Harman technology, trading as Ilford Photo, has launched a website dedicated to helping film photographers who do not own a darkroom find a facility near their place of residence. A 2013 survey conducted by Ilford Photo has revealed that there are many photographers using film that have no direct access to a darkroom but would like to find one locally. It also highlighted that there are hundreds of private home darkrooms worldwide which the owners may be willing to share with fellow photographers. "If you are looking for a darkroom and there is none listed in the area you want you can place a 'marker' to indicate your interest," the company says. "Doing so may prompt someone who had not registered to do so and get in touch or may bring groups of photographers together in a common quest."

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 2013.

The DSLR Camera of the Year 2013 award goes to the Canon EOS 70D.

“The new Canon EOS 70D offers the best all-round combination yet of viewfinder, live view and movie shooting experience for a DSLR camera, backed up by excellent image quality from the 20 megapixel APS-C sensor, proven handling and fast performance, making it a very appealing do-it-all interchangeable lens camera that suits a lot of users.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Canon and the EOS 70D!

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 2013.

The Compact System Camera of the Year 2013 award goes to the Olympus OM-D E-M1.

“The combination of great image quality, an abundance of features, excellent auto focus, insane customisability and a robust dust-, drip- and freeze-proof body with a well-thought-out user interface do go a long way in justifying the cost...”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Olympus and the OM-D E-M1!

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 2013.

The Compact Camera of the Year 2013 award goes to the Fujifilm X20.

“...the Fujifilm X20 delivers such a winning combination of old and new that offers so many important improvements over the original model that we can heartily recommend it for new and X10 users alike.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Fujifilm and the FinePix X20!

Kenro has announced the UK availability of a series of multi-picture frames, the Bergamo range. Manufactured in wood with a high gloss lacquer finish, the 6-picture wall frames are supplied with double picture mats allowing two sizes of photos to be used. Managing Director of Kenro, Paul Kench commented: "These contemporary frames would show off a collection of professional photographs beautifully. The versatile and ultra-smart series are a must have for retailers, galleries and studios."

The new book, EarthArt - Colours of the Earth, features the stunning aerial photographs of Bernhard Edmaier. Taken with Hasselblad cameras, many of the images are also featured in the current issue of VICTOR Magazine. "Bernhard has been in the skies actively looking for scenes that demonstrate the rich diversity of the planet's natural colours, such as the blue colour of water and ice, the variegated greens of vegetation, the many shades of yellow, orange, red and brown of rocks and desert sand, the white and grey of glaciers and the surprising colour spectrum of volcanoes," Hasselblad says. "Ultimate quality has always been fundamental to his work, hence the need for a Hasselblad: having started out with analogue, Bernhard switched to the H System in 2007 and now works an H5D-60." The book is currently available from Amazon for £24.77.

The National Galleries of Scotland has announced the acquisition of a photographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The formal portrait, captured by Julian Calder in August 2010, went on display yesterday at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. In this photograph Her Majesty The Queen is presented as Sovereign of The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of The Thistle, a chivalric Order that dates from the seventeenth century. Her Majesty wears the robes of the Order and insignia bearing the emblem of the thistle (the national flower of Scotland) and the cross of Saint Andrew. 

Lomography has launched an instant attachment for the Belair X 6-12 medium-format film camera. Designed for use with Fuji Instax Wide Film, the instant back comes in at £79, or it can be purchased with a Belair camera in discounted bundles. Of course, if want to shoot chromes or negatives, you can always replace the Instant Back on the Belair Instant Camera Kit with the regular 120 film back. Click through / read on for more details.

Blackmagic Design has released DaVinci Resolve 10.1, which adds new editing and 3D stereoscopic features as well as support for Final Cut Pro X 10.1. This update adds innovative editing features that includes allowing users to preview and align multiple camera takes while editing, so they can quickly switch between takes to show their clients shot options live from the timeline. Editors can now copy individual clips in the editing timeline with drag-and-drop simplicity. Also featured in DaVinci Resolve 10.1 are XML import enhancements for both FCP X 10.1 and FCP 7 customers. Compound clips from FCP X 10.1 with separate A/V elements are now split into individual clips and imported FCP 7 XML’s include font properties and timeline markers. DaVinci Resolve 10.1 is available now for download free of charge for all existing DaVinci Resolve customers.

