Communication Arts Magazine has issued a call for entries for its 55th annual photography competition. Selected by a nationally representative jury of distinguished designers, art directors, photo editors and photographers including Catriona Ni Aolain, Henry Sene Yee, Jimmy Bonner, Laurie Frankel and Tim Hartford; the winning entries will be featured in the Communication Arts Photography Annual, in print and on the iPad, and on commarts.com. The deadline for submissions is 14 March 2014.

Following the launch of its Obscura by Ilford Pinhole Photography Kit, which includes a pinhole camera, starter packs of black and white film and paper, as well as a simple Exposure Calculator and Instruction Book; Ilford has now made the camera available to buy as a single item without the film and paper included. The camera is precision cut and formed from expanded PVC, and is made of two interlocking sections. The photographic medium is loaded into the bottom section in darkroom conditions, and then held in place by sliding in the top section, which locks into place by use of magnets. The top section of the camera also holds the stainless steel chemically etched 0.3mm pinhole in place. Designed for 4x5 inch film or paper, the camera is 87mm focal length giving wide-angle images. The smaller pack still contains the Exposure Calculator, an empty film box to store exposed materials, Instruction Book, and a set of stickers. The new item is available now in the UK, with US availability slated for March.

Preston Vance has launched a Kickstarter project to help fund the commercialisation of Flekt, a new flash modifier that softens the hard light emitted by your camera's pop-up flash. Flekt has three main parts; the magAttach hot-shoe adapter, an ignitor reflector that attaches to the front of the magAttach and redirects the light from the pop-up flash 180 degrees back, and an array of attachments that soften the light and bounce it back toward your subject. The first attachment is called the cFlekt, an accessory designed around a modified concave reflection principle, which attaches magnetically to the magAttach and can utilise white, silver and gold removable reflectors. While we are not entirely convinced that Flekt would indeed turn your humble in-camera flash into a studio-quality light source as claimed by the manufacturer, it could surely come in very handy when using your pop-up flash as an on-axis fill light, for example. If you are intrigued by the concept, check out the project's Kickstarter page for more information.

MeFOTO today announced the SideKick360, a smartphone adapter that provides mobile photographers and filmmakers with camera support allowing them to make sharp photos, videos time-lapse sequences and long exposures. Available in a dozen different colours, the SideKick360 features an aluminium Arca Swiss style quick-release base that works natively with MeFOTO full size tripods as well as any Arca Swiss style quick-release clamp. The adapter's flexible ball joint allows for 360-degree rotation letting users position the smartphone vertically to capture photos and horizontally for video mode or anywhere in between. The new MeFOTO SideKick360 will be available from 1st March for $49.

X-Rite has announced its schedule of free February 2014 webinars. "The February X-Rite webinar schedule features 2 sessions, one of which is hosted by photographer and photo-educator Joe Brady, and the second hosted by X-Rite Coloratti and Award-winning photographer and retoucher Jane Conner-Ziser," said Joshua Fischer, Product Marketing Manager, X-Rite Photo Marketing. "The February webinars focus on creative, award-winning photography, post-production workflow and how-to ensure that photographers obtain consistently great colour prints from their Lab." Click through / read on for the details.

Issue 36 of Landscape Photography Magazine is now available to download. This edition includes a guide to starting a photography business, a review of the book "Art of Sunnmore" by David Hay, a beginner's guide to shutter speed, an introduction to camera systems by David Hay, a test of the Hasselblad H5D by Mark Bauer, and much more. Do note that the full contents of Landscape Photography Magazine are available to subscribers only.

Talenthouse has teamed up with Autographer, billed as the world's first intelligent wearable camera, to offer aspiring photographers a chance to have their work featured in a major new advertising campaign. Developed by the team who designed the motion graphics for Oscar nominated film Gravity, Autographer is a new type of camera which enables spontaneous, hands-free image capture using a custom 136° eye view lens, an ultra-small GPS unit and 5 in-built sensors. To enter, creatives are invited to submit their best photos taken by accident. The photographs must be original work and taken on any device, but must represent that perfect moment of unposed 'autography.'The chosen finalists will all receive an Autographer. The selected artist will see their work featured in the next Autographer advert, plus $1,000 and full exposure on Talenthouse, Autographer and BBH's social channels. Submissions close on 19 February 2014.

Samsung UK has announced the manufacturer's suggested retail price of the Samsung NX30 compact system camera. The traditionally-styled NX30 features a 20.3MP APS-C CMOS sensor, tiltable electronic viewfinder, 3.0-inch Super AMOLED swivel and touch display, 1/8000 sec maximum shutter speed, 9fps continuous shooting, and NFC and Wi-Fi capabilities. In the United Kingdom, the Samsung NX30 kit (including the camera body and a standard zoom) will be available for £899.99.

Sony Japan has announced the SPA-TA1 accessory, which allows its QX series lens-sensor modules to be attached to a variety of tablets. Sold in six different sizes, the Sony SPA-TA1 attachment will be available in Japan for 3675 yen, starting April 2014.

