Photo-i has just launched its latest DVD title, A Guide to Digital Printing and Scanning. Written and presented by Vincent Oliver, photographer and editor of photo-i.co.uk, this 2 hours and 54 minutes DVD shows you how to get the best from your printer and scanner in an easy-to-follow way. Topics covered include choosing a printer, colour management, profiling a monitor, creating custom printer profiles, choosing the right paper, optimising photographs for printing, printer settings for monochrome, scanning film and prints, and more. A Guide to Digital Printing and Scanning has been produced in association with Epson and is available to buy online at the website below.

Website: photo-i

Rocky Nook have just announced a new title, Mastering the Nikon D90 by Darrell Young.  Each chapter explores in detail the features and capabilities of the D90, surpassing basic user manuals by providing step-by-step menu setting adjustments coupled with illustrations, logical explanations, and personal recommendations for each option. Young’s writing style supplies the reader with directions in a friendly and informative manner, “as if a friend dropped in to share his experience and knowledge,” the publisher claims. An entire chapter is devoted to the D-Movie mode. Mastering the Nikon D90 is available for $34.95, £26.99.

Review: Read our in-depth review of the Nikon D90

Photographer and inventor Don Zeck has announced the “Don Zeck Lens Cap” for long telephoto lenses. While many high-end telephoto lenses from Canon come equipped with only a “sock” to cover the lens and lens hood, the Don Zeck lens cap has been engineered for superior protection from scratches, dust, rain and other hazards. The lens cap is equipped with a collapsible low-profile handle, so that the cap can easily be mounted or removed while the hood is in either the shooting or stored position. Don Zeck lens caps come in a variety of sizes to match some of the most expensive long telephoto lenses from Canon, and will shortly be available for a range of Nikkors as well. The innovative lens caps are available through the website below.

Website: Don Zeck Lens Cap

Nikon has posted a number of sample photos taken with the new Nikon D3s DSLR at sensitivity settings ranging from ISO 200/24° to ISO 12,800/42°. Six full-resolution sample shots are available for download. All of them are JPEGs, though one was originally shot in NEF format. The lenses used for capturing the sample images include the 400mm f/2.8G ED VR, the 600mm f/4G ED VR, the new 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II and the 14-24mm f/2.8G ED. The majority of the photographs were taken at high ISOs, though none was captured using a boosted setting (Hi1, Hi2 or Hi3).

Website: Nikon D3s Sample Images

Kelby Training LIVE has just announced Scott Kelby’s Photoshop for Digital Photographers one-day seminar tour. It includes five classes, covering editing images in Adobe Camera Raw, portrait retouching techniques, shooting and creating HDR images, printing techniques that will help you get what you see on screen, as well as Scott’s very own step-by-step Photoshop editing workflow from start to finish. The Scott Kelby’s Photoshop for Digital Photographers seminar tour officially debuts on Oct. 26 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Registrations are taken online at KelbyTrainingLIVE, or by calling 800-201-7323, Monday-Friday, 8:30am to 7:00pm EST.  Following Boston, the new tour travels to Philadelphia on Nov. 2 at the Philadelphia Convention Center. The entire day of training is $99 USD or $79 USD for members of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).

Twelve reproductions of photographs printed by Ansel Adams are now available from The Ansel Adams Gallery at affordable prices. The most recent additions to the the Ansel Adams Gallery’s collection of Ansel Adams Archival Replicas include four black-and-white images, “Banner Peak, Thousand Island Lake” made by Adams in 1923, “Frozen Lake and Cliffs (1935), “Leaves, Mt. Rainier” (1942) and “Vernal Fall” (1948, see above). Ansel Adams Archival Replicas are digital reproductions of photographic prints made by Ansel Adams. “The imaging process used is coupled with digital printers that use 12 inks, including four shades of gray to give the Archival Replicas the full range of tone and hue of gelatin silver prints,” said Matthew Adams, grandson of the artist. Ansel Adams Archival Replicas range in size from 7 by 9” to 30 by 38” and cost from $79 to $999, depending upon size, mounting, matting and framing. Ansel Adams Archival Replicas can be viewed in Yosemite Valley at The Ansel Adams Gallery and online at the website below.

