Light & Land has announced its 2009 photography tour dates. With over 50 tours planned for next year, whether you are looking for a one day workshop, a long weekend in the Lake District, a saunter round Santorini, or a trek across the Namib Desert, there’s something for every photographer. Founder Charlie Waite said: ‘Light & Land has clients from all walks of life and of all ages – you will often find there’s an amazing bond which forms on many tours, a great sense of camaraderie and fun, as well as a shared interest in photography.’

The Leaf AFi II, Aptus II and Broncolor Scoro will be launched in the UK this month. Taking place at Peartree’s brand new showroom in London on the 12th November, you will be able to gain first hand experience with the new Leaf AFi II 10 and Aptus II 10 camera systems and Broncolor Scoro power pack. Places will be limited, so it will be entry via invitation only.

The new WD TV Media Player allows you to view photos stored on a portable hard drive on a HDTV in Full-HD 1080p resolution. Simply leave the WD TV HD Media Player connected to your TV and plug in up to two My Passport USB drives or other USB mass storage devices. Using the included remote control, you can navigate and play your content with the WD TV’s high-definition on-screen menu. The WD TV HD Media Player is available now for $129.99.

Panasonic are in talks with Sanyo to create Japan’s largest electronics retailer. Panasonic will approach Sanyo’s top three shareholders, with a sale of their shares possible from March 2009. Panasonic are particularly interested in Sanyo’s battery business, including the solar battery division.

Website: Panasonic to Start Talks to Acquire Sanyo

Get up to £50 off a digiframe when you also buy a Nikon Coolpix digital camera. Valid in the UK from 1st November – 31st December 2008, customers purchasing a Nikon Coolpix camera can claim up to £50 off a digiframe or the value of the digiframe, when purchased in the same transaction from the same retailer. Claims must be received by 31st January 2009 to qualify.

US camera manufacturer Concord has gone into liquidation, blaming declining sales of film and single-use cameras. Concord have been unable to find a buyer, and has subsequently ceased manufacturing and made most of its workforce redundant. Concord cameras were mainly sold in Wal-Mart and Walgreens in the US.

Website: Broward-based Concord Camera to close

Photographer Annabel Williams and Contemporary Photographic Training have announced a new range of photography workshops for 2009. Held in the Lake District, UK, the workshops cater for every level of photographer, run throughout the year, and last between one and four days. ‘Photography does not need to be complicated, neither does the way we train people! No slogans, unrealistic business theories or jargon here - we implement tried and tested, sensible approaches to business - enabling development for all.’ said Catherine Connor, who runs CPT alongside Annabel Williams and Jane Breakell.

If you’re looking for a pocket camera that complements or even replaces your DSLR, then the new Canon PowerShot G10 and Nikon Coolpix P6000 should be high on your list. But which one is the best? Find out now by reading our in-depth head to head review.

Website: Canon G10 V Nikon P6000 Review

Ricoh have released a new firmware update, v1.51, for the Ricoh GX100 digital camera. Version 1.51 includes the following improvements:

1. Modified the following phenomenon.
After switching from the Auto mode to a My setting mode, and then you get back the Auto mode again, the zoom position of the lens will always become at wide end.

Website: Ricoh GX100 Firmware Update 1.51

WD has added a high-speed FireWire 800 interface to its popular My Passport Studio portable drive. With FireWire 800/400 and USB interfaces, the new My Passport Studio portable drives offer up to 500 GB of storage capacity, are formatted for Mac computers and weigh less than 7 ounces. “Photographers and videographers, be they creative pros or Mac computer enthusiasts, have a genuine need for large amounts of fast, portable storage for their high-definition files,” said Jim Welsh, senior vice president and general manager of WD’s Branded Products and Consumer Electronics Groups. “With a new FireWire 800 interface, My Passport Studio speeds up editing and transferring of big media files making it perfect for performance-minded Mac computer users on the go.” My Passport Studio with FireWire 800/400 interfaces and 500 GB capacity is $249.99, and for 400 GB capacity is $229.99.

According to a report by InfoTrends, the number of snapshot photographers has increased, while the number of hobbyists has decreased. Kodak is the leading brand among “family memory keepers”, maintaining its lead since 2004, while Canon leads the way in the hobbyist sector. According to InfoTrends’ Director Mette Eriksen, “This is important for Canon because it will have helped secure sales of entry-level digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras to brand loyal hobbyists.”

