Reza reazie golghand is the lucky winner of a fantastic new Ikigai Rival Backpack with its unique pro Camera Cell system worth £229.99!

IKIGAI Bags is giving away one of its fantastic new medium Rival Backpacks, featuring its amazing Camera Cell system worth £229.99!

IKIGAI BAGS – STRENGTH FROM WITHIN Ikigai's (medium) Rival Backpack and Camera Cell delivers a fresh look and premium performance to the photo bag market. It offers both simplicity and configurability, allowing you to quickly and easily pack exactly what you need for each shoot’s requirements. Designed for photographers, by photographers, the Rival series ensures a great fit and all day comfort while making it easy to access your essentials and providing unrivaled protection as well. But the feature photographers will appreciate the most is what we call our “Strength from Within” - the removable, configurable camera cell with its own carrying handle and adjustable, Velcro® liners that securely protect your most prized possessions. The medium camera cell fits right into the medium Ikigai backpack. For shoots that are more gear intensive, the large size may be the right choice for you. The medium Backpack and Inner Cell kit can hold your DSLR, up to 7 Lenses and Accessories.

For more information or to view or buy Ikigai products online visit: www.ikigaibags.com

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Ricoh has announced a new wide-angle lens for the Pentax medium-format DSLR camera system. The 27.5mm-equivalent HD PENTAX-D FA645 35mm F3.5AL[IF] combines a newly designed, high-grade glass-moulded aspherical element with a high refractive index low dispersion glass element and a hybrid aspherical element to effectively compensate for chromatic and spherical aberrations. The lens coating and reflective material used for the interior of the lens barrel are optimised for the distinctive characteristics of digital imaging, and promise to minimise flare and ghosting. This lens features a nine-blade, rounded diaphragm to produce a smooth, beautiful bokeh effect. Available from mid-December, the lens will retail for £1,549.99.

Zeiss has launched a new international photography contest in cooperation with the World Photography Organisation (WPO). Running in parallel to the Sony World Photography Awards, the 2016 Zeiss Photography Award's central theme is Seeing beyond – Meaningful Places. In its first year, the Zeiss Photography Award invites photographers to give meaning through their creative work to special places and to express this meaning. Different perspectives are desired, as well as a free interpretation of the term “meaningful” and “location/place”. It can be about places that possess a special historical or future value, places of adventures, scenic places in nature, or a trip to a special distant place. Photographers from anywhere in the world can submit a series of three to ten images that match this theme for free at the WPO website. The deadline for submission is 5 February 2016. The winner will be announced in April 2016.

Canon U.S.A. has announced the CJ20ex7.8B portable 4K broadcast lens for use with broadcast cameras featuring 2/3"-type sensors. Featuring With a focal range of 7.8-156mm, the lens features a 20x zoom range, while a built-in 2x extender allows more telephoto operation without sacrificing 4K image quality. A 20-pin connector, capable of reading out the high-precision position information of the zoom, focus and iris are provided as a standard feature. Coming standard with another two 20-pin connectors for zoom and focus control, virtual operations are possible in the full-servo mode, and use of a 16-bit absolute value encoder in the digital drive unit helps eliminate the need for any initialisation, meaning users can simply turn on the camera and begin shooting. The CJ20ex7.8B portable broadcast lens is scheduled to be available in June 2016.

Canon has announced the new Canon XA35 and XA30 full HD professional camcorders. Both models feature a 20x optical zoom lens and a new, advanced HD CMOS PRO image sensor with low-luminance noise of +3dB for improved low-light image capture. The duo also boasts two new video-recording modes: Highlight Priority and Wide DR, the latter of which achieves a dynamic range that has been expanded to 600% compared to the 300% on the predecessor Canon XA25/XA20 camcorder models. Other highlights include variable frame rates of 60fps and 24fps, dual SD card slots, AVCHD (28Mbps) and MP4 (35Mbps) compression and an HD/SD-SDI output (XA35 only) to feed video directly to a microwave van, satellite uplink, or other TV transmission system. A wireless remote feature also enables users to control the XA35 and XA30 camcorders via a web browser on the user's compatible PC or mobile device.The Canon XA35 and XA30 HD camcorders are scheduled to be available the end of November 2015 for an estimated retail price of $2,999 and $2,499 respectively.

