Just Posted: Our review of the Sony Alpha SLT-A99. The A99 is Sony's flagship SLT camera - featuring a 24MP full-frame sensor and dual AF system, along with the level of build and direct control you'd expect from a range-topping model. We've put the A99 through its paces in a variety of situations, including an investigation of how its AF depth control performs in challenging shooting conditions. We've also looked at the advantages the SLT system and articulated screen bring to a camera at this level, as well as looking at their downsides. Click here to find out what we concluded.

Flickr has updated its web interface and released an updated version of its iOS app as it tries to reassert its relevance in a post-Instagram landscape. The refresh of the web interface sees the navigation bar at the top of the site get slimmer, to devote more page space to photos. The 'Explore' page has also been redesigned - taking on the full-width, large tiled design used in the 'My Contacts' page. Flickr has also updated its famously poor iOS app, adding processing filters and better discovery tools.

Microsoft has released an updated version of its Camera Codec Pack for Windows Vista, 7, 8 and RT. The latest update allows applications such as Windows Explorer, Windows Photo Viewer, Media Center, and Windows Photo Gallery to deal with Raw files from 34 additional cameras. The cameras include the Canon EOS M, Olympus OM-D E-M5 and Sony NEX-7.

Carl Zeiss has announced its annual photo contest for images shot with one of its lenses. Any Zeiss lens is considered valid, from Nokia smartphones through Sony compacts, such as the RX100, to the company's high-end interchangeable lenses. This year's theme is 'The moment that knows no limits' and first prize is one of the company's manual focus SLR and rangefinder lenses, with a variety of other Zeiss-branded prizes for runners-up. The contest runs on Flickr until January 15th.

Just Posted: an extensive update to our Fujifilm X-E1 preview. With a sensor and imaging pipeline that is identical to the X-Pro1's the X-E1 promises much of the X-Pro1's fun in a more compact and affordable package. We've been working with a production sample X-E1 for a couple of weeks and we've been working towards a full review, which we hope to publish early in the new year. In the meantime we've added seven pages to the preview, including our studio test shots and a sample gallery. Click through for a link to the expanded preview, including our 49-image real-world sample gallery. 

Adobe has announced CS6 updates that are exclusive to Creative Cloud subscribers. Adobe Photoshop 13.1 offers among other things, the ability to apply Liquify and Lens Blur effects as Smart Objects and use conditional statements when creating Actions. However, these changes are unavailable to those who've bought traditional versions of Photoshop CS6, and Adobe has not said when, or even if, 'perpetual users' of CS6 will have access to these features. Retina Display support for Mac, also announced today, is available for all users.

DxO Labs has announced version 1.1 of its ViewPoint distortion correction software, promising more accurate tools and faster operation. Viewpoint is designed to correct keystone distortions (converging verticals and horizontals), and restore more natural proportions to objects towards the edge of the frame when using wide-angle lenses. It is available either as a stand-alone tool or as a plugin for Adobe PhotoShop (CS3 or newer) or Lightroom (version 3 or newer), and for both Mac and PC.

Sometimes you'll find you're a mobile photographer just because the best camera is the one you have with you. We've just posted our 2012 Mobile Photography Gift Guide, which covers a range of accessories for the mobile photographer, from inexpensive and fun gifts to more serious, useful products like add-on lenses and supports for phones and tablets. Click through to read the full article at connect.dpreview.com

Leica has announced the Oskar Barnack Award 2013 international photo competition will open for entries from January 15th, with a first prize worth €15,000 (~ $19,400). The 2013 winner will receive a Leica M digital rangefinder and lens in addition to a €5000 (~ $6500) cash prize. To enter, participants need to submit a portfolio of up to twelve images expressing 'the interaction between man and the environment.' In addition, the Newcomer award, open to photographers under 25 years of age, offers a Leica rangefinder camera and lens as the prize. Submissions are open until 1st March 2013.

Financial news service Bloomberg is reporting Apple and Google are working together to purchase some of Kodak's imaging patents. The companies are said to be working together - lending more weight to reports in the Wall Street Journal from back in August. The story suggests the two companies, along with the groups of smaller companies with whom they'd been preparing bids, will offer more than $500m for the patents. Such a figure would give Kodak access to $830m of external funding that is dependent on the value of the patent deal.

