Canon has announced the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens. This super-telephoto zoom lens features Canon L-series weather resistance and rugged magnesium housing to meet the needs of wildlife and sports photographers or photojournalists working out in the elements. The new Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L II USM boasts a completely redesigned optical formula containing one Fluorite and one Super UD lens element - a combination unique to lenses in this focal range - to help deliver sharp images with high resolution and contrast. For photographers who want to work as closely as possible to their subjects, the minimum focusing distance of the lens has been reduced to just 3.2 ft. (0.98m), resulting in a maximum magnification of 0.31x. The original EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM was known for its push-pull zoom adjustment, but the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L II USM uses a much more conveniet rotation-type zoom ring. The Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L II USM Super-Telephoto Zoom Lens is scheduled to be available in December 2014 for an estimated retail price of £1,999.99 / €2,499.99 / $2,199.99.

According to new research by Nero, the creator of BackItUp, 44% of 'smartphone mums' admit that they would lose all of their photos if their phone was lost or broken. The study has revealed that 92% of UK mums are using smartphones to photograph their children, and 49% believe social media pages are the safest place to store photos. “We would urge parents not to play roulette with precious memories when backing up securely is such an easy and simple thing to do,” comments Charly Lippoth, Vice President Business Development at Nero. “Children grow up so fast that losing even a small amount of images can cut out a large chunk of a child’s life. Backing up is simple and easy, so there really is no excuse to forget.”

Now you have a chance to start your own photo portfolio or personal blog: TemplateMonster is giving out 3 premium WordPress themes for free!

This competition has now CLOSED. The three lucky winners are:

#3 Niklas Henriksson
#8 Tate
#11 Ryan Holman

WordPress is the most popular Content Management System for blogs, portfolios and business websites – stable, modern, extendable. TemplateMonster is one of the oldest providers of professional WordPress themes. Today we are starting the giveaway, after which 3 winners will get their premium themes with all their benefits – professional design, fully responsive layout and free 24/7 support.

LockCircle has announced its latest BirdCage for the Panasonic Lumix GH4 and the Sony A7/A7R/A7S compact system cameras. Billed as the first Modular Production Cage System in the market, the BirdCage by LockCircle weighs in at 51 grams and features an integrated LockPort micro-to-full-size HDMI adapter and a system of plates for different setups and Positive-Lock Mounts for precise follow-focus work. Designed by Dante Cecchin, the BirdCage by LockCircle is available from $399/€379. Availability is slated for 20 November 2014.

NEC Display Solutions of America announced today several affordable product bundles with SpectraViewII calebration software. The SpectraViewII EA Kit, which includes SpectraView software and a Spyder colour calibration sensor, is now available as a separate option or bundled with the the 24-inch MultiSync EA244UHD (3840 x 2160 resolution, pictured), 27-inch EA274WMi (2560 x 1440 WQHD resolution), and 30-inch EA304WMi (2560 x 1600 WQXGA resolution) displays. “These latest bundles offer affordable colour management and colour accuracy, and also leverage the NEC hallmarks of great ergonomics and eco-friendly features,” said Art Marshall, Product Manager of Professional and Medical Displays at NEC Display Solutions. “NEC has built its MultiSync PA Series as the standard for colour-critical professions. Now, it’s bringing that same expertise for colour accuracy to the wide gamut EA244UHD and EA304WMi models, and standard gamut EA274WMi display.”

Ricoh UK has today launched its Winter Cashback promotion. Running until 10 January 2015, the promotion enables customers to claim up to £70 cashback on selected Pentax DSLR bodies and kits. Eligible products include the Pentax K-3, K-S1 (pictured) and K-50 digital SLR cameras. Note that with every K-S1 purchase you will also receive a free Flucard worth £99.99. For further information on the cashback offer, visit the website below.

