As an Official Sponsor of Rugby World Cup 2015, Canon has announced a new collaboration with Bear Grylls and Dave Rogers, Getty Images’ leading rugby photographer. Together, Canon, Bear and Dave invite fans from across the world to take a close look behind the scenes of the upcoming Rugby World Cup through a video that gives tips on how to capture some of the tournament’s greatest moments. Featuring Bear Grylls explaining his passion for rugby and discussing his favourite pictures from previous Rugby World Cup tournaments, the movie gives fans insight into the history of the role images play in the tournament. In addition to the video that’s available now, Canon will be launching a series of short films that give fans in-depth photography techniques of how to capture the perfect action shot, including tips on depth of field, shutter speeds and how to best use perspective.  In this series, Bear and Dave will also demonstrate the capabilities of the Canon PowerShot G3 X camera.

Digital Splash - a photography show hosted by Wilkinson Cameras – opens its doors at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston once again on Sunday, 11th October. The event itself is free to attend and there’s even plenty of free parking – doors open at 10am. Attendees will be able to listen to several presentations delivered by acclaimed photographers Jonathan Chritchley, Damien Lovegrove, Kerry Hendry, Adam Duckworth and Paul Rogers. Paul’s masterclass will include practical lighting demonstrations, highlighting his unique approach to this genre. This is a hands on workshop with the chance to shoot your own images – so guests are encouraged to bring along their cameras. Tickets for the seminars are £6, and £20 for the live phootshoots with Paul Rogers.

Calumet UK are offering customers the opportunity to test drive the latest Fujifilm X-Series kit for two days through its national rental service – free of charge. Available for a free two day test drive is the Fujifilm X100T (pictured) and the X-T1, one of the newest models in the X-Series which features evolved SLR-style handling, mechanical dials and weather-resistance together with all the benefits of an X-Series camera, including compact size, excellent mobility and high-speed performance. Customers who want to reserve a test drive should contact their local store or visit the website below.

Focal Press has released the 3rd edition of Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers by Martin Evening. The 2015 release has been revamped to include detailed instruction for all of the updates to Photoshop CC on Adobe’s Creative Cloud, including significant new features such as faster Camera Raw processing, Blur Gallery noise matching, and new export options for quick image-saving and layers as separate documents. The 730-page paperback is available for $59.95.

Photography Beyond Auto: Switch off auto mode and take better, more original photos by Chris Gatcum is a new title from Ilex Press. Billed as "an easily accessible guide which will set you free," this book does not attempt to explain each and every button, dial and feature on your camera, or explore precisely where each pixel comes from. Instead it concentrates on the key creative controls, including exposure, focus and colour; essential skills that’ll enable you to take pictures that are simply impossible to capture with the camera left on auto. The 144-page paperback is available for £9.98 / $13.88 on Amazon.

Ricoh have issued a firmware update for their GR II large-sensor compact camera. Version 1.10 adds compatibility with the company's Image Sync 1.0.5 software, and improves overall operational stability. You can download the firmware upgrade from the website bleow.

Website: Ricoh Japan

Manfrotto has announced its new 290 collection, featuring a completely renewed range of tripods, kits and monopods. The Manfrotto 290 Xtra tripod (pictured) boasts a completely new style and 4 leg angle positions. Available in aluminium and carbon-fibre versions, the new 290 Xtra comes with a dedicated shoulder bag. The new 290 Dual bridges the 290 and 190/055 tripod ranges. Maintianing the sturdy construction of the 290 range, the Manfrotto 290 Dual also features an innovative 90° centre-column mechanism. This feature, alongside the 4 leg angle positions, enables ground-level shooting. The updated, more compact and lightweight 804 3-way head features new retractable levers with rubber handles. Last but not least, the new 290 collection includes an updated version of the Manfrotto 290 Monopod boasting new rubber legwarmers and an angled wrist strap, together with an upper disc with integrated ¼” and 3/8” attachment. Prices start from £49.95.

Under its new EcoTank brand, Epson have launched five all-in-one printers featuring large ink reservoirs that come loaded and ready for up to two years of prints without replacing the ink. The WorkForce Pro WF-R4640 EcoTank All-in-One ($1,199), the WorkForce ET-4500 EcoTank All-in-One ($429) and the WorkForce ET-4550 EcoTank All-in-One ($499) are targeted at small and medium enterprises, whereas the Expression ET-2550 EcoTank All-in-One ($399) and the Expression ET-2500 EcoTank All-in-One ($379) are aimed at home users. The ET-2550 (pictured) features a 1.44” colour LCD screen, PC-free photo printing with a built-in memory card slot and Wi-Fi Direct technology.

Fujifilm and Nikon are planning to examine the compatibility of their digital cameras and applications with Windows 10. Specifically, Fuji are testing their X series cameras and all FinePix models launched since 2010, plus a suite of computer programs including MyFinePix Studio, PC AutoSave, the Tethered Capture Plug-in for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Tethered Shooting Software HS-V5 for Windows, and RAW FILE CONVERTER EX 2.0 powered by SILKYPIX. Nikon are planning to check the compatibility of 13 software applications and codecs (see below).

Calumet UK has announced a range of seminars and workshops for the month of September. All of these mini-courses are individually priced and students can take advantage of a discounted rate. Expert photographer Mark Prime will be hosting a one-day workshop entitled "Photo Editing: Processing Your Images for the Perfect Finish" on 5 and 23 September 2015 in Manchester. Andy Ashbury will hold an Auto Focus Masterclass in Calumet Photographic's Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol stores on the 9th, 16th and 23rd of September respectively. Rory Lewis will leas a Portraiture Masterclass on 12th Seotember in London. Last but not least, the company's London shop will be home to a seminar entitled "How to Make Money from Stock Photography," with Martin Norris. Click through / scroll down for the details.

Toshiba today announced the development of the world’s first 16-die stacked NAND flash memory utilising Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology. Claimed to provide the ideal solution for low latency, high bandwidth and high IOPS/Watt in flash storage applications - including high-end enterprise SSDs -, this new flash memory achieves an I/O data rate of over 1Gbps. The prototype will be shown at Flash Memory Summit 2015, to be held from 11-13 August in Santa Clara.