Hot on the heels of Hasselblad's announcement of the H5D-50c, Phase One has unveiled a medium-format digital back with a 50-megapixel CMOS sensor. With a sensor size of 44x33mm, the IQ250 offers 68 percent more image-capture real estate than a typical 35mm full-frame digital SLR camera, and delivers a claimed 14 stops of dynamic range. Additionally; it has an ISO range from 100/21° to 6400/39°, which is unprecedented for an MF digital back. "Fluid and responsive Live View is another key feature of the IQ250," the company says. Live View on the IQ250 offers great composition and focus assistance -- whether it is used directly on the digital back, connected via USB3 to Capture One on the computer, or displayed wirelessly on iPads or iPhones running Capture Pilot. The Phase One IQ250 system is available now, priced at €24,990/ $34,990:

Impossible has announced the release of three new special edition colour films for the legendary Polaroid SX-70 Land instant camera. Each of the three new Special Edition SX-70 films (Color SX-70 Gold Frame, Color SX-70 Silver Frame and Color SX-70) boast the latest colour protection formula from Impossible, offering improved colour saturation and a high level of detail and sharpness. The films are now available through the Impossible Online Shop.

ProAm USA, a manufacturer of production equipment for film and video enthusiasts and professionals, has just announced the Taurus Jr. camera crane/jib. A heavy-duty, dual-arm jib system, the Taurus Jr. extends three feet from the fulcrum and supports camera rigs up to 20 pounds. Modelled after the Taurus XL, the ProAm USA Taurus Jr will be available in mid-February for $299. “A crane that can support up to 20 pounds for under $300 with features like built-in tilt, pan brake and manual tilt control is practically unheard of,” states Jennifer Melancon, vice president, ProAm USA.“The value is unbeatable.” Availability is slated for mid February,

Fotospeed has announced the PhotoSmooth Pearl 290, a natural white, instant-dry 290gsm inkjet paper. This resin coated, heavyweight paper is offered as a replacement for the widely acclaimed, and now discontinued, Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl paper; with free sample packs available to current Ilford cutomers in the United Kingdom.

Lithuania wedding photographer, Lina Ruskyte Lukoseviciene was awarded the coveted Photographer of the Year by The Societies during the Awards Dinner at their annual Convention, for the photo shown above. Lina said, “The image was taken of a bride while she was preparing for ceremony, she was standing in another room and her brother was correcting her veil. I took the picture from the space in front of the open doors.” In addition to receiving her trophy Lina also walked away with a VIP trip to The Societies' 2015 Convention.

Kowa has alunched two digiscoping adapters, one for DSLR users and one for Samsung Galaxy S4 owners. The TSN-PA7 works seamlessly with Kowa’s TE-10Z 20-60x Zoom and TE-11WZ 25-60x PROMINAR Wide Zoom eyepieces. “The previous D-SLR option for the TSN-880 and TSN-770 Series Scopes did not allow for digiscoping with an eyepiece,” says Sales Manager Miles Takahashi, “the TSN-PA7 is a great option for our TSN-880 and TSN-770 scope users who are looking to fill that void.” The TSN-GA4S Samsung Galaxy S4 Adapter comes with 55mm and 41mm adapter rings as a standard package (compatible with the TE-11WZ, TE-10Z and TE-17W eyepieces, BD42-XD, BD32, YF and SV Series binoculars). Additional 43mm, 45mm, and 50mm adapter rings are available for purchase to ensure compatibility with the entire Kowa lineup of binoculars and spotting scopes.

Samyang has announced a dedicated filter holder for its 14mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC lens. Available in two versions, Standard and V-DSLR, the Samyang SFH-14 solves the common problem of mounting the filters on a lens that does not have a filter thread because of its unique optical construction. The holder comes with double slideways to use one or two filters at the same time, both vertically and horizontally. The filters designed for this holder are manufactured by Cokin. Three filters are available, an 8-stop ND filter, a graduated neutral density filter and a graduated blue filter, each measuring 161x139x3mm. The holder sells for €32, and the filters are priced from €63-€68.

Verbatim has announced a Store ‘n’ Go Nano USB drive and a Tablet microSDHC memory card. Equipped with a micro USB adapter, the Verbatim Nano USB drive comes in capacities of 8GB (€9.99), 16GB (€15.99) and 32GB (€27.99). The micro USB adapter packaged with the Nano USB Drive can be used independently whenever required. The Tablet microSDHC card comes with an SD card adapter. The top-of-the-range 32GB microSDHC Card (€29.99, colour coded red) has a Speed Class 10 and UHS-I Speed Class 10 rating delivering ample capacity and optimised performance for HD video use. Alternatively, customers can opt for a 16GB (€15.99, blue) or 8GB (€8.99, green) microSDHC Card, also with a Speed Class 10 rating.

The winners of the 2013 ArtGemini Prize have been announced. The £1000 first prize was awarded to Chiara Gerevasi for her photo, UNO (see above). The second prize went to Orit Zuckerman. The finalists' images will be on display at the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery in London from 24th January to 7th February. All 56 artworks (including paintings and photographs) are for sale, and 20% of the sale proceeds will be donated to Kids Company. Visitors to the exhibition may cast their vote for the winner of the £500 Public Choice Prize.

