Sony today announced the expansion of its Imaging Ambassadors programme. The six new UK-based photographers given the prestigious honour are Gavin Evans, Joe Cornish, Michael Wayne Plant, Nick Webster, Dominic Fraser and Andrew Scriven. The ambassador programme is rooted in storytelling and the world-leading photographers involved work across the globe documenting fame, fashion, culture, sportsmanship, war, human devastation, celebration and environmental shifts. Running the programme on Sony’s behalf is the World Photography Organisation, an international institution providing various platforms and programmes for photographers of all levels and disciplines.

Inspired by the Hungarian Fortepan project, the University of Northern Iowa has announced the establishment of a new public digital photo archive featuring curated photos made by ordinary Iowans over the 20th century. Taking its name from a panchromatic black-and-white film stock manufactured in Hungary right up to the closure of the Forte plant in 2007, the original Fortepan archive started out as a private project of collectors Ákos Szepessy and Miklós Tamási, borne out of a desire to demonstrate that photos - even "artistically worthless" snapshots - taken by ordinary people can help us better understand the history of the 20th century. Thanks to donations, the collection has grown to include over forty thousand digitised black-and-white and colour photographs, from a pseudo-bucolic idyll dating back to 1900 to a 1990 photograph of a still-standing section of the Berlin wall. Based on this project, the new Fortepan Iowa archive will display thousands of photographs along a sliding interactive timeline and invite visitors to horizontally scroll through highly curated, well-documented photographs digitised at "tremendously high resolution," the university says. The open-source platform will inspire visitors to engage digitally with the high-quality images — a rare opportunity in a heavily copyrighted age. Fortepan Iowa will launch in March 2015 with at least 2,000 photos in the archive.

Hasselblad has announced the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer. The company is now helmed by Perry Oosting, a former CEO of luxury mobile phone manufacturer Vertu. "It is an honour for me to accept this new role at Hasselblad and become an integral part of this iconic brand," Oosting said in a statement. "This company has an incredible history and with its core DNA has a sound foundation for further development. The recent and widely acclaimed launch of our 'back to the future' CFV-50c CMOS back [pictured] is a great example of our ongoing commitment to the total Hasselblad brand experience that enables customers to benefit from our advanced and exclusive digital engineering know-how."

This week we’re revealing our favourite products from last year in our annual awards, looking back at the essential photography kit that helped to define 2014.

Our sixth and final award is for Camera of the Year 2014, which goes to the Fujifilm X-T1.

“The new Fujifilm X-T1 is the best X-series camera to date, and one of the best interchangeable lens cameras, mirrorless or otherwise, that we've ever had the pleasure of reviewing.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Fujifilm and the X-T1!

This week we’re revealing our favourite products from last year in our annual awards, looking back at the essential photography kit that helped to define 2014.

The DSLR Camera of the Year 2014 award goes to the Nikon D750.

“...the new D750 is an excellent addition to Nikon's ever-expanding full-frame line-up. It isn't a true successor to the 6-year-old D700, or just a cheaper, less well-specified version of the D810 - instead, the D750 is a compelling camera in its own right that actually out-performs the D810 in some areas.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Nikon and the D750!

MicroSD cards are the driving force of the worldwide flash memory market, according to the latest research from Futuresource Consulting. The total market is estimated to have increased 2% in 2014, with growth in the microSD card segment reaching 11%. "In a consolidated market, SanDisk is the leading vendor followed by Kingston and Transcend, with the top three brands together accounting for 50% of the worldwide retail market," says Larsson. "16GB capacity took the number one spot in worldwide retail last year, followed by 8GB, which still remains the capacity of choice in many countries across the globe."

The Lomography Online Shop - and some Gallery Stores - now stock Lumi products, which allow you to print your favourite analogue photos on fabric, "It all starts with a special liquid called Inkodye, a photosensitive dye which is activated by light or UV. You can then use negatives of favorite photos and fabric to block light from activating inkodye, leaving you with cool designs," the company says. "The perfect tool for your next creative project or a lovely gift in the upcoming holiday season." Billed as a simple DIY alternative to screen-printing powered by sunlight, Inkodye works on cotton, linen, silk, rayon, canvas, or any other natural and absorbent material. Once finished, your print is soft, permanent and can be machine washed without fading.

Nikon has issued a service advisory to users of the Nikon D750 digital SLR camera. In order to address an issue reported by some users, the company will inspect and repair light-shielding components, and adjust the AF sensor position free of charge. The issue in question is that when photographing scenes in which an extremely bright light source is positioned near the top edge of the frame, flare with an unnatural shape sometimes occurs in images captured with the camera. "We plan to initiate this service at the end of January," the company says. "We will announce further details, including instructions for requesting servicing, as they are determined."

