Olympus PEN E-PL1 for Dummies is a new guide to using one of the most affordable interchangeable-lens system cameras available today. Topics covered include exploring the on-board controls, shooting in auto mode, working with lenses, dialing in exposure and lighting controls, manipulating focus and colour controls, situational shooting, and more. The book’s author, Julie Adair King, has penned six editions of Digital Photography For Dummies and several digital SLR camera-specific guides in the For Dummies series. Olympus PEN E-PL1 for Dummies is available now priced at $29.99.

DXO Labs have posted new data for the Tamron AF 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD Aspherical (IF) Macro lens. Measurements have been carried out on ten Canon and eleven Nikon SLR camera bodies. To view test results and scores for the lens, follow one of the links below.

Website: Tamron AF 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD Aspherical (IF) Macro on 10 Canon Bodies
Website: Tamron AF 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di VC LD Aspherical (IF) Macro on 11 Nikon Bodies

Pentax Imaging has announced the launch of beige, chocolate, olive green and pink versions of the Pentax K-x digital SLR camera to the US market. After this move, the number of available body colours will be increased to 12, as the new options join the existing black, white, red, navy blue, bright blue, orange, green and purple offerings. The multicoloured Pentax K-x cameras are available via the Pentax Web Store priced at $649.95 including a kit zoom.

Local online photography hub, “The Sussex Photography Project” has launched its new annual photography competition and exhibition “My Sussex”. Sussex Photography Project co-founder, Simon Courcha says: “Through the site and the ‘My Sussex’ competition and exhibition we aim to encourage and feature some great local photography. Thanks to the support of our sponsors RedBox Cameras, competition entry is free and we are delighted to be able to stage an exhibition of the best entries as part of the inaugural Crowborough Arts Festival.” The first prize is a Ricoh CX3 digital compact camera, while the second prize winner will win a place on a creative photography course provided by UK Photo Courses. Third prize is a range of photographic papers provided by Online Papers. Open to amateur and professional photographers alike, the competition is open for submissions until 2nd September 2010.

Website: My Sussex

From 23rd October 2010 to 24th April 2011, the Annenberg Space for Photography will be hosting “Extreme Exposure”, a group exhibit featuring arresting imagery from five unique talents in photography. ” These photographers have made careers of capturing some of our planet’s most extreme environments, while dangling from a helicopter or immersed in alligator-infested waters; enduring freezing temperatures for months or braving an angry volcano,” the organisers say. “Extreme Exposure” will showcase lush jungle photography by Michael Nichols, swamplands captured by Clude Butcher, Donna and Stephen James O’Meara’s vibrant photos of erupting volcanoes and Paul Nicklen’s transfixing photos of the alien landscapes found in polar regions and the rare animals inhabiting these isolated environments. The Annenberg Space for Photography is located at 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, California.

This Autumn, a set of large platinum prints from four of Elliott Erwitt’s best known images will be available for purchase in the UK for the first time at Magnum Print Room, London. Shown in the context of a broader selection of fine photographs drawn from Erwitt’s distinguished career, the selection includes photographs of racial segregation in North Carolina (1950), a kiss reflected in the wing mirror of a car (California, 1955, above), glamorous movie star Marilyn Monroe (New York, 1956), and one of his best loved pictures of the relationship between man and dog, Felix, Gladys and Rover (New York, 1976). Using a new technique developed by the specialist printmaker Arkady Lvov and digital printing expert Gabe Greenberg over eight years, Erwitt’s platinum prints were produced using the latest Large Format Photo Negative application from HP. Other well-known images by Erwitt included in this exhibition as signed silver gelatin prints include portraits of Marlon Brando (1954), Grace Kelly (1956), Sophia Loren (1962) and Che Guevara (1964), a selection of his best known dog images and evocative, stolen moments, such as, a couple dancing in the kitchen in Spain (1952), a dove taking flight (1955), and a mother and baby (1953).

Adobe has rebranded its Photoshop.com Mobile application to Adobe Photoshop Express, and released an iPad version alongside the iPhone and Android variants. Photoshop Express for iPad has the same Crop, Rotate and Flip features as well as the same filter effects and one-touch adjustments as the iPhone app, but goes beyond these by offering iPad-specific features such as sequential editing and simultaneous upload of multiple images, or the ability to change screen orientation from landscape to portrait and vice versa. Adobe Phtooshop Express for iPad/iPhone can be downloaded from the App Store free of charge. The Android version has also been updated and rebranded, and is available now in the Android Market.

Website: Adobe Photoshop Express

Easypano Holdings has released a Beta version of Panoweaver 7 for the Macintosh platform. Panoweaver is a professional photo stitching tool, which can combine photos into high-quality full 360-degree or partial panoramic images. It supports HDR creation and manual stitching for inserting matching points. Output formats include Full screen Flash VR (based on html), QTVR, standalone swf, and Java-based player. In version 7 of the software, you can insert hotspots in panoramas and add actions to them, remove tripod marks, add buttons to the scene viewer etc. Panoweaver 7 Beta can be downloaded from the website below.

Website: Panoweaver 7 Beta

The f/508 Photography Place, located in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, will host the first f/508 Week of Photography – I Love Film event. From 19 to 29 August, f/508’s head office will become a place of sharing and learning, were workshops, lectures, exhibitions and projections will take place, among other activities. Three exhibitions will open the f/508 Week of Photography (Semana f/508 de Fotografia): “Pinhole photography”, “Historical Photographic Processes” and “Aesthetics of Chance”. Participants will be encouraged to practice historical analogue processes such as daguerreotype, cianotype, vandyke, albumen prints, saltprints and pinhole photography. For more information, visit the website below.

