Casio has demoed a camera prototype with integrated GPS that knows your position even when it’s lost the signal. According to Japanese website DC Watch, the new Casio has a “hybrid GPS” in that it can geotag images taken indoors with no satellite reception. This is made possible by way of an orientation sensor and a three-way accelerometer that can sense the relative movement of the user, and using this information plus the last GPS coordinate received before reception was cut off, can determine where the photo was taken. This is similar to what regular GPS units do when the car goes into a tunnel, but has been allegedly more difficult to implement as people within a building move in a more complex way than cars in a tunnel. Casio says it needs more market research and testing to determine the commercial viability of the product. DC Watch claims the working prototype they have seen was based on a Casio EXILIM Hi-ZOOM EX-H10.

Via DC Watch (Google Translation)

The Royal Photographic Society’s International Print Competition, the longest standing photographic competition of its kind in the world, is open for entries. This year, the competition is sponsored by Allen & Overy, as in the past two years.The overall winner will receive the Society’s gold medal and a prize of £2,000. Two entrants will win silver medals and £1,000 each. Three bronze medal winners are entitled to prizes of £500 each, while the winners of the themes, “Cities of the World’ and ‘Industry and Commerce’ will receive £750 each. The winner of the Under 25 category will be awatded with the Society’s gold medal and a prize of an Olympus PEN camera. The submission deadline is 29 March 2010. Shown above is one of last year’s bronze medal winners, ‘Who Eats Who’ by David Maitland.

Website: RPS 153rd International Print Competition

Bogen Imaging, the photo-video accessories distributor and part of the Vitec Group which also owns the Manfrotto brand, is changing its name to become Manfrotto Distribution. The rebrand is part of a strategy by the Vitec Group to address the fast growing amateur, high-end P&S and Four Thirds chip DSLR camera sectors, while also maintaining focus on the enthusiast and professional photography and video markets that it is known for. The name change is effective from 1 January 2010, and affects all markets including Germany, France, Italy, UK, Japan and the USA.

Website: Manfrotto Distribution

Etre, a digital communications agency, has created the Etre Touchy gloves as a stylish, fun and practical way to keep your hands warm while fiddling with your gear outdoors. Originally targeted at users of mobile phones, music players and portable games systems, Etre Touchy gloves have proven particularly popular with photographers, the company says. They give you the warmth and dryness of a normal pair of gloves combined with the electronic device compatibility of fingerless gloves. That’s because they are part normal pair of gloves, part fingerless pair of gloves. That is, they cover your middle, ring and little fingers completely, keeping your hands cosy, clean and damp-free; while exposing only the tips of your thumbs and index fingers, allowing you to.access the controls. The gloves are made from 100% lambs wool and are available in four different sizes – men’s, women’s, youth’s and children’s – and in four different colour combinations. Etre Touchy gloves retail at £19.99 and are available for consumers to purchase at the website below.

Website: Etre Touchy

Digital photography school Photography Made Simple launches the UK’s first ever mobile phone photography course this month. The courses will take place around the UK, starting with the first mobile phone photography class in London on 16th January. The mobile phone photography class schedule includes practice sessions on composition, making the most of natural light, using the flash, timing and focus. Phil Hibberd, co-founder of Photography Made Simple said, “Kids have a real interest in photography but we find they can’t afford an expensive camera so we thought it would be a good idea to run a photography course focused solely on mobile phone photography as it’s still possible to take good creative photographs even with a mobile phone.” The London event will take place in Crystal Palace, and will be followed by classes in Ashton Court, Bristol and Birmingham Central Library on 5 and 7 February, respectively. Book your place online via the website below.

Website: Photography Made Simple

Colour Confidence has announced the availability of ‘Seeing The Light’ a free educational paper which provides a comprehensive introduction to, and overview of, the importance of light and shade as part of an accurate colour management workflow. The ‘Seeing The Light’ document discusses the importance of introducing a consistent light source to the workflow, in order to achieve total accuracy when it comes to assessing final proofs and outlines the various ways of achieving this. In addition, it takes a look at how adding a monitor hood can shield unwanted light from the working environment so that what is seen on the display is free from distractions and irregular light levels, making it as colour accurate to the eye as it can be. The newly published ‘Seeing The Light’ document is the latest addition to Colour Confidence’s already comprehensive online ‘Learning Centre’ archive, which offers a wealth of free information on every aspect of colour management. This includes easy to follow guides to digital photography, monitor comparisons, top tips from the professionals, video tutorials and much more.

Website: Seeing the Light

Ricoh today announced a desktop slideshow application for displaying pictures that are stored in its visual online service “quanp.” The company had commenced private beta testing of “quanp” in the summer of 2009. Users have been testing quanp’s innovative 3D visual search as an intuitive way to collect, store and share personal photos, videos and other files. They can now store pictures permanently online with the quanp service and can access them anywhere on the Internet. The new desktop slideshow application is installed locally and is especially good for displaying a regular stream of photos like vacations or family gatherings. The unobtrusive 200 pixel by 200 pixel display is built on the Adobe AIR platform, allows for extensive real-time commenting on photos, and has a highly customisable look and feel. The quanp slideshow application requires Windows XP SP2 or higher, Windows Vista or Mac OS X 10.4.9 or higher and 10.5.1 or higher.  It also requires Adobe AIR 1.5 or higher. To download the quanp slideshow application, pay a visit to the website below.

