Competition: Win a Sony NEX-7KB and Accessories

Buy John Lewis Travel Insurance from £37 for your chance to win a Sony NEX-7KB and accessories with a combined value of £1,000.

Travel insurance ensures that you won’t lose out if you have to cancel or cut short your trip and gives you confidence in knowing that your personal belongings are protected – including replacement or if they’re lost, stolen or damaged. And wherever you’re heading on holiday, it’s easy to find the right protection for your trip.

The prize is the well-received Sony NEX-7KB Compact System Camera with 18-55mm Lens, a Sony LCSBBFB Camera Case for NEX Compact System Cameras, and an Integral Ultima SDHC Class 10 Memory Card, 16GB + 8GB, with a combined value of approximately £1,000.

Annual cover starts from £37 so head over to John Lewis Travel Insurance for your chance to win.

This promotion closes on 31st January 2013.

Lomography has launched a new transparency film in 110 format. The the first “pocket” format colour reversal film to hit the market in years, the Lomography Peacock 110 X-Pro can be used in vintage 110 format cameras as well as Lomography’s new Fisheye Baby and Diana Baby 110 models. Suitable for both standard E-6 processing as well as cross-processing, the Lomography Peacock 110 X-Pro film is available in the Lomography Online Shop for €7.90.

Nikon has relaunched its image sharing/storage service under the name Nikon Image Space. Previously known as myPicturetown, this free service has gone through a complete overhaul. Available online from 28 January 2013, Nikon Image Space is open to everyone, regardless of what camera they own. Users of Nikon digital cameras have the additional option of upgrading to a Special account, however, which gives them access to 20GB of online storage (versus the 2GB offered by a Basic account) free of charge. “Greater collaboration with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter expands the possibilities for sharing photos of your own special moments, and posting images from Nikon Image Space is easier than ever,” the company claims. Further information on the service will be available at the Nikon Imaging Japan booth at the CP+ 2013 camera and photo imaging show.

Pentax Ricoh has posted a firmware update for the Ricoh GR Digital IV compact camera. Version 2.21 adds an Auto option to the dynamic range compensation function, improves the effectiveness of noise reduction at high sensitivity settings, and modifies the behaviour of the zoom feature in Playback mode. Additionally, it incorporates the following modifications and bug fixes.

To celebrate the launch of its Niko Camera Bag line, Chrome is calling for entries from street photographers everywhere for its Streets of Chrome photo contest, which runs from 22 January – 14th February 2013. Finalists will be chosen by Chrome’s panel of expert judges - including legendary street photographers Rickey Powell, Tod Seelie and Ken Goto -, and the winner will be determined by open voting on streetsofchrome.com from 7th-14th February. The grand prize is a Fujifilm X-Pro1 compact-system camera with a Fujifilm X-Pro1 35mm f/1.4 lens and a Chrome Niko Camera Backpack.

The Photographic Museum of Humanity is the first Internet museum dedicated to high-quality photography. The museum’s galleries are curated by a team of editors guided by Giuseppe Oliverio, the project founder, and World Press Photo Award-winning photojournalist Alejandro Kirchuk. On show until 28 February 2013, the inaugural exhibition presents four galleries centered around the theme, “The way we live.” The Photographic Museum of Humanity can be accessed at the website below.

Photography education and entertainment site PhoozL has announced the inaugural 2012 PhoozL Awards. The awards are based on a point system by which PhoozL Points were awarded to photographers who were chosen as Winners or Honourable Mentions by 26 different contest judges in 44 different contests and challenges after PhoozL’s revamped website launched in May. In all, 6,000 photos were submitted to the free contests by hundreds of photographers and photo enthusiasts from more than 50 countries. The 2012 PhoozL Photographer of the Year title has been awarded to Talya Arbisser who won a year’s subscription to APERTURE magazine, $50 Gift Card from Frame Destination, and $25 Gift Card and Sample Kit from Red River Paper.

Olympus Japan has announced that no less than five new companies have joined Micro Four Thirds. The newcomers include Kodak licensee JK Imaging, innovative digital cinema camera manufacturer Blackmagic Design - which has already launched a Micro Four Thirds model, the Blackmagic Cinema Camera MFT (pictured) -, high-speed digital imaging expert Photron, as well as Germany’s SVS-VISTEK and Japan’s ViewPLUS. “With the addition of exciting new products from these companies, the Micro Four Thirds lineup will become much more diverse, further increasing the potential of this advanced digital imaging system,” Olympus said in a statement.

JK Imaging, the worldwide licensee of the Kodak brand name for digital cameras, has unveiled a new Micro Four Thirds camera called the Kodak Pixpro S1. The company’s representatives showed a mock-up of the new camera at a press conference in China. In addition to being compatible with Micro Four Thirds lenses - and possibly other MFT accessories -, the Kodak Pixpro S1 will also offer smartphone connectivity over Wi-Fi. Other details are vague but it appears that the new Kodak-branded CSC will be equipped with a Sony sensor, just like Olympus’ newer MFT offerings.

