Tamron announced that it had produced a total of 5 million high-power zoom lenses for interchangeable-lens cameras as of September 30, 2014. Ever since Tamron released the AF28-200mm F/3.8-5.6 Aspherical, the company has continued to develop innovative high-power zoom lenses, supporting digital SLR cameras, incorporating VC (Vibration Compensation) mechanisms, and implementing the PZD (Piezo Drive) ultrasonic motor. At present, Tamron has a wide lineup of high-power zoom lenses supporting various camera formats. In particular, during 2014, the company has released the 16-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD MACRO (Model B016) for APS-C sized digital SLR cameras with a world-first*2 18.8x zoom, the 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD (Model A010) supporting full-frame digital SLR cameras, and the 14-150mm F/3.5-5.8 Di III (Model C001) for Micro Four Thirds mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras.

Photographer Andrew Whyte used the Sony A7S to capture a series of stunning images at some of the 92 Dark Sky Sites and parks across the United Kingdom. Andrew, who specialises in long-exposure photography, used the Sony A7S on a series of overnight shoots in Northumberland National Park and the Brecon Beacons (one of only five areas in the world granted International Dark Sky Reserve status). “As a long-exposure photographer, I’m always searching for equipment which renders great detail while allowing me the largest range of creative potential. I’ve been truly blown away by the image quality I can capture in low light using the Sony A7S," Whyte says. "The shots are incredibly low noise, and the camera’s sensitivity opens up so many possibilities for the photographer.”

Power Practical has launched a Kickstarter campaign to hekp fund the commercialisation of its Pronto fast-charge battery pack. The Pronto comes in two flavours - the 4500mAh Pronto 5 can store enough power to charge 3 iPhones within one hour, whereas the 13,500mAh offers dual high-power 2.4 A USB ports and includes a 12V adapter, allowing you to charge larger devices such as laptops, DSLR cameras, and drone batteries. The Pronto 5 will be available for $59, while the Pronto 12 will retail for $99. For more details head to the project's Kickstarter page.

Pinnacle have released Pinnacle Studio 18, Pinnacle Studio 18 Plus and Pinnacle Studio 18 Ultimate. Now offering native 64-bit performance and enhanced productivity, the Pinnacle Studio 18 product family offers a faster, more responsive movie-making experience. With Pinacle Studio 18 Plus, you can record directly from your screen — including system audio and microphone sound — to add dynamic content to movies and demo videos with Live Screen Capture. For users looking for maximum video editing power, Pinnacle Studio 18 Ultimate also offers new 4K Ultra HD Smart Encoding, support for XAVC S (HD and 4K HD), enhanced Live Screen Capture and valuable extras from NewBlue. Suggested retail pricing of Pinnacle Studio 18 is $59.95 / €59.95/ £49.95, Pinnacle Studio 18 Plus is $99.95 / €99.95/ £79.95 and Pinnacle Studio 18 Ultimate is $129.95 / €129.95/ £99.95.

Photography as Meditation by Torsten Andreas Hoffmann is a new title from Rocky Nook. In this book, the author explores an approach to artistic photography based on Japanese Zen Philosophy, and shows how important it is to engage with your own awareness to act creatively. "Photographing busy scenes, especially, requires an inner calm that enables you to have intuition for the right moment and to compose a well-balanced image amidst the chaos," the publisher says. The 256-page softback is available for $39.95.

Today at 2.30pm ET, PhotoShelter will be hosting a free webinar entitled, "Law School 101: Demystifying Copyright & Social Media Terms of Service." In this special webinar panel with copyright expert Bill Cramer, founder and CEO of Wonderful Machine, and Kristine Hsu of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, you will learn about the key facts you need to know regarding copyright and what can be hidden in those lengthy terms of service on some of the most popular social media sites. Cramer and Hsu will dive into case studies from recent court cases involving photographers and their work, the best workflow practices to get your copyright registered, and much more. You can sign up for this free event at the website below.

Website: Photoshelter Website Registration

Ricoh today announced the Pentax K-S1 Sweets Collection. This range includes three new editions - Strawberry Cake, Blue Cream Soda and Lime Pie, all of which feature streamlined white bodies accentuated with vibrant colour accents. The white camera body is paired with a white SMC DA L 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens "to enhance the overall appearance," the company says. Apart from the cosmetic differences, these cameras are identical to the previously announced Pentax K-S1 editions. The kit price - including the camera and one lens - is £599.99. Availability is slated for mid-November.

