MindShift Gear has announced that in January 2014 it will release the world’s first rotating day hiker backpack, the rotation180° Panorama. Designed for hikers who carry cameras, binoculars, GPS devices, nature identification books, GoPRos, maps, iPads, and more, the rotation180° Panorama’s beltpack rotates to the front for quick gear access and without first having to take off the backpack or even stop hiking. Available for sale separately will be accessories that enhance the backpack’s functionality. These include the Lens Switch Case that attaches to the beltpack, the Tripod Suspension Kit, the Panorama Photo Insert for extra carrying capacity for photo gear, and the Panorama Raincover specifically tailored to function with the rotation 180 technology. 

Nikon has launched a teaser campaign for a new camera, entitled "Nikon - Pure Photography." The first element of the campaign is a 34-second movie featuring a photographer who says, "It's in my hands again," which - together with the "Pure Photography" tagline - might allude to a retro-styled, fully manual digital camera. There is no close-up of the camera itself but one of the sound effects you can hear is reminiscent of a - rather quiet - shutter going off. You can view the video after the jump.

Sigma USA has announced the pricing and availability of its new 24-105mm f4 DG OS HSM Art lens. Featuring an optical construction that comprises 19 elements in 14 groups, the Sigma 24-105mm f/4 DG OS HSM Art is a full-frame standard zoom with optical image stabilisation and a quiet "hypersonic" focus motor. The lens will be on shelves next month, starting with Canon mounts, for the street price of £849.99 / $899.

Stipple, a platform for image-based advertising, e-commerce, and photo attribution, has just announced two new products, Stipple Mobile and Stipple Search. The Stipple app for iOS (and soon, Android) lets people easily add content and context to their photos, and instantly post them to Facebook and Twitter. Upon touching the photos, followers can explore relevant interactive content directly from the photos themselves. Stipple Search is a reverse image search engine that helps people learn more about images they find online. It also addresses the problem of “orphan works,” which occurs when the rights owner of a creative work cannot be identified or located. For more information on Stipple Mobile and Stipple Search visit the website below.

Viewbug are giving away $3000 of prizes in their latest photo contest. You can win either a Canon 5D MK III or a Nikon D800 by sharing your best photos showing human and animal bonding. Photos must show both humans and animals and entries are limited to three per person.

Viewbug - I Heart Animals

Apple has announced that OS X Mavericks is available for free from the Mac App Store. From a photographer's/videographer's point of view, the most important feature of OS X Mavericks is the enhanced multi-display support, which makes using multiple displays easier, with no configuration required. Mavericks also delivers significant performance enhancements for systems with integrated graphics through optimised OpenCL support and dynamic video memory allocation. According to the company, any Mac capable of running OS X Mountain Lion can also run Mavericks.

EIZO and Magnum Photos have announced a global collaboration to establish a programme in which 14 ambassadors from Magnum will integrate EIZO’s ColorEdge monitors into their colour management workflow and provide EIZO with objective feedback on their experiences. The line-up of ambassadors includes Carl De Keyzer, Elliot Erwitt, Jim Goldberg, Paul Hayward, Alex Majoli, Enrico Mochi, Matt Murphy, Trent Parke, Martin Parr, Paulo Pellegrin, Gilles Peress, Jonathan Roquemore, Alec Soth and Donovan Wylie.

Canon U.S.A. is demonstrating its latest digital camera and printer lineup as well as the recently announced firmware upgrade to the Canon EOS-1D X dSLR camera at PhotoPlus Expo at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. Attendees at Booth #121 can experience first-hand Canon’s Cinema EOS System, the company's latest digital SLR cameras including the EOS 70D with its Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology, the full line of EF lenses, professional and consumer camcorders, PowerShot cameras as well as the Pixma Pro series of professional inkjet printers. In addition, Canon is hosting an in-booth speaker series featuring live appearances by professional photographers and videographers who discuss and demonstrate their personal expertise during presentations and live photo shoots including a unique demonstration by professional photographer John Huba who will be shooting live with the EOS-1D C camera. Click through / read on for more information

Leica has announced a design variation of the Leica D-Lux 6 digital compact camera featuring a high-gloss, two-colour finish. The most striking feature of this newly designed finish is the combination of a silver lens and a high-gloss black camera body. Leica has also introduced a new addition to the range of accessories for the Leica D-Lux 6 - the Leica Soft Pouch in lambskin nappa leather. The suggested retail price for Leica D-Lux 6 is £600 and that of the new soft pouch is is £60. Both products will be available from December.

X-Rite Photo Europe has announced that it will be exhibiting at Salon de la Photo in Paris, scheduled for 7-11 November at the Paris Expo in Versailles. The company will be located on Stand D15 at the show. “We are excited to be exhibiting at Salon de la Photo again this year,” said Hervé Petit, X-Rite Photo Europe. “Attendees will have an opportunity for in-depth hands-on experience with the latest colour measurement and management tools from X-Rite at our stand and in the many educational sessions we will be presenting during the event. X-Rite experts will also be on hand to answer questions, explore new ideas and add value to the show for photographers at all skill levels.”

