Nik Software has today announced its Fall 2009 Webinar schedule. Comprised of seven hour-long educational webinars covering portrait, sports/action, wildlife, landscapes, weddings, commercial photography and Capture NX2, the webinars run from October to mid-December. In addition to these webinars, Nik Software currently offers over 70 brief online learning videos.

National Geographic is set to release a new title, “Live, Laugh, Celebrate”. This is a collection of photographs and accompanying essays, featuring both never-before-published shots and photos culled from the National geographic archives. The photographs and essays revolve around the themes of celebration and festivities, and include imagery of parades, sporting events and festivals. The book goes on sale on 27 October.

The Sony DPP-F700 is a new digital photo frame with a built-in printer. The Sony F700 allows you to edit images before printing, and it features one gigabyte of internal storage capacity with an auto-resizing adjustment that downsizes photos to store up to 2,000 photos. The DPP-F700 digital photo frame-printer will be available for about $200 in January.

Kenro has launched a new range of telephoto and wide angle converters from Marumi. The converters are designed to attach onto the front of a camera’s existing lens and enhance its telephoto or wide angle capability. “Now everyone can extend their telephoto and wide angle lens range for just a small outlay.” says Kenro managing director, Paul Kench. “These are great for both digital compact cameras and camcorders and fit a wide range of sizes and manufacturer’s models.” Prices range from £47.15 for the 37mm thread model to £105.63 for the 58mm version.

FOTOBOX Plus is a USB device that enables the creation of rich multimedia slideshows from photos and videos. FOTOBOX Plus contains an integrated memory card reader and embedded PC software with Flash memory, and automatically runs without any installation. In Easy mode, users can just import their photos, select their favorite theme template and view their final creation, while Advanced mode is designed for those that want more control over their slideshows. Priced at $79.99, FOTOBOX Plus can now be purchased on Honest Technology’s Web site, and at leading retailers including Amazon.com, Buy.com, Micro Center, OfficeMax and others.

Buy a Kata GDC backpack and get a free Elements Cover worth £54.95. Kata’s GDC backpacks offer unusual looks, unmatched quality, and class-leading harness systems. The E-702 Elements Cover is made from waterproof nylon and clear TPU and fits any DSLR camera with a standard lens attached. This offer is only available in the UK while stocks last.

AsukaBook USA announced today its new AB AlbumOnline service. It is offered as a free service offered exclusively to AsukaBook customers. When an album order is being placed online, AsukaBook customers can choose AB AlbumOnline when submitting their order. They will then receive a URL for an online digital slideshow of the album’s final design. Once they receive the link to the online album, photographers can share the digital version of the book with their customers as a preview before the printed and bound book arrives.

Website: AsukaBook

This weekend, Jessops is celebrating the launch of its Kingston store and dedicated Nikon area. The Kingston store builds on the success of Jessops’ newly redesigned stores in London - New Oxford Street and The Strand, Guildford and Cambridge, where live product displays have been introduced to encourage customers to interact and engage with products in advance of purchase, the company says. To kick off the celebratory weekend, Jessops are offering a number of discounts across their range of Nikon products, available in-store from this Friday 23rd October through to Sunday 25th October.

Award-winning photographer George Logan has created a series of images depicting Glasgow’s iconic Red Road flats in an “unexpected” light. George Logan’s photographs of the buildings, notorious for being uninhabitable and earmarked for demolition, are more than just another series of architectural shots. They re-imagine Red Road as a place where Urban Miracles can, and do, happen. The images were created using students from a drama group as models, super imposed on George’s stunning photographs of the Red Road flats. The images are to be exhibited at a special show on October 22, 2009 at Village Underground in London. They are also available as archival c-type colour prints in three sizes in limited editions of 25.

MOO.com today announced a new version of its MiniCards. New features include two-sided image uploading, new layout options and the addition of a bulk discount. MiniCards were the first product that MOO launched and have become very popular over the past few years among creative professionals and photographers, the company says. Almost 50 million are claimed to have been shipped to 180 countries around the world.

Website: MOO MiniCards

Pentax has released a firmware update for the Pentax K-7 DSLR camera. Version 1.02 addsa “Fine Sharpness 2” option to base image parameters of custom image processing modes, improvesthe processing performance of digital previews for Watercolour and Pastel filters, and improvesoperational stability when using the optional D-BG4 battery grip.

Website: Pentax K-7 Firmware

Hama’s Alpenpod tripod functions as a hiking staff, a monopod and a tripod. It has a 2D head and three-section legs, and when used as a tripod, its height can be adjusted from 67cm to 141cm. The Hama Alpenpod weighs only 360g and comes with a detachable cover complete with an integrated compass. When used as a hiking staff, the anti-shock spring cushioning helps to take some of the pressure off the hiker’s legs. The recommended retail price is €29.99.

