Cosina has just released a new, Voigtländer branded ultra-wide lens for the M mount. The Heliar 12mm f5.6 Aspherical II is a rectilinear lens that has an angle of view of 121° when mounted on an M series Leica - except for the cropped-sensor M8 and M8.2 - or any other rangefinder camera that uses the M mount (except for the Epson R-D1xG and its predecessors sporting APS-C sized imagers). The new version offers more precise focusing and accepts filters without a filter adapter. Consturcted of 10 elements in 8 groups, the Heliar 12mm f5.6 Aspherical II will retail for 85,000 yen without taxes. The separately sold 12mm auxiliary viewfinder will set you back another 34,500 yen. There is no word on international availability just yet.

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Update: Photoscala reports that the new lens shall be available in the German market in the early summer, for about €1,000. The external finder will cost approximately €450.

Samsung UK’s press launch for their extensive range of 2010 cameras gave us the opportunity to get all hands-on with the jewel in their crown, the NX10. Modestly billed as the “Evolution of camera”, the Samsung NX10 is targeted at the so-called “Wannabe” user, who’s apparently looking for perfect image quality from a smaller camera than a traditional DSLR. Therefore the NX10 is up against the likes of the Olympus Pen range and the Panasonic G1 - indeed, we have a few side-by-side comparison shots with the G1 in our photo gallery. Find out just what Samsung UK are going to spend £1million promoting by reading the rest of this article.

In addition to the NX10, Samsung have also unveiled a veritable deluge of new compact cameras for 2010. Top of the tree is the exciting WB650 / HZ35W, which packs in a veritable smorgasbord of features into its small frame, including a 15x ultra-wide-angle lens, 3” AMOLED screen and even built-in GPS. The WB650 / HZ35W really should give Panasonic’s popular TZ-series a run for its money. We also grabbed a few moments with 4 other Samsung compacts of interest which feature some clever new design touches, so click-through to see the photo gallery.

Almost exactly one month after the announcement of the Windows version, Nikon has released Capture NX 2.2.4 for Macintosh. The new version adds compatibility with Mac OS X version 10.6.2, and fixes a few bugs.

Windows Nikon Capture NX 2.2.4 for Macintosh

The new 76cm x 76cm (30” x 30”) Ezybox Hotshoe softbox is the largest in JP Distribution’s range offering the photographer a greater spread and a softer light when using their off camera flash. It will be available as the softbox only, bundled with the Ezybox Hotshoe plate and as part of a kit including: 76cm Ezybox Hotshoe, Ezybox Hotshoe plate, 4 section stand, tilthead bracket, extending handle and a padded shoulder bag and circular carry case. The softbox only price is £108, the same thing with the Ezybox Hotshoe plate costs £133, whereas the kit retails for £211.

Website: JP Distribution

JP Distribution has announced a new extending handle for the Ezybox Hotshoe.The new handle extends from 73cm to 221cm and weighs only 700g. The Ezybox Hotshoe converts your battery operated flash gun from a harsh directional light into a much softer diffused light. The new handle will be offered in addition to two smaller handles already available from Lastolite. Featuring two sponge grips, the extending handle offers an even greater reach for an extra firm hold for the photographer when positioning their off camera light source. The top of the handle includes a standard spigot connector making it easy to fit the Ezybox hotshoe, the tilthead hotshoe, the tilthead spigot or the TriFlash brackets..The new extending handle is available from JP Distribution for a suggested retail price of £45.

Website: JP Distribution

Start 3D is a new website that’s all about getting people started taking 3D photographs and sharing them online. Currently in beta phase, Start 3D supports the Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W1 camera, but you can also upload a pair of jpegs taken with any camera and they will be converted into an animation with a 3D effect. Behind all this wizardry is a patent-pending technology called Piku-Piku, which animates your 3D photo to reveal the depth on a 2D monitor. Check out the “Featured 3D photographs” at the website below.

Website: Start 3D

Several photographers, including photojournalists, have donated photos to help create Haiti: Onè Respe, a collection of captivating images to benefit the people of Haiti. All proceeds from the sale of this publication go to the American Red Cross International Response Fund for Haiti earthquake relief. The photographers who have donated their work include Chet Gordon, Kari Hartmann, Mary Ellen Mark, Peter Pereira and Lindsay Stark. The purchase price of Haiti: Onè Respe is $12.

Website: Onè Respe

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Internationally renowned landscape and travel photographer David Noton has announced two brand new photographic workshops in the beautiful Languedoc region of south-west France. ‘With our 4x4 vehicles on hand, we can whisk guests off to the very best locations for dawn and dusk shoots as well as for informative tutorials in the field,’ David says. Staying in the 3 star Abbaye Ecole de Soreze, non-photographic partners are positively encouraged to come along too. There’s plenty to do and see - including spa facilities within the hotel itself and hiking, horse riding, golf, mountain biking, water sports, crafts and markets all nearby. The workshops run Friday to Tuesday on 10-14 & 17-21 September. For full details, visit www.davidnoton.com or contact David Noton Photography on 01963 250061.

Recommended Reading: Articles by David Noton on PhotographyBLOG

Bideo.com is a new online media exchange where creators of breaking news video and still images can manually protect and sell their content directly to publications in an auction setting. The Bideo message to creators is simple: stop giving away newsworthy videos and photos, and start selling them. For buyers, Bideo serves as a central, organized source for newsworthy user-generated content that is otherwise difficult or impossible to obtain. Founder and CEO, Pike Barkerding, sees demand for a service like Bideo.com rapidly increasing. ‘Everyday more and more breaking images are published by citizen journalists who are not properly recognized or compensated for their work,’ says Barkerding. ‘Bideo seeks to empower this growing army of “right-place-right-time” creators by giving them a simple, secure and profitable way to promote their content to interested buyers.’ Bideo will officially launch next week.