Mastering the Nikon D610 by Darrell Young is a new title from Rocky Nook. Guiding readers through the camera features with step-by-step setting adjustments; colour illustrations, and detailed how, when and why explanations for each option; this book explores the features and capabilities of the camera in a way that far surpasses the user’s manual. The 568-page volume retails for $39.95.

The Adventure Travel Show, which features a number of travel photography seminars, takes place at London’s Olympia on 25-26 January 2014. Offered in partnership with Wanderlust Travel Magazine, these semiars are conducted by the magazine's founder Lyn Hughes and editor Phoebe Smith. An Adventure Travel Film Festival will be taking place on 25th January, showing a selection of excellent independent adventure travel films. Do note tat seminar and film evening tickets are individually priced. For more information visit the website below.

Appadana Development has released Version 4.0 of Polamatic, an iOS app promising to bring the Polaroid look "back to life on any Apple device." New features in Version 4.0 include 36 Polaroid inspired filters, 36 classic Polaroid borders, new text editing functions and an array of handwritten fonts. Polamatic for iOS version 4.0 is available on iTunes for $0.99.

Reallusion has launched FaceFilter3 Mac, the latest version of its photo retouching and beautification toolkit. The template-based system allows users to quickly and easily apply “extremely detailed and natural-looking” makeup styles for each specific facial feature, then customise and save them for future use. The ability to selectively morph and adjust individual facial features allows for precise facial enhancement and subtle changes in expression. Now FaceFilter3 is available for both Windows PC and Mac, in Standard version at $29.99 and PRO version at $149.95.

Foneclay, a mobile development company that offers a suite of cloud-based application services, has teamed up with Getty Images to offer their photos and graphics as mobile wallpaper through Feeds, Foneclay’s proprietary application for Android. "People look at the picture on their mobile home screen more often than any other image,” said Scott Dresden of Foneclay. “Our users want to see new images cycling through their background but don’t have time to change the image themselves. Therefore, we’ve enabled publishers like Getty Images to send dynamic images to these users’ mobile home screens.” Getty's partnership with Foneclay is the company’s first direct partnership with a mobile technology company that offers products to consumers.

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 2013.

The Lens of the Year 2013 award goes to the Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM.

“...we can whole-heartedly recommend the new Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM as a fast, well-built prime lens that delivers superb results.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Sigma and the 35mm F1.4 DG HSM!

Sony has announced its new, professional UWP.D wireless microphone series designed for compact camcorders and interchangeable-lens cameras. Small and lightweight, the UWP-D series are available in three packages, including the UWP-D11 belt-pack transmitter and portable receiver set, the UWP-D12 handheld microphone and portable receiver kit and the UWP-D16 bundle, which includes a plug-on transmitter, belt-pack Transmitter and a portable receiver. The UWP-D receiver is equipped with a variable output level control, so even if the camcorder or camera does not have input level control, users can easily adjust to optimise recording levels. The new UWP-D series is planned to be available in March 2014.

The Guardian has launched the inaugural GuardianWitness awards. These awards aim to celebrate outstanding contributions - photos, videos and stories -  by Guardian users through the GuardianWitness app and desktop site. A panel of judges, comprising Guardian and Observer editors and other key figures in media, science and technology, will assess submissions in eleven categories. All content submitted via GuardianWitness on or before 20 January 2014 will be eligible for consideration in the awards. Further information about GuardianWitness is available at the website below.

Adobe today unveiled new 3D printing capabilities in Photoshop CC. Available immediately, as part of a major update to Adobe Creative Cloud, the new 3D printing capabilities integrated in Photoshop CC enable Creative Cloud members to build, refine, preview, prepare and print 3D designs. “The new 3D print capabilities in Photoshop CC take the guess work out of printing 3D models for everyone,” said Winston Hendrickson, vice president products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “Before today there was a gap between the content produced by 3D modeling tools and what 3D printers need in order to deliver high quality results. Now, by simply clicking ‘Print’ in Photoshop CC, creatives can bring 3D designs to the physical world.”