Website: quanp

Dr. Pierre A. Kandorfer’s newest work, the Digital Video Production Handbook, is a new kind of “how-to” book targeted at photographers who would like to know more about videography. “Most photographers are not just still-photographers anymore. Journalists, reporters, editors, camera operators, photo journalists depend on digital video knowledge,” Kandorfer says. The book takes a didactically new, learning-focused approach presenting all basic “standard knowledge” you need in order to professionally write, produce, shoot and direct digital video. The Digital Video Production Handbook is available through your local bookstore’s order desk and online retailers such as Amazon.com, BarnesandNobel.com, Borders.com and Exlibris.com. It comes in a choice of hardcover, soft-cover or e-book.

A new title has been added to BenVista’s digital image enlargement software series PhotoZoom, as BenVista recently released PhotoZoom Classic 3. With the new product, BenVista strives for widening the PhotoZoom user base. While the Pro version of the software is designed mainly for professionals, PhotoZoom Classic 3 targets home users. BenVista’s CEO, D. Schoolwerth, explains: “PhotoZoom Classic 3 offers a number of S-Spline based presets that were specially designed for different types of images. With these presets a lot of preliminary work has already been done, and the user won’t have to bother with technical settings. Results can be compared with one another in a large preview window. This way the user is able to determine in a fast and convenient way which preset is most suitable for enlarging the given image.” PhotoZoom Classic 3 runs as a stand-alone application, and is available for both Mac OS X and Windows. Free demo versions can be downloaded directly from the BenVista website.

Website: BenVista

Savoy Software has developed a highly polished, content-aware image resizing application for the iPhone called Liquid Scale. The program resizes pictures without deforming or cropping the content. Pictures can be transformed to a new aspect ratio in a fast and intuitive way. The elegant iPhone application enables all the possibilities of content aware image resizing. It works on all kinds of images—intelligently removing or adding pixels to preserve important parts of the picture. Liquid Scale will become available later this month.

Website: Liquid Scale

Over the past week we posted over 50 CES-related articles, mostly product announcements, so don’t blame yourself if you are feeling a little overwhelmed and wondering if there have been any major pieces of news among these. We’ve just put together a list of what we thought were the most interesting photography-related products announced before or at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. But before we delve into these, let’s summarise in a few words the main tendencies that emerge from this avalanche. Firstly, the sheer number of digital compact cameras announced was way beyond expectations. In some cases, the companies didn’t even bother to highlight the differences between the models in any detail, or indeed differentiate the cameras in any meaningful way. Secondly, it’s evident that certain features that used to come at a premium are now must-haves in entry-level models too. These include HD video, at least 4x zoom and image stabilisation. While there still are 3x zoom models with VGA video recording and no optical or mechanical image stabilisation, these are becoming the exception rather than the rule. Thirdly, 2010 has brought the almost total victory of the SD card, with both Olympus and Sony giving in to the trend. While Sony is still making Memory Sticks, it has announced its own branded SD/SDHC cards, and made all of its new compacts capable of reading them. Olympus apparently said goodbye to its xD cards and also made its newest cameras compatible with SD. Meanwhile, CES 2010 also saw the appearance of the first SDXC cards and SDXC host devices.

After these general tendencies, let us now see the products that have grabbed our attention the most.

Sean Arbabi, a 20-year commercial travel pro out of California recently wrote a book on photographic exposure. The BetterPhoto Guide to Exposure, published through Amphoto, a division of Random House, is a 224-page full colour how-to, with over 50,000 words and 250+ images, discussing the various aspects of exposure. Sean follows a step-by-step approach with chapter assignments to help the reader truly understand one of the most important aspects of photography. The book is on sale now around the globe and on Amazon. You can also buy a signed copy directly from Sean via his website.

Website: Sean Arbabi

Lowepro has introduced a new line of GPS cases, and unveiled its latest camera bags. The Lowepro Navi Series of cases and pouches for GPS units provides the protection and accessibility needed for this increasingly ubiquitous device and its many destinations. The Lowepro Pro Runner AW is a six-backpack series that offer an array of carrying solutions from smaller standard photo backpacks to convertible designs that keeps gear accessible whether the bag is configured as a backpack or a rolling case. The built-in All Weather AW Cover and rain flap lids covering all the zippered closures offer added protection from the elements. Designed in the likeness of a bicycle courier bag, the Lowepro Exchange Messenger features a fully customizable interior which can accommodate a standard dSLR kit with an extra lens or flash, added accessories and personal items.  Fashioned from durable contrasting fabrics, the Exchange Messenger provides plenty of protection for photographers seeking a low-key trendy carrying solution.  The soft-sided courier bag also features three spacious interior pockets to secure a phone, wallet or keys, and the main compartment is fastened with a two buckle closure that ensures quick and easy access to photo gear. Finally, the Lowepro Geneva Pouches are billed as the ideal solution for point-and-shoot camera owners.

