Today marks the opening of Jessops’s 50th store. The new concession shop officially opened its doors to Christmas shoppers today at Sainsbury’s in Emersons Green, Bristol. The new store will offer shoppers the services that Jessops is renowned for, including expert staff, try-before-you-buy product displays, and access to a wide range of cameras and accessories. Customers can also take advantage of one-hour printing services and attend a range of photography courses designed to meet the needs of all levels and abilities. “The opening of Jessops at Emersons Green concludes a very successful year for Jessops. In 2015, our vision has been executed perfectly with fourteen new store openings, allowing us to bring our fantastic service to even more customers around the country.”

We've teamed up with LoveCases to giveway a Jill-E Jack DSLR Camera Messenger Bag worth £210!

The lucky winner is Dmitriy Sukhanov. Congratulations!

Jill-E camera bags deliver a spacious interior, protection, and an unforgettable style that simply cannot be matched. The "Jack" DSLR Messenger bag is luxuriously crafted from weather-resistant Columbian leather, offering a beautiful exterior that will protect your precious equipment, should you get caught out in the rain, and proves that you needn't sacrifice style for substance.

Jill-E create bags to complement with the technologically-focused lifestyle of today, and this camera bag is no exception. Featuring padded exterior walls to protect your precious equipment and customisable interior dividers that hold your accessories in place, the Jack DSLR Messenger bag also has room for a 15" laptop to complement and compile your snaps.

To check out LoveCases full range of bags, feel free to check them out at: http://www.lovecases.co.uk/camera-cases-bags.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Booq have just released their latest backpack for photographers: the Slimpack. Accommodating to SLRs, up to four mid-sized lenses or one large zoom lens, a 12” notebook or 10” tablet and a tripod. The spacious interior features a cushioned, non-scratch lining and densely padded dividers that can be configured to fit users’ gear of choice, while a variety of pockets with concealed interior slots keep accessories safe and organised.  The Slimpack boasts two entry points, making quick shots easy to capture, and is available now for $195.

We've teamed up with Milk Books to give away a Moleskine Leather Album and a Moleskine Leather Backpack, worth a total of $975!

The lucky winner is Jackie ONeill. Congratulations!

Moleskine + MILK introduces the handcrafted Moleskine Leather Album, a new take on old world traditions of book making. Handbound in quality black or ivory leather, made with a choice of sustainably produced Italian Tintoretto art paper or Mohawk proPhoto Paper, this new Album truly sets the standard for Moleskine's print-on-demand range. 

With a customized inset image and delivered in a protective linen bag . At 13.5 x 10.26” / 343 x 261 mm, the Moleskine Leather Album is large enough to feature your most beautiful photographs. The 20, 30, and 40 page options have a retail value of US$595, US$695, and US$795, respectively.

http://moleskine.milkbooks.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The World Press Photo Foundation has announced its 6th annual multimedia contest. There are 4 categories including Short Form, Long Form, Innovative Storytelling and Immersive Storytelling. Entries open today, 16 December 2015, and close on 20 January 2016, 12.00 (noon) CET.. Entrants must first register online at the 2016 World Press Photo Multimedia Contest entry website and then submit their entries. The shortlist of three nominees will be announced on 16 March 2016, 14.00 CET. The overall winner for each category will then be decided by a general jury comprising the four jury chairs and announced during the Awards Ceremony on 23 April 2016.

Sigma have announced the new Sigma Water Repellent (WR) Ceramic Protector, a lens filter that features new Clear Glass Ceramic material and provides enhanced protective qualities. With many applications in aerospace and other industries, glass ceramic is an extremely tough type of crystallised glass that serves as the foundation for Clear Glass Ceramic. While featuring the high transmittance required of optical devices, this advanced new material combines greater hardness than chemically strengthened glass and greater flexibility than sapphire crystal glass. These qualities make Clear Glass Ceramic the ideal material for protective lens filters. The Sigma Water Repellent Ceramic Protector filter is offered in the most popular filter thread sizes, and is compatible with all lenses that accept front filter threads that are 67mm-105mm diameters.

The Lomo’Instant Wide is now available for regular purchase around the world. Featuring a moderate wide-angle 90mm lens, the Lomo’Instant Wide uses Fujifilm Instax Wide film, which has an exposure area of 64mm x 99mm. The lens cap of the Lomo’Instant Wide doubles as a remote control that allows easy and convenient self-portraits, group photos and long exposures. The camera has three different shooting modes including Auto, Bulb and a Fixed Shutter Speed mode for studio settings. The Lomo'Instant Wide comes with a built-in flash as well as a standard Prontor-Compur sync terminal, allowing users to attach an external flash unit to the camera.

