Adobe has posted version 7.4 of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and version 4.4 of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom as Release Candidates. These updates add support for the Canon EOS 1D C
Casio Exilim EX-ZR700, Fujifilm X100s, Fujifilm X20 (pictured), Hasselblad Lunar, Leica M, Nikon 1 V3, Nikon 1 S1 and Pentax MX-1 cameras; and includes a correction to the demosaic algorithms for Fujifilm cameras with the X-Trans sensor.  This specifically impacts the Fujifilm X-Pro1, Fujifilm X-E1, Fujifilm X100S and Fujifilm X20 models.

The winners of BergHind Joseph’s International Photographic Competition have just been announced. The overall winner is Erkan Kalenderli of Turkey. His winning entry called ‘The former type of leader’ (above) pictures a shepherd with his flock. Anna Marriage from the UK came in second with her photo, ‘Leading by example, the ballerina,’’ and in third place was Doron Talmi with the image ‘Female Leadership’. The winning images were selected by a prestigious judging panel including Margaret Clarke, picture editor of The Times, Professor Paddy Professor Paddy Miller, one of the world’s leading authorities on leadership, BergHind Joseph’s Director of Design Excellence, Smith Joseph and Director of Creative Delivery, Michael Hirschl. As well as a cash prize of £500, Erkan will be offered a year of portfolio mentoring sessions with BergHind Joseph’s creative team. Last year’s winner, Zoltán Balogh from Hungary, took up the mentoring sessions last year and as a result is building his reputation,  portfolio, and establishing himself as a professional photographer.

Intro 2020 has launched a new Tamron UK Facebook page. Offering plenty of news and editorial content as well as regular competitions, reviews of Tamron products, galleries of inspirational images and exclusive offers for fans; the page went live on Monday, 25th February 2013. To celebrate the launch month there will be a different themed photo-competition each week for the next four weeks – with a total of four Tamron 18-270mm PZD lenses up for grabs.

Akvis has released version 3.0 of Akvis Refocus, a program that improves the sharpness of out-of-focus images. This update offers brand new image processing modes and allows users to actually add lens blur and bokeh effects to their photos. The program now runs in three modes, refocus, miniature and iris blur.  The refocus mode is the same as before, making blurred photos sharp and clear (within limits, of course). The miniature mode - which Akvis calls “Tilt-Shift” even though it cannot emulate everything you can achieve with a real tilt-shift lens - leaves a sharp strip in the image while adding gradual blur at the edges, giving objects in the photo a miniature/toy look. Finally, the Iris Blur mode creates a shallow depth-of-field effect, blurring the background while keeping the subject in focus. Registered users of Refocus can upgrade to version 3.0 free of charge.

Everyday Objects / Cultural Treasures by Vadim Gushchin is a new title from Schilt Publishing. ‘An ode to the Russian Suprematist tradition, Gushchin’s photography reveals the fundamental duality of culture: the abstract nature of objects in it and the specificity of colour,’ the publisher says. “Gushchin offers us an image of the object that moves away from the banal mythology of the commodity. His photographs show us that fine line beyond which the ideal object mutates into a household item.” The 96-page volume is available for £45/$60/€50.

The next Magnum Professional Practice seminar will be held from 13th – 14th April in Newport, Wales. In this two day event, hosted in partnership with the University of Wales, leading figures of the photographic industry will deliver presentations and advice on the best means in engaging with and the realities of working in their sectors. Confirmed speakers include Sophie Batterbury, Emily Graham, Harry Hardie, Joni Karanka, Peter Marlow, Stewart Mungeam, Fiona Rogers and Hannah Watson. The tuition fee is £150 (+VAT) including lunch and refreshments but excluding transport and accommodation. 10 bursary places are available for photographers aged 16-25 years for the subsided rate of £50 (+VAT).

Visual artist Tina Remiz (pictured) today launched a mission to help some of the world’s poorest people. She will photograph, film and record the voices of Zambians – many of whom lost their jobs through austerity measures – who now struggle to survive on little more than £1 a day as market vendors and street traders. War on Want - the charity that supports these Zambians - will use her material in campaigns which press British and foreign ministers for policies which put the poor before multinational companies’ profits. Tina, 24, who lives in London’s Bromley-by-Bow, said: “I am not only excited about this commission, but feel lucky for a chance to do a story on a subject which is both important and under-represented in the media.”

Ikelite has revealed a TTL-enabled underwater housing for the Nikon D5200 digital SLR camera. Depth rated to 60m, the housing features controls for all critical camera functions and offers a clear view of the camera and o-ring seals to facilitate easy assembly and operation. Lens ports can be removed and replaced quickly with a simple positive locking system which provides visible assurance when the housing is assembled properly. Ikelite proprietary circuitry allows direct communication between the camera and current Ikelite DS Substrobes for accurate through-the-lens metering control of a n off-camera flash. The Ikelite housing for the Nikon D5200 is currently in production for early-March release through Cameras Underwater. The recommended retail price is £1279.99.

Nero has released a new, free iPhone and iPad app for its NeroKwik mobile photo sharing service. Allowing a fully integrated photo sharing across mobile devices and social networks, NeroKwik maintains a cloud-based catalogue of “thumbnail” images of the user’s photos. The original, full-size images stay where they were originally stored. This makes it possible for every photo – even ones that were just taken – to be instantly and automatically available on any device through NeroKwik. The app is also available for Android, MacOS, Windows, Windows Phone and Amazon devices.