Photography education and entertainment site PhoozL has announced a special photo contest (‘Beauty’) that will benefit the Josephine Herrick Project. This is a paid-entry ($25), judged contest open to all photographers, amateur to pro, 18+, worldwide. Contest prizes include: a 1:1 personal communication with judge Robert Farber about the winner’s entries or photographic work, a $500 Gift Card from photo retailer Unique Photo, a one-year subscription to Aperture Magazine, a free book selection from the digital photography catalogue of Cengage Learning PTR, custom award icons, inclusion in PhoozL’s Winners Showcase, and bonus PhoozL Points. To see more details and to submit by 19 November 2013, head to the website below.

Unified Color Technologies is demonstrating the beta release of the new Pano Prep Batch Processing feature, which is being added to HDR Expose 3, at this year’s PhotoPlus Expo, held at the Javits Center in New York. In the past, constructing an HDR panorama required each bracketed set of exposures to be merged individually, which could result in varying tone mapping results across the scene. The new Pano Prep Batch Processing feature analyses all the exposure brackets of the individual frames to be stitched and applies uniform tone mapping parameters across each frame to produce smooth tonal transitions for natural HDR panorama results. Also included in this new feature is a 360 degree blend capability which ensures smooth, seamless blending of 360-degree panoramas where the left and right sides of the panoramic image meet.

DxO Labs have released version 2.1 of DxO ViewPoint, a program dedicated to fixing problems with keystoning and volume anamorphosis. This update automatically corrects lens distortion when used as a plugin for Apple Aperture, and now extends its compatibility to include Adobe Photoshop Elements 12. The software also now supports the Canon EOS 70D and the Sony DSC-RX1R. This upgrade is free to all owners of DxO ViewPoint who purchased a license on or after 1 August 2013.

DxO Labs have launched DxO Optics Pro 9, a major update to its image-processing software. DxO Optics Pro 9 introduces PRIME (Probabilistic Raw IMage Enhancement) denoising technology, which analyses the structure of raw images in depth in order to differentiate between noise and fine details, offering a claimed gain in image quality of up to one full stop over the best noise reduction algorithms currently on the market. In addition, the exclusive DxO Smart Lighting feature - which optimises the overall contrast of an image - now offers even more powerful highlight management: details that once were thought lost are revealed, even when the information is missing in the original raw data, the company says. The Standard and Elite editions of DxO Optics Pro 9 for Mac and Windows are now available in the DxO Labs online store.

Olympus Image Space @ Icetank is the second in a series of pop-up events organised by Olympus UK. Open from 2 – 9 November 2013 at 5-7 Grape Street, London, WC2H 8DW; Olympus Image Space @ Icetank will include workshops with Olympus professional photographers, and a series of talks, debates and interviews to stimulate discussion around the new landscape of photography. Throughout the duration of the event members of the Olympus team will be on hand to talk participants through the company's latest products, and allow them to try them out. Tickets for all the workshops, events and talks are free, but to attend visitors must register at the website below.

Mitsubishi Electric Visual Solutions America has announced its new, economical dye sublimation photo printer, the CP-K60DW-S. The Mitsubishi Electric CP-K60DW-S features a ribbon rewind function that is unparalleled in the industry, maximizing the number of prints per roll when switching between print sizes and/or print counts. This unique rewind function allows the CP-K60DW-S to print on an unused portion of the media, which helps users save money. “Unlike other printers in its price category, this new CP-K60DW-S rewind feature lets photographers use every inch of the ink ribbon media and still produce the best quality print for its price,” said Ed Najera, product manager, Mitsubishi Electric Visual Solutions America. “It can add up to real savings.” The CP-K60DW-S will be available in November 2013 and will be shown for the first time in Booth #1211 at PhotoPlus, the largest photography and imaging show in North America, October 24-26, 2013, Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Leica has launched a creative challenge for 120 participants in 4 cities. The Leica X Vario City Challenge is a coast to coast Leica Camera photo competition with a twist: Leica fans in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles and Miami can compete for the chance to win a Leica X Vario (pictured) among many other valuable prizes. Interested readers living in one of these cities are encouraged to sign up, select their favourite image, and submit it to #XVarioChallenge. Click through / read on for the details.

Apple has unveiled its newest - cylindrical-shaped - Mac Pro, which features the latest Intel Xeon processors with up to 12 cores, dual workstation-class GPUs with up to 12GB of video memory, four USB 3.0 and six Thunderbolt 2.0 ports, and the ability to connect up to three 4K Ultra HD displays. The new Mac Pro is thus geared toward professional photographers and videographers, and optimised for the company's high-end imaging apps including Final Cut Pro X and Aperture. Configurations start at $2,999, with availability slated for December.