Kenro has launched a new range of Benro camera bags. Specifically designed to meet the needs of the travel and sports photographer, the new ‘Cool Walker’ range consists of 13 variants of backpacks, shoulder bags and zoom bags. The Cool Walker Backpack is available in six sizes, the smallest being able to carry one SLR, two lenses and one flash and the largest designed to carry two SLRs, six or eight lenses, two flashes and a 15 inch laptop. Also available within the Cool Walker range are a choice of modern shoulder bags (pictured) which come in three sizes; the smallest size being able to fit one SLR and one lens, to the largest size fitting one SLR, two lenses and one flash. The range also includes a zoom bag, available in four sizes. The Cool Walker Backpack’s SRP (including VAT) ranges from £101.94 to £154.20, the Cool Walker shoulder bags are priced between £37.80 to £47.40 and the Cool Walker zoom bag starts at £36.60, rising to £57.

The 2013 international Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY) awards are now open for entries. The overall winner of TPOTY will receive the Cutty Sark Award; £5,000 plus a complete set of Cutty Sark’s award-winning range of blended whiskies - Cutty Sark Blend, Storm, Prohibition, 12 years old, 18 years old and the highly collectable Limited Edition Tam o’Shanter. In addition, they’ll receive a true one-off - a bespoke, personalised Cutty Sark surfboard. The Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2013 wins the new Fujifilm X20 plus £250 and a personalised Plastic Sandwich leather portfolio book or iFolio. Entries close on October 1st, with full details at the website below.

Pentax Ricoh have released half a dozen high-resolution sample photos taken with the new, large-sensor Ricoh GR digital compact camera. All of these official Ricoh GR sample pictures were captured at the camera’s base sensitivity setting of ISO 100/21°, at f-stops ranging from f/2.8 to f/8. According to the data provided on the Pentax Ricoh website, they were all shot raw and developed in-camera. You can download the full-resolution Ricoh GR samples from the website below.

Website: Pentax Ricoh Japan - Ricoh GR Sample Photos

Fujifilm has released 9 sample photos taken using the brand-new Fujinon XF55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS lens. Shot on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and X-E1 cameras at a variety of f-stops ranging from f/4.5 to f/9, these official Fujinon XF55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS samples are available as full-resolution JPEGs. You can download the sample pictures from the website below.

Website: Fujifilm - Fujinon XF55-200mm F3.5-4.8 R LM OIS Sample Photos

With the high-end digital compact market expanding at an exponential rate (up by over 160%), Ricoh have decided to come back and reclaim their crown as the kings of prosumer cameras. But the competition is ferocious with the big guys on the battlefield, such as Canon and Nikon. We went to see Ricoh to have a chat about the new GR and see what tricks it has up its sleeve. With an SRP of £599.99, the GR will be available around May 2013 and in black.

Want to see exactly what the new premium Ricoh GR compact camera looks like in the flesh?

Check out our hands-on gallery of photos of the Ricoh GR compact camera, which features a 16.2 megapixel APS-C CMOS image sensor with no anti-aliasing filter and a 28mm f/2.8 lens.

Pentax Ricoh has announced a new Ricoh branded “expert” digital compact camera, called simply the GR. Developed as a successor to the GR Digital IV, the new GR inherits the product concept of the GR Digital series while upgrading the basic specifications and functions of its predecessor. Thanks to the combination of an APS-C-size CMOS image sensor (with approximately 16.2 effective megapixels and no anti-aliasing filter) and a newly designed 18.3mm (28mm eq.) f/2.8 lens, the camera boasts high image resolution, gradation-rich colour reproduction and improved image quality. By coupling the large image sensor with the newly developed GR ENGINE V imaging engine, the GR offers high-sensitivity shooting at up to ISO 25600/45°.  It also offers a range of user-assisting features, including in-body raw data development and focus assist to facilitate manual focusing. The GR will be available from May 2013 at an RRP of £599.99. An add-on viewfinder will be offered as an optional accessory, for £222.99.

Fuji has just unveiled its first telephoto zoom lens for the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and X-E1 compact system cameras. The Fujinon XF55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS is a stabilised, mid-speed telezoom boasting two linear motors for high-speed AF of 0.28 seconds. Equivalent to a 84-305mm optic in a 35mm system, the Fujinon XF55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS features 2 ED lens elements including one Super ED lens element that boasts performance equivalent to that of fluorite lenses and comes with Fujinon’s proprietary “HT-EBC Coating” on the entire lens surface to control flare and ghosting. The focus ring and aperture ring are made from metal and have been designed to have a high quality feel, with the benefit of being extra robust. At the launch of the XF55-200mm f/3.5-4.8 R LM OIS lens, Fujifilm will upgrade the firmware for both the X-Pro1 and X-E1 cameras. “Thanks to a new algorithm, the firmware will be able to harness the full capability of the lens enabling both cameras to search the contrast AF quickly throughout the full range of focal lengths,” the company claims.

The Ilford Group has acquired Germany-based Tecco GmbH, a converter and supplier of coated and uncoated media for the proofing, photographic, production & laser markets. Commenting on the acquisition, Paul Willems, CEO of Ilford Group AG stated: “ILFORD Imaging Switzerland is known for its state-of-the-art product development and as a manufacturer of high quality products. With the company’s goal of expanding its customer base, it was important to align our business with a company that specialises in offering a total customer service. TECCO adds an important and strategic dimension to our business that will immediately benefit our customer base today and also in the future.”

