A virtual tour of Pentax Ricoh’s CES 2012 stand.

The recently formed Pentax Ricoh haven’t announced any new products at CES, but they are by far the largest company in the PMA@CES zone.

On display were two separate areas showcasing the Pentax and Ricoh product ranges, including the Pentax Q compact system camera and the Ricoh GXR A12 camera module with a Leica lens fitted.

Ricoh have a clever peaking-like system for the A12 which very clearly shows when the subject is in focus (check out the last photo in our gallery to see it in action).

Take a closer look at the Pentax Ricoh CES booth in our photo gallery.

A virtual tour of Tiffen’s CES 2012 stand.

Tiffen have a large booth at CES that’s home to a number of different accessory brands, including Lowel lighting, Domke bags, Tiffen Filters, Tiffen Dfx filter software, and Steadicam camera stabilizing systems.

Take a closer look at the Tiffen CES booth in our photo gallery.

SanDisk and Lexar have both confirmed that they have no plans to release XQD memory cards in the near future. Speaking to Photography Blog at CES, representatives from both companies stated that they’re committed to Compact Flash, which is still popular with photographers. Lexar additionally pointed out that their new 1000x UDMA 7 is actually faster than the first XQD card from Sony, offering a guaranteed read speed of at least 150Mb/s, and that the current CF specification goes up to 167Mb/s, providing additional headroom for even faster CF cards.

In addition neither company is set to release an open-format wireless SD card, following the SD Association’s announcement last week. SanDisk already have a wireless card in Europe with Eye-Fi (but not in the US), while Lexar had a similar partnership that has now elapsed.

Adobe says it will offer special introductory upgrade pricing on Creative Suite 6 to customers who own CS3 or CS4. “This offer will be available from the time CS6 is released until December 31, 2012,” the company announced in a statement. “More details on this offer, as well as any introductory offers for existing customers to move to Creative Cloud membership, will be announced when CS6 and Creative Cloud are released later this year.”

BosStrap has reengineered the BosStrap Camera Sling System with an improved one-piece design, the BosStrap OP Camera Sling. This strap incorporates a sliding fitting that moves along the strap, not requiring the strap itself to move. In use, the camera glides smoothly along the strap up to your eye; when not in use the camera rests comfortably at your hip. The one-piece construction of the BosStrap OP means you never have to worry about the camera becoming disconnected from the strap. Made in the USA, the BosStrap OP Camera Sling sells for $39.95 on the website below.

Hasselblad has announced the eleven recipients of the 2012 Masters Award. The winners are Frank Meyl (Architectural), Jon Lowenstein (Editorial), War Kuen Eric Wong (Fashion), Christian Tagliavini (Fine Art), Ken Hermann (General), Tom D. Jones (Landscapes), Denis Rouvre (Portrait), Joe Felzman (Products, for his image shown above), Vincente Ansola (Up and Coming), Milosz Wozaczynski (Wedding) and Lucas Pupo (Wildlife).

Lowel-Light’s Blender and Ego systems offer easy and intuitive lighting solutions for avid photographers and videographers. Developed in conjunction with cinematographer Tom Robotham, the Lowel Blender LED Light is an easy-to-use lighting solution, ideal for mixed-source environments and run and gun–style video productions. Users can adjust the Tungsten and daylight colour dimmers until they match the ambient light of the location. The Lowel Ego (pictured) is a tabletop fluorescent digital imaging light that creates a soft light ideal for taking digital tabletop shots of food, products etc. It’s an effective alternative to conventional light tent systems that limit the size of objects and the angle in which users can shoot from, the company says.

Tiffen is showcasing the new Tiffen Variable ND Filter line at CES. Introduced in August 2011, Tiffen’s Variable ND offers both photographers and videographers convenience in price and performance by combining seven ND filters into one high-performance optical filter, the company says. They allow continuous control over the amount of light coming through the lens in an approximate range of two (ND 0.6) to eight (ND 2.4) stops. “What makes our filter stand out from the rest is the manufacturing,” said Jill Conrad, product manager for Tiffen. “The Tiffen Variable ND is made with high-quality optical glass using Tiffen’s established ColorCore technology. Many variable NDs on the market today use plastic or resin for one or sometimes both of the optical elements. Compared to glass, plastic and resin do not provide optimal image quality.” The filter is already available in 77mm size for a list price of $239.99. At CES, Tiffen is also showcasing the newly released 58mm and 72mm filter sizes.

Blurb has announced a further collaboration with Adobe Systems, with the integration of bookmaking into the public beta of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4. This provides users with the tools directly within Lightroom 4 to create professional-quality photography books, coupled with a direct link to Blurb.com for printing, marketing and distribution. This integration with Lightroom is the second bookmaking solution Blurb has created for Adobe customers, joining the plug-in for Adobe InDesign, which launched in 2011.

Available in 4TB and 8TB capacities, the new LaCie 2big Thunderbolt Series delivers speeds up to three times faster than FireWire 800. It also features RAID security, hot-swappable disks, daisy chain convenience and a solid-aluminium casing. Videographers working in Final Cut Pro X or other professional software can even stream multiple HD video streams directly from the drive. Photographers using Lightroom or Aperture will notice significantly more responsive photo library browsing, the company says. In addition, LaCie also introduced the new eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series, which connects to a late-model Mac via the Thunderbolt port and features two eSATA ports. This lets the user connect two eSATA external hard drives to the Hub and get full eSATA speeds on their new Mac. The 2big Thunderbolt Series and eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series will be available in the first quarter of 2012.

