The Rollei Powerflex 800 is a compact travelzoom camera with 12.5x optical zoom and a fourteen-megapixel Sony sensor. Other highlights include 22 different shooting modes and a 720p HD video mode. The Rollei Powerflex 800 will go on sale in early April in black, silver and red, for a RRP of €199.95.

The World Photography Organisation (WPO) has announced the Open and Youth category winners in the 2012 Sony World Photography Awards. Category winners in the Open Competition include Filippo Di Rosa (Architecture), Sanket K (Arts & Culture), Victor Vargas Villafuerte (Enhanced), Natalia Belentsova (Low Light), Giovanni Frescura (Nature & Wildlife, for the photograph shown above), Denise Worden (Panoramic), Ana Gregori? (People), Piotr Stasiuk (Smile), Tobias Bräuning (Split Second) and Krzysztof Browko (Travel). Category winners in the Youth Competition include Kolyaskin Sergey (Culture), Bernard Pieterse (South Africa) and Karian Sembe (Portraits). The overall Open and Youth competition winners will be announced at the annual Sony World Photography Awards ceremony and gala dinner on 26th April at the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane.

Western Digital (WD) today announced the next generation of its My Passport line of portable hard drives, offering consumers a fresh new enclosure design and the first-ever 2TB capacity in a portable drive. Now available in five colours including white, black, silver, blue, and red, with a range of capacities beginning from 500GB; the new WD My Passport drives feature scratch- and fingerprint-resistant finishes on their outer shells, USB 3.0 connectivity and password protection with hardware encryption. Shipping with WD SmartWare automatic backup software, the new-generation Western Digital My Passport Hard Drives are priced from $129.99-$249.99, depending on capacity.

Corel today launched CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6. With a focus on opening up new creative possibilities for the design community, this update is claimed to deliver improved workflow and performance for both aspiring and experienced designers. Including Corel PHOTO-PAINT X6, CorelDRAW X6 and four other programs, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X6 is available immediately as an electronic download (ESD) from the website below. Box versions will be available from Corel’s authorised resellers later in March. Suggested retail pricing is £399 for the full version and £179 for the upgrade.

X-Rite has announced its schedule of March 2012 webinars. The first online seminar, starting Wednesday, 28th March, 11:00 AM EDT and 1:00 PM EDT and hosted by Joe Brady, is entitled “Image Edits and Enhancements in Lightroom 4.” In this webinar, Joe will explore both basic and advanced image editing techniques and focus on the new editing capabilities offered in Lightroom 4. The other webinar, entitled “Creating the Mood with Texture, Color, and Sharpness,” will feature educator, photographer and author Katrin Eismann, who will share a number of colour management, editing, and enhancement techniques that photographers can use in their digital workflow. The second webinar will take place from midday (EDT), 29th March. Click through for the webinar registration links.

Phase One has launched a new website and announced a price cut on its Capture One 6 software. The program comes in three versions. Capture One Pro supports virtually every professional DSLR and most popular camera models and includes powerful tools to enhance the capture and editing processes. Capture One Express features the same processing engine as Capture One Pro, but is without some of the more advanced tools. Capture One DB ships with all Phase One medium format camera systems. Capture One Pro is available for $299 and €229; Capture One Express is now priced at $99 and €69. In addition, the trial period of the software from 30 to 60 days.

Nikon Europe has made the English version of the Nikon D4 User’s Manual available for download. The 22.5-megabyte PDF file can be downloaded from the website below.

Website: Nikon Europe

The instruction manual for the Nikon D800 and D800E cameras is now available to download. Nikon USA have made the user guide for the D800 available as a 24-megabyte PDF file, giving you the chance to read all about this exciting new DSLR before it launches on Thursday. (The Nikon D800E is the same camera as the D800 except that it incorporates an optical filter with the anti-aliasing properties removed in order to produce the sharpest images possible.)

Download the Nikon D800 / D800E User’s Manual

DSLR Triggers have announced the upcoming launch of their Stedi-Shot DSLR Trigger, a new thumb-controlled trigger for video-enabled digital SLR cameras. Their ongoing Kickstarter campaign is aimed to help raise funds and get the trigger out into the market. The money raised during the 45-day campaign will be used to purchase machine time as well as the raw materials in quantity in order to mass produce the triggers. The Stedi-Shot DSLR trigger system consists of a bracket the camera sits on that holds a cable release perfectly aligned with the start/stop button on the back of the camera. By using the cable release to activate the start/stop button on the camera there is no shaky footage caused by pushing the button. Currently there are five different camera models that are supported by the Stedi-Shot: the Canon 5d MKII, the Canon 7D, the Canon T2i, the Canon 60D and also the Nikon D7000.

