Tamron has announced the winners of its 2008 Wet & Wild user photo competition. John O’Bryan of Moscow, Idaho won the Grand Prize title, winning a Tamron AF28-300mm VC zoom lens, and Donald Handley was named the People’s Choice winner. The theme of the 2009 contest - Americana - Photographs That Define American Culture - was revealed earlier this week.

The LaCie LaCinema Rugged multimedia hard disk provides high quality movie viewing in a unique scratch-resistant aluminum shell. Optimized viewing through HDMI 1080i upscaling will allow you to play back videos on your HDTV or enjoy photos in clear HD resolution. “The LaCinema Rugged is the long-needed solution to the challenge of entertainment on the go,” said Christelle Dexet, LaCie Multimedia Product Manager. “The Rugged’s triple protection design and larger capacity options mean users can be confident transporting their digital entertainment collections to any location for enjoyment.” The LaCie LaCinema Rugged is available now for $199.

The Canon PowerShot SX10 IS is the newest 20x ultra-zoom camera on the block, and the first such model from Canon. Offering a massive focal length of 28-560mm, the Canon SX10 also features a sensible 10 megapixels, built-in image stabilisation, tilting 2.5 inch LCD screen, and a full range of manual shooting modes. Gavin Stoker ventured out into the murky grey world of a British winter to find out what the PowerShot SX10 IS has to offer.

Website: Canon PowerShot SX10 IS Review

Pentax have launched a new ad campaign dubbed “Be Interesting” in the USA. “Pentax users, and people who are naturally drawn to the brand, truly are independent spirits. They don’t follow. They decidedly beat their own drum. The campaign’s idea is to celebrate that independent spirit.” said Jim Real, Associate Creative Director/Copy at advertising agency RPA. The Be Interesting tagline will be deployed across all Pentax brochures, packaging and internal communications.

FotoNation FaceEnhance automatically reduces the appearance of wrinkles and other skin imperfections from human faces in an image. Designed to be licensed to camera and picture frame manufacturers, Face Enhance can be applied automatically upon image capture, or applied manually in the display setting when viewing an image. “The FotoNation FaceEnhance solution is the latest addition to our portfolio of image enhancement technologies that are transforming the next generation of camera-enabled devices,” said Michael Bereziuk, executive vice president, Imaging & Optics, Tessera.

dxomark.com is a new website that allows you to compare the image quality of RAW files from digital cameras. Available as a free online resource, dxomark.com makes it possible to assess the intrinsic quality of a camera before the impact of any RAW conversion. DxOMark Sensor aggregates dxomark.com’s large and complex set of measures into a simple scale, allowing for easy comparison between camera performances.

Clickfree automatic backup drives have updated with 250, 320 and 500 GB storage capacities. The three new Clickfree drives - HD525, HD325 and HD225 - automatically backup important digital content such as photos, music, data and video. Clickfree backup solutions that work right out of the box and do not require software installation or configuration. The Clickfree Portable Backup HD325 retails for £124.99 and the HD225 retails for £114.99.

The winners of the 2008 Olympus BioScapes competition have just been announced. Mr. M. I. “Spike” Walker of Staffordshire, England, took top honors for the shimmering image of what is called a fairy fly. Mr. Walker’s image triumphed over more than 1500 other images and movies - a competition record - to earn him $5000 worth of Olympus equipment. This year, in addition to Prizes 1-10, 70 other images and movies were recognized with Honorable Mentions. Twenty of the 2008 winning and Honorable Mention images will be displayed in San Francisco at an event on December 14, and then will begin a national tour.

Sony have unveiled a 12.25 megapixel CMOS sensor for use in camera phones. The 1/2.5 CMOS “Exmor” image sensor features the industry’s smallest unit cell size (1.4µm), highest pixel count, and 10 frames/s continuous shooting. Sony claim that its new sensor “realizes high-definition image quality equivalent to compact digital still cameras” - there’s a sample image with a 100% crop after the jump, so you can judge for yourselves.

Trying to appeal to Polaroid users, the Fujifilm Instax 200 Instant Film Camera and Instant Color Film are now available in the USA. The Fujifilm Instax 200 captures and delivers vivid, high-quality prints in an instant, featuring an automatically-adjusting flash, high-resolution retracting lens and a big, clear viewfinder. The Instax 200 and Instax Instant Color Film will begin shipping in late December for $69.99 and $28.99 respectively.

