The strong Yen has resulted in fifth consecutive quarter of falling sales income for Canon's camera division, compared to the same period in previous years. Despite this, the company's operating profit and profit margin increased, prompting the company to improve its forecast for the next quarter. Total sales for the division fell 8.3% to ¥229 bn ($2,545m) once currency effects have been taken into account, though they actually grew 6.2% in the currencies they were sold in.

Kodak has reported that its business division that includes digital cameras suffered a 49% fall in sales (compared to the same period last year) in the third quarter of 2009. "Continued declines in consumer spending have had significant impacts in the company's digital camera and digital picture frame businesses," it said. The sales drop has primarily been due to a decline of approximately $157 million in intellectual property royalty revenues, the company said.

Nikon has introduced the 'Learn & Explore' app for Apple's iPhone in collaboration with the 'interactive agency' Molecular. Currently available only to US customers, the app gives photo enthusiasts access to images, video lectures and audio commentary from the company's website and enables them to read and bookmark articles from the Nikon World magazine. It is available for download from the Apple App Store.

Panasonic's eighth annual online LUMIX Award digital photo competition is now open for entries. Participants can submit one image per month under this year's theme 'Visualize music'. Each month a winner will be chosen and awarded a DMC-ZX1 digital compact. The overall winner for the single best digital photo will receive a DMC-GF1 Micro Four-Thirds camera along with tickets to see the Blue Man Group performance theatre troupe, while two runner-ups will receive a DMC-FZ38 compact. Entries can be up to 1200x1600 pixels and must be smaller than 2MB. The competition runs until April 30 2010.

With Phase One launching new versions of its Capture One software, we spoke to Claus Mølgaard, Vice President of Research and Development, to find out what's new and to get a better understanding of the work that goes into providing RAW support for the latest cameras.