Photo Iconic have unveiled their new photography courses for autumn 2008, which includes a course on shooting fireworks. Tuition is by award-winning photographers Chris Coe and Nick Meers, with digital imaging expertise provided by Photoshop guru Terry Steeley. Photo Iconic’s one, two and three-day photography courses start from £145.

Adobe have released the final candidate versions of Camera Raw 4.5 and DNG Converter 4.5 for both Windows and Mac platforms. Version 4.5 includes the following changes:

- Newly supported camera models include:
  * Olympus E 420
  * Olympus E 520
-  Compatibility with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 (Camera Raw)

Website: Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 (Windows)
Website: Adobe Camera Raw 4.5 (Mac)

TrustedReviews have reviewed the 10.1 megapixel Samsung L210 digital camera.

“The Samsung L210 is an ambitious camera, a budget ultra-compact with optical image stabilisation, a technology usually only found in more expensive cameras. While it does make an attractive package for the price the rest of the camera is still very much budget-level, and it doesn’t really compete with more expensive IS compact models from other manufacturers. Low light focusing and overall shooting performance are especially poor.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Samsung L210 Review

There are just 3 days left to enter! We’ve teamed up with Ricoh UK to offer one very lucky winner the chance to win the brand new Ricoh GX200 digital camera, complete with the VR-1 electronic viewfinder, worth a total of £399.

The Ricoh GX200 is a high-end, 24 mm super-wide-angle, optical zoom, digital compact camera featuring a high resolution 12 megapixel CCD coupled with the latest imaging engine SIE III. The Ricoh GX200 was awarded 4.5/5 - Highly Recommended in our recent review.

It’s simple to enter - just make sure you subscribe to the PhotographyBLOG Newsletter, and on Friday 1st August 2008, one name will be randomly selected to win this great prizes.

Website: Win a Ricoh GX200 Digital Camera!

The Pentax Optio M60 is a new 10 megapixel compact camera with a 5x zoom lens. The Pentax M60 has a metal body, 36-180mm lens, Advanced Auto Picture mode, High-speed Face Recognition and 2.5-inch LCD monitor. Designed to be easy to operate, the new Mode palette provides quick access to 24 shooting and 15 playback modes. Available in 3 colours, silver, pink and blue, price and availability of the Pentax Optio M60 are still to be confirmed.

The Pentax Optio E60 is a new entry-level, 10 megapixel digital camera. The E60 offers a 3x, 32-96mm zoom lens, Auto Picture, Face Recognition, High Sensitivity Digital Shake Reduction modes, and an Image Recovery function to retrieve accidentally-erased images. The Pentax E60 will be available in black in October for under US $140.00.

CorrectPhoto 3.1 now allows you to to create black and white and sepia tone photos with a single mouse click. “CorrectPhoto is an extremely easy-to-use program that really simplifies working with digital photos.  It is especially useful for beginners and those who do not want to spend a lot of time editing photos or learning a complicated photo editing program ,” said Craig Huelskoetter, president. CorrectPhoto with ImageTitler costs $39.95 as a software download. A free trial version is also available.

The RAW converter software Silkypix Developer Studio now supports the Canon Digital Rebel XS / EOS 1000D, Ricoh GX200 and Fujifilm FinePix S100FS cameras. Version 3.0.22.2 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 3.0.22.2

The Fantasea Line FSD-770 is a new underwater housing for the Canon PowerShot SD770 IS / IXUS 85 IS and SD1100 / IXUS 80 digital cameras. Depth rated to 60 meters / 200 feet, the FSD770 provides access to all camera functions, and has a double O-ring seal on all controls, anti-glare hood over LCD screen, removable flash diffuser and a 46mm threaded lens port. As with all other Fantasea Camera Housings, in the event of accidental water leakage, the camera inside is insured. The Fantasea Line FSD-770 will be available in September.

Nikon has released a new version of its RAW codec, which lets you view NEF files within Windows. Version 1.4.0 principally adds support for the new D700 DSLR camera.

Ver.1.4.0 changes
  * Supports NEF (RAW) images taken with the D700.
  * Reflects the effects of optional Picture Controls.
  * Reflects the effects ISO sensitivity settings below ISO 200 (LO 0.3–LO 1.0).
  * Reflects the effects of the TN-A2 NEF (RAW) color filter in Capture NX.

Website: Nikon RAW Codec 1.4.0

Renowned author Scott Kelby is organising the first-ever worldwide Photo Walk – 100 cities around the globe – on Saturday, August 23rd. Celebrate the release of Kelby’s latest book - The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers - Kelby’s Photo Walk is a fun, social photography event where photographers get together for two hours to walk around and shoot photos. Photo Walk groups are limited to 50 participants in each city and advance registration is required. A grand prize, valued at $5000, will be awarded to the single best overall photo of the day taken from all the Photo Walk locations.

