Beginning tomorrow, Olympus will be offering £50 (€50 in Ireland) cashback on purchases of all E-PL3 and E-PM1 kits. The offer is valid on purchases made between 15 November 2011 and 15 January 2012, and is applicable to the UK and Ireland only. Claims can be made via the website below, and must be received by midnight, 15 February 2012. As always, we suggest that you read the official Terms and Conditions before making a purchase and submitting a claim.

Website: Olympus PEN Promotions

SLR Magic has announced a new ultra-wideangle manual-focus lens for Micro Four Thirds. The HyperPrime 12mm f/1.6 has a diagonal angle of view equivalent to that of a 24mm lens on a 35mm camera, and features a traditional aperture ring, an iris diaphragm with 12 rounded blades and a close-focus point of 15cm. The optical formula comprises 12 elements (including 3 ‘Tantalum’ glass elements) in 10 groups. Weiging in at 330 grams the lens, which features a 58mm filter thread and a non-rotating front element, is expected to go on sale for $500 later this month.

Panasonic UK’s retail support team has partnered up with Jacobs Photo to demonstrate the new GX1 compact system camera. The Jacobs in-store previews provide consumers with their own opportunity for hands on with the camera, before it will go on general sale from mid December. Click through / read on for exact dates and locations.

Re-framing disability: portraits from the Royal College of Physicians is a new exhibition currently showing at the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester. Featuring 28 historical portraits of disabled people held within the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) collections, set next to the images and voices of disabled people discussing the portraits and their identities today, the exhibition tackles largely unchartered territory in combining both historical and contemporary analyses of the historical portraits. The modern, photographic portraits were created by disabled photographer Lynn Weddle. Re-framing disability will be at the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester until January 2012 and is presented in accessible formats including an audio description, audio points, and tactile images with Braille.

Leica has issued a firmware update for the Leica M9 digital rangefinder camera. Version 1.174 addresses a compatibility issue related to select types of new memory cards, which has caused some users to lose photos captured with the camera. Note that Leica still warns against using San Disk Extreme Pro SDHC I UHS-I and San Disk Extreme HD Video SDHC I memory cards in the M9, as “some misbehaviour occurred in the test phase” and “100% freedom from errors cannot yet be guaranteed with them”. The company stresses that other SanDisk cards have been found to work fine in cameras equipped with the latest firmware, which you can download from the website below.

As part of its Imagine More Factory Roadshow, Manfrotto will be setting up an interactive pop-up photo lab in Covent Garden, London. From 18-20 November, visitors to the Lab can put their artistic talent to the test by using Manfrotto photographic kit and being photographed on professional photography sets. The London event, opening at 11am on 18th November, follows in the creative footsteps of labs in Beijing, Berlin and Hong Kong. The pictures taken over the course of the three-day installation will be uploaded to the Manfrotto Imagine More Facebook page to allow all those who have participated to share and comment on their own photos.

MachPhun is about to release a new version of Color Splash Studio for OS X. Billed as the “most powerful, comprehensive & intuitive application to make outstanding pictures with selective colours”, Color Splash Studio 1.2 will be available in the Mac App Store soon. Click through / scroll down for a video showing off the capabilities of the app.

Nikon has released firmware updates for the Nikon D5100 and Nikon D7000 digital SLR cameras. Both updates address a number of issues and fix various bugs. Additionally, the Nikon D5100 firmware upgrade enables the camera to choose a value other than 2EV when shooting HDR exposures in Manual mode, with the exposure differential set to Auto. You can download the firmware updates from the websites below.

