Kenro is planning to use this year’s Focus on Imaging trade show to launch a wide variety of new products into the UK market. These include the Nissin PS 8 Power Pack (pictured), a new line of KEnro frames and albums, an extended range of Signature Series Professional DVD/CD folios, Benro’s Hummer backpack and Pioneer trolley case, and the Nission Di700 flash unit. “Focus on Imaging is always an exciting time of the year and gives us a great opportunity to showcase a variety of new products to the public,” said Paul Kench, managing director at Kenro. We are very-much looking forward to exhibiting.”

Lomography has launched a special edition of its Belair X 6-12 medium format camera. Like the classic edition the new Lomography Belair X 6-12 Trailblazer enables users to take pictures in 3 different formats: regular 6x9 photos, 6x6 squares or 6x12 panoramas on 120 film. It also takes interchangeable lenses including the bundled 58mm and 90mm optics that are made of an unnamed material, possibly plastic, as well as the new 90mm and 114mm “special multi-coated Russian glass lenses” that are currently available to pre-order only. Other highlights include an aperture-priority auto-exposure system, a flash hot-shoe and a standard 1/4” tripod socket. The Lomography Belair X 6-12 Trailblazer kit is available for £289.

Chromasia has announced a new architectural photography competition. Sponsored by Goodman Business Parks, the competition runs until 25th February, with the main prize being a Sony NEX-5R compact system camera. To enter, upload your picture to any Web server, making sure it’s publicly viewable, and tweet the direct URL via Twitter including @chromasia and #GoodmanComp. For more information, visit the website below.

Website: Chromasia

The winners of the 2012 World Press Photo awards have been announced. The overall winner is Paul Hansen for his image of a group of Palestinian men carrying the bodies of two children killed in an Israeli missile strike (above). The photograph was taken on 20 November 2012 in Gaza City and appeared in the Swedish newspaper Dages Nyheter. The jury gave prizes in nine themed categories to 54 photographers of 32 nationalities from: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Jordan, Malaysia, the Palestinian Territories, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, USA, and Vietnam. You can view the winning photographs at the website below.

LPA Design, manufacturers of PocketWizard Photo Products, today announced that it is co-sponsoring The Tutu Project NYC Gallery Event Benefiting The Carey Foundation to celebrate the Tutu Project’s first anniversary. The event includes a print exhibition, auctions, book signing and lecture by photographer Bob Carey.The event will officially launch bidding for a limited edition of the popular PocketWizard Plus III radio trigger made specifically for Bob Carey and the Tutu Project. These fully-functional Plus III radios feature “Tutu Pink” plastic and even have a pink backlight. Limited to only 20 radios, these will be signed and numbered by Bob Carey, and auctioned off to help the Carey Foundation raise funds for women battling breast cancer.

The Schloßparkmuseum in Bad Kreuznach is hosting a special exhibition entitled, “The World in Focus – 100 Years of Schneider Optische Werke Bad Kreuznach.” In the past 100 years, Schneider Kreuznach played an instrumental role in the history of optics in Germany and gained worldwide recognition especially in the field of large- and medium-format camera lenses. “The company has always aimed for the highest quality rather than quantity; we still feel committed to this aspiration,” says Dr. Josef Staub, CEO of the Schneider Group. The exhibition will be on display from 17 February to 31 August 2013.

Nikon has issued the final call for entries for the 2012-2013 Nikon Photo Contest, open until 28th February 2013. Held since 1969, the Nikon Photo Contest (NPC), formally known as the Nikon Photo Contest International (NPCI), was created with the goal of “contributing to the development of photographic culture by providing a venue of communication among photographers from around the world, be they professionals or amateurs.” For this year’s contest, Nikon is seeking entries in four categories including single photo, composite photo, video and Motion Snapshot. To submit your work, visit the Nikon Photo Contest 2012-2013 website and complete the entry form.

Pentax Ricoh has posted a firmware update for the Pentax Q10 small-sensor compact system camera. Version 1.01 improves overall stability and the performance of the camera’s contrast-detect AF system. You can download the firmware upgrade from the website below.

