Jalbum 8.0 offers entirely new capabilities for photo editing and improved organization of photos. It now covers the whole work-flow from organizing and editing of photos to publishing photo albums online, and it’s still free. “Adding photo editing to Jalbum is a natural step, since most users want to use one tool for their photo management. Answering 25,000 user e-mails gives me a good idea of what our users are looking for” says David Ekholm, Jalbum’s founder. Jalbum consists of freeware album creator software, free hosting and a creative community.

Save up to £120 when you buy Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop CS3 Extended together with Photoshop Lightroom. The discount is available only when Lightroom and Photoshop CS3 or Photoshop CS3 Extended are purchased simultaneously from the Adobe Online Store, and only for customers with shipping addresses in the UK.

Serif’s powerful but affordable desktop publishing and graphics design software is now available in US retail outlets nationwide. The four programs, PagePlus X3, WebPlus X2, DrawPlus X2 and PhotoPlus X2, rival those of their competitors – Microsoft, Adobe and Corel – in functionality, but are more accessible due to their sub $100 price point and ease-of-use. PhotoPlus X2 offers an array of professional-level and dynamic photo editing tools. The four Serif programs range in price from $79.99 to $99.99.

The Fisheye-Hemi Plug-In for Aperture corrects hemispheric fisheye lens distortion, working seamlessly within Aperture’s photo editing and management environment. Fisheye-Hemi Plug-In uses almost all of the pixel data with no loss of image resolution, while displaying the intended composition and framing better than other un-warping programs. “The Fisheye-Hemi Plug-In offers quick and effortless correction of fisheye lens distortion directly within user’s Aperture image library,” said Dan Sullivan, president and CEO of Image Trends, Inc. The Fisheye-Hemi Plug-In is also available for Photoshop on Mac and Windows based machines. Each plug-in is priced at US$29.95.

PhotoAcute Studio promises to remove the noise from High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. PhotoAcute’s special method of dynamic range expansion automatically and almost completely removes the noise from the shadow areas of HDR images. PhotoAcute Studio also increases spatial resolution, extends the depth of field and corrects chromatic aberrations. It supports a variety of image formats, including RAW, DNG and TIFF, and can save the results in Adobe’s DNG format. PhotoAcute Studio Professional costs $119.

FotoAlbum 6 adds GeoTagging, support for XMP metadata and an integrated SQLite database. “We think that FotoAlbum 6 is the perfect tool for users wanting to organize their growing photo and video library,” said Jeff Kelling, FotoTime co founder and Chief Technology Officer. “As hard drive sizes continue to grow, and cameras commonly exceed 10 megapixels, we see FotoAlbum’s move to an integrated relational database not only important for performance, but also key to assuring that user’s data is stored safely, and can easily be used by other applications.” FotoAlbum 6 is available now. FotoTime offers $19.95 upgrade pricing for customers upgrading from FotoAlbum Pro 5, and $39.95 for new customers.

Printer calibration with ICC profiling is now available for SilverFast Ai Studio. Printer calibration ensures a fully calibrated workflow from input to output, and supports a wide range of media, paper types, and inks. “The new SilverFast Printer Calibration with ICC-Profiler will help our customers to create high quality prints, without requiring to purchase new hardware. We know that demanding users not only need superb quality from their scans and prints, they also need a reliable and easy to manage workflow. We feel that our new printer calibration technology will make that possible.” commented Karl-Heinz Zahorsky, President & CEO of LaserSoft Imaging AG. Printer Calibration with ICC-Profiling is available now for Mac and Windows platforms as an optional SilverFast Ai Studio feature at € 99.

The latest version of Phase One’s RAW processing software, Capture One 4.1, is now available. Version 4.1 adds support for the following cameras: Canon 450D/Rebel XSi, Mamiya ZD, ZD Back, Nikon D60, Pentax K20D, K200D, K110D, K100D Super, Sony DSLR-A350, DSLR-A300, DSLR-A200. Two lens correction features, tethered shooting and a Hot Folder feature have also been added. Capture One 4.1 is a free upgrade for licensed users of 4.x. Price for new users is 129 USD / 99 EUR. Capture One 4 PRO is expected later this year.

Canon has released updates for virtually all of its camera software. Digital Photo Professional 3.4.1, EOS Utility 2.4, ZoomBrowser EX 6.1.1a, Picture Style Editor 1.3 and Canon RAW Codec 1.3 are all now available. To download the updates, select your DSLR camera on the Canon USA website, then the Drivers and Downloads tab, and finally choose the appropriate operating system. Here’s an example link using the Canon EOS 5D (pictured):

Website: Canon EOS 5D Drivers & Downloads

ViewGenie Photo Explorer can build a map from photos of a scene and visually explore an environment. ViewGenie is unique in its ability to recognize specific visual detail in an image. “You can upload a bunch of photos from a vacation, or perhaps even a collection of similar photos, place direct tags on the images themselves–and then ViewGenie takes this all, links it together and ultimately tries to match the buildings and the objects using artificial intelligence.” says Parham Aarabi, President and CEO of ViewGenie, Inc. The ViewGenie Photo Explorer application can be embedded in any Web site or blog.

