Olympus’ stock tumbled 20% today after a 29% fall on Tuesday, in the wake of the company’s admission that it had paid over $1 billion to “advisors” to hide losses on securities investments over the course of the past 20 years. A report by Reuters has called the affair “the biggest corporate scandal to hit Japan since a series of scandals at brokerages in the 1990s”. Olympus’ largest shareholders are now worried that the 92-year-old company could be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The crisis broke out in October when the board of directors dismissed Chief Executive Officer Michael C. Woodford after he had commissioned an investigation into what seemed like “unusual payments” linked to a series of acquisitions made before his appointment. Since then, the company has lost more than 75 percent of its market value.

JP Distribution has announced that Black Rapid’s new SnapR 10 product, a 3-in-1 camera bag, sling strap and hand strap, is now available in the UK. Intended for compact cameras up to 5?x3"x1”, the SnapR 10 is a slim wrap style of the popular SnapR, which combines Black Rapid’s sling strap concept with a durable camera bag. The suggested retail price is £35.

A new photography competition invites photographers to show the world how they “Make it Possible” using PocketWizard wireless triggering systems by submitting a photo taken with a minimum of one off-camera flash triggered using PocketWizard radios. The “Make it Possible” contest winner will receive one PocketWizard MiniTT1, two FlexTT5s and one AC3 ZoneController for either Canon or Nikon plus a PocketWizard G-Wiz Trunk bag and a one-year SmugMug Pro Subscription and photo website customisation. The submission deadline is 30 December. To enter the contest, visit the website below.

Visions of Earth: Beauty, Majesty and Wonder is a new photography book from National Geographic. The book showcases the beauty in the world around us - from breathtaking landscapes to fascinating people all over the globe. Each chapter is divided into themes based on the shapes of the photographs inside, including surfaces, radiance, parallels and more. The 512-page hardcover features 250 colour photos and is available from the National Geographic Store for $40. The video below gives you a taste of what’s inside,

MAGIX has released the PhotoStory on CD & DVD 10 Deluxe HD Special Edition, which enables users to create Full HD video slideshows from their photographs. For a limited time only, this special edition will include an intuitive 3D design program -MAGIX 3D Maker 7, allowing you to transform any text, shapes, graphics or photos into high-quality 3D objects and animations. Users can burn their slideshows to DVDs, watch them on TV, or upload them to the Internet. PhotoStory on CD & DVD 10 Deluxe HD is available now from Amazon and from PC World for £69.99.

Plateaus and Canyons - Impressions of the American Southwest is a new title from Rocky Nook, and the first book of colour photographs by master photographer Bruce Barnbaum. Over the past forty years, Barnbaum has visited the Colorado Plateau repeatedly to capture a series of stunning images of Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Factory Butte, Colorado River Plateau, White Cliffs, Painted Desert, and other scenic locations in the region. “These 95 large-format color photographs, each with an accompanying description, are certain to captivate, inspire, and above all, encourage a new appreciation of the wonder of our planet,” the publisher says. The 220-page book is available now for $44.95.

Light & Land have announced that their Discovery Day, taking place on 27th November, will be headlined by Charlie Waite. His unique presentation, “Libya: One Day Before the Revolution”, tells the story of Charlie’s recent trip to Libya – escaping the country less than 24 hours before major unrest broke out. Other speakers include photographers Phil Coates, Ben Osborne, Sue Bishop and David Clapp, and Amateur Photographer editor Damien Demolder. The Discovery Day will take place at Wokefield Park Executive Centre, and runs from 9.30am to around 6.30pm, with lunch and refreshments included in the ticket price (£66).

The eighth edition of the bilingual (Italian/English) online photography magazine POSI+TIVE is now out. This issue features an interviews with South American photographer Diego Levy, reportage by Tommaso Protti and Jordi Ruiz, travel photography by Michele Pieropan, fashion photos by Cristina Capucci, and much more. You can find this edition and past issues at the website below. (Be warned that you might find some of the photographs in the magazine shocking and/or disturbing.)

Website: POSI+TIVE Magazine

Kodak has completed the sale of its Image Sensor Solutions (ISS) business to Platinum Equity. Included in the sale is a 263,000 square-foot facility in Eastman Business Park in Rochester. “This is a great opportunity to acquire a business with an impressive record for delivering innovative solutions to customers around the world,” said Brian Wall, the partner at Platinum Equity who led the team pursuing the acquisition. “The ISS business has a strong management team with the right vision for leading the company into the future. We share their commitment to product development and customer service and are committed to helping the business realise its full potential.” Over the past 30 years, Kodak has been manufacturing sensors for devices as diverse as earth imaging satellites, traffic monitoring systems and digital cameras such as Olympus E-1, the the Leica M9 and S2 and the Pentax 645D.

MobiTog has issued a call for entries for the first International iPhoneography Show. Pictures may be taken with “any digital device” but must be edited with MacPhun’s FX Photo Studio app and submitted either via email or the special submit form on event’s website. The best 100 images will be displayed at a touring exhibition in different parts of the world. The first exhibition will be organised in New York from 16-22 December, and hosted by one of the most popular galleries – Soho Gallery for Digital Art. Every artist whose picture will be chosen for the exhibition gets a special Thank You package from the event partners, including software, hardware, special deals and discounts on iPhoneography gear. The best picture, chosen by online voting, will be awarded with a $100 Apple Gift Card and the artist whose picture is voted best by visitors of the exhibition will receive a $500 Apple Gift Card. The deadline for entries is 7 December 2011,

Want to see exactly what the new Panasonic GX1 looks like in the flesh?

Then check out our extensive hands-on gallery of photos of Panasonic’s premium compact system camera.

The Panasonic LUMIX GX1 is a new premium compact system camera. With a chic style, exceptional image quality and intuitive features, the 16 megapixel Panasonic GX1 offers an ISO range of 100-12800, auto-focus speed of 0.09 seconds, full HD 1080i video recording, a 3 inch screen with 460k dots, built-in pop-up flash, and 4.2fps burst mode at full resolution. Available in Gunmetal Grey and Raven Black, the GX1 will be available from mid December priced at £499.99 body only, £599.99 with the standadr 14-42mm kit lens, and £729.99 with the 14-42mm power-zoom lens (from mi January 2012).

The Panasonic DMC-3D1 is the World’s smallest 3D camera with a 2 lens design. Featuring twin 25mm lens units with 4x optical zoom, the Panasonic 3D1 can simultaneously record both high resolution 8-megapixel 3D photos and 1920 x 1080 3D HD video. The 3D1 also allows you to record photo or video at different angles of view simultaneously. The Panasonic DMC-3D1 will be available from December 2011.

Panasonic have announced a new firmware update for the DMC-GH2 compact system camera. Available at the beginning of December, the new update adds a 24Mbps bit rate, support for Power Zoom lenses, full area enlargement of AF area setting, better AF performance in video recording, and several other improvements.

The ninth edition of the online Landscape Photography Magazine is now available. This issue includes an interview with US landscape photographer Guy Tal, an article about the importance of practice and persistence in landscape photography, a tutorial on evaluating histograms, an in-depth look at autumn landscape photography, and several articles that introduce great locations such as Holwell Tor in England, the beaches of North Michigan and Loch Droma in Scotland. The magazine also features the portfolios of three photographers, Larry Keller, Leslie Ashe and Nuno Luis.