Website: Lowepro

Kubota Image Tools has announced its Webinar Wednesdays Winter 2010 schedule, open to professional photographers of all levels. “Last year we began the Webinar Wednesday series of free webinars to help professional photographers learn all they can about using software products from Kubota Image Tools to enhance their competitive edge and improve their day-to-day workflow,” said Kevin Kubota, Idea Man of Kubota Image Tools and creator of all Kubota Actions. “These popular 30 minute webinars are great educational experiences for all that attend and we’re happy to be continuing them in 2010.” Each seminar begins at 10:00 am PST, 1:00 pm EST. Upcoming webinars will take place January 27th, February 3rd, 17th and 24th, and March 3rd, 17th and 24th. Webinar Wednesday’s will cover topics such as Kubota DASHBOARD Creative Effects, Advanced DASHBOARD Tips, Using Kubota AutoAlbum V.3 to create a 10-page sample book in record time, and Kubota DASHBOARD image enhancing techniques such as: Black-and-White, Colour Effects and Advanced Tips.

Website: Kubota Image Tools

The Transcend TS-RDP7 is a muti-function card reader and also a USB hub. Inheriting the advantages of Transcend’s current card readers, the RDP7 supports some of today’s most popular memory cards and includes a useful Photo Recovery Tool. Available in black or white, the Transcend TS-RDP7 has three integrated USB ports, so not only does it bridge the gap between your computer and memory cards, but also allows you to add multiple.USB 2.0 peripherals. Note though that the TS-RDP7 does not support Compact Flash and xD-Picture cards.

Website: Transcend UK

AKVIS Software has released AKVIS Magnifier v.3.0 for Windows and Macintosh, an efficient tool to resize digital images. AKVIS Magnifier enlarges digital pictures to super-high resolution producing stunning enlargements and poster-size prints, the developer says. The algorithm keeps edges smooth, sharp and clearly defined, while improving image appearance by removing unwanted noise and compression artifacts. The program is available as a plugin to a photo editor, as well as a standalone edition. Version 3.0 offers a new interface and improved compatibility. Support for 64 bit has been added to the plug-in version (now compatible with Adobe Photoshop CS4 64 bit); and the software is now compatible with Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, Mac OS Snow Leopard and Windows 7. Upgrade for registered users is free. For new users, AKVIS Magnifier Home License (plug-in or standalone) sells for $129 or €99, downloadable from akvis.com.

Transcend has launched its Ultimate Class 10 SDHC cards. Part of Transcend’s “Ultimate” line of powerful high-speed memory cards, the new Class 10 SDHC cards easily outperform current Class 6 cards, with enhanced transfer speeds of 20MB/s and massive capacity of up to 16GB. Compared to Class 2 cards that only guarantee write speeds of 2MB/s, or Class 6 versions that start at 6MB/s, the new Class 10 SDHC cards boast 16MB/s write and 20MB/s read speeds that help process data quickly and prevent lag when recording 1920x1080 Full HD videos at 60fps. Transcend Ultimate SDHC cards are available in high-capacity sizes ranging from 4GB to 16GB. The 16GB SDHC card can store over 88 hours of standard quality video (MPEG-4 video at 384 Kbps), or 240 minutes of HD video (AVCHD at 9 Mbps).

Hireacamera.com has announced a January Sale with up to 15% off advertised prices from the website. Hireacamera.com has been supplying photographers, videographers and film makers equipment on short term rental for over 6 years and has some coveted cameras in its assortment, including the Nikon D300s and the Canon EOS 7D. The company will be present at the SWPP Convention from 15th - 17th January at the Novotel, Hammersmith where they will be announcing further new products for 2010.

Hama has released the new Vario Pro flash reflector. The Vario Pro flash reflector only measures 6.5 by 7.5 centimetres when folded and, with a width of just half a centimetre, it is extremely flat. It can be attached to almost all types of flash units by means of hook-and-loop tape and can stay there permanently. When unfolded, it offers a reflecting surface that measures 6.5 by 11.5 centimetres, which can even be angled by 45 or 90 degrees. The RRP is €29.99.

Issue #23 of the PhotographyBB Online Magazine has been released, and is available as a free download. This edition provides the readers with tips and techniques for shooting in winter weather such as keeping your gear safe from the elements while still allowing you to get those stunning winter shots. Readers will also learn how to shoot abstract bokeh shots, where the name of the game is shooting creatively, out of focus. PhotographyBB’s in-depth look at the new Lightroom 3 Beta release covers the differences in the new and improved Develop Module. By way of download in either PDF or ZIP formats, PhotographyBB is a free resource for amateur and intermediate level photographers.

Website: PhotographyBB