Kodak has been a member of the Four Thirds consortium since the latter’s inception in 2002. JK Imaging’s adoption of Micro Four Thirds standard was announced today.

Via PR Photo Credit: PConline

The Székesfehérvár organisation of the Society for Military and Civil Cooperation and the Interspect Research Team have partnered to create the world’s highest-resolution aerial ortho image mosaic. Putting Google Earth to shame, the record-breaking aerial image mosaic shows the Pákozd Military Memorial Park from above, in stunning detail. Prior to creating the photographs, the young Hungarian researchers had developed bespoke image sensors and special methods for making aerial images from fast-moving aircraft. “The enthusiastic team has been involved in development of the idea of a high spatial resolution ortho image mosaic since 2006,” the Society said in a statement. “They had to overcome many obstacles to be the first in the world to make a subpixel orthophoto mosaic with details smaller than half a centimetre from a high speed aircraft.” To view the image, visit the website below.

Nikon UK has extended its cashback promotion on the Nikon 1 J1 and J2 camera kits until 31st January 2013. UK and ROI residents purchasing the Nikon 1 J1 or Nikon 1 J2 single- or double-lens camera bundles will now be able to claim £50 /€60 cashback until the end of January. For more information on the promotion, and how to submit your claim, visit the website below.

The Lil-Mule is an intuitive new professional dolly for creating arced or linear camera moves when shooting time-lapse movies and regular video clips. Developed by product designer and time-lapse enthusiast Warren Herndon, the Lil-Mule gives you a self-contained, motorised cart that makes straight or curved moves and can motor as far as the surface you set the shot up on will allow. “I wanted the motion control piece to be as simple as possible,’ Warren Says. “The controller for the Lil-Mule is a single knob which allows you to variably control the speed you are moving in the forward and backward direction. No math equations, no menu settings, just set up your shot and twist a knob to start moving.” The Lil-Mule project has already surpassed its minimum funding goal on crowd-funding site Kickstarter but you still have 10 days to offer your support in exchange for significant savings off the planned retail prices ($289 for the manual version, $689 for the motorised edition).

Website: Lil-Mule on Kickstarter

JP Distribution have been announced as new authorised distributors of enlight photo products in the UK. These include the Orbis ring flash (£179.99) and ring flash arm (£49.99), the Frio cold shoe (£9.99) and the ioShutter cabled SLR shutter release accessory for Canon and Nikon (£59.99, pictured).

Cooltopia has announced that its Kickstarter campaign for the SnappGrip - a snap-on camera controller that essentially turns smartphones into point-and-shoot cameras - has met its funding goal and will enter production in late February. “We will release SnappGrip for iPhone and Galaxy III in less than a month and will soon follow that with additional smartphone options,” says Lee Harris, Creator of SnappGrip. Completely portable, compact and removable, the SnappGrip enables smartphone users to take one-handed photos and snap off spontaneous pictures with ease. Carrying an MSRP of $99, the SnappGrip can be pre-ordered now for approximately $79 (£49) at the website below.

Iridient Digital has released Iridient Developer 2.0 for Mac OS X. This update brings a name change, dropping the “RAW” from RAW Developer, along with support for non-raw images, including most standard image formats (JPEG, TIFF, PNG, etc) as well as OpenEXR and Radiance HDR image formats. Other major new features include a redesigned image preview window with an all-new image thumbnail browser optimised for Retina screens; an all-new lens correction module with support for lens profiles, chromatic aberration and distortion correction; support for 39 new camera models, star ratings metadata and EXIF 2.3 information. This release is a paid upgrade for users who originally purchased a licence prior to 16 September 2011. Upgrades are available to previously licenced users for the discounted price of $45 by requesting a 40% discount code from [email protected], while new licences can be purchased for $75.

Rollei has added a new “4-in-1” model to its Bullet range of action cameras. “The Rollei Bullet Youngstar is an action, photo, driving and diving camera all in one,” the company says. The camera has a fixture on the camera housing to which lanyards can be attached. The package also includes a helmet mount, four 3M adhesive stickers, a USB cable and underwater protective housing for recordings at a depth of up to 10 metres. Outfitted with a 135° ultra-wide angle lens and a 5cm touch panel, the Rollei Bullet Youngstar is capable of capturing 5-megapixel stills as well as 720p HD videos. Priced at €59.95, the Rollei Bullet Youngstar records videos and photos on microSD memory card and comes complete with a proprietary 440mAh Lithium-ion battery

Calumet has made an offer of free help to any Jessops customer left stranded with warranty repair issues following the recent collapse of the high-street retailer. Christof Bergmann, MD at Calumet Europe, said: “Customers experiencing these problems can walk into any Calumet store with their appropriate receipt and our staff will handle the dispatch and return of the product along with all the necessary paperwork – and we will make no administration fee for this service.”