The Atlantic's excellent 'In Focus' photo blog has published the third and final part of its 2012 Year in Photos. The three-part series includes 135 images from around the world, covering a great breadth of events and subjects. As you'd expect of such a review, there are some occasionally graphic images that some readers may find disturbing but there are also some astonishing photos giving a surprising views of other countries and cultures.

Google has added Communities, the ability to create topic-focused groups, to its Google+ social network. The Communities option makes it easier for people with common interests to discuss and share photos around themes. Connect has highlighted a couple of photography-related groups that have already started to attract members.

Nik Software has launched an Android version of its Snapseed mobile editing software. Both the Android version and the updated v1.5 for iOS will be free (the iOS version formerly cost $4.99). The now Google-owned company has added direct Google+ uploading options to both. Read more about the changes to the app over at Connect.

Steve McCurry, the award-winning photographer responsible for the iconic 'Afghan Girl' portrait for National Geographic, has given an interview about his work and why, despite his fame, he maintains a blog of his latest images. In the interview, on the official Wordpress blog, McCurry explains how photography as a career has changed over the course of the past few decades, and the vital role now played by the Internet. Click through for extracts and a link to the full interview at blog.wordpress.com, and to Steve's own blog. 

Adapter and accessory maker Fotodiox has announced two adapters to enable the use of filters with wide-angle lenses that have large convex front elements. The WonderPana Filter systems are based around adapter hoods that allow 145mm circular filters or 6.6" rectangular filters to be used, via an adapter. Each system comes with a lens cap that mounts on the hood, allowing the lens to be stored and protected without needing to repeatedly remove the adapter hood. A variety of adapter and filter kits are available for a range of Super-wide and Ultra-wide lenses.

The AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm F4 ED VR arrived in our Seattle office a few days ago and since then we've been shooting with it as much as possible. We've put together a gallery of 34 images, shot with the new lens mounted on the 36MP Nikon D800. As well as straight-from-the-camera JPEGs, we've also converted several Raw files, and have made 'to taste' adjustments to give a clearer picture of how the lens is performing. Click through for a link to the gallery. 

We've just updated our DSLR and lens buying guides to cover recent developments in both product segments. Our buyers' guides are intended to provide a helping hand when it comes to deciding what to buy, and include summaries of some of the main things to look for, and explanations of the strengths and weaknesses of various options as well as common terminology. Click through for links to our updated versions of both articles. 

DxO Labs has updated its Optics Pro Raw conversion software to version 8.1, adding support for five cameras: the Sony NEX-6, Olympus PEN E-PL5 and E-PM2, and Canon Powershot G15 and S110. An enhanced print module now offers colour management and sharpness adjustment for printing, and there's also an option to output JPEG or TIFF files with EXIF data removed. The software is available immediately from the DxO Labs online store, with a special end of year price through to December 25th 2012.

We've just posted a gallery of shots from Sigma's new 35mm F1.4 DG HSM prime lens, showing off its capabilities in a range of different environments, across its aperture range. We were very excited to start using this lens, and so far, it doesn't disappoint. Our gallery contains 23 photographs taken using the Canon EOS-1D X and 5D Mark III, and includes several images converted from Raw. A full review is on its way before the end of the year, but for now, we hope you enjoy our gallery of initial images. Click through for a link to the gallery. 

A New York tabloid newspaper has caused controversy by publishing an image of a man about to be killed by a subway train on its front cover, along with a dramatic headline. The image shows a subway train bearing down on a man who'd been pushed into its path. The paper's handling of the story has been widely criticized and it raises a range of issues over the actions of all the parties involved. Journalism school The Poynter Institute has an interesting summary, separating the different aspects about a controversy that brings a lot of difficult questions about photojournalism and news reporting. What do you think?

