The Pandigital PhotoLink Handheld Scanner transfers digital images into digital photo frames, PCs and laptops. You can quickly and simply scan existing color and black/white prints, up to 4x6 inches large, directly onto a convenient flash media card. In addition, the PhotoLink scanner can scan in photos that can be downloaded onto a PC or memory card for additional use. The Pandigital PhotoLink Handheld Scanner is available now for $99.99.

Fantasea have launched a new photo competition for users of their underwater equipment. The best pictures of which will be chosen for the new Fantasea screensaver. The overall winner will recieve a Fantasea Nano Single Pro Set, a complete lighting system, with 10 finalists each winning a Fantasea Nano Spotter Light. The deadline for receiving entries is January 5th, 2009.

Visual Similarity Duplicate Image Finder is an inexpensive software application that finds similar and duplicate photos on your computer, saving you hours of time. It uses advanced algorithms to find similar pictures in a way that a human does, even if they are in different image formats, different bit depth and image sizes. The Pro version even supports RAW files from most popular cameras. Jon Canfield used Visual Similarity Duplicate Image Finder to discover just how many multiple versions he’d created over the years…

Website: Visual Similarity Duplicate Image Finder Review

The Lens Trekker 600 AW II from Lowepro is billed as the ultimate backpack for sports and nature photographers. The main compartment can hold a 600mm telephoto lens attached to a pro DSLR, or unattached 800mm lens on its own, plus the lens hood and tripod. The Lens Trekker 600 AW II also comes with the Lowepro Pack Jack Harness System that allows you to adjust the removable torso harness to get a customised fit. The new Lens Trekker 600 AW II is available now in black and costs £199.

The tenth edition of the PhotographyBB Online Magazine has just been released. This month’s release includes a tutorial on better night photography, a guide on keeping your camera gear (and yourself) safe when shooting in winter conditions, Photoshopping your own personalized holiday cards, “Is CS4 worth the upgrade?,” a look at infrared photography, and much more. PhotographyBB Online Magazine is available for free download.

The FS-610 is a new underwater housing for the Nikon Coolpix S610 and S610c digital cameras. Fantasea’s new housing design and improved construction, together with a depth rating to 60 meters/200 feet, makes the FS-610 ideal for outdoor and underwater photographers. The Fantasea FS-610 housing has a double O-ring seal on all controls, anti-glare hood over LCD screen, 46mm port ring thread and built-in diffuser. The Fantasea FS-610 is currently available for $198.95.

Hasselblad’s new Camera Care Plan will provide international coverage to professional photographers, including 24 hour help desk and day-to-day exchange service. Corporate After Sales Manager, Carsten Kronborg, commented “...when photography is your profession, any equipment down time is potential lost revenue or dissatisfied clients. For this reason, we have developed the Hasselblad Camera Care Plan.” The Hasselblad Camera Care Plan will also provide up to two years of extended warranty coverage on top of the standard factory warranty.

The winners of Sony Ericsson’s World View 2008 cameraphone competition have been announced. The camera phone photo entitled “Peace” by Marriane Nill from the Philippines has won the ‘Expert’s Choice Award’. Marriane received a once in a life time photography trip for two, worth £10,000. Gisela Cañete from Argentina was named as the winner of the “The People’s Choice Award”. World View 2009 will kick off in the first half of 2009.

onOne Software have released holiday-themed frames, textures, layouts, backgrounds, and adornments for their PhotoFrame 3 and PhotoFrame 4 Photoshop plug-ins. “In the spirit of the holidays, we wanted to give our PhotoFrame users free content to add to their frame, texture and adornment library,” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. “This is just the first of many free frame packs that we intend to provide to PhotoFrame users so they continue to get extra value out of their software.” These free elements are in addition to the 1000+ frames, backgrounds, textures, and adornments included with PhotoFrame 4.

Ricoh have released a new firmware update for the Ricoh R8, a 10 megapixel digital camera with a 7.1 wide-angle zoom lens. The new firmware update, version 1.26, modifies the following phenomenon:

- If you make the [Level Compensation] in the playback mode to a captured image with [N640] (pic. quality / size) and with [Date Imprint], the numbers of date in the picture may blur.

Website: Ricoh R8 Firmware Update 1.26

We’ve just published sample photos taken with a production version of the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, the World’s first Micro Four Thirds camera. There are 40 full-sized JPEGs and 6 RAWs for you to download. Our full Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 review will be published very soon…

Website: Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 Sample Images

Adobe Configurator is a new utility that enables you to create your own panels for Photoshop CS4. Configurator makes it easy to drag and drop tools, menu items, scripts, actions, and other objects into a panel design, then export the results for use inside Photoshop. Configurator is free for anyone to use, and a full 30-day tryout version can be downloaded now.

