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.

The International Filter Photo Contest 2008/9 is open to anyone who has taken a photograph using any type of filter. Sponsored by Kenko with a top prize of 500,000 Yen of Kenko products, there are a total of 139 prizes to be won with a total prize fund of 2,900,000 Yen. Images can be of any subject and taken on digital or film cameras, black and white or colour. Entries to the International Filter Photo Contest must be submitted by 31st December 2009.

Do you want to drastically increase the size of your photos without sacrificing image quality? Are you frustrated by the results from Photoshop? Enter stage left, Genuine Fractals 6, the latest version of one of the oldest, most popular image enlargement programs around. Version 6 adds texture presets, gallery wrap function, batch processing, tiling for smaller printers and integreation with Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2. Genuine Fractals 6 is available in a Professional Edition and a Standard Edition for $299.95 and $159.95 respectively. Jon Canfield discovers if Genuine Fractals 6 is still “The Industry Standard for Image Enlargement”...

Website: Genuine Fractals 6 Review

Nikon have released a new firmware update, version 2.01, for the D3 DSLR camera. The most notable changes are geodata support for ViewNX and Capture NX, improved Continuous-servo AF performance, and the ability to use the AF-ON button and multi selector to choose a focus point.

Nikon have released a new firmware update, version 1.01, for the D700 DSLR camera. The following improvements have been made in version 1.01

- When Custom Setting a4 Focus tracking with lock-on was set to Off in Continuous-servo AF, the lens drive moved gradually without achieving focus.  This issue has been resolved.
- When the Speedlight SB-800 was mounted on the camera with flash mode set to Distance-priority manual (GN) mode, and then the exposure meters were reactivated or the camera was turned on, the distance information displayed on the SB-800 changed.  This issue has been resolved.
- When the Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10 was mounted on the camera and an EN-EL3e battery inserted in the camera but no batteries inserted in the MB-D10, and SB-900 flash mode set to TTL auto flash mode, the flash mode changed to A mode when the exposure meters turned off or were reactivated, or the camera was turned off or on.  This issue has been resolved.  (This issue has also been resolved with SB-900 firmware Ver. 5.02.

Samsung is aiming for a 10% share of the global digital camera market in 2009. Last year Samsung’s share was 9%, compared to leaders Canon (20%) and Sony (17%). According to the article by The Nation, Samsung will apparently concentrate on mid to high level cameras in developing countries, as it expects “demand would still be flat in some countries, including the United States, China, Australia and Ukraine”.

Website: The Nation

A Message for Obama is a new collaborative photo book from Blurb, The Guardian and Flickr. guardian.co.uk asked internet users to share their personal messages to Obama online by uploading a photo, the results of which are compiled in “A Message for Obama”. The book is be 140 pages long, with a recommended retail price of up to £9.99, and is available now.

VueScan 8.5.01 adds support for an additional 180 digital camera raw files. VueScan is the world’s most widely used 3rd party scanning software. VueScan is available in two editions, Standard Edition ($39.95 USD) and Professional Edition ($79.95).

Website: VueScan 8.5.01

Canon have released a new firmware update, version 1.1.1, for the Canon EOS 40D digital SLR camera. This firmware update incorporates the following improvements and fixes.

  1.  Fixes a malfunction that in rare occurrence causes a low battery indication to be displayed when using the EF 85mm F1.2L II USM lens. Depending on the battery check timing of the camera, the battery level displayed on the camera’s LCD data panel may shows Battery will be exhausted soon or Battery must be recharged, even though the battery capacity is sufficient.
  2. Fixes a malfunction that in rare occurrence causes an Err 06 Self Cleaning Sensor malfunction to appear on the camera’s LCD monitor and LCD data panel, even when the Self Cleaning Sensor Unit is operating normally. This message may appear depending on the timing of when the camera is switch to the ON position.
  3. Fixes a malfunction that prevents correct colors from being printed when direct printing. RAW images captured using the camera’s custom Picture Styles (Emerald, etc.), which have been downloaded from Canon’s Web site and registered under User Def. 2 or User Def. 3.
  4. Modifies the level of subject brightness that causes the AF-assist beam to fire when using an external Speedlite.
  5. Enables an external flash connected to the camera’s synchro terminal to fire even when the camera’s built-in flash is popped up.

Website: Canon EOS 40D Firmware Update 1.1.1

Instant film for Polaroid cameras could be available again by 2010. The company Impossible b.v. has purchased Polaroid’s former factory in the Netherlands with the “aim to re-invent and re-start production of analog integral film for vintage Polaroid cameras.” The new film will be different to Polaroid film and will have a completely new brand name.

Website: The Impossible Project