The World Press Photo Foundation has just launched its new 6x6 Global Talent Programme. This new initiative will identify six under-recognised visual storytellers from each of the world’s six continents, and connect them to a global audience. World Press Photo is compiling a diverse group of nominators, working in visual storytelling on a public level around the world, to nominate candidates for review from each global region. World Press Photo is actively seeking suggestions or applications to become a nominator. Once nominated, candidates from the current region will be asked to submit a portfolio of recent work. There is no age limit for nominees, a range of visual storytelling – including photography and film – is encouraged, and creative processes are not limited. The first region to be included in the programme is Southeast Asia and Oceania. Acknowledging the importance of local experience and knowledge, the two selectors from the current global region are Ng Swan-Ti, photographer and managing director of PannaFoto Institute (Indonesia); and Heidi Romano, photographer and festival director (Australia).

Digital Film Tools have launched two new Android apps for photographers. Rays allows users to easily create stunning and realistic light ray effects in any creative project. Known as volumetric lighting in computer graphics, or crepuscular rays in atmospheric optics, this dramatic effect adds polish and style. reFine offers artists a new tool and technique for performing selective sharpening, detail enhancement, and edge-aware smoothing. The new apps are available now in the Google Play store for $0.99 each.

The Hasselblad H6D-100c digital back is now available as a stand-alone product. Tailored with photographers’ requirements in mind, the Hasselblad H6D-100c digital back's user-friendly interface works seamlessly with a wide range of technical and large format camera systems. Triggering by mechanical and electronic shutter units is also supported. At the heart of the digital back is a 100MP 53.4 x 40.0mm CMOS sensor, which delivers a staggering 15 stops of dynamic range and it captures 16-bit colour data using Hasselblad’s Natural Colour Solution to ensure maximum tonality and detail is captured every time. The H6D-100c Digital Back is available starting from today and retails at €22 000 / $26 495 / £19 900.

DJI launched a new Local Data Mode that stops internet traffic to and from its DJI Pilot app, in order to provide enhanced data privacy assurances for sensitive government and enterprise customers. “We are creating Local Data Mode to address the needs of our enterprise customers, including public and private organisations that are using DJI technology to perform sensitive operations around the world,” said Brendan Schulman, DJI’s Vice President of Policy and Legal Affairs. “DJI is committed to protecting the privacy of its customers’ photos, videos and flight logs. Local Data Mode will provide added assurances for customers with heightened data security needs.” Local Data Mode will be available in the next update on the DJI Pilot app on CrystalSky and for select Android tablets.

Oprema Jena today announced that it will add the Biotar 75-C to its line-up, promising to bring "the look and feel of the historic Biotar Cine lenses to 21st Century filmmaking." According to the company, the Biotar 75-C will offer film and video makers beautiful and natural focus transitions, authentic colour rendition, swirly bokeh and remarkable centre sharpness that is typical for the Biotar lenses, which were originally produced by Carl Zeiss Jena. While the new Biotar 75-C pays homage to the historic Biotar lenses, it has been redesigned and reengineered with modern sensors in mind. The Biotar 75-C will join the Biotar 75/f1.5 and the Biotar 58/f2.0 in the current campaign on Indiegogo. Backers will get the chance to pre-order the Biotar 75-C for $2,799 USD, about 44% off its expected retail price.

Entries are now open for the search for the next winner of The Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year. The competition, which was set up by photographer Stuart Low in 2013, aims to promote Scotland, its National Trusts, and its landscape photographers. Photographers can submit entries to a variety of categories – including landscape, seascape, urban, youth, and overall winner – until entries close at midnight on Tuesday 14 November 2017. Just in time for the opening of entries to this year's competition, Fotospeed announced their sponsorship of the Awards for the third year running. The sponsorship deal sees Fotospeed offering over £1,000 worth of prizes across the five categories. Click through / read on for the details.

Jessops have announced a one-day introductory course on the new GoPro HERO6 Black camera. The GoPro Academy Course has been developed by expert Jessops trainers directly alongside GoPro, and is GoPro certified to guarantee up-to-date information and hands-on training. The course will cover a range of need-to-know subjects, from understanding your GoPro’s modes, menus, settings and apps, to using your camera to capture ultra-high-definition footage. “Even though GoPro cameras are known for being incredibly easy to use to capture everything from extreme to mainstream, an intensive training can open new possibility to create immersive content. Thanks to a partner with such strong expertise like Jessops, participants will discover new perspectives and angles while also learning about the entire GoPro ecosystem and realise how easy every step from capturing to sharing content really is with GoPro. We are excited to see the resulting content”,” says Filip Good, Senior Director of Marketing EMEA, Go Pro. The Jessops GoPro Academy Course is £119 full price or £79.99 when purchased with the new HERO6 Black, a HERO5 Black or HERO5 Session.

Hasselblad have announced Phocus 3.3, the latest version of their image processing software. Thanks to extended GPU acceleration based on Metal/OpenCL on Mac/PC, Phocus 3.3 is now faster than ever, allowing users to export images quickly and easily while offering a quicker viewing experience when zoomed to 100% and above. In addition to the improved performance, the update also includes integrated control of WiFi-enabled broncolor flash equipment via Phocus 3.3 with the touch of the left or right cursor key.