BitTorrent have published the results of their own speed test in which they pitted their Sync file hosting/sharing/synchronisation tool against rivals such as Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. "Sync is fast and it gets its speed from the BitTorrent protocol on which it is built, taking the shortest and fastest path when getting file pieces from one device to another," the company says. "We knew we were fast, but we thought it would be interesting to see just how fast Sync is in head-to-head competition. So we ran a test comparing Sync against cloud-based services in the market... The results impressed even us." In BitTorrent's own testing, Sync proved to be 8x faster than Google Drive, 11x faster than OneDrive and 16x faster than Dropbox. To find out more about the test methodology and results, head to the website below.

Website: BitTorrent Blog

The winners of the fiftieth Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition have now been announced. American photographer Michael ‘Nick’ Nichols was named Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 by a panel of international judges for his serene black-and-white image of lions resting with their cubs in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park (above). Eight-year-old Carlos Perez Naval was awarded Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 for his image of a scorpion soaking up the Sun near his hometown in Spain. The winning images will be on show at the Museum with other shortlisted pictures from Friday 24 October until Sunday 30 August 2015. The exhibition will then embark on an international tour across six continents.

Shenyang Zhongyi Optics have released several high-resolution sample photos and a sample video captured using their new 42.5mm f/1.2 & 24mm f/1.7 lenses. Taken with a Panasonic DMC-GH4 & a Sony A7 (the latter in cropped mode), these official samples were shot at the company's Photokina booth. The company has also announced that the launch of the E and X-mount variants of the Zhongyi Mitakon 42.5mm f/1.2 has been postponed due to a "production issue" but the Micro Four Thirds version will go on sale later this month. The Mitakon 24mm f/1.7 will be available in all three mounts in late October.

Joby have released a brand new ‘supersized’ version of its GripTight system, designed for use with larger smartphones/phablets. The new GripTight XL will securely hold devices from 69-99mm inches in width including the iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S5, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Xperia Z3. Supporting a maximum load of 325g, the Joby GripTight XL weighs a mere 20g and sells for £15.

Canon today announced the Canon EOS C100 Mark II digital video camera. Designed for economical film and video productions such as documentary and remote broadcast crews, wedding and event coverage, indie film productions, as well as film schools and business and government users, the new EOS C100 Mark II Digital Video Camera features advanced image processing, AVCHD and MP4 1920x1080/60p recording, uncompressed YCbCr output from HDMI, and many other new and enhanced capabilities for improved picture quality, operability, and convenient handling. Weighing in at 2.5 pounds, the Canon EOS C100 Mark II boasts a Super 35mm 8.3 megapixel CMOS imager, a large-size detachable eyecup, a 68-degree tilting 0.45-inch 1.23 megapixel electronic viewfinder and an innovatively hinged 3.5-inch 1.23 megapixel OLED display panel. The new hinge design ─ which folds the panel shut when stowed, protecting the OLED surface ─ opens 180 degrees to reveal function keys and a joystick. The panel can open even further to 270 degrees to deploy against the side of the camera to provide monitoring for directors and other production personnel. Additional design improvements on the camera body include 17 assignable recessed function buttons, dual SD card slots with a transparent cover, and a simplified battery insertion and removal release. The Canon EOS C100 Mark II is scheduled to be available at the end of December 2014 for an estimated retail price of $5,499.

DeliX Software has released a new iOS app called Creatic, which gives users the ability to adorn their photos with unique effects and textures, save the workspace as a Creation or upload it to the Creatic website. The program includes more than 120+ textures and filters created by photographers, including light leak, lens flares, gradients and ten different blending modes. Creatic is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store.

Now in its 6th year, Digital Splash - which is hosted by Wilkinson Cameras – will see a selection of the UK’s best photographers descend on Preston. Lancashire, for a celebration of all things photography related. Headlining the show this year is world famous landscape and travel photographer, Colin Prior, alongside Andrea Denniss, Damian McGillicuddy, Matt Hart and Catherine Connor. Brand new for this year is the F-Stop Stage – which will host a range of free talks on subjects including the use of flash and studio lighting, colour management systems and the use of filters – (hosted by Lee Filters). This year, Digital Splash will take place on Sunday 9th November (10am to 5pm) at the University of Central Lancashire. The event is free to attend and tickets for the seminars are just £6 – available to purchase online at the website below.

Macphun today announced an update to its most popular photographic app, Intensify. Compatible with the latest public betas of Yosemite, the latest release offers enhanced raw image file processing as well as a number of performance improvements. Also, Intensify is now available in Italian, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Brazilian and Portuguese. Existing Intensify and intensify Pro users can upgrade immediately at the website below.