In the past week, two different lens dial camera cases have been announced for iPhoneographers: a Holga toy camera case and a more serious lens dial case. If you don’t want to shell out cash to add a lens dial to your phone (and don’t mind it looking ridiculous), you can make a do-it-yourself lens dial using a jar lid and random lenses scavenged from various devices. The dial is attached to the back of your phone using a suction cup, and can give you magnification on-the-go.
Just days after Holga announced a new iPhone case with 9 lens filters in a rotary dial, a new challenger emerges: the iPhone Lens Dial. Compared to the Holga case, it’s much more professional looking — but equally as bizarre. The oversized dial packs three different lenses (wide angle, fisheye, and telephoto) into one aircraft-grade aluminum case. The price is prohibitive to all but the most obsessed iPhoneographers though: each case costs a cool $249.
Holga is selling an iPhone Lens Filter Kit that packs 9 separate “retro” filters into a single accessory using a rotary dial. While the design itself is pretty clever, the resulting photographs are a bit… strange. They sell for $25 over in the Holga store.
Haven’t found a small camera case that’s stylish enough for your taste? Matt over at Wood&Faulk has written up a tutorial on how you can make your own protective camera wrap using some heavy wool fabric and a leather or canvas strap:
Most camera bags are overkill, especially when you just want a bit of protection walking around, or you’re packing a camera in another bag for a short trip. I picked up a nice looking, heavy wool remnant from the Pendleton outlet last weekend, so I figured I could try my hand at a simple camera wrap. Now I’ve got just the right amount of walk-around camera protection without the “tourist look.”
Could also make a fantastic gift, especially with the holiday season just around the corner!
It’s not uncommon to hear stories of wedding photographers getting sued by unsatisfied clients, but one lawsuit currently underway in New York is causing quite a stir. Todd Remis (pictured on right) of Manhattan is suing 65-year-old studio H & H Photographers (on left), claiming that the photographers had missed the final 15 minutes of the wedding that included the last dance and bouquet toss. However, there are details that make the case bizarre:
[...] what is striking, said the studio that took the pictures, is that Mr. Remis’s wedding took place in 2003 and he waited six years to sue. And not only has Mr. Remis demanded to be repaid the $4,100 cost of the photography, he also wants $48,000 to recreate the entire wedding and fly the principals to New York so the celebration can be re-shot by another photographer.
Re-enacting the wedding may pose a particular challenge, the studio pointed out, because the couple divorced and the bride is believed to have moved back to her native Latvia. [#]
Studio owner Dan Fried says that the cost of defending themselves in court has already matched the sum demanded by Remis, and calls the case “an abuse of the legal system.”
Dan Bailey over at The Photoletariat captured this brief video of Lowepro showing off its new Lens Exchange 200AW case at PhotoPlus Expo in NYC. The case is designed to help you swap lenses with one hand — instead of setting one lens down before taking out the new one, it expands to reveal a second compartment. Stick the old lens in, pull the new lens out, and then collapse the case back into its compact form.
Casetagram is a service that makes custom iPhone cases using Instagram photographs. The case comes in four different templates, and cost $35 each with free shipping worldwide.
John (AKA knife141) loves turning junk into unusual creations, and one day came up with idea of building a camera for the sole purpose of confusing strangers. He took a $15 digicam and transformed it into a Argus C3 from the mid-1900s:
My goal was to install a modern digital camera inside the housing of an old, obsolete camera. I thought it might be fun to pull this camera out in a crowd of people and make them wonder why in the world an old man would continue to use a camera that was obviously as old as he was, as opposed to something more modern.
[...] I’ve had a lot of fun with this camera, taking it places and watching people’s puzzled looks as I appear to be using an old beat-up camera that was made about the time I was born! I have even had people approach me and ask if I can still get film developed — with no idea that the heart of my camera is actually digital! I have also had people ask me how many pictures I can take with the camera, and they always look puzzled when I tell them, “Oh, around 4,000 or so.”
Pose is a camera case that doubles as a simple stand. Designed to replace the little bean bags or mini-tripods that many people carry around separately, Pose has an attachment mount built in, and can either be propped up by itself on flat surfaces or wrapped around poles and curved surfaces. The $24 accessory is available for pre-order over at quirky, and will be manufactured if at least 1,000 people join in.
If for some reason you’ve always wanted pair up your SLR lenses with the tiny sensor found on the iPhone 4, Photojojo has a new mount that can make your dream come true. The package includes a special aluminum case for your phone, a UV filter attachment, and the lens adapter, and almost guarantees that you’ll be the strangest looking iPhone shooter on your street. Read more…
