The rugged Optrix XD5 wide-angle camera case designed for use with the Apple iPhone 5 is now available for purchase in the US. Optrix’s XD5 camera case is made with a thinner, lighter and stronger body when compared to the Optrix XD Sports Case, but boasts a higher waterproof rating of up to 15 feet. In addition, the XD5 incorporates a second door to access charging connectors and headphone jack, has an interchangeable conversion lens system and can be removed from the mounting system. The phone’s 1080p HD video is captured through our three layer, all glass, wide-angle lens. The kit includes the ultra-rugged main housing, iPhone 5 sled, 2 mounts (curved and flat) and the quick release rail system to securely mount the XD5 “just about anywhere.” The XD5 is available for $129.95.

Luxi is a small diffusion dome that fits securely over your iPhone’s front-facing camera allowing it to be used as an incident light meter on those occasions when you want to take perfectly exposed photos with your more serious camera(s). Although light meter apps featuring an incident mode are readily available on iTunes, the fact that the iPhone wasn’t designed to function as a hand-held exposure meter means there are hardware limitations to their usability. “Luxi is designed to work just like a professional incident light meter which can capture light from a 180° angle,” the inventor says. Funded through Kickstarter, Luxi has already exceeded its $10,000 goal by a very wide margin. The ingenious adapter will retail for $24.95 but you can still get one for as little as $19 by backing the project. The product comes in two versions, one for the Apple iPhone 4/4S and one for the iPhone 5.

Rambus has unveiled a new “binary pixel technology” that promises to “dramatically improve” the quality of photos taken with mobile devices, in terms of dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio. “Today’s compact mainstream sensors are only able to capture a fraction of what the human eye can see,” said Dr. Martin Scott, chief technology officer at Rambus. “Our breakthrough binary pixel technology enables a tremendous performance improvement for compact imagers capable of ultra high-quality photos and videos from mobile devices.” You can read more about the technology at the website below.

Canon has posted a firmware update for the Canon Powershot S110 digital compact camera. According to the company, Version 1.0.2.0 incorporates the following improvements and fixes:

1. Fixes a phenomenon in which the focal length may not change when the control ring’s function is to control the step zoom, and the control ring is turned slowly, click-by-click.
(In AUTO, SCN, or Movie mode, the default function for the control ring is to control the step zoom.)

2. Changes the camera’s specification in accordance with the specification of iOS 5/6 so that the Wi-Fi connection between the camera and an iOS device will not disconnect after one minute, when the PowerShot S110 is set as an Access Point and an iOS device is connected to that Access Point.

Website: Canon Powershot S110 / Canon U.S.A.

Canon has issued a firmware upgrade for the Canon PowerShot S100 digital compact camera. According to the company, Version 1.0.2.0 “fixes a phenomenon in which the focal length may not change when the control ring’s function is to control the step zoom, and the control ring is turned slowly, click-by-click.” You can download the firmware update from the website below.

Website: Canon Powershot S100 / Canon U.S.A.

From 2 March - 26 May 2013, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery will be hosting an exhibition of the works of Edith Tudor-Hart. As one of the most important female photographers to have ever worked in the UK, Edith Tudor-Hart lived through and documented some of the most significant political events of the 20th century,  covering inter-war Vienna, Britain during the Great Slump of the 1930s and post-WW2 child welfare in the UK. The exhibition, “In the Shadow of Tyranny,” contains more than 80 images, many of which have never been shown before, and includes film footage, Tudor-Hart’s scrapbook and a selection of her published stories in books and magazines. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery’s Robert Mapplethorpe Photography Gallery is located at 1 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JD.

Announced in October 2012, Cokin’s new Pure Harmonie range of filters are now available for purchase in the United Kingdom. Billed as the lightest and thinnest photo filters in the world, Cokin Pure Harmonie filters are multi-coated with EVERCLEAR 5 Coating Technology boasting Water Repellent, Anti-Oil, Anti-Dust, Anti-Soil and Scratch Resistant characteristics. With a thickness of 3.3mm for the Multi-Coated Anti-UV (UV MC), 4.5mm for the Circular Polarizer (C PL) and 9.5mm for the Variable Density Neutral Grey (ND X), Cokin Pure Harmonie filters are super-lightweight and cause no vignetting. Pricing starts at £39.99 for the UV filters, £79.99 for the circular polarisers and £154.99 for the variable-density neutral grey filters.

Adobe has launched a new version of its Photoshop Touch app, optimised for smartphones. Inspired by the existing Photoshop Touch for tablets, the phone app brings core features of Photoshop desktop software to mobile devices and offers similar intuitive, touch-based gestures and features. “Adobe Photoshop Touch for phone offers great depth and value with layering and blending features,” said Richard Gray, mobile photographer, educator and blogger, iphoggy.com. “I’ll be using Photoshop Touch for phone in class with my students this year as we look at the more artistic end of the creative process with dreamscapes and surreal images.” Adobe Photoshop Touch for phone is immediately available in the Apple App Store and Google Play for £2.99.

