OptimumCS is an optimum camera settings calculator that runs on iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Designed for any kind of photography where maximum sharpness over a large depth of field is required, OptimumCS determines the camera settings that will result in the sharpest photographs “the laws of physics will allow”, developer George Douvos says. This approach is quite different from practices based on the international depth of field standard, which have the goal of finding the largest aperture that will provide acceptable sharpness on relatively small prints. OptimumCS is available now on the App Store priced at $2.49.

Athentech Imaging has announced that its Perfectly Clear software for one-touch colour correction is now available as an iPad app. Previously available as a Photoshop plug-in for Mac and Windows, as well as an iPhone app, the new iPad app features eight independent corrections, all operating automatically with one touch. Perfectly Clear for iPad is now available as an online download via the App Store for US$5.99.

Hint App today announces photodream and photodream lite version 2.1.0 for iOS devices. Photodream is an app that allows users to edit their pictures, change colours, rotate and crop images, and share them on social networking sites. While photodream lite is free, photodream 2.1.0 costs $1.99, and available exclusively through the App Store in the Photography category.

A new Android-based trial version of ViewRanger GPS is now available for download. The new version, “ViewRanger GPS Free Trial,” is a fully featured app offered to Android users free of charge for 15 days. Offering an up-to-date, accurate, and cost-effective alternative to dedicated GPS receivers, ViewRanger works with Facebook and can be integrated with Twitter. During the trial period, users can upgrade to the full version by paying the full Open Map edition charge of approximately $4.00, or by purchasing an area of US National Geographic TOPO! premium mapping, or mapping for any one of the other 13 countries available.

DxO Labs have announced a >30% discount on their DxO OPtics Pro software, including both full licenses and product upgrades. DxO Optics Pro Standard Edition is now available for €99 instead of €149, while the Professional Edition can be had for €199 instead of €299. The program can be purchased online in the DxO Labs Shop. The discount offer is valid until 25th December.

Hamrick Software has released an update to VueScan, which adds the ability for Photoshop to import scans directly from the scanning software itself. Version 8.6.66 also adds support for TWAIN drivers for importing images from a scanner into other programs. “This means that importing images using other programs is a lot faster and easier, and also uses less memory when scanning,” says Ed Hamrick, president of Hamrick Software. VueScan is available in two editions, Standard ($39.95) and Professional ($79.95). The Professional Edition adds unlimited free upgrades, advanced IT8 color calibration and support for raw scan files.

Adobe today announced that the Adobe Certified Associate (ACA), an existing certification in entry-level skills for Adobe Dreamweaver, Flash and Photoshop, has been added to UK awarding body OCR’s Creative iMedia suite of qualifications. OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA) is a leading UK awarding body, providing a wide range of qualifications, including AS/A Levels, GCSEs, OCR Nationals, Key Skills, Entry Level qualifications, NVQs, and more. Mark Young, from Academy Class comments on today’s announcement; “Without ACA, an employer has no way of judging how good an interviewee’s skills are in the most popular Adobe packages… So it’s absolutely fantastic that the ACA credential is now recognised by OCR and gives it an even better reputation with both students and industry”

MacPhun has announced the upcoming release of FX Photo Studio 3.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch. This update adds 31 new photo effects and filters, and further simplifies the editing and sharing of pictures, letting users mix and tune photo effects hundreds different ways. One can apply multiple effects to an image and use the multi-step undo option if not satisfied with the results. The update will be available in the App Store in mid-November.

AKVIS Magnifier 4 is a new program that enlarges digital pictures to super-high resolution. The latest version of AKVIS Magnifier 4 includes the ability to make greatly improved reduced images of high quality. The program is available as a plugin to a photo editor, as well as a standalone edition,  for $129 USD or 99 Euro.

Mannheim-based daemgen.net has released ProCamera 2.95 for iOS, which now stores both location and directional metatags with each photo. Version 2.95 allows users to save the exact GPS location from which the photo was taken, plus the precise compass direction in which the camera was pointed. The developer warns that while the app is compatible with a variety of camera-equipped iOS devices, only the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 - which have an integrated gyrocompass - can make use of the new direction recording feature. ProCamera 2.95 is $2.99 and available exclusively through the App Store in the Photography category.

Simply Postcards is a free iPhone app that lets users mail their photos as real postcards from their mobile device to anyone in the world.“Our customers are snapping photos from the Great Wall of China and having their printed postcards arrive in three days,” says CEO Adam Fried. “It’s a really cool technology that we are extremely excited to offer consumers.” The app itself is a free download fromt hte App Store, and every user’s first postcard is also free. Additional postcard credits can be purchased within the app using a major credit card or PayPal.

