The Unibind PhotoBook Album Kit allows you to create unique personalized gifts, photo albums and memory books. Featuring special themes for events and holidays, the PhotoBook Album Kit requires no software or computer to make durable hard cover albums in minutes. The Unibind PhotoBook Album Kit is available immediately in a variety of themes, album sizes, and colors, priced between $14.99 - $24.99 according to the PhotoBook size chosen.

The Sony A900 DSLR currently offers the best bang for your buck in terms of sheer resolution - about $3,000 / 2800 Euros / £2100 buys you this 24.6 megapixel, full-frame pro-level camera. Leading the megapixel race isn’t the only ace up the A900‘s sleeve, with a host of professional features on offer including a body-integrated image stabilization system, large optical viewfinder with 100% field of view coverage, 5fps continuous shooting, maximum shutter speed of 1/8000s, x-sync speed of 1/250s and high-resolution LCD screen. The A900 is Sony’s first attempt at persuading pro shooters and well-heeled prosumers to turn away from Canon and Nikon and buy into a relatively young system. Zoltan Arva-Toth finds out if the Sony A900 deserves your consideration…

Website: Sony A900 Review

The new Olympus FE-35 digital camera combines 10 megapixels with a 3x optical zoom (36-108mm). The FE35 is powered by easily-available, standard AA batteries, so you’ll never be caught stranded in need of power. Features more usually associated with expensive cameras have been included without inflating the FE 35’s modest price tag. These include Intelligent Auto Mode and Advanced Face Detection Technology that make it easy to get the perfect shot the first time. With Digital Image Stabilisation, the FE-35 boosts image sensor sensitivity to reduce camera shak’. The Olympus FE-35 is available in elegant shades of gold, black or deep blue from late January in the UK and selected outlets in Europe.

The Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2009 competition has just opened for submissions. Celebrating its 30th year, a Newcomers Award has been added which is open to all photographers aged 25 years and under. The winner of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award will receive 5,000 euros or, alternatively, Leica camera equipment to the same value. The winner of the Newcomer Award will be awarded 2,500 euros.

Whether you’re just starting out or have a great portfolio, Name Your Dream Assignment is a chance for photographers to go anywhere in the world on assignment. The Name Your Dream Assignment organizers are inviting anyone to submit an idea for a never-done-before photo shoot. Everyone will have a chance to vote on their favorite idea, and a panel of judges (including me!) will select from the top 20 most creative and inspiring suggestions. The winner will get a $50,000 cash award plus lots of goodies including a Lenovo ThinkPad W700 notebook computer with Windows Vista, specially designed for photographers.

This is a great chance for starting photographers to enter the profession and to be recognized for their photography accomplishments through their creativity and imagination, rather than just their connections. You don’t need to be a pro photographer, or even to have a portfolio. Established photographers will get more exposure and a great assignment of their own making. The competition Web site will open to accept entries in early March. In the meantime, visit the site and enter your email to get updates and info when the competition opens.

Website: Name Your Dream Assignment

Release Candidate versions of Photoshop Lightroom 2.3 and Photoshop Camera Raw 5.3 are now available. Both release candidates provide additional raw file support for the Nikon D3X and Olympus E-30 cameras. In addition,the Lightroom 2.3 Release Candidate provides a solution to a memory leak that affected some customers of the Lightroom 2.2 release. The ‘release candidate’ label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing.

We’ve teamed up with Picaholic.com to offer you a 20% discount. Picaholic leads the industry with high impact flash websites for a fraction of the cost (from $15 per month). Photographers, musicians, artists - just about everyone – we have what you need. Sign up with Picaholic.com and receive a 20% discount when using the below coupon code, exclusive to PhotographyBLOG readers.

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Yosemite’s Horsetail Falls is the subject of The Ansel Adams Gallery’s first One Day Workshop. Michael Frye, author of the Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, will lead up to ten participants to photograph Horsetail Fall’s waterfall, which appears to glow orange-red, as if on fire. The workshop takes place on February 20th and 22nd and costs $225.

Photographer Paul Graham is in conversation with New York Times writer Philip Gefter at New York’s Visual Arts Theater on February 9th. This free event is the first in a series of monthly conversations exploring contemporary photography. British-born Paul Graham is recognized for his innovative and experimental contextualization of images and particularly tender observation of daily life.

The Kodak Wedding Photographer of the Year is Royce Yeacoob of Olney, while Lisa Visser of East Grinstead has been named Kodak Portrait Photographer of the Year. The subject of each of the two winning photographs received £1,000 while 20 Kodak digital cameras were given to the runner up consumers. The MPA are once again teaming-up with Kodak and will soon launch the 2009 Kodak Wedding and Portrait Awards.

