Lexar has unveiled its first Class 10 256GB SDXC UHS-I memory card with a 600x speed rating. Following in the footsteps of the Lexar Professional 400x SDXC UHS-I card announced just before Photokina 2012, the Lexar Professional 256GB 600x SDXC memory card offers a 90MB per second minimum guaranteed read transfer speed to give photographers and videographers the ability to capture extended lengths of Full HD and 3D video and high-quality images. “Small capacity cards are not efficient for shooting a lot of HD and 3D video. Constantly having to change cards eats away at time spent behind the camera, and also means I’ll have to spend more time transferring the content from each card to my computer,” said Lexar Elite Photographer David Honl. “Lexar cards help improve my workflow by giving me the mix of capacity and performance that allows me to shoot longer and spend less time transferring my videos and images.” The 256GB Lexar Professional 600x SDXC UHS-I card will be available later this month with an MSRP of £743.99 from leading retail and e-tail outlets worldwide.

Lexar today today introduced the Lexar Professional 1100x XQD card and XQD USB 3.0 Reader for professional photographers and videographers. Available in capacities of 32GB and 64GB, the Lexar Professional 1100x XQD carddelivers a minimum guaranteed read transfer speed of 168MB per second. By pairing the Professional 1100x XQD card with the XQD USB 3.0 Reader that leverages SuperSpeed USB 3.0 technology to provide high-speed file transfers from an XQD card to computer, professionals will experience a “dramatically accelerated workflow” that will cut down post-production time, the company says. The Lexar Professional 1100x XQD card and XQD USB 3.0 Reader will be available for purchase later this month from leading e-tail outlets worldwide. The Lexar Professional 1100x XQD card will have MSRPs of £227.99 (32GB) and £431.99 (64GB), and the XQD USB 3.0 Reader will have an MSRP of £33.99.

Canon today unveiled its latest entry-level range of Full HD Legria camcorders – the Legria HF R48 (pictured), Legria HF R46 and Legria HF R406. Each of these models is equipped with a high quality Canon HD video lens and a 7.5cm capacitive touch screen. With 32x optical zoom, each offers a great degree of flexibility and each comes with Canon’s Optical Intelligent Image Stabilisation technology on board. The Legria R48 (£429.99) is a Wi-Fi enabled model capable of recording in AVCHD and MP4 formats simultaneously. The R46 (£349.99) is a similarly specified model - the main difference is the size of the internal memory provided (R48: 32GB, R46: 8GB). The budget-friendly Legria R406 (£259.99) comes without Wi-Fi connectivity and any form of internal storage as it records videos solely on SDXC memory cards..A new Baby Mode makes it easy to capture a baby’s first steps, and words, thanks to a pre-record function that captures footage just before recording starts, so no important moment is ever missed. Baby Mode footage is also stored in a dedicated baby album, making videos easily accessible to share with friends and family. All of these camcorders will be available from March.

The Canon Legria HF G25 is the new flagship of the manufacturer’s Legria camcorder range. It offers a precision Canon-engineered wide-angle lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.8 and 10x zoom range, extensive manual controls and an enhanced Canon HD CMOS PRO image sensor. In addition, the Canon Legria HF G25 features an internal microphone, audio equaliser and Canon’s advanced Audio Scene Select technology. A lens ring provides close control over focus during shooting, while a customisable control dial can be assigned to manually adjust critical functions including aperture, shutter speed and gain. Eight pre-loaded Cinema-Look Filters help users to add drama, convey feeling or create a stylised effect in-camera. In-camcorder down-conversion is supported, preparing the movies for upload to online video sharing sites, either via a PC with Canon’s Easy Web Upload software or direct from the camera using supported Eye-Fi wireless cards. The Legria HF G25 is available from February, with a suggested retail price of £899.99,

The Canon PowerShot N is a new type of camera with square design, innovative zoom and shoot operation lens rings and tilting touch screen. The perfect smartphone companion, the PowerShot N has been designed to simplify image sharing with intuitive Wi-Fi connectivity allowing a new generation of high-quality, artistic images and Full HD videos to be shared in near real-time. The PowerShot N is available from early April priced at £269 / $299.99, in white or black.

