Leica have unveiled a limited-edition Leica M Monochrom set in homage to Jim Marshall, the first and only photographer to be honoured with Grammy’s Trustee Award. There will be only 50 “Jim Marshall Sets” worldwide, which include the new brass plated Leica M Monochrom with a special “Laiton” finish - which provides a unique matte quality and a one-of-a-kind appearance for each set - and an inscription of Jim Marshall’s autograph, as well as a Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH. lens, a Jim Marshall Limited Edition Estate print of “Thelonious Monk at the Monterey Jazz Festival 1964” and a special, numbered edition and estate embossed copy of the book Jim Marshall: Jazz Festival. To celebrate the launch of the “Jim Marshall Set”, the Leica Gallery Los Angeles will exhibit a selection of prints from Jim Marshall’s Jazz Festival series, chronicling the jazz festivals at Newport and Monterey during the 1960s. The exhibit will run from June 15th through July 31st.

German lens maker Meyer-Optik-Goerlitz has launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring the historic Lydith 30mm f/3.5 art lens back to life. Designed in the late 1950s and introduced to the market in 1964, the modern version of the Lydith will be updated with high-performance lens coatings and a short minimum focusing distance of 16cm. It will use high-quality Schott and O’Hara glass and its 12 aperture blades will produce a soft, dreamy background and foreground bokeh with a very sharp centre of focus. Meyer-Optik has dubbed it “the embracing bokeh,” which inspired the theme of the current Kickstarter campaign as a lens that can capture the magic moment. The Lydith is expected to ship in March 2018 and will be available in Canon, Fujifilm, Leica M, Leica SL, M42, Micro Four Thirds, Nikon and Sony fit.

Hireacamera.com has launched its all-new ‘Click and Collect’ service for photographers, filmmakers and creatives working in London. As part of an expansion of services offered by Hireacamera, it will now be possible to collect and return hired equipment to their new London base at Cherryduck Studios in Wapping. James Vellacott, Managing Director of Cherryduck said “We’re thrilled to kickstart the London Click and Collect service with Hireacamera and look forward to welcoming more photographers, filmmakers and creatives through the doors at Cherryduck.” With over 21,000 sq ft of creative space, Cherryduck Studios is a one-stop shop for video and stills content, featuring 6 studio spaces and a team of creatives, directors, editors, animators and camera operators all under one roof delivering everything you need to tell your story. Which is why Hirecamera has chosen Cherryduck to deliver its very first Live Broadcast, next week on Thursday the 15th of June. During this first foray into Live video, Hireacamera's MD, Guy Thatcher, and pro photographer David Newton will be sharing their experiences from the recent Hireacamera US Road Trip and giving their verdict on gear they used, including the Fujifilm GFX 50S, Panasonic LUMIX GH5 and a whole host of accessories.

Canon U.S.A. has released two new “Canon See Impossible” videos. Available for viewing now on the Canon U.S.A. website, these two new movies – “See Beyond Darkness” and “See the Light” – showcase the capabilities of Canon imaging technology in extremely low-light conditions. In “See Beyond Darkness,” the impossible assignment for Director of Photography Andy Casagrande was to record images of a rare biofluorescent turtle found only in the remote, unspoiled reefs of the Solomon Islands. The low-light capabilities of Canon’s ME20F-SH Multipurpose Camera and EOS-1D X DSLR camera enabled researchers to capture vivid images without disturbing the natural environment. In “See the Light,” Canon’s technology captured the beauty of bioluminescent creatures under the sea, the grandeur of the extremely difficult-to-photograph Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), and the wonder of the earth from far above it. The technology used by Canon to create these videos takes viewers to seemingly impossible dark places that were previously beyond what the human eye could see and technology could perceive.

