Last night saw the world’s first real time digital photography exhibition, allowing visitors to appreciate the work of three photographers - Lee Strickland, William Daniels and Paul Sullivan -  from the moment the shots were taken. Sony has partnered with three photographers, based in Berlin, London and Paris across Europe, who have been set the creative task of ‘capturing the light’ of their home cities. Each was armed with Sony’s latest NEX-5R camera, complete with built in Wi-Fi allowing them to send photos directly to the gallery in London from their separate locations across Europe. As the night developed, 14 screens on the gallery walls were filled with over 200 images sent through in real time demonstrating parallels and contrasts between each city and the people that live there.

The new Seamless Internet store offers photographers easy access to the tools that they need most, while also providing a creative hub with inspirational resources from the worlds’s finest photographers. Carrying a wide-range of products such as complete studio lighting solutions, exquisite lens filters and more, Seamless offers free shipping all over Europe. “The products that we have on offer are of the highest standard,” says Padraic Deasy, Irish Photographer of the year 2011. “The build, the design and the durability of Seamless accessories puts the necessary tools into the hands of photographers and frees them to achieve their unique vision.””

Nikon today announced that total production of Nikkor lenses for interchangeable lens cameras reached 75 million at the beginning of November 2012. As the 70 millionth Nikkor was manufactured in May, this means that Nikon produced no less than 5 million interchangeable lenses in a matter of only 6 months.

Photoshelter has published a new free ebook entitled Email Marketing for Photographers. “Email marketing is core to helping photographers reach more clients,” says Andrew Fingerman, PhotoShelter Chief Executive Officer. “Use this guide to learn how to engage an audience and stand out in an inbox.” The guide includes 8 email marketing tips direct from photo buyers, 10 questions to ask before hitting the Send button, examples of emails that work and more.

Website: PhotoShelter

On 4th December, Lytro will unveil a new light field technology capability for the Lytro camera, featuring Perspective Shift as well as new creative tools called Living Filters.  Perspective Shift lets Lytro photographers interactively change the point of view in a picture after it has been taken. When pictures are shared to the web, Facebook and Twitter, friends can experience Perspective Shift without needing any special software. Perspective Shift also works retroactively on any light field pictures previously taken with a Lytro camera. Living Filters enable Lytro photographers to apply one of nine interactive filters to their pictures and change the look of the picture based on light field depth. Unlike traditional digital photo filters, Living Filters create additional effects as viewers interact with a picture. These features will be available to customers via a free Lytro Desktop software update.

The 54th issue of the free PhotographyBB Online Magazine is now available for download. This edition features stroke-by-stroke photo painting techniques in Photoshop, an essay on the art of multiple exposures, a look at the benefits and drawbacks of High Dynamic Range Photography, a guest article on wide-angle portraiture by Andrew S. Gibson, and more.PhotographyBB Magazine is available for free download through the PhotographyBB website.

Website: PhotographyBB

The American Chemical Society has released a fascinating new video entitled “The Chemical History of Photography.” In the video, produced by Kirk Zamieroski, photo conservation scientist Art Kaplan shows us some samples of early technical processes like daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes, along with some other more rare and interesting photographic techniques. “As it turns out, photography was really born out of chemical experimentation in back rooms, completely out of the lab setting,” Kirk says. “Early photography certainly wasn’t know at the time to have been a very daring craft; however photographers were frequently handling toxic and dangerous chemicals without any safety precautions.” Click through / scroll down to watch the video.

Jessops today launched the Winter edition of its Image magazine, available free at Jessops stores across the United Kingdom. This edition features a number of helpful guides and in-depth articles to help customers make the most of their photography at this time of year. The new magazine also features an extensive gift guide and a number of reviews of the latest products from leading manufacturers. Commenting on the latest edition of Image magazine, Sean Emmett, Marketing & E-commerce Director at Jessops says, “As the UK’s leading photography retailer, we are uniquely placed to offer impartial advice and the widest choice of products to our customers.  With technology advancing so quickly, Image magazine offers a quick and easy way for customers to stay up-to-date with the very latest cameras and accessories. This edition acts as a brilliant gift guide that I believe will really help our customers when buying gifts this season.”

Tamron USA has announced the winner of the Tamron USA My Travel Exhibit User Photo Contest. Professional photographer Ian Plant selected “New Mexico” by Terry Mann as the winning exhibit, which featured images taken with the Tamron AF 18-270mm F3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD lens. The winning exhibit can be viewed at the website below.

Akvis has released versaion 5.0 for Windows and MacOS. of its NatureArt image manipulation software. Described by its developers as “an excellent tool for imitating the magnificence of natural phenomena”, Akvis NatureArt lets photographers choose from up to nine nature effects. The new version adds the new Rainbow effect, new presets to the Rain and Water effects, an all-new History Brush tool (Deluxe and Business editions only) plus the also-new Hand and Zoom tools, and compatibility with MacOS X 10.8 and Windows 8. Additionally, the Lightning effect has been considerably improved, and the option to create a new image with a transparent background has been unlocked in the standalone version. The update also incorporates a number of bug fixes. Akvis NatureArt sells for $72 for the Home edition (either Plugin or Standalone, 7 effects), $129 for Home Deluxe (Plugin and Standalone, 9 effects and History Brush), $189 for Business (Plugin and Standalone, 9 effects and History Brush, for commercial use).

