Casio Europe have just announced the twelve-megapixel Casio Exilim EX-Z280 digital compact camera with a 26-104 mm equivalent zoom lens and CCD-shift image stabilisation. The Casio EX-Z280 also offers face detection, complemented by a “make-up” function, an AF tracking function that can remember faces and resume tracking them even if the subject leaves the frame and then reappears, and HD movie recording at 1280x720 pixels. The EX-Z280, available this September 2009, will have an MSRP of $179.99 and will be offered in a silver body color.

To offer a greater selection to suit the diverse needs of different customers, Transcend Information, Inc. recently released a brand new Anti-Shock USB Flash Drive—the JetFlash V70. The drive is made out of a durable eco-friendly rubber that makes it highly resistant to survive shock, splashes and dust. Currently available in 16GB (Red), 8GB (Orange) and 4GB (Purple) capacities, the JetFlash V70 carries Transcend’s lifetime warranty.

Verve Gallery of Photography has announced Reverie & Rhapsody, an exhibition exploring “dreams, memory and time, and the rhythm of contemplation and mystery that is held within all three”. The three-person exhibition includes Verve gallery artists Susan Burnstine, Susan kae Grant and Beth Moon. The Opening Reception is held on Friday, August 28, 2009 from 5-7pm. There will be a Gallery Talk with Photographers Beth Moon and Susan Burnstine on Friday, August 28 from 3-5pm, and with Photographer Susan kae Grant and Composer Sarah Alexander on Saturday, August 29 from 2-4pm. The exhibition is on view through Saturday, November 7, 2009.

Shutterfly’s Picture Perfect Summer microsite provides suggestions for vacationers on everything from the best light for the best pictures to how to complete fun, vacation-themed “picture projects.  In addition, site visitors can earn free prints for taking advantage of Shutterfly’s summer deals, including registering for the Shutterfly Dream Vacation Sweepstakes. The grand prize is airfare and seven nights in the Caribbean at Moon Palace Casino, Golf & Spa Resort, provided by Orbitz.com.

Website: Picture Perfect Summer

The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust is calling all budding photographers to get snapping at their local WWT Wetland Centre before the end of August for the chance to win Nikon equipment worth over £,1000 in the WWT Nikon Photography competition 2009. The competition aims to capture the variety of WWT’s nine centres across three categories: ‘WWT Nikon Photo of the Year’, ‘WWT Nikon Junior Photo of the Year’ and ‘WWT Nikon Digiscoping Photo of the Year’. The main rule of the competition is that all photos submitted must have been taken at one of the nine WWT centres in the UK. WWT is hoping that the competition will encourage people to visit a WWT centre and even help support the charity by joining as a member. Closing date for entries is Monday 7 September 2009.

Photographers have until 1st September 2009 to submit their entries to the 2009 Fujifilm Distinctions Awards. This year, the Awards are open to photographers right across the world. As in previous years the Awards has an open brief and is open to any photographer - professional, enthusiast or student. The only stipulation is that submissions must have been originated on film from Fujifilm’s range of professional or consumer films.

Website: 2009 Distinctions Awards

Twicli - a Twitter-based platform created by Sam Street and Sean Miller, London based co-founders of Picli - has been expanded to include a number of additional service elements. These include support for audio uploaded via the web and via email, tagging of your Twitter friends into your photos, Friend Activity monitoring, a Multimedia tweet box with full control over how your tweet will appear, mixed content sets, optional geotagging, larger file sizes and higher quality video.

Calumet Photographic have released a series of dates across the UK with multi-award winning photographer Uzair Kharawala.  ‘Business & Beyond’ is a full-day seminar and will be held at Calumet stores in Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh, London, Belfast & Birmingham. Uzair will be presenting on how to run your business through these tough times.  A variety of interesting and exciting subjects & topics will be covered to help you grow your business. The price is £45.00 including refreshments & lunch.

AKVIS Software has released version 9.0 of AKVIS Sketch, its application that converts photos to colour and B&W pencil drawings and watercolour paintings, for Windows and Macintosh. Version 9.0 of AKVIS Sketch has a new improved algorithm for photo-to-sketch conversion (the option to use the old algorithm remains). The program has a new parameter field for edge definition. Now it is possible to manipulate the thickness and sharpness of the outlines. The new version also adds the possibility to change the saturation of colour strokes when using colour pencil drawing mode. AKVIS Sketch is available as a stand-alone application, as well as a plugin to a photo editor. AKVIS Sketch Home License (plug-in or standalone) sells for $72 USD or 55 Euro,  downloadable from www.akvis.com. Registered users of the previous versions can ugrade to version 9.0 for $39.

