Smart Shooter 1.0 is a new digital photography workflow application for remote capture and advanced camera control. Smart Shooter allows the photographer to fully control their camera from a computer, and is available for both Windows and Mac priced at £32. A trial version is also available for download.

The Nature in Focus Roadshow 2010 is a series of exciting one day photography events around the UK in November. Canon will partner Páramo Directional Clothing and Wild Arena to hold an inspirational roadshow which will celebrate the art of nature and landscape photography. Held at three Wildfowl & Wetland Trust sites, the Nature in Focus Roadshow will provide delegates with the opportunity to learn from experts in the field, attend informative seminars and gain practical advice.

Akvis Retoucher 4.5 allows restoring damaged photos by removing dust, scratches, stains, and by reconstructing the missing parts of a photo automatically. Version 4.5 adds new features to the Stamp tool which makes it possible to mirror a clone horizontally and vertically. AKVIS Retoucher sells for $87. For registered users of the previous version the upgrade is free.

ProShow 4.5 is the latest version of Photodex’s award-winning slide show software for Windows. Version 4.5 adds automatic show creation with an all-new wizard and hundreds of new transitions and effects. In addition, ProShow Producer users can build their own transitions with the new Create Transition tool. ProShow Gold and Producer 4.5 are available immediately with upgrades starting at $44.95.

MOO has introduced integration with Picasa, a popular Web photo-hosting service. Picasa users can now import their stored images into MOO in a snap to create personalized Business Cards, MiniCards, Greeting Cards, Postcards and more. MOO prints millions of cards a month and serves customers in over 180 countries.

Genius Loci is a new international Photographic Prize aimed at promoting emerging photographers of all nationalities based in Italy and the United Kingdom. There are no fees to enter the Genius Loci competition and the winner will be awarded a cheque for £1,000.

Tamron’s new global website provides information in 12 different languages. The new global website provides the latest news and content covering product information and more and is located at http://www.tamron.com. Tamron USA has a new home at http://www.tamron-usa.com.

Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere Elements 9 feature all the tools users need to make the most of their photos and videos. This release also brings Premiere Elements to the Mac platform for the first time. The Adobe Elements 9 bundle for Windows and Mac is available now for a suggested retail price of £117. Photoshop Elements 9 and Premiere Elements 9 software for Windows and Mac are available as stand-alone products for a suggested retail price of £77.

DxO Analyzer 4 is the new version of DxO Labs’ industry-standard image quality evaluation solution. DxO Analyzer 4 principally adds texture measurement and video measurement, and also features new optical and sensor measurements for color fringing, advanced color shading, and green channel imbalance, along with interface and workflow improvements.

Photokina is a big show, both in terms of the total floor space, the number of exhibitors and the thronging crowds. As well as the main companies and products that we’ve focused on during the last few days, we’ve also visited as many of the other manufacturers as possible. So to conclude our week-long coverage of Photokina 2010, here’s our gallery of the Best of the Rest, including in no particular order Crumpler, Novoflex, Impossible, SanDisk, LaCie, HP, Sanyo, Phase One, JVC, Nikon accessories, and the customisable Photokina T-Shirt stand…

We have toured the booths of the major accessories makers to see if they had any exciting photo / camera bags on show - and found some! One of our personal favourites was Think Tank Photo’s new Sling-O-Matic range of sling bags, which feature one adjustable shoulder strap that can be easily switched back and forth to either shoulder - a godsend if you need to carry heavy photo equipment for extended periods of time. The bag can also be brought forward quickly, and all your gear can be accessed from the top. Hama also has a solution to the problem of pain resulting from carrying heavy equipment on one shoulder, in the form of its new Katoomba 170RL and 190RL bags, which can also be worn on either shoulder. In addition to these, the German company dedicated a large part of its stand to the new Daytour backpacks that provide direct access to your gear from all sides.

