The Pentax 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 lens offers a 14x zoom ratio covering everything from wide-angle landscapes to close-up sporting events and wildlife photography. Exclusively designed for use with Pentax digital SLR cameras, the 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 lens has a focal length of 27.5mm - 383mm. The Pentax 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 lens will ship in October for US $499.95.

The Pentax V10 is a new compact digital camera with an 8 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom lens and 3 inch LCD monitor. The V10 has an an ultra-slim, high quality aluminum alloy body of just ¾ of an inch (19mm) thick. Auto Picture mode lets the Pentax V10 automatically determine the shooting conditions for Landscape, Portrait, Night Scene, and Normal modes The Pentax V10 will ship in November for $249.95.

The Pentax A40 is a new compact digital camera offering 12 megapixels, 2.5 inch LCD monitor and 3x optical zoom lens. The Pentax A40 features three types of Shake Reduction including mechanical, digital and movie. The A40 also offers new Face Recognition technology including a Natural Skin Tone mode and a Half-length Portrait mode, which automatically takes a head and shoulder photograph of subjects. The Pentax A40 will ship in October 2007 for US $299.95.

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

1st Place
Simply Red by donmac

Prize: ShutterPoint.com one-year subscription with 100Mb of storage space
Kindly donated by ShutterPoint.
http://www.shutterpoint.com

The Kata Digital Photo System is a new range of camera bags aimed at enthusiast and amateur photographers. Each bag is made using carefully selected materials for the ultimate blend of abrasion and weather resistance. The Kata Digital Photo System includes a complete range inclusive of backpacks, shoulder bags and pouches. There are two backpacks - the Kata DR-465 DR-467 - priced £54.95 and £79.95 respectively, along with seven shoulder bags starting from £21.95. Six pouches for digital compact cameras complete the full Digital Photo System range, which is available now from all good photo stores.

The BenQ X735 is a 7 megapixel digital camera with a 3x zoom lens and 2.5 inch LCD display. The BenQ X735’s face tracking function automatically detects and tracks up to nine human faces. 29 different scene modes are on offer, including manual mode, S.S.F (Super Shake Free) mode, portrait mode and night scene mode. Video can be recorded with optical zoom in MPEG 4 format at 640 x 480 at 30 fps. Available in red and black, the BenQ X735 will be available in Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific starting early October.

Exposure 2 from Alien Skin Software is a new film stock simulator and effects package. Exposure 2 lets photographers enhance any digital photo by simulating the rich, organic look of film. Exposure 2 features more than 300 presets, including Velvia, Portra, infrared and Polaroid. Exposure 2’s grain simulation models the size, shape, and color of real world grain. Exposure 2 sells for $249 USD with an upgrade price of $149 USD for registered users of Exposure 1.

The second Young Fashion Photographer of the Year invites budding 16-25 year old fashion photographers from the UK to interpret “Cool Britannia”. A panel of judges will choose the ten best entries whose work will then be displayed at Clothes Show Live 2007. The overall winner will receive £2000 prize money, a one week placement with a top photographer, £1000 worth of Nikon photographic equipment and a VIP lunch at the show for the winner and 3 friends. Clothes Show Live 2007 runs from 7th – 12th December 2007 at the Birmingham NEC.

DxO Optics Pro 5 RAW conversion software delivers exceptional quality especially for lowlight images. Fully rewritten, version 5 also adds dust/blemish removal, improved user interface, increased speed and expanded camera support. DxO Optics Pro v5 for Windows is planned to be available at the end of October 2007, priced from £99. The Macintosh version is planned to be available approximately one month after the Windows version. All purchasers of DxO Optics Pro v4.5 on or after August 1st, 2007 are eligible for a free upgrade to DxO Optics Pro v5.

PopPhoto have reviewed the Pentax K100D Super, an updated version of the K100D entry-level DSLR which first shipped in July 2006.

“While we’ve criticized the K100D in the past for relegating most controls to the menus, we’ve accepted that such cameras aren’t meant for control freaks like us. With the K100D Super set to Program, it’s a simple pleasure to use—a point-and-shoot with great viewing. The basic controls are accessed easily enough using the function button, and the autofocus finds the subject readily, with little fuss.”

Website: PopPhoto - Pentax K100D Super Review

Website: Read our Pentax K100D Super Review

The Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS compact digital camera features a wide-angle 28-105mm zoom lens complete with optical Image Stabilizer to help ensure shake-free photographs. Known as the SD870 IS in the USA, other standout features include a 3.0” PureColor LCD, improved Face Detection Technology and 8 megapixel sensor. Billed as “the photographer’s IXUS” by Canon, the Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS retails for £299 / €449 / $399, but can already be found for a lot less online. Find out why we think this is the best ever IXUS camera by clicking the link below.

Website: Canon Digital IXUS 860 IS Review

Steves Digicams has just reviewed the FujiFilm S5 Pro digital SLR camera.

“The Super CCD SR incorporates both large, high-sensitivity S-pixels and smaller R-pixels for expanded dynamic range. By combining information from both of these sensor elements, the Super CCD SR is able to deliver an expanded dynamic range along with high sensitivity. Now, you may ask yourself based on the description of the CCD (twelve million paired photodiodes - 6.17 million ‘S’ photodiodes with 6.17 million smaller ‘R’ photodiodes) is this really a 12 megapixel camera? Good question. Although the file sizes are larger than 6 megapixel, the greatest achievement in this technology is the expanded dynamic range evident in the images.”