Phottix, a global manufacturer of photo accessories, announced the official opening of its Distributor for UK and Ireland today, Phottix UK Ltd. Phottix professional photo accessories have long been popular in the UK and Ireland, but prior to the establishment of the UK distribution partnership customers had to make their purchases from unofficial overseas websites. The new company, Phottix UK Ltd, will provide an official channel for Phottix quality photo accessories, and will greatly enhance customer service experience and product support, the company says. The Phottix product range includes unique units like the Phottix Hero wireless camera remote control (pictured),which operates over a video link, the Phottix GeoOne GPS camera geotagging unit, the Phottix O-Flash affordable ring light, the Phottix Nikos digital timer remote release and the Phottix Cleon II wireless/wired remote shutter release, as well as comprehensive replacement accessories ranging from camera grips to batteries, flash accessories, filters and complete studio lighting systems.

Website: Phottix UK

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Young Photographer Awards is stuill open for entries, but the final submission deadline is getting closer and closer. The overall winner of this year’s competition will win £1,000 worth of Olympus vouchers. This is in addition to the range of Olympus cameras on offer to the winners of categories including under 12 years, 12 to 18 years, pet personalities and the Olympus portfolio prize. The overall winner, picked from those who scoop the category titles, will also be given the chance to join the RSPCA’s award-winning chief photographer Andrew Forsyth on an exclusive photoshoot. Previous winners have been able to capture the magic of a seal release with their new cameras, while last year’s overall winner 12-year-old Molly Armiger enjoyed a day out helping release rehabilitated ducks and hedgehogs at the RSPCA’s East Winch Wildlife Centre. The deadline for entries is midnight on 7 September, 2009, for those submitted via www.rspca.org.uk/ypa or 5pm on 24 August, 2009, for postal entries.

Businessman Simon Brown is urging keen photographers to take a different view of London, by joining one of the new CameraTrails tours, starting at the end of this month. Suitable for either beginners or intermediate photographers, Simon says that both tourists and Londoners alike will be both startled and inspired by gaining a different perspective of the city. Three main tours will shortly be available, focusing not only on the main tourist hotspots of London but also on the lesser-travelled routes, exploring aspects of urban decay and regeneration, culture and diversity. The first tour takes place on Sunday 23 August at 12pm, and focuses on the South Bank region, whilst the second is on Friday 28 August at 9.30am, concentrating on a different perspective of London’s greatest monuments.  Prices are £70 per person.

Website: Camera Trails

iPhone app publisher, Unique Apps, has recently released a new iPhone application called PhotoScatter; which allows users to submit photos to most of the top photo sharing sites on the Internet. Version 1 of PhotoScatter supports the following sites: Facebook, Flickr, Shutterfly, PhotoBucket, Picasa, and Twitter (TwitPic). More photo sharing sites will be added to future versions, the company says. Currently retailing at $0.99, PhotoScatter can be purchased in the iTunes App Store.

Home Is Where You Make It, a Walker Arts Center residency project by artists Lauri Lyons and Tish Jones is raising public awareness about the homeless youth population in the Twin Cities. The interactive installations provide an opportunity for homeless youth to develop and display their artwork to a broad audience, and are paired with a three-week long series of artist led workshops where homeless youth will write personal narratives and shoot black and white portraits. The portraits will then be digitally enlarged and mounted onto cardboard and assembled by the teens into 5’ x 7’ ‘houses’ on the street. The resulting structures will challenge common perceptions of the homeless population and literally bring a face to the issues they encounter daily. Home Is Where You Make It runs until 21 August 2009.

JP Distribution has just announced the Ilford Galerie Back to School offer for 2009. Available as of 1 September, they will be offering three packs of A4 sized Ilford Galerie inkjet photo paper for £25. The offer includes 50 sheets of Smooth Heavyweight Matt paper, plus 25 sheets of Smooth Gloss and 25 sheets of Smooth Pearl. Furthermore, customers will also receive an extra 10 sheets free of each of the Smooth Pearl and Smooth Gloss inkjet papers, making a total of 120 sheets.

The DigiDude is a community designed, funky, portable camera tripod and keychain. Simply screw off your dude’s head and pull out his retractable legs for an on-the-go camera mount. DigiDudes are easily attached to your keychain or camera bag and will mount most point and shoot cameras. All DigiDudes come fully equipped with retractable and bendable legs for adjustable camera height & grip as well as a key ring for easy portability. The Quirky Community added some personality to the Dudes. Choose from one of the five: Pinky Scorsese, Snot Buster, iChomp, G-bling-Money-Son, and BoltBot, each with their own style and attitude. DigiDude is the eighth product designed and developed by the quirky community since quirky’s launch on June 2nd. quirky gives everyone the chance to get product ideas out of their heads and onto shelves. Each week quirky’s community collaborates to select and produce one new product idea. This week ends the development of the DigiDude and it is now available for sale at quirky’s online store for $19.99.

Website: The Quirky Store

Jessops have introduced their range of quality photo inkjet paper, which comes in matt, satin or gloss, and offers vivid colours, high whiteness and a smudge-resistant instant-dry finish. The range of Jessops photo quality gloss and satin inkjet papers have been developed to provide the combined benefits of a high white base colour with extended light stability. These new grades provide up to a 30% improvement in base paper light stability when compared to Jessops previous grades. Jessops quality gloss and satin inkjet papers start from £6.50 for a pack of 50 sheets.