Jessops have just announced that the Sony Alpha DSLR-A330 is going to be available exclusively from them, starting ‘early June’. The 10.2-megapixel A330, which weighs just 490 grams and comes with sensor-shift anti-shake as well as secondary-sensor Live View delivered on a tilting 2.7” LCD, is now available for pre-order at a price of £549, including a Sony DT18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit zoom.

Samsung has announced the Samsung Pixon12, the first 12-megapixel camera phone in the world. The Samsung Pixon12 boasts a 28mm equivalent lens, a 3.1” touch-sensitive AMOLED screen that also enables AF point selection via a touch of your fingertips, AF tracking, one-touch access to the camera function, a shot-to-shot time of just 2 seconds, a Xenon flash and a Smart Auto feature that intelligently picks the right scene mode based on an analysis of the scene in front of the camera’s lens. Videos are recorded at a resolution of 720x480 pixels at 30 frames per second and are saved using the H.264 codec.The phone’s high-connectivity functions including Wi-Fi and HSUPA capabilities mean that users’ photos can be shared with their friends in no time, Samsung says. The Samsung Pixon12 will be available from end of June in European countries and it will be expanded to other regions in August.

Sharp has announced that it has developed a five-primary-colour display that faithfully reproduces the real surface colours that humans are capable of perceiving. According to Sharp, demand for displays that can render colours in a manner faithful to the appearances of naturally occurring surface colours or designed colours is growing stronger in fields such as industrial design, digital archiving, network-based remote medical care, and electronic commerce. This five-primary-colour display comprises “Multi-Primary-Colour Technology” that features special image processing circuitry, in addition to the display panel whose pixel structure is based on five-colour filters that add the colours cyan and yellow to the three colours of red, green, and blue. This combination expands the colour gamut that can be rendered within the colour spectrum that humans can discern with the unaided eye, and enables the display to reproduce more than 99% of real surface colours. Nearly all real surface colours can be rendered faithfully, including colours that have been difficult to render using conventional LCD monitors—the colour of the sea (emerald blue), brass instruments (golden yellow), and roses (crimson red), for example.

Transcend has introduced a new, feature-laden 7” digital photo frame called the Transcend PF730. Users can choose to view photos one at time, in customisable slideshows, or in a convenient tiled thumbnail view. Additionally, the PF730 has a bright, high-resolution (800x600) photo-friendly 4:3 screen, advanced NaturaTone user–selectable colour modes, and an Automatic Orientation Sensor (AOS). The Transcend PF730 has 2GB of internal memory plus an USB port, and is compatible with SD, SDHC and MMC cards and MemorySticks. Additionally, it functions as a full-featured MP3 player which allows users listen to music while viewing photos at the same time, and can also be used as an alarm clock. The price is to be confirmed.

Peachpit has just released a new book, entitled Photoshop CS4 Down & Dirty Tricks by Scott Kelby. In Photoshop CS4 Down & Dirty Tricks, readers learn the secrets behind the most closely guarded Photoshop CS4 special effects—the same ones seen on TV, in magazines, and on the Web. Using Scott Kelby’s simple, step-by-step methods, readers see exactly how it’s all done and discover how to create these effects on their own. A free sample chapter of the book is available for download, while the book itself retails for $44.99. Scott Kelby himself warns in his blog that this book is explicitly about special effects and not about topics like Camera Raw, colour corrections, sharpening or printing.

Camera Bits has announced that it had surpassed the milestone of 35,000 licenses sold of its Photo Mechanic software and released Version 4.6.1. Photo Mechanic is a photo browser and workflow solution that is claimed to be the most popular photo editing software used by educational institutions, the U.S. military, photojournalists and major newspapers and news organizations including The Associated Press. With Photo Mechanic, users can read the images from a memory card, flatten the directory structure, apply IPTC metadata, create a backup on a separate disk and rename files – all in a single step. The original software was released more than 10 years ago, whilst Version 4 has been available for exactly six years, the company says. Version 4.6.1 incorporates many improvements and fixes to the new features of version 4.6 including Live Ingest, embedded GPS coordinates in photos individually or in a batch using GPS log files, new upload templates, a Convert RAW to DNG command, a loupe tool and file upload status indicators in the Contact Sheet view and an auto-advance after tagging feature in the Preview window. A full license of Photo Mechanic is available starting at $150, while upgrades to existing owners start at $90.

