The Fujifilm FinePix Z950 EXR is a 16-megapixel digital compact camera with a 3.5” touch-sensitive rear screen and 5x optical zoom. Equipped with an EXR CMOS sensor, a 28-140mm equivalent, folded zoom lens, Super Resolution and enhanced EXR Auto technologies, the Fuji FinePix Z950EXR sports a slim line design measuring just 15.2mm at its thinnest point. The camera also features the new Advanced Anti Blur mode, which corrects blurring by sequentially shooting 4 images at high sensitivity and overlapping them with advanced image processing technology. Full HD movie recording, a 360° Motion Panorama mode, dog and cat detection and a 12fps burst mode round off the features list. Available from October, the Fujifilm Finepix Z950EXR carries a recommended retail price of €249.

The seventh edition of the online Landscape Photography Magazine is now available. Promoting landscape imagery by photographers worldwide, the magazine is also showcasing some spectacular locations from around the globe, complete with map links. In this issue, you will find an article on Drag Landscapes by David Hay, a description of the Olympic National Park by Navin Sarma, an introduction to raw shooting by Mike Bell, and more.

Website: Landscape Photography Magazine

Panasonic has announced the development of a LUMIX twin-lens 3D digital camera. Due to be released in winter this year, the Panasonic 3D camera features two newly developed 4x zoom lenses with thin, folded optics.

Panasonic has announced the development of a compact, dual-lens camcorder that records both 2D and 3D video footage. Outfitted with Panasonic’s Double 3MOS System, the new HDC-Z10000 camcorder is billed as the world’s first integrated twin-lens 2D/3D camcorder that is officially compatible with the AVCHD 3D/Progressive standard. The Double 3MOS System features two 3MOS sensors (with an effective pixel count of 6.57 megapixels) and two large-diameter f/1.5 lenses treated with Nano Surface Coating. Additionally, the Panasonic HDC-Z10000 offers both manual controls for professionals and an intelligent auto mode for beginners. On the audio front, the HDC-Z10000 has built-in microphones for recording Dolby Digital 5.1-channel surround sound / 2-channel stereo, and also features two XLR audio inputs with a 48-V phantom power supply for external microphone use. The new Panasonic 3D camcorder is planned to be released in winter this year, and will be on display at IFA 2011.

Warsaw, Poland-based photographer Dariusz Majgier has announced that his non-commercial project, Street Portraits of Strangers, has reached an important milestone. Mr Majgier has now taken over 500 consensual portraits of passers-by in the streets of Warsaw, all of which can be seen online at the website below. A smaller selection of his images are currently on display in two Warsaw galleries.

Akvis HDRFactory v2.0 is a program thatcreates HDR images from a series of photographs taken at different exposures or from a single photograph. The latest version introduces the new Effects tab allowing you to refine the look of your photos even further. Additionally, version 2.0 offers 34 ready-to-use presets. These presets include a wide choice of effects, ranging from realistic to exuberant brightness and colour.The presets are available in all three tabs (HDRI, Adjustment, and Effects) and contain all settings of these tabs. They can be applied with default settings, but they can also be fine-tuned to suit individual tastes. Finally, the new Preset Preview window lets you observe the result in real time. Registered users can upgrade to version 2.0 for free.

In commemoration of the ten-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks, The Morrison Hotel Gallery will present a special exhibition of large-scale, never-before-seen photographs from prolific photographer and former NYPD detective John Botte. Opening on 4th September at the Calumet Gallery on 22 West 22nd Street in Manhattan, the exhibition features intimate and powerful portraits captured in the days following the attacks. On show until the 24th, The 9|11 Photographs exhibition is curated by renowned photographer Timothy White and sponsored by Canson, Calumet and Loupe Digital.

The Master Photographers Association (MPA) has announced that tickets for its forthcoming Master Photography Awards 2011 are now on sale. The Awards ceremony is to be held at the Gateshead Hilton in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne on Sunday, 9th October. Tickets for the event cost £65 and include dinner, wine, entertainment and the “chance to experience first hand the cream of the world’s best photography”, the Association says. You can book your place online at the website below.

To commemorate its sixtieth anniversary, Tamron has announced the project “Eternity at a Moment - The Vision of 60 Photographers.” In this project, 60 photographers used Tamron’s 18-270mm Di II VC PZD lens to capture how they perceive “Eternity at a Moment.” Their creations will be displayed on Tamron’s special website and at a photographic exhibition. The official website launched today and is currently featuring the works of sixteen photographers. Further works will be posted to the site on 12th and 20th September. The offline exhibition will open its gates on 5th October in Tokyo, Japan.

Panasonic has announced a new firmware update programme for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 / G3 / GF3 / GF2, giving these cameras enhanced functionality when used in combination with the two new power zoom lenses. While the new lenses can be used on any Micro Four Thirds camera - including the above models with current firmware -, these new updates add some extra functions that will only be available on these four cameras (and, presumably, future Panasonic models). The extra functions include the electronic display of the focal length while zooming, an optional step-zoom feature, the ability for the camera to remember and restore the last-used zoom position after being powered off and on again, and the ability to manually select the desired zoom speed. The new firmware updates will be available worldwide from the beginning of October.

