JP Distribution has just announced the Ilford Galerie Back to School offer for 2009. Available as of 1 September, they will be offering three packs of A4 sized Ilford Galerie inkjet photo paper for £25. The offer includes 50 sheets of Smooth Heavyweight Matt paper, plus 25 sheets of Smooth Gloss and 25 sheets of Smooth Pearl. Furthermore, customers will also receive an extra 10 sheets free of each of the Smooth Pearl and Smooth Gloss inkjet papers, making a total of 120 sheets.

The DigiDude is a community designed, funky, portable camera tripod and keychain. Simply screw off your dude’s head and pull out his retractable legs for an on-the-go camera mount. DigiDudes are easily attached to your keychain or camera bag and will mount most point and shoot cameras. All DigiDudes come fully equipped with retractable and bendable legs for adjustable camera height & grip as well as a key ring for easy portability. The Quirky Community added some personality to the Dudes. Choose from one of the five: Pinky Scorsese, Snot Buster, iChomp, G-bling-Money-Son, and BoltBot, each with their own style and attitude. DigiDude is the eighth product designed and developed by the quirky community since quirky’s launch on June 2nd. quirky gives everyone the chance to get product ideas out of their heads and onto shelves. Each week quirky’s community collaborates to select and produce one new product idea. This week ends the development of the DigiDude and it is now available for sale at quirky’s online store for $19.99.

Website: The Quirky Store

Jessops have introduced their range of quality photo inkjet paper, which comes in matt, satin or gloss, and offers vivid colours, high whiteness and a smudge-resistant instant-dry finish. The range of Jessops photo quality gloss and satin inkjet papers have been developed to provide the combined benefits of a high white base colour with extended light stability. These new grades provide up to a 30% improvement in base paper light stability when compared to Jessops previous grades. Jessops quality gloss and satin inkjet papers start from £6.50 for a pack of 50 sheets.

The Lightbank 350 is a powerful mains operated continuous lighting kit with 7 x 50w compact fluorescent bulbs in each head. The bulbs are 5400k balanced daylight compact fluorescent bulbs so are perfect for both photography and videography. There are three switches on the back of the unit that allow bulbs to be turned off. You can turn off one, two or four bulbs or any combination giving complete flexibility on the amount of light output. Included in the kit are two Lightbank 350 heads with fourteen 50w compact fluorescent lightbulbs, two diffusers and two light stands. The Lightbank 350 studio lighting kit has an introductory price of £289.99.

Website: Lightbank 350

S-t-r-e-t-c-h your talent and take your photographic abilities to new heights with Photo Iconic’s Mountains & Panoramas photography course in the Tatra Mountains in October. Focusing on horizontal and vertical panoramic photography, and on landscape and black and white images, this tour will venture into the Tatra Mountains National Park with hand-picked locations specifically chosen for panoramic photography. This stunning region of Central Europe offers amazing opportunities for photography, with emerald lakes and valleys, waterfalls and the high Tatra and low Tatra peaks. The course is open to just seven guests, and will cater for all levels of photographic skill. It is suitable for digital and film photographers and for 35mm, medium or large format users. The week-long holiday costs £985, with everything included. And for every booking made, Photo Iconic and Mountain Paradise will donate £100.00 to the Tatra Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation set up in conjunction with the Animals on the Edge program of Living Earth to provide funding for conservation initiatives throughout Tatra Mountains National Park.

VICE Magazine have teamed up with Olympus to stage a special photography project that aims to showcase the hidden creative talents of four cultural icons. This project celebrates the 50th birthday of the design of the classic Olympus Pen and marks the release of its digital successor, the new Olympus E?P1. For Stories of the Eye, Daisy Lowe, Alice Dellal, Miquita Oliver and Lovefoxxx will document their lives through the “eye” of the E?P1, according to their chosen themes. Over the course of six?weeks the girls will upload their photos to the campaign’s home, where users can browse the photos. The project is accompanied by a photographic competition, in which entrants upload their own photographs and each of the girls will be judging the submissions to find a winner for their theme. Each winner will be awarded a brand new Olympus E-P1 worth £699, and the opportunity to exhibit their photos next to Daisy, Alice, Miquita or Lovefoxxx’s photos at the Stories of the Eye exhibition.