Eivissa is a new series in a rapidly growing portfolio of work by talented international photographer Annelies Damen. Hosted by Embassy Tea Gallery, 195-205 Union Street, London, SE1 0LN; this is her first London exhibition of work developed while on location on Ibiza (Eivissa, is the Catalan name for the island). The show encompasses the running theme in her work which is the exploration and celebration of women surrounded by the natural world. The photographs will be on display from 6-9 March 2014.

Datacolor has announced five new colour webinars for January, February and March. Hosted by David Saffir, Datacolor expert and noted landscape and fine art photographer, the webinars focus on managing colour using tools in both capture and processing stages, and mastering techniques such as high-resolution panorama photography. Each webinar includes step-by-step demonstrations using Datacolor’s line of Spyder calibration devices. Click through / read on for more information including titles, dates and times.

LumeJet and its new ultra-high-quality print technology will make its UK debut at IPEX 2014 (24th-29th March,ExCel, London, Hall S2, Stand F175). "The LumeJet technology has been designed from the ground up to exploit the proven, continuous tone quality of Silver Halide (AgX) media and its extended RGB colour gamut," the company says. "This produces vibrant, smooth and colour accurate images." The first to product to incorporate LumeJet’s inkless Digital Print Head technology is the LumeJet S200 printer (pictured), which takes 305 mm photographic roll paper for page sizes up to A3 landscape double-page spread, full bleed, including trim – ideal for lay flat books.

The Royal Photographic Society (RPS) has issued a call for nominations for its annual Awards. Honouring individuals across all areas of photography, the RPS Annual Awards offers several categories ranging from ‘Outstanding Service to Photography’, to those honouring individuals in photographic education and science. Award winners will be announced at a special event to be be held in London in September 2014. Full details of each Award and a nomination form can be found on The Society’s website.

London from the Rooftops is a new exhibition of works by North London photographer James Burns. Hosted by theprintspace gallery in Shoreditch, the exhibition features 66 new images captured from the city’s tallest buildings. The exhibition will run from 27th of January until 11th of February 2014, Mon - Fri 9am - 7pm. The gallery is located at 74 Kingsland Road, E2 8DL London. Admission is free.

The winners of the Open and Amateur categories of the 2013 International Loupe Awards have been announced. The overall Open Award Winner is Mark Carter from New Zealand, who receives a prize pool that includes $15,000 in cash and a VIP trip to the 2014 Creative Asia Imaging Expo in Hong Kong. The Amateur Award went to Lori Cicchini from Australia, who has won photographic equipment from the likes of Canson, Kayell, Elinchrom, Drobo, Datacolor, Orbis and IOShutter. Entries for International Loupe Awards 2014 will open in October 2014.

Finding the Light is a new ebook by photographer Audrey Woulard. Released as part of her Enlightenment series. this ebook serves as a reference guide for photographers who are interested in Audrey Woulard's technique in finding the exquisite light that is seen in all of her portraits. She has pull back explanations on how she utilises her surroundings to achieve perfect exposure straight out of the camera. Alongside her other ebooks, Finding the Light can be purchased at the website below.

DxO Labs have released version 4.5.1 of DxO FilmPack and version 2.1.2 of DxO ViewPoint, a program dedicated to fixing problems with keystoning and volume anamorphosis. The FilmPack update improves operational stability, while the latest ViewPoint release adds two new DxO Optics Modules for automatic distortion correction.

Website: DxO Labs

The second edition of Steve Davey's book, Footprint Travel Photography, will go on sale in the United States on 1st February. "I am really proud of this book and how it has turned out," Steve says. "The first edition was very well received, and I can confidently say that the second edition is a vast improvement in every way." The book is already available in the iBookstore and a Kindle edition is coming soon. The 320-page volume will retail for $29.95 in the US and is priced at £19.99 in the UK.

One hundred years ago, Oskar Barnack created the very first Leica, the Leitz Camera, later known as the Ur-Leica. An employee of the Leitz Werke Wetzlar and a photography pioneer, Barnack invented and constructed the first stills camera to shoot 24×36mm frames on 35mm in 1914. Company archives dating from March 1914 show that Barnack originally gave his compact and highly portable prototype camera the name ‘Lilliput’. The original is still in the possession of Leica Camera AG, together with the negatives and prints of the first exposures captured with the Ur-Leica – which include pictures from a 1914 summer trip Ernst Leitz to the United States. While the Ur-Leica itself never went into mass production due to the outbreak of the Great War, the concept revolutionised photography, with the manufacturing of the first "actual" Leica beginning in 1925.

Nikon has posted a firmware update for the FX-format Nikon Df digital SLR camera. Version 1.01 fixes the following bugs:

• When Press for Custom Setting f4 (Assign Fn button), f5 (Assign preview button), or f6 (Assign AE-L/AF-L button) was set toPreview, and the camera's Fn button, Pv button, or AE-L/AF-L button was pressed with viewfinder shooting using a Speedlight SB-800, a preview was not displayed in the camera monitor and a modeling flash was not fired.

• When a Speedlight that does not support auto FP high-speed sync was used with Custom Setting e1 (Flash sync speed) set to 1/250 s (Auto FP), the maximum shutter speed was 1/200 s.

• When images captured with Auto ISO sensitivity control in the shooting menu set to Off were displayed in ViewNX 2 or Capture NX 2, Auto (ISO XXX)* was displayed for ISO Sensitivity in Metadata.  This issue has been resolved.
  *"XXX" is the specified ISO sensitivity value.

Website: Nikon Europe Support