The Lume Cube is a powerful and ultra-portable LED lighting tool that's controlled by a smartphone app. Promising toopen new creative possibilities for photographers of any skill level, the Lume Cubeis a compact and versatile LED light for capturing both stills and videos, and is compatible with camera phones, action cams as well as more traditional digital cameras. Measuring only one-and-a-half inches, the water resistant Lume Cube produces 1,500 lumens of light in either video mode, for a continuous light source, or in strobe mode. Encased in a colourful rubber shell, the Lume Cube can magnetically attach or suction to just about any surface. The commercial launch of the Lume Cube will be funded through a Kickstarter campaign. To find out more about the device, visit the website below.

Issue 34 of David Noton’s Chasing the Light Online Magazine is now available. In this month's Behind the Lens feature and Video Blog, we join David and Wendy on the first part of their recent trip to California’s Sequoia National Park in September, sharing the pain of roadblocks that prevent photographers reaching their location in time. In Stepping Back, David considers the best locations for shooting autumn colours, while for his Fundamentals of Post Production section he presents one Video Tutorial, along with an article on the Ten Commandments of Editing a Photo Shoot. The magazine's New York-based contributor James Maher explores the story behind his iconic shot of Bow Bridge in Central Park in How It’s Done. In The Storyteller, Chris Weston considers the convergence of stills photography and video in the world of modern media, and how he has taken advantage of this to indulge his passion for storytelling.Do note that the full contents of the magazine is available to full f11 subscribers only. Non-members can purchase individual issues of the magazine at a price of £4.20.

Breakthrough Photography has announced a new line of 3.2mm ultra-slim ‘Traction’ filters featuring glass from Germany and Japan, advanced coatings and weather-sealed construction. The brand new X-Series filter line-up consists of three different models; the X1 Flat Black Filter (UV only), the X2 Traction Filter (available in 3-stop and 6-stop Neutral Density and UV variants), and the X3 Traction Filter (also available in 3-stop & 6-stop Neutral Density and UV versions). The X1 Flat Black Filter features an ultra-slim 3.5mm standard flat black frame, the X2 Traction Filter features a 3.5mm ‘Traction’ frame CNC machined from aluminium, AGC glass from Japan, MRC8 and dual nano coating layers, and the X3 Traction Filter features the company's signature 3.2mm ‘Traction’ frame CNC machined from brass, SCHOTT B270 glass from Germany, MRC16 and dual nano coating layers. The X-Series filters can now be pre ordered on Kickstarter.

Rokinon (Samyang) have announced a Cine version of their new 12mm Fish-eye lens. Boasting a maximum aperture of T3.1, the Rokinon 12mm T3.1 ED AS IF NCS UMC Cine DS Fish-eye features geared focus and aperture rings, a stepless diaphragm and an optical construction comprising 12 lens elements in 8 groups. As befits a cinematography lens, the focus, aperture and depth-of-field markings are engraved on the side of the lens barrel to aid focus pullers who typically operate on the side of the camera. The Rokinon/Samyang 12mm T3.1 ED AS IF NCS UMC Cine DS Fish-eye lens is now available to pre-order for $549 in Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony (A and E) mounts.

Bitpoem has released Exposure for  iOS, which allows the user to apply different effects to different parts of a picture. Using a patent-pending algorithm, the new app analyses the photo to identify individual objects in the scene. The user then taps or draws over an area of the image and Exposure selectively applies the effect on the area selected. Exposure also easily shares pictures with all the major social networks (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and others) and features an iOS 8 Photo Extension to help users edit their pictures in the most comfortable way possible. Exposure is available on iTunes for $1.99 / £1.49 / €1.49.

The first Hasselblad camera body and Zeiss lens carried into orbit by Wally Schirra on Mercury-Atlas 8 will be auctioned by Boston, MA based RR Auction later this month. Schirra reportedly purchased the Hasselblad 500c camera at a Houston photo supply shop in 1962, and brought it back to NASA for mission use preparation. The modifications included the installation of a 100-exposure film container, an aiming device mounted on the side, and modification of the camera surface, plus the original metal facing was repainted black to minimise reflections. The auction is scheduled to take place on 13th November at 3:00 pm ET, at RR Auction’s Boston Gallery.

