Varta Consumer Batteries have announced a new charger that uses solar power. If you’ve ever found yourself in the middle of nowhere with a “battery low” indicator blinking on the LCD of your camera or phone, you’ll surely appreciate the VARTA Solar Charger, which needs no mains socket or power cable to charge your batteries. Just put it in a sunny place and connect it to the camera, phone or media player via USB - that’s it! The Solar Charger will become available in June, at a recommended retail price of €39.99, including two Ready2Use AA batteries and several adapters.

Website: VARTA Press Release (in German)

The Garmin Oregon 550 is a hand-held GPS device with an integrated 3.2 megapixel digital camera, which creates geotagged images. The Oregon 550 is waterproofed, boasts 850 megabytes of internal storage plus microSD compatibility, and has a fixed-focal-length AF lens. Once your Oregon 550 is connected via USB, you can use my.Garmin.com to detect Oregon’s photos, simplify the selection and uploading processes and then store those photos on Picasa. Weighing only 6.8 ounces, the Oregon 550 comes with two precharged AA NiMH batteries, a charger,a carabiner clip and a USB cable. Pricing and availability to be confirmed.

The winners of the Burrad-Lucas wildlife photography competition have been announced. Thomas Vignaud’s picture of a Tompot Blenny was selected as the overall winner. “The perfect framing and spot-on exposure combine to beautiful effect. Thomas has used the strobe light masterfully to gain a sense of the blenny looming out of the darkness. Ultimately however, it was the blenny’s characterful face and frilly appendages that clinched it for us!” commented judges William and Matthew Burrard-Lucas.

Photo Credit: Tompot Blenny by Thomas Vignaud

The Clickfree Traveler is the first flash memory-based Clickfree product. Available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities, the Clickfree Traveler automatically starts when connected to a computer, then searches for, copies and organises all of your important data. Pricing for the Clickfree Traveler card is £79.99 for the 16GB model, £119.99 for 32GB and £199.99 for 64GB.

TweetPhoto has introduced a new, free photo sharing service for Twitter, which is claimed to “revolutionise photo sharing”. TweetPhoto allows users to easily upload and automatically publish links to photos on Twitter. The new service boasts many toolsets currently unavailable on other sites which make photo sharing on Twitter convenient and transparent, the company says. “As more people use the service the velocity of the social river of tweets increases exponentially. This makes it exceedingly difficult to view every tweet, especially the ones with links to photos. TweetPhoto was specifically designed to meet this challenge,” stated Rodney Rumford, co-founder of TweetPhoto.

Website: TweetPhoto

Epson has announced the Stylus Photo P50, a new, compact A4 photo printer designed for home printing. The Epson Stylus Photo P50 uses Epson’s Micro Piezo print head technology which, combined with Epson Claria Photographic Ink, produces detailed and sharp images that allegedly last up to 98 years in a frame or over 200 years in an album. The new printer uses individual ink cartridges so you only need to replace the one that has gone empty. The RRP is £89.99 including VAT, availability is slated for July. The package contains an Epson Photo Paper Pack, so you can start printing photos immediately after installation.

Panasonic announced a contest exclusively on LivinginHD.com in which they will give away one HD product each day for 30 days. The three prize options include two LUMIX Digital Cameras featuring 720p HD video recording (the DMC-ZS3/TZ7 and the DMC-TS1/FT1) and the new HDC-TM20 1080p HD Camcorder featuring a 16GB internal memory. Current and new members of the LivingInHD.com community will be eligible to register daily for the Living In HD 30x30 contest. More information, including complete contest rules and requirements, can be found online at http://www.livinginhd.com/go/promo/30x30entry.

Andrey Tverdokhleb has announced version 3.9.5 of his Mac-only raw developer, Raw Photo Processor. The new release includes entirely new camera profiles for the Canon 5D MkII, 1Ds MkIII, 50D, the Sony A900, the Olympus E620, E3, E30, the Panasonic G1 and LX3 and more accurate profiles for the Sony A700, A350, A300, A200, A100, the Olympus E410, E420, E510, E520 and the Kodak SLR/c, SLR/n, 14NX, 14N and ProBack. Furthermore, it adds support for the Canon EOS 500D (T1i, KISS X, pictured), the Canon SX1 IS and the Kodak Z1015 IS.