A Beta version of the upcoming Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 is now available. Lightroom 3 beta delivers a preview of new tools that will be in Lightroom 3, including more intuitive importing, unparalleled noise reduction and sharpening tools and enhanced slideshow capabilities. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 beta is available as a free download to anyone on both Macintosh and Windows platforms.

The Hoodman 3” Hoodloupe fits exactly over the 3” screen of most recent LiveView and video-enabled DSLR cameras, and provides glare-free viewing outdoors. It attaches to the camera via the Hoodman Cinema Strap, which keeps it securely in place. The Hoodloupe has a +/-3 dioptre compensation and focusses just like a binocular eyepiece - the eyepiece turns left or right to adjust for your eyesight. The price is £75.99 for the Hoodloupe and £18.99 for the Cinema Strap. Both are available from Newpro UK.

See the polar regions as never before in a new book by renowned National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen, who dives underwater and travels across the ice to deliver unique, close-up documentation of wildlife in the Arctic and Antarctic. Polar Obsession breaks new ground as Nicklen presents important insights into animal behaviour, the fragile polar environment and climate change that threatens the ice and its inhabitants. The hardcover book includes 150 of Nicklen’s most spectacular images from the polar reaches.In essays introducing each chapter, Nicklen details life amid the ice fields, floes and frozen seas — at times braving temperatures as low as minus 55 °F (minus 45 °C) — as well as his passion for the Arctic and Antarctic and the stories behind his images.Also included in the book is a gear list detailing the enormous amount of equipment that accompanies Nicklen on his assignments. Polar Obsession, published by National Geographic Focal Point, goes on sale on 10 November priced at $50.

A new firmware update is released for Panasonic’s premium manual compact camera DMC-LX3. Version 2.1, which is the corrected version of the firmware previously released as version 2.0, supports several new functions and improves various aspects of performance. The adoption of a new algorithm makes it possible to speed up the AF by reducing focus times approximately 20% to 0.5 second at the wide end. The 1:1 aspect ratio (square format) is added as a shooting option in addition to the conventional 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. . Other additions include white balance bracketing, a new scene mode for high-contrast scenes, expanded exposure compensation and bracketing ranges, movable compositional guidelines and more.

Website: Panasonic Firmware Update

Jessops have announced the launch of two new digital photo frames to add to their current range. They come in 8” and 10.4” sizes and sport 2GB internal memory plus a new copy and resize function, allowing the storage of hundreds of photos. For ease of use the frames both have a file sorting menu, so you can easily find and show the pictures you want. Other features include an MP3 function, for playing your favourite MP3 to your slideshow, video playback and a clock, calendar and alarm function. Both frames have multi card slots – for SDHC, SD, MMC, CF, MS, XD and USB. The Jessops 8” and the 10.4 “ LCD frames are priced at £99 and £139 and are available now.

The Fujifilm Student Awards 2010 is now open for entries. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the competition, and Fujifilm Professional has again tied-in with Penguin Books, so that the winner will see their image on the cover of the next edition of Flann O’Brien’s novel, At Swim-Two-Birds. The brief is to take a photograph that captures the spirit of the novel which, in the words of Anthony Burgess, ‘assaults your brain with words, style, magic, madness, and unlimited invention’. All images must be taken on Fujifilm Professional film and submitted via www.fujifilmstudentawards.co.uk – entry is free and students can enter as many photographs as they wish. The closing date for entries is 28 February 2010.

The European photobook market is on track for continued healthy growth, with demand projected to reach nearly 14.5m units this year, up from 10.7m in 2008, according to a new Photobook Market Report from Futuresource Consulting. Online continues to drive the bulk of European purchases, accounting for almost 90% of orders in 2008. However, retail volumes will grow as we move forward, the company says. Western Europe in in the middle of a transition from a fragmented market to a consolidated one, with more than sixty photobook manufacturers still in business, but with the top six taking more than 50% market share. Projections from Futuresource show that more than 23 million photobooks will be shipped in 2012.

Mamiya has put a price tag on the recently announced 22-megapixel Mamiya DM22 medium-format digital SLR camera, which features true 16-bit analogue-to-digital conversion and a claimed 12-stop dynamic range. As befits a medium-format camera, the sensor is larger than 35mm full frame, measuring 48x36mm. The price of the Mamiya DM22 is $9,995 including a Mamiya 80mm f/2.8 D Series lens. Mamiya has also announced the pricing of the DM22’s sibling the DM28 ($14,990 including lens), which only differs in its sensor (which is a bit smaller at 44x33mm, but has 28 megapixels and offers a higher maximum ISO speed). Both cameras are fully compatible with any Mamiya AF focal plane series lens but, unlike their bigger brothers the DM33 and the DM56, apparently cannot take advantage of the 1/1600-second top shutter speed of the three new leaf-shutter lenses developed in close collaboration with Schneider Kreuznach.