Fujifilm has introduced the 14-megapixel Fujifilm Finepix JX280 ultra-compact digital camera with a 28-140mm equivalent 5x zoom lens, AF tracking, HD video recording and a Motion Panorama mode. Encased in a high-grade metal body, the JX280 is not only well protected from bumps and scrapes, but gives a simple, yet elegant design appearance. The Fujifilm JX280 will be available end of August 2010 at a retail price of $149.95.

Lexar has added the 128GB Echo SE backup drive to its Echo line of portable backup solutions. The Lexar Echo SE is an ultra-portable drive that easily plugs into a computer’s USB port to perform automatic backup of files, at read speeds up to 28MB/s and write speeds up to 10MB/s. The drive is interoperable between Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, as well as Mac OS X operating systems, allowing data to be seamlessly accessible whether using a PC or Mac computer. More than 15 percent shorter than other 128GB backup drives, the Lexar Echo SE provides a way to easily backup data, with the reduced risk of accidental in-drive damage. Other capacities include 16GB, 32GB and 64GB.

If you have any photos of New York that go beyond showcasing the usual tourist hotspots, now’s the time to enter them in Datacolor’s ‘Real New York’ photography competition. The submitted photographs should illustrate iconic images that speak what the real New York is through its sights, textures, spirit, and more. The grand prize winner of the ‘Real New York’ photo contest will be awarded a trip to the renowned Photokina trade show taking place September 21-26, 2010 in Cologne, Germany.  The first and second runner-ups will receive a Lensbaby Composer and a $250.00 B&H gift card, respectively. The submission deadline is Saturday, 24th July.

Website: ‘Real New York’ Photo Contest

Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One is a new book from O’Reilly Media that gives you step-by-step tutorials, hours of DVD-video demonstrations and more to help you master the new Adobe Photoshop CS5. Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One simulates a classroom environment with one-on-one attention as you proceed from lesson to lesson. Author Deke McClelland’s expert advice is like working with a personal coach—you’ll learn Photoshop faster, more creatively, and more efficiently than you thought possible, the publisher promises. The 544-page handbook is available for $49.99.

Translocation is a book of unique and intriguing photographs by award winning photographer George Logan. The book, which will be officially launched and previewed at a special event held tomorrow from 6.30pm at the Emwood Gallery - 8-9 Carlisle Street, London, W1D 3BP -, contains images that bring together Scotland’s dramatic landscape with the beauty and fragility of Africa’s wildlife and will be sold in aid of International Wildlife Charity, the Born Free Foundation. The collection of photographs were over five years in the making, with Logan traveling extensively throughout Africa to capture wild animals in their natural habitats, covering Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa and even Europe. The landscape shots were closer to home, taking in the photographer’s homeland of Scotland and the wild coastlines of Cornwall. The photographs have received many accolades, including Gold at The Association of Photographers Awards.

Renowned photographer Nick Kelsh has endeavoured to provide a free assessment of your baby photos. To request a critique of your family snaps, simply upload them to his Facebook page, How to Photograph Your Baby. “By offering assistance to amateur photographers via my ‘How to Photograph Your Baby’ Facebook page, anyone can capture memories effortlessly and compose images that will be cherished for years to come,” says Kelsh.

Website: “How to Photograph Your Baby” on Facebook

After many requests Black Rapid has designed a strap specifically for women. The Black Rapid RS-W1 Women’s Strap provides comfort and speed of the R-Strap whilst adding a bit of elegance to help blend with dress apparel during formal events. In the UK, the RS-W1 is available from JP Distribution, at a price of £65.

The next stop of David Noton’s Chasing the Light road show is Andover. The event will take place at the Lights theatre on 10th November. The show includes David’s latest unpublished photographs, video clips from shoots around the world, the stories behind some of his most iconic images, all delivered with David’s unique sense of humour. The Andover event will also be one of the first chances to get your hands on a copy of David’s long awaited second book Full Frame and the Chasing the Light DVD sequel - both to be launched this autumn.  David will be doing a book signing at the event, so personalised copies of the book will be available. Tickets are on sale now, priced at £15 (£12 for students).

Website: David Noton

Created by Danish Web designer and amateur photographer Thomas Fals, Presetpond.com is a new online community for photographers enabling them to share preset-files for Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture. By registering at the site, photographers can upload preset-files along with a set of preview images showing the preset in action. These files can then be downloaded and rated/commented on by the public.

Website: Presetpond.com

Canon U.S.A. has unveiled five new Canon Pixma printers sporting a ‘Full HD Movie Print’ feature that lets users print out individual frames from HD movies as still photographs. In addition to this, these new models - including the Canon Pixma MG5220 ($149.99, pictured) and Pixma MP495 ($79.99) Wireless Photo All-in-One printers, the Pixma MG5120 ($129.99) and Pixma MP280 ($69.99) Photo All-in-One printers and the Pixma iP4820 ($99.99) inkjet printer - will feature improvements to Auto Photo Fix II, while Easy-PhotoPrint EX software now allows users to search and use images from Flickr. Note that “Full HD Movie Print” is available from ‘MOV’ movie files created by certain Canon digital cameras only.

