Canon has announced its fifth annual contest that lets you win prizes for those summer memories.  The Photography in the Park contest is underway and is accepting entries until September 30th that showcase your inspiring wildlife images from any local, city, county, State, or National park or any National Monument.  18 lucky winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd place and "honorable mentions") in two categories (teen and adult) will be awarded Canon camera prizes, while two incredibly lucky grand prize winners will be sent to the National Park of his or her choice, be put up for 5 nights in a hotel, given airfare, and take home a Canon EOS 5D MarkII and a printer.

Canon announced that it has hit quite a milestone.  The digital imaging leader has hit a milestone of 40 million EOS cameras manufactured.  The 40 million milestone combines film and digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras manufactured since the EOS series introduction since 1987.  Canon even hit another milestone with the production of 20 million EOS Digital series cameras.

Some world records are broken just for bragging rights, and after the record is broken, not much can be done after that for the record breaker.  In the latest record-breaking photography news, we're seeing that the sky is the limit, and the options are endless for high-resolution photography.  GigaPan, a leader in gigapixel imaging, announced Thursday that it has broken the previous 26 gigapixel photo record with a whopping 45 gigapixel image of Dubai.  To put that in real-life terms, a photo that would take up 1200 billboards if it were to be printed.

Samsung announced this week that its ST5500 camera will come equipped with Wi-Fi radio and access to Boingo software that allows users to immediately share their photos on Facebook, Picasa, YouTube, and SamsungImaging.com. Samsung is even offering three months of free access to the software, a great marketing ploy, considering users probably won't want to cancel after seeing how easy it is to not have to take the intermediate step of uploading pictures to their computers.

Canon announced its next offering in the PowerShot ELPH camera series, the PowerShot SD4000 IS Digital ELPH camera, and they put everything they got into making this one of their best offerings yet.  The SD4000 is a point-and-shoot with the first-ever HS SYSTEM, a high-sensitivity system that features a CMOS sensor and bright f/2.0 lens.  The HS system is ideal for low light situations without the use of a flash and helps reduce noise at high ISO speeds.

After "accidentally" leaving a prototype of its newest camera in a bar, speculation went wild over what the Sony NEX3 and NEX5 would feature.  It was thought that the formal announcement would come on May 11th, and what do you know, they were right!  Sony announced today the release date and feature list of its newest set of cameras, the Alpha NEX3 and NEX5.

While Polaroid is moving forward and developing new instant film cameras for consumers, MIT is taking Polaroid history to display it as a treasure.  PLR IP Holdings, the owner of the Polaroid brand, donated over 9,000 historic artifacts of Polaroid, including some rare, treasured items.

In a breakthrough that could mean big things in the photography and video industry, a researcher has found a way to capture an entire scene (both near and far) in complete focus.   The omni-focus video camera can "bring an entire scene into focus, regardless of its depth" and is thought to be useful not only in professional photography and videography, but also for the medical, security, and defense industries.

Canon rightfully boasted this week, announcing that five of its photography and imaging products were awarded "Best Product 2010" by the Technical Image Press Association, three of which were cameras.  Canon took home the awards for "Best DSLR Advanced," "Best DSLR Expert," and "Best Expert Compact Camera" for the 2010 year.  Winners are chosen from the list of products released within the last 12 months and will be part of a ceremony held during the Photokina fair on September 21st.

We've been reporting for months on The Impossible Project, the group that made it their goal to resurrect instant photography by re-inventing instant film.  With all of the press and excitement around the project, Polaroid had announced that it would develop a new line of instant film cameras now that the film will be available.  Wednesday Polaroid held true to that promise and released the "first of many new products" that will bring back that classic feel. 

The Impossible Project seems to be on a roll!  In just one short month, the group has announced that it has finalized the process to manufacture a new instant film compatible with classic Polaroid Cameras, released two versions to the market, and started its own “Impossible Collection” in homage to the original Polaroid Collection.  And now The Impossible Project is opening its first Project Store here in the U.S.!

Last week the Sony World Photography Awards were announced at the awards ceremony held at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France.  A total of 12 photographers won in various categories and the prestigious L'Iris d'Or Photographer of the Year was also awarded.  The winners were chosen by 12 World Photographic Academy members and the winners were flown to Cannes, treated with accommodations, and will receive a gift from Sony.  The Photographer of the year was awarded with $25,000 and will become a member of the World Photographic Academy.

Celebrating its 47th year, the Bievres International Photo Fair will take place this year on the 5th and 6th of June in the town of Bievres, 12 km south of Paris.  The photo fair is a free event that allows photographers and photography enthusiasts to buy and trade equipment, learn through meetings, showcase art, and attend conferences on the latest technologies. 

In a move that appears to be becoming a trend, a Sony employee seems to have left the new mirrorless camera inside a bar in Asia long enough for someone to take a picture of it and leak it to the press.  An anonymous sender forwarded two pictures to SonyAlphaRumors.com which show that, indeed, the name of the new camera will be the NEX3, and that the lens is a chrome finished, 16 mm f/2.8 pancake lens that the website had speculated on days earlier.

A couple of months ago it was announced that Sotheby's in New York would be selling a group of artistic photos known as the Polaroid Collection in order to pay off built up debt to creditors.   Later it was also announced that The Impossible Project, a group bringing back instant film, had put in an offer to save the collection and keep it, while also starting their own collection.  Now, a group of 56 artists are fighting the sale, saying that the collection is not meant to be broken up, and needs to stay together, where it belongs - with Polaroid.