Carl Zeiss now offers photographers special accessories including UV filters and polarisers tailored to the high-quality Zeiss SLR lenses and a special camera strap with air cell padding for SLR cameras. Available in sizes ranging from 58mm to 82mm, the filters feature Zeiss’ T* multi-coating which minimises light reflections on the glass-air surfaces and improves transmission. Prices have not yet been revealed.

Today Corel Corporation released a new photo-editing software collection called Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 Ultimate. The new edition includes the recently updated PaintShop Photo Pro X3 along with a selection of complementary software. These include: Incomedia WebSite X5 Special Edition, web creation software that makes it easy to design, create and publish your website in just 5 steps; Corel KPT Collection photo-effects filters; and Corel Painter Essentials 4 for sketching, drawing and photo-painting. This special-value package has a suggested retail price of £79.

Getty Images has completed its sixth annual photojournalism grants programme by announcing the names of those who have been selected to receive the grants. The winners include working photojournalists Stefano De Luigi, Miquel Dewever-Plana, Edwin Koo, Darcy Padilla and Jerome Sessini, while the student awardees are Bryan Anselm, Julie Glassberg, Julia Marie Rendleman and Paris Visone. Each of the five photojournalists will receive $20,000, while each of the four student winners will be awarded $5000. Aidan Sullivan, vice president of photo assignments, Getty Images, commented, “I am delighted that our editorial photography grants programme continues to empower photojournalists and enable them to bring these important visual essays to the world’s attention. This year’s judging panel carefully considered the 260 applications and proposals we received from professional photojournalists, along with the 48 student proposals, from around the world and we are thrilled with the winners selected for 2010, whose projects deal with a range of compelling and complex issues.”

Tamron USA has announced an End of Summer Super Rebate programme valid on purchases made through 10 October 2010. The lenses included in this programme are the Tamron AF18-270mm Di-II VC, AF18-200mm Di-II, AF28-300mm Di, SP AF17-50mm F/2.8 VC, SP AF10-24mm and SP AF60mm f/2 1:1 Macro (pictured). The rebate is $100 on each lens except for the Tamron AF28-300mm Di. In addition to this special offer, Tamron offers rebates that are valid through 31 December 2010 on several other lenses. For the complete list, see Tamron’s press release after the break.

Website: Tamron Rebate Form

Corel Corporation today unveiled a home and student version of its award-winning flagship product, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5. This software suite includes CorelDRAW X5, Corel Photo-Paint X5, Corel PowerTRACE, Corel Capture, Corel Connect and PhotoZoom Pro 2. Priced at £99, CorelDRAW Home & Student Suite X5 can be installed on up to 3 computers per household. Boxed versions are available at leading retailers throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The new Ezybox Speed-Lite from Lastolite is a 22cm x 22cm mini softbox which attaches directly onto a flashgun. Featuring removable inner and outer diffusion layers, the Ezybox Speed-Lite delivers what the manufacturer calls “unrivalled softness of light from such a small softbox”. The Ezybox Speed-Lite is available now priced at £50.

“Above Scotland: Cities” is a new book containing aerial photographs of Scotland’s six cities from the 1920s to the present. Published by The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), the book is authored by Rebecca M. Bailey, James Crawford and Allan Williams. “From the air, you can read a city and work out puzzles of its development that can be confusing at ground level,” Crawford said: “Rooftops become like geological layers, architectural timelines of social, economic and political history.” Including a 3D viewer for a set of never-before published three dimensional photographs, the book will come out on 1st October 2010 at a price of £25.

The new Benro Quick Lock tripods are now available in the UK. Kenro, the official UK distributor for Benro tripods, introduced this new range of accessories in May this year with the launch of the Travel Angel Series, this was followed by the FlexPod Series in July. Quick Locks are available in four different models, two made from eight-layer carbon fibre and two constructed in high grade aluminium. The carbon fibre tripods cost £249.99 or £299.99 with the aluminium versions having a recommended retail price of £99.99 or £119.99. Each model comes complete with an integrated spirit level to ensure a level base and also a compass that provides coordinates for recording locations.

Leading British photographer and film-maker Brian Griffin returns to Birmingham for Face to Face, his first major retrospective in his birth city. Known for the extraordinary composition and lighting of his portraits, Griffin’s distinctive style was developed during his early career as a staff photographer at Management Today. Joining the magazine in 1972, Griffin’s unique approach, with his witty and surreal touches, changed the face of corporate portraiture, leading to a series of significant commissions for leading companies around the world. Opening on 30 September and running till 21 November, Face to Face will take place in two adjacent locations in Birmingham’s Colmore Business District. A large-scale outdoor retrospective will showcase Griffin’s portraiture over the last 38 years, including many of his most prominent portraits of leading musicians, politicians and celebrities. Two accompanying indoor exhibitions will feature Griffin’s award-winning series’ Team and The Water People.

