Digieffects has announced that Camera Mapper, a plugin for Adobe After Effects, allows you to simulate a 3D scene from 2D stills or footage, is available for purchase. It allows you to isolate one or several objects in your footage, project these objects on a separate layer and pull that layer out of the background, creating the visual illusion of the object floating in front of the original footage. The Camera Mapper plugin, which is compatible with Adobe After Effects 7, CS3 and CS4, sells for $79. Camera Maker is also available in a $229 bundle with PlaneSpace, a program developed by Red Giant Software for arranging and animating 3D layers easily.

PhotoShelter have released Google Analytics for Photographers, a free, downloadable kit designed to help photographers succeed online. This kit contains comprehensive guidance - specifically for photographers - on how to implement and make sense of Google’s powerful tool for monitoring website traffic. The primary content is PhotoShelter’s a 43-page, comprehensive e-book that explains how to install Google Analytics, how to read and interpret the data, key metrics to follow, and how to set benchmarks and goals for evaluating website performance. PhotoShelter also includes a quickstart guide, and a chart that demonstrates how to use Google Analytics to address five key marketing questions. The kit can be downloaded at the website below.

Website: Google Analytics for Photographers

InvenSense has announced the new IDG-2000 dual-axis pitch and roll gyroscope, which provides the imaging market with a smaller and thinner gyroscope ideal for improving optical image stabilisation in digital still cameras and high-resolution, eight megapixel and above camera phones. “Optical image stabilisation is quickly becoming a standard key feature consumers look for in new cameras,” said Chris Chute, IDC Research Manager in the Worldwide Digital Imaging Practice. “Even with millions of digital cameras still being sold worldwide, competition for product differentiation, coupled with lower price points are forcing camera vendors to manage costs more closely than ever. New technologies like the IDG-2000 can help camera vendors remain competitive in the market.” The IDG-2000 family of digital dual-axis gyroscopes begins sampling in October 2009 to selected OEM partners.

Partnering with the NSPCC and their ChildLine service to support the Child’s Voice Appeal, PhotoBox has announced its 2009 Young Photographer of the Year competition. The contest launched on September 8th and aims to capture the world of young people through their own eyes. It will be judged by an expert panel including renowned photographers, Annabel Williams and Charlie Waite along with senior representatives from NSPCC and PhotoBox. Children are encouraged to enter via http://youngphotographer.photobox.com and their photographs will be grouped under four age categories - under 8 yrs, 9-12 yrs, 13-15 yrs or 16-18 yrs with different prizes for each.

Electrophysics, a Sofradir Group company, has introduced a high-performance night vision module for use with Nikon’s full-frame (FX) digital SLR cameras. These digital cameras deliver bright high resolution green images of night-time scenes having a full image format and edge-to-edge sharpness when used with the new AstroScope 9350NIK. Because the night vision module fits between the camera body and SLR lens, all the lens electrical connections are maintained and important lens features such as vibration reduction (VR) remain fully functional even in night vision mode. The introduction of the AstroScope 9350NIK follows hot on the heels of the announcement of the AstroScope 9350EOS-FF for Canon EOS digital SLR cameras.

WD has introduced its smaller, smarter and more secure My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac ultra-portable external hard drives featuring WD’s new WD SmartWare software and equipped with hardware-based encryption. The new My Passport drives are more than 20 percent smaller than the previous generation My Passport. The new portable drives with WD SmartWare software visually present consumers’ data in a control center, providing them peace of mind that their precious photos, videos and files are securely protected. Available now at select retailers and the WD online store (shopwd.com), the new My Passport Essential and My Passport for Mac drives are offered in capacities ranging from 320 GB to 1 TB and come in a range of colours including Pacific Blue, Real Red, Cool Silver and Midnight Black.

Western Digital has announced its new, smaller, sleeker My Book Essential and My Book for Mac desktop external hard drives equipped with the new WD SmartWare software and hardware-based encryption. When the My Book Essential drive is plugged in for the first time, the simple and intuitive first backup process launches automatically. The real-time visual interface of WD SmartWare software gives users a reassuring view of their back up as it happens. After the first backup, users’ files are backed up automatically every time they change or add a file. WD SmartWare software works on Windows PCs and Mac computers. WD My Book Essential hard drives are designed for Windows-based PCs while WD My Book for Mac drives are preformatted for Mac computers and are compatible with Apple Time Machine, Apple’s integrated backup solution.Available now at select retailers and the WD online store (shopwd.com), the new My Book Essential and My Book for Mac drives are offered in capacities ranging from 500 GB to 2 TB.