Ricoh have released a new firmware update for the GX200 compact digital camera. Version 1.10 includes the following changes:

- It may look inverted in high brightness parts during monitoring in some occasions.
- With using the VF-1, if you take a picture in multishot with RAW, and with Macro, focusing performance may become slow to take time until focus on.
• Improved the accuracy of level compensation at taking a picture with Auto Levels in the Image setting.
• Corrected the information of shooting setting in the captured images to correspond to them in the both a DNG file and the JPEG file recorded with a DNG file.

Website: Ricoh GX200 Firmware Update 1.10

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 features dual-monitor support, non-destructive localised image correction, and streamlined search capabilities. Lightroom 2 is Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS Microsoft Windows Vista operating systems, and also provides improved memory performance for dealing with large scale images. The new Local Adjustment Brush lets photographers fine-tune specific areas of an image to precisely adjust colour, exposure and tonal range without affecting other areas of the image. Adobe Lightroom 2 is available now, priced at £175 / $299 for new users, with an upgrade price of £69 / $99.

PCMag have reviewed the Nikon D60, a 10 megapixel entry-level DSLR camera.

“When a camera manufacturer releases a pricey D-SLR, it had better have killer features or some sort of hook to entice current users to upgrade to the latest model or to get new customers to take the plunge. The Nikon D60, while a very good camera, doesn’t really deliver in that regard. With a 2.5-inch LCD, a 10.2-megapixel CCD sensor, and lacking a Live View system, the D60 is nearly identical to its predecessor, the D40. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because the D40x is a significant step up from a simple point-and-shoot camera, but I wish the D60 offered more new features.”

Website: PCMag - Nikon D60 Review

Website: Read our Nikon D60 Review

The-Digital-Picture have just reviewed the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM II Macro lens.

“I was very disappointed to yet receive another front-focusing copy of the Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM II Macro Lens on my third attempt. Two of these lenses came from B&H and a third came from Amazon.com (just to mix things up). I tested these lenses on two Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III bodies (one is Canon-calibrated) and a Canon EOS 40D body. All delivered the same AF results - consistently front-focusing. I don’t plan to try a fourth copy.”

Website: The-Digital-Picture - Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 Lens Review

Take Your Best Shot is a new book which provides informed answers to the questions serious photographers ask most often. Based on author Tim Grey’s popular Digital Darkroom Questions daily email newsletter, this colorful new reference shows you how to overcome technical and creative obstacles. “The Digital Darkroom Questions (DDQ) started as a total experiment,” explains Grey. “Part of the motivation for the DDQ email was my notion that people learn well in the question and answer format. I had been answering questions for about six years when publishers began telling me what a great book it would make. I agreed. So I decided it was time to make it happen.” Take Your Best Shot is available now for $34.99 / £21.99.

The new Freecom Mobile Drive XXS is the world’s smallest 2.5-inch external hard drive. Weighing in at just 155g, the Mobile Drive XXS is 27% smaller than its closest competitor, but still offers up to 320GB of mobile backup. The Freecom Mobile Drive XXS will be available from the end of July 2008, priced at £44.99 for the 160Gb, £59.99 for the 250Gb, and £79.99 for the 320Gb.

29% of UK households will contain a digital photo frame by 2011, according to a recent survey by Futuresource Consulting. “The Digital Photo Frame is a popular gift item and this is helping to fuel sales,” says Simon Bryant, Principal Consultant, Futuresource. “In 2007, the Western European DPF market exploded, reaching 3.8 million units. That’s up from just 0.6 million the year before, with Western Europe representing approximately 30% of global volumes.” The study was carried out online and targeted nearly 3,500 respondentsin France, Germany, Russia and the UK.

Nearly 40% of those who upload photos to the Internet do so on MySpace or Facebook, according to a new report by InfoTrends. The same sites were named as favourites by nearly half of the respondents who view others’ photos online. Online printing is still big business, with a shift towards ordering on the net but collecting at a retail store, so they could get their prints faster and avoid paying for shipping. The Infotrends study was conducted in April 2008.

The Samsung innov8 is a new 8 megapixel camera phone. The innov8 uses the latest imaging applications such as smile shot, blink shot and face recognition. Users can enjoy personalizing and editing their photos, videos and music with Movie Maker and Story Board applications. The handset also acts as a digital photo frame, allowing users to display their favorite images on the 2.8-inch LCD screen. The Samsung innov8 will be launched in Europe in August, and then other markets during September.