September 2012

You've probably seen time-lapse videos shot looking out the side of an airplane through a passenger window, but have you ever seen one from the pilot's point of view? If not, check out the beautiful video above. It was created by pilot Jakub Vlk, who brought his Canon 600D to work and captured photographs across seven days. The video shows Vlk taxiing to the runway, taking off, floating up into the clouds, flying around, and landing.

"Entry level" is a huge theme in the photo gear industry this year, and it's not limited to cameras. Lensbaby has also joined in on the action by announcing its new Spark lens. It's stripped-down plastic version of the company's selective focus lenses, allowing you to shoot fun "tilt-shift"-style photos without breaking the bank.

Do you love the design of Apple products? Do you have infinitely deep pockets? If you said yes to both questions, then I have some good news for you.

At Leica's special event last night, after the new Leica M was announced, company owner Dr. Andreas Kaufmann revealed that they've got a very special limited edition version of the camera planned -- one that's designed by legendary Apple designer Sir Jonathan Ive.

I'm in Cologne, Germany covering Photokina right now. It's the day before the trade fair opens, and as I was walking through the exhibition center to a press event (which I'll write more on soon), I passed by some of the main exhibition halls. Instead of the squeaky clean "photographer's Disneyland" that guests enjoy when the fair is up and running, everything was a mess, as companies were working hard to set up their impressive displays.

Since this isn't a view that most people who visit the fair see -- after all, who wants to waste time walking around a day early? -- I decided to roam around and snap some photos of what Photokina looks like the day before opening.

Nik Software announced today that it has been acquired by Google. The company is the maker of Snapseed, one of the most popular photo editing apps in the iTunes App Store and a competitor to Instagram.

With much fanfare, Leica announced its new M and M-E digital rangefinders at Photokina today. The M breaks new ground by introducing some fancy new features that have never been seen before in an M rangefinder, while the M-E is the company's attempt at offering an entry-level digital rangefinder.

Notice that Leica has done away with its standard naming strategy. Apparently Leica is doing what Apple did with the iPad: leaving out the generation in the name entirely. In future, we'll be saying "Leica M" with "20th generation" in parentheses rather than Leica M20.

This news might not be very relevant to most of you, but Adobe has announced that future versions of Photoshop will not be compatible with Windows XP.

If you want a 50mm f/1.4 lens for your DSLR, you'll need to shell out at least a couple hundred bucks, even if you buy one made by a third-party manufacturer. For those of you who don't mind losing autofocus, you can get the same focal lengths and apertures for much cheaper by buying some old glass and an adapter. By much cheaper, we mean as low as $10-$20! India-based photographer Brock Whittaker recently did this after seeing an auction on eBay for an old Mamiya camera kit.

In addition to its pretty standard cameras and lenses introduced this morning, Olympus also announced something quite unique: a body cap lens. It's a pancake-style MFT-mount 3-element 15mm f/8 lens that is designed to replace your body old body cap. In 35mm terms, the focal length is equivalent to 30mm -- not bad for casual snapshots.

Olympus is entering Photokina week with three new cameras: the E-PM2 and E-PL5 for its PEN Micro Four Thirds lineup, and the X-Z2 as a flagship compact camera. Both PEN cameras feature a 16.1MP CMOS sensor, a max ISO of 25,600, in-body image stabilization, a 3-inch touchscreen, touch shooting, 8fps continuous shooting, photo filters, RAW files with in-camera editing, and 1080i HD video recording.

There's a huge wave of anti-Japanese sentiment sweeping across China, with violent protests popping up all over the country in response to the ongoing dispute over islands in the East China Sea. Amidst the public anger, Japanese brands are taking a hit... literally.

The leaked photos were authentic and the specs were spot on: Canon announced its new 6D DSLR this morning, the smallest, lightest, and cheapest full-frame camera in its lineup. At 690g, it's 20% lighter than the 5D Mark III. The camera is Canon's entry in the emerging "affordable full-frame" DSLR segment, which Nikon entered last week with its similarly named and similarly priced D600.

The Canon 6D features a 20.2 megapixel full frame sensor, an ISO range of 100-25600 (expandable to 50-102400), an 11-point AF system with a high-precision center cross-type point, 63-zone metering, 1080p HD video recording, 4.5fps continuous shooting, vibration-based dust removal, a shutter rated to 100K actuations, and a 3-inch LCD screen.

Microbiologist-turned-photographer Zachary Copfer has developed an amazing photo-printing technique that's very different from any we've seen before. Rather than use photo-sensitive papers, chemicals, or ink, Copfer uses bacteria. The University of Cincinnati MFA photography student calls the technique "bacteriography", which involves controlling bacteria growth to form desired images.