Sprite Labs have released what it calls the biggest update to their Photo Captions iPhone/iPad app. The update allows users to import a photo from their own Facebook profiles or their friends’ profiles, enhance it, add a caption, tag it and re-post their creation on their wall in less than a minute. The richness of captions is further enhanced now by a set of more than 20 new custom fonts available on iOS 3.1 and above. Additionally, users can now apply special effects/filters to their photos, including Sketch, Posterise, Sepia, Colour Sketch and Burnt Photo. Photo Captions Premium is available on the App Store for $2.99.

Apparent Software has released ImageFramer 3.0 - a total redesign of a well-known image framing application for Mac OS X.. ImageFramer allows framing photos, artwork and other images in a wide array of photo-realistic or artistic frames and mats. Version 3.0 introduces features like combining multiple frames and mats, saving design templates and even an embedded frame editor that allows users to create their own frames from their graphics. System requirements include Mac OS X Version 10.5 or later, Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel and 100MB of disk space (for the Standard edition, 300MB for the Pro version). Standard license of ImageFramer 3.0 costs $39.95, and a lite version can be purchased just for $29.95. Family and Pro licenses can be purchased for $49.95 and $69.95, respectively.

onOne Software has announced its free Perfect Presets for Photoshop Lightroom 3.0. Available in the Develop Module of Lightroom, Perfect Presets have been developed by Mike Wong, and provide automatic colour and tone adjustments as well as several popular effects including noise reduction, black-and-white conversions and several stylised effects. “I initially developed these presets for my own images, ” said Mike Wong. “Like every other photographer, I enjoy editing my images to make them look better and Lightroom is the application where I start that process. These presets are meant to be a starting point to help other photographers in that process and to be used potentially as the basis for creating their own presets.”

Website: onOne Software

Boinx Software has announced PhotoBox for iPad, an applicationthat analyses the technical quality of photos imported from a camera to iPad via the iPad Camera Connection Kit. The app provides photographers with an on-the-spot analysis of images in terms of exposure, focus, color, and overall look and composition. PhotoBox is available now as a free download at the website below.

Olympus has updated its Viewer 2 application to add support for the Olympus E-5 digital SLR camera. Version 1.1 can be downloaded from the website below. The program is compatible with Windows XP SP2 or later, Windows Vista and Windows 7, as well as Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later. You will need to enter your Olympus camera’s serial number to download the program. Existing Olympus Viewer 2 users can update their copy of the software to version 1.1 from within the application (Help menu).

Website: Olympus Viewer 2

Craig’s Actions today announced a number of new Photoshop action sets and presets, and introduced its “WalkAway WorkFlow”. The new products include the Beauty Bar, an action set consisting of “amazingly simple” skin softening and make-up actions; a new collection of Preset Fx for Lightroom and Photoshop comprising the Editorial Fx Presets, Craig’s Fx Essentials Presets and Craig’s Vintage Boudoir Fx Presets. Beauty Bar Actions are available at an introductory price of $97, whilst each of the three Fx Presets can be had for $79.

Boinx Software has updated its FotoMagico slideshow generator for Macintosh. Version 3.6 includes iMediaBrowser 2 integration and updated Flickr A new “Linked to Slides” audio option provides users with the ability to link audio and soundtrack to specific slides, or allows it to move throughout the entire show. In addition, users can now purchase the FotoMagico Remote iPhone app for $4.99 (down from $19.99). FotoMagico 3.6 Pro is available today for $149. The update to FotoMagico 3.6 is free of charge for existing FotoMagico 3.x owners

Redbot Software has today announced Time Lapse Photo Journal Express 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. Time Lapse Photo Journal Express allows users to create Photo Journals of their lives, and then play back the photos they take over the weeks, months or years, as Time Lapse video slideshows. The app is free and available through the App Store in the Photography category.

Website: Time Lapse Photo Journal

Adobe has just posted the new Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) 6.3 and Photoshop Lightroom 3.3 Release Candidates. Both release candidates contain various bug fixes, and add raw file support for 8 new cameras, plus lens profiles for 10 Canon and 22 Nikon lenses and Sigma’s large-sensor compacts. Note that the ACR 6.3 Release Candidate has been designed to work with Adobe Photoshop CS5 and is not available for any version of Photoshop Elements.

Website: Adobe Camera Raw 6.3 RC
Website: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.3 RC