Website: Camera Bits Store

In the run-up to the widely anticipated launch of its first Micro FourThirds camera, Olympus is running a teaser campaign that focuses on the 50th anniversary of its PEN series of half-frame 35mm film cameras. PEN cameras were the brainchild of Yoshihisa Maitani, whose aim was to design a high-quality photographic tool that did not cost more than a month’s wage and was as portable and easy to use as a pen. The PEN series used standard 35mm film but took frames that measured only 18x24mm, i.e. half the size of the most widespread frame size on 35mm film. This and other engineering solutions have made these cameras extremely small and lightweight, which contributed to their massive success (17 million units sold worldwide). The current teaser campaign makes it clear that the new Micro Four Thirds camera will be modeled on the PEN series, as far as its outer appearance is concerned.

Website: Olympus Teaser Campaign

Marketing Essentials International has just announced “Skip’s Summer School ‘09”, open to professional photographers of all levels. Skip’s Summer School is the first photography workshop of its kind to create a series of programmes designed to help photographers realise the full potential of some of the new technologies, especially in mixed media (video and still imaging creation and presentation), Search Engine Optimisation, social media through blogs and Twitter while at the same time, fine tune their photographic skills in lighting, composition, exposure and even marketing and self-promotion. Taking place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV from Sunday, August 16th – Wednesday, August 19th, “Skip’s Summer School” is the creation of Skip Cohen, former president of Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) and Rangefinder Publishing Inc. and former publisher of Rangefinder and AfterCapture magazines. The cost to attend Skip’s Summer School is $279 and it also includes free full registration to WPPI 2010 (March 4-11, 2010) for each attendee.

This summer The Photographers’ Gallery will exhibit, for the first time in the UK, the Hungarian photographer André Kertész’s On Reading series. Born in Budapest, André Kertész - whose original name was Kertész Andor - took his first photograph at age 18 with a simple box camera. During World War I, he photographed everyday life in the front line as well as the hinterland, perfecting his style while experimenting with new points of view and camera angles. He left Hungary in 1925 for Paris, where he lived for eleven years, immersing himself in the creative community and producing the now world famous images such as Mondrian’s Pipe and Glasses (1926) and The Fork (1928). Capturing readers of all ages in various locations – on rooftops and balconies, in parks, on crowded streets, at train stations, in libraries etc. – was one of his favourite projects. The photographs range from abstract formal compositions to playful, often humorous observations. The exhibition, which opens on 17 July, will feature a selection of these works, taken between 1915 and 1980.

Bogen Imaging has announced a free webinar titled “A Budget Safari – Wildlife Photography at Your Local Zoo: Roundtable with Julie Larsen Maher.” Part of the company’s Bogen Café series of free instructional webinars, the seminar will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT, on Friday, June 19th. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Staff Photographer Julie Larsen Maher, and David Fisher, Bogen Imaging’s Gitzo, Metz, Gossen and Litepanels Product Manager, will discuss the best practices, gear, and times to visit when shooting wildlife at a local zoo. To register for the free Bogen Café webinar and for additional information, please visit http://www.bogenimaging.us/webinar/

Website: Bogen Cafe

Blurb has just announced the release of Blurb BookSmart 2.0, and introduced its new 12x12 Large Square book offering, available immediately. BookSmart 2.0 includes many new features that give creative professionals full control in the customisation of their book layouts, down to the pixel. The introduction of flexible containers allows bookmakers to control the size, location, layers and content type of all elements on the page. Precision tool bars, gridlines for quick visual guidance, and the ability to save designed pages as custom layouts for reuse all elevate the bookmaking experience and offer extended flexibility for advanced users and consumers alike. Blurb BookSmart 2.0 is available for download immediately at www.blurb.com.

