Pentax Imaging has announced that Camera Repair Instrument Service (CRIS), a provider of camera repair and imaging device maintenance, will partner with Pentax to provide factory repair service for Pentax cameras in the US. In this agreement, CRIS will act as the “factory service facility” for dealers and consumers in the United States. More information is available at www.criscam.com or visit www.pentaximaging.com for CRIS customer service contact information.

Samsung has launched a teaser campaign called ‘Tap and Take’, to draw attention to its new range of ‘Smart Cameras’, scheduled for launch on 13 August 2009. The Korean company has created a promotional website, called TapAndTake.com, which teases visitors with a host of short, intriguing videos (with more to come). The ‘Tap and Take’ campaign also has a presence on Twitter and Facebook.

Website: Tap and Take

The Times has launched the eighth Times Young Photographer of the Year competition, sponsored by Canon - this could be your chance to win a Canon EOS 5D Mark II (pictured) with two L lenses and a flash. In order to be able to enter, you need to be between 18 and 26 years of age and a legal resident of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland. Entrants will need to submit one photograph in each of three different categories; Lifestyle, Portraiture and Reportage. The winning photographer will win a six-month full-time contract with Times Newspapers and a year’s membership to the British Press Photographer’s Association, in addition to a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera body, a Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8 L standard zoom, a Canon EF 70-200 F/2.8 L IS telezoom and a Canon580EX II Speedlite flash. The closing date for entries is midnight Saturday 12 September 2009. As always, we suggest that you read the Terms and Conditions before entering.

Website: The Times/Canon Young Photographer of the Year
Review: Read our in-depth review of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Nikon has revealed the twelve-megapixel Nikon Coolpix S70 digital compact camera that features a newly developed 3.5” touch-sensitive OLED screen and 720p HD video capture. Along with the new screen comes a new generation of touch-screen controls that offer an enhanced shooting and playback experience. For example, using the Touch Shutter feature, users can have a completely “button-free” experience and focus on and photograph a subject by simply touching it on the camera’s display. The touch-screen also makes viewing and retouching images more efficient, Nikon claims. Additional new touch-screen controls include on-screen sliders for adjusting brightness and Scene Effect Adjustment, which offers controls specific to the scene mode in use. Other features include a 5x zoom lens with optical vibration reduction, Subject Tracking, Scene Auto Selector Mode and Nikon’s Smart Portrait System. The Nikon Coolpix S70 will be available in September 2009 for $399.95 MSRP in a choice of colours and textures including Red & Red, Champagne & Beige (pictured), Black & Black, or Champagne & Light Brown.

In addition to the innovative Nikon S1000pj and the ultra-fast Nikon S640, Nikon has also introduced the “elegantly simple” Nikon Coolpix S570, intended for the fashion-conscious photographer. With the Nikon S570, the keyword is ease-of-use. Intelligent scene mode selection, face detection, smile recognition, a “blink-proof technology” and a Skin Softening function are all on board to help “even those with no photography experience” capture pleasing photos. Like the other two Coolpix models announced today, this camera also boasts a 12-megpixel imager, a 2.7-inch rear screen and a 5x zoom lens (though apparently without lens-based vibration reduction). The Nikon S570 will be availablein September 2009, for $199.95 MSRP.

Nikon has unveiled the Nikon Coolpix S640, allegedly the “world’s fastest Coolpix”, which is claimed to deliver autofocus speeds comparable to the Nikon D40 dSLR. Other highlights include a 28-140mm equivalent Nikkor zoom lens featuring optical vibration reduction, a 12-megapixel sensor and a 2.7” LCD screen. The all-metal Nikon Coolpix S640 will be available in September 2009 for $249.95 MSRP.

Nikon UK has announced the Nikon Coolpix S1000pj, billed as “the world’s first camera with an integrated projector”. The built-in projector projects an image size from approximately 5 inches up to 40 inches. A supplied remote control allows you to wirelessly operate both the projector and usual camera functions, and a simple projection stand is supplied for optimal viewing. The more conventional features include a twelve-megapixel sensor, a 5x zoom and a 2.7” wide viewing-angle TFT LCD monitor. With the purchase of a Nikon Coolpix S1000pj digital camera, you also get 2GB of space on ‘my Picturetown’, Nikon’s online digital photo storage and sharing service. The RRP is £399.99 / €485.00, and availability is slated for September 2009.

