The jurors of the Photography.Book.Now 2009 competition have been announced. We wrote about this $25,000 competition at the beginning of this month, when it opened, saying, “the contest celebrates self-published photography books and the photographers behind them”. The lead judge, Darius Himes, was already known back then, but the organisers now named the other jurors as well. Read on to find out who they are.

Major online retailers now list the Sigma DP2, accepting pre-orders. Amazon and B&H both quote a price of $649 for the camera, though neither has it in stock yet. Amazon says, “usually ships within 1-2 months”, while B&H expects the it to become available by May. The Sigma DP2 is a compact camera with a 41mm equivalent fixed-focal-length lens and a nearly APS-C sized Foveon sensor, first shown at Photokina 2008. Read on for the spec list.

Corel has announced its support for the new Wacom Intuos 4 professional pen tablet. Those using both Corel Painter 11 and the Wacom Intuos 4 can achieve “a heightened level of realism in digital art”, Corel claims. Corel Painter 11 has a trial version available for free, whereas the full version can be purchased individually or in a bundle with one of the Wacom Intuos 4 tablets. The bundle prices start from $547.95.

Panasonic Japan has disclosed the launch date of its new Lumix DMC-GH1 interchangeable-lens digital system camera. The Panasonic GH1, announced earlier this month, is the second Micro FourThirds camera, which closely resembles the Lumix DMC-G1 but adds HD video recording with continuous autofocus, high-quality stereo sound and manual exposure control in its Creative Movie mode. In a recent press release, Panasonic has revealed that the camera will hit the shelves on April 24th. Production will be limited to 5,000 units per month, at least initially.

Website: Panasonic Press Release (in Japanese)

PhotographyBB announced today the release of the 14th edition of the PhotographyBB Magazine Online. The March 2009 edition explores some of the issues facing photographers as of late; Photography and the Law. This month’s issue also features an in depth look at DSLR sensor sizes and how they relate to lenses, focal lengths, and crop factors. Additionally there are Photoshop and Lightroom tutorials for photographers to get the most out of their post processing techniques. PhotographyBB Online Magazine is available for free download.

This time around, we got word of an olive green Olympus E-3. We’ve told you this was a 2009 thing: Leica started it with the Leica M8.2 Safari Edition, then Pentax followed on with the Pentax K-m Olive, and now here’s the green version of the Olympus E-3. The guys over at dc.watch.impress.co.jp snapped a photo of it at the Photo Imaging Expo held in Tokyo, Japan. The olive green Olympus E-3 also features in Episode 7 of Olympus’ Global Warming Witness movie. However, unlike the Leica and the Pentax, the Olympus is not for sale - yet.

Photo credit: dc.watch.impress.co.jp

Calumet are to stage a UK-wide Hasselblad week starting March 30th. If you happen to be in the UK next week, you will be able to try out the Hasselblad H3D-II in a number of Calumet shops. The Bristol, Edinburgh and Nottingham outlets will host this event Monday through Friday, while in other shops, this will be a one-day affair. Hasselblad will also be demonstrating the HTS1.5 tilt and shift adapter as well as their Phocus software. The sessions are free of charge, but advance registration is required. Once registered, all you need to do is “turn up and start shooting”, says Alison Dodds, Calumet’s Product Manager for Hasselblad. Read on to find out about exact dates and locations.

Phase One has inked a deal with Mamiya Digital Imaging, to become a “major shareholder” in the Japan-based company. Looks like it’s medium-format week - just two days after Pentax’s announcement that the Pentax 645 Digital would finally see the light next year, Phase One and Mamiya have issued a press release saying the former is “making a significant financial investment” in Mamiya Digital Imaging, Ltd; allegedly to “accelerate the development of advanced, world-class medium format camera systems”. This entails Phase One taking on “strategic leadership” in R&D, marketing and ditribution management. Read on to find out about all the details.

British photographer Paul Graham has won the £30,000 Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. This award, originally set up 13 years ago by The Photographers’ Gallery in London, has been sponsored by the Deutsche Börse Group since 2005, and is claimed to be “the most prestigious photography prize in Europe today”. Graham, 53, was selected by the jury for his publication, A Shimmer of Possibility, which assembles images from everyday life in today’s America. Read on to learn about the other photographers shortlisted for this year’s award.

Photograph by Paul Graham, published here courtesy of The Photographer’s Gallery.

The Nikon D90 Companion by Ben Long is a new book from O’Reilly Media. This tutorial goes beyond exploring all the buttons and dials, and aims to teach readers about the art of photography as well. In that sense, it is more like a photography class built specifically around the D90 than simply a technical guide to a camera, the publisher claims.

Review: Read our in-depth review of the Nikon D90

Germany’s Reflecta GmbH have just announced the reflecta x³-Scan, successor to their budget x²-Scan 35mm film scanner. The new model boasts the same one-second-per-frame scanning speed and 1800ppi optical resolution as its immediate forebear, but adds a 2.4” LCD for immediate image review. Scanned images can be stored either in the 32-megabyte internal memory or on SD memory cards. You can hook the reflecta x³-Scan up directly to a television set via its TV-out port or a PC or Mac via USB - but it can also be used as a standalone device. The x³-Scan comes bundled with two film holders - one for up to 3 mounted slides and one for film strips of up to 6 six frames. The reflecta x³-Scan will cost 199 euros, with shipments commencing in April. Read on for the detailed specifications.

