The Samsung S860 and Samsung S760 are new additions to Samsung’s entry-level S series digital cameras. The 7 megapixel S760 and 8 megapixel S860 both offer a 3x optical zoom, 2.4” LCD display, 11 scene modes and digital image stabilisation technology. Samsung’s Intelligent Face Recognition Technology focuses on and exposes for the subject’s face. The Samsung S760 and Samsung S860 will be available in black, silver, pink or blue from January 2008. The S760 will cost £79.99, price to be confirmed for the S860.

Michal Honkys from Thames Valley University is the winner of this year’s Nikon Discovery Awards competition. Michal received a £5000 cash prize, £1800 worth of Nikon equipment and national exposure of his work. Chris Hoare, Nikon’s professional business manager said: “The first Discovery Awards competition has been a great success, we are really pleased with the efforts of each of the students and colleges involved in the competition and have had great feedback from the tutors. The winners were all extremely deserving and will no doubt go on to be industry’s finest.”

The LG Video Media Talent Award wants to find the UK’s up-and-coming new talent in both video production and presenting. Two training internships are up for grabs – one for a video presenter and the other for a video production assistant. Both categories require entrants to illustrate, in visual form, what they think style is. The two winners will receive a six month internship with Shiny Media, including an all expense paid assignment to the 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and an LG Viewty cameraphone. Hurry - the competition closes on 14 December 2007.

The Cintiq 12WX and Cintiq 20WSX are two new desktop pen displays from Wacom, allowing you to edit image directly on-screen. The Wacom Cintiq 12WX combines all the advantages and power of direct pen-on-screen input with a new low-profile, lightweight and flexible design. The Wacom Cintiq 20WSX is the world’s first wide-format desktop pen display, offering a a 20.1” 16:10 aspect ratio LCD display. Available now, the Cintiq 12WX has an estimated street price of $999, and the Cintiq 20WSX will cost $1,999.

The WD Passport portable hard drive is now available in 320GB capacity. At less than five ounces, the lightweight WD Passport drive fits neatly in a pocket or backpack. “The need for travel-friendly storage devices continues to be an area that is growing immensely with the advent of rich media content generated by consumers,” said Jim Welsh, vice president and general manager of WD’s branded products group. “It’s not only music that’s consuming space on desktops. Higher resolution pictures and HD videos eat up storage very quickly so we’re excited to make a portable 320 GB solution available for consumers on the move.” Price for the WD Passport Portable Drive 320GB is $229.99 USD.

The Hama PhotoPlayer 1080i allows you to easily view photos on a Full HD television. It retrieves data using an integrated 35-in-1 card reader or through the USB port and connects to an LCD, plasma device or a projector through the component output. The Hama PhotoPlayer 1080i also boasts slide show function, rotation mode, zoom mode, and background music. Price and availability of the Hama PhotoPlayer 1080i to be confirmed.

Olympus have released a firmware update, v3.1, for the the Olympus SP-560 UZ camera. The changes are:

Functions have been added for use with the optional FL-50R/FL-36R Electronic Flashes.

Website: Olympus SP-560 UZ v3.1 Firmware Update

The long-delayed Microtek ArtixScan M1 flatbed and film scanner is now available in North America. First announced at the end of 2006, the Microtek ArtixScan M1 features 4800 dpi optical resolution, 16-bits per channel, 4.4 maximum optical density, multi-sampling noise reduction, and auto-focus technology.  Microtek also announced today the ArtixScan M1 Pro scanner, a new product with additional features to provide greater productivity when scanning film. “The Microtek engineers pushed the ArtixScan M1 forward to a higher performance level with new improvements to the electronic design, optical design, and mechanical design of the scanner,” said Parker Plaisted, Manager of Product Marketing for Microtek. “And with the added features in the ArtixScan M1 Pro, Microtek addressed the need for higher productivity in film scanning.” The Microtek ArtixScan M1 costs $649.99, and the Pro version $799.99.

PhotoReview have reviewed the Panasonic Lumix FX100, a 12.2 megapixel digital camera with a new 1/1.72-inch large CCD and 28mm wide-angle lens.

“The FX100 is a great little slimline camera for point-and-shoot photographers but serious enthusiasts will find it somewhat limited. Panasonic has extracted excellent performance from the 12-megapixel imager and image processing system. Image quality is as good as we’ve seen from any compact 12-megapixel digicam and noise is very well controlled up to (and including) ISO 400.”

