The Kodak Pulse digital photo frame and the new Kodak Portra 160 film have been honoured with TIPA awards. Named the ‘Best Accessory’ by the TIPA jury, the Kodak Pulse digital photo frame features Wi-Fi connectivity, a customisable e-mail address and a touch-sensitive viewing panel. Announced this February, the new Kodak Professional Portra 160 (pictured) is an all-new colour negative film that incorporates the manufacturer’s Advanced Cubic Emulsions, Kodak Vision Film Technology and Antenna Dye Sensitisation in the magenta emulsion layers. Replacing the Portra 160NC and VC offerings, the new Kodak Professional Portra 160 film is available in 35mm, 120/220, 4x5 and 8x10 sheet formats.

The Technical Image Press Association has honoured the Fujifilm FinePix X100 large-sensor digital compact camera, the Fujifilm 3D print service and the Frontier DL600 minilab with TIPA awards. The X100 has been recognised as 2011’s best premium camera, the Fujifilm 3D print service has been deemed the best photo service, while the Frontier DL600 has won the accolade of ‘Best Finishing System’. Adrian Clarke, Director of Fujifilm’s Digital Products said “The TIPA awards are the most coveted photo awards in Europe and for Fujifilm to win three awards is a massive achievement.”

Rusted Gears have released Photo LoL, a a new photography app for the Apple iPhone. Photo LoL allows users to change and enhance colours, improve and crop pictures, and apply adjustments to selected areas of a photo. The layer system introduced in this app uses the same principles of the professional photo-retouching programs, and there are several selection methods to choose from. The introductory price of Photo LoL is $1.99, and the app is available on iTunes now.

A newly released video sheds light on how the Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95 Micro Four Thirds lens is made. Created by JBC and shared by WasabiFoto, this seven-and-a-half-minute video introduces viewers to the manufacturing process and includes a number of sample images and footage shot with the lens. Although there seem to be a couple of technical inaccuracies in the voice-over, we have found the piece to be very interesting and well put together. Click through / scroll down for the video.

Wanderlust’s new product, Pinwide, is billed as “the world’s widest digital pinhole”. Designed specifically for Micro Four Thirds bodies, Pinwide has an angle of view similar to that of a 22mm lens on a 35mm camera, bringign “real wide-angle pinhole photography into the digital era”. Made from precision injection molded polycarbonate with a scientific-grade metal aperture, Pinwide is manufactured in the United States and is available now at $39.99.

The two winners of a fantastic new Manfrotto 290 Series Tripod Kit have been randomly chosen.

They are Nick Thompson and Arabella Bazley.

This contest closed on Friday 22nd April 2011 at 12.00 Midday GMT.

The new MK294A3-A0RC2 294 Kit is the larger 3 section kit combined with the detachable aluminium ball head. It is the best solution for stability and rapid movements. The anti-shock collar protects your camera from accidental impact, whilst the 3 faced design column prevents rotation to allow for increased accuracy and steadfastness. The leg locks provide a rock-solid support and with their innovative adjustability they provide a consistent and excellent performance.

For more information on Manfrotto products please visit: www.manfrotto.co.uk

Manfrotto – Imagine More

Wacom has announced the Bamboo Stylus, a pen which can write comfortably on iPad displays. A new addition to the Wacom Bamboo series, the Bamboo Stylus features a slim, smooth and soft tip and a good weight-balanced design. “The stylus can perform creative tasks that our fingers and touch displays are just not built to handle well,” said Rick Peterson, Director of Consumer Brands at Wacom technolgy Services Corporation. Due for release at the end of May, the Wacom Bamboo Stylus will sell for 2,980 yen in Japan and $29.99 in the US..

Samsung has posted firmware upgrades for the Samsung NX10 (pictured) and NX100 compact system cameras. The firmware upgrades improve AF performance, and add a new Panorama Shot scene mode plus compatibility with the Optical Image Stabiliser of the 50-200mm f/4-5.6 II lens to both cameras. The upgrades are available now for all NX100 and NX10 customers to download at the websites below.

