Today we bring you our in-depth review of the brand new Canon 5D Mark II DSLR. This full-frame, 21 megapixel update of the popular 5D Mark I is the world’s first DSLR to feature full HD 1080p video recording. The 5D Mark II also offers an extensive ISO range of 50-25600, 3 inch LCD screen with 920k dots, 3.9 fps continuous mode, Live View and built-in dust removal. Retailing for £2299 / $2699 / €3299, we find out if the Canon EOS 5D Mark II is the ultimate prosumer DSLR.

Website: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Review

Adobe has announced plans to reduce its workforce by 600 full-time positions worldwide. The shortfall in fourth quarter revenue was mainly caused by weaker-than-expected sales of Creative Suite 4. “The global economic crisis significantly impacted our revenue during the fourth quarter,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive officer. “We have taken action to reduce our operating costs and fine-tune the focus of our resources on key strategic priorities.”

Get your photo published in a glossy photo coffee table book by entering Datacolor’s “The Real Colors of my Life” competition. 30 winners will have their work featured, with the overall winner receiving a one week workshop with Tuscany Photographic Workshop. Entries to The Real Colors of my Life will be accepted from now until the 31st of January 2009 and can be in colour or black and white.

Jalbum Widgets are a free and simple way to display images on any web site. You can now incorporate face detection and tagging, build conversations around images, monitor popularity and enable any viewer to spread the word. “Our users trust Jalbum to continuously leap-frog static photo sharing tools,” said David Ekholm, Jalbum Founder and CTO. “The widgets we release today are a reflection of the Jalbum community’s desire to challenge the frontiers of digital image display.” Over four million downloads of Jalbum software have been recorded.

The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Photography by Jim Miotke is a book that puts you fully in control of your digital camera. Jim de-mystifies technical topics in several clear, simple lessons and photo assignments. Illustrated with inspiring photos. When you buy a copy of The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Photography from Amazon.com, you’ll get a wide array of fantastic special bonus extras - but only for today. The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Photography costs $16.47.

Update: This special promotion is now being repeated today (4th December).

Fujifilm have released a new firmware update for the FinePix S5 Pro DSLR camera. Version 1.12 incorporates the following issue.

An issue that, in some rare case, the camera may be frozen when PC controlling software (included in “Hyper Utility?HS-V3”) is used, has been resolved.

Website: Fujifilm S5 Pro Firmware Updates

Wacom are offering 50% off Photoshop CS4 to Intuos3 or Cintiq users. When you buy any Intuos3 tablet or Cintiq interactive pen display, you can now get Adobe Photoshop CS4 for only $299, at least 50% off retail. This special upgrade offer is available to customers who received a bundled version of Photoshop Elements with their Wacom Pen Tablet, is limited to one order per person, and only applies in the United States.

Website: Wacom Photoshop CS4 Offer

CorrectPhoto 3.2 is the latest version of PictoColor’s easy to use digital photo editor. Version 3.2 now features PictoColor’s proprietary AutoRez Crop to Fit technology, which retains the resolution of the original image after cropping. CorrectPhoto costs $39.95 as a software download. A free trial version of CorrectPhoto 3.2 is also available.

Douglas Photographic’s latest Grey Card provides better, more consistent colour balance in your images. The Douglas Photographic Grey Card Mark II works across the widest range of illumination, including tungsten, daylight, flash and warm fluorescent tubes and is more compact than the previous version.
“Neither the grey or white sides contain artificial brighteners – the sort of thing used in household detergents”, explains Douglas Green, proprietor. “They are found in many other grey cards and they do affect exposure readings. The Douglas offers a truly stable, reliable reference point for the photographer to calculate correct exposure.” The Douglas Grey Card is available now from Douglas Photographic and costs £14.75.

Paradise Lost by Georg Gerster is a new book featuring 102 colour photographs of Persia taken by the pioneer of aerial photography. Gerster’s collection captures archaeological sites, ziggurats and ancient citadels, as well as seldom seen images of modern life in Iran, in ski resorts and densely-packed cities, between 1976 and 1978. Paradise Lost by Georg Gerster is available now for £35 / € 49.95, published by Phaidon Press.

