Hundreds of members of the public are invited to participate in two revolutionary photographic commissions to create public art installations using Olympic finish line technology in London and Birmingham. In association with Rhubarb-Rhubarb, image maker Ádám Magyar will create two large-scale outdoor installations, working with Newham Council and Birmingham Cultural Partnership. A minimum of 300 local people will be needed to create each image. The camera used to create the installations records a scene one pixel at a time to capture movement. Using the same technologies as those used on the Olympic Finish Line, UK-based Hungarian photographer Ádám Magyar has built his own software to transpose the thousands of slices per second, captured by the camera, “to create stunning images which embrace time and space in a most intriguing way”. The Newham Walk for the Camera will be staged on Saturday 17 July at the Mayor’s Newham Show in East Ham, while the Birmingham Walk for the Camera will take place as part of the city’s participation in the London 2012 Open Weekend. To register, visit the website below.

Website: Walking As One

Sigma Corporation of America is set to launch its first “Momtographers’ Photo Contest”. The company defines a “momtographer” as a mom who loves capturing and saving images of her family’s happiest, funniest and most memorable moments together. In keeping with that definition, Sigma is inviting parents to submit images to compete for a grand prize of $2,500 in cash. Photo submissions will be accepted from 29 June through 16 August 2010. We will keep you updated as further details are unveiled.

Lexar has created a video offering a look into the Lexar Quality Labs, facilities with more than 800 digital cameras and memory card devices, to ensure performance, quality, compatibility, and reliability. The short movie shows how Lexar memory cards are tested to withstand intense temperatures, vibrations, impacts and other external shocks. To view the video on YouTube, follow the link below.

A Peek Inside the Lexar Quality Labs

With the introduction of its new 72-hour online clipping path service, graphics outsourcing pioneer uClip has lowered the price to less than $2 per image. “Clipping path is the art of masking out an object of interest from a picture,” the comapny explained in a statement. “Once the image has the clipping path, the object outlined can be edited, moved or placed in any publication or web page without any distracting background elements.” uClip’s professional, 24-hour service - which costs $3.89 per image - has been used by major publishing houses worldwide. New users can register for a trial account, and receive one clipping path for free.

Website: uClip

Nikon Australia is poised to launch Nikon School, a series of hands on classes that will guide students through the vital steps in the digital photography process. Sessions will be held at Melbourne’s Marriot Hotel, the Quay West Suites in Brisbane and the Sydney Harbour Marriot Hotel, and will be presented by some of Australia’s most talented and revered photographers. The series will begin with an Introduction to DSLR class on Saturday, 26th June. The course will cover everything from basic layout of the camera through to in-camera post production methods. From August 2010, additional classes will be added to the series alongside the Introduction course. These classes will cost $240 and are scheduled from 10am – 4pm on Saturdays.

Website: Nikon School

AOP Student has announced that the next Careers Talk will be held on Wednesday, 30th June. Hosted by aerial photographer Jason Hawkes, the talk will take place from 3pm to 5pm at the AOP Gallery, 81 Leonard Street, London. You do not need to book a place in advance, but make sure to be there early, as no one will be admitted after 3pm. Entry is free, and everyone is welcome to attend.

Website: AOP Student

Launching during London Fashion Week, Ten Times Rosie is a high-end fashion photography book featuring the bold and contemporary designs of Paula Thomas, founder and head designer of the luxury label Thomas Wylde, as shot by British photographer Rankin. The publication of this glossy coffee-table book will be accompanied by an exhibition at Rankin’s Annroy Gallery, London, and will launch internationally in Los Angeles and Paris. Shot on location in and around LA in April of this year at the Amboy Salt Flats, Joshua Tree National Park, the Château Marmont and downtown streets, Ten Times Rosie “epitomises the creativity and theatrical flair of Rankin, Paula Thomas and stylist Maryam Malakpour”, the publisher says. The book will be available to purchase from Turnaround, while the exhibition will run from 21st September – 29th October at Annroy Gallery, London.