Website: Bideo

Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. WPPI is the largest annual expo and conference in the U.S. for professional photographers. Each year more than 11,000 professional photographers gather in Las Vegas, NV, to learn from the best and see the latest and greatest products from the hundreds of exhibitors that participate in the trade show. All WPPI 2010 classes, events and the trade show will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV, from March 4–11, 2010. Registration for WPPI 2010 is available via its newly redesigned convention and trade show website.

Website: WPPI Online

Hamrick Software has released VueScan 8.6 - with support for Windows 7 & Mac OS X 10.6 and more than 65 improvements / features added, 110 problems fixed and 80 additional scanners supported. VueScan 0.1 was first released in 1998 with support for a single scanner on Windows only. Within 5 years VueScan supported more than 400 scanners, and had acquired a good reputation through word of mouth. After 11 years of development, VueScan now supports over 1200 scanners on 3 operating systems. Available for Linux as well as Windoes and Mac OS, VueScan offers a full range of advanced features; including options for scanning faded slides and prints and automatically adjusting images to optimum colour balance that reduces the need to manually do it in Photoshop. It includes built-in IT8 colour calibration of scanners, batch scanning and other advanced and powerful scanning and productivity features. VueScan is available in two editions, Standard Edition ($39.95) and Professional Edition ($79.95).

Website: Hamrick Software

Silicon Power has announced the world’s first 400X CF card with 128GB of storage capacity. Silicon Power’s 400X 128GB CF card supports PIO Mode-6 and Multi-Word DMA 4 transfer mode in quad-channel configuration. It also comes with Error Correction Code (ECC) functionality for data accuracy and it utilises Wear Levelling technology to prolong the product lifespan. With its massive 128GB of storage, it is the largest capacity CF card to date. Pricing is to be confirmed.

Active Media Products, manufacturer of solid state drives and innovative USB drives, has launched a new line of 600X CF cards for professional photographers. The cards range in capacity from 8GB to 64GB, and are priced from $99.95 to $299.95. ” These 600X Pro Series cards can write up to 90MB per second, so even in raw mode a high-end DSLR will be able to shoot at or near its rated speed for sustained periods”, explained Active Media Products’ VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson. The new Active Media 600X professional Compact Flash cards area available now through Amazon.

Travel photographer of the year award winner Lorne Resnick has just announced his 2010 workshop schedule. This includes exotic locations such as Africa, Antarctica and Cuba and also iconic US National Parks such as Yosemite, Arches and Death Valley. Whether you’re a novice or pro, Lorne will not only have you generating more impactful images, but will also give you the structure and understanding to enable you to continue refining your skills once the workshop is over. Also touched on will be vital aspects of photography including: creativity, workflow, processing digital images, manipulating images, backing up your work, etc. Interested readers are encouraged to pay a visit to his website, where they can enter the coupon code CFCCLA in the client code box upon checkout and receive 5% off any workshop.

Website: Lorne Resnick Workshops

PRESSlite will donate 100% of all proceeds to Partners in Health, toward earthquake relief for the people of Haiti, for all purchases of its innovative flash modifier, the VerteX, between now and Valentine’s Day. The VerteX has been conceived and engineered in Silicon Valley, USA, as a solution to a variety of flash-related problems. Inventor Kenneth Law’s patent-pending design combines a wide range of light modification features into one single, easy-to-use lightweight device. With the VerteX, photographers are able to easily control the diffusion of light while on the move, using only one hand, manipulate the flow and quality of light in ways not possible with other existing devices and achieve longer battery life, faster recycle times, higher f-stop and lower ISO options. VerteX retails for $49.94. To qualify for this programme, purchases must be made through a special Amazon Store URL, which you can find in the press release below.

The Samsung SL630 is a 12.2 megapixel point-and-shoot camera with a 28-140mm equivalent zoom lens and optical image stabilisation. The new Samsung SL630 comes fully equipped with an array of automatic controls, including Samsung’s scene recognition technology known as Smart Auto. The SL630 also features useful auto focusing options such as object tracking. In addition, the new Samsung offers the manufacturer’s Perfect Portrait System – a series of automatic technologies which take the guesswork out of shooting beautiful portraits. Key features of the Perfect Portrait System include Face Detection, Smile Shot and Blink Detection technologies, Red Eye Fix mode, and Beauty Shot. There is no HD video recording on offer - the Samsung SL630 shoots standard-definition VGA movie clips instead. The SL630 is called PL80 in Europe, and will be available in March priced at £129.99.

Samsung have announced two new additions to their TL line of ultra-thin digital compact cameras. At just 0.65 inches thin, the 14.2 megapixel Samsung TL110 and 12.2 megapixel Samsung TL105 are each equipped with a 2.7-inch LCD and feature a 5x optical zoom and a 4x optical zoom respectively. Also, Samsung’s new models feature an improved 27mm wide-angle lens (TL110) and 27.5mm wide-angle lens (TL105) when compared to their predecessor, the TL100. The Samsung TL110 also boasts optical image stabilisation. New image effects available with the Samsung TL110 and TL105, such as Fisheye and Lomo, let photographers easily add a touch of creativity to their photos. Both new cameras offer 720p HD video recording capabilities. Unlike the more advanced HZ30W and HZ35W models - also announced today -, the TL105 and TL110 do not feature a full manual exposure mode. The TL105 and TL110 are called ST60 and ST70 in Europe, and will be available from February priced at £149.99 and £179.99 respectively.