Canon has added three wireless Pixma photo printers and a CanoScan photo scanner to its imaging products range. The Pixma MG6320 (MG6350 in Europe) and MG5420 (MG5450 in Europe) are wireless photo all-in-ones (combined scanner/printers)while the Pixma iP7220 (iP7250) is a standalone wireless photo printer. The MG5420 and iP7220 are five ink printers (CMYK plus pigment black), while the MG6320 adds a grey ink. All three printers can be used to print wirelessly from Canon's latest Wi-Fi models such as the PowerShot S110 and EOS 6D. The CanonScan 9000F Mark II is a standalone scanner with film adapter, allowing film to be scanned at up to 9600 x 9600dpi.

Just Posted: Our review of the Tamron 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD, prepared in partnership with DxOMark. In the last of our mini-series examining superzoom lenses for SLRs, we take a look at how Tamron's contender compares to its Sigma and Nikon counterparts that we reviewed recently. This type of all-in-one travel and 'walkaround' lens is enduringly popular, but how does this two-year-old design stand up against its brand-new competitors?

Fujifilm has announced it is delaying the introduction of its XF 14mm F2.8 prime lens by a month so it can concentrate production on the XF 18-55mm F2.8-4 R LM OIS. The 14mm (21mm equivalent) prime lens is the first in the X-mount lineup to feature a pull-back focus ring that engages manual focus and reveals distance markings to allow use of its depth-of-field scale. It will now start to become available from late January 2013. Meanwhile we've been shooting with the 18-55mm zoom and will include a gallery of images along was an expanded XE-1 preview later this week.

MindShift Gear, a bag brand co-founded by Think Tank Photo, has announced a project to fund its first bag - the Rotation180° - on crowd-funding website Kickstarter. The Rotation180° appears to build on Think Tank's Rotation360° concept, giving access to your camera without having to take the bag off, but adds outdoor-friendly features such as a pocket for a hydration pack and full weather cover. The project requires a $389 pledge to receive the Rotation180° bag, with another $100 bringing more accessories.

Smartphones aren't just about catching grab-shots and applying heavy processing filters to cover up any flaws. As the cameras get better, processing to get the best out of those images becomes increasingly important. Perfectly Clear, a processing app for iOS devices, provides a host of tools to fine-tune your mobile photography (or edit any photos when away from your computer). It even has a tool to correct the iPhone 5's notorious purple flare. Click here to see what we thought.

It's holiday season, which means it's time to start buying presents for friends and loved ones. Photography is an expensive hobby, and finding the right gift for the photographer in your life can be tough, but not everything costs thousands of dollars. In this quick guide we've tried to provide some inspiration by rounding up 14 potential gifts that we'd be pleased to find under our trees (virtual or actual) on Christmas morning. We hope you enjoy it!

Apple has issued Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 4.02, adding support for 8 cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11. The update includes support for many recently-announced cameras including the Sony Alpha SLT-A99, NEX-6, Olympus PEN E-PL5 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3, but does not yet support recent high-end Fujifilm models.

It's all too easy to take for granted the wide dynamic range, variety of focal lengths and control over depth of field we have at our disposal. And ironically, one way to practice a a more traditional, disciplined approach to photography that introduces, rather than eliminates limitations, is to spend some time shooting with the latest smartphone. Read about how some photographers are embracing the challenges of creating compelling landscape images with their wide angle fixed-aperture smartphones.

'It nearly killed me' says Olympus CEO-turned-whistleblower Michael Woodford of writing about his dramatic exit from the Japanese company following his 2011 exposure of massive corporate mismanagement. In an interview with Amateur Photographer Magazine, Woodford describes the strain on his personal life, and the process of writing a book about the experience with lawyers poring over every word. He also tells of his intention to give to charity much of the £10M he was awarded for unfair dismissal. Click through for extracts from the interview (from Amateur Photographer).

Connect: Photographers who use the photo sharing platform 500px can now access their images via an iPhone app released today. Previously, only iPad and Android versions of the app were available. The iOS version is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and requires iOS 5.0 or later. The app features a minimalist interface to avoid distraction and focus on photography, it says.

Just Posted: an extensive update to our Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 preview. We've been working away towards a review of the RX1 that we received recently. With its full frame sensor and 35mm F2 lens, it's a camera that's generated a lot of excitement amongst photographers, so we wanted to publish more detail of its performance and behavior. We've added eight pages to the preview, including more detail about its handling and interface as well as our studio test shots, a sample gallery from the production camera and our first impressions of shooting with it.