Website: Stories of the Eye
Review: Read our in-depth review of the Olympus E-P1

Samsung has unveiled the 12.2-megapixel Samsung ST1000 camera with built-in geo-tagging, Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi connectivity. Offering consumers an ‘always on’ experience, users can now send and post pictures almost as quickly as they take them, whilst the GPS capabilities will keep track of exactly where each picture was shot. Using Bluetooth 2.0 technology, users can wirelessly beam their favourite images to other compatible mobile phone devices. With the Wi-Fi technology, users can email photos direct from their camera and upload their photos or videos to selected popular social networking websites including Facebook, Picasa, YouTube, without needing to connect to a PC. Smart Touch AF is on board to let you quickly change the position of the active AF point. Equipped with a 5x zoom lens and available in silver/red, black/black, red/black, black/gold and blue/grey colours, the Samsung ST1000 allows users to capture twelve-megapixel stills and 720p high-definition video clips. UK availability is slated for late August. The US version of the ST1000 is called the Samsung CL65, and can be yours for $399.99 from September onwards.

Samsung Digital Imaging today announced the arrival of the ultra slim, 12.2-megapixel ST550 and ST500 compact cameras, which boast a ‘world first’: front and back LCD display technology for easy self-portraits. The hidden 1.5” LCD located on the front of the camera allows consumers to take accurate portraits using the front image as a guide – whether it’s a group shot with friends or a snap of yourself on holiday. There is no need to even press the shutter button – a big smile is enough to trigger the cameras to take the picture. On the reverse, the Samsung ST550 features the world’s highest resolution 3.5” wide touch screen LCD. A Smart Gesture User Interface with built-in orientation sensor, means a simple tap or hand gesture allows users to access key features quickly. Furthermore, the ST550 and ST500’s One Touch Auto Focus feature allows you to focus on a user-defined part of the frame by simply touching the desired area. Both the ST500 and the ST550 come with a 27-124mm equivalent zoom lens. 720p video recording at 30 frames per second rounds off the feature set of the new cameras, the difference being that only the ST550 also features HDMI connectivity via an optional adapter. The ST500 will be available in silver, red and blue colours, and the ST550 will come in black, gold, orange and purple from late August. The US versions of these cameras are called the Samsung TL220 and the Samsung TL225, and will hit the shelves in September priced at $299.99 and $349.99, respectively.

Samsung has issued a firmware update for its GX-20 digital SLR camera. Version 1.03 improves the accuracy of the mechanical shake reduction system. You can download the Samsung GX-20 firmware update from the website below.

Website: Samsung GX-20 Firmware
Review: Read our in-depth review of the Samsung GX-20

The new Phantom Miro eX series from Vision Research offers users a custom-designed CMOS sensor capable of shooting 500-1,200 frames per second, and is available in resolutions of 640x480 (Miro eX1, Miro eX2) and 800x600 (Miro eX4). The Phantom Miro eX also offers super-fast exposure times as low as two microseconds (1/500,000 second), allowing users to freeze fast-moving objects and eliminate blur from their video. Maximum sensitivity is ISO 1200 for colour capture and ISO 4800 for monochrome. The Miro eX features a conductive fiber filled polycarbonate body, which reduces the camera’s overall weight to 1.5 pounds (without lens). Vision Research also redesigned the grip to allow the camera to be more comfortable in the hand. All controls are accessed directly through the Phantom Miro eX’s advanced 3.5 inch touch-screen LCD. A built-in triggering system allows users to program the Phantom Miro eX to automatically begin recording as soon as motion is detected within a specific point in the frame (available on Miro eX2 and Miro eX4). The Phantom Miro eX will be available with options of 1GB, 2GB or 4GB of internal memory (1GB only on Miro eX1) and is also compatible with CompactFlash cards. The Phantom Miro eX1 model is priced at less than $10,000 - or you can rent it for two days for $750 - and is available for online ordering only at the website below.

Website: Vision Research

Shoot it!, LLC, today announced the launch of its postcard messaging application for the iPhone. Available on the iPhone App Store, the shoot it! application allows users to take a picture, create a personal message and have it mailed as a real postcard from anywhere to anyone in the world (US & Western Europe open now - other countries soon). Available for 99 cents at the iPhone App Store, shoot it! comes with one free postcard.