Leica Camera today introduced a collection of premium accessories called the '0.95 Collection'. As an homage to the Leica Noctilux-M 50 mm f/0.95 ASPH. – the world’s fastest aspherical lens – the name 0.95 represents Leica’s commitment to technical excellence. For the 0.95 Collection, Leica has partnered with S.T. Dupont, the French manufacturer of premium luggage and accessories, to create a series of elegant pens, a stylish gas lighter and a distinctive key ring pendant. Each product in the ‘S.T. Dupont for 0.95’ Collection is manufactured exclusively from the finest materials, and embellished with a hand-engraved ‘0.95’ logo. A limited edition of 95 of the special Leica Noctilux-M 50 mm f/0.95 ASPH. lenses will also be released globally to celebrate the launch of the new 0.95 brand. The lenses are distinguished by their unique engraved, white-filled ‘0.95’ motif, denoting the maximum aperture, while all other engravings are highlighted in dark grey, blending discreetly into the matt-black anodised finish. Unique design features include distinctive knurling and gloss-finished elements on the lens barrel and front lens cap. The collection is available exclusively from selected Leica Stores

Leica Camera has introduced a new model in its compact camera range – the Leica D-Lux ‘Solid Gray’. Styled in a two-tone finish, with silver lens and control elements complementing the gray enamelled body; the Leica D-Lux Solid Gray is a variation on the current black D-Lux. Offering the same specifications as the standard model, the D-Lux Solid Gray includes an extensive feature set within its compact body, combined with intuitive handling. Key highlights include a fast, Leica DC Vario-Summilux 10.9–34mm f/1.7–2.8 ASPH. lens, a 13-megapixel FourThirds sensor, a high-resolution electronic viewfinder, Wi-Fi connectivity and 4K video recording capability. Included with the camera is a Leica CF D flash unit, also finished in silver, and a specially-designed, matching carrying strap. The Leica D-Lux Solid Gray will be available later this month for £825/$1,095.

Moleskine have launched their newest handcrafted leather albums. Handbound in quality Milano leather, these beautifully made albums are available in black or ivory and created individually to order on the Moleskine + MILK online platform. At 13.5 x 10.26” / 343 x 261 mm, the Moleskine Leather Album comes in 20-, 30-, and 40-page versions; and launches tomorrow, 11th November. All purchases made before 21 November 2015 will receive Moleskine’s new Classic Leather Backpack free with every album.

Pakpod, an "adventure-friendly" tripod that is lightweight, nimble and can attach to virtually any surface, has finished its Kickstarter campaign with $123,937 in funding - more than four times its original pledge goal of $27,000. Designed by a freediving filmmaker in Maine, Pakpod is a durable, waterproof, freezeproof tripod that weighs in at less than a pound and is notable for its patent-pending staking feet. Not only can Pakpod stake into and onto almost any surface, its independently swiveling legs and one-handed locking mechanism make it easy to mount on fences, trees, signposts, ceiling fans, car hoods, kayaks, rock walls, bicycles, hammocks and more. After hitting its goal more than 4 times over, the Maine-based company has announced that pre-orders for its tripods are now being accepted on the website below.

Apple's new iPad Pro will become available to order online on Wednesday, 11th November. Featuring a 12.9" Retina display with 5.6 million pixels, the new tablet comes with a powerful new 64-bit A9X processor, while still offering up to 10 hours of battery life. An optional accessory called the Apple Pencil - also available from Wednesday -allows for extremely precise photo editing when used in tandem with the new Photoshop Fix app. Running on iOS9, the new iPad Pro features an 8-megapixel iSight camera, and can be paired with Apple’s new Smart Keyboard for increased productivity. The iPad Pro starts at £679/$799 for the 32GB with Wi-Fi model and £899/$1,079 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular 128GB model.

Macphun and Trey Ratcliff have announced the launch of their codeveloped photo editing software, Aurora HDR. "Aurora HDR is like no software I've ever used and I think it's gonna blow people's minds,” commented Trey. "Over the past 10 years I've been trying to find the ultimate HDR software, and it wasn't until Macphun came along in this amazing partnership that I was able to finally build my own." Available for Mac OS only, Aurora HDR will launch worldwide via the Mac App Store at an introductory price of $39.99. Aurora HDR Pro will be available at a discounted price of $89.99. Both versions of the program will be available from 19th November.

Lytro Immerge is the world’s first professional Light Field powered virtual reality rig. The product captures Light Field Volume – all the data from all directions at any location within a given volume – allowing virtual views to be generated from any point, facing any direction, with any field of view. Built from the ground up to seamlessly blend live action and computer graphics, it features configurable capture and playback options. “VR is the next wave in cinematic content, and immersive storytellers have been seeking technology that allows them to fully realize their creative vision,” said Jason Rosenthal, CEO of Lytro. “We believe the power of Light Field will help VR creators deliver on the promise of this new medium.” For more information, visit the website below.

Iridient Digital has released Iridient Developer 3.0.6 for Mac OS X. This update adds support for the Canon EOS M10, PowerShot G5 X and PowerShot G9 X, the Sony DSC-RX1R II and the Leica SL (Typ 601) cameras. Additionally, this release fixes several bugs including a crash on load with some DNG images converted automatically on import by recent versions of Adobe Lightroom, an issue with clipped highlight handling for some DNG images that use gain map opcodes and sporadic issues with serial number validation. This update is free for all previously registered users who purchased a new or upgraded license after 14 April 2013.

The Fujifilm Student Awards 2016 are now open for entries. Submissions are invited from all UK students, not just those undertaking courses involving photography. All images must be taken on Fujifilm film and submitted via the website below. Entry is free and students can enter as many photographs as they wish. The closing date for the competition is 31 March 2016.