Apple has updated its professional photo application, Aperture. Version 1.0.1 includes improved white balance adjustment accuracy and performance, image export quality, book and print ordering reliability, auto-stacking performance and custom paper size handling. The update is available as a 11 MB download. Also of interest to anyone investingating Aperture will be Imaging-Resource's excellent 'Aperture Diary' which is a hands-on look at how Aperture fits into a day by day workflow.

Pre-CES 2006: The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has posted a press release summarizing digital imaging at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (5th to 8th January 2006). There will be a day long event showcasing the wide range of complementary services which can be applied to digital imaging, an Industry Insider session presented by Antonio Perez, president and CEO of Eastman Kodak as well as exhibitors such as Kodak, Fujifilm, HP, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony on the show floor.

Much to the delight of many Leica aficionados there's now more than a hint that Leica are readying a digital version of the M7 rangefinder camera. Stefan Daniel of Leica is quoted in the latest edition of LFI (Leica Fotografie International) magazine as saying "The Digital M will be introduced as a complete package that will include new wide-angle lenses." The rumour mill also carries some specifications; 10 megapixels with a 1.3x crop factor, 2.5" LCD monitor and SD storage. We expect to hear more at PMA in February.

The EasyShare P850, which has an image-stabilized 12x zoom Schneider-Kreuznach, is a direct competitor to the likes of Canon's S2 IS, Sony's H1 and Panasonic's FZ20 and is the first in a new class of 'advanced digital cameras', which Kodak hopes will provide an alternative to entry-level DSLRs.. As well as the new image stabilizing feature the P850 boasts RAW file capture and a flash hot shoe, plus a real wealth of photographic controls. Find out how it fared in our concise review, after the link.

Sigma has confirmed that there is an incompatibility issue between its HSM equipped lenses and the new Nikon D200. Specifically the HSM lenses do not operate when the 'AF-ON' button is pressed on the rear of the camera. This does not affect auto-focus carried out using the shutter release button (half-press). Sigma has stated that this is due to a firmware bug in the lens itself and will soon be introducing a free of charge firmware update for affected lenses.

Canon has posted firmware updates for the EOS-1D Mark II N and EOS 5D. Both updates improve the brightness of the LCD monitor and fix mistakes in the language menus. Version 1.02 for the EOS-1D Mark II N also fixes a file numbering error that occurred during bulb shooting. The 5D had a problem with the creation of large files (1.7GB) and operational abnormality in AEB shooting, which has now been fixed by firmware version 1.03.

Carl Zeiss have gone all mysterious in their placement of a message on their home page, it reads "Millions of SLR Photographers Will Soon Discover a New Dimension in Photography." At the moment we have no idea what this means, speculation on our forums and elsewhere ranges from a new Zeiss digital system (Sony?) to Zeiss lenses for Canon / Nikon mounts (a leaked image shows Nikon F-Mount Zeiss lenses).