The Epson Expression Photo XP-55 is a new photo printer which uses the manufacturer's six-colour Claria Photo HD inkset. The addition of Wi-Fi and mobile printing with Epson Connect make sharing your creations quick and easy. The XP-55 is also Wireless PictBridge-ready, so you can print straight from compatible cameras. You also benefit from dual paper trays - one for A4 and one for photo paper, and a speciality media feed for thicker card - and CD/DVD printing capability. The recommended retail price is £139.99.

The new Eizo ColorEdge CS240, a 24.1-inch monitor for photographers and graphic design professionals, is now available for purchase. The ColorEdge CS240 features a wide-gamut IPS panel with a resolution of 1920x1200 pixels and 99% Adobe RGB coverage. With this extended gamut, images shot in raw can be converted to Adobe RGB and images shot in Adobe RGB will be displayed in vibrant and lush colours, the company says. The Eizo ColorEdge CS240 comes equipped with DisplayPort, HDMI, and DVI input terminals. With the DisplayPort input, the monitor offers 10-bit display (more than one billion colours simultaneously) from a 16-bit look-up table, which also makes hardware calibration possible. For users that require a wide variety of calibration functionality, Eizo bundles its proprietary ColorNavigator 6 software. Preset target values for photography, printing, and web design are included for users looking for a simple way to calibrate the monitor. Experienced users can set their own target values for brightness, gamma, and white point, and generate an ICC profile. ColorNavigator 6 offers several advanced functions such as measuring the white of the paper to be used for printing for better screen-to-print matching and profile validation for verifying calibration results. An ergonomic stand with 35° tilt, 344° swivel, portrait mode, and 130 mm height adjustment lets users place the screen in the optimal position. Distributed by Colour Confidence, the Eizo ColorEdge CS240 is available in the United Kingdom for £564.

Lytro have announced the Lytro Platform to "empower innovative organisations to harness the full potential of the light field" in their industries. The first product to be released as part of the Lytro Platform is the Lytro Development Kit (LDK). The LDK provides imaging researchers with the highest degree of control of Lytro’s advanced light field capture devices and software processing engine. “We always believed that light field technology could benefit areas outside of photography,” said Jason Rosenthal, CEO of Lytro. “Since Lytro’s inception, we’ve continually been approached by a number of organisations wanting to collaborate with us on a wide variety of new applications." A number of companies and government agencies have embraced the Lytro Platform, including NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is leveraging Lytro’s LDK technology to develop new light field cameras for use on future space missions to other planets. The LDK is available from Lytro, starting at $20,000.

Tiffen have announced a brand new range of long-exposure filters that allow stills photographers to capture extreme long exposure images without incurring the red colour cast that occurs when photographers use high-density ND filters to shoot long exposures during daylight hours. Many camera sensors are sensitive to infrared wavelengths when they are exposed for prolonged periods and record this light as a slight warm red tint on some sensors, to an extreme red tint on other sensors in very bright conditions. The Tiffen XLE series comprises 3 different 10-stop reduction filters with varying infrared-cut characteristics, ranging from nothing in the XLE aXent (£28.99 - £103.99), to moderate in the XLE advantiX (£49.99 - £129.99) to complete infrared suppression in the XLE apeX (£78.99 - £168.99). These new screw-in filters are available from December, in sizes ranging from 40.5mm to 82mm. 

Lumera is a new device which connects your camera to your smartphone via Wi-Fi and BLE allowing you to back up and share your photographs wirelessly, without taking the phone out of your pocket. This novel accessory communicates with the camera via USB and attaches to the tripod socket, so after the initial setup you can pretty much forget about it while shooting. Additionally, the accompanying Android/iOS app enables you to wirelessly capture photos & videos, remotely view and edit camera parameters like shutter speed, ISO, focus and zoom area, white balance, drive mode, aperture, image quality etc., wirelessly stream the camera's live iew feed to your iOS or Android device, geotag your photos and more. Lumera is available for pre-order through Kickstarter from $125.