Canon have updated four of their software programs for Windows and Mac OS X. The updates add new features and support for the EOS 5D Mark II camera. The latest versions are:

- Digital Photo Professional 3.5.1
- EOS Utility 2.5.1
- Picture Style Editor 1.4.1
- WFT Utility 3.3

Website: Canon Software Updates

In 2007 the DSLR market grew by 40% compared to the point-and-shoot market, according to new research from InfoTrends. The market will grow 16% in 2008 and will not peak until 2012. InfoTrends’ research indicates that first time buyers will be drawn to ease of use, mainstream retailers (rather than specialty stores), small models, colors, and low prices. Repeat buyers will find features such as increased light sensitivity and reduced image noise, automated geo-tagging, and wireless technology appealing.

Kingston Technology have announced a 64Gb version of their DataTraveler 150 USB flash drive. “The new 64GB DataTraveler 150 takes transportable storage to the next level with big capacity in a small package,” said Jaja Lin, Flash business development manager, Kingston. Kingston’s DataTraveler 150 is fully compatible with Windows Vista, XP and Windows 2000 as well as Mac OS X 10.3 (and above) and Linux 2.6 (and above).

Canon USA have asked their customers not to cash rebate checks, following the bankruptcy of the company responsible for processing them. This affects mail-in rebate checks for Canon-brand printer and video products dated on or before November 14, 2008. Canon will be posting details on where to mail your rebate claim material and how to exchange your check for a new check that you will be able to cash.

The new Casio EXILIM Pro EX-FH20 compact camera is all about raw speed, offering a continuous shooting rate of up to 40fps, and movie recording at 1000fps. In direct comparison, most other cameras in its class can shoot at up to 3 fps for stills, and 30fps for video. Admittedly there’s a drop in quality to attain such fast shooting - from 9 to 7 megapixels for stills, and down to 224×56 pixel movies - but the bridge-style EX-FH20 still has a number of tempting features. In addition to the sensible 9 megapixel resolution, there’s a 20x, 26-520mm ultra-zoom lens, 3 inch LCD screen, 1cm macro mode and RAW file support. Is the Casio EX-FH20 the ultimate ultra-zoom camera? Gavin Stoker found out…

Website: Casio EXILIM Pro EX-FH20 Review

Nikon have released a firmware update for the SB-900, their top-of-the-range Speedlight flash gun. The following improvements have been made in version 5.02

- With uninterrupted shooting with the SB-900 set to i-TTL mode, images captured just before the flash ceased firing were sometimes overexposed.
This issue has been resolved.  By resolving this issue, metering precision has been further increased and the number of times the flash fires has also been increased.

- When the SB-900, set to TTL auto flash mode, is used with a camera supporting the Nikon Creative Lighting System (CLS), flash mode automatically changes to A mode according to camera communication status.  That flash mode was previously maintained, but it has been modified so that TTL auto flash mode is restored once the SB-900 again recognizes the camera as a CLS-compatible camera.

Website: Nikon SB-900 Firmware Update 5.02 (Windows)

Website: Nikon SB-900 Firmware Update 5.02 (Mac)

Half of all the American consumer photographs taken in the film era are in danger of being lost forever, according to a new study. GfK Custom Research North America discovered that 75% of Americans know their photos won’t last forever and 85% want their great-grandchildren to see those photos, yet preservation still isn’t a top priority. Americans have taken nearly 550 billion non-digital photos in their lifetimes, yet only about half (55.4%) have tried to preserve even some of them. “Clearly Americans are conflicted about their photos,” said Jim Timony, Senior Vice President, GfK Media and Communications. “While we are certainly dedicated to recording our personal histories and most of us want to share our memories with future generations, many people stop short of attempting to preserve their photos digitally.”

Think Tank Photo are offering free bags or belts when you buy a roller, Airport backpack, or modular set. The offers are

- buy an Airport roller, get a free Lightning Fast DSLR flash modular bag
- buy an Airport backpack, get a free Chimp Cage modular bag
- buy a Modular Set or Skin Set, get a free Pro Speed Belt

All purchases must be from a US retailers or directly from Think Tank Photo. Send in your coupon and sales receipt, and Think Tank Photo will send you the free gift.