Canon and the Association des Femmes Journalistes (AFJ) have opened submissions for the tenth competition to find 2010’s Canon Female Photojournalist of the year. Sponsored by Canon France and granted by AFJ, the winner will receive an €8000 prize and a photojournalistic project. The competition is open to any female professional photojournalist of any age or nationality. This year’s applicants will be judged both upon the presentation of their project, the quality of their photographs, relevance of their chosen subject, the inspiration behind their story and any previous work. The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2010, and the winner will then be selected in June by a jury made up of photography and press professionals as well as members of the AFJ. As always, we suggest that you read the rules before entering your work.

Website: Canon Female Photojournalist Award

Datacolor has just announced it will be offering Spyder3 Elite™ owners a feature enriched software upgrade, known as Spyder3 Elite 4.0, available for instant download on the Datacolor global website. New features in the Spyder3 Elite 4.0 upgrade include Software Brightness Control, Iterative Gray Balance Option, Display Graphing, Monitor Quality Analyser and more. Spyder3 Elite 4.0 is available now for a one-time cost of $19 via an instant download. For existing Spyder3 Pro users, there is a one-time cost of $99 to upgrade.  For users who purchased Sypder3 Elite in 2010, this upgrade is available at no charge.

Website: Datacolor
Review: Read our review of Spyder3 Elite

AMMO Books has reprinted The Contact Sheet, an intriguing photography book edited by Steve Crist, making it available again after the first edition sold out in a matter of months. Back in the time when photojournalists used film instead of the then non-existent digital medium, contact sheets were used to aid photographers and editors in the selection of images for enlargement and publication. They also reveal a few things about a photographer’s thought process, which is why they are valuable to researchers and admirers of past masters. This book offers an insightful look into some of the most iconic photographs and photographers of the past - from Dorothea Lange to Robert Doisneau -, unveiling rarely seen contact sheets from the original photo sessions. More than forty iconic photographs by world-famous photographers are examined in detail in The Contact Sheet, complete with short biographies and background details of the sessions themselves. The 192-page book is available from AMMO Books, priced at $39.95.

Website: Ammo Books

The L’Iris d’Or and professional category winners of the 2010 Sony World Photography Awards have been announced. The 12 professional winners spanned categories as diverse as fashion, architecture, current affairs and sport and were revealed at the Sony World Photography Awards Ceremony at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France. The prestigious L’Iris d’Or/Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year award was awarded to Tommaso Ausili.  The Italian photographer’s evocative series of photographs in the Cotemporary Issues category, entitled “The Hidden Death”, is an insightful depiction of an assembly line at an abattoir.  Ausili was awarded a $25,000 cash prize plus Sony digital SLR camera equipment and he joins previous L’Iris d’Or winners David Zimmerman and Vanessa Winship as a member of the World Photographic Academy.

Blurb has launched Blurb BookShow, a widget that enables authors to share their books in an experiential format wherever they are online – on Facebook, their blog, a website and so on. Blurb BookShow offers an experience similar to that of turning the pages of a book as users can flip through the book’s pages online making the book more discoverable and driving interest to the print book. On the iPad, users can use the device’s touchpad to flick through the book pages as well as pinch and zoom to enlarge images. During beta testing, Blurb authors using Blurb BookShow allegedly experienced 6x more visits to their bookstore pages and had an 88% increase in book sales.

Website: Introducing the Blurb BookShow Widget

ACD Systems have just released ACDSee Photo Manager 12, the latest version of their easy-to-use photo managing and editing software. Photographers can now easily store and share images online without leaving the application with the new Online mode, which connects users to a free 2 GB account on ACDSeeOnline.com. Plus, a new FTP uploader allows users to upload images to an FTP site directly from ACDSee. Additionally, a new one-click tagging function has been added to identify the best photos from a series, or isolate images for editing or review without moving the files into different folders. Finally, the user interface has been refined to help users easily navigate between organising, viewing, editing and sharing photos. Compatible with Windows 7, ACDSee Photo Manager 12 is available for a free 30-day trial and for purchase for $69.99 at the website below.

Website: ACDSee

Pentax has released firmware updates for a number of their older DSLR cameras. The new firmware versions address a single issue - they improve operational stability when the cameras are used with certain SDHC memory cards. The updates can be downloaded from the following websites:

Website: Pentax K10D Firmware 1.31
Website: Pentax K20D Firmware 1.04
Website: Pentax K200D Firrmware 1.01
Website: Pentax K-m Firmware 1.11

Engelmann’s Photomizer is now also available as an Adobe Photoshop plug-in. Billed as a one-click-plug-in for fully automatic image optimisation, Photomizer is claimed to be “perfectly suitable for batch processing of Photoshop”. Featuring clever algorithms that recognise the parts of the image that actually need intervention for a better overall impression, the Photomizer Plug-in for Photoshop is available now priced at €129.99. A free trial version can be downloaded from the website below. System requirements include Windows XP/Vista/7 and minimum 1GB of RAM.

