Akvis has announced free updates to Akvis Retoucher, Multibrush and Coloriage. The latest versions offer a new sharing feature, support for more raw file formats, and other improvements. The programs run on Windows XP/Vista/Win7/Win 8 and on Mac OS X 10.4-10.9.

The Instagramers Gallery - billed as the world's largest online photo gallery that also has two physical locations in Miami and Madrid - has announced the Instagramers Photo Prize featuring a grand prize of $100,000. Open to all Instagram users worldwide registered with InstagramersGallery.com, the Instagramers Photo Prize also offers daily prizes worth $1000 every day until 30 April 2014. The overall winner will be chosen from the daily Photo of the Day finalists.

Sony are set to unveil more new compact, bridge and mirrorless cameras at next month's CP+ show.

In a briefing held by Sony UK today, company representatives stated that a new ultra-zoom bridge camera will be announced in February with a faster processor than previous generations. The mystery product was demoed live with no annoying "Processing..." messages while images were saved, and burst shooting continuing indefinitely until the memory card is filled, albeit at a reduced frame-rate. The new super-zoom bridge model is just a small part of Sony's emphasis on faster speed for their 2014 cameras, which will also encompass faster auto-focusing speeds.

In addition to the bridge camera, new compact cameras will be announced in February, along with new compact system camera models at both the CP+ show and Photokina later in the year.

Meanwhile, the Sony Cyber-shot QX10 smartphone module apparently sold out in the UK during the Christmad period. Aided by strong sales of the more expensive QX100 model, the Sony QX series will definitely continue into the second generation.

Want to see exactly what the new Sony A5000 compact system camera looks like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of 30 photos of the Sony A5000 compact system camera.

Want to see exactly what the new Sony Cyber-shot W830 / W810 compact cameras look like in the flesh?

Check out our extensive hands-on gallery of 22 photos of the 20.1 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot W830 / W810 compact cameras.

This week we’re revealing our favourite products from last year in our annual awards, looking back at the essential photography kit that helped to define 2013.

Our eight and final award is for Camera of the Year 2013, which goes to the Sony A7R.

“The Sony A7R is the most revolutionary camera of 2013, bringing 35mm full-frame, interchangeable lens shooting to the masses both in terms of cost and size. Importantly the A7R is also well-built, a pleasure to use and delivers outstanding image quality.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Sony and the A7R!

Lexar will become an official supplier for the FIA World Rally Championship in 2014. This agreement will see Lexar provide a range of memory solutions to the championship promoter and its audio-visual production team to enable broadcast of the rallies to a global audience of 600 million viewers.  High-speed Lexar CompactFlash and microSD cards will capture on-board video from each World Rally car, whilst Lexar USB drives will be used to transfer stored data and video between locations.

Husband and wife team Anthony Epes and Diana Bird have announced a number of new workshops in their Cities at Dawn series. "The workshops focus on dawn and early morning photography - with our Paris and Venice workshops incorporating afternoon and evening photography walks also," the duo says. "Photographing cities at dawn is a photographers paradise. The light is incredible and the city is virtually empty." Click through / scroll down for the details.

Taking place from 1-4 March 2014 at the Birmingham NEC, The Photography Show will feature master photographers Rankin, Joe McNally and Steve McCurry, among others. Cassandra Grant, Event Manager, for The Photography Show, says, “Rankin, McNally and McCurry are some of the most influential photographers in the world. Their work speaks for itself and we are delighted that they will be talking at the inaugural Photography Show. We will have some more fantastic announcements to be making soon.” You can book your ticket now at the website below.

Arthur is a new photo portfolio app designed exclusively for iOS 7. "By using Flickr and 500px as the source of the photos, it’s very easy to integrate in your existing photo workflow," the developers say. "You don’t need to import all your photo sets, you choose which ones you want and Arthur will do the rest." Arthur is available on the iTunes App Store for $0.99 / £0.69 / €0,89.

From today until 4th February, Fxhome's HitFilm 2 Express and PhotoKey 6 Lite programs are available to download at no cost. Usually priced at £119/$149, HitFilm 2 Express is billed as "the best way to discover the excitement of making your own movies." Features include 2D and 3D effects, layer compositing, video tracking, light flares, lightning simulation, colour grading and more. Worth £30/$49, PhotoKey 6 Lite is a great introduction for those who have not tried green screen photography before because they thought it was too difficult or complicated. Joshua Davies, Fxhome founder said: “PhotoKey 6 Lite is much more powerful than many similar offerings, even at this low level. We want users to see how easy green screen photography can be and how easy it is to shoot, click and create for free.”