PSKiss has released a range of tools and automated workflows that help users cut down on the time spent fiddling with Photoshop. “After more then 16 years of working, teaching, training, managing a college lecturing and writing about Adobe Photoshop, I realised that two of the most important things for Photoshop users are: Time saving techniques and maintaining image quality”, says Tal Ninio, co-owner and CEO of PSKiss. The tools offered by the company are essentially scripts that allow users to automate oft-performed and complicated tasks. PSKiss is launching with 10 tools already available for purchase, with many more to come next.

Website: PSKiss

Vietnamese tour operator Luxury Travel has introduced a range of specialist photography holidays for photo-enthusiasts. These holidays often include the services of qualified photography leaders to assist travellers and provide workshops along the way. The tours are geared toward beginners, but photographers of all levels are welcome. “With time spent in lessons and learning techniques, lots of… ‘in the field’ practising and review sessions to look over their work, visitors will develop their photography skills while also enjoying the journey,” the company says.

Website: Luxury Travel Vietnam

Hama has introduced a new mini-pod that can be clamped on the handlebars of a bicycle or motorbike so that you can record your ride on video. The bracket is designed for all profiles up to three centimetres in diameter and can be instantly fixed and loosened, similar to a cable tie. The Hama Bike pod comes complete with a small ball-head and ¼-inch thread, all for €14.99.

Olympus has updated its [ib] image browsing and editing software. Version 1.2 adds support for colour management, enables the creation of Cinema Slideshows and gains the ability to edit videos captured with some of the company’s cameras. To update your Olympus [ib] software to the latest version, open the application on a computer with a live Internet connection and choose Update Software from the Help menu, should the program fail to look for updates on its own.

The 2010 savewater! awards - Australia’s largest water photography competition - has opened its photographic category internationally for the first time, giving budding photographers around the world a chance to enter the competition. With water conservation imagery as the key focus, the savewater! awards photo contest provides a unique platform for photographers to creatively demonstrate the importance of water and its impact on our future. Images can be submitted in three sub-categories; Junior students (up to 12 years olds), senior students (13-17 year olds) and an open category. Prizes on offer include digital cameras and iPod Shuffles. To enter, simply take a photo that captures the importance of water and conserving it for the future, then upload it to the website below. The submission deadline is 5pm AEST on 9th August 2010.

Website: Savewater! Awards

Adva-Soft has released TouchRetouch Free, an iPhone app that lets you to remove unwanted content from photos easily.The free variant is basically a trial version which works just like the full TouchRetouch application, but adds a watermark to the saved images. Featuring in-app video tutorials, unlimited undo/redo actions, smart image background recovery techniques and more, TouchRetouch Free is available now on the AppStore. Purchasing the full version. TouchRetouch 1.0.1,  will not break the bank either, as it costs a mere $0.99.

Website: TouchRetouch Free on the AppStore
Website: TouchRetouch 1.0.1

Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 is a new handbook by Adobe Certified Instructor Steve Laskevitch. Providing a clear and effective workflow for editing photographs in the latest version of Photoshop and its companions Bridge, Camera Raw, and Lightroom; this 291-page handbook is designed to get you working quickly in these applications. Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 is available now for $39.95 in the US.

The Consumer Electronics Association has announced that registration is open for the 2011 International CES, the world’s largest consumer technology trade show. CES attracts more than 120,000 of the top executives, retail buyers, content providers, entertainment executives, venture capitalists, engineers, government officials and media from more than 130 countries. Registration for the 2011 International CES is free to industry professionals through 30 September. A registration fee of $100 will go into effect starting 1 October, and the fee will be $200 effective 31 December. Attendees, exhibitors and media can register today at the website below.

Website: CES

Seagate today unveiled the newest addition to its GoFlex family of hard drives — the GoFlex Home network storage system. When the GoFlex Home device is connected to a wireless router, an entire household can centrally store, easily access and continuously back up files wirelessly from both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems on the home network. Families photos, movies and music to most network connected DLNA devices, such as game consoles or a GoFlex TV HD media player, from any room in the house. The GoFlex Home network storage system can be purchased on Seagate.com and select retailers for a suggested retail price of $159.99 for 1TB and $229.99 for 2TB.

Pixamba has just released ProStockMaster, its award-wining microstock tool for stock photographers, as freeware. Available for both Mac OS X and Windows, ProStockMaster is billed as the first application dedicated to simplifying the process of submitting stock images to multiple microstock and traditional stock photography agencies at the same time. David Mail, CEO of Pixamba said: “We are proud to release ProStockMaster as free software, allowing the global community of contributing microstock photographers to easily upload stock images, selling stock photos and illustrations through top microstock agencies. For four years our microstock software has helped tens thousands of stock photographers to save time and money selling photos online. We keep working on this proven free microstock tool, bringing even more highly demanded keywording, management and stock imagery distribution functionality soon.”

Website: ProStockMaster