Nikon UK has launched a promotion offering students 10% cashback on Nikon equipment. The offer is valid through 31st October, and all full-time students, lecturers or technicians attending or teaching a higher education photographic or media course in the UK and the Republic of Ireland are eligible. All claims must be received by 30th November 2010. For terms and conditions and information about how to claim your cashback, visit the website below.

Website: Nikon Student Cashback

Toshiba has announced the imminent launch of 8GB, 16GB and 32GB SDHC UHS-I cards that it claims will be the world’s fastest SDHC cards to date. With a maximum read speed of 95MB per second, and a write speed of 80MB per second, the products introduce a new level of ultra-fast read and write speeds to NAND flash based memory cards, the company says. In addition to these products, Toshiba also unveiled new microSDHC UHS-I memory cards with read/write speeds of 40/20 megabytes per second, respectively. The expanded new card series will be featured both at IFA and at Photokina.

Hama has announced a new range of “Katoomba” photo backpacks / sling bags. There are four models in the line-up,.ranging in price from €89 to €129. All of them feature a single shoulder strap and can be quickly pulled forward in front of your body using a handle. This means everything is ready at hand in an instant without having to take off the bag. The smallest model, the Hama Katoomba 150, comes in two versions, the 150R and 150L, which are meant to be worn on the right and left shoulder, respectively. The two larger models, Hama Katoomba 170RL and 190RL, feature a “two-shoulder sliding system” that allows you to move the carrying strap to the left or right. The Hama Katoomba camera bags will be showcased at the Photokina trade show later this month.

Olympus has updated its Micro four Thirds (MFT) and E-system lens roadmaps. Compared to the earlier MFT roadmap, which we published on 6 November 2009, the only novelty is the inclusion of the newly announced M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/4-5.6 telezoom and 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 lenses, the latter of which actually featured in the original lens roadmap as a “Super Telephoto Zoom”. The three primes (fisheye, wide-angle and macro) that were promised for spring 2011 are still there, still marked as “Planned for spring 2011”. As to the E-system lens roadmap, the only change we were able to spot is that the elusive 100mm telemacro is now gone for good, and the chart now features existing lenses only (which makes one wonder why it is still called a roadmap). You can view both charts after the break.

Olympus UK has announced the new recommended retail price (RRP) of the Olympus E-PL1 single-lens kit. The camera bundled with the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens is now priced at £449.99, which is approximately £100 pounds less than the initial RRP. The Olympus E-PL1 is a 12-megapixel Micro Four Thirds camera with a pop-up flash, one-touch HD video recording and sensor-shift image stabilisation.

Review: Read our in-depth expert review of the Olympus E-PL1

At Canon EXPO 2010 New York, Canon has showcased a range of future technologies including a working prototype for a multipurpose digital camera that supports both video and still image capture with ultra-high definition 4K resolution. 4K is a collective name for several new standards of digital video capture, including Full Aperture 4K (4096x3112 pixels), Academy 4K (3656x2664 pixels), and Digital Cinema 4K (itself coming in different flavours such as 4096×1714 and 3996x2160 pixels). Given that Canon’s new prototype has a 2/3”, 8-megapixel CMOS sensor, we assume it shoots one version of Digital Cinema 4K, as both Full Aperture 4K and Academy 4K require more than 8 million pixels. The camera shoots video at 60 frames per second, and comes equipped with a large 4K LCD screen. Speaking of which, Canon is also exhibiting LCD panels with up to 8K resolution as part of their future technology showcase at the expo.

PopPhoto has just launched an iPad edition. Popular Photography+ on the iPad features pages that are easy to browse and to read: simple, fluid swiping motions let readers move horizontally through stories, while vertical scrolling allows them to read an article without interruption or distraction. Built on Bonnier’s proprietary Mag+ platform for tablet devices, Popular Photography+ is available now on the App Store for an initial introductory price of $2.99 per issue.

Hasselblad are set to unveil a new camera, digital back and lenses at this year’s Photokina show. According to the invite, the press conference will take place at Photokina on September 22, 2010 at 10am CET. Hasselblad’s CEO and chairman Dr. Larry Hansen will be hosting the press conference, where they will “announce exciting news for the entire photographic community including new lenses, software, digital back and camera.” No further details have yet emerged about the possible successor to the H4D (pictured) or other new products.

The Sanyo Xacti PD1 combines a 10-megapixel digital still camera and a Full HD camcorder in one ultra-compact package. With its 3x optical zoom, integrated USB arm and 2-inch LCD screen, the Dual Camera Xacti PD1 is barely bigger than a cell phone. Supporting Eye-Fi memory cards, the Sanyo PD1 comes with an Easy Upload function to facilitate the sharing of videos on YouTube. Video sequences are recorded using the space-saving MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format, which means, for example, that a 32 GB card can store more than five hours of film material. You can use even higher-capacity cards thanks to the PD1’s compatibility with the latest SDXC memory cards. The pocket camcorder will be available from September 2010 in black, at a price of €169.