Fujifilm has launched an online teaser campaign for a new X-mount compact system camera (CSC), which bears a striking resemblance to the classically styled manual SLRs of yore. With a centrally positioned viewfinder hump, shutter speed, ISO and exposure compensation dials; the new Fujifilm X-mount camera certainly looks like an attractive and intriguing addition to the company's critically acclaimed line-up of interchangeable-lens cameras. As indicated by the image above, the camera will be announced on 28th January.

Website: Fujifilm

Harman technology, trading as Ilford Photo, has launched a website dedicated to helping film photographers who do not own a darkroom find a facility near their place of residence. A 2013 survey conducted by Ilford Photo has revealed that there are many photographers using film that have no direct access to a darkroom but would like to find one locally. It also highlighted that there are hundreds of private home darkrooms worldwide which the owners may be willing to share with fellow photographers. "If you are looking for a darkroom and there is none listed in the area you want you can place a 'marker' to indicate your interest," the company says. "Doing so may prompt someone who had not registered to do so and get in touch or may bring groups of photographers together in a common quest."

This week we’re revealing our favourite products from last year in our annual awards, looking back at the essential photography kit that helped to define 2013.

The DSLR Camera of the Year 2013 award goes to the Canon EOS 70D.

“The new Canon EOS 70D offers the best all-round combination yet of viewfinder, live view and movie shooting experience for a DSLR camera, backed up by excellent image quality from the 20 megapixel APS-C sensor, proven handling and fast performance, making it a very appealing do-it-all interchangeable lens camera that suits a lot of users.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Canon and the EOS 70D!

This week we’re revealing our favourite products from last year in our annual awards, looking back at the essential photography kit that helped to define 2013.

The Compact System Camera of the Year 2013 award goes to the Olympus OM-D E-M1.

“The combination of great image quality, an abundance of features, excellent auto focus, insane customisability and a robust dust-, drip- and freeze-proof body with a well-thought-out user interface do go a long way in justifying the cost...”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Olympus and the OM-D E-M1!

This week we’re revealing our favourite products from last year in our annual awards, looking back at the essential photography kit that helped to define 2013.

The Compact Camera of the Year 2013 award goes to the Fujifilm X20.

“...the Fujifilm X20 delivers such a winning combination of old and new that offers so many important improvements over the original model that we can heartily recommend it for new and X10 users alike.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Fujifilm and the FinePix X20!

Kenro has announced the UK availability of a series of multi-picture frames, the Bergamo range. Manufactured in wood with a high gloss lacquer finish, the 6-picture wall frames are supplied with double picture mats allowing two sizes of photos to be used. Managing Director of Kenro, Paul Kench commented: "These contemporary frames would show off a collection of professional photographs beautifully. The versatile and ultra-smart series are a must have for retailers, galleries and studios."

The new book, EarthArt - Colours of the Earth, features the stunning aerial photographs of Bernhard Edmaier. Taken with Hasselblad cameras, many of the images are also featured in the current issue of VICTOR Magazine. "Bernhard has been in the skies actively looking for scenes that demonstrate the rich diversity of the planet's natural colours, such as the blue colour of water and ice, the variegated greens of vegetation, the many shades of yellow, orange, red and brown of rocks and desert sand, the white and grey of glaciers and the surprising colour spectrum of volcanoes," Hasselblad says. "Ultimate quality has always been fundamental to his work, hence the need for a Hasselblad: having started out with analogue, Bernhard switched to the H System in 2007 and now works an H5D-60." The book is currently available from Amazon for £24.77.

The National Galleries of Scotland has announced the acquisition of a photographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. The formal portrait, captured by Julian Calder in August 2010, went on display yesterday at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. In this photograph Her Majesty The Queen is presented as Sovereign of The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of The Thistle, a chivalric Order that dates from the seventeenth century. Her Majesty wears the robes of the Order and insignia bearing the emblem of the thistle (the national flower of Scotland) and the cross of Saint Andrew. 

Lomography has launched an instant attachment for the Belair X 6-12 medium-format film camera. Designed for use with Fuji Instax Wide Film, the instant back comes in at £79, or it can be purchased with a Belair camera in discounted bundles. Of course, if want to shoot chromes or negatives, you can always replace the Instant Back on the Belair Instant Camera Kit with the regular 120 film back. Click through / read on for more details.