RED are taking on Canon and Nikon by launching a DSLR camera that can shoot stills and video. Just one of the many options in a brand new and completely modular system, you can configure exactly how you want your camera to be, with two different “brains” available (Scarlet and EPIC), 6 different Mysterium-X sensor sizes (including 617 / 186x56mm!), and literally millions of different combinations. The killer headline? Nikon and Canon mounts are supported! If you’ve ever wanted to create your own DSLR camera, this is your first ever opportunity (albeit an expensive one).

Website: RED DSLR Camera

Kodak has updated its free Easyshare Software to version 7.1. The latest version adds video uploads to YouTube with one click, new editing tools including facial retouch and adding text, and a wide range of creative print-at-home options. Kodak EasyShare Software v7.1 is available now as a free download.

Website: Kodak EasyShare Software 7.1

Ricoh have released a firmware update for the R10 compact camera. Version 1.15 fixes the following issues:

1.  At enlarged display in the playback mode, if you press the DISP. button to switch the position display window off, the right side frame of the window may remain.
2. When you use an 8 MB SD card that has not been formatted in a camera, if you playback the first picture in the card in a camera, the picture will not be displayed correctly.

Website: Ricoh R10 Firmware Update 1.15

Bogen is running a free webinar titled “Wondering How to Select the Right Tripod and Head?”. The course will provide photographers with techniques and tips for selecting and maintaining the perfect supports for their equipment. Participants will get one on-one interaction with the instructors, and will be automatically entered for a chance to win a Manfrotto tripod and head, or a Gitzo tripod and head. The Bogen Tripod webinar will be held on Friday, November 14, 2008 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST.

Digital Anarchy’s Knoll Light Factory plugin is now compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Windows Vista 64-bit (x64). Version 3.0.2 takes advantage of the faster performance and better memory handling that Vista x64 supports. Knoll Light Factory enhances the lighting in Photoshop images to produce dramatic or natural effects. Digital Anarchy other plugins will be updated for the Windows 64-bit environment in Q1 2009.

New Suburbia by Bill Owens is the follow-up to his famous 1970’s book and photography series, Suburbia. On show at the PDNB Gallery in Dallas, USA from November 22, 2008 - January 3, 2009, New Suburbia is in color rather than black and white, but again focuses on how we live. There will be an artist reception and book signing on Saturday, November 22, 2008 from 5 - 8 PM.

To celebrate their first anniversary, Eye-Fi are releasing a 4GB Eye-Fi Anniversary Edition wireless SD memory card. The Eye-Fi Anniversary Edition doubles storage capacity to 4GB and also features faster memory speeds. Like the Eye-Fi Share, the Anniversary Edition wirelessly sends photos from a digital camera to a computer and to one of more than 25 online photo sharing sites. The new card is available only at Costco.com for $99 to club members, or on www.eye.fi for $129, while supplies last.

30-day try-out versions of all the new Adobe CS4 applications are now available. Not sure if Photoshop CS4 is worth upgrading to? Then just register for a free Adobe account to try it out. The trial period lasts for 30 days after you first launch the application.

Website: Adobe Downloads

The new Flip MinoHD from Pure Digital is the world’s smallest high definition camcorder. The Mino HD can record up to 60 minutes of 720p HD video on 4GB of internal memory and features Flip Video’s new FlipShare software. “Consumers have embraced Flip Video because it delivers on the promise of making video simple, affordable, and fun,” said Jonathan Kaplan, Pure Digital’s chairperson and CEO. “Flip MinoHD, along with our new FlipShare software, now make it easy for anyone to capture and share their stories in stunning HD quality.” The Flip MinoHD is available now for $229.99.

The theme for the 2009 Tamron User Photo Contest is “Americana - Photographs That Define American Culture”. The Grand Prize Winner will receive a Tamron AF18-270mm zoom lens worth $599. Pictures submitted must be original, the property of the photographer, and photographed using a Tamron lens. The 2009 Tamron User Photo Contest is open to Tamron users residing in the United States and all entries must be received no later than October 31, 2009.