Nikon UK has today launched its Winter Cashback promotion, offering up to £275/€300 on selected Nikon cameras and NIKKOR lenses in time for the festive period.

Skylum has released a free update to Luminar that brings AI Sky Enhancer, designed to add detail and drama to the sky with just one slider. AI Sky Enhancer is a revolutionary new tool for automatically enhancing skies and making them beautiful without the need for masks and layers. This will save photographers an enormous amount of time in post-processing while allowing photographers of any skill level to achieve dramatic skies.

Luminar is available to new customers for just $59/€59/£53. Current users of other Skylum software including Aurora HDR, Photolemur, and Skylum legacy products can purchase Luminar for the special price of $49/€49/£44.

Use the coupon code "PHOTOBLOG" to save $10/£9 on Luminar (new customers and upgrades)

Flickr has announced several updates to both its Free and Pro accounts, marking a new step forward for Flickr and the future of photography.

Olympus has teamed up with with premium bag manufacturer Manfrotto to offer a new ‘Explorer’ messenger bag perfectly fitting to their compact and lightweight OM-D camera system.

The new Olympus Explorer bag designed by Manfrotto will be available from late November 2018 at a recommended retail price of 149 EUR.

The new Apple iPad Pro features an all-screen design, next-generation performance, Face ID integration, A12X Bionic chip, new USB-C connector, Gigabit-class LTE, and up to 1TB of storage.

The new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro will be available in silver and space grey finishes in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB configurations as well as a new 1TB option. The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at £769 for the Wi-Fi model and £919 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at £969 for the Wi-Fi model and £1,119 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.

Chinese manufacturer Yongnuo, best known for their copies of Canon and Nikon lenses, are developing their very own mirrorless camera system. In a Facebook competition, Yongnuo are giving away a YN50mm F1.8C/N lens to the person who comes up with the best name for their new 4G Smart camera. The rear of the camera displays what looks like an Android operating system, while a Canon 14mm is shown attached to the front, presumably via an adapter.

The contest is due to end in January 2019, so we could see an official CES announcement from Yongnuo then...

Sigma have issued a lens compatibility notice for their lenses when used with the new Canon EOS R mirrorless camera. There are no known issues with general operation, but Sigma do state that the Digital Lens Optimizer located within the in-camera Lens Aberration Correction function cannot be used and must be set to Off. This will be fixed by Sigma in a future firmware update.

Sigma has confirmed in a statement that its current lenses will work on the new Nikon Z7 mirrorless camera via the FTZ adapter without any issues.

Interchangeable lenses that do not incorporate an AF drive motor will operate only in manual focus, while some interchangeable lenses shipped out before November 2013 that are not compatible with the latest DSLR cameras will not operate.

The new Laowa 10-18mm F4.5-5.6 full frame zoom lens for Sony FE cameras is now available to pre-order. The price will be £899 / $849 and stock is due at the end of November 2018.

The lens is currently available to pre-order in authorized resellers and in Venus Optics official website (http://www.venuslens.net/). The first 50 orders through Venus Optic’s webstore will get a 100mm Magnetic Filter Holder System for FREE. The ex-VAT retail price in US is USD 849/pc and the first shipment is expected to commence in late November.

The Laowa 10mm f/4.5-5.6 for Canon R and Nikon Z mounts will be released in a few months.

Epson has introduced Legacy Textured, the latest addition to its sophisticated Legacy Paper line, offering the ultimate in quality and longevity for artists selling their work. The new fine art paper is comprised of a mould-made paper base that lays cotton fibers down randomly to virtually eliminate curl, and a heavily textured surface that simulates old-world handcrafted watercolor papers.

The new Legacy Textured will be available in Dec. 2018 through authorized Epson Professional Imaging resellers.