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Datacolor has announced the SpyderLensCal focus calibrator. The device allows photographers to measure the AF performance of their camera/lens combinations. On DSLRs with a micro-adjustment feature, this tool can be used to help determine the best values to set in the camera’s custom settings menu to correct front or back focus. SpyderLensCal will be available from September 6, 2010 at a suggested retail price of $59.

Tamron has announced that it has cooperated with Adobe in the creation of profiles for the Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3′s Lens Correction feature. The latest version of the image-editing software will automatically fix distortion, chromatic aberration and vignetting for all currently available Tamron lenses (no word yet on the latest 70-300mm F4-5.6 VC USD though).

Kodak has announced the ESP 9250 Wi-fi-enabled all-in-one inkjet printer with print, copy, scan and fax capability. It includes the company’s proprietary fade-resistant inks with what it claims the lowest total ink replacement cost in the industry. The printer features a 2.4-inch LCD, built-in templates and supports various memory card formats. The printer is now available at $249.99.

Sony has introduced the S-Frame range of digital photo frames. Top of the line are the XR100 and VR100 that offer 10.2 inch screens and AVCHD video playback with stereo sound. The XR100 also includes TruBlack technology for better playback quality. The rest of the models come with screen sizes ranging from 7" up to 10.2" and offer a number of slideshow modes, clock and calendar views plus smart orientation sensors that flip images for correct viewing of portrait or landscape images.

Sony has announced the Bloggie Touch MHS-TS20K pocket camcorder. It is built around the company’s 1/2.5" Exmor CMOS sensor, records Full HD video in MP4 format and captures 12.8Mp still images. It offers a 3 inch touchscreen LCD, 32mm F2.8 lens and a flip-out USB connecter that also charges the camera’s battery. It includes a 360 degree panorama lens adapter. Priced at $199.99, it will be available in pink, silver and black.

Panasonic has released 8GB and 16GB SDHC cards adhering to the SD association’s latest UHS-I specification. Both memory cards have maximum read speeds of up to 60MB/s and Class 10 speed specification complementing 3D and full HD video recording features of recently released cameras. Like the company’s ‘Gold’ line of memory cards, it features protection against power failures and a Super Intelligent Controller that cleans up errors preventing data damage. The memory cards will be available from November 2010.

Carl Zeiss has introduced the Distagon T* 1,4/35 wide-angle lens in Canon EF (ZE) and Nikon F (ZF.2) mounts. This manual focus lens, with its large f/1.4 aperture, is made up of 11 elements in 9 groups. With an equivalent focal length of 50mm on APS-C cameras, it can be used on both digital and analog SLRs. Priced at €1385.71, the lens will be available in the first quarter of 2011.

Canon has announced it has developed the world’s largest CMOS sensor measuring 202 x 205mm. Approximately 40 times the size of Canon’s largest commercial CMOS sensor, it captures images with 1/100th the amount of light required by an SLR camera. Its advanced circuitry allows video recording at 60 frames per second with 0.3 lux illumination that according to the company is roughly one-half the brightness of a moonlit night. There is currently no information about the sensor’s resolution. This follows last week’s development announcement of Canon’s 120 megapixel 29.2 x 20.2mm APS-H CMOS sensor.

Olympus has announced two special edition all-black kits for its E-P2 Micro Four Thirds camera. Both kits come with a black version of the M.Zuiko Digital 17mm 1:2.8 pancake lens and either the VF-2 electronic viewfinder or FL-14 external flash. The kits also include a retro-styled lens cap imprinted with the company’s Pen F series logo which can also be purchased separately. The black EVF edition will be available for €1,079 while the black flash edition will be available for €1,049 from October 2010.

Olympus has announced the addition of the M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm 1:4.0-5.6 zoom lens to its Micro Four Thirds lens series. Similar to the 75-300mm lens announced today, the lens promises fast and quieter focusing optimized for video shooting. It will come supplied along with the 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 in the Pen Double Zoom Kit. The lens will be available in black and silver for €329 from end of October 2010.

Olympus has announced what it calls the world’s smallest and lightest 600mm equivalent telephoto lens in the shape of M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75-300mm 1:4.8-6.7. Weighing 430 grams, the Micro Four Thirds system lens’ 18 element, 13 group design utilizes two Extraordinary Dispersion (ED) and 3 High Refractive (HR) glass elements to reduce chromatic aberration. It promises fast and silent focusing for recording movies. The lens will be available in black and silver from December 2010 for €899.