The new Olympus SP-565 UZ joins the ever-growing ranks of the Ultra-Zoom compact camera, offering a 20x optical zoom lens that provides a versatile focal range of 26-520mm in a more portable body. This should adequately cover wide-angle landscapes, portraits and close-up action shots, with the SP565 UZ‘s Dual Image Stabilisation system helping to prevent blur caused by somewhat inevitable camera shake. A 2.5 inch LCD screen, P/A/S/M exposure modes, Advanced Face Detection, and xD-Picture Card and microSD Card compatibility complete the 10 megapixel SP 565UZ‘s headline specs. Priced at £349.99 / $399.99, Gavin Stoker got up close and personal to find out if the compact Olympus SP-565 UZ is the right ultra zoom camera for you.

Website: Olympus SP-565 UZ Review

DxO Optics Pro 5.3.2 adds support for the Canon 5D Mark II and the Canon G10, along with 32 new DxO Optics correction modules. In addition, this new version includes various improvements, including installation of the plug-in version for Adobe Photoshop CS4. DxO Optics Pro v5.3.2 and upgrades are available immediately for Mac and Windows platforms.

The Ray Flash Photo Contest is open to all images shot with ExpoImaging’s Ray Flash ring light adapter. The winners’ photos will be published in national photo trade magazines, and they will receive high-end photo gear as well as a Platinum+ membership to One Model Place. Submitters must include both the contest photo taken with a Ray Flash, plus a photo of themselves shooting while using the product. Photos may be submitted from January 16th until March 31th 2009.

Epson has taken a 50% bigger stand at Focus on Imaging 2009, including a dedicated theatre with a full programme of presentations.  “Mike McNamee and Paul Gallagher’s presentations were so popular we have decided to expand the programme of presentations to provide expert advice across a much broader spectrum than was previously possible.” said Kerry Reid, Director of Marketing at Epson. The presentation programme starts at 10.15 every morning, with a presentation every hour. Each presentation will last 30 minutes with an additional 15 minutes for questions and answers.

Olympus has launched new photography classes for beginner and intermediate DSLR camera users. Each class will be taught using one of Olympus’ popular consumer DSLRs, like the E-420, E-520 and E-30, and consumers will learn about vital elements of photography, including aperture, shutter speed, exposure and metering. Starting in in February, the half-day courses will be held at six locations throughout North America.

Sanyo has added 5 new models to its line-up of Xacti Dual Cameras. They include new waterproof HD models (DMX-WH1, DMX-CA9), a stylish Compact HD unit (DMX-CG10), and Full HD 60p cameras (DMX-FH11, DMX-HD2000). The first camera to be released will be the Sanyo HD2000, available starting from February 6th 2009.

The Manfrotto M-Y is a new lightweight, compact and reliable range of tripods. Manfrotto M-Y is designed for photographers using lightweight digital SLR and compact cameras. The easily portable M-Y range is available in 6 different versions, two featuring a three-way head (suitable also for lightweight video camera application) and four featuring a ball head. Weighing slightly more than 1 Kg in the heaviest models, they can support a payload ranging from 2 to 3.5 kg. The Manfrotto M-Y family is available from February 7th 2009, starting at £34.95.

Digital Photography: The Missing Manual is a new book by New York Times tech columnist David Pogue. In this four-color book Pogue demystifies the art of shooting pictures, editing them, organizing them, and distributing them to your audience. Pogue comments “I’m so happy to have this chance to break through both the marketing jargon and the techno jargon—to write an entertaining little book that covers both pocket cameras and the big black SLR models.” David Pogue’s Digital Photography: The Missing Manual costs $24.99 / £18.99.

Phase One is giving away up to 5 free lenses with the P 30+ / P 45+ camera systems. Buy a P 30+ and get 45mm, 80mm and 120mm Macro lenses free, or purchase a P 45+ and choose 5 lenses from the 28mm, 45mm, 75-150mm, 80mm, 120mm Macro and 150mm. This special offer is available until March 31st 2009.

ILFORD GALERIE Smooth Pearl and Gloss papers are now available in roll format. The new GALERIE rolls are fully compatible with the latest inkjet printers, including the new HP Z3200 and Epson 7900 /9900. ILFORD GALERIE Smooth Gloss and Pearl will be available as 17”, 24”, 44” rolls plus 60” pearl rolls starting January 2009.