A detailed hands-on look at the new Polaroid Android HD Camera.

The Polaroid SC6130 Android HD Camera is the world’s first digital camera to have the Android mobile operating system built-into it. Running Android 2.3.4, it offers all the benefits of that OS and you may even be able to make calls on it too, as it looks and feels very much like a smartphone. Camera wise, there’s a 16 megapixel CCD sensor, 3x optical lens and 3.2 inch touchscreen display. Due to be released in April and available in 6 colours, the Polaroid Android HD Camera will cost around $300.

Take a closer look at the Polaroid Android HD Camera in our photo gallery.

A virtual tour of Polaroid’s CES 2012 stand.

In addition to their Android camera, Polaroid actually have some interesting products on their large CES booth (cunningly located right next to Canon). There are not one but two 3D cameras, a waterproof dual-view model (iT023), a wi-fi camera (iS030), the Z340 Instant Zink camera, and the Dua flash that has a built-in movie light for shooting video as well as stills.

Take a closer look at the Polaroid CES booth in our photo gallery.

A virtual tour of GoPro’s CES 2012 stand.

Billed as the “most versatile HD camera”, GoPro’s Hero 2 camera is for the more active amongst you. New for CES is wireless connectivity in the form of the Wi-Fi BackPac and the Wi-Fi Remote, the former allowing you to stream footage from the Hero 2 in real-time, and the latter to control up to 50 GoPro Heros from up to 600ft away.

Take a closer look at the GoPro CES booth in our photo gallery.

Hands-on photos of the limited edition black Fujifilm X100 compact camera.

OK, not strictly hands-on as it’s strictly under glass on Fujifilm’s CES booth, but we grabbed some shots nonetheless of the 10,000 unit (worldwide) limited edition black Fujifilm X100.

In addition to the new black X100 body, would-be purchasers also get a matching alloy lens hood, black leather case and a 49mm glass filter to protect the lens, all delivered in a stylish case.

Take a close-up look at the new black Fujifilm X100 camera in our photo gallery.

Update: We’ve expanded the gallery to include 15 more shots of a black Fujifilm X100 that wasn’t under glass, including some alongside the standard silver version.

Fujifilm have confirmed that they will release a Leica M adapter for the new X-Pro 1. Speaking to journalists at an exclusive briefing, Fujifilm stated that the adapter will not be launched at next month’s CP+ photography show in Japan, but will be released by April this year. Leica lens owners looking for an alternative to the M9 should form an orderly queue…

Fujifilm have come up with a brand new category name for the X-Pro1 - “premium interchangeable lens camera” - which is claimed to be very different to a “conventional mirrorless camera”, hence the new name.

We also had a closer look at the new Fujifilm EF-X20 flash, which has a guide number of 20, and an additional grip that’s designed for people with larger hands. Pricing for both optional accessories is still to be confirmed.

Finally, some very interesting A3 prints were on display comparing the high ISO output of the X-Pro1 alongside the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the Sony A77, with significantly less noise and more detail visible from the X-Pro1 at ISO 1600 and faster, going some way to verifying Fujifilm’s claims that their new sensor produces more resolution with less artefacts than either APS-C or full-frame cameras.

Pentax has issued a firmware update for the Pentax K-5 digital SLR camera. Version 1.12 addresses the rare issue of a band of light green noise appearing in images of starry skies taken with the Astrotracer function enabled and the O-GPS1 accessory mounted. You can download the firmware upgrade from the website below.

Website: Pentax Japan

King Camera for iOS has been updated to version 2.5.1. This update adds in-app Instagram support, 2 times faster thumbnail generation on non-Retina display devices, and a few bug fixes. King Camera can be downloaded from iTunes free of charge.

Verbatim has launched its new Store ‘n’ Go Micro USB Drive Plus, a rugged yet sleek and small USB drive, in 4GB - 32GB capacities. The ultra-compact Micro USB Drive Plus features a USB 2.0 interface with a USB connector protected by a flexible cover built to withstand rough handling and comes in multiple colour options. The ruggedised SIP (System in Package) Design encapsulates and protects electronic components from water, dust, and debris, the company says. Verbatim’s Micro USB Drive Plus will be available this quarter starting from $19.99.

Ricoh has posted a firmware update for the Ricoh CX6 digital compact camera. Version 1.21 improves auto focus accuracy in excessively bright conditions. You can download the firmware upgrade from the website below.

Website: Ricoh CX6 Firmware

This February, East London photo gallery theprintspace will open its doors for Sample 12, an exhibition showcasing a cross-section of images by photographers and artists who have printed at theprintspace in 2011. The exhibition was compiled by Sample 12 curator, award-winning reportage photographer Toby Smith. “Curating a themed exhibition from such a diverse collection of images was always going to be difficult. Instead, I have picked work that is strong on both technical and aesthetic grounds as single images or diptychs. Dislocated from their context the shots can become even more mysterious and hopefully encourage the audience to track down other works in the same series.” Sample 12 opens at theprintspace gallery at 74 Kingsland Road on 3rd February and runs until the 28th.