Oloneo has unveiled its new HDRengine, a computer program billed as “the fastest and most accessible HDR application to easily create superior HDR photos”. “Based on Oloneo PhotoEngine, the company’s flagship application for professional HDR and image processing, Oloneo HDRengine perfectly answers the needs of the beginners and enthusiasts looking for an accessible yet powerful application to create high-quality HDR photos quickly, without having to trouble themselves with the technicalities of HDR” said Antoine Clappier, President of Oloneo and main developer. “HDRengine is fast, easy to use and comes with many presets and automated tools to be productive instantly.” Available now at the special introductory price of $59 / €59, HDRengine handles over 380 different raw photo formats as well as JPEG and TIFF.

Cyberlink has released a new public beta version of PhotoDirector 3. The software can be downloaded for free and includes a wide array of new and improved features, including a complete set of new editing tools such as the Wrinkle Remover, Tooth Brush, Skin Smoother and Object Removal. All consumers and photographers that participate in the PhotoDirector 3 Beta program, and complete a survey or report a bug will receive MediaShow 5 (UK £29.99), CyberLink’s media management and slideshow tool, for free, and will have a chance to win a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera. Additionally, users who submit a testimonial describing their experience with PhotoDirector 3 Beta will have a chance to win a Nikon D3100 DSLR camera, PowerDirector 10 and the full version of the official release of PhotoDirector 3 when it’s available in early 2012.

Version 17.01 of PhotoLine is now available for download. Improvements versus the previous release include the addition a new Simple Browse window, image trimming, selective colour correction, smart object removal, “Liquid” scaling, new Quick Selection and Border Matting tools, and more. Available for Windows and MacOS X, PhotoLine sells for €59 through the website below. A 30-day trial version is also available.

Website: PhotoLine

PhotoPlace is a new iOS app that sorts geotagged photos by country, state/province and city based on the geographical co-ordinates (latitude and longitude) of the point of capture. The app has both a free and a paid (”Pro”) version, both of which are available on iTunes.

Light & Land has announced a brand new ‘journey of a lifetime’ photography tour along one of the most stunning and dramatic coastlines in the USA - Highway 1: The Famous Pacific Coast Highway. The tour, led by Landscape Photographer of the Year award winner Antony Spencer, will run from 28th May to 8th June 2012 with places limited to 10 guests. For more information or to book, visit the website below.

White Knight Press has just released the Photographer’s Guide to the Canon PowerShot S100, a 283-page guidebook available as a PDF or a 5.5x8.5-inch paperback. This book, written by Alexander S. White, is a follow-up to the author’s earlier guides to advanced compact digital cameras. Illustrated with over 200 photographs, the Photographer’s Guide to the Canon PowerShot S100 explains all operations, features, menus, and controls of the camera in clear language, providing guidance not only about how to accomplish things with the camera, but when and why to use certain features. The PDF version is available now for $9.95, while the paperback edition will retail for $24.95.

Leica has issued a firmware update for the Leica D-Lux 5 digital compact camera. Version 2.0 promises improved AF speed in the wide-angle range, simpler operation of fine adjustments in manual focusing mode, improved AWB precision in low light conditions, high-ISO noise reduction at ISO 1600/33° and ISO 3200/36°, a new Miniature effect in “My Colour Mode”, improved AE/AF Lock with the shutter release half depressed, the addition of a new “Active Mode” that reduces blur in movie recording when in motion, and the ability to manually adjust the LCD and external viewfinder settings via the menu. Additionally, you can now use long exposures of up to 250 seconds in manual mode. The firmware update can be downloaded, with an installation guide, from the Downloads area of the Leica D-Lux 5 page on the Leica Camera website.

Irudis, a new company founded by the creators of the highly acclaimed (if no longer updated) RawShooter | Essentials and RawShooter | Premium software, has released Tonalizer | VFX, a “photographic-style” grading tool for serious videographers. Available as a plug-in to Apple Motion, Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro, Tonalizer|VFX employs sophisticated per-frame, as well as temporal computations that take the dynamics of video footage into account. In addition to offering all the essential tools needed to make advanced tonal corrections, Tonalizer|VFX also incorporates noise reduction technology and software-based anti-aliasing to mitigate sampling related artifacts. The plug-in is available now for $179 through the website below.

Our fourth award this week is for the Compact Camera of the Year 2011.

Not many products earn our coveted Essential award, but the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V is one of the the lucky few. Taking on and beating the market-leading Panasonic TZ-series is no mean feat, but that’s exactly what Sony have done with the HX9V. It’s cameras like this that help keep the compact market alive.

“The Sony CyberShot DSC-HX9V is the best travel-zoom camera that we’ve reviewed to date. The HX9V offers a compelling mix of advanced features, excellent still image quality, and a class-leading video mode, all at a price that is competitive with its main rivals.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Sony and the Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V!

The new Pixel Blend Pro iPhone app enables users “to manipulate their digital photos in dramatic ways previously only possible with film”, says developer Michael Valdez. Pixel Blend was inspired by Polaroid SX-70 time zero film manipulation, a process that used original tools such as paperclips to distort the film’s soft emulsion into a beautiful new look. In the app, photographers can choose from unique tools to manipulate their photos. Based on the iPad app Pixel Blend HD, Pixel Blend Pro for the iPhone adds many new features including changing tool sizes, applying new textures, and an eraser tool. The app sells for $1.99 on iTunes.