Rafal Milach, a professional photographer from Warsaw, Poland, was awarded the $25,000 Grand Prize, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, in the second annual Photography.Book.Now competition for his photography book, “Black Sea of Concrete.” Mr. Milach created his body of work about contemporary Ukraine while shooting with 8 other photographers from the Sputnik Photos collective. Commissioned by the Belgian-based NGO Altemus, Mr. Milach focused on the Black Sea coastline during the bitter winter of 2008. Mr. Milach edited the work and worked with graphic and book designer Ania Nalecka, with whom he has collaborated on two other photography volumes. This year’s Photography.Book.Now competition featured more than 2,400 entries from 50 countries around the world. Out of 2,400 submissions, the top 85 books are acknowledged as top prize winners and Honourable Mentions. Click through / read on for a list of category winners, first and second runners-up and People’s Choice award winners.

In the UK, the blue version of the recently announced Fujifilm Finepix J30 will be sold exclusively by Jessops. Priced at £129, the Fuji Finepix J30 is a 12 megapixel digital compact camera with a 3x optical zoom and a 2.7” LCD screen. Onboard features include Auto Scene Recognition, Face Detection and a brand new Panoramic Shooting Mode that allows the user to seamlessly stitch together three consecutive shots for a final panoramic image. The Fujifilm Finepix J30 is the second Finepix model this year whose blue variant is exclusive to Jessops - previously, the retailer announced that the Fujifilm Finepix A170 in blue would also be available from Jessops only.

As part of the global partnership signed between PNY Technologies and National Geographic back in 2007, PNY announced today an exclusive offer on its high speed Optima Flash cards that will give access to bonus content from National Geographic’s African catalogue. This limited edition offer gives customers an opportunity to discover the remarkable images, music and maps that National Geographic captures. Customers that purchase a PNY Optima Flash card will now be able to download content via a dedicated website using a printed code that can be found inside the product’s packaging. The PNY Optima Flash cards included in this offer are available in a selection of capacities (ranging up to 32 GB) and boast a write speed of 10 MB per second for both the SD and Compact Flash models. The PNY Optima Flash cards concerned have a 5 year guarantee and will be available from September 2009 onwards through PNY’s usual distribution network.

Hamrick Software, the developer of VueScan, has released its latest version 8.5.26. The company has also announced that its customer base now stands at more than 200,000. VueScan 0.1 was first released in 1998 with support for a single scanner on Windows only. Within 5 years VueScan supported more than 400 scanners, and had acquired a good reputation through word of mouth. After a further 10 years of development, VueScan now supports over 1200 scanners on 3 operating systems, has been downloaded more than 5 million times, and is the scanning program of choice for more than 200,000 customers in over 150 different countries. Version 8.5.26 adds enhanced OCR support using Google’s Tesseract OCR code. Future plans include adding more advanced scanning features, such as scanning multiple photos placed randomly on a scanner (auto image segmentation). VueScan is available in two editions, Standard Edition ($39.95 USD) and Professional Edition ($79.95). The Professional Edition adds unlimited free upgrades, advanced IT8 color calibration and support for raw scan files.

Leica has joined many other premium brands and launched its own store in the UK. Selling the full Leica range of products including the newly announced Leica M9 digital rangefinder camera, the store is located in 34 Bruton Place, Mayfair situated between Old Bond Street and Berkeley Square, London W1. The Mayfair store is the latest development for the company following the opening of Leica stores in Tokyo, Berlin, Paris and Moscow. The Leica Store Mayfair facility is set to complement other Leica Dealers and grow the brand in the UK. Opening hours of the store will be 10.00 to 18.00 Monday to Friday, and 10.00 to 15.00 on Saturdays. If you can’t make it to the physical store, Leica have also just opened their virtual doors at www.leica-storemayfair.co.uk

FixerLabs has just released the Picturefxr iPhone App that automatically enhances and enlarges photos. The Picturefxr App sends photos from an iPhone to external servers, where they are enhanced and enlarged. The results are stored on each user’s private photo gallery and immediately returned by email. The results are claimed to be sharper, brighter, clearer, color accurate; and if requested, can have twice or four times the number of pixels than the original (in other words, Picturefxr can interpolate your photos for you if intending to print them big). The Picturefxr iPhone App is available now on the Apple iTunes Store.