Digital Film Tools recently announced the availability of Rays, its latest plug-in for Apple Aperture, Adobe Photoshop Elements and Lightroom. Rays allows users to easily add realistic light ray effects to any digital photo. Known as volumetric lighting in computer graphics, the technology behind Rays allows users to set the ray length and brightness, control ray direction with an on-screen control, customise the colour of the rays using a colour picker, and more. The plug-in is available from the manufacturer’s website for $50.00, while an iPad/iPhone version of the software can be downloaded from iTunes for $0.99.

SendQic Photo is an iPhone app that automates the process to take and email a photo, making for a faster, more convenient way to send pictures to a single email address, to email groups, or to Facebook. The first time a user opens SendQic Photo they enter their email and/or Facebook information. Then each time a photo is taken it is sent to the stored location(s). Users can modify their information and configurations at any time. SendQic Photo is available now on iTunes at a price of $0.99.

Ricoh has released a firmware update for the Ricoh GXR system. Version 1.36 resolves an issue that concerns the accurate display of colours while changing exposure settings in the Cross Process scene mode. This applies to all GXR modules. Additionally, the update contains fixes for a couple of bugs that affect the Ricoh GR Lens A12 28mm f/2.5 (pictured) and the Ricoh GR Lens A12 50mm f/2.5 MACRO sensor-lens modules only.

Website: Ricoh GXR Firmware

To celebrate the Royal Wedding, Nikon has teamed up with Arthur Edwards, royal photographer at The Sun, to give some expert tips and tricks on how to capture the big day. According to research commissioned by Nikon, a staggering 327 million Royal Wedding-related photos will be taken on digital cameras on Friday 29th April. Arthur has put together a list of 10 useful tips you can use to capture the event - you can read them all below.

Fujifilm has issued firmware updates for its Finepix F500EXR and F550EXR digital camera models. Version 1.10 fixes a bug related to the LCD screen that sometimes occurred when connecting the camera to a computer via USB. The F550EXR update also reduces power consumption in some cases.

Website: Fujifilm Finepix F500EXR Firmware Ver. 1.10
Website: Fujifilm Finepix F550EXR Firmware Ver. 1.10

Fujifilm has posted a firmware update for its Finepix X100 large-sensor digital compact camera. Version 1.01 fixes a bug related to ISO sensitivity bracketing. Specifically, if the images were shot with ISO bracketing when “Quick Start Mode” was set to “ON”, and you turned off the camera, it could not be turned on again. The new firmware resolves this issue. You can download the update from the website below.

Website: Fujifilm

The Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) has honoured the Olympus E-5 with its “Best Expert DSLR” award, while the Olympus XZ-1 has been deemed the best expert compact. The Olympus E-5 (pictured) is a weather sealed digital SLR camera featuring a robust magnesium alloy body, large and bright viewfinder, ultra-fast 11-point auto focus system, self-cleaning 12-megapixel sensor, high-resolution articulated LCD monitor, in-body image stabilisation and HD video capture. The Olympus XZ-1 is a 10-megapixel premium compact camera boasting an ultra-bright 28-112mm equivalent f/1.8-2.5 zoom lens, a high-resolution 3-inch OLED screen and a 1/1.63 inch CCD imager with sensor-shift image stabilisation.

Panasonic scooped up three TIPA awards this year. The Lumix DMC-FT3 / DMC-TS3 has won the accolade of “Best Rugged Compact Camera”, the Lumix DMC-GH2 (pictured) has received the “Best Expert Compact System Camera” award, while the Panasonic Gold Pro SDHC UHS-I memory cards have been named 2011’s “Best Imaging Storage Media”.

Ricoh has just released a free Android/iPhone app called EventJot, which allows users to quickly “build” events that anyone can add photos and comments to. The app only requires a Twitter account and a smartphone, and it tweets pictures and comments in real time - an easy way of promoting outings to a wider audience. Events that include pictures and comments are then available anytime on the web through a unique address. The app is available now on iTunes and the Android Market.