Benro have announced the ProAngel, an ultra-lightweight and compact family of travel tripods and monopods for photographers on the go. Ideal for nearly any camera from smartphones (Series 0 tripod,) and compact system cameras (Series 1 & 2 tripods), to full frame DSLRs (Series 3 & 4 tripods), ProAngel tripods are portable enough to fit inside most small and medium sized bags. Utilizing an advanced single leg locking mechanism, all the tripod’s leg sections open with a single twist. This makes ProAngel lighter and decreases set up time considerably when compared to traditional tripods. Height can be set to any position and secure locking only requires a simple half turn. The two-section telescoping center column provides additional height when needed and has a standard 3/8"-16 thread to attach a photo tripod head. Available in kits with a reliable B1 Ballhead, ProAngel is also offered to photographers in unkitted tripod and monopod options. For transportation and storage, every ProAngel includes a protective bag with a carrying strap. The monopods are priced from $49-$59, while the tripods can be yours for $99-$249 depending on the model.

XP Distribution today announced it is offering a 25% discount to students on all X-Rite colour management products. X-Rite’s complete range of colour management devices delivers solutions to every creative level, from the entry level ColorMunki Smile, intermediate level ColorMunki Display and professional level i1Display Pro. X-Rite also supplies the industry-standard ColorChecker charts for photo and video, which celebrated its 40th Anniversary last year. In order for students to claim their discount, they will need to visit the promotion's website, fill in details and upload a scan or photo of student ID card or similar document, wait for their discount code to arrive via email, and then use this discount code when buying X-Rite equipment.

Apple has unveiled an all-new 10.5-inch iPad Pro and a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro, featuring a new display with ProMotion technology and a 64-bit A10X Fusion CPU. The new 10.5-inch model reduces the borders by nearly 40 per cent to fit into a compact package that still weighs just one pound. The redesigned Retina display in iPad Pro features ProMotion, a new technology that delivers refresh rates of up to 120Hz for fluid scrolling, greater responsiveness and smoother motion content. True Tone dynamically adjusts the white balance of the display to match the light around you for a more natural and accurate viewing experience. A wide colour gamut enables iPad Pro to deliver digital cinema-standard colours. The A10X Fusion chip provides performance that is faster than most PC laptops shipping today, so tackling complex tasks like editing photos and 4K video, rendering 3D images or playing games feels effortless. A six-core CPU and 12-core GPU deliver up to 30 per cent faster CPU performance and 40 per cent faster graphics performance than the A9X chip, while delivering all-day battery life. The iPad Pro features the same advanced front and back-facing cameras as iPhone 7, including a 12-megapixel camera with optical image stabilisation, along with a 7-megapixel FaceTime HD camera. A new full-sized Smart Keyboard has been custom designed for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, offering a thin yet durable keyboard that never needs to be charged or paired over Bluetooth and is easily foldable into a protective Smart Cover. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro comes in silver, space grey, gold and rose gold and starts at £619 for the 64GB with Wi-Fi model and £749 for the 64GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is available in silver, space grey and gold and starts at £769 for the 64GB Wi-Fi model and £899 for the 64GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model.

Apple have previewed their new iMac Pro, an entirely new workstation-class product line designed for pro users. Billed as the most powerful Mac ever made, the iMac Pro features a 27-inch Retina 5K display, up to 18-core Xeon processors and up to 22 Teraflops of GPU performance. iMac Pro also supports up to 4TB of SSD and up to 128GB of ECC memory, and with four Thunderbolt 3 ports can connect to up to two high-performance RAID arrays and two 5K displays at the same time. For the first time ever on a Mac, iMac Pro features 10Gb Ethernet for up to 10 times faster networking. The new iMac Pro is scheduled to ship in December starting at $4,999.

Apple has updated its iMac line with up to three times more powerful graphics, faster processors, Thunderbolt 3, faster storage options and brighter Retina displays. The updated iMac features faster Kaby Lake processors up to 4.2 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 4.5 GHz and supports up to twice the memory as the previous generation. Fusion Drive is now standard on all 27-inch configurations and the top-end 21.5-inch iMac, which also features a Retina 4K display and discrete graphics. SSD storage options are now up to 50 percent faster. The updated iMac is available to buy in Apple Stores starting on Wednesday, June 7.

