Having recently won the TIPA Award for Best Premium Camera, the Fujifilm Finepix X100 now received the prestigious award of Editors’ Choice from the 2011 Camera Grand Prix of Japan. Adrian Clarke, Director of Fujifilm’s Digital Products said “To win two of the camera world’s most prestigious awards is a fantastic achievement… The Awards are the highest recognition that with the X100, Fujifilm has created a camera with truly outstanding qualities”.

Review: Read our in-depth review of the Fujifilm FinePix X100 camera

Kenro has announced the UK launch of the Reflecta x4plus-Scan film scanner. The x4plus-Scan features a nine-megapixel area-array CMOS image sensor which utilises Instant Photo Capture technology (as in a digital camera) for quick digitisation of 110 and 135 format negatives and slides. This new addition to the Reflecta range features a 2.4” LCD display, an integrated SD/SDHC card slot and a lithium battery that allows the scanner to be used independently from a computer or power supply. The scanner comes supplied with film holders for three framed slides up to 3.2mm thick, film strips up to six exposures and for 110mm film strips up to eight exposures. The Reflecta x4plus-Scan is available now with an RRP of £160.

The fourth edition of the online Landscape Photography Magazine is now available for download. This issue features articles on ten-stop neutral density filters and long exposures, orange nights, Mupe Bay, colour and composition, choosing the best tripods, and more. The magazine also includes a number of photographers’ portfolios including Natalie Garvinez, Bruce T. Smith and Tony McGarva.

Website: Landscape Photography Magazine

The winners of the May 2011 Photography Blog Competition have been announced. The theme for May was “Babies” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
Babies by Vab

Prize: X-Rite ColourChecker Passport
Kindly donated by X-Rite
http://www.xritephoto.com/

Nikon has unveiled that its latest DSLR commercial was shot entirely on a Nikon D5100. Award-winning cinematographer Matthew Libatique, who filmed the ‘Man of Action’ TV spot for the Nikon D5100 in Full HD, said: “The D5100 is a consumer camera that delivers excellent HD video quality. It was fun working with it on a commercial shoot and it delivered on giving the piece a new look.” In the USA, the D5100 campaign will air on the ABC and FOX networks. The commercial, starring Ashton Kutcher, can also be seen on a number of prime cable networks, including Bravo, Food Network, History Channel, National Geographic Channel and HGTV. Additionally, you can check it out at the website below.

Sigma has announced that the updated Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG OS APO HSM telephoto zoom lens is now available for purchase in the USA. Unveiled at Photokina 2010, the lens features one SLD and two FLD glass elements for maximum correction of chromatic aberrations. The OS (optical stabiliser) function offers the use of shutter speeds approximately 4 stops slower than would otherwise be possible. The super multi-layer coating reduces flare and ghosting. The Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 EX DG OS APO HSM is available for the MSRP of $4,700.

The Wedding Photographer’s Toolkit is an iPad app packed with photography tips, tricks and how-to’s for the modern wedding photographer. “Learn poses from the pose guide, get lens selections from the lens guide and learn retouching, composition and complete lighting all in one easy to navigate app,” the developer says. “Use the toolkit section to learn about online resources, conferences that include sample contracts, shotlists and business forms.“The Wedding Photographer’s Toolkit is $12.99 and available now on iTunes.

The OptimumCS-Pro iPhone app is an optimum camera settings tool for photographers, cinematographers and videographers. Designed for any kind of photography where maximum sharpness over a large depth of field is required, OptimumCS determines the camera settings that will result in the sharpest photographs “the laws of physics will allow”, developer George Douvos says. This approach is quite different from practices based on the international depth of field standard, which have the goal of finding the largest aperture that will provide acceptable sharpness on relatively small prints. Additions versus the original OptimumCS application include several different distance scales, emphasising near or far distances, circles of confusion for film sizes up to 8x10”, and optimum sharpness data for longer focal lengths. OptimumCS-Pro is available now on iTunes for $3.99.

Mary Walker, the driving force behind Focus on Imaging has picked a new team of creative professionals. The new members include Editorial Photographer Matt Sills, independent film maker Ross Casswell and imaging expert Jonathan Briggs. Mary Walker explained: “With growth and development constantly taking place in this marketplace, it’s always been essential for Focus to embrace and represent it - by trend setting as much as following. This annual reinvention keeps the show fresh, and ensures that it continues to meet the needs of the industry, both in terms of suppliers and end-users.” Focus on Imaging 2012 takes place from 4 to 7 March 2012 at the NEC Birmingham.

