Manfrotto School of Xcellence has announced a free Webinar titled “Nude Photography 1/3: Conceptual”, which will take place on Friday, 15th October from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT. During this webinar, Swedish photographer Ami Elsius will cover areas from concept to practice and the post-production aspects of nude photography. To register for the webinar, visit the website below.

Website: Manfrotto School of Xcellence

Intelligence Squared has announced an upcoming debate entitled, “Photography Will Always Be a Lesser Medium than Paint”. The event will take place on Monday, 1 November, at Phillips de Pury, Howick Place, London SW1P 1BB. Speakers for the motion include Stephen Bayley, José María Cano and Michael Mack; while speakers against the motion include A. A. Gill, Chris Steele-Perkins and Rut Blees Luxemburg. Tickets are available priced at £25.

Website: Photography Will Always Be a Lesser Medium than Paint

Nik Software has just announced that its HDR Efex Pro plug-in is now available for download. The price is €159.95 including German VAT but owners of a registered NIk Software Complete Collection can get HDR Efex Pro at a special upgrade price of €79.95. Users who have purchased and registered their Complete Collection after 24 August 2010 will get HDR Efex Pro as a free update. The boxed version is scheduled to be on sale by the end of October.

Website: Nik Software

Pentax Imaging Company has confirmed the US launch date and MSRP of the Pentax 645D medium-format DSLR camera. The Pentax 645D (body only) will ship in December 2010 for the price of $9,995.95. The smc PENTAX-D FA 645 55mm F2.8 lens will ship at the same time for $1,199.95. American photographers interested in seeing the camera in the flesh can do so at PDN Photoplus Expo from October 28-30 at the Jacob Javitz Center in New York City. The company also announced that the 645D has received an American Photo Magazine Editor’s Choice 2010 award.

William Albert Allard, a National Geographic institution and world-renowned photographer, is releasing a photographic memoir, William Albert Allard: Five Decades, detailing his life in the field. The book, beautifully illustrated with many of Allard’s strikingly colourful photographs of people and places around the world, is full of stories about the Basques, India’s Untouchables, the season of the hunter and many other topics.

Canon has issued a firmware update for the Canon PowerShot SX130 IS camera. Version 1.0.1.0 fixes an issue with the audio being out of sync with the video at the 1280x720-pixel resolution setting. This phenomenon occurs gradually from the start of recording and becomes more noticeable as the recording time gets longer, the manufacturer remarks. If you are in the habit of shooting long video clips with the SX130 IS and have noticed this problem, you can download the firmware fix from the website below.

Website: Canon Powershot SX130 IS Firmware Update

On 26th October, Stanfords Travel Bookshop will play host to a travel photography master class. The event is timed to coincide with the launch of the Insight Guide to Travel Photography – How to Take Striking Images published by Insight Guides. Several contributors of this new travel photography guide will be there to pass on their insider tips. The travel photography master class begins at 7.30 p.m. at 12-14 Long Acre, Covent Garden, London WC2. Tickets are £2. You can reserve a place by emailing your details to [email protected]

Lowepro’s Adventura range comprises five lightweight, affordable camera bags featuring a toploading design. The series starts with the TLZ 15 and 25; protective and compact camera bags easy to carry and use. The 120, 140 and 170 bags have a streamlined design packed with practical features all specifically designed to be used on a variety of occasions including family events, out on a walk or on holiday. The biggest of the bunch, the Lowepro Adventura 170, accommodates a DSLR with attached standard lens plus 2 additional lenses or flash.

Website: Lowepro Adventura Bags

Canon Rebel T2i / EOS 550D is a new title in Ammonite’s Expanded Guides series. Written by experienced photographer and author Andy Stansfield, this full-colour guidebook fits neatly in a camera bag and includes a pull-out quick reference card. The step-by-step guide to the camera’s basic and advanced functions is complemented by practical tips on lighting, camera care and lens choice. The 240-page paperback will go on sale in November, at a price of 19.95 dollars.

Canon EOS System - The Expanded Guide is a new book by freelance photographer and writer Andy Stansfield. The comprehensive, jargon-free, full-colour guidebook covers every digital SLR camera in the extensive EOS system, as well as the manufacturer’s Speedlite flashes and extensive range of EF and EF-S lenses. For the less experienced, technique sections explain camera sensors, Picture Style pre-sets, perspective control lenses, and more. The 272-page book, published by Ammonite Press. will be available in November priced at $19.95.

