prices are £89 / $99.99 for the CP760, available end of May, and £139 / $149.99 for the CP770, available end of June.