Adventure Collection, an alliance of ten premium adventure travel companies has launched an adventure travel photo contest, “Adventures of a Lifetime”. The competition celebrate the launch of the alliance’s new website, AdventureCollection.com.  Grand prizes include five extraordinary trips - Adventure Collection journeys for two to Tibet, the Czech Republic, the Galapagos and other locations around the world. All adventure travellers are invited to enter their best adventure travel photos at Adventures of a Lifetime Photo Contest. Five contest finalists will be selected each month from August through November by popular vote. The winner will be chosen by a panel of distinguished travel journalists, editors and photographers, including Conde Nast Traveler consumer news editor Wendy Perrin, renowned photographer Robert Holmes, Jim Benning, founder and editor of the Travel Channel’s WorldHum.com, Los Angeles Times travel editor Catharine Hamm, and Adventure Collection editor in chief Don George. We recommend that you read the rules thoroughly before entering.

BUILT has announced the expansion of its line of stylish and protective neoprene accessories for cameras and laptops, and debuts four new accessories at IFA including the Cargo Travel Organizer, Cargo Camera Bags, and Large Soft Shell Camera Case. “Shutterbugs have a reason to rejoice with the debut of the Medium and Large Cargo Camera Bags,” the company says. “They’ll love the cool designs, but these bags don’t coast on good looks alone—they’re big enough to hold a large range of SLR cameras and accessories. The two layers of neoprene provide extra protection to keep equipment safe, and the removable Velcro dividers allow for customisation every time it’s used.” BUILT has also announced a Large Soft Shell Camera Case that provides easy access — and extra protection — for long zoom cameras. You can see the new camera bags at the upcoming IFA show in Berlin, in Hall 12, Stand 101.

The new TwinLink flash radio trigger kit from Seculine comprises a 16 channel radio transmitter and receiver, which use a combination of both radio and IR technology to ensure the reliability of the triggering mechanism, whilst also giving a range of up to 150ft indoors and 600ft outside. The system can be used with studio flash systems from most manufacturers and incorporates a facility to attach the receiver magnetically to the case of your studio flash head or generator. The receiver also has a built in flash hot shoe so that it can be used to attach and trigger your standard camera flashgun, while being mounted directly on a tripod head – or even maybe a Gorillapod. The Seculine TwinLink T2D Radio Flash Trigger will be available at the end of August at a suggested retail price of £119.99 including VAT.

Kubota Image Tools has announced the newest addition to the Kubota Lightspeed Workflow family – new Kubota RPG SpeedKeys for Lightroom 2. Kubota RPG SpeedKeys for Lightroom 2 is a wireless USB keypad with 1-button access to: essential adjustments such as brightness, exposure, fill light and more; the most popular Kubota Lightroom presets; and advanced tools such as paint with light, burn, soften skin, and hand-colour. The Kubota RPG SpeedKeys comes loaded with 29 Kubota Lightroom Presets. As a bonus, the SpeedKeys comes with the entire collection of Kubota Lightroom Presets v3, which includes develop, export, print, filter and more. The system requirements are a PC or Mac running Adobe Lightroom 2 or higher, and an available USB 2.0 port. The Kubota RPG SpeedKeys for Lightroom are available for purchase at: http://www.kubotaimagetools.com/ for $349.

In this year’s Summer Sale Pixum offers the most popular photo prints sizes, 4”, 4.5” and 5”, with up to 54% discount. The greatest novelty of this Summer Sale is that customers do not need to enter a voucher code – all prices are reduced automatically. The special Pixum Summer Sale prices are: 4” prints for 4p, 4.5” prints for 6p and 5” prints for 8p. Customers only need to upload their pictures to Pixum and order prints in the sizes they wish to receive for reduced rates. The Summer Sale ends on 31 august 2009.

Nikon Corporation has announced the winners of the Nikon Photo Contest International 2008-2009. One of the world’s largest and most prestigious photo contests, the Nikon Photo Contest International, held since 1969 and staged every other year, provides an opportunity for photographers around the world to communicate and enrich photographic culture for professionals and amateurs alike. This year’s theme was Nikon’s brand statement, “At the heart of the image.” Peter G. Allinson, M.D, of Kingsville, MD, received first place in the “My Planet” category, for his work, entitled “Friends.” The Nikon Photo Contest International also recognised Danny Ghitis, of Brooklyn, N.Y., as one of four “Emerging Talents.” The full list of winners, along with their works, can be seen on the Nikon Photo Contest International website.

Website: Nikon Photo Contest International