3songs.net is a new website dedicated to live concert photography. It will focus on the techniques, equipment, tricks, and hacks that will take you to the top of your game. Every day, 3Songs will feature an article by a working professional concert photographer. 3songs are currently inviting you to participate iby submitting technical concert-photography articles, called Show Debriefings, and targeted at other concert photographers.

Website: 3songs.net

The Pentax K200D entry-level digital DSLR camera has been officially discontinued. In what could be the shortest ever life-span for a DSLR camera, the K200D has been included on the list of Pentax DSLRs discontinued in the Japanese market. The 10 megapixel, weather-sealed K200D was first announced in January 2008. RiceHigh’s Pentax Blog has some interesting observations on the fate of the K200D.

Website: Pentax - Digital SLR Camera Lineup (Models discontinued in the Japanese market)

Website: RiceHigh’s Pentax Blog - K200D Discontinued

The winners of the November 2008 PhotographyBLOG Competition have been selected by a panel of judges. The theme for November was “Innocence” - you can view all of the entries in this gallery. Here are the 5 winners:

1st Place
Sarah by Igor

Prize: CanvasRus 40 x 30” Canvas Print
Kindly donated by CanvasRus
http://www.canvasrus.co.uk

DxO Optics Pro 5.3.1 adds support for the new Canon EOS 50D and Nikon D90 DSLR cameras. In addition, a 33% discount is available on all DxO Optics Pro editions and upgrades until December 31st 2008, up to 90 € in savings. All customers who purchased DxO Optics Pro since August 1, 2007 are entitled to a free upgrade to version 5.

DxO FilmPack 2 adds new films, color filters and interface improvements. FilmPack simulates silver halide films, allowing you to recreate in one click the “magic” look of film on your digital images. Among the 27 new film profiles added to DxO FilmPack v2, 7 simulate Instant film profiles (Polaroid and Fuji) and 3 Infrared film profiles (Kodak and Rollei). DxO are also offering an introductory discount of 47 € (instead of 79 €), representing a 32 € discount, valid until December 31st 2008.

Leading nationwide architectural practice ADP has launched its first photography competition, Bricks and Mortals. The winner will be awarded a £1000 commission to photograph one of ADP’s completed buildings, plus £750 worth of camera equipment vouchers. Open to higher and further education students, in their final year of photography and similar courses, as well as Part II and Part III architectural students, the Bricks and Mortals judges will be lloking for the entry that best captures the subtle interaction between people and the built environment. Closing date for entries is 30th January 2009.

Geotate has upgraded its GPS Web-Service for adding location tags to digital images. “This upgrade of our Internet-based web-service coincides with the first Geotate technology-enabled products using our technology, being used by photographers.  It represents another step in our ability to engineer innovative technology into market leading products,” said CTO Chris Marshall. Geotate’s software is used in JOBO’s photoGPS, amongst other products, and it allows you to record and discover the location where you took your pictures and videos.

The GrafiLite Mode from Colour Confidence provides a convenient source of natural daylight for assessing prints. The new GrafiLite Mode (£85/€125 ex. tax) offers the same viewing accuracy as the original GrafiLite model, but over a larger area. “Because artificial lighting can distort your colour perception, the best way to assess prints or proofs is in natural daylight – but of course, that isn’t available 24 hours a day”, comments Simon Prais, Technical Director of Colour Confidence. “The GrafiLite range offers a choice of convenient ways to recreate these conditions whenever and wherever you need them.” Colour Confidence is also launching a GrafiLite Twin Pack (£94/€150).

The RAW converter software Silkypix Developer Studio now supports the Sony A900, Pentax K-m / K2000, Casio EX-FH20, Panasonic DMC-G1 and Canon PowerShot G10 cameras. Version 3.0.26.1 is available as a free upgrade for registered users. Silkypix Developer Studio 3.0 costs $149.00 and a free trial version is available.

Website: Silkypix Developer Studio 3.0.26.1

The Nikon Solutions Expo professional photography show takes place next week. Held on 9-10th December at Olympia Conference Centre, London, Nikon Solutions Expo covers the complete photography workflow, from inspiration, to tips and advice on getting the right shots, to software processing and printing. A selection of high profile photographers will also be giving talks at the show, including Alex Bailey, Joe Cornish and Donovan Wylie. Entry to the Nikon Solutions Expo is free when you register online.