This photograph was taken by a lens with some “obstruction” on the front element. Aside from the blurry patch of nastiness in the bottom portion of the frame, the rest of the image looks pretty decent. What do you think the “obstruction” is? A little dirt? A smudge where the photographer accidentally touched the front element? A scratch? The answer is a little closer to a scratch than a smudge…
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An unfortunate photo-lover in Hong Kong recently got into a fight with his girlfriend, who proceeded to smash his beautiful collection of Nikon lenses. Among the casualties were a Nikkor 28-70 f2.8D, Tokina 28-70 F2.6-2.8, Nikkor 80-200 f2.8D, Nikkor 17-35 F2.8D, and a Nikon TC-20E teleconverter.
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So we know DSLR cameras can survive plunges down cliffs (but not being trapped in a burning car), but what about being dropped onto pavement while traveling at high speeds? Shahrizan Jeffri Aziz was covering the Tour de Langkawi on a motorcycle when the unthinkable happened: his Nikon D3S and 300mm f/2.8 lens flew out of his hands and “spread all over the road”.
Miraculously the camera still functioned perfectly and, after having its “flesh wounds” covered up with duct tape, was soon back in action.
(via Nikon Rumors)
Dmitry Sklyarov of Russian software company ElcomSoft announced yesterday that the encryption system used by Canon to prove the authenticity of photographs is flawed and unfixable. This is the system that’s used to prove that images were not altered after being captured by the camera, and has applications in things such as court cases.
To prove their point, ElcomSoft published a series of ridiculous and obviously “Photoshopped” images (e.g. the astronaut planting a Soviet flag seen above) that all correctly pass Canon’s authenticity verification.
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Have a busted lens that isn’t worth repairing? Instead of throwing it away, you can turn it into a flower pot! Kenneth Yung has a series of photos showing how he did this with his broken Nikon 18-55mm lens (translation here). This can definitely add a fun touch to any boring workspace!
(via Nikon Rumors)
During Game 4 of the series between the Yankees and the Rangers this past tuesday, a player broke a bat when making a hit and the broken end of the bat flew all the way into the camera well, shattering the front of a Canon DIGISUPER 86II TELE xs camera lens worth $90,000. Luckily there was a protective filter being used over the lens, though it will still cost $20,000 to replace it. What’s neat is that cameraman Steve Angel kept on shooting with the smashed lens, framing the scenes through the small hole in the shattered glass until the camera was replaced an inning later.
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Just days after releasing a firmware update that brought 24 fps video to the 5D Mark II, Canon has pulled the update due to a malfunction that occurred.
Photographers who used the new firmware discovered that in a certain situation, the firmware would cause the camera to be unable to record audio. After receiving reports of this issue over the past couple days, Canon has pulled the update from the firmware page and has put up a notice, saying:
Recently we have discovered a malfunction that occurs with Firmware Version 2.0.3, in which the manual recording levels for C1/C2/C3 are changed and the camera becomes unable to record audio if the power is turned off (or if Auto power off takes effect) after registering “Sound Recording: Manual” in the camera user settings.
If you’re already using the new firmware, you can avoid this issue by having your sound recording settings set to “Auto” when using C1/C2/C3.
Canon is currently working on a new update that fixes the problem, but has not announced when it may be available.
Looks like they should have tested the firmware more before setting it loose.