From 5th March - 13th April, Margaret Street Gallery will be hosting a photographic exhibition by Jim Naughten, entitled “Costume and Conflict.” The exhibition features Jim Naughten’s extraordinary colour portraits of the Herero tribe in Namibia. Photographed in the blazing Namibian desert, the Herero tribe members are adorned in 19th century European dresses and paramilitary costumes that hark back to the region’s German colonisation. Naughten’s book of this work, Costume and Conflict: The Herero Tribe of Namibia,was published a week ago by Merrell Publishers. Margaret Street Gallery is located at 63 Margaret Street, London, W1W 8SW

Photographers visiting Focus on Imaging at the Birmingham NEC (3rd - 6th March) will be able to test drive the new Hasselblad H5D medium-format camera as it makes its first major UK appearance. On the same stand (N9), broncolor will be showcasing its brand new ‘lightweight athlete’ lithium Move battery power pack. Mark Witney, Hasselblad UK Marketing and Communications Supervisor said: “We’ve got a brand new stand design this year and our joint presence with broncolor means visitors can gain easy access to the best cameras in the world for ultimate image quality, colour and detail - and at the same time browse products from the leading brand worldwide for precision and high quality lighting systems.

Phase One has released Capture One Express 7. Offering the essential tools to import, convert, organise, adjust, share and print superior-quality photographs in a fast, intuitive workflow; Capture One Express 7 includes many of the advanced features found in Capture One Pro 7, like noise reduction when shooting in low light, the ability to recover details in shadows and highlights, plus fast black-and-white conversions. Improved OpenCL support means faster image processing. New and improved adjustment tools - e.g. Clarity, HDR - offer greater control for more creative possibilities. Phase One Capture One Express 7 for Windows and Mac is available now for $99 or €69 through the Phase One online store.

In some markets, Nikon is touting the recently announced Nikon D7100 as its new flagship DX camera. Therefore - having compared the D7100’s specifications to those of its most obvious forebear the D7000 - we were curious to find out how it stacked up against Nikon’s last truly pro-oriented DX model, the venerable Nikon D300S (read review). The two cameras share a number of components - such as a 0.94x pentaprism viewfinder with 100% frame coverage, a shutter unit capable of a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000s and rated for 150,000 actuations, a weather sealed construction and an auto focus module with 51 focus points - and a legion of features; but there are some rather significant differences too. The Nikon D7100 comes with a 24-megapixel sensor that does away with the low-pass filter, a new LCD screen, a newly developed OLED display inside the viewfinder, an updated AF system whose centre point can be used with lens-teleconverter combinations as slow as f/8, a so-called “1.3x crop mode,” a 2016-pixel RGB metering sensor, and Full HD video with a number of frame rate options. At the same time the D7100 makes do with a much smaller raw buffer, slower continuous shooting speed and less robustly built body, and lacks the dedicated AF-ON button and PC sync terminal of the D300S. In addition, it uses a different battery and charger and is incompatible with the D300S’s optional MB-10 portrait grip. Upgrading from a Nikon D300S to a D7100 thus involves a number of compromises in addition to the obvious benefits.

Lowepro has secured an exclusive partnership with Colin Prior – Scotland’s most sought after landscape photographer - to offer three lucky winners a place on a private photography workshop in Glencoe. One of these places will be up for grabs at Focus on Imaging this year – and all you need to do to be in with a chance of winningis visit the Lowepro stand (B10) and have your show badge scanned at the information point. The long weekend workshop will be held from 21-23 February 2014.

Nikon has issued a product advisory in which the company acknowledges that a number of Nikon D600 cameras may have been shipped to customers with dirt on their low-pass filters. Reminding users that “the structure and concept of digital SLR cameras makes the complete elimination of… dust spots very difficult,” Nikon suggests that they clean the camera’s sensor - or, more precisely, the surface of the low-pass filter - using a blower. If this does not help, they should “consult [their] nearest Nikon service centre.” The product advisory does not say explicitly that the affected cameras will be cleaned free of charge, only that they will be “thoroughly” examined and serviced “as needed.”

Review: Read our in-depth review of the Nikon D600 digital SLR camera

The Societies have announced they will be holding their first-ever Jersey Photography Convention from 31 October-1 November 2013, in St Helier. The programme includes a range of seminars from lighting to photographic business techniques to give attendees a broad range of topics covered, and a trade show that will feature leading photographic companies where attendees can get information on the latest equipment and services. For more information, visit the website below.

The 2013 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition closes for entries on 25th February. Amateur and professional photographers alike can submit images into18 categories, with three categories specifically for those aged 17 and under. To be in with a chance of seizing one of the coveted titles and a share in the £30,000 prize pot, photographers should submit imagery that shows creativity, artistry and technical excellence. Photographers looking for inspiration can check out this year’s stunning collection of imagery at the exhibition which is closing at the Natural History Museum in London on 3rd March, whilst continuing its global and UK tour. To enter the 2013 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition or for tickets to the 2012 exhibition, visit the website below.