This year, Nikon is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Nikkor brand. The brand’s history began in 1933 with the first shipment of Nippon Kogaku’s Aero-Nikkor aerial photographic lenses. Twenty-six years later, the company released its first SLR camera, the Nikon F as well as its first lens for Nikon SLR cameras, the Nikkor-S Auto 5cm f/2. Since then, Nikon has been at the forefront of lens development. The OP Fisheye-Nikkor 10mm f/5.6 fisheye lens for SLR cameras, released in 1968, was the world’s first lens to incorporate aspherical lens elements. The Ultra Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8, released in 1962, served as the template for projection lenses employed in Nikon IC steppers and scanners. Total production of Nikkor lenses for cameras with interchangeable lenses reached 75 million in November 2012.  Nikon’s lineup of lenses for cameras with interchangeable lenses currently consists of more than 80 types of lenses, including fisheye lenses, ultra wide-angle lenses, super-telephoto lenses, zoom lenses, micro lenses, PC-E lenses, and 1 NIKKOR lenses.

In February, 2013, sixty years after its founding, Aperture Foundation will relaunch its flagship publication Aperture. “The award-winning London designers A2/SW/HK have re-envisioned the magazine as a luxurious print object defined by its tactile presence, dynamic typography unique to Aperture, and high-quality reproductions,” the publisher says. “Each quarterly issue will feature at least 50% more pages and will be reformatted to a larger trim size.” The Aperture Spring 2013 issue hits newsstands February 26, 2013.

With support from the European Commission, the Dutch FotoMuseum Provincie Antwerpen (FoMu) has embarked on a new photographic heritage project called Daguerreobase. The project’s goal is to collect copies and descriptions of over 25.000 historical daguerrotypes from all over Eurotype in a single database / knowledge bank. “European-style daguerreotypes are scarce and collections are scattered around in several European institutional and private collections,” the museum explained in a statement. “The renewed Daguerreobase aims not only to aggregate and to centralise the [available] information about these collections, it will also make this information open to researchers and professionals [as well as] the general public.” For more information, visit the website below.

Datacolor today announced its winter 2013 line-up of free colour management webinars. The bi-monthly webinars, hosted by David Tobie, global product technology manager for Datacolor, and David Saffir, Datacolor expert, noted landscape and fine art photographer, and author of “Master Digital Colour,” focus on managing colour using tools in both capture and processing stages. Webinars include step-by-step demonstrations using Datacolor’s line of Spyder colour calibration devices, and in-depth discussion to provide photographers with new methods to produce high quality results with their own images. Click through / read on for the detailed webinar schedule.

McCullin, a documentary portrait of the acclaimed war photographer, will be released on Blu-Ray and DVD on 25th February. Recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife, photojournalist Don McCullin worked for The Sunday Times from 1966 to 1983, covering wars and humanitarian disasters on virtually every continent: from civil war in Cyprus, the war in Vietnam and the man-made famine in Biafra to the plight of the homeless in 1960s London. Packed with in-depth interviews and rich archive footage, the 89-minute documentary will retail for £15.99. You can watch the film’s trailer below.

TenFarms have released Photopoll for iPhone, billed the first mobile app that allows users to group and share multiple photos in a feed for instant polling.. Available now for free on the App Store, Photopoll for iPhone and iPod touch uses patent-pending technology that enables users to select two to five photos from their device, Amazon.com and Instagram, and post in a central feed for friends and others to vote on their favourites. Compared to other apps that allow users to share just one or two photos, Photopoll allows greater expression through multiple photos, accessing public opinion and telling stories around any given topic, the company claims.

Photo Video West has just announced the World Cup of Photography photo contest. The competition, which runs from until 31 March 2013, is open to professional and amateur photographers from any country worldwide. Participants have the option to compete in the Professional or Amateur division for the Grand Prize, a cash award of $1,000, Tamron 18-270 PZD lens and Adobe Master Collections.  Category winners will also be selected for each category including children, portrait, wedding, wildlife, landscape, still life, artistic, silhouette, and underwater.  First place winners for each category win a copy of Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Photoshop. Early Bird (ends 1 March 2013) entry fees are $25 (Professional) or $20 (Amateur) per single photograph. After that date, entry fees will be $35 and $30 per image, respectively.

International stock photography agency Alamy says it will now accept photographs for its Live News service from camera phones and digital compact cameras. Alamy’s head of news, James Hall, said: “When you think that the most popular smartphone cameras are now 8 megapixels it is obvious that good photographers using these devices will be able to capture and record breaking news and events with a quality that is acceptable to both on- and offline news agencies… We want to allow our contributors to upload stunning News, Sport and Entertainment images to us using the camera they have ready at hand – whether it is a DSLR, a compact camera or a smartphone.” News photographers can upload images to Alamy direct from their smartphone via FTP using existing apps. Note that all images uploaded to the news feed will still have to meet Alamy’s News Picture Guidelines.

