The award-winning BallPod is a colourful, tactile alternative to a traditional tripod. BallPod is the size of an orange and weighs just 298g, making it ideal to take on every adventure no matter how challenging the terrain is. The smooth silicone shell can quickly be moulded into any shape by hand, much like a stressball, and BallPod fits to all standard cameras, smartphone adapters and small video cameras. Priced at £20, BallPod is available to purchase from selected photography outlets throughout the UK.

ReaSoft has launched a new version of ReaConverter, its batch image conversion and editing program for Windows. New and improved features include 2x faster image processing, support for multi-threading, an entirely reworked user interface, built-in support for cloud storage, new editing options and graphic filters and advanced command-line processing. ReaConverter 7 is available in three edititons; Lite ($24.95), Standard ($49.95) and Pro ($99.95).

We've teamed up with CameraWorld to give away a fantastic Fujifilm X-A1 camera!

The lucky winner is Angela Smith. Congratulations!

CameraWorld is a real camera shop, helping you to make the most of your hobby. Our expert team has many years experience within the photographic trade with knowledge gained over 40 years. Many are photographers themselves and enjoy passing their knowledge on. You'll also find our online service fast, efficient and courteous and you can always call us if you want to talk to a human being! We are dedicated to bringing you the very best in service, choice and price.

We're very easy to find, our London store is just off Oxford Street between Oxford Circus station and Tottenham Court Road station. The Essex shop is located in High Chelmer Shopping Centre, just off the High Street in Chelmsford. Visit us and you'll always find a friendly welcome. Our policy is to serve our customers as we would like to be served ourselves, a simple ideal that we try hard to live up to.

The Pentax 645Z is a new medium-format dSLR camera with a 51.4-megapixel CMOS sensor, live view, dual SD card slots, 3fps continuous shooting and Full HD movie recording capabilities. The sensor has an imaging area of 43.8mm x 32.8mm, which is approximately 1.7 times larger than that of a 35mm full-frame imager.The Pentax 645Z boasts a maximum sensitivity setting of ISO 204,800; a 10-frame raw buffer, a newly designed SAFOX 11 phase-matching AF module with 27 sensor points (including 25 cross-type sensors), a tiltable 3.2-inch LCD monitor with a resolution of approximately 1,037,000 dots and a large, bright viewfinder with 98% frame coverage. The camera shoots Full HD video clips (60i/30p) and allows interval video recording of 4K-resolution images (in Motion JPEG or AVI video format). By installing the optional Flucard for Pentax 16GB O-FC1 memory card in the 645Z, the user can release the 645Z’s shutter, check the live-view image, and browse and download the images recorded on the card using a smartphone. The Pentax 645Z will be available in May, priced at £6,799.99 / $8,499.95 (or £7,699.99 with a 55mm lens).

Press the President (PTP), an online collaborative blog, is hosting a photo competition throughout the month of April. Challenging Americans to start a new beginning by “going green” and share their stories and photographs with its readers, PTP is asking amateur photographers to tweet their entries @PTP_US with the hashtag #GoGreen, post them on the blog's Facebook page or email them to [email protected] At the end of the campaign, the editorial staff at Press the President will select the photo the best represents the idea of going green and will donate $500 to the winner’s charity of choice.

Datacolor's SpyderHD calibration suite is now available to purchase in the United States. Introduced a week ago in Europe, SpyderHD is a complete workflow solution including the Spyder4 ELITE HD integrated display calibration application, the innovative SpyderWEB (a universal mounting system that securely mounts the Spyder for calibration of most screens), the SpyderCHECK colour reference and gray card system and the portable SpyderCUBE (which provides white balance, exposure, black level and highlight references). The Datacolor SpyderHD package is available for $349.

Profoto has introduced renowned photographer Jared Platt as the new host for the Profoto webinar. Starting 23rd April, the Profoto webinars will be hosted by renowned wedding and lifestyle photographer Jared Platt. The series’s title is On Location with Jared Platt “Our aim is to show powerful yet simple lighting techniques for photographers working in less than ideal situations,” says Jared. “While some episodes will be more elaborate in scope, many will deal with lighting challenging locations with limited time and resources. In most of our webinars we will take the viewers on location with us in a behind the scenes look of various photo shoots." The first On Location with Jared Platt webinar will take participants to the Arizona desert - for more information, visit the website below.

We've teamed up with Manfrotto to give away THREE fantastic new Advanced Camera Bags worth up to £84.95!

The three lucky winners are:

1st Prize: Advanced Tri Backpack small (MB MA-BP-TS) – RRP £84.95 - Karen Herbert

2nd Prize: Advanced Active Backpack I (MB MA-BP-A1) - RRP £79.95 - Fiona Johnstone

3rd Prize: Advanced Gear Backpack Small (MB MA-BP-GPS) – RRP £59.95 - John Machar

MANFROTTO ADVANCED BAGS COLLECTION

Protection, design and quality in a brand-new fully-featured collection of camera bags.

Manfrotto Advanced Camera Bags

Aimed at passionate photographers looking for full-featured, reliable equipment that share the Manfrotto heritage trusted by professionals. Alongside our well-known hobbyist tripods, Advanced bags are an ideal way in to Manfrotto’s range. All Advanced bags are made using durable, resistant fabrics, metal zip pulls and buckles… all carefully assembled and stitched to ensure that Advanced bags are made to last. Based on the real needs of photographers, the functions of Advanced bags have been made easy to use on the move: tripod holders, dividers, pockets, rain covers, all carefully designed around the keen photographer.

