The Panasonic DMC-FX70 (also known as the Panasonic DMC-FX75) is a new 14.1 megapixel compact camera with a bright f/2.2, 24-120mm wide-angle lens and a touch-screen interface. The FX70 can also record HD movies in the AVCHD Lite format, features a new Motion Deblur anti-blurring function in the iA mode to ensure that more of your photos are sharp, and has a large 3.0 inch 230,000-dot high-resolution LCD with full touch-screen operation. The FX70 / FX75 will be available from August 2010 in black in Europe and silver and black in the USA, pricing to be announced.

Red Bull Reporter and Dave TV have announced a special assignment giving aspiring photojournalists the chance to report on each regional heat of the Red Bull X-Fighters Jams Tour and the London Final at Battersea Power Station. Red Bull Reporter is a nationwide search to find the best young music, culture and sports writers, filmmakers, presenters and photographers, giving them the chance to use their skills and realise their passions as a Red Bull Reporter. This summer Red Bull X-Fighters Jams will stop in four cities across the UK, including Newcastle, Notthingham, Brighton and Leeds. The search is now on for 8 reporters, who will make up 4 separate teams - 2 with a photographer and writer, and 2 with a filmmaker and presenter. The selected applicants will be partnered up with another Red Bull Reporter to cover one of the regional stops of the Red Bull X-Fighters Jams tour in the UK.

Website: Red Bull X-Fighters Jams Tour Assignment Page

Sigma has released firmware updates for the Sigma DP2 and DP2s large-sensor digital compact cameras. Version 1.05 for the DP2 and version 1.01 for the DP2s incorporate the same improvement, namely, better image quality at ISO 400/27°. The firmware updates are accessible via the links below.

Website: Sigma DP2 Firmware Version 1.05
Website: Sigma DP2s Firmware Version 1.01

Sony has developed a super-flexible 80 ?m-thick 4.1” 121ppi OTFT-driven full colour OLED display which can be wrapped around a thin cylinder. This display can reproduce moving images while rolled-up and stretched over a thousand times. The main benefit of a rollable screen is improved portability - but it will take some time until the technology becomes commercially available.

The Casio Exilim EX-FH25 is a new hi-zoom camera with a 26-520mm equivalent lens and a high-speed, high-sensitivity 10-megapixel CMOS imager. Featuring sensor-shift image stabilisation, the Casio EX-FH25 can capture photographs at up to 30 frames per second (fps) and a resolution of 9 megapixels. And those who press the shutter a little too late no longer need to get annoyed: the pre-record mode starts the recording as soon as the shutter is half pressed. With the aid of high-speed film recording with up to 1000fps, the EX-FH25 can capture fast movements that the human eye cannot see. The user can choose between different recording speeds. In-camera exposure blending, High-speed Anti Shake and High-speed Night Mode are all on board to help users make the most of the camera’s capabilities. The Exilim Ex-FH25 is available immediately across Europe for €399.

The Casio Exilim EX-H5 is a 12-megapixel digital compact camera sporting a 24-240mm equivalent zoom lens. Equipped with a sensor-shift type image stabilisation system, the Casio EX-H5 is a small and lightweight “tag along” camera featuring a 2.7” LCD screen, improved Dynamic Photo function and numerous Best Shot modes. The Exilim Engine 5.0 processing chip promises better colour and noise suppression. 720p high-definition movie recording rounds off the features list. In Europe, the Casio Exilim EX-H5 is available now priced at €199.

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Mykindofphone.com has launched an online competition offering the winner an opportunity to participate in a six-night Kenyan photo safari tour. To enter, you need to submit a photo telling a personal story which they have taken with their mobile phone to a photo sharing site; provide a short, snappy explanation of the emotional journey behind the image; and tweet about it alongside the competition’s hashtag ’#snap @mykindofphone’. The competition, which is open to UK residents only, begins today and runs until Thursday, 3 June 2010. The winner and a frined will be taken on a £6,000 Kenyan photo safari tour from 26th June to 4th July 2010. For full entry details, visit the website below.

Website: My Kind of Phone Photo Contest

AKVIS turns 6 this year, and they are organising a raffle in celebration of the company’s birthday. Taking place on Monday, 31 May, the raffle gives participants a chance to win AKVIS gift certificates, which give the recipients the right to get an AKVIS photo editing program of their choice. You can register online at the website below.

Website: AKVIS Raffle 2010

Tamron has just announced a full-day seminar series led by award-winning nature and landscape photographer Sandra Nykerk. The events will take place in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York on the 13th & 15th of July and the 10th & 12th of August respectively. Seminar topics include “Learning to See the Light”, “Using Lenses to Enhance your Creative Composition”, “Understanding the Histogram”, and many more. All events are scheduled for 9:00-4:30, and the cost for a full-day seminar is $59 per person. This includes a special welcome package, refreshments, raffle chances for prizes that include a lens, and a $25 bonus rebate with the purchase of select Tamron lens within two weeks of the event date at specified Tamron dealers. Advance registration required.