Adobe has released Photoshop Lightroom 3.2, Camera Raw 6.2 and DNG Converter 6.2. These are final versions of updates that were originally posted as ‘release candidates’ on the Adobe Labs site, and are now available for immediate download. The latest versions provide final RAW support for sixteen recent cameras, including the Canon EOS 60D and Sony Alpha NEX-5. The updates also add more than 120 lens profiles and fix a number of bugs.

Sigma has announced its 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM image-stabilised fast telezoom is now available in Nikon F mount. Previously available in Canon EF mount, the Nikon version is priced at $2,470. The lens features a new optical design that uses two elements made of the company’s recently developed ‘FLD’ glass plus three SLD glass elements to reduce aberrations, a 9-blade circular aperture, and features full-time manual focus override. It also comes with an adapter for APS-C users.

Canon has announced an updated version of its EOS E1 plug-in for Apple’s Final Cut Pro video-editing software extending support to the EOS 60D DSLR. Already compatible with the company’s EOS-1D Mark IV, 7D and 5D Mark II, the plug-in converts recorded footage into Apple’s ProRes 422 compression format at approximately twice the speed of Apple’s standard conversion and allows users to log and mark videos with timecode, reel names and metadata.

Canon has updated its 1.4x and 2x ‘Extender’ teleconverters, to version III. The EF Extender 1.4x III and EF Extender 2x III both offer completely new optical designs, weather resistant construction, Fluorine coatings on the front and rear elements, and promise higher AF accuracy than the previous versions. They also include redesigned lens release mechanisms and integrated processors for improved communication between the camera and lens.

Canon has announced it is developing updated versions of its 500mm and 600mm f/4L IS USM professional lenses. Similar to the 300mm and 400mm lenses announced today, the EF 500mm F/4L IS II USM and the EF 600mm F/4L IS II USM will feature new optical designs, lighter-weight construction and water-repellant Fluorine coatings.

Canon has introduced updated versions of two of its professional telephoto lenses, in the shape of the EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS II USM and the EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II USM. Both feature completely new optical designs, along with lighter weight construction employing magnesium alloy and titanium. Sub Wavelength Structure coatings are employed to minimize flare, plus water-repellant Fluorine coatings on the front and rear elements. A new IS mode has been added that activates stabilization only during exposure, alongside a ‘Power Focus’ mode for video shooting. The upgrades are rounded off by the addition of repositionable AF stop buttons and a choice of tripod mounts.

Canon has announced the EF 8-15mm f/4 L USM, the world’s first fisheye zoom lens to offer both circular and full frame images. This replacement for the EF 15mm F2.8 fisheye will produce circular images with a 180 degree angle of view when used at its widest setting on 35mm-format cameras such as the EOS 5D Mark II, and images which cover the full sensor area at 15mm. It also incorporates marks at intermediate zoom positions denoting the widest settings which can be used on APS-C and APS-H format cameras to give full frame images without vignetting. The lens features weatherproof construction, including water-repellant Fluorine coating on the front and rear elements, and Canon’s ‘Sub-Wavelength Structure Coating’ to minimize flare and ghosting.

Canon has released the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM, aimed at being an affordable ‘L’-grade telephoto lens. It offers a ring-type ultrasonic autofocus motor, weatherproof construction, claimed four-stop image stabilization and a minimum focus distance of 1.2m, all in a package about the same size as the existing EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM. Additional features include an 8-bladed circular aperture, full-time manual focus override, and an optional tripod mount ring.

Cosina has announced it is joining the Micro Four Thirds system standard with Olympus and Panasonic. Users will now be able to use an extended choice of Cosina and Voigtländer-branded lenses with their Micro Four Thirds cameras without the need for adapters. To coincide with this announcement, Cosina has announced the availability of its Nokton 25mm F0.95 lens compliant with the standard. Priced at ¥95,000 (~ US $1125) it will be available from October 2010.

Canon has unveiled the EOS 60D mid-level DSLR, replacing the EOS 50D. However, following the launch of the EOS 7D, the 60D has been repositioned in the market, so isn’t a simple upgrade to its predecessor. Instead the 60D is a smaller camera featuring an articulated screen and plastic body shell and utilizing SD memory cards. It combines the 18MP CMOS sensor and 1040k dot 3.0" LCD from the EOS 550D (Rebel T2i) with the AF system from the 50D. Meanwhile it gains the 7D’s HD movie capability. We’ve had a chance to use a pre-production 60D so have prepared a hands-on preview, including sample images and movies.