Focal Press have just released a number of new books about using Adobe Photoshop CS4. These include new editions of Creative Photoshop CS4 by Derek Lea, The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Layers Book by Richard Lynch, Black and White in Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom by Leslie Alsheimer and Bryan O’Neil Hughes, The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Dictionary by Philip Andrews, and two new titles: Digital Painting in Photoshop by Susan Ruddick Bloom, and Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers: The Ultimate Workshop by Martin Evening and Jeff Schewe. Printing with Adobe Photoshop CS4 by Tim Daly will be published in April to round out the list.

ADP has announced the winners of its student photography competition ‘Bricks and Mortals’. The competition focused on the relationship between people and buildings and was open to entries from higher education students in their final year of photography and similar courses, as well as Part II and Part III architectural students. The first prize goes to Simon Johnson, from the University of Edinburgh, for his photograph, ‘Figure’. Neil Boyd of Strathclyde University finished second with his entry, ‘Disrupted Space’. The third prize was awarded to Nicholas Humes of Queens University Belfast, for his photo, ‘Architecture Under the Obvious’.

Western Digital’s MyBook family of external hard drives has been expanded to include 2TB capacities. Yes that’s two terabytes - currently the largest available capacity in a single-drive system. The new 2 TB My Book family includes: My Book Studio Edition, My Book Mac Edition, My Book Home Edition and My Book Essential Edition models. All of these are available now except for the Mac Edition 2TB, which is forecast to hit the shelves next month. Estimated pricing ranges from $329.99 to $379.99, depending upon drive model.

Magnum photographers Paolo Pellegrin and Alex Majoli have been selected as the first two professional photojournalists to receive Getty Images grants for 2009. Two student PJs, Andy Spyra and Maximiliano Braun, are also getting grants from the agency. Paolo Pellegrin’s project is entitled “Iraqi Refugees”, Alex Majoli documents Brazil’s ‘hidden’ internal war in his ongoing work “Requiem for Samba”, Andy Spyra has chosen to report on the Kashmir Conflict, whereas Maximiliano Braun’s project, “Stay With Me”, focuses on families caring for a relative living in a vegetative state due to brain damage.

Canon have just unveiled the 15.1-megapixel Canon EOS EOS 500D / Rebel T1i digital SLR. The new camera is the first Rebel to feature HD video capture - 720p at 30fps as well as Full HD 1080p at 20fps. Other highlights include a Digic 4 image processor, 14-bit analog-to-digital conversion, a three-inch, 920,000-dot rear screen, Auto Lighting Optimiser, Creative Auto Mode and Live View. Continuous shooting is available at 3.4 frames per second, for up to 170 JPEG or 9 raw images when using a class 6 or higher SD or SDHC memory card. The Canon EOS 500D / Rebel T1i provides ISO speeds from ISO 100 up to ISO 3200 in whole stop increments, along with two additional high-speed ISO settings – H1: 6400 and H2: 12800. Live View comes in three flavours, Quick, Live and Face Detection Live. To combat any dust particles that may have settled on its 15.1-megapixel CMOS sensor, the Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit for the Canon EOS Rebel T1i / EOS 500D has been upgraded with a fluorine coating on the low-pass filter for better dust resistance.

The Canon EOS Rebel T1i / EOS 500D digital SLR is scheduled for delivery in May, at an estimated body-only price of $799.99. Throwing in an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS kit zoom will set you back an additional $100. In Europe, the recommended retail price is £869.99 / €999.99 for the body and £969.99 / €1139.99 for the afore-mentioned kit including VAT. There’s also an additional 500D kit with the EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens priced at £1399.99 / €1639.99.

Canon have revealed the Canon Speedlite 270EX flashgun, the successor to the Speedlite 220EX. The Japanese giant timed this announcement to coincide with that of the Canon EOS 500D digital SLR, marketed as the Canon EOS Rebel T1i in North America. The Canon Speedlite 270EX is a compact and lightweight external flash unit intended for use with Canon EOS SLRs and select PowerShot models. The guide number is 27 in metres, though the ISO speed at which this number is valid is not specified. The flash is claimed to recharge almost as quickly as its predecessor despite being powered by just two AA batteries, and enables bounce shooting in four positions between 0 and 90 degrees. A zooming head, a quick-lock mechanism and a metal mounting foot complete the picture.

The recommended retail price of the Canon Speedlite 270EX is £149.99 / €169.99 including VAT. Availability is forecast for early May.

ACD Systems have released the new ACDSee Picture Frame Manager, a program that promises a better overall experience for digital picture frame owners. This is a piece of software that you can install on your PC or Mac. When you connect a digital picture frame to your computer, ACDSee Picture Frame Manager lets you load, move, resize or delete photos with drag-and-drop simplicity. The software also optimises the resolution of digital photographs for the given picture frame, enabling optimal use of available memory and cutting down on picture load times. Managing multiple frames at the same time is also possible. The price is $39.99.

Website: ACDSee Picture Frame Manager

Iridient Digital have released RAW Developer 1.8.3, an update to their raw image processing software for Mac OS X. This update includes support for the Olympus E-620, Canon SX1 IS, Casio EX-FH20, recent Hasselblad backs and RAW files converted by Phocus software. Other highlights include GPS metadata export, improvements to the default tone curves for the Nikon D3X and Sony DSLR-A900 and updates to the default Nikon white balance presets for many models. Irident RAW Developer requires MacOS X 10.4.10 or later and costs $125. The update is free for existing users.

Website: Iridient RAW Developer 1.8.3 Release Notes