Developers who pre-ordered Google's Project Glass glasses for $1,500 won't be receiving them until early 2013, but a number of lucky journalists were recently given the opportunity to take the camera-equipped, augmented reality eye-piece for a test drive. The New York Times' gadget kingmaker David Pogue writes that the device has the potential to be one of the rare devices that introduces a whole new gadget category to the world,

[...] a few things are clear. The speed and power, the tiny size and weight, the clarity and effectiveness of the audio and video, are beyond anything I could have imagined. The company is expending a lot of effort on design — hardware and software — which is absolutely the right approach for something as personal as a wearable gadget

[...] it’s much too soon to predict Google Glass’s success or failure. But it’s easy to see that it has potential no other machine has ever had before — and that Google is shepherding its development in exactly the right way.

Canon will reportedly launch its new entry-level full frame DSLR, the Canon 6D, along with a bevy of other digital cameras tomorrow at Photokina 2012. We saw a semi-complete spec list and a couple photos leak out earlier this week, but people have expressed doubt as to the leak's reliability and authenticity. If you had any doubts that the camera is in fact coming, check out the above screenshot. It's a pre-order page that appeared briefly today on Adorama.

As Olympus attempts to regain its footing after the devastating financial scandal that rocked it this past …

On its own, the video above is horribly filmed and some of the most difficult-to-watch footage you'll ever see, but what it shows makes it fascinating. It's a point-of-view look at what it's like to fall 12,500 feet without a parachute... and survive. Skydiver Lucas Damm was jumping out of a plane over British Columbia recently when his helmet-mounted GoPro camera smacked against the plane door and fell out of its holder. The camera, still rolling, fell the entire way down and miraculously escaped without any damage.

Check out this photo showing the inside of a camera shop (and pharmacy) from 1910. It's the image on a postcard that's currently being auctioned over on eBay (with a starting bid of $100) by a seller named 2raccoons.

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at what it's like to be a photographer covering New York City's Fashion Week 2012.

Less than a month after Kodak announced the sale of its photographic film business, Fujifilm has some downer news of its own: the end of its motion picture film business.

We received a tip in our inbox earlier today for a 29-megapixel digital camera that uses Canon EF mount lenses. While those aren't exactly attention-grabbing specs, the type of camera is quite different: it's a security camera. Canadian surveillance company Avigilon has a line of JPEG2000 HD Pro security cameras. These cameras come in 8MP, 11MP, 16MP, and 29MP models, and use Canon EF mount SLR lenses.

Apple's iPhone and iOS get a lot of media attention, but Google's Android OS is the world's most popular smartphone operating system by a long shot. Given this fact, it makes sense to at least target both markets if you're releasing something that's intended to be widely used. Triggertrap understands this, and today released the Android version of its mobile camera triggering app.

The app is designed to be used with the company's Mobile Dongle, which has also been refreshed. In fact, the new Android app requires the new Dongle, while iPhone users can use either version.

Check out this beastly camera used by Signal Corps during the Cold War. It featured a 100-inch infrared lens that was capable of seeing through over twenty miles of hazy air -- perfect for capturing reconnaissance photographs of enemy strongholds. The camera was so massive that it required two people to operate: one to frame the shot, and one to snap the photo.

Hawaii-based photographer Christy Lee Rogers specializes in creating dreamlike photos of people underwater. Her project Reckless Unbound shows people swirling around one another while wearing colorful outfits. The photos are reminiscent of the paintings of old Baroque masters, who would often paint people floating around in heavenly realms.

Earlier this month, Noah Kalina released an updated version of his everyday self-portrait time-lapse video, showing how …

You might want to think twice the next time you snap a photo containing Canadian currency: the Royal Canadian Mint says that it holds copyright over those images.

It recently informed Nova Scotia folk musician Dave Gunning that he would need to pay licensing fees for the artwork used in his upcoming album No More Pennies. Set to be released on September 18th, the album art features three photographs that contain Canadian pennies (depicted as a sun, as train wheels, and on a table), designed to pay tribute the fact that the pennies were discontinued this year.

Cell phones have already gone the way of the touchscreen, so why not light meters? Perhaps they will, starting today. Sekonic has just announced a two new light meters that are the world's first to offer a touchscreen interface. The L-478D and L-478DR both feature a 2.7-inch LCD touchscreen through which settings are changed by tapping or sliding your finger.

When the web first emerged, web design knowledge was a scarce commodity, and developers were able to charge ridiculous amounts of money to create simple websites. Now that everyone and their mother knows how to do simple HTML, you'll need to learn a lot more and offer something unique to stand a chance in the freelance market.