Website: f/508 Photography Place

Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 by Adobe Certified Instructor Steve Laskevitch is now available in the United Kingdom. Released last month in the US, this 291-page handbook is designed to get you working quickly in the latest version of Photoshop and its companions Bridge, Camera Raw, and Lightroom. Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 is priced at £30.99 in the United Kingdom and €32 i the euro zone.

Nik Software’s Viveza 2 plugin (review) has been updated to support 64-bit versions of both Macintosh and Windows. If you are currently running a workflow that supports 64-bit operation, such as Adobe Photoshop CS5 and/or Macintosh OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard), you are encouraged to download this update from Nik Software’s website. However, for those currently using Adobe Photoshop CS2 and/or Macintosh OS 10.4 (Tiger), which do not run natively in 64 bits, the company does not recommend the installation of update version 2.003.

Website: Nik Software Updates

Sony Japan has announced pricing and availability of the 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 OSS lens for the Sony E mount. Compatible with the Sony NEX-3, NEX-5 and Handycam NEX-VG10 products, the Sony E18-200mm f3.5-6.3 OSS lens will be released on 10 September 2010 in Japan, priced at 99,750 yen. Weighing in at 524 grams, this 27-300mm equivalent ultra-zoom lens features optical image stabilisation, smooth and quiet autofocus and stepless aperture control, as well as an aluminium alloy exterior barrel with high-quality finish.

Talenthouse has teamed up with celebrity photographer Gavin Bond and JPGmag.com, to open a worldwide search for aspiring photographers.  The search is aimed to give one lucky photographer the opportunity to learn the tricks of the trade and work with Gavin on set during one of his upcoming celebrity photo shoots. Photographers are asked to visit Talenthouse and submit a photograph by 9 September 2010 that best evokes the theme of up his upcoming shoot, “Passion”. Besides working with Gavin on set, the selected photographer will also receive travel and accommodations to the shoot which will take place in either Los Angeles or New York. They will also see their winning submission appear on JPGmag.com.

Website: Talenthouse

Pentax has updated its raw codec, which enables preview of raw image files captured with Pentax cameras in Windows Explorer, by adding support for PEF files produced by the Pentax 645D. The software is compatible with 32-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7, but Pentax expressly states that it is not compatible with 64-bit versions of either operating system. The updated codec can be downloaded from the website below.

Website: Pentax Raw Codec

Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) has announced that its second annual WPPI Road Trip will begin on Monday, 23 August. The WPPI Road Trip full day of educational classes cover important topics such as Business and Marketing, Lighting, Posing, Wedding and Portrait photography, Photoshop and Postproduction workflows. The Road Trip takes place in the following 10 U.S. cities: Irvine, CA, Sacramento, CA, Seattle, WA, Dallas, TX, Washington, D.C., Chicago, IL, Atlanta, GA, Orlando, FL, New Brunswick, NJ and Detroit, MI. The registration rate is $149 for a full day of education, lunch, and mini trade show. Registrants can also bring a guest for $75. The Road Trip rate and guest rate also includes free registration to WPPI 2011 in Las Vegas, NV.

Website: WPPI Road Show

EMS Internet has launched PhotoCart, a new product providing an online photograph shop for UK photographers. “PhotoCart by EMS Internet allows professional photographers to sell photos to their clients within an easily manageable and affordable package,” the company says. “Photographers can set up a login area for Wedding Guests to access and purchase images of the bride and groom via PayPal.” For more information, visit the website below.

Website: PhotoCart

onOne Software has announced its upcoming schedule of free Pro Series Live Webinars. The hour-long online seminars willbe hosted by photographers and postprocessing experts. Topics will include lifestyle, landscape, portraiture, travel and HDR photography, with new sessions being added regularly. The first webinar, Creating Fine Art Children’s Portraits, will be held today at 1pm PDT and on the 17th at 11am PDT. The other August webinar, Creating Images with Impact, will start at 11am PDT on 25th August, and will also be held on 8th September. In this webinar, travel photographer Scott Stulberg will show you how to make your images truly stand out using onOne’s FocalPoint, PhotoTools and PhotoTune. A third webinar, Live from Las Vegas, will go on air on 2nd September, again at 11am PDT, when Vincent Versace demonstrates how he uses Plug-In Suite 5 to achieve an iconic look to his photos. Finally, on 14th September professional photographer Dave Cross will be hosting a webinar titled Enhancing Your Portraits, which is jam-packed with tips and tricks for getting the most out of your portrait images using PhotoFrame 4.5 Professional Edition.

Website: onOne Webinar Registration

Every person who writes a qualifying consumer review of an electronics item on Sears.com until 18th August is eligible to win one of five Samsung DualView TL205 cameras. This camera features Samsung’s DualView technology, plus a front-facing 1.5” LCD screen that allows users to take pictures of themselves.  It also has a 2.7” rear screen, 3x optical zoom and a 12.2-megapixel imager. For full information and rules, visit the website below.

Website: Sears Review Promotion

Transcend has introduced CF200I, an advanced version of the company’s high-end industrial grade CompactFlash cards. The advanced new CF200I Industrial Grade CF cards transfer data using Ultra DMA (UDMA) 4 as default transfer mode, while they can also support up to UDMA 5 under customizing request. The cards boast average read/write speeds of up to 40MB/35MB per second while maintaining the highest level of stability. Now available in 128MB, 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities, Transcend’s CF200I CF cards come with the new Flash Life Guard software. Once enabled, this endurance-monitoring tool automatically monitors the flash cells in the card and reports when the safety threshold for write/erase cycles is reached. With this information, users can manage stored data more efficiently, and avoid the possible risk of unrecoverable data loss.

Website: Transcend USA