Website: PhotoReview - Panasonic FX100 Review

The new Sigma APO 70-200mm F2.8 II EX DG MACRO HSM lens for full-frame cameras offers improved optical performance with a minimum focusing distance of 100cm. This lens is suitable for taking all type of subjects such as portraits, landscape, and close-up pictures. This lens incorporates HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor), which ensures a quiet and high-speed AF as well as full-time manual focusing capability. The Sigma APO 70-200mm F2.8 II EX DG MACRO HSM will cost £799.99.

The new Sigma APO 50-150mm F2.8 II EX DC HSM is a large aperture telephoto zoom lens designed for digital SLR cameras with APS-C size sensors. It has a maximum aperture of F2.8 and incorporates an inner focusing and inner zooming system. The HSM (Hyper Sonic Motor) system allows quiet and high-speed auto focusing with full time manual focus override. The Sigma APO 50-150mm F2.8 II EX DC HSM will cost £549.99.

DIWA today proudly announces the establishment of DIWA Labs, one of the most sophisticated camera testing facilities in the world. This is a fully equipped testing studio with controlled lighting, advanced test targets, experienced testers and the world’s most sophisticated software for unbiased analysis of image quality, DxO Analyzer v. 3.1. The software provides roughly 1 million measurements for each camera, carefully coordinated and summarised by complex mathematical calculations to deliver useful and comparable data of about 20 image quality issues. The lab serves the international DIWA Awards organisation and its extensive lab results are now available on a new website. As a long-standing member of DIWA, PhotographyBLOG will be taking full advantage of what DIWA Labs has to offer.

Samsung UK is opening its second Customer Service Plaza, covering North London, Hertfordshire and Essex, on 6th December 2007. The Customer Service Plaza will be a fully functioning diagnosis and repair centre. Customers can drop in for support on Samsung products, discuss servicing requirements, or arrange an in-home repair. “When our customers purchase a Samsung product, be it a fridge, mobile phone, notebook or television, we want them to feel sure that they’re investing not only in a beautifully styled product, with superior technology, but also a fully-focused customer service programme there to support them with help and advice should they need it.” commented Samsung Electronics U.K. Managing Director, Mr. M.S. Kim.

Australian website Buy-n-Shoot.com has just relaunched with a completely new design. Buy-n-Shoot.com is Australia’s best value photography news, camera reviews and photography classified service. The new site now offers its 60,000+ visitors per month, sponsors and classified advertisers significant new functionality and exposure. The official launch date is Monday 3rd December 2007.

Professional photographers can now upload their entries to the 2008 World Press Photo Contest online. Photographers can register until 4 January to access the site. The deadline for uploading entries is 10 January 2008. Single pictures as well as photo stories/portfolios are accepted in ten categories. The first prize winners in each category will receive a cash prize of 1,500 Euro, the premier award, the World Press Photo of the Year, carries a cash prize of 10,000 Euro.

The Complete Nikon Rangefinder System is a new book from renowned Nikon expert Robert Rotoloni. Completely rewritten, this new edition will have 1350 black and white illustrations plus 24 pages of full colour by master photographer Tony Hurst. Author Robert Rotoloni commented “It is the author’s hope that the vast amount of information and knowledge of this landmark camera series learned over the previous decades has been faithfully preserved between the covers of my new book for all Nikon collectors, present and future”. The Complete Nikon Rangefinder System costs £55.00 and will be available on 10th December 2007.

Lastolite have announced two new Ezybox Hotshoe portable softbox kits. The kits are available in two sizes featuring the original 38cm x 38cm Ezybox or the latest 60cm x 60cm version. Both kits include a 4 section stand, tilthead bracket, extending handle, padded shoulder bag and circular carry case. Pricing is £165.99 for the Ezybox Hotshoe Kit 38cm x 38cm, and £185.99 for the 60cm x 60cm version.

Noise Buster 5 reduces both luminance and color noise on digital images without spoiling other aspects of the photo. The new version of AKVIS Noise Buster offers an advanced algorithm of noise removal which suppresses visible noise without blurring the edges of objects. The plug-in version of Noise Buster offers a batch mode that improves a series of photos automatically. AKVIS Noise Buster 5 sells for $49 USD.

The ethical photo library Majority World is celebrating the first anniversary of its formal organisation. Majority World was formed to promote professional photographers in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Traditionally, publishers, agencies and others in the west requiring images from the developing, or majority, world regions have dispatched their own photographers rather than use the indigenous talent. This is the trend which Majority World seeks to change. Majority World has recently seen its photo library pass the 10,000 images mark.

The winners of the November 2007 PhotographyBLOG Competition have been selected by a panel of judges. The theme for November was “Alone” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
Alone by hiyall

Prize: Photobird.com one-year subscription with 500Mb of storage space
Kindly donated by Photobird.com.
http://www.photobird.com