The exact same thing is happening in the photography industry. As the cost of shooting, printing, and distributing photos goes down, simply knowing how to take "good pictures" is no longer enough.

We first covered Stipple last year, when it was a B2B service that was attempting to turn microstock on its head by offering image licenses in exchange for in-image ads. Since then, the company has relaunched as a platform geared towards ordinary folk. In addition to being able to make money from your photos, Stipple now adds a useful layer on top of the images, allowing you to share, caption, and track your photos in ways that aren't possible with static image files.

Back in March, we wrote about photographer Bob Carey's Tutu Project, which consists of self-portraits Carey created while wearing only a pink tutu. The project started out as a fun image made for a non-profit ballet organization, but soon transformed into something much more after Carey's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. The folks over at PocketWizard recently interviewed Carey, creating the touching short film above that offers a behind-the-scenes look at how the project came about (warning: you might want to have some Kleenex nearby).

Canon's rumored entry-level full-frame DSLR, the 6D, is becoming more and more real. Digicam-info published a bunch of leaked specs and a couple of photos today. If the information is accurate, then Canon will soon have a DSLR that matches up well against Nikon's new D600 in both price and specs.

The camera will reportedly feature a 20.2 megapixel CMOS sensor, the DIGIC5+ image processing engine, an ISO range of 100-25600 (expandable to 50-102400), a small body (the size of an APS-C sensor camera), a magnesium alloy built (some parts, at least), built-in Wi-Fi (wow), built-in GPS, 11 autofocus points, 4.5fps continuous shooting, a shutter rated for 100,000 actuations, 1/180 second sync, shutter speed that ranges from 30s to 1/4000s, weatherproofing, a 3-inch LCD screen, and 1080p HD video recording.

California-based designer Joy Kelley of How Joyful upgraded her camera recently and needed …

Daré alla Lucé is a project by photographer Amy Friend that features old photos that resemble constellations in the night sky. Friend creates the images by finding vintage photographs (online or in shops) and then poking tiny holes into them. My Modern Met writes,

The series began through her desire to see the photograph as an object. Friend wanted to find out what it meant for them to change, "to become something different than what they were originally intended to be" yet still remain the same. To her, the images represented "a life, a face, a moment, but only through a momentary glance." By altering them she hopes to playfully bring to light stories beneath the surface or what she refers to as "the unknown."

"It is the unknown that shines through the photographs. It is the unknown that releases the photographs and allows them to become something new."

Did you know that there's US currency on Mars? It's true: when NASA's Curiosity rover was launched back on November 26, 2011, one of the things it carried with it was a penny from over a century ago. The 1909 Lincoln cent is part of the rover's onboard calibration target used to check that the cameras are working properly.

Earlier this week, we wrote about a unique fashion show put on in NYC by DVF that extensively featured Google's Project Glass camera glasses. Google released a video today that provides an interesting look at the show, as recorded by various people wearing the devices.

Experience the DVF Spring 2013 show at New York Fashion Week through the eyes of the people who made it happen—the stylists, the models and Diane von Furstenberg herself. All the footage you see here was filmed using only Glass, Google's latest technology that lets you capture moments from a unique, new perspective. See what happens when fashion and technology come together like you've never seen before.

It's interesting seeing what goes on behind the scenes at a fashion show, especially from the diverse perspectives see in this video (glasses were given to everyone from the designer herself to the cameramen at the back of the runway room).

After announcing its new iPhone 5 yesterday, Apple published a gallery of full-res sample photos showing the updated camera's quality. Although the specs haven't really changed, Apple says that the updated sensor and processor leads to better photographs. What better way to test these claims than to compare resulting photos side by side?

Luckily for us, DPReview has the droids comparison we're looking for. When Apple's official sample images were posted yesterday, DPReview product manager Scott Everett realized that he had taken an iPhone 4S photo that was nearly identical to one of the images -- the one of the coastline in Big Sur, California.

Did you know that Rolleiflex is still producing its high-end analog twin-lens reflex cameras? Apparently there's enough photographers out there buying them for there to be a small, niche market, because Rollei is planning to show off a new model at Photokina 2012 next week.

In October of 2011, the tech world went into a frenzy after Adobe showed off some crazy image deblurring research it's working on. By calculating the camera movements that caused the blur in the first place, the algorithm is able to "reverse" the motion blur and sharpen the photo. If you've been impatiently waiting for the feature to show up in a new version of Photoshop, you might want to check out Blurity, a similar blur removal tool that's already available. The software has been available to Windows users for a while now, but just recently launched for Mac OS X as well.

Be careful not to leave your camera unattended when animals are nearby -- you never know what might happen. We've shared a number of videos in the past of animals such as monkeys, octopi, sharks, and seagulls "borrowing" cameras for their own purposes.