Manfrotto introduced several new product lines at the Photokina trade show. The Bassano del Grappa-based company best known for its professional tripods and heads is moving into new territory by embracing beginners and “social recorders”, i.e. people taking pictures with the primary aim to share them on social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace. In order to fulfil the needs of these consumers, Manfrotto is now offering everything from compact aluminium tripods to stylish bags, including a line dedicated to women. Also new for the company is a collection of LED lights targeted at videographers, from the simple and compact Pocket to the professional-grade Maxima and Aura ranges.

At its Photokina booth, Minox is showing off a concept model of its 3D camera, the PX3D. Although one representative said the company has working prototypes as well, they apparently haven’t brought them to the show - the model shown behind glass at the stand is just a mock-up. There is a sign next to it saying, “Expected availability - summer 2011”, but the rep we talked to said the company is currently just testing the waters, with no firm plans for commercialisation. In terms of specifications, the camera has four Minoctar lenses and four 5-megapixel sensors, and is said to allow the creation of 3D images that can be viewed without special glasses and other accessories.

At the Lensbaby stand, we got our hands on the new Tilt Transformer and the Composer with Tilt Transformer. The Lensbaby Tilt Transformer is a special tilt adapter that allows Nikon F mount lenses to be attached to a Micro Four Thirds camera, and transforms them into manual-focus tilt lenses with selective focus capabilities. The kit used to demonstrate this at the booth included a Panasonic G1 and a Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens. Since this lens has a much larger imaging circle than normally required to cover a Four Thirds sensor, and since the Lensbaby Tilt Transformer allows a much greater degree of tilt than a typical tilt lens, you can achieve pretty dramatic results with this combo; with a potentially very thin slice of focus stretching for example from the lower left to the upper right corner, with everything else being completely blurred.

The Lensbaby Tilt Transformer allows Nikon lenses to be tilted on Micro Four Thirds and Sony NEX cameras. The Tilt Transformer allows photographers to mount any Nikon mount lens onto their Micro Four Thirds or Sony NEX camera and tilt up to twice the amount of standard tilt-shift lenses, delivering photos that have a slice of focus through the image, bordered by a soft. The Composer with Tilt Transformer allows the Lensbaby Optic Swap system to be used. The Tilt Transformer retails for $250 and the Composer with Tilt Transformer retails for $350.

A new firmware update for the Sony NEX-5 and NEX-3 cameras will be available from mid-October. A new custom function allows assignment to buttons of frequently-used functions, which should address some of our main criticisms of the NEX interface, plus there’s a new function to record movies with a specific aperture. Autofocus operation will be supported when using A-mount SAM and SSM lenses with the optional LA-EA1 Mount Adaptor. In addition Sony are planning 7 new E-mount lenses and a flashgun for 2011 and 2012.

Panasonic are releasing new firmware for the G2 and 14-140mm / F4.0-5.8 lens. Available in October, the G2 update will provide compatibility with the new 3D lens, while the 14-140mm update improves AF performance and reduces start-up time.

Manfrotto is introducing its own range of LED lights and an exclusive range of bags and clothing under the “Imagine More” tagline. Billed as a bold, new way of experiencing photography”, Imagine More also marks a widening of the audience targeted by Manfrotto with so-called social recorders. ”We are all very proud of this event: conceiving and creating Imagine More is something that each of us has been deeply involved in not only from a professional but also an emotional point of view,” said Marco Pezzana, Imaging Sales & Marketing Director and Supports Managing Director.

The Ricoh G700SE is a new water and dust resistant digital camera with wireless LAN and Bluetooth. The G700SE also supports optional GPS functions and laser barcode reader functions via slot-in units.

Datacolor SpyderCheckr is a new color reference tool that allows photographers to obtain consistent, accurate color within a standard RAW processing workflow. SpyderCheckr features 48 scientifically engineered color patches in a wide range of spectrally neutral colors and user-friendly profiling software. SpyderCheckrPro is a bundle package that includes the SpyderCheckr along with the Datacolor SpyderCube. Datacolor SpyderCheckr and SpyderCheckr Pro are available at a suggested list price of $129.00 and $169.00 respectively.