Buffalo Technology has launched the DriveStation Mini Thunderbolt SSD edition, billed as "one of the world’s fastest portable storage devices." Featuring two SSD drives as well as two Thunderbolt ports, the device's read speed exceeds 760MB/s and write speeds are more than 615MB/s, enabling users to transfer up to 800MB of data in 1.3 seconds. In addition, the DriveStation Mini Thunderbolt SSD is pre-formatted for use with Mac OS X and supports the daisy-chain function, allowing users to connect up to six Thunderbolt devices without reducing performance. The DriveStation Mini Thunderbolt SSD edition device is available in 512GB and 1TB capacities via Broadbandbuyer and Buffalo’s stockists in the UK at SRPs of £599.99 and £849.99, respectively.

The folks over at Custom SLR have just built the World’s Largest Camera Tripod Christmas Tree. The 17.4-feet structure, which is made up of 40 Fotopro camera tripods, took 14 hours to build and is decorated with 486 feet of garland lights and 300 ornaments. "We’re donating all the decorations to the Salvation Army and all the tripods to afterschool and nonprofit photography programmes," says Custom SLR's Long Nguyen. You can view a time-lapse video showing how the unique christmas tree was built after the jump.

Bazaart 2.0 is an iOS app which allows users to create composite images from photos on mobile devices. “The new Bazaart is a game changer.” said Stas Goferman, co-founder and CEO of Bazaart. “Up until now, people who wanted to get creative with their photos and make elaborate edits could not always accomplish it because it was only possible with expensive professional software like Photoshop. We aim to change that. With the new free Bazaart app people can make anything from photos, whenever they want to, and wherever they are. Our hope is that what Instagram did for photography, Bazaart will do for photoshopping.”  Bazaart 2.0 is available as a free download from the iTunes App Store.

Interealtime have launched Light Boost, an iOS app promising "brighter, clearer photos and videos in low light." There are three low-light exposure modes on offer. Light Mode, which "instantly boosts brightness while preserving image clarity," Night Mode, which enables long exposure times and Grain Reduction Mode, which uses a noise filtering algorithm to produce cleaner images. Other key features include live shutter speed and sensitivity display and separate locking of exposure, focus and white balance.Light Boost is currently available at a 50% discount on the iTunes App Store.

DxO Labs have launched version 9.1.1 of DxO Optics Pro. This update adds support for the Nikon Df (Elite Edition), the Sony Alpha 7 (Elite Edition), as well as for the Sony DSC-RX10 and A3000, the Pentax K-3, and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LF1. Additionally, DxO Optics Pro v9.1.1 benefits from the addition of 580 new DxO Optics Modules. Photographers who acquired a DxO Optics Pro 8 licence on or after 1 September 2013 are entitled to a free upgrade to version 9.

Fiipe Brandao from Portugal has won the 2013 ZeissImages.com contest with his photo, Bengula Blues: Couch Surfing (above). This years theme was "Ordinary Life" and the jury thought Filipe's image captured it best. "The photograph portrays a moment in our daily life which many of us have surely experienced on numerous occasions," says Jorge Torralba, the mastermind behind the ZeissImages.com website. "The pose and expression on the subjects face shows us a natural moment of apathy toward what we presume to be a television. The photographer captured this moment at the right time." You can view Filipe Brandao's portfolio at the website below.

Website: Photos by Filipe Brandao on ZeissImages.com

Launched today on Kickstarter, Tooga Gear is billed as the first truly modular camera gear that allows you to capture video footage in a small form factor without compromise.  Tooga comprises two different types of component: Tooga Shell and Tooga Extensions. The Tooga Shell mounts to your camera of choice and connects to the unique Tooga Extensions, which are the legs and arms of the system. Currently, there are 3 Tooga Extensions including a dolly, a guerilla cage and a suction mount, with others planned for the future. The design, prototyping, and testing is complete but now the inventors need your help to finance the commercialisation of the system. Interested readers are encouraged to visit the project's Kickstarter page for further details.

Photodex has announced version 6 of its award-winning ProShow Gold and ProShow Producer applications. New in ProShow 6 is a suite of advanced creative tools that give users more control over the look and sound of their slideshows. These include new advanced audio controls, completely overhauled captions, text layers and a new iOS companion app called ProShow Remote. Users can also import photos and videos directly from Facebook, Instagram, Zenfolio and Picasa, directly into a new slideshow. ProShow 6 is available now for $69.95 (ProShow Gold) and $249.95 (ProShow Producer) from the website below.

The Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS is a new, optically stabilised wide zoom for X-mount compact system cameras. Equivalent to 15-36mm in 35mm format, the Fujinon XF10-24mmF4 R OIS from Fujifilm has an optical formula that comprises 14 lens elements arranged in 10 groups, including 4 aspherical and 3 extra-low-dispersion elements. The lens features Fujifilm's unique High Transmittance Electron Beam Coating to minimise ghosting, and boasts an iris diaphragm with 7 rounded blades. Its high-speed AF is achieved via its inner focusing system which drives smaller lenses in the middle or rear lens groups without moving the larger lenses in the front lens groups. Thanks to light weight internal lenses and the addition of a stepping motor, the XF10-24mm lens is also very quiet to use. Going on sale in March, the lens is expected to retail for £849.99.

Two months ago, Samyang announced that it planned to release five of its full-frame lenses with Sony E mount. The company says the Samyang 14mm f/2.8 ED AS IF UMC, 24mm f/1.4 ED AS IF UMC, T-S 24mm f/3.5 ED AS UMC Tilt-Shift, 35mm f/1.4 AS UMC and 85mm f/1.4 AS IF UMC are now available for purchase. All of these are manual-focus lenses originally designed for SLR cameras.

The Photographic Museum of Humanity (PMH) has issued the call for entries for the 2014 PMH Grant, an international photography contest offering $4000 in cash prizes. The jury features Alec Soth (Magnum Photos), Iata Cannabrave (Brzilian curator, creator of the Latin American Photography Forum of Sao Paulo), Olivier Laurent (Associate Editor for the British Journal of Photography) and Diana Markosian (PMH 2013 Grant New Generation Prize winner). The deadline for entries is 26 February 2014.

Website: PMH 2014 Grant

FlixelPix has published a new 38 page guide to depth-of-field. The ‘Shooting Shallow' ebook takes photographers through the concept of depth-of-field as well as addressing the application of 'shooting shallow'. Divided into three sections. Concepts, Camera and Practice, the ebook explains the concepts of depth of field and bokeh, teaches readers about the theory and application of DOF, and provides a number of tips and practical examples. The 'Shooting Shallow' ebook costs $5, but you can get a 20% discount by using the coupon code shooting at checkout. This offer is valid until 30 December 2013.

Apple has released an update to iPhoto. Version 9.5.1 fixes a bug that could cause print previews to render incorrectly, and includes a number of stability and performance improvements. The upgrade is available now on the Mac App Store.

In reply to a question raised by a commenter on the company's lens-themed microsite, Zeiss has confirmed that "[t]he next lens of the ZEISS high-end lenses family will be the Otus 1.4/85." Posted via Facebook, the enquiry originally concerned the company's plans on wide-angle lenses but the company would only confirm the planned release of the Otus 85mm f/1.4 - saying it "will be available at your local dealer in the course of the year 2014" -, declining to comment on "possible other focal lengths."

The Great Photo App by Baglan Dosmagambetov is a photo education app for the Apple iPhone and iPad. The app teaches users about the concept of exposure and its main variables - aperture, shutter speed and sensitivity - as well as depth of field, camera lenses and much more. The Great Photo App is available on iTunes priced at $0.99.

Olloclip has launched a new Macro 3-IN-1 photo lens solution for Apple iPhone 5 & iPhone 5S users. Experiment with the three different magnifications (21x, 14x, 7x) to photograph small objects like coins, stamps, rocks, relics, insects, plants, gems, circuit boards, and even your own skin. Small enough to fit into a pocket or palm of the hand, the olloclip Macro 3-IN-1 clip-on photo lens ships with bespoke "Instafocus" hoods that are specially designed to diffuse the light and facilitate focusing. The lens will be available from 20th December for £59.95 / $69.99.

The winners of this year's Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) prize have been revealed. The top prize – the Cutty Sark Award for the Travel Photographer of the Year 2013 – goes to British photographer Timothy Allen for his B&W images of the mud mosque replastering festival and Dogon life in Mali, and his studies of individuals in Wales and Bhutan. The Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2013 is 14 year old Jonathan Rystrøm from Denmark, while the 14 and Under Young TPOTY category was won by 10 year-old Patria Prasaysa from Indonesia.

The Instagramers Gallery - billed as the world's largest online photo gallery that also has two physical locations in Miami and Madrid - has announced the Instagramers Photo Prize featuring a grand prize of $100,000. Open to all Instagram users worldwide registered with InstagramersGallery.com, the Instagramers Photo Prize also offers daily prizes worth $1000 every day from now until 30 April 2014. The overall winner will be chosen from the daily Photo of the Day finalists.