DxOMark.com has just published new data for the Olympus E-410 and SP-570UZ cameras. DxOMark.com is a “controversial” website that attempts to “measure” image quality, or a few aspects thereof, using raw data from the sensor. Use of the site is free.

Website: DxOMark

Engadget’s readers have picked the Canon EOS 5D Mark II as the ‘Digital Camera of the Year.’ The readers’ opinion did not coincide with that of Engadget’s editors, who cast their vote in favour of the Nikon D90 instead.

Website: 2008 Engadget Awards: Readers’ Choice & Editors’ Picks
Review: Read our in-depth review of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Review: Read our in-depth review of the Nikon D90

AKVIS Software Inc. has just announced the release of AKVIS Sketch v.8.6 for Windows and Macintosh. AKVIS Sketch, available as a stand-alone application as well as a plugin to a photo editor, is a program that converts photos to pencil drawings and watercolour paintings. Version 8.6 improves the way a photo is converted into a watercolour painting and fixes the compatibility bug that caused the Sketch plugin to crash on Macintosh computers + Photoshop CS3/CS4. A home licence of AKVIS Sketch can be purchased for $72/€55, with a ten-day trial version available for free. The upgrade to version 8.6 is also available free of charge to registered users of earlier versions.

Tom Mackie Images will organise a landscape photography workshop on 5th-6th September 2009. Taking place in Norfolk, the event is designed to support all photographers to take their landscape photography to another level. “This exclusive two day workshop starts just before sunrise and then we go straight into an intensive but extremely enjoyable couple of days of shooting.  I will be showing the group my favourite shooting locations such as Norfolk’s expansive stunning coastline, the Broads, eye-catching windmills and much more,” award-winning landscape & architectural photographer Tom Mackie comments.

Photo sharing community website picli.com has moved out of beta into version 1.0. The site, which was founded exactly 2 years ago, is still run by just two guys from London, but has been entirely rebuilt, optimised and redesigned from the ground up. Among the improvements are a brand new interface, multiple photo uploads, publishing and privacy options and more. Use of the service is free of charge.

Travel guide publishers DK Eyewitness have just announced a photo contest. Open to amateurs, professionals and Under 16s alike, the DK Eyewitness Travel PhotoBritain Competition
invites UK residents to explore the different faces of Britain. The contest spans four categories; Iconic, Heritage, Wild and My Britain, with the winner awarded the prize of having their image published on the front cover of DK Eyewitness Great Britain 2010. Entries are accepted 30 March through 31 May. A selection of outstanding entries will be exhibited at Waterstone’s flagship store in Piccadilly, London, throughout July/August 2009. Read on for the details.

Fantasea Line has announced the FSD-770 underwater housing for the Canon Digital IXUS 95 IS digital camera. Depth rated to 60 metres, the FSD-770 is also compatible with the Digital IXUS 85 IS and 80 IS. The Fantasea FSD-770 housing has a double O-ring seal on all controls, anti-glare hood over the LCD screen, removable flash diffuser and a 46mm threaded lens port.

Black Rapid has appointed California Sunbounce as its European distributor of its innovative R-STRAP. The German firm is making the bold claim that the R-STRAP is the world’s most comfortable and quick-to-use camera strap for SLR users. Instead of looping around your neck, the R-Strap operates like a sling, sliding across your body. A locking mechanism connects the R-STRAP to the tripod socket located on either the camera body or the lens.

Tomorrow is the closing date of Panasonic’s online photo contest. Established in 2003, the Lumix Award is awarded each year to celebrate excellence in digital photography. This year’s theme is The Living Planet. The monthly prize for March is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 digital camera, while the overall winner of the Lumix Award competition will receive a Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 plus a 5-day trip for two to Cornwall, England, including two 3-day passes to the Eden Project.

Website: Panasonic Lumix Award

Helen Levitt, an American master of street photography, passed away peacefully yesterday. Levitt was born on 31 August, 1913, started to work for a commercial portrait photographer in 1931, and purchased her first Leica in 1936, not long after an encounter with Henri Cartier-Bresson. She went on to become famous for her street photographs of New York City, including poorer neighbourhoods such as Spanish Harlem. Although she liked black and white, Levitt was one of the first truly gifted street photographers to use colour film from 1959 onward.

Website: Obituary in The New York Times

Current users of NikonCapture NX 2.0 and 2.1.1 will be entitled to download a free update in early April. The new version, Capture NX 2.2, offers improved batch processing speed, support for the NRW format - introduced along with the Nikon Coolpix P6000 -, a vignette control function utilising lens information, and axial colour aberration correction.

Website: Free download service for Capture NX 2 (Ver. 2.2) update
Review: Read our in-depth review of the Nikon Coolpix P6000
Review: Read our Canon PowerShot G10 vs. Nikon Coolpix P6000 head-to-head review

Sigma has announced a firmware update for the Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM for FourThirds. This update improves the communication between the lens and FourThirds bodies featuring sensor-shift image stabilisation, enabling the Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM to transmit all the information necessary for the camera’s processor to calculate the right amount of sensor movement. Sigma warns that updating your lens’ firmware is done at your own responsibility.

Website: Firmware update program for SIGMA’s FourThirds mount lenses

Bogen Imaging has announced the launch of four new Manfrotto Baby Lightweight Stands. The new Baby Lightweight Stands are extendable to between 240cm and 385cm, with various payloads between 4kg and 10kg and all feature the new Quick Stack System (QSS) patented by Manfrotto. Available in four models: the 1051BAC and 1052BAC can hold loads of up to 4kg and 5kg respectively and have collars and spider casting made of Adapto, the technical polymer specifically developed by Manfrotto that’s 50% lighter than aluminium; the 1004BAC and 1005BAC (9kg and 10kg respectively) in aluminium. They all feature a 3/8’’ screw top fixing with a 1/4’’ adapter. Read on for more information, including prices.

PowerShovel Ltd. have released a snap-together 35mm film camera with a 28mm lens. If you have ever wanted to shoot with a camera that was built by yourself, but a lack of manual dexterity has prevented you from being able to do so, now’s your chance to fulfill your dream. This do-it-yourself camera promises to be just as easy to assemble as a Kinder Surprise toy, and fully functional to boot. Something tells us that corner sharpness - or indeed sharpness as such - might not be up there with the best glass money can buy, but at $17, this camera will certainly not break the bank.

Website: Do-it-yourself 35mm film camera at Unica
Website: PowerShovel Ltd.

Kaiser Fototechnik has just introduced ProDisk, a universal tool for managing white balance, exposure and colour. The ProDisk combines a grey card, a white balance filter and a colour checker in a slim folding plastic housing. The grey card and the colour checker are normally placed within the scene and are helpful tools for exposure metering or a follow-up colour comparison. When doing a manual white balance the translucent white balance filter with its special surface pattern needs to be held in front of the lens. The Pro Disk is available in two sizes, ProDisk mini and ProDisk II.

The MSRP is €59.99 for the ProDisk mini and €69.99 for the ProDisk II.

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)