Reuters has reported that Sony is planning to invest 35 billion yen (approximately US$345 million) to expand its manufacturing capacity of smartphone and tablet image sensors. Sony says the investment will allow for a 13 percent increase in production to 68,000 wafers per month in 2015. Sony leads the market for smartphone imaging sensors, and supplies the sensors for Apple's iPhones and a large number of Android smartphones. Read more at connect.dpreview.com

Sony could be working on a phablet targeted at enthusiast photographers, based around its new curved Exmor-RS IMX271SMK sensor unit and an F1.2 lens. According to a post on Chinese forum digi-wo.com the Xperia Z3X's Android L OS will be powered by a 64bit Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC that is clocked at 2.86 GHz and 4GB of RAM. The screen is rumored to measure 6.14 inches, offering a QHD resolution and will use OLED technology. Read more on connect.dpreview.com

It's not a surprise that Leica's first autofocus mirrorless system camera is a thing of beauty - nor that it's wildly expensive. The Leica T (Typ 701) uses a 16MP APS-C CMOS sensor, and its operation is almost entirely dependent on a couple of dials and a large touchscreen. It may be beautiful, but a camera can't get by on its looks alone. See how it fared in our field testing. Read more

Registration is now open for PhotoPlus Expo 2014, the annual photographic tradeshow that takes place in New York City, every autumn. This year's show runs from October 29 - November 1 2014 in the Javits Convention Center, and the theme of the event (aside from photography of course) is Halloween. Click through for more details. 

Chinese device manufacturer Xiaomi unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the Mi 4, today. With a metal frame and a distinctly iPhone-esque design the Mi 4 looks like a premium product and its specification sheet confirms this initial impression, boasting a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC and 3GB RAM. Main camera specs appear standard for current-generation Android phones, with a 13MP rear camera but an unusually high-resolution 8MP at the front. Click through for more details.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is making materials from 12 of its photography-related courses available free online under a Creative Commons license. Selected reference materials, syllabus structure and lesson plan guidance is published and free to download via the institute’s Open Course Ware (OCW) program, to alllow motivated individuals to teach themselves. Click through for more details.

Dronestagram, a website that allows drone photographers to share their images and videos, has announced the winners of their 2014 photo contest. Sponsored by National Geographic and GoPro, the competition was open to photographers around the world. The photos taking top prizes are impressive - take a look at a gallery of the winning images. See gallery

Adobe has made Camera Raw 8.6 and DNG Converter 8.6 release candidates available. This version adds support for the Nikon D810, Panasonic Lumix AG-GH4 (GH4 with interface unit) and Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000. Color profiles are added for the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 III, A7S and Alpha SLT-A77 II. Also included are a number of new lens profiles. Learn more

On July 18th from 9AM PT to 4PM, CreativeLive will host a free, one-day event with nature photographer Art Wolfe. The class will be streamed live on CreativeLive's website, and viewers will be able to submit questions through Twitter, Facebook and CreativeLive's chat. Once it's aired, the class will be archived and available for download for $49. Learn more

A flying flash rig that tracks the position of both photographer and subject to maintain consistent lighting angles has been developed by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University. In a project designed to test co-ordination between aerial robots and ground-based targets, researchers programmed a flash-carrying drone to light people in the studio as the subjects and the photographer changed positions. Read more

The Lecia III used by Yevgeni Khaldei to take Raising a Flag Over The Reichstag is to go on sale in Hong Kong this November with a guide price of $390,000 - 580,000. Khaldei took the famous shot in 1945, as Russian troops overran Berlin in the final days of World War II. Learn more

Nikon has released version 1.0.0 of Capture NX-D, introduced in beta form earlier this year. Capture NX-D is the first version of Nikon's flagship Raw converter since previous developer Nik Software was bought by Google in 2012. The software features a new user interface, batch conversion and a non-destructive workflow that saves adjustments in sidecar files alongside the original image. Read more

Surfing tends to conjure up images of sun-soaked beaches and clear blue water. Surf photographer Chris Burkard looks for his subjects far north of the California beaches you'd normally expect. Cold water surfing pits surfers against the elements, with no more than a few millimeters of wetsuit between them and frigid water. Likewise, Burkard braves the sub-zero temperatures to capture them. SmugMug Films profiles Burkard in its latest episode. Watch the video and read more about the photographer in our Q&A with him. See video

Ricoh has announced the Pentax XG-1 superzoom, featuring a 16MP BSI-CMOS sensor and a 24-1248mm equivalent F2.8-5.6 zoom lens - covering a 52x optical zoom range. Other specs include a fixed 460k-dot 3.0-inch LCD, built-in EVF and full resolution burst shooting at 9 fps. Read more