Sony Europe has leaked a picture of a new zoom lens. The Sony 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 SAM lens has been designed for digital SLR and SLT cameras with APS-C sized sensors, and features a metal-looking Sony Alpha bayonet mount, a Smooth Auto-focus Motor and a zoom lock switch. The other specifications, recommended retail price and release date have yet to be communicated.

Via Digicame-Info via PR

From 19 May 2012 The Photographers’ Gallery will present Burtynsky: Oil, a major solo exhibition of works by renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky. Showcasing over thirty images the exhibition will be divided into three sections: Extraction and Refinement describes the process of distillation via aerial views of oil fields, drills and rigs spread across miles of land, networks of pipelines travelling through the countryside and factories constructed as mazes of metal tubes. Transportation and Motor Culture, as made possible through petrol, is depicted in complex images of highway interchanges and connections, panoramas of endless rows of vehicles lined-up in vast parking lots and of car enthusiasts gathered in masses to take part in related events and sporting competitions. The End of Oil displays the consequences of its use as considered by the artist. The Photographers’ Gallery is located at 16 – 18 Ramillies Street, London W1F 7LW.

German software developer Jürgen Habenstein has devised two new operating systems for digital cameras. Both AppCam OS-I and AppCam OS-II are aimed at making cameras more intuitive and easy to use, without the need to delve into complicated and long-winded menu systems. How viable the idea will prove in the marketplace remains to be seen. The implementation of AppCam OS-I would require manufacturers to adopt a new control layout comprising a large Home button, a capacitive touch-screen with gesture support and no less than six rear-mounted control wheels. This would allow advanced compact camera owners to get to their most often used settings quickly, and customise their cameras to their tastes. AppCam OS-II, on the other hand, has been developed for dSLRs, and is ready to be integrated into existing hardware configurations relying on established control layouts. Click through / scroll down for a video demonstrating the AppCam OS-I concept.

Zeiss has announced a brand new ultra-wideangle lens for Canon and Nikon SLR cameras. The Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/15 boasts an optical formula comprising 15 lens elements in 12 groups, a 0.25m close-focus point, an integrated hood and a huge 95mm filter thread. The company claims the lens features “extraordinary chromatic aberration correction” and nearly complete insensitivity to reflections and stray light. Zeiss also emphasises the “extremely well controlled” distortion that enables the lens to capture “naturally proportioned photographs which are not typical of many other super wide angle lenses”. When attached to a camera with an FX sized sensor, the Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 2,8/15 offers a diagonal angle of view of 110°. The lens will begin shipping in May 2012 at a recommended retail price of €2,148 or US$2,948 (excluding VAT).

The instruction manual for the Canon EOS 5D Mark III is now available to download. Canon USA have made the user guide for the 5D Mark III available as a 28Mb PDF file, giving you the chance to read all about this exciting new DSLR before it launches at the end of March.

Download the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Instruction Manual

Leica are now supplying Lightroom 4 with the Leica S2/S2-P, Leica M9/M9-P, Leica X1 and Leica D-Lux 5 cameras. Leica cameras are fully integrated into the Lightroom 4 workflow, for example with colour and lens profiles. In addition, the speed and stability of tethered shooting with the Leica S2 medium-format digital camera has been further improved.

The Sun-Sniper Strap-Surfer suspends your camera from the strap of a regular shoulder bag. The camera can then be carried right on the bag - the photographer no longer has to decide whether to take the bag or the camera strap. The Strap-Surfer has a magnetic fastener that secures the device to the bag’s shoulder strap, so the camera is easy to reach and protected from theft. The Sun-Sniper strap surfer is available from March 15 for 59.00 EUR.

The winners of the ‘The Shot’ short film competition have been unveiled. David Schofield was the outright winner, wining £5,000 worth of Nikon photographic equipment and an all expenses trip to spend the day with Film Director Paul WS Anderson on the set of his latest movie. Budding filmmakers in the UK were asked to produce a 10 minute film entitled ‘The Shot’ using a Digital SLR camera.

Western Digital is now shipping its first external hard drive with Thunderbolt technology. The new My Book Thunderbolt Duo is suitable for multitasking activities such as editing video/music, 3D rendering, and completing other high definition graphics-intensive projects. The My Book Thunderbolt Duo is available now in the US for $599.99 (4 TB) and $699.99 (6 TB).

Trip Photos allows iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users for easily organizing, tagging and searching your photos. Trip Photos 1.1 is available for download in the iTunes App Store for $0.99 USD.