Epson will stage a number of events and activities to coincide with the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics. Prior to the event, Epson will sponsor an almost 700km charity run from Epson Germany’s headquarters in Meerbusch to the Berlin Olympic Stadium, the setting for the world championships. Epson will also turn one of Berlin’s main thoroughfares into a giant street gallery, featuring an international collection of photographs, inspired by athletics, and crafted by some of the most famous photographers of the past 125 years. To ensure high-impact, high-quality, memorable prints, the 200cm x 135cm images will be printed by Epson on a Stylus Pro GS6000 large format printer.

iSyndica, a cloud-based digital media distribution platform that simplifies online selling by syndicating, promoting and tracking user content on multiple established channels, has announced a reduction of its subscription prices. The new prices, which start at $4.99/month, is expected to help attract even more customers to iSyndica’s growing distribution platform. To date, iSyndica has already distributed more than 110GB of photos and 60GB of videos to stock photography and footage sites, the company claims. As a complement to its new pricing, iSyndica has also introduced an affiliate programme designed to encourage existing users to promote iSyndica to their friends and colleagues. It gives existing users the chance to gain credits, which they can use to distribute more media through iSyndica, and even share revenue.

Kodak has released an updated free version of their Kodak EASYSHARE Software, which promises to deliver easy and fast upload to Facebook, YouTube and the Kodak Gallery. Kodak’s EASYSHARE Software is an award-winning, full-featured photo software applications that consumers prefer to use to organize, edit, share, create, and print from their digital collection.  The software is free and works seamlessly with Kodak cameras, printers, digital frames, and Kodak Gallery. Version 8.0 is available via download for free at the website below.

Website: Kodak EASYSHARE Software

AdoramaPix have announced the availability of high-quality hardcover photobooks, printed on real photo paper. Pages and covers are printed on Fujifilm Crystal Archive Album paper, and the books also have lay-flat bindings for seamless double page spreads and panoramas. AdoramaPix also offer an online book creation program called PixPublisher, which boasts features such as a colour-picker to precisely match background to images and an “entire library of backgrounds, frames, fonts and embellishments”.

Sony Hong Kong has quietly made available the English-language instruction manual of a new, 24-megapixel full-frame DSLR, called the Sony A850. According to the specifications listed on pages 154-156, the Sony A850 is very similar to the existing A900 model we reviewed earlier this year, except that it has a slower burst rate of 3 frames per second, and a somewhat lower viewfinder coverage of approximately 98%. Most other features and functions of the Sony A850 appear identical to those found in the A900, including mirror lock-up, AF micro adjustment, intelligent preview, 9+10 AF points, dual CompactFlash/MemoryStick slots etc. Like the A900, the A850 appears to lack live view and video recording functionality. At the time of writing, the manual is still available for download at the website below.

Website: Download the Sony A850 manual from Sony Asia Pacific
(Select “Digital SLR Camera” from the first drop-down list, then pick “DSLR-A850” from the third.)

Via Engadget

Update (3 August 2009): After being available for about 24 hours, the manual appears to have been pulled.
Update 2 (27 August 2009): The Sony A850 is officially announced.

Synology America Corp. has announced the availability of their new iPhone application, DS photo, which is available to download for free. DS photo provides Disk Station users the ability to use an iPhone or iPod Touch to upload photos to their Synology Disk Station, or browse photos stored directly on their Synology Disk Stations remotely. Users can upload their photos to an existing album or create a new one, and customise the photo titles and descriptions. Uploaded photos are instantly available through the web-based Synology Photo Station 3 and can be viewed with a desktop computer, iPhone, or Windows Mobile phone. DS photo is available for download on the Apple App Store.

The Nature Conservancy invites you to enter your nature photos to their 4th annual digital photography competition. The contest is open to all participants aged 18 and older regardless of residence or citizenship, so long as the laws of their jurisdiction allow participation. Photo submissions must be uploaded by 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time on September 30, 2009. You retain ownership and full rights to all images submitted, but grant The Nature Conservancy the right to use your images in support of the Conservancy’s mission. As always, we encourage you to read the rules before entering.