Website: Nikon D5100 Firmware Update
Website: Nikon D7000 Firmware Update

Polaroid has announced the Z340 Instant Digital Camera, which features a 14-megapixel image sensor and integrated ZINK printer. Designed for portability, the Polaroid Z340 “pays homage to its analogue predecessors, yet contains an advanced, easy-to-use digital feature set,” says the manufacturer. “Simply snap, check out images on the Z340 camera’s 2.7’’ LCD screen and choose photos for printing.” The Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera’s integrated printer outputs 3"x4” prints - the same size as the classic Polaroid photos - using the patented ZINK Paper, an advanced composite material with cyan, yellow, and magenta dye crystals embedded inside. The full-resolution 14-megapixel photos are saved on SD memory cards, and can be printed at much larger sizes using a dedicated photo printer. The Polaroid Z340 camera is available starting today for $299.99 at Polaroid.com, B&H, Adorama and Amazon. The Polaroid ZINK 3x4’’ Paper can be bought in packs of thirty for $19.99.

“One Hundred & Forty Characters” is a project initiated by award-winning photographer Chris Floyd. Inspired by Floyd’s interaction with the photographers, editors and other individuals he follows on Twitter, One Hundred & Forty Characters bridges the gap between traditional relationships and those increasingly formed through online communications. “The project essentially puts faces to 140 of the online names I have become familiar with and I wanted to show a mixture of around 100 portraits comprising both individual and group shots,” said Floyd, who looked to HP to reproduce his images as large-format prints. Floyd worked with the HP Bracknell-based team who used both the HP Designjet L25500 Printer and the HP Designjet Z6200 Photo Printer to output the portraits. The exhibition “One Hundred & Forty Characters” is currently on display at Host Gallery, London.

Panorama Concepts have released Classique Camera, an iOS app that enables users to create retro-looking photos and film clips. The app features Classic, Rosa, Hippie, Gothic, Blues, Sunset and Disco filters that can be applied “on the fly” to photos and videos being captured, and can also be used to re-process existing movies. Classique Camera is available on iTunes for $0.99.

Presented by The Annenberg Space for Photography, Digital Darkroom is a group show featuring the work of 17 artists from the US, France and the UK. The exhibition, which opens to the public in Los Angeles on 17th December and runs through 30th May, explores the intersection of art and technology. The artists’ work presents altered realities using photography and digital or darkroom manipulation. The exhibition also includes a 3D film shot in 5K resolution using RED EPIC cameras, presented in a specially created screening room. This film includes interviews with 3D experts and historians Ray Zone and David Kuntz, 3D artists Ted Grudowski and Christopher Schneberger, and explores how 3D artists Claudia Kunin and Mike Pucher, photograph their subjects and alter them digitally to create 3D results.  Key elements of the history of stereoscopic photography are also in the film. The Annenberg Space for Photography is located at 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, California.

The inaugural London Photo Festival took place from 27-29 October in Borough. Offering the opportunity to 30 amateur, enthusiasts and semi-professional photographers to exhibit their work, the festival has been called “a great success” by its organisers. The Best in Show award went to Karolin Schwab for her photo above, while Nicola Albon and Sanja Hurem have been named as runners-up. The f/Factor, as voted for by the public over the three days, was won on Saturday by Nicholas Goodden’s photo ‘Anatomica’. The next London Photo Festival will start with a Private View on 16 May 2012, and the festival will be open to the public from 17-19 May.

The AOP Students Awards 2012 competition is now accepting submissions. Entry is open to photography students studying a BTEC HND or higher within the UK. Each entrant can submit an unlimited number of photos but do note that entry fees apply. The submission deadline is 27 January 2012. As always, we suggest that you read the Terms and Conditions before entering your work.

Website: The AOP Awards

Adobe has posted Release Candidates (RCs) for Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) 6.6 and Photoshop Lightroom 3.6, adding support for new cameras including the Nikon 1 V1 and J1, the Canon Powershot S100, the Panasonic GX1 and the Samsung NX5 (pictured). Additionally, the new release candidates contain bug fixes and new profiles for 4 Canon, 6 Nikon, 1 Sony, 5 Sigma and 15 Phase One / Mamiya / Schneider-Kreuznach lenses. A “Rrelease Candidate” label indicates that this update is well tested but would benefit from additional community testing before it is distributed automatically to all Adobe customers.

Website: Adobe Camera Raw 6.6 Release Candidate
Website: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.6 Release Candidate