Website: AnselAdams.com

On October 22, Swann Auction Galleries is holding a Photographs & Photographic Literature Sale, featuring works ranging from the earliest days of photography through images by modern masters. Some of the works, including a series of portraits by Diane Arbus, are expected to sell for $20,000 to $30,000 each. Others, such as Richard Avedon’s nude portrait of Rudolf Nureyev or Ansel Adams’s landscape shot, Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, California, are estimated to be sold for $30,000 to $40,000. Other interesting items include a “mural-sized” chromogenic print of Marilyn Monroe, an album containing Los Angeles Police Department photographs from the years 1917 through 1942, as well as a selection of rare salted paper prints by William Henry Fox Talbot, one of the inventors of photography itself (pictured above).

Trek-Tech is introducing the new and improved TrekPod II, a three-in-one monopod, tripod and hiking staff. It weighs only 28 ounces but can support 200 pounds as a hiking staff. As a hiking staff and monopod, the TrekPod II adjusts from 43 inches to 62.5 inches. Trek-Tech’s patented quick release ball head and a rugged carry-case that fits airline carry-on are now included with every TrekPod II. In tripod mode the TrekPod II telescopes from 39 inches to 57.5 inches. The TrekPod II breaks down into two pieces and fits in the included travel case. The price of the TrekPod II is $99.

The Stock Artists Alliance (SAA) has announced that it will merge with the Alliance of Visual Artists (AVA), an umbrella organisation representing five photographic associations and some 45,000 professional photographers worldwide. With the merger of the two groups, SAA becomes the sixth photographic association to join AVA’s family, which also includes Professional Photographers of America (PPA), Society of Sport and Event Photographers (SEP), Evidence Photographers International Council (EPIC), Student Photographic Society (SPS) and Commercial Photographers International (CPI).

A new company called Livedrive has an online storage and backup product with advanced photo functionality. The Livedrive product offers unlimited storage, and automatically backs up files. Additionally, Livedrive includes JPEG file editing, raw file thumbnail support, FTP access, quick and easy file sharing and more - all within the web browser, making it easy to access, edit, and share from any device. Livedrive boasts Facebook, Flickr, and SmugMug integration, so users can just drag and drop photos from Livedrive easily. Livedrive is also accessible from mobile devices, with special support for iPhone and Blackberry users.

Website: Livedrive

The Nikon D3S is a new professional DSLR camera offering incredible low-light shooting capabilities and high-definition video recording. The D3S features a completely re-designed 12.1 megapixel sensor with a seven stop ISO range of 200-12,800, which is expandable to an amazing 10 stop range of 100-102,400. The large pixel pitch, with a completely modified inner structure, means that the D3S can capture images under light conditions which were previously believed to be impossible. HD movies are captured at 720p/24fps in motion JPEG with stereo sound using the input jack. The D3S also offers a new image sensor cleaning function that generates vibrations at four different frequencies, 100% viewfinder coverage, improved 51-point Multi-CAM3500 AF system, three alternative crop modes, new Quiet shutter release mode, in-camera RAW processing options, and five options for Active D-Lighting. The Nikon D3S will be available in December for £4199.99 / €5100.00 / $5199.95.

We have an extensive gallery of Nikon D3S product photos taken at yesterday’s UK press event - just click the link below…

The AF-S DX MICRO NIKKOR 85MM F/3.5G VR is a new macro lens for DX format Nikon DSLR cameras. It implements Nikon’s second generation Vibration Reduction (VR II) system and a 1:1 reproduction ratio. With a picture angle equivalent to a focal length of 127.5mm in FX/35mm format, the 85mm F/3.5G VR balances well with Nikon’s range of DSLR’s like the D90 and D5000. The SWM ensures smooth, discrete auto focusing and the non rotating front element enables the use of lens mounted flash accessories like the SB-R1C1 Macro Lighting kit. The AF-S DX MICRO NIKKOR 85MM F/3.5G VR will be available in December for £499.99 / €607.00.