Source: Sony Japan

Iridient Digital has released an update to Iridient Developer for Mac OS X. Version 2.3.3 adds support for raw image files generated by the new Fujifilm: X-T1, Olympus: E-M10, Panasonic DMC-TZ60 (ZS40) and Canon: EOS M2 cameras and Phase One IQ250 medium-format back. This release also includes numerous new default ICC camera profiles and camera curves for most Canon, Nikon, Sony and Fujifilm models from the past few years based on new internal camera calibration tool refinements. Additionally, the update includes a fix for proper pass through of some IPTC/XMP fields used by Photo Mechanic XMP sidecar files.

Designed to be discreet, comfortable and lightweight; Tamrac's new Apache series includes three rugged messenger bags offering superior organisation and equipment protection. The Apache 2 Photo Messenger holds and protects a compact DSLR camera with 18-55mm lens attached, an extra lens, a small flashgun, accessories and personal items. The Apache 4 Photo Messenger holds an SLR with lens attached, 1 or 2 extra lenses, a 10” tablet and accessories. The Apache 6 Photo Messenger protects an SLR camera with lens attached, 2 or 3 extra lenses, flashgun, tablet or laptop and accessories. Prices start at £59.99.

The Hasselblad HV is a 24.3-megapixel SLR camera with a 35mm full-frame sensor, semitransparent mirror and 2,359k-dot electronic viewfinder. Modelled after the Sony A99 digital "SLT" camera, the Hasselblad HV adds a machined aluminium alloy chassis, PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) coating and a few cosmetic changes. The new Hasselblad HV will be available for €8,500 including a Carl Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 Vario-Sonnar T* standard zoom lens (but excluding taxes).

For the first time ever, Sony is releasing Beta versions of four brand-new PlayMemories Camera Apps that are available for free. Snapshot Me ensures better pictures when you hand the camera over to someone else to take your picture, Stop Motion helps budding animators create fun time-lapse movies, ID Photo enables you to produceg valid identity photos for your ID card, driving licence or passport, while Catch Light adds extra sparkle to portraits of friends and family with a bright, white highlight that looks like the reflection of daylight or a flash in your subject’s pupils.

onOne Software has announced a special offer for current owners of Nik Software, Topaz Labs, or any other digital photography plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, or Apple Aperture. “Our mission has always been to provide powerful photography software to everyone who is passionate about their photography, such as the owners of the Nik Software and Topaz Labs plug-ins,” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. “Leveraging our extensive experience as a plug-in developer and adding the customer-requested tools that make Perfect Photo Suite 8 a complete photo editor makes it an ideal solution that can bring together all of a photographer’s stylization and editing needs.” Current owners of the afore-mentioned plug-ins may purchase a licence for Perfect Photo Suite 8 Premium Edition for only $129.95, which is a $50 savings off the regular price.

As part of the Kings Place Words on Monday series, PhotoVoice has announced an illustrated talk by award-winning photographer Nick Danziger. "More than anything else Nick Danziger is a traveller, a storyteller and an explorer of places and situations that most of us would never dare to go near," the organisers say. "He is a contemporary everyman, through whose eyes we can begin to understand the outside world." The event is taking place at Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG, from 7pm on 3rd March. Tickets are available online at the website below.

International Camera Accessories, manufacturers of the hüfa lens cap clip, have named UK-based Intro 2020 as their newest authorised international distribution partner. The line of hüfa products will join Intro 2020’s 24 other brands of premium photo accessories for hobbyists and professionals, including Tamron and Samyang lenses, Hoya and Cokin filters, Velbon and Slik tripods, Tamrac bags, Phottix, Azden, Lensbaby, Lenspen and many others.

Issue 25 of David Noton's Chasing the Light eZine is now available. In this month’s edition, David takes his readers to Prague, relating his four-day adventure in this beautiful city in his Behind the Lens article and Video Blog entry. In Seeing the Light, David continues writing about his latest passion for ‘shooting stars’, while in this month’s Stepping Back feature we are transported to the breath-taking Milford Sound in New Zealand. Lucie Debelkova has contributed this issue’s How It’s Done article, describing how she captured her inspirational shot of the Rock Arch in Wadi Rum. In The Bizz, Freya Dangerfield presents an opinion piece on whether we are really witnessing the death of photography, with contributions from various pros. And for the magazine's Guest Feature, renowned landscape photographer David Taylor explains the role his place of birth – Northumberland, UK – has played in his photography. Do note that the full contents of Chasing the Light online magazine is available to f11 subscribers only. Non-members can purchase individual issues of the magazine at a price of £4.20.

Sony has released a firmware update for the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX10 and Cyber-shot DSC-QX100 lens-sensor modules. Version 2.00 changes the resolution of MP4 video files from 1440x1080 to 1920x1080 pixels and expands the ISO range to ISO 3200/36° on the QX10 and ISO 12800/42° on the QX100. Additionally, the Sony Cyber-shot QX100 gains a "shutter priority auto" shooting mode, enabling users to control shutter speed directly.

Website: Sony QX10/QX100 Firmware Update 2.00 (Mac)
Website: Sony QX10/QX100 Firmware Update 2.00 (Windows)