ACD Systems has extended the Raw support offered by its ACDSee Pro 6 and ACDSee 15 software packages. Both packages gain support for an additional 16 cameras, including the recently-announced Nikon 1 J2 and the Sony DSC-RX100. The more sophisticated ACDSee Pro 6 also gains support for the Compressed DNG formats that were introduced with v1.4 of the DNG format.

Mobile photography has often made a virtue out of the comparative technological restrictions of phones' relatively primitive cameras, but that doesn't mean its practitioners are immune from the lure (and benefits) of upgrading. Over on Connect mobile photographer Star Rush talks about how her photography changed, and how it didn't, when she upgraded her handset and found herself with an upgraded shooting experience.

Triggertrap Mobile, the camera triggering app, is available for free between now and the New Year. The idea is to make it easier to give the mobile dongle (that costs $24.99) as a gift, without the recipient then having to buy the associated app. The app is available for both iOS and Android and allows a smartphone to perform as series of sophisticated camera triggering actions, when connected to the camera using the mobile dongle.

The head of Nokia’s digital imaging team, Damian Dinning, is leaving the mobile giant for a job at Land Rover/Jaguar. During Dinning’s nine years at Nokia, he lead the team that developed the PureView technology which was debuted in the 41MP Nokia 808 PureView, earlier this year. Damian's name will be known to many dpreview readers for his frequent interactions in our comments threads, and for his contributions to our coverage of the groundbreaking 808 PureView. Click through for more information at connect.dpreview.com.

'What camera should I buy?' That's a question we get asked a lot here at dpreview, and it's a tough one to answer. We use a lot of cameras, from simple point-and-shoot models to professional workhorses, and everything in between. To help you make a buying decision this holiday season, we've put together a short article which covers five of what we think are the best zoom compact cameras on the market right now, and summarized their strengths and weaknesses. Click through to see what we think. 

Optics Pro 8 is the latest upgrade to DxO's image management and raw file processing software. This new version introduces a Smart Lighting adjustment tool for easier highlight and shadow control, a print module with support for multi image page layouts and a tweaked palette organization designed for a more efficient editing workflow. What do these changes mean for new and current users? Read our brief overview to find out.

Nikon has announced two digiscoping accessories for its 1 System cameras, allowing them to be used to take pictures through telescopes. The DSA-N1 can be used to connect a Nikon 1 system camera directly to a telescope eyepiece. Meanwhile the DSB-N1 is a bracket that holds the camera behind the telescope, and includes a mechanical cable release adapter. Both will be available in December, with RRPs of £219.99 and £169.99 for the DSA-N1 and DSB-N1 respectively.

Just Posted: Our Canon PowerShot G15 review. The G15 is one of the latest wave of updated enthusiast compact cameras and it follows this season's trend of gaining a brighter lens and CMOS sensor in the process. It still offers a 28-140mm equivalent lens range but its maximum aperture range has been pushed to F1.8-2.8 - a whole stop faster, throughout its range, than the older G12. It's lost that camera's flip-out screen but has lost bulk in the process and has retained that rarest of things - an optical viewfinder. Will this makeover of the G-series formula be enough to win back its place at the top of the heap? Read our review to find out.

Lensrentals' Roger Cicala hasn't always been a fan of Sigma's lenses but the company's latest 35mm F1.4 seems to have got him pretty excited. He's written a very positive first impressions blog post, considering the build and test data from the first sample he's received. As usual, he's very careful to stress the limitations of what he's reporting - specifically that these are early impressions, based on a single lens that he's had little chance to actually take photos with. However, he's also someone with immense experience with lenses, and is in the unusual position of having had the opportunity to strip the lens down, so we found his insight interesting. (From Lensrentals)

Canadian photographer Kyle Clemens has created a timelapse video which shows the slow accumulation of debris on the sensor of his brand new Nikon D600. When we reviewed the D600 we expressed concern about the propensity of its sensor to gather specks of debris, and Clements raises the troubling possibility that whatever it is that's ending up on the D600's sensor could be coming from inside the camera. Click through for the full video and a link to Kyle Clements' blog where he investigates the issue. 