Action Cameras has teamed up with Tiffen in a competition to find the best film-making talent in action sports. There will be two rounds of judging – for Round One, a committee of experienced film makers will select five finalists from all the entries and they will receive a GoPro HERO3 Black Edition action camera and a Steadicam Smoothee, a prize worth £528. The finalists will then be judged against each other in Round Two to find the overall winner who will win a prize worth over £3000, comprising a digital SLR camera with kit lens,a Lowel Blender LED light, a Tiffen ND filter kit, a Domke 416 Roller Case and a copy of the Tiffen Dfx 3.0 video plug-in.

Two months after issuing a development notice, Olympus today officially announced the M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8 lens. Designed for street photographers, this new, fast moderate wide-angle lens for the Micro Four Thirds system features a maximum aperture of f/1.8 plus depth-of-field and distance indicators. These come into play when the lens is set to MF mode, enabling users to utilise the time-honoured technique of zone focusing, which is great news for street photographers. More than a full stop faster than the existing Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/2.8 (read review), the new M.Zuiko Digital ED 17mm f/1.8 features the faster MSC (Movie & Stills Compatible) auto focus mechanism. The new M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8 lens will be available in December, at a price of £449.99/$499.99.

Hands-on photos: Have a look at our gallery of 22 hands-on photos taken at the Photokina show in September.

WebRotate 360 today launched its new online 360° photography equipment store, featuring photography hardware, software and accessories for product photography studios. “At WebRotate 360 we helped hundreds of our clients to succeed by delivering a unique mix of services ranging from 360-degree product photography to interactive digital media and e-commerce software,” said Dimitri Bir, Founder of WebRotate 360. “Today we are ready to share our first-hand experience, our know-how, and professional equipment and software with everybody.” To find out more visit the website below.

‘Travels with Michael Palin’ (3 December - 25 January 2013) is a new, free exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) from December 2012. Providing an intimate look at the work of Basil Pao, who has expertly captured thousands of still photographs of Michael’s travels around the globe, the exhibition reflects the global diversity and range of people and places encountered by Michael Palin on his travels. Dr Rita Gardner, Society Director, said: “We are delighted that Basil has chosen to exhibit his work at the Society - not only is this a very fitting way to celebrate Michael’s contribution to the Society as President over the past three years, but also a natural fit with our own rich photographic collections which span the history of travel and exploration since the invention of photography.”

Fotodiox has launched an iPad version of its CamHoodie lens hood adapter, which is claimed to “greatly reduce"s the lens flare or “purple haze” effect.The CamHoodie lens hood is made of a high-grade rubber-like material that is highly durable and works to reduce lens flare on photos by blocking stray light rays from entering the lens elements from the edges of the frame. The rubber piece cocoons the lens and helps reduce reflections inside the lens from bright lights. The CamHoodie for iPad mini is now available for pre-order through the Fotodiox website for $29.95.

We’ve teamed up with Photospecialist to give away a Domke F2 bag and a Davis & Sanford Magnum XG tripod to one lucky winner, worth £209!

The lucky winner is Peter Boyle. Congratulations!

Foto Konijnenberg has been a major player in the Dutch and Belgian photo markets with retail shops in both countries since 1974. In 1999 they were the first retail store with a webshop and very soon their customers appreciated that the knowledge and service that was offered in the stores could also be found on the website. In the UK, Germany and France they are now trading as “PHOTOSPECIALIST”. In the near future Photospecialist will open online and physical shops in more countries in Europe – the logistics, sales and marketing will remain centralised in The Netherlands. In The Netherlands and Belgium the name Foto Konijnenberg will be maintained for the time being. Photospecialist will stay focused on both professional photographers and hobbyists, emphasising the high quality products from many of their partner brands, great customer service and providing a rapid courier service. One of the many unique selling points of Photospecialist is that they offer a Two Year Guarantee on all products sold – with the option of a low-cost two year extension (The 2+2 Year Guarantee Plan).

Jim Domke invented the F2 bag when he was working as a photojournalist on the Philadelphia Enquirer. He had the first one custom made for his own use in 1976, and the F2 is still one of the most popular Domke Bags today. Designed so that the photographer could get at equipment instantly, without having to take the bag from their shoulder, it includes an adjustable non-slip Gripper™ Strap with durable cotton webbing, removable bottom stiffener, removable hand carrying strap, YKK zippers, and steel snap hooks.

Davis & Sanford’s Magnum XG Tripod offers solid support for your DSLR, compact camera, camcorder, or scope - it can be operated from 20.32 cm to 182 cm off the ground. The 3-section aluminium legs and 2-section centre post provide rapid and secure adjustment, and the rubber feet add stability. The Magnum XG can support up to 6.8 kg, and weighs just 3.03 kg. A bottom centre post hook allows you to hang equipment or other weight for increased stability, and a tripod bag is included.