Website: Tamron Events

Flip Video is launching a limited-edition St. Georges Flag Mino pocket camcorder to celebrate England’s place in the World Cup. This standard-definition, VGA-resolution camcorder comes with 2GB of on-board memory, and features a touch-sensitive interface and a 1.5” LCD screen. Like the original Flip Mino, the St. George’s Flag edition uses an internal, rechargeable lithium-ion battery that conveniently recharges whenever the camcorder’s USB arm is connected to a computer. There is no optical zoom, but 2x digital zoom is available. The built-in software lets you easily edit video files and upload them to video sharing sites. Available in the UK at a recommended retail price of £109.99.

The prestigious Sony World Photography Awards are now open for entries. The festival will expand to four major cities across the globe throughout 2010 and 2011, visiting San Francisco, Mexico City, Shanghai and London. Professional and ‘serious enthusiast’ photographers are invited to join the Professional competition and will be judged on a body of work. The 14 professional categories are arranged into three genres - Commercial, Fine Art and Photojournalism & Documentary - and new categories include Lifestyle, Still Life, and People. The Open competition, which replaces the amateur competition, has been created for the growing number of people with a love of photography. It has nine categories, and is judged on a single image. The 2011 competition closes for entries on 5 January 2011. Winners of the Professional and Open categories will each receive their trophies at the Sony World Photography Awards ceremony in London on 27 April 2011.

Website: Sony World Photography Awards

Allworth Press has published the third edition of The Law (in Plain English) For Photographers by Leonard D. DuBoff and Christy O. King. Providing essential and legal advice for aspiring and professional photographers that can mean the difference between a photographer’s success and ruin, the book is written “in plain English” for better understandability. The third edition has been expanded to include analysis of key digital issues, new cases on fair use and copyright infringement, post-9/11 rules for shooting in “sensitive” locations, and updates to right of publicity laws protecting images of famous people even after death. The Law (in Plain English) For Photographers is available for pre-order and sells for $24.95.

Website: Allworth Press

Olapic.com has announced its online service of collecting and sharing high-quality wedding photos. Guests can upload the digital photos taken at any of the bridal and wedding events, and members are able to organise, store and print each photo for keeps in an album or placed on other social networking sites. In addition, Olapic.com offers commitment-free partnership plans to enhance the wedding planner’s and photographer’s portfolio. Users can register for a free trial version, as well as upgrade their account to plans starting at $55.

Award-winning photographer Marci Sandler is to lead “Creating Photographic Art,” a two-day photography workshop sponsored by Homeland Photographic Gallery, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. The workshop will teach participants to create high-quality, fantasy and exotic images. Workshop courses will be held on 19 and 20 July from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at Select Temp Staffing, and will include lunch. An optional half-day trip and location shoot is available to participants on 21 July. Photographers will have an opportunity to venture on a four-wheel drive trip to Tide Pools with Sandler where they will shoot with a model in an exotic tropical location and create images to further enhance their portfolios. The registration fee for the two-day workshop is $195. The optional trip to Tide Pools is an additional $125. or general information about the workshop and to register, visi the website below.

Website: Homeland Collections

A collection of 19th century photographic portraits of Russian Royalty goes under the hammer at Bonhams Books, Maps, Manuscripts and Photographs sale on 8 June in London. Among the most notable items are two finely hand-coloured cabinet cards of Alexander II and his wife Maria Alexandrovna; a hand-coloured card of the future Alexander III as Tsarevitch; pictures of Alexander III and his wife Tsarina Maria Fedorovna who fled to Great Britain after the revolution and then settled in her native Denmark where she died in 1928; and a photograph of Alexander II lying in state. The sale begins at 2pm in Bonhams’ flagship saleroom on NEw Bond Street.

Insight Guides and The Independent on Sunday have announced a travel photography competition in which the winner will receive a photographic commission worth £3,000. Any UK-based adult who thinks his or her photography is a cut above the average holiday album can enter by submitting three images that, having been taken since 1 January this year, capture the essence of a destination, using ‘earth’ as the theme. Photographers have until Friday 10 September 2010 to submit their entries, and the winner will be announced in the travel pages of The Independent on Sunday along with the winning portfolio. For further information, entrants should visit www.insightguides.com as terms and conditions apply.

International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) is reminding interested photographers that the submission deadline for its spring seasonal competition is 31 May. Part of IGPOTY’s brand new format, ‘4 Seasons’, the theme of the spring competition is ‘Spring into Life’. If this sounds interesting, visit the IGPOTY website via the link below to enter your work. All entries will also automatically go through to the main IGPOTY competition at the end of the year.

Website: IGPOTY