Website: Photomizer Plug-in for Photoshop

As promised a week ago, Olympus today released firmware updates for all of its Micro Four Thirds (MFT) cameras to boost their AF speed. Apart from speeding up the auto-focus of the E-P1, E-P2 and E-PL1 cameras, the update also allows photographers using the Olympus E-P2 and E-PL1 with the VF-2 electronic viewfinder fitted to view the menu and recorded images on the LCD. Finally, for the E-P1 and E-P2, the update also makes continuous auto-focus tracking in movie mode as fast and accurate as on the new E-PL1. In order to update your camera’s firmware, you will need to download the Olympus Camera Updater from the website below.

Website: Olympus - Firmware and Language Update Instructions

The winner of Bing’s Earth Day photo contest has been announced. A photo of a bee gathering the nectar of a passion fruit blossom, taken by Alan Bosse, a student studying web design at Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, was chosen by Bing users to be featured on Bing’s homepage in honour of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day today. (Apparently, you have to set the United States as your country/region to actually see it, otherwise a different photo appears on the homepage.) You can read more about the contest at the website below.

Website: Bing Blog

Leica has issued a firmware update for the Leica S2 digital SLR camera. Version 1.0.0.16 extends the camera’s functionality by providing a new white balance preset, extra viewfinder information, a customisation option for the depth-of-field preview button, selectable OLED screen standby time and extended user-defined button programming. On top of that, the shutter speed and aperture dials can now be locked to prevent inadvertent shifts. The new firmware update also brings improvements to existing functions - click through for a list of these.

Website: Leica Owners’ Area

Photo sharing service Jalbum has just announced a new collaboration with world-renowned photographer Jack Hollingsworth. In a series of events, the Jalbum community of photography enthusiasts will gather around a common theme, lead and tutored by Jack Hollingsworth. Each event will include a blog post introducing the subject, a competition element and a user group on Jalbum.net where anyone can participate. The first theme is close-up photography.

Website: Close-up with Jack Hollingsworth

Adobe today released final versions of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.7, Adobe Camera Raw 5.7 and Adobe DNG Converter 5.7. The updates add raw file support for nine new cameras and digital backs, including the Canon EOS 550D, Kodak Z981, Leaf Aptus-II 8,  Leaf Aptus-II 10R, Mamiya DM40, Olympus E-PL1, Panasonic G2, Panasonic G10 and Sony A450. Lightroom 2.7 is available as a free download for Lightroom 2 customers, and Photoshop Camera Raw 5.7 is available as a free download for Photoshop CS4, Photoshop Elements 8 and Premiere Elements 8 customers. The DNG Converter 5.7 is also available as a free download for all.

Website: Adobe Updates

WD today introduced its WD Photos photo viewer, an iPhone / iPod Touch app for use with WD’s My Book World Edition and WD ShareSpace network drives. Users can view up to 250,000 pictures on their iPhone or iPod touch by simply copying their pictures into the “Shared Pictures” folder on their My Book World Edition network drive. A unique application that runs directly on these WD network drives automatically creates optimised versions of users’ photos ahead of time, enabling fast viewing on an iPhone or iPod touch without having to wait for the photos to load. Available now at the Apple iTunes App Store, the WD Photos photo viewer app is free for anyone to download. Registration with MioNet, WD’s secure remote access service (included with My Book World Edition), is also free and required to use this app.

Canon UK has announced a cashback offer on the Canon Powershot G11 and S90 digital compact cameras. Customers purchasing either camera before 22 June can claim £30 / €35 back by 26 July 2010. This promotion starts today. The offer is available to legal residents of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland only.

Website: Terms & Conditions / Claim Form

Canon UK has announced a new cashback offer on the Canon Powershot SX1 IS, SX20 IS, SX 120 IS and SX 210 IS models. Those purchasing one of these cameras before 22 June are entitled to a cashback of £20-£50 / €25-€55 depending on model. The promotion, which is available to residents of the UK and Ireland only, starts today. Claims must be received by 26 July 2010.

Website: Terms & Conditions / Claim Form

Panasonic is going to release firmware updates for the first three of its Micro Four Thirds (MFT) cameras, including the G1, GH1 and GF1 models. All three cameras will be given a new menu option for image stabilisation when the new Lumix G Vario 14-42mm lens is attached, and all three models will benefit from improved auto-focus performance with other manufacturers’ MFT lenses. Additionally, the G1 and the GH1 will see improved flash exposure accuracy, whilst the GH1 will also benefit from improved auto-focus performance in movie mode with the Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S. lens. Plus, firmware version 1.3 for the GH1 enables auto-focusing in Full HD mode with regular Four Thirds lenses that are compatible with contrast-detect AF. The new firmware updates will be available worldwide at GMT 8:00 on 10 May 2010 at the website below.

Website: Lumix Customer Support

Leica has just launched the Leica V-LUX 20, a 12.1-megapixel digital compact camera with a 12x zoom and on-board geotagging. Featuring a Leica DC Vario-Elmar 4.1-49.2mm f/3.3-4.9 ASPH. zoom lens with a 35mm equivalent focal range of 25-300mm, the V-LUX 20 allows the user to take both high-resolution still photos and HD videos. The geotagging function - a first on a Leica - lets photographers to record the exact geographical co-ordinates of their location automatically, and makes archiving and organising photos quick and easy. Styled in a matt black finish, the V-Lux 20 provides a complete range of manual shutter speed and aperture settings. The suggested retail price of the LEICA V-LUX 20 is £495. The optional brown leather case has an SRP of £70.

Website: Leica V-LUX 20 Specifications