Red Bull is looking for a writer and photographer to cover the upcoming Red Bull Culture Clash. On Thursday 14th October, at the Roundhouse in London, four of the heavyweights from various branches of UK bass music will battle it out in the “soundclash to end all soundclashes”.From 7pm-3am reigning champion Goldie and his Metalheadz crew, Soul Jazz’s Oxman, a dubstep allstar team fronted by Skream & Benga and the legendary Channel One will fight for sound supremacy. Red Bull needs a photographer and a writer to capture the head to head battle for the reigning title.

Website: Red Bull Reporter

Samsung has released a firmware update for its NX5 and NX10 compact system cameras, adding support for the new i-Function lens.Version 1.20 also provides support for an external GPS module that enables the geotagging of photos captured with these cameras. Additional improvements include better AF speed and accuracy and the addition of firmware-based lens distortion reduction. To download the firmware update, follow the link below.

Website: Samsung UK

Ricoh has issued a function-enhancing firmware update for the GR DIGITAL III. The third release adds a high-contrast black-and-white mode, a cross-process filter, a 4:1 magnification when using manual focus, a “My Setting delete” function and a “key custom setting initialisation” feature. The firmware update will be available on Ricoh’s website in the near future.

Panasonic has teamed up with Adobe and Going Digital to offer a photography gift pack worth £150, available with any purchase of a Panasonic GF1, G10 or G2 compact system camera. Included in the pack is Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 as well as Adobe Premiere Elements 9 software plus Going Digital, who offer a range of one-day photography workshops for beginners to more experienced photographers. The free training voucher can be used on any of their training workshops. The Photography Gift Pack will be available from 8th October – 31st January.

Adventure Travel Live,  the UK’s biggest travel event dedicated to adventure and off-the-beaten-track travel, has teamed up with some of the best travel photographers in the business who will offer a mixture of informative lectures and open panel discussions at the show. Hosted by Chris Coe, photographer and founder of the prestigious Travel Photographer of the Year awards, the panel includes travel photographer Steve Bloom, top wildlife photographer Chris Weston and adventure and expedition photographer, Martin Hartley. The seminars will be held Friday and Saturday, 28-29th January 2011 from 6pm to 9pm. Advance tickets including admission to either the Friday or the Saturday seminars are available at £45, while a special combined ticket valid for both evenings can be purchased for £75.

Canon has announced further details about the Pro Photo Solutions Show scheduled for 26th and 27th October 2010 at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London. At this year’s show, Canon will be running a separate seminar room with speakers like Phillip Bloom, Thorsten Milse, Clive Booth, Dan Cheung, Jonathan Scott, Ben Osborne, Brett Harkness, Matthew Lloyd, and more. The show will also feature a live professional kitchen hosted by chef and food writer Alex Rushmer – one of the last three finalists in the BBC’s MasterChef 2010.  Mark Moreve, Director of Photography will be running live emonstrations in the HD zone using Canon’s latest XF 305 professional camcorder and the EOS 5D Mark II. Plus, a live studio will be at the centre of the show, and Andy Kruczek, Gary Fong and David Newton will be running live shoots and demonstrations.

Human Monitoring (HM) has announced the global availability of its new hipix still image compression technology. Designed to answer the market needs from cameras to web applications and mobile phones. hipix enables users to send and store high-resolution images at between 15% and 50% of the size of normal compressed JPEGs. To view hipix images, on a computer or mobile, users must initially download a viewer, and to create or convert images to the hipix format users need the hipix “Wiz” application. Both are currently free to download for a limited time. You can view a video demonstration of hipix in action after the break.

WD has just introduced its My Book Live home network drive. The device’s built-in DLNA media server makes it a fast, simple solution for users who wish to view videos, music and images on any Mac or PC connected to the home network and stream digital media to a television set, the company says. Compatible with the Apple Time Machine, the WD My Book Live incorporates Gigabit Ethernet technology for speeds up to three times faster than that of traditional USB 2.0 drives. The My Book Live is available in capacities of 1TB and 2TB, priced at $169.99 and $229.99, respectively.

WD has released WD Photos, the newest release of its free photo viewer app, which is now optimised for the iPad and the iPhone 4. The WD Photos app provides remote access to photos stored on a WD network hard drive including My Book World Edition, My Book Live and WD ShareSpace. The images are displayed in native iPad and iPhone resolution, and users can access up to 285,000 of their favourite photos anywhere they can access the Internet by simply copying their pictures into the “Shared Pictures” folder on their WD network hard drive.