X-Rite today announced an exclusive offer with Serif, creators of Affinity Photo, to offer a free software download for macOS or Windows worth £48.99 / €54.99 with each purchase of selected X-Rite products. The promotion runs from 1 October to 31 December 2017. Eligible products include the X-Rite ColorMunki Display, the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Photo and the X-Rite ColorMunki Photographer Kit. Click through / scroll down for the details.

Tether Tools have announced that they will be assuming exclusive manufacturing, global sales, and distribution of TetherBlock products. Created by professional photographer David Blattel, the TetherBlock is a well-designed solution that helps tethering cables stay connected and secure. The TetherBlock’s patented cable-channeling design prevents accidental removal of a cable from the camera's data ports by routing a USB, FireWire, or HDMI cable through the TetherBlock’s S-channel. From there, a photographer can either shoot hand held or attach the TetherBlock to their camera's tripod mount or with the TetherBlock Arca, directly to an Arca Swiss compatible tripod. “I originally created TetherBlock to solve a challenge I had in my own photography work,” Blattel says. “I never intended it to replace my photography career. Tether Tools is the premier provider of tethering solutions and TetherBlock will reach many more photographers through their efforts than I could through my own.”

Vitec Photographic, the company behid the Gitzo and Manfrotto brands, has announced its collaboration with Sony in the imaging market. The collaboration, which was announced at Gitzo's 100-year anniversary event in Tokyo, will start with a brand new line of products developed for Sony’s α-series interchangeable-lens cameras. The range will include new Manfrotto and Gitzo tripods, plates, photo and video heads targeted at professionals. A customised version of Digital Director will complement the new range of products that will be showcased at events and tradeshows worldwide throughout 2018.

Designed for smartphones, the Quadralite A1 combines the functionality of a flash, LED lamp, and a wireless trigger. Promising to "transform your smartphone into a professional studio camera," the Quadralite A1 acts as an independent, wirelessly triggered flash as well as a wireless trigger and controller for additional Quadralite lights (both flashes and LED lights). A companion app converts your smartphone into an impressive control centre allowing you to take the entire studio under your control.

Synology today launched their DiskStation DS418play, a 4-bay NAS ideal for serving as a home multimedia center. Equipped with a dual-core 2GHz processor capable of bursting up to 2.5GHz, it comes with 2GB DDR3L memory by default, which is twice the size of its predecessor, and expands up to 6GB to enhance multi-tasking operations. Powered by a new hardware transcoding engine, DS418play supports up to two channels of H.265/H.264 4K video transcoding. "Mobiledevices supporting 4K video recording are becoming increasingly popular. However, since 4K video clips are capacity-consuming and not all TVs at home support 4K video playback, users tend to record videos with lower resolution as an alternative," said Michael Wang, product manager at Synology Inc. "With DS418play supporting up to 40TB of raw capacity, users can store their favorite videos in ultra-high definition, organize and share videos with families and friends effortlessly, and transcode videos on-the-fly to allow video playback on devices that do not support 4K."

Timelapse+ have launched their new Timelapse Workflow plugin for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. The plugin allows photographers to group photos by time-lapse, automatically create keyframes, blend settings between keyframes and preview your time-lapse -- all without leaving Lightroom. “After meeting in person with a customer to walk them through post-processing, I realized that for many people, if they’re not already familiar with the process, it can be complicated and it’s easy to mess up and get disappointing

results while working.” Said Elijah Parker, Founder of Timelapse+, “If you're doing any kind of day-to-night or night-to-day, this plugin becomes essential for blending changes in white balance or exposure across a series of frames. Get great results with a minimal learning curve.” The TImelapse Workflow Plugin is free for anyone who owns the Timelapse VIEW intervalometer.

The GoPro HERO6 is a new action camera that shoots 4K video at 60fps and Full HD at 240fps. This is enabled by a new, custom designed GP1 processor, which also promises improved image quality, dynamic range, low-light performance and "dramatically improved" video stabilisation over previous HERO camera generations. Similarly to its predecessor, the GoPro HERO6 is waterproof to 10 metres, and also offers support for QuikStoriesan app feature that makes it easy to share short videos of your adventures, and compatibility with Karma and existing GoPro mounts. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled camera is now available for $499.99.

Canon U.S.A.today announced that its parent company will be recognised at the 69th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for its complete lineup of 4K field production zoom lenses, which includes all of Canon’s CN-E, CINE-SERVO and COMPACT-SERVO lines. 

"We are grateful to receive this esteemed recognition for our comprehensive collection of 4K zoom lenses for large-format single-sensor cameras," said Yuichi Ishizuka, president and COO, Canon U.S.A. "As resolutions leap from HD to 4K and beyond, it is important to recognize the lens’ role in resolving those pristine images and the importance placed on manufacturers and optical engineers to keep pace and match the sensor technologies of the more advanced cameras and sensors in the market today. The images we admire on screen all start with the lens.”

MindShift Gear have just announced their new BackLight 36L photo daypack. The backpack holds two gripped DSLRs with lenses attached and 4–6 standard zoom lenses plus a flash, or two gripped mirrorless bodies with lenses attached and 6–8 lenses plus a flash. Additionally, the BackLight 36L has 11 litres of daypack capacity providing plenty of space for personal gear, including separate dedicated compartments for a 10” tablet and 15” laptop. The back panel opening allows access to all of your gear when taking the pack off is not an option. The zippered rear opening reduces the amount of dust, mud, ice or other elements coming in contact with your gear or the pack, while keeping your shoulder harness clean. The BackLight 36L photo daypack is available for $289.99.