Jorge Torralba, the mastermind behind the highly successful Rangefinderforum.com, ZeissImages.com and LeicaImages.com websites, has announced the launch of JustNEX.com, an online gallery dedicated to images captured with Sony NEX series cameras. Besides being a gallery, JustNEX is also an image forum.where participants can comment on and discuss the photos uploaded by members. Additionally, the website lets visitors search for photos taken with a specific lens, camera, focal length or any other combination, while the online Market allows photographers to sell equipment they no longer need.

Watoto Canada has just launched the “It Takes a Village” photography competition. This creative contest will solicit photographic submissions illustrating what the African proverb “It Takes a Village…” means to Canadians. Three winning photographers will be given an all-expenses-paid opportunity to travel to Uganda in June 2012, where they will take photographs of Watoto’s community building work in action and blog about their experiences. The three winners will also receive tuition from award winning Canadian photojournalists while in Africa. The contest will run from 16 Aprik - 7 May 2012. For more information, visit the website below.

X-Rite’s i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer has scooped up a Red Dot Design award. Evaluated by an international panel of 30 judges, the i1Pro 2 was selected from among 4,515 other product design entries from around the world. “X-Rite is honoured to be selected for this coveted product design award for our thoughtfully redesigned i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer,” said Tobias Rausch, X-Rite Product Manager, i1 Solutions. “Recognised for its high quality design, the i1Pro 2 device helps deliver to colour professionals around the world the workflow tools they need that incorporate ever important emerging colour standards.” The i1Pro 2 device can be found in X-Rite’s new i1Basic Pro 2, i1Photo Pro 2, i1Publish Pro 2 and i1Publish products.

The Lomographic Society has launched the special-edition La Sardina Splendour 35mm film camera. Commemorating the early days of street photography, the Sardina Splendour features a 22mm f/8 lens, and comes bundled with the dedicated Fritz the Blitz flash gun. The camera is available in the Lomography Online Store for €179.

DxO Labs have just released DxO Optics Pro 7.2.2 for Mac and Windows, offering support for the new Nikon D4 (pictured), as well as for the Olympus XZ-1 and Olympus PEN E-P1. Additionally, more than 500 new camera-lens combinations were added to the DxO Optics Module library during the past several weeks, crossing the milestone of 6,000 available modules. This means that DxO Optics Pro v7.2.2 now supports additional Canon, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Samyang, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina and Zeiss lenses for numerous Canon, Fuji, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony cameras. This upgrade is free for all owners of DxO Optics Pro 7, as well as for photographers who acquired a license for DxO Optics Pro 6 after September 1, 2011.

X-Rite has announced its new portfolio of i1 colour management solutions which now include a redesigned i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer. The i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer introduces an expanded feature set including enhanced optical brightener compensation, a new position detection sensor, better temperature stability, plus new diagnostics and self-correction features. The i1Pro 2 device can be purchased as part of the i1Basic Pro 2, i1Photo Pro 2 and i1Publish Pro 2 product kits.

White Knight Press has just released the Photographer’s Guide to the Fujifilm X10 e-book, with a paperback edition scheduled for a late April launch. This book, a complete guide to the operation and features of the Fujifilm X10 digital camera, is a follow-up to the author’s earlier guides to advanced compact digital cameras, including the Fujifilm X100 as well as models by Leica, Panasonic, Canon, and Nikon. The new book explains all operations, features, menus, and controls of the Fujifilm X10 camera in clear language, providing guidance not only about how to accomplish things with the camera, but when and why to use certain features. The guide’s more than 200 photographs, almost all in full colour, provide illustrations of the camera’s controls and menus, and include examples of the various types of photographs that can be taken using the many creative settings of the camera. The 338-page book is available now in PDF format for download for $9.95 through the website below.

Unified Color Technologies have announced that their HDR software offerings now support Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4. The company has updated HDR Expose 2 and HDR Express to support Lightroom® 4 and tested for full compatibility. To download the free updates, users of the respective applications can simply choose the “Check for updates” option in the Help menu.

On 19th April, the Manfrotto School of Xcellence will host a webinar devoted to creative landscape photography. Presented by Pete Bridgwood, this one-hour tutorial will examine the role of colour, explaining how to use complementary colours and how to employ the accentuation or muting of colour most effectively. Taking place from 4pm to 5pm GMT, the webinar is free and open to all. For more details and to register, visit the website below.

Autodesk has announced a partnership with Photobucket to bring Pixlr photo editing tools to Photobucket users. Under this agreement, Photobucket will now offer its users Pixlr tools, including the popular Pixlr Editor and the newly revamped Pixlr Express. The partnership between the companies will also provide advertisers with a creative environment from which they can deliver custom, branded effects in Photobucket ad packages.

Nikon has issued firmware updates for the Nikon Coolpix S9200 and S9300 digital compact cameras. Version 1.1 (for each camera) addresses an issue that, in some rare cases, used to cause the camera to freeze when the built-in flash was raised while the optional AC Adapter EH-62F was used. You can download the firmware updates from the websites below.

Website: Nikon Coolpix S9200 Firmware Update 1.1
Website: Nikon Coolpix S9300 Firmware Update 1.1

Facebook has agreed to acquire Instagram for nearly one billion US dollars in cash and stock. On his own Timeline, Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote that “providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together”. Instagram has attracted approximately 27 million users in just 1.5 years, on the iOS platform alone, before launching an Android app a week ago.

Think Tank Photo’s new Strobe Gel Wallet stores flash gels in a neat and organised manner. Launching in May, the Strobe Gel Wallet offers five pockets to store and protect your Rosco Strobist colour filters and includes a tether with clips for secure attachment to bags, backpacks or belts. The clear pockets make filter identification easy. Folding flat when not in use, the Strobe Gel Wallet measures 11.5cm x 6.5cm x 1.5cm, weighs 40 grams, and carries an MSRP of $15.75.

Think Tank Photo’s SD Pixel Pocket Rocket keeps your Secure Digital memory cards safely stored in one place. Available from May, the SD Pixel Pocket Rocket fits up to nine SD/SDHC/SDXC cards in clear pockets that make identification easy. Folding flat when not in use, it can be tethered to bags, clothing, briefcases, and backpacks. The Think Tank Photo SD Pocket Rocket carries a recommended retail price of $15.75.

This May, Think Tank Photo will release two DSLR battery holders. The DSLR Battery Holder 2 ($9.50) and the DSLR Battery Holder 4 ($16.50) secure two or four standard-size camera batteries. These slim, collapsible, compact battery holders compress flat and are easily stored when not in use.

Eizo will showcase advanced 4K LCD display technology at NAB 2012. The Eizo FDH3601 is a 4K x 2K resolution, 36.4-inch LCD monitor with LED backlight, designed for professional applications where image quality is critical. Offering 100% sRGB coverage and an internal 16-bit look-up table, the display can display simultaneous 10-bit colour over the DisplayPort connection. NAB 2012 is taking place from 16th to 19th April. Eizo can be found in booth SL10228.