Peleman Industries announced today the new MyBook Collection kit for photographers. MyBook Collection is a low-cost, easy way for photographers to quickly make portable 4”x6” photo books for wedding and special event photography. Priced at $5.99, the kit comes complete with a custom designed 4”x6” book cover, 2 end sheets, an easy-to-use assembly guide and a free matching mailing envelope.  MyBook Collection features a wide variety of colors, themes and designs to choose from to fit any occasion, from baby, graduation, anniversary, holiday, to thank-you notes and professional albums. It is available immediately at select Target stores and at www.myunibind.com.

Photo District News (PDN) and Kodak announced today the launch of Best Friends: The Ultimate Animal Photo Contest, which celebrates the art of pet and animal photography while also raising money to help endangered and mistreated animals throughout the world. The contest is now accepting paid online submissions from amateur photographers, with part of the proceeds going to three animal and wildlife protection groups. Participants are invited to log on to www.bestfriendsphotocontest.com and submit their photos for any of four categories: Domestic Animals, Wildlife Animals, My Pet and Me, and Animal Humor. A portion of each $12 entry fee will be donated to the contestant’s choice of one of three non-profit animal welfare groups: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Best Friends Animal Society, and Kids Saving the Rainforest.

Athentech today announced that Apple has approved v1.2 of its Perfectly Clear image correction application for its iPhone / iPod Touch devices. Perfectly Clear iPhone v1.2 allows users to capture and correct images taken with their Apple devices and now save out their corrected images at full resolution (1600x1200 for 3G and 1536x2048 for 3GS) – unless the photos were imported by iTunes, which resizes them. Perfectly Clear assures that the millions of photos being taken by iPhone and iPod users can be optimised for exposure, colour accuracy, sharpness and depth all with a single touch, the company said. This upgrade is available free of charge from the Apple iTunes App Store to anybody who bought an earlier version of the application.  For new purchasers, the price is $2.99.

Epson today announced that it has begun volume production of a new high-temperature polysilicon (HTPS) TFT colour panel for electronic viewfinders. Measuring just 0.47 of an inch (1.2 cm) diagonally, the new panels offer SVGA resolution in red, green and blue, translating into 1.44 million dots. The new panels are targeted at camera manufacturers for use as electronic viewfinders in mid- to high-end digital interchangeable-lens camera models. The new panel, which uses an analog driver to recreate smooth gradations and a natural softness, is claimed to rival optical viewfinders in clarity, resolution and fidelity. Epson’s new “Ultimicron” TFT colour panel has a contrast ratio of 280:1, surface luminance of 460 cd/m², and can reproduce 92% of the gamut of the sRGB colour space. It will be interesting to see how this panel stacks up against the one used by Panasonic in the EVFs of the Lumix DMC-G1 and GH1 models.

Ted Kawalerski’s unique photographs will be exhibited at Calumet Photographic in New York City from 21 October through 31 December. Experiencing life from the inside of his car, house, studio, airplanes, and client board rooms, Kawalerski has created a body of work that reminds us of how often we become isolated from the world around us. From Shanghai to SoHo and Miami to Milan, Kawalerski uses colour, motion, and an intuitive look at everyday life from a spectator’s perspective to create a body of work that takes the mundane and transforms it to magnificent. See for yourself at Calumet Photographic, 22 West 22nd Street in New York City.

The 7 lucky winners of a KATA 3N1-30 camera bag, worth £115 each, have been announced.

The KATA 3N1-30 was voted Best Camera Bag of the Year at the recent “Gear of the Year Awards 2009”.

Thanks to Bogen Imaging UK for donating the prizes.

Sunil Shaw, Bill Moy, Chris Archer, Kevin Bates, Shang Sun, Mladen Radman, and Sharon Vos-arnold have each won one of the KATA 3N1-30 camera bags.

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