The lucky winner of our fantastic May 2009 Newsletter contest has been randomly selected from the PhotographyBLOG Newsletter subscriber list.

Jim Hoff wins a HP StorageWorks RDX Removable Disk Backup System, worth £235.

Shutterfly has announced ideas for honouring the new dad in your life this Father’s Day as well as a new, free photo sharing iPhone application that allows him to upload, view and share photos on the go. After a simple download, he can sign in and view his Shutterfly albums on his iPhone. He can also snap pics of the kids and upload them directly to his Shutterfly account or Share site. Other Shutterfly gift ideas include tribute albums, milestone memory calendars and surprise photo shoots.

Park Cameras have teamed up with Panasonic to provide a free training session dedicated to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 digital camera. The training will take place on Thursday 18th June between 6-8pm. Advance registration is required.

Tamron have announced that they are about to launch their 10-24mm lens in Pentax and Sony mounts. The full product name is Tamron SP AF10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical [IF] (Model B001), and the launch date is 12 June 2009 in Japan. A900 owners should take note that the lens is not meant to be used on cameras whose sensor is bigger than 24x16mm. The announcement was made by Mr. Morio Ono of Tamron Co., Ltd.

Website: Tamron News

Anthropics have released the new Portrait Professional 9, a portrait airbrushing program that has actually been “trained” in human appearance, using thousands of example photographs. For any given face, the software creates custom controls specifically to enhance that particular face. For example, if the face has a heavy jaw or double chin, Portrait Professional’s jaw slider control will reduce the fatness of the jaw. On the other hand, if the jaw was rather weak or small, the slider would subtly enlarge it. The software contains over 100 intelligent sliders of this nature, plus an automatic touch-up brush to give the user fine control over the appearance of the face and hair. In addition, Portrait Professional 9 incorporates new patent applied for ClearSkin® skin beautifying technology. The software is available in two versions, Standard and Studio, costing $65.95 and $99.95, respectively.

onOne Software has announced a new application to remotely control Canon EOS DSLR cameras using an iPhone or iPod Touch. The new DSLR Camera Remote for iPhone application allows photographers using a supported Canon EOS DSLR that is connected to a WiFi enabled computer to remotely control the settings of the camera, fire the shutter, review images, and even get a live preview. The software comes in two versions – the Professional edition, which is available for $19.99 with a limited time introductory price of $9.99, and the Lite edition, available for $1.99. The DSLR Camera Remote for iPhone may be purchased immediately from the App Store within Apple iTunes software.

Website: List of supported DSLR cameras

Canon have released the eagerly anticipated new firmware update for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which is now available for download. As noted earlier, version 1.1.0 makes it possible to manually control the exposure while recording video. This can be done by selecting an f-stop from the entire aperture range offered by the lens in use, picking a shutter speed from 1/30 to 1/4000 second, and specifying an ISO speed between ISO 100 and H1 (ISO 12,800). Other fixes include disabling the function of the depth-of-field preview button when images are played back or when the menu screen is displayed on the LCD panel, fixing a bug with the peripheral illumination correction feature, fixing the algorithms of the Auto Lighting Optimizer function when Custom Function C.Fn II-3 Highlight tone priority is enabled, correcting incorrect indications on the Arabic, Romanian, Spanish, and Ukrainian menu screens and changing the battery information displayed on the camera when using the optional Battery Grip BG-E6.

Website: Canon EOS 5D Mk II Firmware Update (click the Drivers & Downloads tab)

Issue #16 of the PhotographyBB Magazine Online has just been released. The May 2009 edition explores positive ways to engage law enforcement officials, preparing your gear for rainy day photography, and a brand new “readers questions” column. Additionally there are Photoshop and Lightroom tutorials for photographers to get the most out of their post processing techniques. This month’s Photography Around the World column features the vibrant Isla de Mujeres. PhotographyBB Online Magazine is available for free download through the PhotographyBB Website at: http://www.photographyBB.com/magazine?