imsense has released a major upgrade to its imphoto iPhone applications. The new versions allegedly introduce “new standards in quality and colour accuracy” and come with a new version of the eye-fidelity engine is included in both versions, as well as improved output options with an «Extreme Quality» mode for the Pro edition. The Standard edition offers increased export size for optimal display on the iPad. By popular request, it is now possible to remove the watermark from the processed photos. The application retails at $1.99 for the standard edition and $5.99 for the pro edition and is available now in the App Store.

Website: imphoto

Dominion Riverrock has announced that registration is open for this year’s Digital Photo Contest. The second annual Dominon Riverrock sports and river life festival will be held from 14-15 May in Richmond, Virginia, and photographers are encouraged to capture the activities, competitions and venues taking place there. Entrants must submit their five best images as jpeg files via email by midnight Sunday, 16 May.A panel of judges will be looking for the overall images that capture the spirit of Dominion Riverrock. Cash prizes beginning at $500 will be awarded to first, second and third place contestants. The winning photos will also be featured in SBQ Magazine and displayed on the Dominion Riverrock website. There is a registration fee - $10 for online registrations made until 12 May, and $15 for on-site registrations made until 6pm on Saturday, 15 May.

Website: Dominon Riverrock

Pentax has announced plans organized by worldwide Pentaxians for another global photo shoot scheduled for Saturday, 17 April. Forum members at www.PENTAXforums.com plan to shoot locally on that day and submit images to a central gallery. The photos must be taken with a Pentax camera (film or digital, SLR or compact). The global shoot “Pentax World Day” is not intended as a competition, but it is designed for the satisfaction of shooting and sharing images with other forum members. Photos may be submitted to the pentaxforums.com User Photo Gallery. As an added twist this year, two Pentax K-x cameras are being given away in celebration of the 1 millionth post on the forum; these will be awarded to the two forum members who have posted the largest number of forum messages between April 8 and the end of the week in which the 1,000,000th post is made.

Website: Pentax Forums

The third annual International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) exhibition opens on 1 May 2010 at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The exhibition comprises over 100 inspirational garden and plant images from all over the world in a unique outdoor setting. The International Garden Photographer of the Year Collection 3 book will also be published on 1 May, and will be available to buy in Kew’s Victoria Plaza shop as well as online. The exhibition runs until 26 September 2010.

Website: IGPOTY

Picmeta Systems has released version 3.5 of Printstation, a photo printing applicagtion designed to deliver fast results. In the new version there are three dedicated layout modes available, “Simple Page”, “Fixed Photo Size” and “Flexible Grid Layout”. In all modes, it is now possible to zoom and pan individual images within their assigned area. The operation of the program has been improved by a clearer structure of the settings and by an accelerated page generation. Printstation 3.5 can be downloaded from the Picmeta website. It runs on Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7. The update to Printstation 3.5 is free for all registered users. The full version of Printstation costs US$ 39.

Website: Printstation

Manchester Art Gallery will be staging A World Observed 1940 - 2010, the first major retrospective of the London-based photographer Dorothy Bohm. Born in Königsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1924, Bohm has lived in England since 1939. A World Observed 1940 – 2010 opens with a selection of Bohm’s work as a student at Manchester College of Technology (from which she graduated in 1942) and of the portraits she produced while working first at Samuel Cooper and then, from 1946, in her own Studio Alexander in Market Street, Manchester. The next section charts her discovery of open air photography, whiile a smaller section will be devoted to a transitional period in her career, in which she explored the potential of Polaroid photography. Finally, the exhibition also includes her work taken on Kodak colour film, and some of the cameras Bohm used in the course of her long career will also be on display. The exhibition opens on 24 April and runs until 30 August 2010. Entry is free.

X-Rite has announced a free webinar dedicated to the use of its ColorChecker Passport. Taking place on Thursday, 15 April 2010 at 1:00 PM EDT and 3:00 PM EDT, these one-hour webinars will show ColorChecker Passport users, or those curious about the product, how to easily bring accurate colour to their digital photography to a new level, X-Rite says. “ColorChecker Passport provides photographers that are passionate about colour accuracy with a near-effortless tool to capture colour correctly and instantly enhance their images,” said Liz Quinlisk, X-Rite’s Director of Marketing Strategy, Photo. “This ColorChecker Passport webinar will show online attendees how they can achieve greatly improved colour results saving them significant time and effort after a photo shoot.” To register, visit the website below.

Website: X-Rite Photo

The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), joined by other trade associations and individual photographers, has filed a class action copyright infringement suit against Google. The suit relates to Google’s allegedly illegal scanning of millions of books and other publications containing copyrighted images and displaying them to the public “without regard to the rights of the visual creators”, ASMP says. The trade associations decided to file the class action after the Court denied their request to join the currently pending $125 million class action that had previously been filed primarily on behalf of text authors in connection with the Google Library Project.

Three Stage National Tour from Resource Magazine and Hasselblad has been launched across the US. Three Stage celebrates the release of Hasselblad’s new H4D line of cameras, featuring the innovative TrueFocus technology, and offer photographers a hands-on and interactive experience with this and other selected equipment, from computer to lights to photo software. The event will include “Three Stages”, three separate interactive shooting spaces hosted by world class photographers from different fields of photography. Read on / click through for the upcoming Three Stage events.