Photographer and author Jason P. Odell, Ph.D. has announced the immediate release of “The Photographer’s Guide to Silver Efex Pro”, a comprehensive resource for making black and white images with the popular plug-in module by Nik Software, Inc. This 218-page PDF tutorial includes 15 instructional videos narrated by Dr. Odell, each of which reinforces concepts illustrated in the pages of the eBook. The instructional videos are embedded directly in the PDF file, which means that users don’t need to worry about separate video files or media players; as long as they are using Adobe Reader 9 or later, the videos will play directly from the eBook. The Photographer’s Guide to Silver Efex Pro is available directly from the publisher, Luminescence of Nature Press, as a digital download for $19.95 USD.

Delkin have added a smaller version of their award winning Fat Gecko to its line of camera mounts, the Fat Gecko Mini. It uses one suction cup to attain a powerful suction that makes video and photography capture possible from almost any smooth surface.  With an incredibly strong locking suction and a universal mounting screw the Fat Gecko Mini can be attached almost anywhere and use any standard camera or camcorder. The small footprint of one suction cup allows users to capitalize on the versatility of mounting a camera in tight situations, such as on surfboards, motorcycles, wakeboards, ATVs, helmets, windows and any other smooth non-porous surface. The Fat Gecko Mini camera mount is available now and can be purchased at an array of digital camera shops and other camera accessory retailers worldwide for $39.99.

iPhone developer appMobi LLC has announced the availability of “PhotoBeamer 1.1” on the Apple App Store. “Intuitively, people hand their phones to friends so they can see the photos better, and invariably, friends begin flicking through their entire photo libraries, looking at all photos whether the owner want them to or not,” appMobi says. “PhotoBeamer was created to solve this problem by allowing users to use the iPhone’s built in Bluetooth wireless technology to allow viewers to see (and optionally save) on their own devices only the photos that the sender wants them to see.” PhotoBeamer is available in the Apple App Store for $0.99. The receive-only BeamCatcher app is free.

NewBay Media has announced new features, a new location, and new dates for its 13th annual Digital Video Expo. The expo is to be held at the Pasadena Convention Center on September 22-24, 2009. Thousands of professionals in the content creation industry are expected to gather at the show for three full days of intensive education, training, and networking events, as well as the unique opportunity to test drive the latest products and services from over 100 key industry innovators, including Panasonic, Sony, JVC and Matrox Video.

Legndary camera designer and engineer Yoshihisa Maitani, creator of the original Olympus PEN and Olympus OM-1, OM-2 and other cult cameras, passed away on 30 July 2009. Born in 1933, Maitani built his first box camera at age 10, and by the time he turned 16, he already held four design patents. He joined Olympus in 1956, and two years later he was commissioned to develop a camera that could be purchased for under 6,000 yen, the average monthly wage in Japan at the time. The result was the Olympus PEN (pictured). The PEN was a huge success and evolved into a whole series of half-frame cameras, including the PEN F, FT and FV interchangeable-lens SLRs. Maitani then went on to design the Olympus OM-1, a legendary 35mm SLR, the starting point of the OM system noted for its compactness, high-quality optics and a series of innovations. Maitani received the PMA Hall of Fame Award in 1992, and retired in 1996. As the 1001 Noisy Cameras blog points out, he “lived to see his Pen re-born into the digital world with the E-P1”.

Source: DCWatch via 1001 Noisy Cameras

Kodak has introduced a family of new portable power-charging solutions that enable fast and convenient charging of multiple devices, including a solar-powered charger that harnesses the sun’s power to charge gadgets while on the go. The Kodak Solar Charger KS100-C+2 produces enough power to deliver 1.5 charges to a cell phone, or run a music player for an additional 33 hours, or capture up to 200 digital camera pictures (actual results will vary by device). When light is scarce, consumers can use the included USB cable to recharge from a computer or other USB power source. The Kodak Solar Charger KS100-C+2 will retail for US $39.95 MSRP beginning in September, 2009.