Website: Raw Photo Processor

The winners of the second International Garden Photographer of the Year competition have been announced. The overall winner of the £5,000 prize for the best single image is UK-based photographer, Jonathan Berman for his infrared shot, In Tresco Abbey Gardens. The Best Portfolio Prize is awarded to Sebastian Kaps, from Germany, for Georgengarten: a collection of six images illustrating the landscape garden at Dessau, Germany, following a heavy snowfall. The Young Garden Photographer of the Year title goes to 15-year-old Kat Waters for the best single image from an under 16 year old. The category winners are Deborah Casso, Paul Debois, Jonathan Berman, Colin Varndell, Dennis Frates and Bapi Chakraborty.

Sanyo announced the availability of its Xacti VPC-FH1 ultra-compact digital camcorder in a press release issued today in Munich, Germany. The Sanyo Xacti VPC-FH1 is a Full HD digital video camera that can shoot movies at a full 60 frames per second and features a 3-inch LCD, Face Chaser technology and a built-in stereo microphone. The Xacti VPC-FH1 can also shoot still photographs at a resolution of 8 megapixels. The lens is a 10x optical zoom, which can be used as a 16x “advanced zoom” when recording video. The maximum aperture is f/2 at the wide end and f/2.8 at telephoto. Stills are saved on SD cards as JPEGs, while videos are stored in MPEG-4 format using the H.264 codec. The camcorder, which measures just 53.3x105x57.3mm and weighs 299 grams, is available now for a recommended retail price of 649 euros.

Website: Sanyo Press Release (in German)

Panasonic today announced pricing for the highly-anticipated LUMIX DMC-GH1, the new Micro Four Thirds digital camera with Full-High Definition video recording ability. The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GH1 will be available in early June for a suggested retail price of $1499.95 including a LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm/F4.0-5.8 ASPH/MEGA O.I.S. super-zoom lens. The new lens, designed to support HD movie recording, features a silent motor and continuous auto focusing capability. The Panasonic GH1 is an interchangeable-lens system camera sporting a high-resolution electronic viewfinder, a 12-megapixel sensor for high-resolution still photography, and an ability to record AVCHD 1080p/24p High Definition video. Uniquely, you can adjust aperture and shutter speed even in video mode.

At this point, it is unclear whether the GH1 will ever be sold as a body-only option.

Website: Panasonic GH-1 Hands-On

Epson have teamed up with EFI to create what both companies expect will be the most advanced and complete proofing solution on the market to date. The new Epson Stylus Pro 900 Series Proofing Editions combine the unique proofing advantages that come with the Epson Stylus Pro 7900 or 9900 wide format ink jet printers, along with EFI’s RIP workflow, EFI Colorproof XF v4.0 for Epson. The end result is “a unique and complete solution designed to redefine what’s possible for virtually all contract-proofing applications”. The Epson Proofing Edition Series includes an Epson Stylus Pro 7900 (24-inch) or 9900 (44-inch) wide format ink jet printer, a complete set of Epson UltraChrome® HDR ink cartridges, and a full 24-inch roll of Epson Standard Proofing Paper 240. Furthermore, it comes with EFI Colorproof XF 4.0 for Epson (software-based RIP) with pre-installed profiles for Epson’s entire line of Professional Proofing Papers. The Epson Proofing Edition Stylus Pro 7900 and 9900 are now available through authorised resellers for $7,995 and $9,995 (MSRP) respectively.

Adobe today announced the launch of the Adobe Education Creative Lectures to showcase Creative industry best practice and encourage skill development for both students and lecturers. The tour will combine hands-on training days for lecturers, working in the Creative/Media HE colleges and universities, validated by industry certification, alongside lecture days for students on-site at the college campuses. The free one-day Creative lectures will be held at locations across the UK and are run directly by Adobe, with several locations in association with Jigsaw, Phoenix Software and Academia.