Kenro has released the Benro Flat Traveller tripod range. Tripods in the Flat Traveller series incorporate dust and water resistant leg-locks and an anti-rotation leg system. They also feature a centre column which allows the user to make fine vertical camera adjustments. These ultra-lightweight camera tripods are available in either aluminium or high-strength carbon fibre and come with either stainless steel spiked or rubber feet. There are three models available in aluminium, with varying maximum loads of 6, 8 or 12 kilograms. They range in price from £109.99 for the smallest to £130 for the medium model up to £160 for the largest. The carbon fibre versions come in the same sizes and cost £319.99, £359.99 and £394.99 respectively.

The World Photography Organisation (WPO) today announced that the Sony World Photography Awards 2012 are now open for entries. The awards include a Professional competition, which invites entries from the world’s leading photographers and ‘serious enthusiasts’, and an Open competition for everyone with an interest in photography. For the 2012 awards, a ‘Nature & Wildlife’ category has been introduced to the Professional competition and there are no less than three new categories in the Open competition including ‘Enhanced’, ‘Split Second’ and ‘Low-light’. The submission deadline is 4 January 2012. For full details, visit the website below.

CyberLink has released a public Beta of PhotoDirector 2011, an innovative photo workflow software for photography enthusiasts. Photo Director offers a raw converter, a photo editor and a photo sharing tool in a single package. Any user who downloads the Beta version and provides “valid feedback” of their experience by June 20th will receive the official release version for free. For more information, visit the website below.

Update: Beta testing is over, the final version is out now (21 June 2011).

A group of emerging photographers from City and Islington College in North London will be auctioning some of their work on behalf of the Teenage Cancer Trust. The auction will take place from 6.45pm to 8pm on Wednesday 15th June as part of an exhibition at John Jones London, which runs from Wednesday 15th to Saturday 18th June 2011. The twelve lots that will be on offer can be viewed at the website below.

Carrafix today released Photo Boost 1.0, their new photo enhancement application for the Apple iPhone/iPad. Utilising the multi-touch support of the devices, Photo Boost provides a number of filter effects including Stretch, Colorise, Focus, Twirl and Bump. All effects actions can be undone with a simple touch. When you’re done, you can share your art via Twitter, Facebook or email from within the application. Photo Boost 1.0 for iPhone is $1.99, Photo Boost HD 1.0 for iPad is $4.99, with both versions available on iTunes.

Fusioncam is a new toy camera app for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Developed by Hong Kong based Stepcase, Fusioncam features multiple exposure capabilities as well as toy camera effects and easy photo sharing. Today, the app can be downloaded free of charge from iTunes. Tomorrow you can buy it for $0.99, while the regular price will be $1.99.

Center has announced a public photographic portfolio walk for Friday, 3 June 2011, 5:30 to 8:00pm, at Santa Fe Hilton Historic Plaza. This is a free event that forms part of Review Santa Fe, an invitational photographic portfolio review event that allows 100 photographers to present their work to nationally and internationally renowned curators, book publishers, editors and gallery directors. At this event, collectors and art enthusiasts will have the opportunity to view the work, talk with the artists and add to their collections at a reasonable price. (The photo above is from Tamás Dezs?‘s project Here, Anywhere, which has won him the 2011 Center Award.)

Canon has issued a firmware update for the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV digital SLR camera. Version 1.1.0 incorporates the following improvements and fixes:

1. Improves writing/reading speeds when using UDMA 7-compatible CF cards.
2.Fixes a phenomenon where the ability to shoot movies may be stopped under the following conditions:
• When using high-capacity (32 GB or greater) CF cards with little available space remaining and the user attempts to start shooting movies; or
• When the camera’s battery is removed and reinserted into the camera and the user immediately attempts to start shooting movies.
3. Corrects misspellings in the menu screens displayed in Arabic and Portuguese languages (applies to models outside of the the Japanese market only).

Website: Canon

The 40th issue of the free PhotographyBB Online Magazine is now available. This month’s edition explores two photo-centric locations; the colourful Australian Outback, and Puerto Angel, Mexico. The issue also has a three-page feature on what it takes to protect your photo business, ten tips on shooting razor-sharp photos and an article on smart sharpening. PhotographyBB is available as a free download from the website below.

Website: PhotographyBB

Kodak has now introduced social network connectivity to the Kodak Picture Kiosk. Version 5.0 of the Kodak Picture Kiosk software enables users to access and print the photos they’ve published or shared on Kodak Gallery, Facebook and Picasa Web Albums. With no need for media such as memory cards consumers just have to log in to one of these sites to instantly access their photo albums and make prints, collages, greeting cards or photo books using the Kodak Picture Kiosk. This new feature will be available in the UK starting next month.