In Germany, Mamiya is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its being in business with a promotional offer on the Mamiya 7 II medium-format rangefinder camera. The company was founded in 1940 and soon became famous for its Mamiya 6 medium-format folding camera that featured film-plane focussing (which meant that the bellows and the lens did not move while focussing, but the film plane did). The year 1948 marked the launch of the first Mamiya Twin-Lens Reflex (TLR) camera, while next year the company entered the 35mm market. The second half of the twentieth century saw the introduction of a series of innovations by Mamiya, including the Magazine 35 - a 35mm camera featuring interchangeable film backs -, the Mamiya Press - a 6x9 format press camera -, the Mamiyaflex C - a series of TLRs with interchangeable lenses -, the RB67 Professional 6x7 SLR with a rotating back, as well as the M645 and the RZ67 Professional SLRs. The company recycled the Mamiya 6 name in 1989 when it introduced a medium-format rangefinder camera with interchangeable lenses, which was later followed by the Mamiya 7 and 7 II.

The CompactFlash Association (CFA) has announced key development goals for a new CF5.1 specification. These include Mandatory Write Caching, an UDMA mode that enables the development of higher performance cards while providing complete backward compatibility, a new Sanitize function that provides an efficient NAND Block Erase of the entire user data area to return the CF card to “fresh” state before reuse, a new protocol that allows improved internal data organisation, and an optional card capability to report the operating temperature range of the card. The new CF5.1 specification is expected to be formally released later in 2010.

The new Scrapbook MAX v2.05 is billed as “the first digital scrapbooking software program to combine ease of use with an archival quality graphics engine”. With this new version, users can bend and stretch text, and fill characters with patterns and images. Photos and elements can be accurately re-coloured with a colour-picker tool, and users have complete control over the angle, distance and colour of shadows. Additionally, a new eraser tool allows scrapbookers to extract people and objects from photos with precision, or add artistic blurred edges to photos and embellishments. Scrapbook MAX v2.05 sells for $59.95 and can be purchased at select retailers or online at the website below.

Website: Scrapbook MAX

Waqas Mustafeez, a student from Stanford University, has been named winner of Hot Shot Media’s Snapshot Scholar Photo Contest. The Snapshot Scholar Photo Contest allowed students and alumni from Stanford University and the University of the California—Berkeley to submit photos and vote on other contestants’ photos. Each week, the photos with the most votes advanced to the next round. At the end of the fifth round, the top twenty photos were presented to a five-member judging panel that decided on a winner. Mustafeez will receive a $5,000 scholarship.

The Benro A-150EXU Digital Tripod Kit is a lightweight and robust tripod that comes complete with a precision matched ballhead featuring a bubble level and a quick-release plate. Weighing in at only 2.2lbs, the Benro A-150EXU can support cameras up to 4.4lbs. A standard wing-nut style centre column locking collar provides ease of use and extra strength, and quick lock four-section aluminium legs makes set-up and packing fast. Pricing to be confirmed.

In order to promote its new photo-backup membership plans, SnapHaven has launched a free photo scanning promotion. During this special promotion, SnapHaven members can also take advantage of free photo scanning for all their prints up to 8x10” with any active membership. Members just pay shipping and handling to have as many prints digitised as they like. Negative and slide scanning, colour correction, and expedited service options are available at an added cost.

Website: SnapHaven

The Sigma APO 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM full-frame telezoom lens is now available in Japan. Constructed of 22 elements in 17 groups, the lens has a filter thread size of 77mm and has an iris diaphragm with 9 rounded blades for a smooth bokeh. Two FLD (“F” Low Dispersion) glass elements, which have the performance equal to fluorite glass, and three SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass elements provide excellent correction of colour aberration, the company says. Supplied with a tripod collar and a petal type lens hood, the Sigma APO 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM weighs in at 1,430 grams and is available in Canon, Nikon, Sigma, Sony and Pentax fit. Film camera users should be aware that the Optical Stabiliser (OS) does not work when the lens is mounted to film SLRs except for the and Canon EOS-1V.