ArcSoft has released its Whip Social Photo Album app for mobile devices running Android 2.3 and newer. The free app allows users to quickly create and share photo albums, using customised templates. Whip allows users to choose up to 24 photos for each album. Once the photos are selected, the album is automatically generated with just one tap.  After that, users can select one of nine available templates that include background music from “indie” bands, and offer the opportunity to caption and edit each photo. Downloadable from the Google Play Store, Whip allows users to share their albums via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.

PhotoShelter has released a new free guide entitled The 2013 Photo Business Plan Workbook. This PDF e-book offers practical tips, to-do lists, and online resources to help you make smart decisions for your photo business in 2013. You’ll also learn from seasoned photographers like Ben Lowy and Jim Goldstein who offer tips on how to market your photo business with Facebook, attract readers to your blog, improve website traffic through search engine optimisation, get more work from old clients, manage your finances and create a lasting photo brand. You can claim your free e-book by supplying your e-mail address through the website below.

Website: Photoshelter

Transcend has announced that it now offers a comprehensive line-up of memory cards featuring the next-generation Ultra-High Speed Class 1 specification (UHS-I, U1). The company’s ‘Premium’ series microSDHC UHS-I memory cards are mainly aimed at smartphone and tablet users, while Transcend’s ‘Ultimate’ series SDHC/SDXC UHS-I cards are designed for professional photographers, reporters and enthusiasts. When paired with UHS-I enabled devices, these cards offer transfer speeds of up to 90MB/s (600X) and feature storage capacities ranging from 8GB to 64GB. Each Transcend UHS-I memory card includes a free download of Transcend’s own RecoveRx software. For more information, visit the website below.

Madison Square Park Conservancy’s Mad. Sq. Art programme has announced a new installation to inaugurate the spring 2013 season:  Topsy-Turvy: A Camera Obscura Installation by New York-based artists Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder. “On view daily from March 1 – April 5, 2013, 10am-5pm, Topsy-Turvy will reimagine one of the world’s oldest moving image devices into a life-sized 10-foot by 10-foot structure,” the organisers say. “Park visitors will be able to enter the interactive, large-scale installation, which will utilize the physical properties of light to capture images of the surrounding Flatiron District in real time.  This centuries-old artistic medium will alter how visitors experience the park and engage with the various elements of New York City’s urban landscape through a new and exciting lens.”

The winners of the 5th Annual International Loupe Awards have just been unveiled. The 2012 International Loupe Awards Open Image of the Year is by Andreas Smetana of New South Wales, Australia, who has won a cash prize of $15,000 and a place on the upcoming Creative Asia Vietnam & China Photography Tour. The 2012 International Loupe Awards Amateur Image of the Year is by Suellen Cook (see picture above).

Plustek UK has announced the immediate availability of the Plustek OpticFilm 120 scanner, which is capable of scanning both 35mm and 120 format negatives and slides. Boasting a high-quality metal case, the Plustek OpticFilm 120 uses a custom-designed 8-element glass lens and a high-resolution CCD sensor. Capable of achieving a dynamic range of 4.01 - in tandem with SilverFast’s Multi-Exposure technology -, the OpticFilm 120 from Plustek comes with adjustable-pitch film holders that feature unique sliding inter-frame dividers to ensure film flatness. The sliding dividers also enable users to scan various frame sizes from 6x4.5cm to 6x12cm, while the 35mm film holders allow for the scanning of twelve 35mm film frames or five mounted slides in a batch. The scanner’s hardware resolution - based on the specification of its stepper motor and the number of pixels on its CCD - is 10600dpi, with the optical resolution (which also takes into account the resolving power of the optical system) specified at 5300dpi. Other highlights include automated IT8 calibration and a motorised film transport for batch scanning. Bundled with SilverFast Ai Studio 8, the Plustek OpticFilm 120 is available for £1950-£1999.

The Book of GIMP: A Complete Guide to Nearly Everything is a new title from No Starch Press. Written by Olivier Lecarme and Karine Delvare, this 676-page, full-colour guidebook begins with step-by-step tutorials that cover the most useful features of GIMP 2.8, like retouching photographs, creating illustrations, and website design. The second part of the book offers a comprehensive reference to nearly every aspect of the software, so that users can find what they need without hours of trial and error. This two-pronged approach makes the book suitable for readers of any skill level—the tutorials will help new users get started with GIMP, and the extensive reference portion will answer the questions that pop up for even the most seasoned GIMP users. Distributed worldwide by O’Reilly Media, The Book of GIMP: A Complete Guide to Nearly Everything is available for $49.95.

DxO Labs have released DxO Film Pack 3.2.3, which now integrates automatically with Adobe Photoshop Elements 11. The software now also officially supports Windows 8. This update is free for all owners of DxO FilmPack 3.