Sigma have announced the UK price of the Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM lens. This new large aperture, standard prime lens will cost £379.99. In the UK, the Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM will be available from June 2008.

Ridata has introduced a 32GB model to its 233x Lightning Series of CompactFlash cards. “Mobile digital products continue to get more and more sophisticated,” commented Harvey Liu, president of Advanced Media, Inc. “To that end, they require more data storage and faster read times. Our new 32GB 233x Lightning Series CompactFlash card delivers both. In today’s digital flash media world, size matters. And Ridata has it.” The Ridata 32GB 233x Lightning Series CompactFlash card is available now for $199.

TrustedReviews have reviewed the GE E840s, a slim 8 megapixel camera with 4x optical zoom and 2.7 inch LCD.

“Perhaps the most surprising thing about the E840s is the image quality, which is much better than I had anticipated. It’s not really in the same league as some of the other compacts we’ve looked at lately, but then it costs half as much, and for a cheap camera it is really quite good. The lens produces some barrel distortion at wide-angle, but no worse than the £220 Nikon S600 I reviewed earlier this week, and while the overall image lacks a certain sharpness it is at least consistent from corner to corner. There is a little chromatic aberration towards the edges of the frame, but not enough to cause a problem in most circumstances.”

Website: TrustedReviews - GE E840s Review

Eye-Fi are introducing three new wireless SD memory cards - the Eye-Fi Explore, Share and Home. Eye-Fi Explore ($129) automatically adds geographic location tags to each photo, and allows users to upload from Wi-Fi hotspots. Eye-Fi Share ($99) is the new name for the original Eye-Fi card. Eye-Fi Home ($79) is aimed at users who want to simply and wirelessly upload photos to their home computer. “We understand that each photographer has his or her own way of sharing memories,” said Jef Holove, chief executive officer of Eye-Fi. “Some users are thrilled to easily upload photos from camera to computer, while others want a much richer photo sharing experience, even when away from home. By offering three different Eye-Fi Cards and new features, our goal is to give consumers exactly what delights them.”

The Eye-Fi Explore is a new wireless SD memory card that automatically tags photos with information about where the image was captured. It also allows you to automatically upload photos from more than 10,000 wi-fi hotspots. “The Eye-Fi Explore delivers the two enhancements most requested by our users,” said Jef Holove, CEO for Eye-Fi. “Our geotagging service automates what is today a compelling, though time-consuming and manual, experience. And, our hotspot access will allow travelers, bloggers, and anyone on the go to upload, share and save their pictures before they even get home.” The 2GB Eye-Fi Explore includes unlimited Web uploads, unlimited geotagging and one year of hotspot access at Wayport locations. The Eye-Fi Explore ($129.00) will be available beginning June 6th 2008.

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.

The new Transcend Extreme Speed 300x CompactFlash cards can achieve read/write speeds of up to 45MB per second. Operating in dual-channel Ultra DMA mode 5, the fastest speed available for CF cards, Transcend’s 300X CompactFlash uses only brand name, top-tier SLC NAND Flash chips and premium quality components and has a Lifetime Warranty.

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.

Kodak has won the 18th Annual EDN Innovation Award in the Sensor Category for the Truesense Color Filter Pattern. This groundbreaking new technology allows for the development of digital capture devices that take better pictures under low light or reduce motion blur when photographing moving subjects. Truesense advances an existing KodakTechnology, the Bayer pattern based color filter, that has become a standard in digital imaging. “This recognition of the KODAK TRUESENSE Color Filter Pattern acknowledges our continuing advances in digital imaging technology, for both CMOS and CCD products.” said Herb Erhardt, CIS Business Manager, Image Sensor Solutions, Eastman Kodak Company.

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.

Sigma have released a new firmware update for the DP1 compact camera. The new firmware version, 1.02, offers the following improvement:

- Correct the phenomenon that the “currently selected file” will be deleted, if the camera is turned off when the camera display remained in Delete Menu.

Website: Sigma DP1 Firmware Update 1.02

Imaging Resource have reviewed the new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S780, 7.2 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom lens and 2.5 inch LCD screen.

“The Sony Cyber-shot S750 has a few issues. Overall exposure is adequate in many cases, but image quality and color accuracy need improvement. Image noise is on the high side, and there’s a good deal of blurring from the camera’s effort to suppress that noise. The Sony S750 is inexpensive, easy to use, very portable, and results aren’t entirely terrible. Our printed results do show that it’s more of a 4x6-only camera, only capable of producing truly sharp 5x7-inch prints at ISO 100; raise the ISO any higher, you’re better sticking to 4x6-inch prints. Most 7-megapixel digital cameras are at least capable of printing sharp 11x14-inch prints, but the Sony S750’s output is too soft at that size.”

Website: Imaging Resource - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S750 Review

Today we bring you the World’s first online review of the Samsung NV40 compact digital camera. The NV40 is a new addition to Samsung’s innovative New Vision range, with headline specs including a 10 megapixel sensor, 3x zoom lens, 2.5 inch LCD screen, ISO 100-3200 and full manual exposure control. Samsung have been aggressively chasing market share in recent years and are currently ranked as one of the top 3 compact camera manufacturers. Is the NV40 good enough to keep Samsung there? Read Mark Goldstein’s review to find out…

Website: Samsung NV40 Review

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.

Adobe Photoshop Express has just been updated, adding support for Flickr and Save As functionality. Photoshop Express creates special effects and sends them back into Flickr without leaving the community environment. In addition a new embeddable player will allow users to post their slideshows to sites such as Facebook, Myspace, blogs and more. Photoshop Express is a free website available to anyone who wants to store, sort and show off their digital photos.

Fantasea’s FS-51 underwater housing is compatible with the new Nikon Coolpix S52 and S52c digital cameras. The FS-51 Housing is depth rated to 60 meters/200 feet, has a double O-ring seal on all controls, anti-glare hood over LCD screen, built-in flash diffuser and a 41mm lens port. As with all other Fantasea Camera Housings, in the event of accidental water leakage, the Coolpix camera inside is insured. The Fantasea FS-51 housing costs $245.

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