Ricoh has announced the imminent release of the 4th function-enhancing firmware upgrade for its GXR system. Available tomorrow, 31 August 2011, this major update has been “developed in response to opinions and requests received from a large number of customers via surveys submitted at customer registration time and other channels”, the company says. The 4th function-enhancing firmware update brings greater focusing precision, new aspect ratio choices for the “auto resize zoom” function, custom white balance setting for flash photography, new intermediate ISO speeds, enhanced customisability for the ISO AUTO-HI setting, the ability to display the electronic level gauge when shooting with the self-timer and new vignetting options for the cross-process and the toy camera filters. The GR LENS A12 28mm and GR LENS A12 50mm camera units additionally benefit from two new shutter speed options (bulb and time) in manual exposure mode.

Corel has released VideoStudo Pro X4 Ultimate, offeromg HD-DSLR shooters and video editing enthusiasts an expanded set of high-end tools and quality plug-ins. Available for £79.99 (or £59.99 if you are a registered user of VideoStudio X2 or higher), the package contains Corel’s VideoStudio Pro X4 movie editor plus proDAD Mercalli SE, an application offering post-capture video stabilisation and rolling shutter correction, and Boris Graffiti 5.3, a solution that allows users to create quality titles and graphics directly within VideoStudio. As an added bonus, users also get to download WinZip Pro free of charge. A fully functional trial version of VideoStudio Pro X4 is available from the website below.

The British Isles edition of National Geographic Kids magazine has launched the National Geographic Kids International Photography Competition 2011. With four categories to enter – People, Scenery, Animals and Humour – children aged 14 and under are invited to submit their photographs for judging by a panel which includes National Geographic explorers-in-residence, Dereck and Beverly Joubert, and children’s TV presenter, Andy Akinwolere. The overall British Isles winner will scoop an 11-day family adventure holiday to India, where they’ll visit the Taj Mahal, camp out in the desert, explore Delhi by rickshaw and go on a tiger safari, courtesy of adventure travel experts Explore. They will also win a Nikon D3100 digital SLR camera, while the other category winners will each receive a Nikon Coolpix S3100. The competition closing date is 31 October 2011.

A start-up called ICVT says it has developed new compression algorithms that promise much smaller JPEG file sizes without any visible loss of quality. As reported by Megapixel magazine, the new JPEGmini is compatible with existing JPEG specifications but allows you to preserve most of your pictures’ original image quality while achieving a considerably higher compression ratio,.resulting in approximately 80% smaller file sizes. (Of course you could achieve a similar compression ratio with existing technologies too, but IQ would suffer.) You can try the JPEGmini technology yourself, using your own photos, at the website below.

Website: JPEGmini

DayMen Group has announced the acquisition of Joby, a San Francisco-based manufacturer of photo, mobile and lighting accessories, including the award-winning GorillaPod (pictured). Since it was founded over six years ago, Joby has grown from a start-up to a company with distribution in over 65 countries. DayMen has been distributing Joby in Canada since 2007 and Australia since 2008. “DayMen will bring its extensive distribution network and our history of building great brands to the Joby line of products,” said Gil Roberts, DayMen CEO. “Together, we can accelerate the growth of our business and build the global presence of our Lowepro, Acme Made and Joby brands, as well as the many outstanding third-party brands we distribute around the world.”

X-Rite has announced a $150 cash back promotion for X-Rite customers who want to upgrade their i1Match, ProfileMaker or MonacoPROFILER software to i1Publish. Fully supporting the new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system, the latest version of i1Publish is an ICC profiling solution that includes i1Profiler software, ColorChecker Camera Calibration software, PANTONE Color Manager software and two ColorChecker targets – ColorChecker Classic and ColorChecker Proof. For more information about the i1Publish upgrade and rebate, visit the website below.

Adobe has posted Release Candidates (RCs) for Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) 6.5 and Photoshop Lightroom 3.5, adding support for a dozen new digital cameras and backs as well as 26 new lens profiles. Newly supported cameras and backs include the Fujifilm FinePix F600EXR, Olympus E-P3, Olympus E-PL3, Olympus E-PM1, Panasonic DMC-G3 (pictured), Panasonic DMC-GF3, Phase One IQ140, Phase One IQ160, Phase One P40+, Phase One P65+, Sony NEX-C3 and Sony Alpha SLT-A35. A “Rrelease Candidate” label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all Adobe customers.

Website: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.5 Release Candidate
Website: Adobe Camera Raw 6.5 Release Candidate

Delkin has announced the launch of a new range of ruggedised CompactFlash (CF) memory cards, which are claimed to offer the fastest read and write speeds in the world. Available in capacities ranging from 8GB up to 64GB, the Delkin Compact Flash 685x memory cards are capable of transferring photos, movies and other files at speeds up to 103 megabytes per second. “Unlike a traditional CF memory card, the CombatFlash PCB is protected with a Tekta infusion process that enables the card to achieve phenomenal reliability and performance in environments where a normal CF card would typically fail,” explains Delkin’s Marketing Manager, Anna Lopez.  “The card is protected from underwater submersion, solid impact, corrosion, rust and more.” Pricing for the new Delkin CF cards ranges from $149.99 to $899.99, depending on capacity.