Canon Japan has announced a shortage of its recently released EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II USM lens because of higher than expected demand. The company says it is attempting to boost supply to meet demand across all markets.

Fujifilm and Ricoh have announced firmware updates for their long zoom cameras. Fujifilm has updated a number of cameras from its S series of digital superzooms including the S2500HD. The latest versions for all the cameras bring improvements to the HD and live view settings. Ricoh's firmware update for its CX3 compact superzoom fixes a minor image preview bug.

Sigma Japan has announced its APO 150-500mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM lens will be available soon in Sony and Pentax mounts. Currently available in Canon, Nikon and Sigma mounts, the Sony version will start shipping from March 27, 2010 followed by the Pentax version from April 23, 2010. As previously announced, the 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM lens has started shipping in Sony and Pentax mounts at a retail price of ¥56,200 (~US $620).

Sigma has announced a firmware update for its DP2 digital compact. Version 1.04 adds faster auto focusing speed to the camera. The firmware will be available for download from March 26, 2010.

Canon has released firmware v2.0.4 for its 5D Mark II DSLR that corrects the bug found in the previous version. With v2.0.3, sound recording would not work if a manual record volume was used in the C1/C2/C3 custom settings modes. The revised firmware update addresses the issue and is now available for download from Canon's website. (Updated)