The main thing with in flight hover fly photos is not to try, by that I mean if you go out to take one you will end up normally chasing a hoverfly all over the place with little chance of success. I only take them when an opportunity arises.

In this case the males of this species of hoverfly patrol the flowering bush looking for females . When they spot one they go into a stationary hover for about 10seconds whilst they decide if the female is what they think it is and if it’s a suitable mate.
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Flickr user joey_joey_joey wanted to customize his iPhone 4 in a unique way, so he decided to make it look like a Leica M9. This is one of the neatest looking cell phones I’ve seen.

To make the stickers for the front and back, Joey took a stock photograph of an M9, and modified it in Photoshop to fit the dimensions of the iPhone 4.
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Sony dropped quite an announcement today with its new pellicle mirror DSLRs, but Canon doesn’t want us to forget that they have announcements coming up as well.

They released an (semi-meaningless) announcement of their own today: the development of a 120-megapixel APS-H sensor that can handle HD-video recording and 9.5fps shooting. This is the same sensor size found in the 1D line of DSLRs. But get this — they have no plans for actually producing this sensor in a camera anytime soon.

Thus, even though this is pretty interesting news that was widely reported today, it appears that this was some sort of clever scheme devised by Canon’s marketing department to steal some thunder from Sony’s pellicle mirror news. Lets see if Canon can match it when they release their new camera on August 26th.

Here’s a stunning time-lapse video by Dan Eckert shot in the California and Arizona deserts. Aside from the fact that seeing the night sky spin in time-lapse is usually pretty darn cool, Eckert employs some interesting techniques that we haven’t come across before.

For example, in one shot Eckert paced across the desert, aiming at a particular mountain in the horizon and snapping a single photograph every time he took a step. If you have a few minutes, this’ll definitely make for a relaxing and awe-inspiring break.

Notice anything strange about the photograph above? It shows the Myers family taking a photograph together outside the Capital building in Madison, Wisconsin. Look a little closer, and you’ll see that their Canon G7 caught something unusual.
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HBO posted this interesting behind-the-scenes video that gives a glimpse into the kind of special effects that went into filming the popular miniseries John Adams. It’s pretty crazy how they construct entire realities around the actors using CGI.

And you thought Photoshopping was hard…

We here at PetaPixel are pleased to announce the new Photographers Rights Gray Card Set, a nifty accessory that can help you remember your rights and educate others if you’re ever confronted while shooting.
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The rumors that have been circulating in recent weeks were spot on: Sony has just announced four new DSLR cameras: the A33, A55, A560, and A580. As expected, the A33 and A55 are the world’s first pellicle mirror DSLRs, and have the features and specs we posted just yesterday: phase-detect autofocus while recording HD video or shooting 7fps or 10fps respectively.
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The above is supposedly a leaked photo of the not-yet-announced Sony A33 and its pellicle mirror, the first of its kind on a DSLR. Rumor has it that the camera will officially be announced early tomorrow morning.

SonyAlphaRumors received a tip that Sony will be using the following arguments promoting the new pellicle system:

• Minimal shutter lag: Mirror does not move, and therefore results in shutter lag of less than 0.1 seconds
• Auto focus: First DSLR to offer phase detection autofocus during HD video recording
• Frames per second: No moving mirror allows camera to reach 10 FPS
• No mirror blackouts: Optical view and Live view will remain uninterrupted during shooting
• Compact design: Eliminating the moving mirror system reduces weight by 25% and size by 20%

Stay tuned. Official news about the A33 and A55 should arrive shortly.

Update: Amateur Photographer just published a post titled, “New Sony Alpha 55 and Alpha 33 EVF DSLRs to feature fixed Translucent Mirror“. Almost as soon as it was published it was taken down (darn those easy-to-click “Publish” buttons!). Here’s a quote from the now-removed article:

Sony is set to introduce shooting speeds of up to 10fps, as well as video, in its latest Alpha DSLR cameras, the Alpha 55 and Alpha 33, by using a new non-moving ‘translucent’ mirror. Echoing the technology of the pellicle mirror in Canon’s EOS RT of 1989, Sony’s new semi-transparent mirror allows light to be fed simultaneously to a camera’s imaging sensor and AF system, removing the need for a moving mirror and providing the potential for much improved focus tracking as well as active AF in Live View and video modes.

Looks like this is no longer a “rumor”.

(via SonyAlphaRumors)

Here’s a screenshot photo.net member Brett Cole posted to a forum thread showing how you can order $3 million worth of gear from B&H with three clicks.

Your eyes are not mistaken. That’s a $160,700 lens you see. Shipping for this gargantuan order would run you $40,605.

Now you can see why it’s such a big deal that high quality video recording is moving into consumer DSLR cameras.