The specification for the Adobe DNG RAW file format has just been updated. Version 1.2.0.0 includes the formalization of the concept of a “camera profile” and a metadata tag to validate your image data.

Website: LightRoom Journal - DNG Specification and Vista DNG Codec

Adobe have released a DNG codec for Windows Vista, allowing DNG files to be viewed within the operating system. The DNG Codec provides a method for Windows Vista users to view DNG files in the Windows Explorer and Photo Gallery. Available as a free download from Adobe Labs, this is a nearly complete Release Candidate version.

Website: DNG Codec for Windows Vista

Bibble Pro 4.10 adds support for eight of the newest digital SLR cameras and 14 new lenses. Version 4.10 adds support for: Nikon D60, Canon Digital Rebel XSi (450D), Sony a200, a300, and a350, Pentax K20D and K200D, and Olympus E-420. Version 4.10 is the last planned update to Bibble Lite and Bibble Pro before the launch of Bibble 5. Bibble 4.10 is available in both “Pro” ($129.95) and “Lite” ($69.95) versions for Windows, Macintosh (PPC/Intel as a Universal Binary) and Linux.

Essentials 2 for iPhoto is a collection of four software tools to correct color, blur a photo, add creative borders and resize digital images. “These tools are designed to allow amateur and advanced amateur photographers to quickly and easily correct color, creatively add blur effects to images, add realistic frame and borders and enlarge digital images to transform even ordinary snapshots into extraordinary images without having to spend hours in front of a computer.” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. Essentials 2 for iPhoto costs $59.95.

FocalPoint is now available as a software plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. onOne Software’s FocalPoint is a selective focus and vignetting plug-in designed to help photographers easily blur and/or vignette areas of an image. “It’s just like having a lens inside of Photoshop. Users set the location of their ‘sweet spot’ of focus directly on their image and then control the amount, kind of blur used and even lighten or darken the edges quickly and easily.” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. The FocalPoint plug-in is available now for $159.95.

All of the assets of Realviz, best known for Stitcher panorama software, have been bought by Autodesk. “REALVIZ’s technology is complementary to Autodesk’s modeling, visual effects and animation products. It will enable us to increase the use of 3D technology across many industries, including architecture, film, broadcast and game development.” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk Platform Solutions and Emerging Business. Stitcher Unlimited, Stitcher Express, ImageModeler and Movimento will continue to be available as standalone products. Matchmover, Retimer and VTour, Stitcher Pro, Stitcher Unlimited DS, StoryViz, and hardware and software product bundles are all discontinued.

The Public Beta of Spyder3Print, version 3.5PB for Mac and Windows, is now available. A free upgrade for all registered PrintFIX PRO or Spyder3Print owners, this update offers significant improvements in speed, workflow, and convenience.

Nik Software have released the Viveza plug-in for Aperture 2.1. Viveza selectively controls light and color in photographic images by placing Control Points directly on colors or objects such as sky, skin or grass to make targeted adjustments. “Viveza perfectly complements Aperture by enabling photographers to make localized enhancements to brightness, contrast, or color without ever having to leave the application.” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. Viveza costs $249.95 / € 249.95, and installs as an Aperture plug-in, fully compatible with Mac OS 10.5.

MAGIX Xtreme PhotoStory on CD & DVD 7 Deluxe converts your photos and videos into a dazzling TV experience. A new user interface now makes it even easier to access optimization features, effects, animations, or camera movement via the completely reworked Media Pool. Photos from digital SLR cameras and scanned images in 3:2 format can also be displayed automatically on the entire screen without black edges. MAGIX PhotoStory on CD & DVD Deluxe is available for £39.99.

BreezeBrowser Pro v1.8 adds full support for RAW conversion from an additional 8 digital cameras. The full list is the Nikon D3, Nikon D300, Pentax K20D, Pentax K10D, Olympus E-3, Sony Alpha DSLR-A700, Canon EOS 450D/Rebel XSi and Canon PowerShot G9 cameras. Shooting data display for Nikon DSLRs has been improved and now include focus point overlay display for recent cameras. BreezeBrowser Pro v1.8 also includes a new HTML template which uses PicLens for dynamic viewing of web galleries.

Website: BreezeBrowser Pro v1.8