Team Noton has announced a brand new Edinburgh venue for the ‘Chasing the Light’ Road Show. Tickets - priced at £15 - are now on sale for the event, which will take place on 28th September at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. The show includes David Nonon’s latest unpublished photographs, video clips from shoots around the world, the stories behind some of his most iconic images and of course, all delivered with David’s unique sense of humour:

Website: David Noton

The official UK launch of the Sony NEX-5 and NEX-3 took place at The Vinyl Factory in London, where collections from up-and-coming designers Bodyamr and Edward Finney were unveiled giving celebrity guests the chance to try out the latest kit. Pop starlet Keisha Buchanan took to the runway in a figure hugging creation from Bodyamr (see picture above), and onlookers were able to capture the moment with the new Sony NEX cameras. Rachel Banin, Category Head – Digital Imaging, at Sony UK said: “The exciting new NEX-3 and NEX-5 cameras from Sony are the first to offer interchangeable lenses, outstanding D-SLR quality images and HD movie recording in a body the size of a compact camera. It was great to be able to launch these cameras with the help of some fantastic up and coming fashion talent and unique circus performers – creating the perfect setting to really put these cameras to the test.”

Pentax has added a vibrant-orange version of the Pentax Optio W90 waterproof camera to its digital compact line-up. Named the Pentax Optio W90 Shiny Orange, this new model has an orange-colour aluminium-alloy front panel that features a fine hairline finish. The 12-megapixel camera, which is equipped with a 5x zoom lens, is sand- and dustproof, waterproof down to a depth of 6 metres and shockproof to approximately 1.5 metres. The recommended retail price of the Pentax Optio W90 Shiny Orange is £269.99 in the UK, and $329.95 in the USA. Availability is slated for July.

Some of the most famous photographs published in LIFE magazine are to going on auction. The photographs are offered for sale in partnership with Lelands.com, where they can be viewed until the auction closing date of 9 July. Interested bidders must submit initial bids by 9 p.m. that day, after registering on the website. The auction continues until bidding has ceased for at least 10 minutes. Photos are shipped to auction winners immediately after funds have cleared.

Stealth Gear is set to launch what they describe as “the very first UK camouflage pattern designed by photographers for photographers”. Craig Derbyshire, managing director of Stealth Gear, said, “the current marketplace is saturated with camouflage patterns specifically for hunting, but these are not UK patterns and most of them are designed in the USA for their countryside”. Developed over a twelve month period, the new pattern that mimics the colours of the UK countryside will be officially launched in July 2010, with gloves and camera covers being the very first products available online.

Website: Stealth Gear

LensFolder.com is a brand new websitethat enables you to join photos of the same event that were taken by different people together into the same folder. Founder Tristan Thomas says the site will hopefully solve “the problem of lots of people taking photos at an event or on holiday and you never seeing or getting any of those photos”. It works like this: one of the people that were present at the event sets up a folder and tells everyone else who has taken photos there to upload their shots to the folder by clicking the “I have the details for a folder somebody else has set up” button. The service is free.

Website: LensFolder

Think Tank Photo has released the free Multimedia DSLR Buyers Guide to aid first time buyers of video enabled DSLR cameras. This online guide compiles information about cameras, lenses, microphones, recording equipment, bags, and accessories. Within each section is a short description of the gear, the price range, and links to more detailed product information. The buyers’ guide is available at the website below.

Website: Think Tank Photo Multimiedia DSLR Buyers Guide

Guardian News & Media is to host a new exhibition by photographer Sally Soames. Soames, who started out as a freelancer for The Observer and the Guardian, and later joined the Sunday Times, donated her photographic archive to the Scott Trust Foundation in 2008. The exhibition takes place in the foyer of Guardian News and Media from Friday 18 June 2010 until Friday 20 August 2010.

Addonics has announced a family of CFast adapters which instantly connects a CFast media to any SATA port inside a desktop PC, rack mounted system or notebook computer. The new adapters include a CFast HDD adapter and a SATA CFast adapter. Additionally, Addonics has also launched its own brand of CFast cards, available in 8GB and 32GB capacities.

Sigma UK has issued a service notice to owners of certain Sigma telezoom lenses. Some of its APO 50-500mm F4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM, APO 120-400mm F4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM (pictured) and APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM lenses, produced recently, may suffer from this autofocus defect, the company says. Sigma has listed the serial numbers of the potentially affected lenses, which you can find in the press release below. If you own one of these lenses, you should contact Sigma on 01707 376 795, and they will arrange to collect your lens at no cost for inspection and modification where necessary. Your lens will be returned to you free of charge.