As we enter our 21st year of publishing PhotoMedia, much has changed.

The skyrocketing price of oil and shrinking value of the U.S. dollar, along with other economic factors, have caused prices to soar. This, in turn, presents everyone with the challenge of keeping pace with spiraling expenses. Few of us have experienced anything close to this, except for those old enough to have lived through the Great Depression.

Against this backdrop is a U.S. presidential election that will produce the first black man, the first woman or the oldest candidate to lead the country. We can only hope that the winner will provide some much-needed leadership and stability; we’re certainly overdue for progressive environmental initiatives...

Olympus has introduced the 10-megapixel SP-565 Ultra Zoom with a powerful 20x wide-angle telephoto zoom lens, TruePic III image processor and 33 shooting modes. The camera's f/2.8-4.5 lens provides the equivalent of 26-520mm focal length with 100x total seamless zoom (5x digital zoom). The lens construction combines aspherical and extra-dispersion (ED) lens elements to deliver sharpness and clarity.

The camera offers Face Detection to track up to...

Nikon has debuted its second FX-format camera, the 12.1-megapixel D700 digital SLR. The D700 features a CMOS sensor measuring 23.9x36mm, which is nearly the size of 35mm film.

The D700 builds on the Nikon D3 to deliver professional-level performance and features. It incorporates Nikon's Expeed Image Processing System, a 51-point autofocus system with 3D Focus Tracking and two Live View shooting modes that allow...

Tamron has released its SP AF10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) lens featuring a 2.4x zoom ratio. The lens is designed exclusively for Canon and Nikon digital SLRs with APS-C-sized image sensors.

The optical system features large-aperture, glass-molded aspherical elements, hybrid aspherical elements and elements made of special low-dispersion glass and high-refractive-index glass. The lens also allows for enhanced peripheral illumination and a reduction in...

Olympus and Panasonic have announced a joint venture in developing the Micro Four Thirds System, a new standard that extends the benefits of the Four Thirds System standard for interchangeable-lens-type digital camera systems by enabling reduction in size and weight. The two companies will work jointly toward commercial production of significantly lighter and more compact...

Sony has announced its first full-frame alpha DSLR-A900 camera, designed to deliver picture quality at 24.6 megapixels through a 35mm full-frame Exmor CMOS sensor and fast image processing with a new dual Bionz processing engine. The camera will also have a body-integrated image stabilization system for a full-frame sensor with Sony's SteadyShot Inside anti-shake system.

The camera's body-integrated SteadyShot Inside unit achieves an anti-shake effect equivalent to shutter speeds faster by 2.5 to 4 stops, while its viewfinder features a...

The grand prize at the Images for Conservation Fund Pro-Tour of Nature Photography Awards was given on Sept. 21 to photographer Rolf Nussbaumer and the Fennessey Ranch, owned by Brien O'Connor Dunn. Both winners shared the $51,000 prize money.

Second prize went to D. Robert Franz of the Mustang Ranch, owned by Hugo and Laura Berlanga; third prize was given to John Hendrickson and the Welder Wildlife Foundation.

More than 200 landowners, photographers and supporters attended the...

Mountain Light Pictures has signed five new photographers to its list of contributors: Chris Noble, Dennis Coello, Harrison Shull, Linde Waidhofer and Chris Linder.

Noble's work has appeared in numerous books and publications, including National Geographic, Outside, Life and Rolling Stone, among others. He served as the primary advertising photographer for The North Face for over a decade.

Coello began his shooting on a cross-country bicycle tour in 1965. Since then, Coello has explored more than 40...

Boulder Digital Arts, created four years ago by Bruce Borowsky and Zach Daudert, was recently named one of the top 10 fastest-growing companies in Boulder, Colo., by the Boulder County Business Report.

The mission of Boulder Digital Arts is to provide affordable, professional training in digital photography, video editing, web design and more. BDA also hosts regular events featuring digital artists, including photographers Jim Balog and Bill Hatcher, among others.

For more information, visit boulderdigitalarts.com.

With the market moving toward digital photography, two Puget Sound-area photography companies, Ivey Photo of Seattle and Abolins AV Photographic of Tacoma, went out of business this summer. Ivey closed June 30 after operating for more than three decades; Abolins shut its doors after nearly 40 years in business.

Portland-based Ivey Imaging, the parent company of Ivey Photos, will retain a Seattle sales office. Originally Ivey-Seright, the company began with custom black-and-white processing and grew to become one of the nation's largest professional photofinishing companies.

Much of Ivey Photo's equipment, including...