Website: Sigma

Samyang will be offering three of its manual-focus lenses in NX mount. The Korean optics company has announced that the Samyang 8mm f/3.5 fish-eye, the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ultra-wide lens and the Samyang 85mm f/1.4 telephoto lens will be available in NX fit in the second half of September. The prices are expected to be the same as the Canon, FourThirds, Nikon, Pentax and Sony versions.

Pictage has recently bought ShootQ, a web-based software company offering a business management solution for photographers. “ShootQ exists to help photographers create purposeful, profitable businesses. As a small, bootstrapped company, it has been difficult to achieve our vision with limited resources. While watching the Pictage management team in action, we discovered kindred spirits who are devoted to making photographers’ lives easier. We are convinced that Pictage and ShootQ will grow together to enable photographers’ success,” says Andrew Niesen, CEO and co-founder of ShootQ.

Website: Pictage

Leica has released a new firmware update for the M8 and M8.2 rangefinder cameras. Version 2.005 resolves the error message “Shutter fault”.

When shooting in C-Mode (Continuous) or taking several pictures consecutively in S-Mode (Single), the message “Shutter fault” may appear on the display. The new firmware 2.005 will solve this issue.

Please note:
a. After updating to the new 2.005 firmware the LEICA M8 with quiet 1/4000s shutter and LEICA M8.2 can not be „downgraded“ to the previous firmware.
b. User profiles will be deleted during the update process and will need to be recreated after the firmware upgrade process.

Leica M8 Firmware Update 2.005

My Favorite Things is a new photo contest from Lowepro and Polar Bears International. Open to professional and amateur photographers, the contest is designed to promote awareness of the effects of climate change on our environment. The Grand Prize winner will receive a Frontiers North’s Tundra Buggy Adventure for two to observe polar bears in their natural habitat in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada in November of 2010. The “My Favorite Things” photo contest takes place from July 1, 2010 through August 31, 2010.

M-ROCK is introducing the fifth generation of its premium camera, camcorder and lens bags, camera laptop & roller bags, camera backpacks and slings. M-ROCK designers focused on what they consider to be the two most critical jobs a camera bag is built to do; protect the delicate equipment and be convenient to use. The M-ROCK range separates itself into eight sections with the flagship category being the SLR camera bags.

Get $1,000 off a a new Mamiya RZ33 digital camera kit by trading in a RZ67 or RB67 camera body. The Mamiya RZ33 is a new large-sensor digital camera kit featuring a high performance 33 megapixel CCD sensor. This trade-in program runs in the US from July 2010 until September 30, 2010 with a limit of one trade-in per RZ33 purchased.

Thames Valley Photo Workshops offers photo training for all photographers. The ten week Foundation and Professional courses will be launched at a welcome evening on September 2nd at 6.30pm at the Images By Kevin studio at the Lamb Arcade, Wallingford, Oxfordshire. The Thames Valley Photo Workshops marry a range of digital capture and post-production techniques with contextual studies and professional practice.

The Swann RemoteCam looks like a car remote control and stealthily records and captures both videos and still images. It records full colour AVI video files with a resolution of 720 x 480, or 1280 x 1024 JPEG still images at the push of a button. The 2GB micro SD card included will store up to 40 minutes of recording at 30 frames per second. The new Swann RemoteCam is now available at £49.99 in the UK from PC World.

Photo Productions have launched brand new Pocket Books to complement their existing range of albums. Starting at only £18.00, these miniature albums are the perfect accompaniment to the larger Photobooks. New features have also been added to Photo Productions’ user friendly website, including the ability for Photographers to supply their own Photobook design and get a 10% discount in return.

We’ve been busy doing some work behind the scenes to help speed-up the site and make it more responsive. Hopefully you should find the latest version of Photography Blog a lot quicker to load than the previous incarnation. There may be a few bugs, so if you do experience anything untoward, please report it in the comments section of this post.

Nikon is planning to release a “new concept” SLR camera according to President Makoto Kimura. Available either this year or in 2011, the new Nikon hybrid may use the same mirrorless structure as rival cameras from Panasonic, Olympus, Samsung and Sony. According to the interview by Bloomberg, Nikon’s entry into the hybrid market will also possibly “have an enhanced function for video recording”.