According to a new report by Oregon-based Allied Market Research, the global 3D Camera market is expected to reach $7,661.8 million by 2020, registering a compound annual growth rate of 39.4%. With the simplest 3D camera technology - stereo visioning; about 80% of smartphones in production could be upgraded with a 3D camera lens by the year 2018. The application of 3D cameras in smartphones should garner a revenue of$2.02 billion by 2020. To view the report, visit the website below.

Eyefi and Olympus are partnering to make Eyefi mobile apps and Eyefi Cloud available as a photo management and syncing solution for all Olympus Wi-Fi camera customers. “We’re extremely pleased to collaborate with industry leader Olympus Imaging Corporation to provide its customers a rich mobile experience for their photos taken with the latest Wi-Fi cameras that include Olympus OM-D, Olympus PEN and more,” said Matt DiMaria, CEO of Eyefi. “This is a strong endorsement of Eyefi’s ability to deliver photo-centric apps and services designed to help photographers use the camera of choice to take photos without sacrificing convenience.” Photographers who use Olympus Wi-Fi cameras will now be able to take photos with their cameras, have those photos available on their mobile device to edit, organise and share and sync them through Eyefi Cloud so they are instantly available on all devices -- smartphones, tablets, desktops and even smart TVs. Additionally, Olympus customers who take photos with their smartphone will be able to enjoy those photos right alongside the ones they took with their Olympus camera in a single, organised unified library. Moreover, Olympus Wi-Fi camera customers will benefit from value pricing on Eyefi Cloud in which they receive both additional duration in the free trial and a discounted rate on an annual membership.

Eyefi has released new features and functionality including the ability to preview, enhance and organise your photos on the spot; view EXIF data; browse photos by camera type; and sync photos to other devices automatically for instant access whenever and wherever, even offline. Eyefi Cloud customers will benefit from Eyefi’s newest photo uploader functionality that gives users the power to transfer existing photos from a PC to Eyefi Cloud for unlimited syncing. With the photo uploader, pictures are easily sent to Eyefi Cloud and instantly synced to all devices. This makes the entire collection of photos accessible anytime on tablets, phones or any web-enabled device. To further simplify photo management Eyefi is making APIs available for Eyefi Cloud customers to personalise their workflow. With these APIs, photographers can customise the photo upload and download functions, automate tagging and create custom photo searches.

Toshiba today announced the upcoming launch of the world’s first SDHC memory card with built-in NFC functionality. The new product utilizes the features of NFC technology to exchange data simply with a touch. By holding an NFC-enabled Android smartphone, with the app “Memory Card Preview” installed, over the memory cards lets you preview the available storage space, as well as a maximum of 16 thumbnails of the photos stored in the card.. Sales of the 8GB, 16GB and 32GB cards will start from February 2015.

This week we’re revealing our favourite products from last year in our annual awards, looking back at the essential photography kit that helped to define 2014.

The Compact System Camera of the Year 2014 award goes to the Samsung NX1.

“The Samsung NX1 majors in two key areas - features and image quality - and backs them up with excellent handling and customisability, solid build quality, and importantly a very reasonable price tag for everything that's on offer.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Samsung and the NX1!

Want to see exactly what the new Nikon D5500 DSLR camera looks like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of the Nikon D5500 DSLR camera, including a side-by-side comparison with the D5300 model.

Want to see exactly what the new Nikon AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4E PF ED VR DSLR lens looks like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/4E PF ED VR DSLR lens, including a side-by-side comparison with the previous model.

Want to see exactly what the new Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED VR II DSLR lens looks like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of the Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED VR II DSLR lens.

G-Technology has announced the G-DRIVE ev ATC with Thunderbolt, G-DRIVE ev ATC with USB 3.0 and G-DRIVE ev RaW ruggedised hard drives. The G-DRIVE ev RaW is a rugged and lightweight portable hard drive that’s small enough to fit in a backpack, briefcase or purse, and strong enough to withstand a 1.5-meter drop, protecting up to 1TB of data. This durable, lightweight drive comes with a USB 3.0 cable, and can be used as a standalone device, or used with the Evolutions Series’ G-DOCK ev with Thunderbolt or the new ev all-terrain case for ultra-fast transfers and editing. The drive is formatted for Mac and can be easily reformatted for Windows. The G-DRIVE ev RaW will be available this month. MSRP is 1TB for £99.95 and £79.95 for 500GB. The G-DRIVE ev ATC drives feature an all-terrain case with a tethered Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 cable that shields a removable G-DRIVE ev RaW hard drive. For added flexibility, the removable case is compatible with the Evolution Series, easily fitting the G-DRIVE ev or G-DRIVE ev SSD. The G-DRIVE ev ATC with Thunderbolt will be available this month. Manufacturer’s suggested retail pricing is £179.95 for 1TB. The G-DRIVE ev ATC with USB 3.0 will be available in February. MSRP is £139.95 for 1TB.