Website: Three Stage Tour

iStockphoto, the micropayment pioneer in stock imagery, has just turned 10. iStockphoto kicks off the celebrations with a 10th anniversary microsite, including detailed timelines and iStock history, and asked site members to upload self-portraits for the “Faces of iStock.” More than 3200 people have participated from 89 countries. “The stock multimedia business model has transformed in the last decade, and although the model has changed, make no mistake, the demand for artistic stock is strong,” said Kelly Thompson, COO. “With the decline of print, publishers who embrace new technology and understand its potential will not only survive, but flourish. As the leading e-commerce platform for affordable royalty-free stock imagery, video and sound, iStock is uniquely positioned to help these pioneers change the way people consume media.”

Website: iStockphoto 10th Anniversary Microsite

Canon Europe has re-launched its after-sales support scheme for professional photographers and videographers, the Canon Professional Services (CPS) programme.  The new CPS introduces multiple levels of membership, allowing a greater number of professional photographers to qualify. There are Silver, Gold and Platinum membership types available, depending on the qualifying equipment registered with the scheme. Existing CPS community members are invited to validate and update their details through the CPS website in order to ensure the correct CPS membership has been registered. All existing, unvalidated memberships will expire in June 2010. After this, a new registration will be required and new cards will be issued.

Website: Canon Professional Services

The newest project of Toby Smith, a contemporary reportage photographer concentrating on landscape and the energy sector, is focussed on renewable energy production. Working in Scotland, he is using his vehicle as a production base, home and office immersing himself in the surrounding environment. Using large-format traditional negative enables him to work in very low light using exposures lasting many hours resulting in incredibly detailed prints. Above ground he has captured dramatic panoramas, vast arctic-like scenery and alluring night images lit by the moon and stars. Being supported by Scottish and Southern Energy has allowed Smith privileged access to hidden corners including turbine halls, underground passages and engineering marvels. You can follow the project at the website below.

Website: The Renewables Project

Canon has just launched the XF300 (pictured) and XF305 digital video cameras that are the first models to use the new MPEG-2 Full HD (4:2:2) recording codec recently adopted by the manufacturer. Equipped with a Canon L-series HD Video Lens combining a 29.3mm equivalent wide angle with fast maximum aperture (f/1.6) and 18x zoom, 3CMOS sensor system and a DIGIC DV III processing engine, these cameras record videos industry-standard MXF (Material eXchange Format) files to Compact Flash memory cards, using data transfer rates of up to 50Mbps and rich 4:2:2 colour sampling. The Canon XF300 and XF305 also feature a 1.55-million-dot EVF with 100% coverage plus a 4” LCD screen with a resolution of 1.23 million dots. Slow and fast motion video recording also expands creative possibilities, with a total of 20 different frame rates on offer. In addition, thes XF305 model features industry-standard HD-SDI output, genlock, and SMPTE time code (in/out) terminals for multi-camera or 3-D productions.These are not found on the XF300.The Canon XF305 is scheduled to be available in late June for an estimated retail price of $7,999.The XF300is expected to cost $6,799.

Hosted by The Photographers’ Gallery in London, The Family and the Land: Sally Mann is the American photographer Sally Mann’s first solo exhibition in the UK. The ‘family’ element of the title will comprise Mann’s early series Immediate Family and the newer series Faces, both of which depict her children at various ages. The two series Motherland: Virginia and Deep South represent the landscape, portraying images made across the south of the United States. The exhibition opens on 18th June and runs until 19th September 2010. The Photographers’ Gallery is located at 16 – 18 Ramillies Street, W1, London. Admission is free.

Nikon is bringing its Learn & Explore photography application to iPhone customers in Europe. The ‘Learn & Explore’ application offers quick, easy on-the-go access to a world of photography information and editorial content, including images, video lectures, audio commentary and a glossary of photography terms. If you are on holiday and want advice on getting the most from your travel pictures, you can instantly access an article from a Nikon expert, watch a tutorial video, listen to audio tips, or flick through examples of stunning travel photography. The Nikon ‘Learn & Explore’ iPhone application is now available in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom. It is also available in Canada and the United States.

Nikon has released a firmware update for the new Nikon Coolpix S4000 digital compact camera. Version 1.1 changes the frame rate for HD 720p in the movie option menu from 24fps to 30fps. You can download the firmware update using one of the links below.

Website: Nikon Coolpix S4000 Firmware 1.1 for Windows Users
Website: Nikon Coolpix S4000 Firmware 1.1 for Mac Users

Nikon has issued a firmware update for the Nikon Coolpix S640 digital compact camera. Version 1.2 resolves an issue that, in some very rare cases, prevented accurate recording of photos taken with digital zoom enabled. You can download the firmware update using the links below.

Website: Nikon Coolpix S640 Firmware 1.2 for Windows Users
Website: Nikon Coolpix S640 Firmware 1.2 for Mac Users

Transcend’s new 4GB JetFlash 620 is a USB falsh drive featuring read speeds of up to 32MB/sec and write speeds of up to 10 MB/sec. Offering a password-protected “Private Zone”, the Transcend JetFlash 620 comes bundled with Transcend’s exclusive JetFlash SecureDrive software. Other features include a compact, streamlined design, plug-and-play installation, full compatibility with the USB 2.0 specification, and dual-channel technology. Apart from the newly released 4GB variant, the Transcend JetFlash 620 USB flash drive is also available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacities.

Website: Transcend

ZAGG has just released PhotoPad, its first app designed for the Apple iPad. PhotoPad features drawing and adjustment tools such as cropping, colour swapping, threshold levels, contrast, and saturation. PhotoPad by ZAGG can be found in the iPad App Store. An iPhone/iPod touch version is under development and will be available soon.

Website: PhotoPad for iPad