The Lomographic Society has introduced a new 35mm film with a sensitivity of ISO 6/9° and one of the highest resolutions ever found in a colour negative film. The KONO! Donau's atypically low speed makes it perfect for experimenting with long exposures in broad daylight. An additional feature of this new film is the lack of an orange mask, which may make it easier to scan. When printed traditionally, the film washes photos with extremely blueish tones and renders all colours in a unique way for a captivating look. Because of its boutique nature, the KONO! Donau is available in very limited quantities on a first-come, first-served basis, priced at £27 / €35 (for a 3-pack).

The Lomographic Society has just introduced the Lomo'Instant Wide instant film camera. Featuring a moderate wide-angle 90mm lens, the Lomo’Instant Wide uses Fujifilm Instax Wide film, which has an exposure area of 64mm x 99mm. The lens cap of the Lomo’Instant Wide doubles as a remote control that allows easy and convenient self-portraits, group photos and long exposures. The camera has three different shooting modes including Auto, Bulb and a Fixed Shutter Speed mode for studio settings. The Lomo'Instant Wide comes with a built-in flash as well as a standard Prontor-Compur sync terminal, allowing users to attach an external flash unit to the camera. This latest Lomo model is being produced in small batches, one edition at a time, which means pre-orders will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Delivery for the first batch is estimated to begin early December 2015.

Fujifilm has announced the new Instax Mini 70 instant film camera featuring an updated design, a special selfie mode and an automatic flash. Weighing in at 281g, the Fujifilm Instax Mini 70 comes with a fixed-mount, retractable 2-element lens with a focal length of 60mm and a relative aprture of f/12.7. Other key highlights include an improved viewfinder for enhanced subject viewing; automatic exposure and flash functions, a special high-key shooting mode and a tripod mount. The Fujifilm Instax Mini 70 will be available in November 2015 in Canary Yellow, Moon White and Island Blue for $139.95. In the UK, the camera will go on sale in late October for £99.99 including 10 shots of instax mini film.

Impossible have just launched their new Instant Film Starter Pack. Consisting of 3 packs of film, the starter pack comes complete with a list of tips on how to make the most of every photograph. There are two options available, the Starter Pack Film combined with a Polaroid 600 camera priced at €150, and the Starter Pack film alone for €52 for those who already have an original Polaroid camera but have not had the chance to start using it yet. Both are available from the website below.

The Impossible Project has announced an instant film collaboration with Skateistan, an international not-for-profit organisation that uses skateboarding to change kids' lives. Starting out as a grassroots 'Sport for Development' project on the streets of Kabul in 2007, Skateistan has become an award-winning, international NGO with projects in Afghanistan, Cambodia and South Africa. Influenced by Afghan textiles, the special-edition, black-and-white Skateistan instant film features eight white frames decorated with the signature Skateistan details. “Having enjoyed working with Impossible last year we were excited to further cement our relationship,” said Skateistan founder and Executive Director Oliver Percovich. “It is a fantastic feeling to think that people will be shooting our film all over the world and in turn creating more opportunities and empowering the young people that we work with.” The film is available online from the Impossible website for €21.

ICELAND. An Uneasy Calm is a new hardback coffee table book featuring 98 toned black-and-white photographs taken in Iceland over the last eight years by landscape photographer Tim Rudman. Tim, who describes his fascination with the country as “a land of myth and magic, of fearsome subterranean power and spectacular scenery,” is well known internationally for his pioneering work in Lith Printing and distinctive toning methods of black-and-white silver gelatine prints, authoring a number of books and hundreds of articles in this field. The images featured in his latest book were captured on Ilford film (mostly Ilford Delta Professional 120) and printed on Ilford Multigrade FB Warmtone paper developed in Ilford multigrade developer, processed using a variant of the Ilford Archival Process. ICELAND. An Uneasy Calm is available to preorder from the website below. The standard edition costs £45 + shipping (regular price: £55), and the Deluxe Collectors' Limited Edition, which comes in an elegant black silk-bound clamshell box with a handmade limited edition silver gelatine print, is priced at £285. Shipping is anticipated mid September 2015.