US photographic trade body PMA and dpreview.com are conducting a survey looking for the views of dedicated amateur photographers. The five ten minute survey asks about your photographic use, the features you’d like to see in cameras and your use and experience of photo sharing sites and printing services (as well as helping us make dpreview a better place). It aims to get a clearer understanding of what committed non-professional photographers want from their cameras and related services and may even result in those things getting a bit better. Responses will be discussed at the forthcoming 6Sight conference. As a reward one lucky respondent will be sent a shiny new Apple iPad. Update: The survey will close 12:00 midnight Pacific time on Tuesday August 31st, so if you’d like your chance to win, time is running out!

Adobe has developed a set of three online tools as the primary way of interacting with its Photoshop.com online storage and editing site. The Photoshop Express Editor, Organizer and Uploader have been optimized to integrate with the company’s recently released Photoshop Express apps for iPad, iPhone, and Android devices and promise faster and ‘more intuitive’ uploading, editing, and organizing abilities.

Nik Software has announced HDR Efex Pro, an HDR processing plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Apple Aperture compatible with both Windows and Mac. Based around its proprietary tone mapping technology, it offers number of presets and tools for selective fine-tuning, ghost removal and shadow/highlight recovery for both multiple and single images. The software installs as a 32-bit or 64-bit plug-in compatible with the applications as far back as Photoshop CS3, Lightroom 2.3 and Apple Aperture 2.1. HDR Efex Pro will be available from Autumn 2010 at a suggested retail price of $159.95.

Canon has announced it has developed a 120 megapixel 29.2 x 20.2mm APS-H CMOS sensor – the same size used in its EOS-1D series of professional DSLRs. The sensor, for which Canon has announced no production plans, has a pixel count nearly 7.5 times larger than the company’s highest pixel count commercially available sensor. It offers full HD recording (using 1/60th of its surface area) and can deliver 9.5fps continuous shooting. This follows a 50 million pixel sensor of similar format the company developed in 2007.

Along with the latest SLTs and DSLRs, Sony has also announced the 24mm F2, 35mm F1.8 and 85mm F2.8 Alpha lenses in the US. Announced a month ago in the European market, the 24mm and 85mm lenses will start shipping from late September at retail prices of $1,250 and $250 respectively, followed by the 35mm which will be available from mid-October at a retail price of $200.

In a press release announcing its attendance in Photokina 2010, Carl Zeiss has announced it will be launching accessories for the first time along with new lenses.

Sony has announced the addition of the A580 and A560 to its consumer-level DSLR range. Both the 16.2MP A580 and 14.2MP A560 are based around the company’s Exmor APS HD CMOS sensors and enhanced Bionz processors. Both cameras can record 1080p full HD movies and deliver 7 fps in continuous shooting mode. They also include Sony’s two-mode live view system with a 15-point phase-detection AF or a Manual Focus Check mode. Other features shared by both cameras include 3.0" fold-out LCDs, an enhanced Auto HDR mode, sensitivity of up to ISO 25,600 and 3D Sweep Panorama mode. Priced at €900 and €800 respectively, the A580 will be available from October 2010, while and the A560 will arrive in the first quarter of 2011.

Sony has unveiled the SLT A55 and SLT A33, the first pair of cameras to incorporate the company’s translucent mirror design. The Single Lens Translucent (SLT) cameras offer live view with full-time fast phase-detection AF whether in stills or movie shooting. This is achieved by having a fixed, semi-transparent mirror that redirects a small amount of light onto the AF sensor while allowing the rest through onto the main imaging sensor. The A55 is built around a 16.2MP sensor while the A33 features a 14.2MP unit. Both feature 3.0" articulated LCDs, full HD video recording and ISO sensitivity up to 12,800, while the A55 also features built-in GPS. Priced at $749 and $649 respectively, the A55 will be available from October, while the A33 will hit the markets earlier, in September.

Just Posted: Our review of the Sony SLT A55 interchangeable lens camera. Sony’s latest camera uses a fixed translucent mirror to redirect some of the captured light to the autofocus sensor, ensuring it can use fast, phase-detection AF at all times. The result is a full-time live view camera that can shoot at 10 frames per second and autofocus during video shooting. Its radical design blurs the already hazy line between DSLRs and mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras but has the potential to completely re-shape the market. We’ve had a production-standard SLT A55 for a little while now. So does it live up to the promise or did we see right through it? We reflect…