BenQ announced today the release of their latest digital camera – the 12 megapixel BenQ E1240 –, which boasts 720p video recording and semi-manual shooting modes like shutter and aperture priority. The frame rate for HD movies is a little pedestrian 20fps, and the lens is a bog standard 35-105mm equivalent zoom; but the BenQ E1240 has a few interesting tricks up its proverbial sleeve. Among these is an Auto Panorama mode, which seamlessly stitches three photos into one panoramic image. Other highlights include a 2.7” LCD with LED backlighting, a Fisheye mode and a hotkey function called “Beauty Enhancer”. The BenQ E1240 digital camera will be available worldwide later this month.

Photodex has released a new training DVD for users of its ProShow Producer and ProShow Gold programs, entitled “Photo Video Fusion – Combining Images and Video in your Slide Shows’.  This 90 minute training DVD teaches ProShow Gold and Producer users how to add video to their shows to create a richer, more engaging experience for their audiences. Available now from photodex.com for $24.95, this DVD helps you learn how to edit video for use in your show, create special effects, and examine best practices for outputting your final fusion piece to HD video, DVD, Blu-ray and more.

Website: Photo Video Fusion

MRM Worldwide has partnered with Nikon to create an online tool called the Nikon Virtual Touch Experience. Users who have webcam-enabled computers can install the Nikon Virtual Touch Experience by simply dragging a link to their bookmarks bar. When a user is ready to view images on a given web page or online gallery, a simple click on the toolbar link opens the experience in a branded Nikon frame and allows full screen browsing. Through edge-detection technology, the webcam can recognise movement so that hand gestures control the virtual scroll or re-sizing of images.

Couture Book has announced the availability of a new book plug-in that allows users of Apple Aperture 3 to design and order museum-quality photo books directly within Aperture. “Before this development, it could take days to layout a professional quality book,” said Phyllis Lane, co-founder of Couture Book. “With Aperture 3 and the Couture Book plug-in, the entire book design process is sped up dramatically.” The plug-in, available for download at the website below, allows photographers to build their photo books using professionally designed templates.

Website: Couture Book

Photo Quest Adventures have announced their new 2010 specialised global photography workshops and unique Nikon-sponsored US flash clinics for small groups of all skill levels. PQA was created by a group of professional photographers with the purpose of conducting intimate photography workshops in the world’s most unique places and across the US. The new workshop destinations include: Patagonia, Baja, Morocco, Peru, Kenya and South Island, New Zealand, while the new Nikon sponsored flash clinics locations include: Santa Barbara, New Orleans, Jackson Hole, New York City, Moab, Las Vegas, Miami and Sonoma. The latter offer a weekend long workshop where photographers master the basics of flash photography using the Nikon Creative Lighting System.

Website: Photo Quest Adventures

The recently announced Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35mm f/4G ED VR lens looks set to be an important milestone for Nikon for at least two reasons. Firstly, it is the company’s first professional AF zoom with a constant f/4 maximum aperture, putting aside the £4500+ AF-S 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED VR. Secondly, this is the first pro-grade non-telephoto FX lens with Vibration Reduction.

The fact that Nikon has come out with a pro f/4 zoom may bring hope to those users who have found the f/2.8 offerings too heavy or too pricey. At $1259.95/£1049.99/€1249.00, the new 16-35mm f/4G ED VR is certainly not cheap, but it’s still about 30% less expensive than the existing 17-35mm f/2.8D. It does not deliver so well on the size/weight front, as it is only lighter by some 50 grams, and actually longer than the f/2.8 lens. Still, the announcement may indicate that Nikon is thinking about coming out with f/4 versions of their 24-70mm and 70-200mm lenses. Those would almost certainly be smaller, lighter and again cheaper than their f/2.8 counterparts, and if wide-open performance is good they may do their job just as well, as long as one doesn’t need the shallower DOF the extra stop of aperture provides.

Luxology, an independent technology company developing next-generation 3D content creation software, has introduced a new Studio Lighting & Illumination Kit created by Yazan Malkosh. Designed specifically for users of modo, Luxology’s 3D modelling, painting and rendering application, the company’s Studio Lighting & Illumination Kit provides realistic lighting of scenes that mimics those found in the real world of photography. The Studio Lighting & Illumination Kit is available immediately for the suggested retail price of USD $125. Do you think this is the beginning of the end for traditional studio/product photography? Share your views by leaving a comment below.

Hoya’s financial report on the quarter that ended on 31 December 2009 says that Pentax is making a profit again. While Pentax’s endoscope business is still ailing due to restrained buying by medical organisations, the camera department reports an increase in the number of [digital] SLR cameras sold. This alone would not have led to profits though, as tough price competition has caused Pentax’s operating income to actually shrink despite rising sales volumes - the fact that Pentax turned profitable from making losses in the same period of the previous year has more to do with cost reduction, achieved via reorganisation, Hoya says.

Source: Hoya

PhotographyBB today announced the release of its Watercolor Pro Action Package for Photoshop. Watercolor Pro produces realistic and high-quality painted watercolour effects suitable for portraits, wedding photos, beautiful landscape artwork, night shots, architecture and more. Watercolor Pro Actions will work with Photoshop versions CS, CS2, CS3, and CS4 (English only versions) on both PC and Mac platforms. The package launches with a 20% discount on this action pack (and all existing action packs) for three days only, by using the COUPON CODE: ATN20 in the shopping cart at: http://www.photographybb.com/actions.