Fujifilm are retiring some of their 220, 120 and 135 format films and plan on raising the prices of a number of their remaining film products. SKUs destined for discontinuation include five-packs of Velvia 50, Velvia 100, Provia 100F and Fujicolor PRO 160NS in 220 format; Provia 400X in 135 and 120 formats; and Velvia 100F in 4"x5" and 8"x10" sheets. Some of these products will be withdrawn from the market in December 2015, while others will be retired during 2016-2017 (see website below for details). Meanwhile, several remaining film stocks and disposable film cameras will see a price hike of ~20% on average.

Website: Fujifilm Japan

Impossible is inviting photographers around the world to join them on a virtual tour of their factory via the new video streaming app, Periscope. Located in Enschede, Netherlands the iconic factory was the last standing Polaroid factory, with Impossible obtaining it in 2008 to begin their own journey to save instant film. The live virtual tour, which begins today at 12:30pm BST, will give an insight to key film development processes and a glimpse into how Impossible instant films are made. In order to join the tour you need to download the Periscope app and give @Impossible_HQ a follow on Twitter. The streams will be available on Impossible's Periscope feed for 24 hours for those who missed the live stream.

Photographer Pascal Kulcsár has built an automated slide "scanner" using commercially available LEGO pieces. The impressive contraption comprises a motorised slide transport system, a lightbox, a tripod-mounted digital SLR camera and a laptop; and requires absolutely no user intervention. Using his invention, Mr Kulcsár successfully digitised a wealth of photographs captured by his grandfather who has recently passed away at the age of 94.

One of the first commercially viable 35mm colour motion picture cameras (pictured) will be auctioned by Special Auction Services in Newbury on 2nd July. Invented by George Albert Smith of Brighton, England in 1906, Kinemacolor cameras were used in the UK from 1908 to 1914. Hugo Marsh, Director of Special Auction Services says: “This camera is a really rare find – the cameras and film were extremely expensive when new so very few were made and each of the handful of survivors is significantly different - making them all the more sought after now.” Also included in the two day auction will be a single owner collection of 500 cameras that are expected to fetch in excess of £120,000. One of the earliest examples included in the collection is a 1860s wet plate camera that carries an estimate of £600-800. Day two of the sale comprises a collection of in excess of 200 Leica cameras, including a Reporter 250 (£2,000-3,000), the Leica IV Compur (rim set) estimated at £1,000-1,500 and more than 30 of the legendary M Series Rangefinder cameras with estimates from £200-800 each.

The Lomographic Society has announced its third Film Photography Day. Starting at 11am on April 11th, the twelve-hour event offers an in-store raffle, a Konstruktor building competition and various photography workshops & challenges. The Lomographic online community will also be rewarded for snapping away on Film Photography Day as the Society is organising an online contest, with the main prizes being 100 rolls of film and a Petzval lens.

The Lomographic Society has announced the Lomo'Instant Boston Edition Package. This funky little instant film camera features a built-in wide-angle lens plus fisheye and portrait lens attachments, and works with the widely available Fujifilm Instax Mini film. The latest addition to the Lomo’Instant family features bold colours and strong lines, and comes complete with the Fisheye, Portrait and Close Up lens attachments as well as the brand new Lomo’Instant Splitzer, a must-have slice and dice accessory for shooting multiple exposures. The Lomo'Instant Boston Edition Package is available in the Lomography Online Store for £129/$169..

Impossible have released four new colour films for Polaroid 600 and Polaroid SX-70 instant cameras. The new film frames your images ‘in the round’ within the borders of a Polaroid-format instant photo, rather than the classic square, making it well-suited to portraiture and still-life photography. Based on a limited-run Polaroid instant film produced in Europe a decade ago, round frame film was re-introduced by Impossible in a B&W 600 version, late last year. Pricing for the colour version starts at €21 for a single pack.