Back in 2011, it was discovered that iPhones, iPods, and iPads running iOS 5 had a hidden panorama feature that was built into the operating system but not ordinarily available through the devices. Methods were discovered for unlocking the feature, which we all assumed was simply a half-baked feature that wasn't ready for release at the time.

On Tuesday, the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was attacked by militants, resulting in the deaths of ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three members of his staff. In an article reporting on the attack, The New York Times included a photograph that reportedly showed a bloody and unconscious Stevens, moments away from death. The image caused outrage with some readers, and soon attracted the attention of the United States government, which asked the Times to pull the photo. The Times said no.

Tom Anderson is a photography enthusiast and the former President of MySpace. You can find him online on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter. Check out his Burning Man photographs here.

PetaPixel: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Tom Anderson: Well most of you probably know me as the first friend from MySpace. I was a founder and President. It sold in 2005 and I left the company completely in early 2009. The MySpace first friend tends to overshadow all the things I was or will be...

I've lived many lives, so to speak. At one time I was in a band (both as a singer and guitar player) and that was all I did every day. If you knew me in college, you would have assumed I was going to be an egghead professor. I was a very serious scholar. I've always been attracted to creative things. Just before my photography obsession began I was having a lot of fun learning about architectural design, but photography has taken over and kind of pulled me away from that.

Marketing and customer loyalty are two powerful things. They can make minor improvements in gadgets seem great, and major advancements to-die-for. In the world of photography, many camera owners feel strong allegiances to the brand they use, fiercely defending it as their own, and even going on the offensive to belittle other photographers who shoot under a different banner. This kind of customer loyalty does strange things to how the "fanboys" perceive the quality of their camera gear.

Announced this morning, Nikon’s new D600 is a powerful little full frame DSLR at an unprecedented price point, and …

After months of rumors and speculation, Nikon has finally announced its new full frame camera, the D600. In terms of specs, the rumors were right on. However, we missed the mark by quite a bit regarding the price. We'll come back to that later.

The D600 is in fact the company's "entry level" full frame DSLR, designed to bring the benefits of an FX-format sensor to enthusiasts who were previously unwilling to take the plunge. The camera features a 24.3 megapixel CMOS sensor, an ISO range of 100-6400 (expandable to 50-25600), a 39-point autofocus system (9 cross-type points), a 0.13 second startup time and a 0.052 shutter lag, 5.5fps continuous shooting, dual SD card slots, a viewfinder with 100% coverage, built-in HDR, 1080p HD video recording with full-time AF, and a 3.2-inch LCD.

The world's first color moving pictures have been discovered, dating back to 1902. The film sat forgotten in an old metal tin for 110 years before being found recently by Michael Harvey, the Curator of Cinematography at the National Media Museum in England. The pictures were part of a test reel of early color experiments by an Edwardian inventor named Edward Raymond Turner, and show Turners children, soldiers marching, domesticated birds, and even a girl on a swing set.

When doing certain types of welding, special helmets with dark lens shades should be used to protect the eyes from the extremely bright welding arc and sparks. The masks help filter out light, protecting your eyes, but at the same time make it hard to see the details in what you're doing. In other words, the dynamic range is too high, and wearers are unable to see both the arc and the objects they're welding.

Earlier today, Apple announced its new iPhone 5, which features a camera that's nearly identical to the one found in the 4S. Soon after the announcement, Apple put up the official product page for the phone, which includes a gallery of sample photographs shot using the iPhone 5. Unfortunately, none of the shots show low-light environments, which would have allowed us to gawk at the power of the camera's new and improved noise-killing processor. For now, we'll just have to settle for these generic shots showing what the 3264×2448 images look like when they pop out of the camera.

Philadelphia-based architect and photo enthusiast Andrew Evans has an interesting series of photographs titled Demolition Composites, which contains photographs of ghostly buildings spotted around the City of Brotherly Love. The technique used to create them is extremely basic. Evans took photographs of the buildings, and then rephotographed the same location after the building had been demolished (cleared away for new construction projects).

By compositing the before and after photographs together, Evans ended up with images that offer a final, fading look at the beautiful buildings that once occupied the new construction sites.

Gamification -- the application of game design elements to non-game contexts -- is a pretty hot idea right now in the online startup world. More and more startups are introducing things like badgets, achievements, leaderboards, points, and progress bars to encourage users to do things such as visit new businesses, answer questions, and, of course, play games. One particularly interesting application of gameification is in the area of education, using fun to motivate learning.

Lunchbox is a stealthy startup that's planning to introduce this kind of learning to the world of photography.