Samsung today unveiled the PRO Plus 128GB microSD memory card. Built with Samsung’s advanced MLC NAND flash chip, this product is the newest addition to Samsung’s PRO Plus line-up, which was first introduced in 32GB and 64GB versions in May 2015. The 128GB microSD features UHS-I 3 (U3) and Speed Class 10 support, offering read and write speeds of up to 95MB/s and 90MB/s, respectively. It comes with a 10 year limited warranty and is guaranteed to survive operating temperatures from -25°C to 85°C (-13°F to 185°F) and non-operating temperatures from -40°C to 85°C (-40°F to 185°F). Data stored on the card will not be affected by X-rays and will resist up to 15,000 gauss magnetic force.

Panasonic has issued  a firmware upgrade for five of its Micro Four Thirds lenses. Version 1.1 for the Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm F2.8 Macro ASPH Mega OIS, Lumix G X Vario PZ 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 ASPH Power OIS, Lumix G Vario HD 12-32mm F3.5-5.6 Mega OIS and Lumix G Vario 35-100mm F4.0-5.6 ASPH Mega OIS, as well as version 1.2 for the Lumix G Vario 45-150mm F4.0-5.6 ASPH Mega OIS add compatibility with the new Dual I.S technology introduced in the Panasonic Lumix GX8 compact system camera.

Triggertrap have completely rewritten their iOS app, Triggertrap Mobile. This update introduces the single most requested feature: Night Mode, which changes the colours of the user interface to a darkness-friendly colour scheme, making Triggertrap Mobile ideal for high-speed photography in the studio, light painting in the garden, and for astrophotography in the field. These colours are designed to work with screen brightness turned right down, minimising the amount of light coming from the phone - with the added benefit of maximising battery life.

Transcend has released a duo of industrial-grade wide-temperature SDHC memory cards featuring SLC NAND Flash technology for superior reliability. The Transcend 8GB and 16GB SDHC100I cards provide transfer speeds of up to 20MB/s and operate effectively from -40°C to 85°C. Compliant with SD Specification Version 3.0, these new memory cards carry a Class 10 speed rating and guarantee higher stability in data retention and longer endurance than cards equipped with MLC flash chips to meet the demanding standards of industrial-grade applications. Additionally, Transcend SDHC100I memory cards feature multiple built-in technologies for optimum protection, including Error Correction Code (ECC) that helps detect and correct potential transfer errors, S.M.A.R.T. function to efficiently monitor the health conditions of the cards, power failure protection to timely protect cards from damage in the event of abrupt power failure, and wear-leveling algorithm to select the block with the lowest erase count for the next write.

Leica today issued a new firmware update for the Leica SL compact system camera. Version 1.2 optimises image quality at sensitivity settings ranging from ISO 50/18° to ISO 400/27°, provides a greater degree of flexibility when entering WLAN passwords, and improves the quality of the live view feed when using the EVF. Additionally, the firmware update enables users to activate a loupe (magnifying) function with a press of the AE lock button when using Leica M and R lenses to facilitate manual focusing.Finally, the firmware update offers an improvement in the Leica Log Gamma curve (L-Log) for video, enabling its use for in-camera 8-bit recording. The use of L-Log enables greater leeway for post-production color grading of videos recorded on the Leica SL, the company says. To access the firmware update, registered camera users can log into the Leica owner’s area of the Leica website.

Today only - get 50% off the Panasonic DMC-CM1 Lumix Smart Camera!

The innovative Panasonic DMC-CM1 scored 4/5 Recommended when we reviewed it earlier this year, concluding "the Panasonic Lumix DMC-CM1 is a brave and largely successful attempt to bring together the best features of a smartphone and a camera into one unified device..."

Get the Panasonic DMC-CM1 Lumix Smart Camera

Pixelmator have announced a major update to their Pixelmator app for iPhone and iPad. Version 2.2 fully supports the iPad Pro and the new Apple Pencil and allows you to open and edit 16K images. The update also adds 3D Touch support on iPhone 6s, a collection of artist-designed Basic brushes, a new Auto-straighten feature, and more. Pixelmator for iOS 2.2 is available today as a free update from the iTunes App Store.

Jessops has just opened the doors of its newest shop in Cambridge. Located at 15 Fitzroy Street, the new store offers try-before-you buy product displays, one-to-one photography tuition, an on-site lab for photo products made in-store within the hour, and the latest cameras and photographic accessories. New services on offer at the the Cambridge store include the Jessops Rental Service, a Trade-In offering and sensor cleaning.