The Lomographic Society have just relaunched their website, lomography.com. The site has been totally redesigned and is now optimised for all screen sizes. It also has a number of new features and improvements including a new uploader, new photo filtering optins and a dedicated Shoutbox. "For now, we realise that some much-loved features from the old site such as LomoWalls are not yet integrated," Lomography says. "We will be polishing these and rolling them out one by one to best work your feedback in."

Ilford Photo have published the findings of a recent survey designed to help them better understand film users. Thousands of film photographers from over 70 countries completed the questionnaire, and 30% of them turned out to be under 35, with three-fifths of them using film for less than 5 years. "For many of those the interest began after receiving a film camera as a gift from family or a friend," the company says. "Thanks to the film users who took part in this survey, we have confirmed what we thought, which is that the recent growth in film sales can be attributed to the new users coming through." Of those who responded, 98% used black and white film with 31% shooting it exclusively. Just 2% use only colour film. Interestingly 86% of respondents used roll film, and the Lomo and Holga cameras proved popular in this category.

Inspired by the Hungarian Fortepan project, the University of Northern Iowa has announced the establishment of a new public digital photo archive featuring curated photos made by ordinary Iowans over the 20th century. Taking its name from a panchromatic black-and-white film stock manufactured in Hungary right up to the closure of the Forte plant in 2007, the original Fortepan archive started out as a private project of collectors Ákos Szepessy and Miklós Tamási, borne out of a desire to demonstrate that photos - even "artistically worthless" snapshots - taken by ordinary people can help us better understand the history of the 20th century. Thanks to donations, the collection has grown to include over forty thousand digitised black-and-white and colour photographs, from a pseudo-bucolic idyll dating back to 1900 to a 1990 photograph of a still-standing section of the Berlin wall. Based on this project, the new Fortepan Iowa archive will display thousands of photographs along a sliding interactive timeline and invite visitors to horizontally scroll through highly curated, well-documented photographs digitised at "tremendously high resolution," the university says. The open-source platform will inspire visitors to engage digitally with the high-quality images — a rare opportunity in a heavily copyrighted age. Fortepan Iowa will launch in March 2015 with at least 2,000 photos in the archive.

The Lomography Online Shop - and some Gallery Stores - now stock Lumi products, which allow you to print your favourite analogue photos on fabric, "It all starts with a special liquid called Inkodye, a photosensitive dye which is activated by light or UV. You can then use negatives of favorite photos and fabric to block light from activating inkodye, leaving you with cool designs," the company says. "The perfect tool for your next creative project or a lovely gift in the upcoming holiday season." Billed as a simple DIY alternative to screen-printing powered by sunlight, Inkodye works on cotton, linen, silk, rayon, canvas, or any other natural and absorbent material. Once finished, your print is soft, permanent and can be machine washed without fading.

To celebrate the production of a million packs of film in less than a single calendar year, Impossible is offering three people the chance to win a set of three original Polaroid cameras and the entire family of Impossible film. To win one of the three prize sets, you have to find a golden darkslide hidden in the cassette of an Impossible 600-type instant film. You must then email to Impossible an image of the dark slide, showing the verification number, along with your full name and address, and the correct answers to two questions: 1) In what year did Impossible buy the last factory in the world making Polaroid instant film? 2) In which country is this factory located? The competition closes at 11:59pm on 30th December.

Lomography has just announced the  Diana F+ Explorer Nocturne medium-format film camera. Limited to only 1000 units worldwide, the Diana F+ Explorer Nocturne Edition features a copper color scheme and a starry night sky design, and comes complete with a matching flash unit. The camera is available in the Lomography Online Shop for £89.

The first Hasselblad camera ever to be used in space was sold for $281,250 at a special auction in Boston yesterday. A UK-based Internet bidder beat off all comers to the legendary 500c first used by astronaut Wally Schirra on a Mercury Atlas mission back in 1962. “The previous owner had bought this Hasselblad in 1994 for a little under $15,000…. which goes to show how vibrant the growth is in space artefacts," RR Auction vice-president Bobby Livingston said. "The final figure of just over $281,250 well exceeded our pre-auction estimate of between $50,000 and $100,000.”