Canon have launched the new IXUS 140 alongside the PowerShot A3500 IS, PowerShot A2600 and PowerShot A1400. All four models have DIGIC 4 processors, 16 megapixels, and 28mm wide-angle lenses. The new PowerShot models offer a 5x optical zoom, while the IXUS 140’s 8x optical zoom gets even closer to the subject. The IXUS 140 and the PowerShot A3500 IS are part of Canon’s expanded range of Wi-Fi enabled cameras. The IXUS 140 is available from late February with a £159. The PowerShot A3500 IS is available from early March for £129. The PowerShot A2600 is available from late February for £109. The PowerShot A1400 is available from late February for £99.

The PENTAX MX-1 is a new high-performance digital compact camera. Featuring a four-times optical zoom lens with a maximum aperture of F1.8 to F2.5 and a 28mm wide-angle coverage, the Pentax MX-1 has a newly designed 12 megapixel back-illuminated CMOS image sensor with a top sensitivity of ISO 12,80 and a 3.0-inch, tilt-able, high-definition LCD monitor. Combining state of the art technology with a classic design reminiscent of film cameras, the MX-1 features a textured-rubber grip, and brass top and bottom panels. In addition the camera features a pop up auto flash, along with a number of metallic parts, including a metallic lens ring, to complete the tasteful, high-class retro design finish. The PENTAX MX-1 will be available in Black and Black and Silver from February 2013 priced at £399.99.

Over the next 8 days we’ll be revealing our favourite products from last year in our annual awards, looking back at the essential photography kit that helped to define 2012.

Kicking things off is the Software of the Year 2012 award, which goes to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.

“Lightroom is a class leader in both sharpening and noise reduction, and the new Process 2012 tools are extremely well done. For things like HDR, compositing, and similar editing needs, you’ll still find Photoshop or any number of plug-ins useful, and if you’re into video editing beyond the basics you’ll want to add a standalone program to your kit, but Lightroom 4 can handle most all of your organizational and editing needs.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Adobe and Lightroom 4!

This month we’re giving away a fantastic Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens worth £629!

The lucky winner is Sheryl Mitchell. Congratulations!

With its effective focal length range of approximately 16-35mm in 35mm format, the EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM is a remarkable lens with outstanding image quality that will take your photography into new dimensions and areas of dramatic expression.

The EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM is an ultra wide-angle zoom lens with dynamic expressive capability for all EF-S mount EOS cameras; exceptionally small and lightweight for maximum mobility.

This month we’re giving away a fantastic Steadicam Smoothee worth £169!

The lucky winner is Martin Conaghan. Congratulations!

Based on the same technology as the big $60,000 rigs used in Hollywood, the Smoothee allows you to capture incredible video without the shakes normally associated with hand-held video shot on the go, right out of the box, the very first time.

The Smoothee let’s you “fly” wherever the scene takes you—up and down steps, indoors and outside, through crowds—almost anywhere, with precise, elegant control and ease.

Manfrotto is giving away FIVE of its fantastic new ML120 Pocket LED Lights each worth £40.00!

The 5 lucky winners are Candy Johnson, George Smietana, Rona Gough, Mike Swift and Edmund Jones. Congratulations!

The ML120 Pocket LED Light is the smallest and lightest in the Manfrotto range of compact continuous LED light units, ideally suited for use with compact cameras and smartphones when additional light is needed for shooting video or stills. It can be hand held, mounted on a flash hotshoe or fitted to any number of Manfrotto supports via its standard ¼” thread.

For more information or to buy Manfrotto products online visit: www.manfrotto.co.uk

The Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2013 competition closes for entries on 31 January 2013. This year’s competition has several new categories for entrants, including the Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year, for images of wine producers and all things related to wine. Also the Food Snapping category, for images of food taken on mobile ‘phones, in support of Action Against Hunger and Food off the Press, sponsored by StockFood for previously published work in books and magazines. First prize for the overall winner is £5000. As always we suggest that you read the Terms and Conditions before entering your work.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Canon will unveil the vision behind its 2013 lineup of connected digital cameras, camcorders and printers. Visitors to Canon’s booth (#13304) will be invited to explore “Image Incredible” with product demonstrations and on-site experiences designed to unlock creative potential and inspire users to express their individuality using the company’s imaging technology products. Upon entering the Canon booth, attendees will experience “Image Incredible” through inspiring visual displays, celebrity photographer guest speakers, staged performance showcases, interactive product demonstrations and social media activities. End-user inspired images submitted to the Project Imaginat10n programme will decorate the company’s booth as well as adorn on-site advertising and signage. Attendees can touch-and-try a range of Canon high-performance optics and cameras by entering an in-booth tower that features 15 different EF lenses and DSLR cameras.

