Canon is launching a new advertising campaign for the EOS 550D and Powershot SX210 IS cameras. Created to run throughout Europe, both adverts were shot at the Venice Carnival in Italy earlier this year, and follow three photography enthusiasts as they capture their unique story at the event. Both spots have been shot on an EOS DSLR camera, the 5D Mark II, mixed with stills and films taken on the EOS 550D and PowerShot SX210 IS themselves. The adverts will be broadcast across Germany, UK, France and Pan-European markets until the end of 2010.

East London photographic gallery theprintspace unveils an alternative look on football, from photographer Alan Powdrill. Straightforward and ordinary men from the Sunday League are captured in a show representing teams as diverse as the Hackney Martians from London and Unreal Madrid from Manchester. The exhibit “Reality Football” opens with a private view at theprintspace gallery from 7pm on June 17th and continues 9am-7pm Monday-Friday until July 13th, coinciding with the World Cup in South Africa.

Leica Akademie, the company’s London training facility, has announced a new programme of photography workshops. Leica Akademie workshops operate in small group sizes to allow attendees to get the utmost support from the experts and maximise their learning potential, the company says. The range of currently available workshops includes courses dedicated to specific Leica models, from film cameras to digital compacts to digital rangefinder cameras, as well as thematic classes such as “Holiday & Travel”, “Pictures for Profit”, “See the World in Black & White”, and more. Interested readers should contact the Leica Store Mayfair on 07514 539566.

Flixtime.com has been upgraded to include a number of new features. These include image highlighting, video presentation speed control, unlimited copies, text integration onto photo stills, voiceover and sharing capabilities as well as an option to keep or strip sound from uploaded videos. Recently launched by Fotolia, Flixtime is a free website that enables users to create free 60-second videos using their personal image collection or those provided by Fotolia.

Website Flixtime

LaCie has announced its newest product - the LaCie Rugged Safe, billed as “the safest mobile hard drive on the market”. Featuring unbreakable government-grade 128-bit AES hardware encryption, the safest biometric authentication technology, and a military-grade shock-proof enclosure, the Rugged Safe is bus-powered through USB or FireWire and is compatible with Mac or PC. The LaCie Rugged Safe comes with a three-year limited warranty and includes the LaCie Backup Assistant software. Available in 500GB and 1TB, the new Rugged Safe mobile hard drive starts at an SRP of £169.

ACD Systems have released a second, free ACDSee Pro 3 update that provides additional flexibility when processing digital images and publishing those images online. The upgrade brings netbook compatibility, improved raw processing performance, workflow customisation, online enhancements and other improvements. ACDSee Pro 3 is available for a free 30-day trial and for purchase at $169.99.

Website: ACDSee

Photodex has released a new iPad device output profile for its ProShow slide show software. The ProShow Device plug-in works directly with ProShow Gold and Producer to create device-ready versions of a user’s slide shows. Now any ProShow user can easily sync their slide shows to their iPad and watch them play back full screen and in HD without the need for complicated formatting or conversions. The ProShow Device plug-in is available for $19.95.

Lexar has just announced that it is shipping Lexar Professional 133x SDHC memory cards in 16GB and 32GB capacities to retail outlets. The Lexar Professional SDHC cards offer the maximum Class 10 speed rating, providing a minimum sustained write speed capability of 20MB per second. All Lexar Professional memory cards include a limited lifetime warranty, a free downloadable copy of Image Rescue 4 software, and exclusive, money-saving promotions from Adobe on popular photo and video editing products, including the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Premiere Elements software.

Microsoft and Phase One today announced that Phase One has acquired the Microsoft Expression Media product. Expression Media is a digital asset management application used to catalog and organize photos, video and music for effortless retrieval, presentation and sharing. Under the terms of the agreement, Phase One takes full ownership of the Expression Media product. To ensure a smooth transition for Expression Media customers, Microsoft will continue to provide support to retail customers for 90 days. Phase One will begin offering support for the Expression Media product after the 90-day transition period. Microsoft customers who are currently using Expression Media under an Enterprise Agreement will continue to receive support from Microsoft through the term of their agreements. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Artists and photographers Ben Raynor, Chris Mear, Robert Attard, Anna Taylor and Nicola Thompson are announced winners of the 2010 Free Range Art Award. The diverse selection, embracing Ben Raynor’s humorous mixed media drawing Albert alongside Anna Taylor’s subtly emotive photograph Grandad (shown above), demonstrates Free Range at its best, the organisers say. Each selected work will be produced as a print in a limited edition of 25, giving the artists the opportunity to sell their work. The exclusive limited edition prints of work by the five winners will be available to buy at Free Range 2010 and also online at CultureLabel from 3rd June.