Canon Europe is participating in a number of initiatives as part of its official sponsorship of London Fashion Week and London Fashion Weekend. Highlights of the Canon initiatives are captured in behind-the-scene insights revealed in a series of Canon video interviews by seasoned fashion blogger Andy Torres from StyleScrapbook.com. Leading professional photographer Clive Booth also explains what it means to be a fashion photographer and the creation story behind British designer Henry Holland’s look book. Canon will also provide a range of photography opportunities and experiences to student photographers and the 2012 winners of the Canon Professional Services’ ‘Best Shot’ competition. London Fashion Week (15-19 February) is the biggest event on the British fashion calendar, with over 5,000 visitors at this year’s event.  It is followed by London Fashion Weekend (21-24 February) London’s largest and most exclusive designer shopping event open to the public biannually.

Adobe has posted version 7.4 of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and version 4.4 of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom as Release Candidates. These updates add support for the Canon EOS 1D C
Casio Exilim EX-ZR700, Fujifilm X100s, Fujifilm X20 (pictured), Hasselblad Lunar, Leica M, Nikon 1 V3, Nikon 1 S1 and Pentax MX-1 cameras; and includes a correction to the demosaic algorithms for Fujifilm cameras with the X-Trans sensor.  This specifically impacts the Fujifilm X-Pro1, Fujifilm X-E1, Fujifilm X100S and Fujifilm X20 models.

The winners of BergHind Joseph’s International Photographic Competition have just been announced. The overall winner is Erkan Kalenderli of Turkey. His winning entry called ‘The former type of leader’ (above) pictures a shepherd with his flock. Anna Marriage from the UK came in second with her photo, ‘Leading by example, the ballerina,’’ and in third place was Doron Talmi with the image ‘Female Leadership’. The winning images were selected by a prestigious judging panel including Margaret Clarke, picture editor of The Times, Professor Paddy Professor Paddy Miller, one of the world’s leading authorities on leadership, BergHind Joseph’s Director of Design Excellence, Smith Joseph and Director of Creative Delivery, Michael Hirschl. As well as a cash prize of £500, Erkan will be offered a year of portfolio mentoring sessions with BergHind Joseph’s creative team. Last year’s winner, Zoltán Balogh from Hungary, took up the mentoring sessions last year and as a result is building his reputation,  portfolio, and establishing himself as a professional photographer.

Intro 2020 has launched a new Tamron UK Facebook page. Offering plenty of news and editorial content as well as regular competitions, reviews of Tamron products, galleries of inspirational images and exclusive offers for fans; the page went live on Monday, 25th February 2013. To celebrate the launch month there will be a different themed photo-competition each week for the next four weeks – with a total of four Tamron 18-270mm PZD lenses up for grabs.

Akvis has released version 3.0 of Akvis Refocus, a program that improves the sharpness of out-of-focus images. This update offers brand new image processing modes and allows users to actually add lens blur and bokeh effects to their photos. The program now runs in three modes, refocus, miniature and iris blur.  The refocus mode is the same as before, making blurred photos sharp and clear (within limits, of course). The miniature mode - which Akvis calls “Tilt-Shift” even though it cannot emulate everything you can achieve with a real tilt-shift lens - leaves a sharp strip in the image while adding gradual blur at the edges, giving objects in the photo a miniature/toy look. Finally, the Iris Blur mode creates a shallow depth-of-field effect, blurring the background while keeping the subject in focus. Registered users of Refocus can upgrade to version 3.0 free of charge.

Everyday Objects / Cultural Treasures by Vadim Gushchin is a new title from Schilt Publishing. ‘An ode to the Russian Suprematist tradition, Gushchin’s photography reveals the fundamental duality of culture: the abstract nature of objects in it and the specificity of colour,’ the publisher says. “Gushchin offers us an image of the object that moves away from the banal mythology of the commodity. His photographs show us that fine line beyond which the ideal object mutates into a household item.” The 96-page volume is available for £45/$60/€50.

The next Magnum Professional Practice seminar will be held from 13th – 14th April in Newport, Wales. In this two day event, hosted in partnership with the University of Wales, leading figures of the photographic industry will deliver presentations and advice on the best means in engaging with and the realities of working in their sectors. Confirmed speakers include Sophie Batterbury, Emily Graham, Harry Hardie, Joni Karanka, Peter Marlow, Stewart Mungeam, Fiona Rogers and Hannah Watson. The tuition fee is £150 (+VAT) including lunch and refreshments but excluding transport and accommodation. 10 bursary places are available for photographers aged 16-25 years for the subsided rate of £50 (+VAT).

Visual artist Tina Remiz (pictured) today launched a mission to help some of the world’s poorest people. She will photograph, film and record the voices of Zambians – many of whom lost their jobs through austerity measures – who now struggle to survive on little more than £1 a day as market vendors and street traders. War on Want - the charity that supports these Zambians - will use her material in campaigns which press British and foreign ministers for policies which put the poor before multinational companies’ profits. Tina, 24, who lives in London’s Bromley-by-Bow, said: “I am not only excited about this commission, but feel lucky for a chance to do a story on a subject which is both important and under-represented in the media.”

Ikelite has revealed a TTL-enabled underwater housing for the Nikon D5200 digital SLR camera. Depth rated to 60m, the housing features controls for all critical camera functions and offers a clear view of the camera and o-ring seals to facilitate easy assembly and operation. Lens ports can be removed and replaced quickly with a simple positive locking system which provides visible assurance when the housing is assembled properly. Ikelite proprietary circuitry allows direct communication between the camera and current Ikelite DS Substrobes for accurate through-the-lens metering control of a n off-camera flash. The Ikelite housing for the Nikon D5200 is currently in production for early-March release through Cameras Underwater. The recommended retail price is £1279.99.