An iPhone 4 image of a bee hovering over a foxglove (above) has won a National Trust photographic competition that celebrates the role green places play in people’s lives. Taken by Laura Elliot in her parents’ garden in Northern Ireland, ‘Don’t bee choosy’ was shot using the Instagram app - winning both the smartphone category and the overall competition. Laura said: “I was shocked to find out I’d won. I’m studying dentistry at university and photography is just my hobby.” The winner of the 10-and-under category is James Ashton, aged 9, from Doncaster with his intimate image of ducks feeding at Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire. Tilly Rose Bellinger, aged 16,from Somerset won the 11-to-16 set with Jurassic mist, an atmospheric black and white image of the Jurassic Coastline in Dorset. The winner of the over 16 award is Eleanor Bennett from Cheshire, having composed a clever photograph of silhouettes of walkers amongst bare trees in Lyme Park, Cheshire All of the winners are featured in the spring edition of the National Trust Magazine and on the National Trust website.

Rogue has launched a brand new Small Soft Box Kit. The £45 bundle contains two of Rogue’s most popular lighting accessories, the FlashBender Positionable Reflector and the Small Diffusion Panel. The FlashBender element of this kit can be used on its own, as a positionable reflector. Photographers can also attach the Small Diffusion Panel to the Reflector using a simple and fast Velcro system to create a mini softbox. Also new is the Rogue Flash Gels - Colour Correction Filter Kit (£30) with a tabbed filter design to enable attachment to all standard speedlight flash units. Included in the set are 18 selected colour correction filters, a Rogue Gel-Band attachment and a storage pouch with quick reference dividers for easy organisation of the filters.

Seim Effect has released Color Fantasies 2, a colour toolkit for Lightroom. Rebuilt from the ground up, Seim Effects 2 offers new and remastered tools for superior control, better workflow and better mixing of effects. “It’s like Colour Alchemy for Lightroom - Built on years of development and refinement, Colour Fantasies 2 is designed to help photographers create incredible colour” said Gavin Seim, photographer, educator and owner of Seim Effects. “Colour Fantasies 2 is all about taking the subtleties of color hues and tones and giving photographers of all genres the tools they need to quickly customize their vision and make their images sing.” Color Fantasies 2 is available now for use with Lightroom on both Mac and Windows systems. The regular download price is $49, but if those purchasing a licence by 10 January 2013 are entitled to a $10 discount.

Kenro, the official UK and Ireland distributor for the Benro range of tripods, has introduced two new camera bag series. The Benro Hummer series of backpacks - available in two sizes, priced from £107.94-£119.29 - feature an ergonomic harness system that is designed for maximum ventilation to achieve the highest level of comfort and reduce uneven, heavy loading. The Benro Professional Pioneer trolley case - also available in two sizes, priced from £269.94-£299.94 - has been specially designed with commercial photographers in mind, whose schedule relies heavily on travelling with a full kit. For maximum versatility, the Pioneer trolley case can also turn into a backpack when needed by simply utilising the hidden shoulder straps found on the back compartment of the trolley.

The Samsung NX300 is a new compact system camera featuring a 20-megapixel imager with on-sensor phase detection AF sensors, an articulated OLED touchscreen and Wi-Fi connectivity. Other highlights include a sensitivity range of ISO100/21°—ISO25,600/45°, a maximum shutter speed of 1/6000 sec,  8.6fps continuous shooting, a 5-way manual key interface and i-Depth, an easy and simple way to adjust the depth-of-field of an image using the NX Series’ unique i-Function system. Available in either black or white with a contrast silver band, the Samsung NX300 is expected to hit the shelves priced at around $750. Also announced today is the new Samsung 45mm 2D/3D lens, which supports both 2D and 3D movie capture with the NX300, and boasts a maximum aperture of f/1.8. This new 2D/3D version of the Samsung 45mm f/1.8 lens will cost around $500.