Imaging Resource has published an obituary of Bryce Bayer, who passed away recently. Often called the 'father of digital imaging', former Kodak scientist Bryce Bayer invented and gave his name to the so-called 'Bayer Filter' - a mosaic pattern of red, green and blue filters which allows silicon sensors that are only sensitive to luminance to capture information about the color in a scene. Patented in 1976, the RGBG Bayer Filter has since become essentially ubiquitous, being used in virtually all digital imaging systems from medium-format backs to smartphones. Click through for a link to the obituary at www.imaging-resource.com.

Just Posted: Our review of the Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC Macro OS HSM. The latest version of Sigma's stabilized superzoom is smaller and lighter than the existing non-macro version, yet is able to add improved close-focus performance, helping it compete with the similarly-sized Tamron 18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 VC PZD. These long-range all-rounders are a popular choice, so we've had a look at how Sigma's latest performs. We've also added DxOMark's test data for a selection of its competitors, to give a sense of context.

While most smartphones still lag behind dedicated cameras in image quality they come with a lot more processing power and the ability to install apps. This allows you to do things on the move which, when done with a digital camera, would require a computer, a piece of software and some serious screen time. Android's Photo Sphere feature is a good example - it allows you to stitch individual images into a 360° Photos Sphere and immerse yourself in a scene. Photo Sphere is part of the camera app of Android 4.2 - the latest version, as featured on the Nexus 4 smartphone. We've taken it out and had a play with it, click through to see how we got on.

We've added a gallery of real-world and studio images to our Canon EOS 6D preview. The EOS 6D won't be available until at least December but we've been able to borrow a pre-production model for which we've been allowed to post samples. We've shot with the camera in a series of lighting conditions, using a variety of lenses, including the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM and the EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM. We've also shot an ISO sequence under challenging low-color-temperature artificial light. Click here to see how Canon's latest full-frame challenger performs.

Over at Connect we're assembling a list of Holiday deals - with the first smartphone and accessory deals listed today. We'll be highlighting more interesting offers as they come to our attention. The period around the Thanksgiving holiday is particularly prominent for shopping in the USA, with the Friday afterwards (known as Black Friday) and the subsequent Monday (dubbed 'Cyber Monday') being a focus of in-store and internet deals respectively. A recent survey suggests that smartphone usage could see Thanksgiving itself become 'Mobile Thursday' as people shop from their 'phones.

Just Posted: Our samples gallery from the Tamron SP 24-70mm F/2.8 Di VC USD. The company's latest fast maximum aperture, stabilized standard zoom was announced back in February, but really comes into its own with the recent announcements of more affordable full-frame bodies from Canon and Nikon. We've put together a gallery of images shot in a variety of situations with the Canon EOS 5D Mark III to give a taste for what it can do.

We've just published a review of Panasonic's flagship super-zoom camera, the Lumix DMC-FZ200. The FZ200 goes back to its roots, offering a constant-aperture zoom range, like the FZs of old, but in most other respects it's similar to its well-regarded predecessor the FZ150. Features include a 12MP MOS sensor with a maximum ISO sensitivity of 6400, Raw shooting, and automatic panorama and HDR modes. We collaborated with Jeff Keller of the Digital Camera Resource Page to bring you this review of the FZ200 - click through to find out what we thought. 

Just Posted: Our real world samples gallery from the Leica X2. Following the Sigma DP series, Leica was one of the first companies to offer a large sensor in a compact-bodied camera with its X1. The X2 retains its predecessor's 36mm equivalent F2.8 lens but adds a 16MP APS-C CMOS sensor. We've been shooting the X2 in a variety of lighting situations and at a range of apertures to give a taste for what the camera can do. The 49-image gallery includes a selection of Adobe Camera Raw conversions as well as out-of-camera JPEGs.

Skyfall, the latest James Bond film, is topping the box office charts around the world and wowing audiences with its cinematography. It includes a sequence set on a deserted island - modeled on Hashima, an abandoned former coal-mining island off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. Dpreview member Michael Gakuran has written a blog post about his experiences on the island - filming for a Discovery Channel documentary and, earlier, being smuggled onto the island under cover of darkness to perform a little urban exploration (Urbex).