Way up in Norway's arctic northwest lies a small, yet incredibly beautiful and diverse archipelago, home to some of that country's most magical landscapes and a truly wonderful winter atmosphere. Photographer Erez Marom shares his experience of shooting in the Lofoten Islands in Arctic Norway, from a traditional fishing village to mountains and ice-covered lakes. Learn more

DxO has released updates for its FilmPack film emulation and ViewPoint perspective correction software, enabling them to be fully integrated with Adobe Photoshop CC 2014. Both are available as standalone applications or as a plugin for Lightroom and Photoshop. FilmPack v4.5.2 and Viewpoint v2.1.7 are available for download now. Read more

We've come to the end of another week here at dpreview, and as our thoughts drift to weekend shooting opportunities, it's time to take things a little less seriously. Aaron Johnson's comic strip 'What the Duck' is just the thing, taking a gently satirical look through the lens of a photographically inclined waterfowl. You can find it published here (and in our newsletter) every week; we hope you enjoy it, and your weekend.

Adobe's latest Lightroom update has made it possible for subscribers to continue accessing their images and edits, as well as some limited functions of Lightroom once a license for it has ended. Key functions, including the ability to use the Develop module, do go away once the subscription is out of date, but users retain the ability to view, organize and export images. Read more

Image sharing and film emulation service VSCO has launched a scholarship fund totaling $1 million. Calling it the Artist Initiative, the program assists photographers and visual artists chosen by the company with funding and promotion of their work. The first round of recipients has been announced, including 12 creatives from across the globe. Learn more 

We recently published a look at the Lomography Petzval lens, a modern version of a 19th century portrait lens. It's a niche product and not something we typically cover, but an interesting adaptation of a classic design. Roger Cicala and the team at LensRentals went one step further - when a couple of copies rolled through the door, they subjected the lens to their usual optics tests. Why? Well, because why not? 

The simple idea that tripods are inconvenient to carry for extended periods has given birth to a host of attempts to find an easier way to steady a camera during a long exposure. A new device that joins this list is That Steady Thing - a metal boss that sits between a monopod's leg and its head, into which a pair of steadying legs screw. See if it lives up to its name. Read more

Sergeant Larry Reid Jr. is an official photographer for the US Air Force's Thunderbirds display team, covering everything from mechanics working on the team's F16 fighter jets to air-to-air shots at high G-loads. A new video produced by Jaron Schneider takes a detailed look at Reid's job, which has everyone here at DPReview insanely jealous (albeit a little queasy). Click through for a look - and hold on to your hat!

The Olympus Pen E-PL6, first announced in 2013 for the Asian market, is set to be introduced to the UK kitted with a pancake-style zoom lens and a Wi-Fi memory card. The M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ zoom lens is a pancake design, which Olympus claims is the slimmest of its type in this class. The 16.1 megapixel camera uses the same Live MOS sensor and TruePic VI processor as the 2012 PEN E-PL5 it replaces. It will retail in the UK for £429.99 from mid-July.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE has launched its latest high-end model and looking at the Nubia Z7's specifications it's clear the new model aims to compete at the very top of the market. The Nubia comes with a 13MP imaging sensor in its camera module, its lens boasts an F2.0 maximum aperture and an optical image stabilization system is available for keeping things steady in low light. Click through to read more at connect.dpreview.com

The Nikon 1 V3 has been out of stock with many retailers online and elsewhere, making the mirrorless camera hard to come by. The duration of the stock shortage has prompted an apology from Nikon Japan, which it recently posted on its website. Read more

Canon's printer division has announced Canon Print Service, a software plug-in for your mobile device that allows you to print to compatible Canon printers via a Wi-Fi connection. The service is available for Android devices running version 4.4.2 or newer and select HP Slate devices. Read more

Equivalence, at its most simple, is a way of comparing different formats (sensor sizes) on a common basis. Sounds straightforward enough, but the concept is still somewhat controversial and not always clearly understood. We thought it was about time we explained - and demonstrated - what equivalence means and what it doesn't. Learn more

We've updated our already healthy-sized gallery of real-world Leica T samples, bringing the grand total up to 97 images. The T (Typ 701) is a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with autofocus, the first in the T-system. It offers a 16MP APS-C sensor and features a large touch screen complemented by two command dials. See how it performs in the real world. See gallery

Horst's contact sheets, sketches and inspiration are set to go on show at an exhibition planned by London's Victoria and Albert museum for the end of this year. Horst: Photographer of Style is described by the museum as a 'definitive retrospective' of the German photographer's work, and will cover a range of styles and subjects taken between his move to Paris in the 1930s and the end of his life in 1999. Read more

Matthew Malkiewicz is what you might call a vintage train enthusiast. Fascinated with trains since his childhood, he's been photographing steam locomotives since a trip to Colorado in 2005 reignited his interests in trains and photography. His photos capture the old-world charm and romanticism that these steam-powered machines evoke. He answered a few questions about his work - see more of his photos and learn about his process. See gallery