For more information or to view or buy Manfrotto products online visit: http://www.manfrotto.co.uk

Tamron has announced availability and pricing information on the Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro superzoom lens. Designed for dSLRs with APS-C sized sensors, the Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro has a 35mm equivalent focal range of 24-450mm and an optical formula comprising sixteen elements in twelve groups, plus an iris diaphragm with seven rounded aperture blades. Shipping with a petal-shaped lens hood, the Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro has a 67mm filter thread, 39cm minimum focus distance and a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:2.9. The lens incorporates a PZD (Piezo Drive) focus motor and Tamron’s exclusive VC (Vibration Compensation) technology to combat motion blur resulting from shaky hands. The lens will be on sale in the USA starting May 15, 2014 at a street price of $629.

The new Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f0.95 II lens is now available. This revised edition benefits from a new aperture control mechanism which allows the user to switch between "clicked" and stepless operation as required, just like the Voigtländer Nokton 42.5mm f/0.95 and Nokton 17.5mm f/0.95. Otherwise unchanged from the previous version, the Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f0.95 II is a manual-focus lens with an optical formula comprising 11 elements in 8 groups and a 10-bladed iris diaphragm. In the UK, the lens is available for £660 from Robert White. In the USA, you can buy Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f0.95 II from Amazon for $999.

Sigma has announced the recommended price of the new Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM has an optical formula featuring 13 elements in 8 groups and an iris diaphragm with 9 rounded blades. The lens incorporates a floating system that adjusts the distance between lens groups while focusing, thereby reducing the amount of lens movement required. A Hyper Sonic Motor (HSM) enables fast and quiet auto focus operation. The 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens will be available later this month for $949 in the USA. In the UK it will cost £849 with Canon and Sigma fits available in May, Nikon fit following in June, and Sony and Pentax still to be determined.

You can now buy Luxi, a small diffusion dome that turns your iPhone 5 into an incident light meter, from Photojojo's online store. Available for $30, Luxi helps you determine the best settings for your SLR or other camera so that you can take perfectly exposed pictures regardless of your subject's reflectance.

Website: Photojojo

Located along the banks of the Zambezi River,  Chiawa Camp is offering a unique technique that will allow you to take wildlife shots during night game drives without compromising the animals’ natural behaviour. The camp has developed a spotlight protocol which comprises red light filters and the Chiawa Filter. Red light filters are used on headlights and spotlights for locating animals and reducing any discomfort; the Chiawa Filter is then used for maximum photographic effect, eliminating the disorienting hot spot and unwelcome red tinge, using instead a specially-designed filter that creates diffused, natural light. For more information, visit the website below.

Warehouse Express has started taking pre-orders for the brand new Sony A7S, a 35mm full-frame compact system camera that shoots 4K video without pixel binning. The camera's professional video functions include XAVC S Full HD recording at 50Mbps, time code and optional XLR audio inputs. The new α7S full-frame digital camera from Sony will be available in Summer 2014, priced at £2499 without a lens. For comparison, Warehouse Express sells the Sony A7 for £1235 and the A7R for £1669.

Website: Warehouse Express

AJA Video Systems have announced a professional grade 4K/2K cinema camera called CION. When recording in HD or 2K, the image is oversampled from the full 4K sensor, retaining focal length and angle-of-view. Featuring a PL mount, CION is compatible with industry-standard cine lenses and offers in-camera recording directly to the Apple ProRes family of codecs. Additionally, CION has the ability to output 4K raw data at up to 120 fps via 4x 3G-SDI outputs and can record directly to AJA Pak SSD media at up to 60 frames per second. CION will be available Summer 2014 via a worldwide network of AJA resellers at a US MSRP of $8,995. AJA Pak SSD media is available at a US MSRP of $695 (256GB) and $1295 (512GB).

The Photography Show has announced that Leica and Ricoh, absent from the 2014 event, will be exhibiting at the 2015 show. “Selection for the 2015 show was made on the basis of the 2014 show evidence and exhibitor feedback," says David Bell, Managing Director of Leica Camera. "Fresh and alive, the 2014 show attracted new visitors and exhibitors as well as the important seasoned photographic community. This at a time when the industry is facing many challenges was good to see." According to officially audited data, attendance for the 2014 exhibition was 30,003.

Tamron today officially announced the Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro lens. Designed for dSLRs with APS-C sized sensors, the Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro has a 35mm focal range of 24-450mm and an optical formula comprising sixteen elements in twelve groups, plus an iris diaphragm with seven rounded aperture blades. Shipping with a petal-shaped lens hood, the Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro has a 67mm filter thread, 39cm minimum focus distance and a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:2.9. The lens incorporates a PZD (Piezo Drive) focus motor and Tamron’s exclusive VC (Vibration Compensation) technology to combat motion blur resulting from shaky hands. Pricing has yet to be communicated.

Unresolved Dreams is an exhibition of photographs by photojournalist Ed Kashi, currently on display at the gallery@oxo in London. Commissioned by The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS), Ed has charted the lives of a handful of the approximately one million Azerbaijani internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees who are the ongoing casualties of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The exhibition runs from 10–13 April, and is open every day from 11a.m. to 6p.m.