The IPN Photography Agency for Photographers & Trade has announced its upcoming event “Photofest Ireland.” Taking place on 28 April 2013, this one-day event will be held in the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Conference Centre in Santry, a suburb on the Northside of Dublin, from 10am - 6pm. The programme includes an array of seminars, product demonstrations, and more. Entry is free but advance registration is advised. You can pre-register at the website below.

On display at the Mark Lakin Photography Gallery, the photographic exhibition “One Life” is a retrospective of the photographer’s most recent travels through Africa, Cuba, India and Iceland. The images on show represent Lakin’s journey to explore the distinct lifestyles, eclectic architecture, and varied landscapes of parallel civilizations to our modern 21st century. Highlights from the exhibition include images of the traditional tribes of Southern Ethiopia from a humanitarian expedition with legendary explorer Kingsley Holgate, the animals of the great migration in Tanzania, a recent poverty immersion experience in Mozambique for the non-profit organization CouldYou?, and a recent trip to Malawi profiling the lives of children in need.Situated in the burgeoning arts scene of Manhattan’s West Village, the Mark Lakin Photography Galleryis open seven days a week from 12pm to 9pm.

The newest issue of Hasselblad’s VICTOR magazine is now available for purchase. This edition has David Hockney revealing a word-exclusive triptych, stylishly reproduced as a complex multiple gatefold, while there’s also an exclusive edit from Steve McCurry of the Pirelli 2013 Calendar, which he photographed in Rio de Janeiro. Also featured in VICTOR - Photography Book Two is Alec Soth, a photographer known for his monochrome exploration of Americana; Guido Argentini, showcasing his exceptional nude studies; and London-based photographer Perou, who has photographed every celebrity in modern culture from Bill Clinton through to Justin Bieber. VICTOR - Photography Book Two is a large-format, hardback, cloth-bound print title priced at £15/€20/US$25. VICTOR is stocked by exclusive magazine shops around the world, and will be available in the EU from 22nd April and the rest of the world from 6th May.

Phase One has announced 2 new Capture One 7 webinars scheduled for April. Hosted by a Phase One imaging expert, these interactive sessions encourage questions before and during each online seminar. The webinar, “Get the RAW Advantage” will take place on Tuesday 23rd April, from 2pm - 3pm GMT; while the other lecture entitled, “Using Capture One’s Many Creative Tools Part 1” will be held on Monday 29th April from 9am - 10am GMT, and again from 4pm - 5pm GMT. Advance registration is required - click through / read on for the details.

Adobe has just posted Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 beta for Mac and Windows. The Lightroom 5 beta offers a free, public preview of new features and tools that will be offered in the final release, expected later this year. The most important novelties include an advanced Healing Brush tool that allows users to heal imperfections and remove distracting elements, a new Upright tool that you can use to automatically straighten buildings and level horizons in a photo, an also-new Radial Gradient tool that enables you to create off-centre vignette effects to highlight your main subject, new Smart Previews that let users edit images without needing the original raw file, a Video Slideshow feature enabling customers to combine still images, video clips and music in a creative HD slideshow, and a range of upgrades to the Book module. You can download the free public beta version of Adobe Lightroom 5 from the website below.

Sigma UK has announced availability and pricing for its new USB Dock and 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM lens. The USB Dock (£39.99, pictured) allows users of the company’s new, USB-enabled lenses to update their lenses’ firmware and customise the working of the auto focus. The new Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM telephoto zoom lens (£3599.99) is a dust- and splashproof professional lens with a constant maximum aperture, optical stabilisation, USB docking, hypersonic motor and a focus limiter. Both products will go on sale in the UK at the beginning of May.

Cities at Dawn have issued the call for submissions for its week-long pop-up photography festival called WeLovePhoto! Held at Foyles Bookshop in mid-June this year, WeLovePhoto! aims to inspire and help the amateur photographers of London bring their photography to the next level through a series of workshops, talks, walks and an exhibition space where photographers can come to learn, share and collaborate. The festival will launch with a group exhibition of photographs themed around the area of Charing Cross Road. The organisers are looking for amateur and professional photographers to submit their best photos that are inspired by this iconic street, and the best work will join the exhibition. For submission details, head to the website below.

Akvis AirBrush is a new application which converts photos into “paintings” that look as though they were made with a special airbrush tool. Equipped with 40 ready-to-use presets, Akvis AirBrush works as an artistic filter creating stylish colourful airbrush designs from images using chosen settings of photo-to-painting conversion. The program also lets you save your favourite photo-to-painting settings as a preset, which can be imported and reused at any time. Akvis AirBrush can be used as a standalone program and as a plugin to a photo editor. The plug-in is compatible with Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Corel Paint Shop Pro etc. Akvis AirBrush sells for $49 for Home version (either Plugin or Standalone, all features except colour changing), for $69 for Home Deluxe (Plugin and Standalone, all features included), and for $89 for Business (Plugin and Standalone, all features included, for commercial use).

The Annenberg Space for Photography hasannounced its next installation, Helmut Newton, featuring the work of the revolutionary fashion photographer. Opening on 29th June, this is the first exhibition of Helmut Newton’s work outside of gallery shows in Los Angeles, his long-time winter residence, the organisers say. Images from Newton’s first three books - White Women, Sleepless Nights and Big Nudes - will be on view through 8 September 2013. The Annenberg Space for Photography is located at 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, CA 90067.