Website: CultureLabel

The RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2010 (YPA10) is now open for entries. Photographs can be submitted in the post, to arrive no later than 5pm on 23 August, or online on the contest website until the closing date of midnight on Monday, 6 September. The overall winner will get £1,000 worth of Olympus kit of their choice. Additionally, Danny Green - one of the world’s best wildlife photographers - is offering the overall YPA10 winner the chance to join him for a three-day photography break. Danny will pass on some expert photography tips as well as share his inside knowledge during the annual deer rut in Bradgate Park, in Leicestershire.

Canon has issued a firmware update for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR camera. Version 2.0.7 brings about the following changes:

  1. Fixes a phenomenon in which the aperture exhibits abnormal movement when shooting movies in manual exposure mode and Aperture Priority AE (Av mode) using some Canon lenses.
  2. Fixes a phenomenon in which the exposure level shown in the LCD panel differs from what is shown in the viewfinder when shooting still images in manual exposure mode.
  3. Fixes a phenomenon in which the Wireless File Transmitter (WFT-E4 or WFT-E4 II) may not automatically power off when used for FTP transfers.

Website: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Firmware Update

The 28th edition of the PhotographyBB Online Magazine has just been released. This issue features techniques for improving photography at auto-shows, a portraiture tutorial on skin softening, and how to create digital frames for showing off web gallery photos with style. Additionally, photographers will learn how their peers are using personal blogs as a means for acquiring photography related jobs and freelance work. In their Photography Around the World series, the editors take readers to New Zealand for a photographic exploration of the Otago Rail Trail, a popular biking trail for outdoor photo enthusiasts. PhotographyBB Online Magazine is available for free download through the PhotographyBB website.

Website: PhotographyBB Online Magazine

Fujifilm has issued a firmware update for the Fujifilm Finepix HS10 ultrazoom camera. Version 1.02 fixes the following issues:

1. In Raw data a line is visible where colors slightly change when developed by Raw File Converter.
2. Battery indicator turns on too early.
3. When “Image Disp.” in set-up menu is set to “Zoom”, sometimes image corrupts.

You can download the firmware upgrade from the website below.

Website: Fujifilm FinePix HS10 Firmware Upgrade

Arctic explorer and photographer Martin Hartley has recorded historic images with an LEICA MP camera during a 60-day trek to the North Pole. “I carried the Leica MP around my neck in a thin waterproof bag to stop the moisture from my breath landing and then freezing on the viewfinder. The camera was instantly accessible all day every day, no matter how cold it got. Every time I wanted the camera to work, it did” Hartley commented.

The Mini Bounce is designed to fit onto the pop-up flash built into Nikon and Canon Digital SLR cameras, giving a boost to flash output and softening the light at the same time to give better results. The Mini Bounce sells for £12.99 including postage and is available from www.speedlightprokit.co.uk and stockists.

PocketWizards have unveiled the PowerST4 receiver and the AC9 AlienBees adapter, which bring the benefits of their ControlTL system to studio photographers. The PowerST4 receiver (pictured) is designed specifically for Elinchrom RX series lights, and provides remote power control capabilities when paired with an on-camera MiniTT1 Transmitter or FlexTT5 Transceiver. The AC9 AlienBees adapter slides into the top shoe of a FlexTT5 Transceiver and then attaches to an AlienBees or White Lighting studio light via the remote jack on the light. Both products are in final firmware testing now. According to PocketWizard, production of the PowerST4 is almost complete and will be shipping in June. The AC9 AlienBees adapter is scheduled for production in June and should be available in July.

National Geographic and Energizer have teamed up for the third annual Energizer Ultimate photo contest. Through Wednesday, 30 June, aspiring photographers can visit the website below to enter one photo in each of six thematic categories: animals/wildlife, nature, travel, people/cultures, weather and action/energy. The winner will have their photo featured in the December issue of National Geographic magazine in an ad for Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries, and they’ll also be awarded the trip two to the Greek Isles.

Website: Energizer Ultimate Contest