The Pocket Album Deluxe OLED 2.8 is a new pocketable photo viewer from Digital Foci. Pocket Album Deluxe OLED 2.8 holds over 4,000 photos and features a 2.8-inch OLED screen with a contrast ratio of 10,000:1.  It allows photos to be viewed by scrolling manually or randomly with an automatic photo slideshow with adjustable intervals. Available in Red, Sky Blue and Charcoal, the Pocket Album Deluxe OLED 2.8 is priced at $99.

CameraBag allows iPhone and iPod Touch owners to quickly and easily improve their photos by flipping between pre-defined camera filters. CameraBag’s advanced filters that emulate several different camera and film styles, giving your photos an old-school, cinematic appeal. Version 1.3 offers 8 different filters, including the new fisheye lens filter. CameraBag costs £1.79 / $2.99 for a limited time.

Win a session with a professional family photographer, $50 Target Gift Cards, or a year’s supply of milk (!) in Gather.com’s Halloween photo contest. Simply share a favorite Halloween costume photo to enter, with the five most-viewed entries in each of 5 categories being announced as finalists. The winner of each category will receive a $50 Target Gift Card, and one Grand Prize Winner will receive a professional photo shoot with a local photographer for his or her family. From today through Thursday, November 6th, entrants can post their photo contest submissions.

The new Nikon Coolpix P6000 is a serious compact camera, with a wealth of features on offer to tempt the enthusiast. Built-in GPS support, LAN connectivity, RAW file format, and a 28mm wide-angle lens are the headline-grabbers, plus there are a number of more subtle touches including a DSLR-like handgrip, optical viewfinder, flash hotshoe, and not forgetting the 13.5 megapixel resolution. Does all of this add up to make the Nikon P6000 the ultimate prosumer digicam, and can it challenge the likes of the Canon PowerShot G10 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3? Mark Goldstein braved the icy London weather to find out…

Website: Nikon Coolpix P6000 Review

The Trek-Tech Optera is a flexible, hold-tight tripod that securely secures your DSLR camera. The Optera is designed for rugged outdoor use, with a water-resistant bottom and rubber feet for added grip, and it even wraps around your camera for protection whilst carrying. Available in two sizes, the Optera 230 has a 230mm leg length and the Optera 460 Pro 460mm. The Optera 230 will be available from the middle of November for £44.99, and the Optera 460 Pro for £54.99.

XDepth 48 is a new technology that allows JPEG images to reach a maximum of 16 bit for each RGB component. XDepth 48 employs the same image reconstruction algorithm offered with XDepth Raw, thus avoiding common JPEG and JPEG2000 artifacts. It also offers improved compression of files, with XDepth asserting that a 48bit TIFF of 6088x4550 pixels would be 166MBs in size, with the equivalent XDepth 48 JPEG only being 17MBs. Further details are scarce, but there is a full-sized sample available for download.

Website: XDepth 48

Sigma’s range of EO-ETTL II flashguns do not work with the Canon EOS 50D DSLR camera. The Autozoom function does not work properly, and exposure is not set correctly. Sigma are supplying a free-upgrade service to their customers to solve the problem. All new products shipped after today already include the updated firmware.

Buy a LaCie external storage device and get unlimited online backup for one year after installation, worth $49.95. The online backup service is powered by well-known provider Carbonite. “LaCie Online Backup provides one year of free unlimited online storage to showcase the importance of backup strategies that keep data safe, and our dedication to helping users get there.” said Philippe Spruch, LaCie Chief Executive Officer. Unlimited LaCie Online Backup will be available at no extra charge for one full year beginning November 2008 on LaCie consumer hard drives.

Popular photo hosting website Digital Railroad has shut down with immediate effect. Attempts to find additional financing have been unsuccessful, forcing Digital Railroad to close all operations. Digital Railroad’s main aim was to provide an archiving and marketing services for the professional photographer. It also recently branched out into stock photography. Rival service PhotoShelter is offering Digital Railroad customers three free months if they sign up for a Standard or Pro annual subscription by November 4th.