Canon has said it will have no presence or representation at the annual PMA trade show in Anaheim, California, in February. Canon USA has traditionally had one of the largest stands at the show and the Japanese parent company has regularly sent senior figures to the event. However, in light of the convergence of technologies from across its range: 'the decision has been made by Canon USA to only participate in 2010 trade shows and events that have the broadest reach,' the company said. It will still attend the International CES show organized by the Consumer Electronics Association. The event, which covers a wider range of electronics, takes place in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 7-10th.

Ricoh has released a firmware update for its GR Digital III compact camera. Version 1.21 fixes minor issues related to playback and manual focus. It also rectifies an occasional Exif data error when using conversion lens GW-2. The firmware is available for immediate download from Ricoh's website.

ACD Systems has released the final version of its ACDSee Pro 3 image browsing software, that was previously available for beta testing. It features an improved interface, more online publishing tools and advanced image processing options allowing both non-destructive and pixel-level editing on most file formats. The software is available for a free 30-day trial and for purchase at US $169.99 via the ACD Systems website.

Samsung Electronics has released the AMOLED 12M mobile phone which contains a 12 megapixel camera complete with zoom rocker, shutter button and mode dial. The phone's camera has a 3x optical zoom and includes features seen in recent compact cameras including 720p HD video recording, AF Tracking, Smart Auto and Face Recognition. All other functions are controlled via a WVGA (800x480 pixels, 1,152,000 dots) AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) touch screen display. Initiailly only available in the Korean market, the phone/camera is a product of Samsung Electronics, which contains Samsung's mobile phone business. The company is reported to be considering absorbing Samsung's digital camera business - currently a separate company called Samsung Digital Imaging.

We've just posted the second part of our blog post about ISO and Sensitivity. Last week we looked at what the ISO standard is supposed to tell us (the key thing being that it's based on JPEG middle gray and therefore is dependent on the manufacturer's chosen tone curve). This week we have a little look at what's going on behind the scenes when many modern cameras try to boost their ability to capture highlights.