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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Film Light is a customizable and portable light table for mobile film photographers and archivists. Resizable templates allow users to achieve a focused review of their film, without peripheral light interference, through precise backlight positioning. To resize a template simply touch anywhere in the main view, then drag while observing the screen’s center as the anchor point. The Film Light runs under iPhone OS 3.1 or higher, and is available on Apple iTunes.

Clickfree today announced the launch of C2, its new flagship portable hard drive. New product features in the C2 include a redesigned interface, a built-in USB cable, iPod music and playlist import, migration between computers, 256-bit hardware-based encryption, DVD burning capability, built-in photo sharing and scheduled backup. Available in a high gloss black or white finish, the Clickfree C2 comes in 250GB and 500GB storage capacity and retails for £105.00 and £140.00 respectively. A 320GB capacity drive will be available through QVC UK starting October 31, 2009 for £120.00.

Sanyo today introduced its high-end Dual Cameras, the VPC-HD2000A and the VPC-FH1A, as the world’s first camcorders to offer compatibility with iFrame, a next generation video format designed specifically to allow users to easily import, edit and share high quality videos. In addition to the iFrame video format (960 x 540), the cameras can record in High Definition 1080P (1920 x 1080), as well as high speed video formats for slow motion playback. Additionally, they can also record eight-megapixel stills. The two new models are nearly identical camcorders in two different body designs. The HD2000A is in SANYO’s signature vertical form factor while the FH1A is a traditional style camcorder shape. These camcorders will be available US-wide through national and regional retailers beginning 13 October 2009, with a suggested retail price of $599.99 for the VPC-HD2000A and $499.99 for the VPC-FH1A.

Jobo AG has announced the Jobo Plano 10 Gestic digital picture frame, which features integrated sensors for intuitive touchless operation. This slim frame can be conveniently operated with the simple movement of a user’s hand or several fingers directly in front of the frame without the need to touch the frame. By moving a hand or fingers within 6 inches of the frame, users can easily scroll through their pictures from the left or the right to reach the first or the last picture. The Jobo Plano 10 Gestic incorporates a large 10.4” high resolution TFT-Color-LCD display with a resolution of 800x600 pixels and aspect ratio of 4:3. The Gestic will be available end of November with an AC adapter, remote control, and manual for $249.

JVC today announced the launch of its first pocket flash memory camera, the new PICSIO GC-FM1. PICSIO shoots true eight-megapixel stills and 1080p Full HD video with image stabilisation.  Videos are recorded in the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format and stored as .MOV files. There is no optical zoom though. The PICSIO camera is about the size of a small cell phone, and is available in three colours - Black Ice, Blue Steel and Purple Passion. It boasts a stylish design with a case that features a tone-on-tone geometric pattern and chrome accents for a jewel-like appearance. The JVC Picsio GC-FM1 is available now for $199.95.

Epson have announced the affordable, portable Epson PictureMate Charm.photo printer. The PictureMate Charm can print a borderless 4x6” colour photograph in 37 seconds, and the prints are smudge, scratch and water resistant. Also, they are claimed to resist fading up to 96 years under glass and over 200 years in dark album storage (though Epson does not actually guarantee the longevity of prints). The printer features a 2.5” LCD screen to view, crop and print photos, as well as remove red eye and select popular photo layouts and colour tones. PictureMate Charm also prints from all popular memory cards with built-in card slots, and prints wirelessly from PDAs and digital camera cell phones with a separately sold Bluetooth adapter. ThePictureMate Charm will be available on Oct. 20 through a variety of online retail stores and Epson’s retail site at an estimated street price of $149.99.

Following on from the success of the CX1 website, Ricoh have now announced the launch of a site dedicated to the promotion of the GRD Digital III digital compact camera. According to Ricoh, the GR Digital website has been developed as a one stop shop for all enquiries and will be in the form of a Flipbook. You can click and drag on the page corners to virtually flip the pages. The GRD III website features full sales information including technical specifications, review feedback from press, and stockist detail for the authorised Ricoh partners. In addition there is a competition for the lucky entrant to win a new GR Digital III worth £529.99. The competition closes on November 30th 2009 and all those in United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland are eligible to enter.

Website: Ricoh GRD III Promotional Website

Texas Instruments have announced the OMAP-DM515 coprocessor, which delivers up to 20-megapixel still imaging capabilities, as well as 720p HD camcorder functionality.  Note that, as with the Silicon Image announcement posted earlier today, it remains to be seen if any sensor manufacturer will ever actually bother to produce such high-resolution sensors for camera phones, and if any optics maker can come up with a lens that can support them, but the announcements indicate that the processing power will be there to handle the amount of data such a sensor would generate.

Canon have released a firmware upgrade to the Canon EOS 1000D / REBEL XS digital SLR camera. Version 1.0.6 incorporates the following changes:

• Some cameras may exhibit a phenomenon in which the LCD monitor does not display, the shutter does not release, and the busy indication remains lit in the viewfinder.
• The message, “Err 99 Shooting is not possible. Turn the power switch to and again or re-install the battery”, appears on the camera’s LCD monitor, and after the above operation is carried out, the LCD monitor displays in a language that is different from the actual language setting.

Website: Canon EOS REBEL XS / 1000D Firmware Update

Silicon Image has introduced the camerIC-18, the newest member of its family of camerIC camera processor IP cores. The camerIC-18 is targeted for integration into digital still camera and video System-on-a-Chip (SoC) application processors for mobile devices such as cell phones.  The camerIC-18 supports resolutions ranging from 5MP to 18MP, all in a single low-cost/low-power design. To effectively deliver resolutions above 12MP, the camerIC-18 IP core now includes sophisticated bad pixel detection/correction and noise reduction techniques to ensure image quality even when combined with the lower cost, high-resolution CMOS sensors commonly found in mobile devices, the company says. The camerIC-18 IP core has the imaging bandwidth to support HD, 3D, 4K and higher resolution video camcorder ISP functions.