To compliment its existing range of canvas products, Fujifilm is marketing PremierArt Eco Print Shield, a new water based protective coating designed specifically for water resistant inkjet media. Easily applied by brush, roller or spray gun, Eco Print Shield protects canvas prints from moisture, light, abrasions and even fingerprints. Eco Print Shield is available in Gloss, Satin or Matt and comes in either quart or gallon containers.

Guardian photographer and filmmaker David Levene will be exhibiting a selection of his Haiti earthquake photographs and films at the Old Truman Brewery from next week to raise funds for the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Haiti Earthquake Appeal. David visited Haiti to cover the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck near Port-Au-Prince on 12 January 2010. The exhibition – ‘Haiti 12:01:10’ – will run from Tuesday 16 February until Sunday 21 February at the Old Truman Brewery’s Dray Walk Gallery in London E1. Open each day from 11am – 7pm. Signed, limited edition prints of David’s photographs taken both this year and during an earlier Haiti assignment in 2008, will be available for sale at the exhibition, with all proceeds going to the Disasters Emergency Committe.

After more than 45 years in a personal archive, a limited-edition photography series, “Marilyn Monroe: The Visit,” has been released by famed photographer Len Steckler and Eagle National Mint. Shot in December 1961, Steckler’s intimate, unique photographs depict a natural, relaxed Marilyn Monroe during her first visit with another American legend, poet Carl Sandburg, in Steckler’s New York apartment. Steckler took these photos at nothing more than window light, with a Nikon camera loaded with black-and-white film. He kept the negatives from the Monroe and Sandburg encounter in his personal archive for close to 50 years, and has now partnered with collectibles dealer Eagle National Mint for a limited-edition release of nine unique images, available as single-shots and in triptych form, exclusively online at www.thevisitseries.com.

OmniVision has recently announced the introduction of the world’s first 1.1-micron backside illuminated (BSI) pixel. The new OmniBSI-2 pixel architecture allegedly represents a major milestone in digital imaging technology, and enables new imaging solutions with superior image quality and low-light sensitivity. “The new 1.1-micron OmniBSI-2 pixel not only outperforms our current 1.75-micron front-side illumination architecture, but it also equals the performance of our industry-leading 1.4-micron BSI pixel that is currently in mass production,” commented Dr. Howard Rhodes, vice president of process engineering at OmniVision.

Apple has released Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.0, adding system-level support for a number of new digital cameras. This update extends RAW image compatibility for Aperture 3 and iPhoto 09 for the following cameras and formats:

- Canon PowerShot S90 (pictured)
- Canon sRAW
- Canon mRAW
- Leica D-LUX 4
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3

Panasonic will be launching new cameras and camcorders at the UK’s Focus on Imaging show. This is the first year that the Japanese giant chose to attend Focus, the largest annual imaging exhibition in Europe. The company has not given any detailed info on the number of new products it plans to launch, but the above banner - found on the Panasonic UK website - alludes to at least one Lumix G series Micro Four Thirds camera and a Lumix compact. Focus on Imaging is taking place at the NEC, Birmingham from 7th-10th March.

Via 1001 Noisy Cameras

In 2010, the Bron Imaging Group bi-annual BIG ED photographic contest will be hosted by the iconic photographic team of Markus Klinko and Indrani. The theme of the contest, which runs until 1 July, is an intimate portrait of the girl or boy next door. The winner will receive a complete broncolor Mobil A2R travel kit, and will have the option to add a second Mobilite 2 head, a Unilite head, or a Ringflash C. The second prize is a broncolor Minicom RFS Travel kit, whilst the third prize is a California Sunbounce Micro Mini with flash bracket. Read on for the rules and to find out how to enter your work if you’re eligible.

Pentax has launched a teaser campaign in order to draw attention to its upcoming medium format digital camera. At present, precious little is known about the body, except that it will be officially unveiled at the CP+ trade show that takes place from 11-14 March 2010.

Website: Pentax 645D Teaser

Known for its easy-to-use, non-destructive Photoshop actions for photographers, Totally Rad is now offering a range of presets for Adobe Lightroom. With the new Totally Rad Lightroom Presets, you get “a groundbreaking set of tools that set a new benchmark for flexibility and creativity in raw converters”, the developers claim. Totally Rad Lightroom Presets are available through the Totally Rad Store, priced at $99.

Website: Totally Rad

Henri Cartier-Bresson is remembered as one of the greatest photographers ever - but he was also an avid and talented filmmaker. Several documentaries he shot between the 1930s and the 1970s bear witness to his affection for the cinema, a medium that he sees as “an alternative to photography in the way it sees the world and captures its movement.” A new, 2-disc collection released by New Video includes includes five of his major films plus a series of documentaries about the artist. A 32-page illustrated booklet containing reproductions of his legendary photos completes the package. Timed to release before the first retrospective of Cartier-Bresson’s works in the US in three decades at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Henri Cartier-Bresson: Collector’s Edition will become available on 30 March 2010, priced at $49.95.