Website: Picturefxr iPhone App

Apple have introduced the new iPod nano, which has an onboard video camera complete with a microphone and speakers. Music lovers can now shoot video wherever they are, view it on their iPod nano and use their computers to easily transfer their videos to YouTube. The new Apple iPod nano can even shoot videos with fun real-time effects such as Thermal, Film Grain, Kaleido and X-Ray, and features an ultra-thin and sleek design with a larger 2.2-inch colour display.The video is standard VGA resolution (640x480 pixels) and uses the H.264 codec. You can buy the new iPod nano today for $149 (8GB model) or $179 (16GB version) from the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorised Resellers..

Nikon have announced that the total production of Nikkor SLR lenses had reached fifty million as of August 2009. The first F-mount Nikkor was the Nikkor-S Auto 5cm f/2, released in 1959 along with the first-ever Nikon SLR camera, the Nikon F. The 50 million lenses have thus been produced over the course of the last 50 years, with the last 5 million being produced over the past year. Almost all F-mount lenses sold in the last half a century will mount on any Nikon SLR ever made, except for some invasive fisheyes produced in the 1960s. However, not every camera-lens combination will utilise the full potential of the camera or the lens. (Some of the newer DSLRs may not meter and/or autofocus with older Nikkors, DX lenses don’t cover the full frame on 35mm film, VR lenses won’t provide stabilisation on bodies predating the Nikon F5 of 1996, lenses bearing the G designation have limited use on old film SLRs etc.). Nevertheless, the current lineup of more than sixty Nikkor lenses for Nikon SLR cameras also offers a wide variety of lenses, including fisheyes, super wide-angle to super telephoto lenses and micro lenses.

Review: Read our in-depth review of one of the latest Nikkors, the AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f1.8G

Getty Images today completed its fifth annual photojournalism grants programme by announcing the names of those who have been selected to receive the grants. The winners include photojournalists Krisanne Johnson, Brenda Kenneally and Zalmai (with each receiving $20,000 grants), plus two students, Ed Ou and Carl Kiilsgaard, who will receive $5,000 each, and editorial support to pursue their projects. Krisanne Johnson’s project, “I Love You Real Fast,” examines the lives of young women in Swaziland, where women have a life expectancy of close to 31. Brenda Kenneally’s project, “Upstate Girls: What Became of Collar City,” studies the issues of class and poverty in Troy, New York. Zalmai’s project, “Promises and Lies,” reveals the human cost of the war on terror in Afghanistan. Carl Kiilsgaard’s project, “The White Family,” follows a family that has lived in rural Kentucky – where, in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared a war on poverty that has not yet been won – for generations. Ed Ou’s project, “Perilous Journey,” documents the full journey that Somali refugees take as each year thousands flee from the violence in Mogadishu to the port city of Bosasso and the perilous boat journey to Yemen begins, as they seek work as laborers in the oil-rich Persian Gulf.

X-Rite has announced a free webinar called ‘Colour Workflow for the Photographer’. The topics include obtaining consistent colour in camera, monitor-to-print matching, digital projector profiling,  benefits of creating and using custom profiles, soft-proofing in Adobe Photoshop and other applications, and applying printer profiles in Photoshop. The free X-Rite webinar is intended for wedding, portrait and landscape photographers, photo lab professionals and anyone doing their own printing. The webinar will be held on 23 September 2009, at 10am GMT. You can sign up at the website below.

Website: Colour Workflow for the Photographer

Kodak have issued a press release about the KAF-18500 image sensor built into the Leica M9 digital rangefinder camera. The M9 is now the fourth Leica camera to utilise KODAK CCDs, building on Kodak’s earlier support of the Leica Digital Module-R, the Leica M8 (Leica’s first digital rangefinder camera), and the new Leica S2. With an image capture area that matches the size of traditional 35mm film, M-series lenses can now be used without the imposition of artificial image cropping, Kodak remarks. Matching this larger image capture area with the rangefinder’s unique optical design required a redesign of both the sensor’s pixel and microlens configuration compared to the sensor used in the M8 camera, which Kodak was allegedly able to achieve without compromising on Leica’s stringent image quality requirements. In addition, the sensor incorporates a new IR-absorbing cover glass as well as a new red colour pigment for improved color fidelity and improved image quality.

We attended the UK launch of the new Leica M9 digital rangefinder camera in Mayfair, London. Available today, £4850 will buy you 18 megapixels of full-frame goodness and the classic Leica M-series handling. Click through to see 17 up close and personal photos of the Leica M9.

We attended the UK launch of the new Leica X1 digital camera in Mayfair, London. Leica were only showing a non-working sample of the X1 behind glass, hence our brief look at what could well turn out to be a relatively mass-market camera for the German manufacturer. Click through to see 6 up close and personal photos of the Leica X1.