Website: PENTAX Firmware Update Software for PENTAX Q10

With the permission of Adobe, the Computer History Museum (CHM) has released the source code of the original version of Adobe Photoshop. Available as a free download, the code contains everything except for the MacApp applications library that was licenced from Apple. “There are 179 files in the zipped folder, comprising about 128,000 lines of mostly uncommented but well-structured code,” the CHM said in a statement. “By line count, about 75% of the code is in Pascal, about 15% is in 68000 assembler language, and the rest is data of various sorts.”

Source: Computer History Museum via MLZPhoto

The winners of the 2012 Outdoor Photographer of the Year competition have been revealed. David Baker has been announced as the overall winner for his stunning image of his local beach in Southbourne, Dorset (above). David was presented with his award and £1000 prize on the PhotoBox stage at The Outdoors Show, while the category winners (Robert McBride, Scott Grubb, Björn Billing, Joshua Holko and Gergory van den Top) each received a £250 voucher from Wex Photographic.

PictoColor has released new versions of its highly-acclaimed line of iCorrect color correction and photo enhancement plug-ins for Corel PaintShop Pro. The lowest priced and simplest of the new plug-ins is iCorrect OneClick PSP ($19.95), which features 1-click color correction that rivals or surpasses other smart fix or auto correction tools. iCorrect Portrait PSP ($29.95) also features a point-and-click interface with auto color correction tools plus PictoColor Software’s critically acclaimed skin tone technology which perfects every skin tone with a simple click. The company’s flagship and most versatile plug-in, iCorrect EditLab Pro PSP ($29.95), features HueSelect Control Point Technology for precise, global and selective color control.

The exhibition, “At War with the Obvious” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents the work of William Eggleston, a pioneer and master of modern colour photography. Celebrating the fall 2012 acquisition of 36 dye transfer prints by Eggleston, the exhibition features a number of the artist’s signature images, including Untitled [Greenwood, Mississippi] (1980), a study that takes full advantage of the chromatic intensity of the dye-transfer color process that, until Eggleston appropriated it in the 1960s, had been used primarily by commercial photographers for advertising product photography; and Untitled [Memphis] (1970), an iconic study of a child’s tricycle seen from below. At War with the Obvious: Photographs by William Eggleston opens on 26th February in the museum’s Howard Gilman Gallery

The Guild of Photographers (GoP) - the fastest-growing photographic association in the UK - has announced the recipients of its Photographer of the Year awards. Tracy Willis has been awarded the Guild’s overall ‘Photographer of the Year’ 2012 title in addition to winning the ‘Photographer of the Year’ in the ‘People’ category. The ‘Wedding’ category winner is Beverley Foster, while Mark Tomlinson has been declared the best photographer in the ‘Open’ category. The Guild’s ‘All-Round Photographer of the Year’ title (ie the person with the highest combined score from any two categories) was won by Charlotte Bellamy.

Panasonic UK is now offering a ‘Try Before You Buy’ service for the Panasonic Lumix GH3 with 12-35mm lens, allowing prospective customers to borrow the GH3 kit for 48 hours (excluding delivery and collection time) from a number of retailers with no obligation to purchase. Barney Sykes, Lumix G Camera Product & Marketing Manager says “The GH3 is by far the most advanced system camera we have ever launched and we recognise customers may want to road test this product before committing to such as high value purchase, therefore we are delighted to be able to offer this scheme to our key retail partners to help increase their sales opportunities.” Click through / read on for a list of participating retailers.

DxO Labs have posted an update to DxO Optics Pro. Version 8.1.3 adds support for the Leica M-E (pictured), the M9, and the M9-P (in the Elite edition only) as well as the Nikon D5200, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200, and the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS (in both the Elite and Standard editions). Additionally, the update incorporates Optics Modules for 260 new camera-lens combinations. This upgrade is free for all owners of DxO Optics Pro 8, as well as for photographers who purchased a DxO Optics Pro 7 license on or after 1 September 2012.