Serif has released an iPad version of Affinity Photo. Billed as the first fully-featured, truly professional photo editing tool to arrive on Apple’s tablet, Affinity Photo for iPad is tailored to harness the power of the iPad’s hardware and touch capabilities. The app offers a complete suite of retouching tools including dodge, burn, clone, blemish, patch and red eye tools; plus super accurate selections and a comprehensive range of non-destructive adjustments such as Levels, Curves, Black and White, White Balance, HSL, Shadows and Highlights. Compatible with iPad Air 2, iPad 2017, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch, Affinity Photo for iPad is priced at an introductory discount of more than 30% - £19.99 / $19.99 / €21,99 from the App Store.

Panasonic has previewed the AU-EVA1, a new 5.7K cinema camera, at Cine Gear Expo 2017. Positioned between the Panasonic Lumix GH5 4K mirrorless camera and the VariCam LT 4K cinema camera, the EVA1 contains a newly designed 5.7K Super 35mm-sized sensor for capturing true cinematic images. By starting at a higher native resolution, the 5.7K sensor yields a higher resolving image when downsampled to 4K, UHD, 2K, and even 720p. The increased colour information results in a finer, more accurate finished image. Additionally, like the VariCam lineup of cinema cameras, the EVA1 contains V-Log/V-Gamut capture to deliver high dynamic range and broad colours. V-Log has log curve characteristics that are somewhat reminiscent of negative film and V-Gamut delivers a colour space even larger than film. The EVA1 will also import the celebrated colourimetry of the VariCam line. Ideal for indie filmmakers, the EVA1 records to readily-available, lower-cost SD cards. The camera can record in several formats and compression rates, and offers up to 10-bit 422, even in 4K. As a professional video production tool, the EVA1 offers dual balanced XLR audio inputs and 4K-capable video outputs in both HDMI and SDI. In a future firmware upgrade, EVA1 will offer 5.7K raw output to 3rd party recorders. The EVA1 will ship this autumn for under €8,000 (body only).

The Samyang AF 35mm F2.8 FE is a new full-frame auto focus lens for Sony's E-mount compact system cameras. The optical formula comprises 7 elements in 6 groups, including one HRI and two aspherical lens elements, plus an iris diaphragm with 7 rounded aperture blades. Weighing in at around 85 grams, the Samyang AF 35mm F2.8 FE lens takes 49mm screw-mount filters and offers a close-focus point of 35cm (as measured from the sensor plane). Available from July, the lens carries a suggested retail price of £279.99/$299.95.

The summer edition Lomo'Instant Automat Cabo Verde is the first new edition of the Lomo’Instant Automat instant film camera (read review) since it burst onto the photography scene last year.

The Lomo'Instant Automat features a 35mm (eq.) lens with a 43mm filter thread, a simple 3-step zone-focusing system, a built-in flash with a guide number of 9 (in metres), an LED frame counter, unlimited multiple exposures, automatic shutter speed and aperture settings, and an exposure area of 62mm x 46mm.

Inspired by beautiful beaches on volcanic islands, the Lomo’Instant Automat Cabo Verde is available for £139.

Firmware version 3.0 for the Leica SL-System is now available for download. The update significantly reduces the time required for saving DNG raw image files to SD memory cards and enhances the speed, accuracy and handling of the autofocus system. Video and photo exposure settings are now independent of each other, no longer needing to be adapted when switching from one mode to the other. By making these settings separate of each other, the new firmware makes shooting photo and video faster and more convenient, speeding up a mixed-media workflow.  Photographers also now have the options to capture photos exclusively with the electronic shutter. This enables completely silent exposures in a shutter speed range from 1s to 1/16,000s. Version 3.0 also includes built-in automated firmware updates for the Leica Vario-Elmarit–SL 24–90 mm f/2.8–4 ASPH. and Leica APO-Vario-Elmarit-SL 90–280 mm f/2.8-4 lenses, for further performance optimisation. In total, the new firmware update brings 31 improvements to the photo and video functions.