Website: Steves Digicams - FujiFilm S5 Pro Review

Website: Read our FujiFilm S5 Pro Review

DigitalCameraInfo have reviewed the Casio EX-V8, which offers a a 7x optical zoom and 8.1 megapixels plus a YouTube video mode.

“The 7x optical zoom market isn’t too competitive, with the main competition between Casio, Pentax, and Samsung. For the hefty price of $329.99, the Casio V8 is one of the most expensive of the 7x optical zoom bunch. Most of that money goes to the Casio’s advanced functions for video, mechanical, and optical image stabilization, which makes it a strong competitor, but consumers might want to avoid having to fork over their wallets while less expensive 7x zoom cameras sit on the same shelf. “

Website: DigitalCameraInfo - Casio EX-V8 Review

DigiCamReview have just reviewed the 7.2 megapixel Casio EX-Z77 camera, which features a special YouTube mode that saves movies at the optimum size, quality and other settings.

“The camera has quite rich, saturated colours, with good contrast and I was pleased with how the camera captured colour with warm tones and pleasing skin tones. There was fairly good detail (although some areas seemed soft), and the camera took a number of pleasing images outside, but areas with huge variation in brightness do show signs of ‘bleeding’ and purple fringes. In general ‘normal’ quality jpeg artefacts are not easily seen, however areas with strong contrasts benefit from use of the highest quality setting.”

Website: DigiCamReview - Casio EX-Z77 Review

Nikon USA have published sample photos from the unreleased Nikon D3 DSLR camera, taken by pro photographers Dave Black, Michael Corrado and Joe McNally. The D3 photos are all full-size and have been taken at a range of ISO speeds, including ISO 3200 and 6400 to show off the camera’s fantastic low-light capabilities. The Nikon D3 is a full-frame, 12.1 megapixel DSLR camera that offers 9fps continuous shooting and a 51 point autofocus system. It also includes a 3 inch VGA LCD screen with Live View, expandable ISO settings from 200-6400, and new EXPEED image processing system with 4-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion.

Website: Nikon D3 Photos

PrinterInfo have just reviewed the HP Photosmart A626 compact printer, which features the world’s first 4.8-inch color touchscreen LCD, built-in handle, foldup tray and, optional battery.

“Despite the HP Photosmart A626’s quality shortcomings, we really did like the way the touch-screen operates and found the menu design to be very intuitive and easy to learn. The touch-screen buttons also respond fast, and the ability to work with the menu while a photo is being printed is a big plus. The interface with the computer can be fairly easy and can get more complicated if so desired. A printer with a single ink cartridge is usually not much fuss, and this is the case with the A626. The input paper tray is well designed.”

Website: PrinterInfo - HP Photosmart A626 Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the new Canon SD870 IS camera, which offers 8 megapixels and a 3.8x, 28mm wide zoom.

“Our image quality results were very similar to the SD850, which is not surprising as they use the same image sensor. Our outdoor samples were very pleasing, showing good exposure, especially sky detail, and colors look very natural. Image noise is average for a consumer model, just remember it will become more noticeable in your photos as you increase the sensitivity.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Canon SD870 IS Review

Website: Read our Canon SD870 IS Review

TrustedReviews have reviewed the 8 megapixel Pentax Z10 camera, which has a 7x optical zoom, Face Recognition for improved portraits and ISO 3200 mode.

“Of course the crucial factor for any camera, especially one with a radical new lens, is image quality, and here the verdict is, I’m afraid, not good. The lens lacks sharpness and fine detail, as well as producing significan distortion at wide angle, and the tiny 1/2.5-in sensor lacks dynamic range and colour depth. As well as this there are severe image noise problems at all ISO settings from 100 upwards. The Z10 has a maximum ISO setting of 3200 but I have no idea why, since images at this setting are so noisy as to be utterly useless.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Pentax Z10 Review

Website: Read our Pentax Optio Z10 Review

CNET have reviewed the Fujifilm FinePix Z5fd, the first in its range of ‘Z’ series cameras to feature hardware-based Face Detection technology.

“Though its photos can be pretty good, the Z5fd performs inconsistently. On one hand, I see no lens distortion or focus problems, nary a compression artifact and only the occasional case of purple fringing. Photos look relatively sharp and white balance reasonably neutral. If you want that typical vivid snapshot appearance, you’ll have to switch into Chrome (as in slide film) color mode, because the standard mode looks a little flat relative to most point-and-shoot models.”

Website: CNET - Fujifilm FinePix Z5fd Review

CNET have reviewed the Olympus Stylus 790 SW, a new shockproof, waterproof digital camera.

“While the Stylus 790 SW is far from perfect, it’s one of the few cameras on the market, especially in this price range, that can take a beating and actually operate under water or at the top of a ski resort without worry. If you need a camera that can face up to those challenges, then the 790 SW makes sense. If not, you’re probably better off with a regular compact camera that can perform faster and give you better image quality.”

Website: CNET - Olympus Stylus 790 SW Review