Website: Adobe Creative Lectures

Corel today announced that it is currently developing its next-generation creative consumer products that will exploit the opportunities offered by the Windows Touch technology. Microsoft recently introduced the Windows 7 Release Candidate and Corel is working closely with the company to prepare for the debut of this new operating system later this year. “Drawing on our customer research, we’re taking advantage of the solid performance and powerful touch capabilities Windows 7 offers to turn the typical user experience of mouse clicks and menus on its head, completely changing how users interact with creative software,” said Joe Roberts, Executive Vice President, Products for Corel.

Sinar has announced that in addition to the existing professional architectural and landscape camera solution “Sinar arTec Hy6”, it will also offer a new “Sinar arTec HB-V”. The Sinar arTec HB-V accepts any third-party digital backs or any of the Sinarback eMotion models that are equipped with a Hasselblad V camera interface. With the Sinar arTec HB-V, film photography is also possible using a Hasselblad type A12 or A16 Roll Film Magazine. An appropriate mechanism allows for the film advance. Plus, with the new version, the tilting mechanism does not need any locking levers anymore since it is equipped with a self-locking fine micro-drive. You just move it and it stays in place. Sinar has also announced a spring promotion package, which includes a Sinar arTec camera (Hy6 or HB-V) + a 33-megapixel Sinarback eMotion 75 LV + adapter + a Sinaron Digital HR 4.0/35 CEF lens for 29,000 Swiss francs.

Sinar has announced that in addition to the existing professional architectural and landscape camera solution “Sinar arTec Hy6”, it will also offer a new “Sinar arTec HB-V”. The Sinar arTec HB-V accepts any third-party digital backs or any of the Sinarback eMotion models that are equipped with a Hasselblad V camera interface. With the Sinar arTec HB-V, film photography is also possible using a Hasselblad type A12 or A16 Roll Film Magazine. An appropriate mechanism allows for the film advance. Plus, with the new version, the tilting mechanism does not need any locking levers anymore since it is equipped with a self-locking fine micro-drive. You just move it and it stays in place. Sinar has also announced a spring promotion package, which includes a Sinar arTec camera (Hy6 or HB-V) + a 33-megapixel Sinarback eMotion 75 LV + adapter + a Sinaron Digital HR 4.0/35 CEF lens for 29,000 Swiss francs.

Eye-fi today announced that users can now upload videos directly from their digital camera to Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket or SmugMug, in addition to YouTube(TM) or Flickr, without ever having to turn on their computer. The 4GB Eye-Fi Share Video and Eye-Fi Explore Video cards can upload photos and videos directly to the computer and to one of more than 25 online photo and video sharing sites. The Eye-Fi Explore Video card automatically geotags photos and videos with location information about where the moment was captured, and offers hotspot access from more than 10,000 Wayport and open hotspot locations in the U.S. to upload away from home. Eye-Fi’s newest wireless SD memory cards are now available at Apple Retail Stores and Best Buy locations nationwide for an MSRP of $79 (4GB Eye-Fi Share Video) and $99 (4GB Eye-Fi Explore Video).

Roxio has announced Roxio PhotoShow Touch, a version of the company’s multimedia slideshow creation and online sharing application designed specifically for multi-touch, Windows 7-based systems. PhotoShow Touch enables users to compose and share slideshows using simple finger gestures to directly manipulate objects on screen. Users can reorder and rotate photos, then tap to select a pre-defined PhotoShow Style. The one-tap styles automatically generate a polished production, complete with animated introduction, soundtrack, and appropriate transitions based on a theme such as Sports, Music Videos, Greeting Cards, Vacations, Birth Announcements, and many more. PhotoShow Touch is expected to be available shortly on PCs from major manufacturers. The application is part of a new range of products from Roxio for Windows 7 and the emerging Touch-Screen and Netbook PC segments.