The new Addonics 2.5 inch Flash Drive family allows common flash memory cards to be used like 2.5-inch SSDs (or 3.5-inch ones with the optional Addonics Snap-In 25 adapter). There are three models in the range, one for Compact Flash, one for CFast and one for mSATA-SSD media. The drive frame and the connector mimic the exact size and connector location of a 2.5 inch SATA hard drive. The price for the 2.5 inch flash drive is $24.95-$26.95 depending on which model you choose. The Snap-In 25 adapter is $15.99. For more information, visit the website below.

Zeiss has launched a photo contest with the theme “Every Moment Tells a Story”. Anyone can enter the contest provided the photos are shot with a Zeiss lens - any Zeiss lens, whether fixed-mount, interchangeable or one that’s built into a camera phone. Carl Zeiss encourages photographers from around the world to look for moments that fit the theme, and to submit their best image. “We look forward to seeing how the participants of our photography competition capture the moments of everyday life in their own individual style,” said Martin Dominicus, Head of Marketing of the Carl Zeiss Camera Lens Division. Photographers and photo enthusiasts have until Sundaym 15 January 2012 to upload their images to the official Carl Zeiss group on Flickr. The first prize is a Zeiss ZE or ZF.2 lens of the winner’s choice with exclusive engraving, a Carl Zeiss T* UV filter, camera strap and lens cleaning kit.

Sony Digital Network Applications have released Photo Movie Creator HD, an Android tablet app that allows you to present your photos in the form of a movie. All you need to do to make a “photo movie” is select a group of photos from the image files stored on your tablet. The movie is then automatically generated by adding music and animations/transitions to the photos you have chosen. Available now in the Android Market, Photo Movie Creator HD is priced at £4.99/$7.49.

Our third award is for the Lens of the Year 2011.

This goes to the lens that we feel is a must-buy for the particular system that it’s part of, be that DSLR or compact system camera, Canon or Nikon, and so on. Olympus have been a big part of the growing popularity of the compact system camera market, and it’s not surprising when they’re releasing fantastic products like the M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f/1.8 lens, a fast and unbelievably small portrait lens that every Micro Four Thirds should take a good hard look at.

”“Pancakes” aside, the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f/1.8 is one of the smallest lenses in the Micro Four Thirds system, which is no mean feat considering that this is a fast-aperture telephoto lens. One might think that this miniaturisation may have had some negative side effects on its performance but thankfully, this is not the case. Optically, the lens excellent with centre sharpness being commendable even wide open, and overall sharpness being nothing short of astounding in the f/2.8-f/8 range.”

Read the Full Review

Congratulations to Olympus and the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 45mm f/1.8!

Hong Kong based SLR Magic, also known as Noktor, has announced the HyperPrime 23mm f/1.7 lens for E-mount cameras. Billed as the world’s fastest interchangeable camera lens with APS-C coverage in this focal length, the manual-focus SLR Magic HyperPrime 23mm f/1.7 has an angle of view similar to that of a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera. Available from authorised SLR Magic dealers from the end of January 2012, the HyperPrime 23mm f/1.7 comprises 8 lens elements (including five “Tantalum” glass elements) arranged in 7 groups, and offers a minimum focus distance of 15cm.

Rollei has added three new models to its Powerflex digital camera family. The ultra-slim Rollei Powerflex 400 (€79.90) is a 14-megapixel compact with a 25-125mm equivalent zoom lens, 720p HD movie recording and 32 scene modes. The 16-megapixel Rollei Powerflex 500 (€99.90) features a 28-140mm equivalent lens, 35 scene modes, HD video recording and a 3-second pre-recording function. Finally, the 14-megapixel Rollei Powerflex 600 (€129.90) has a three-inch display and a 25-200mm equivalent 8x zoom lens with optical image stabilisation. Like the Powerflex 400 it comes with 35 scene modes, a 3-second pre-record function and 720p HD video recording capability.

Verbatim has announced its new USB 3.0/USB 2.0 Universal Card Readers ($14.99 / $24.99) and USB 2.0 Pocket Card Reader ($9.99). Both Universal Card Readers feature a sleek, modern design. The USB 3.0 device, which is claimed to deliver transfer speeds of up to 5GB/second, boasts a silver finish while the USB 2.0 version comes in classic piano black finish. Memory cards supported by both the USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 Universal Card Reader include: CF Type I & Type II, SD, SDHC, miniSD, microSD, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo, M2, MMC and xD-Picture Card. The Pocket Card Reader is a pocket-sized multi-functional reader that supports a wide variety of formats.

The website MyBestShot.com has been launched with the ambitious aim of creating the most beautiful collection of photos on the Web. To that end, every contributor is allowed to upload their single most beautiful photo only. “It doesn’t matter if you are an amateur or a pro, as long as you have a truly beautiful photo, we want to have it,” says My Best Shot founder Rick van Haasteren. “We already have some really cool photos on the website, and we hope to get a lot more!” Interested readers are encouraged to visit the website using the link below.

Website: My Best Shot

The new Sony FDA-EV1S high-resolution electronic viewfinder for the Sony NEX-5N compact system camera is now available for purchase. Featuring a resolution of 2,359,000 dots, this OLED viewfinder provides a similar user experience as the built-in EVF of the Sony NEX-7, except that it’s tiltable and detachable. The Sony FDA-EV1S sells for $349.99.

With special thanks to Mr Ron Mertens of OLED-info.com