design

Tripods are often designed for stability rather than ease of use, which can make operating them a slow and complicated process. Traditional tripods are also often difficult to set up with one hand.

The London-based product designer who goes by the name Product Tank decided to try his hand at inventing a tripod that's friendlier to use. What he came up with is this clever prototype that can easily be expanded, adjusted, and collapsed with a single hand.

On the heels of Flickr's major redesign, Instagram has launched a new look of its own. The photo-sharing social network has revamped its website, replacing its old style with one that's simple and sparse.

Memory Clock is an interesting new concept design that combines the world of clocks with the world of digital photo frames. It's a clock that helps you relive memories by showing you photos from the past.

If you're a fan of both retro cameras and instant photos, you may be delighted to learn of a new camera called the InstantFlex TL70. It's designed to look like a Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera, but it's a fully functional instant camera that takes Fujifilm Instax film.

The camera on smartphones is one of the main selling points these days, and Apple is working hard to push its iPhone camera ahead of the pack. A newly discovered patent reveals that Apple has created an innovative sensor design that increases quality by using three separate sensors and a prism for splitting light.

Product design is the notion of transforming an idea into a tangible object that has a purpose. Solving problems with products is what I like to do -- it's how I try to give something back to the world. Adaptalux is something I created recently to give photographers a portable macro studio wherever they go.

The SoundBarrel is a concept Bluetooth speaker design that shutterbugs should feel right at home with. Created by South Korean industrial designer SaeJoung Kou, the device looks like a wooden camera lens and features a nifty aperture mechanism that's used to change the volume.

This photograph may look like some kind of computer-generated artist rendering of a futuristic space, but it's actually a high-key architectural photograph of the beautiful public library of the city of Stuttgart, Germany. Called the Stadtbibliothek Stuttgart, the library's new building features a simple cube-like design and a minimalist white interior, and it opened its doors in 2011.

A recent patent filing by Apple suggests that the company is working on a new periscope-style camera module design that offers better optical stabilization with the use of mirrors.

Here's something super random that caught our attention: the new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons football team features an innovative roof design that seems to be inspired by the world of photography: it opens and closes like an 8-blade camera lens aperture.

Sustainability is a big and important idea these days, and it's the one behind this new concept box design for DSLR cameras. It's clever packaging that has two uses: once the camera is safely transported to the owner, the box is taken apart and used as the owner's manual for the camera.

Photographer Jack Turkel was born at around the same time as NASA, and grew up with a fantasies of space exploration as the modern space age was swinging into high gear.

When he began his photography career in the mid 1970s, Turkel decided to combine his two loves by creating a unique, space-themed darkroom.

In a similar vein as the comprehensive composition video we shared with you yesterday, this 2012 lecture by photographer Adam Marelli uses classical art to show how we as photographers face the exact same challenges in lighting and composition today as they did centuries ago.

What you see above is one of the most unusual pieces of lighting gear we’ve ever chanced across. Looking a bit like a prop from the upcoming Star Wars film, this contraption is actually a macro flash adapter designed by Polish photographers Agnieszka and Ernest Lysak.

When it comes to well-designed camera accessories, one company that is continuously at the top of their game is Peak Design. You probably know them for their popular Peak Capture Camera clip, but soon you’ll know them for a new piece of gear: The Peak Slide and Clutch.

Sigma raised some eyebrows when they announced their upcoming DP Quattro cameras with their new Foveon Sensor and... unique... design. But even with eyebrows raised, at $1,000, the overhead for investing in this new and interesting tech might be a bit steep for some.

In hopes of convincing these people that the camera is worth the investment, Sigma has announced a new “Try Before You Buy” program that will put the funky looking shooter in the hands of at least a few curious souls.

If you thought Photoshop 1.0 was primitive, take a look at the video above. What you’re watching is a short section of film shot at the Amiga launch conference that took place in 1985.

Specifically, you're watching world-renown artist Andy Warhol using his first ever computer to digitally edit a photograph of Debbie Harry by “painting” over it using the Amiga’s graphic program.

From the designers and developers at MetaRain comes a new universal (meaning a single app for both iPhone and iPad) iOS app, Colorbay. Deemed "a one-stop app to discover and view photos," Colorbay manages to present images from multiple services in an absolutely gorgeous design.

Flickr's new "photo experience," which has been in beta for the past few months, is finally live for everyone to see. While this isn't the full-on redesign that we mentioned might be on the way, this update completely overhauls the photo pages in particular -- bringing speed, functionality and aesthetic improvements.

I hope you don't mind enjoying a bit of eye candy on your Tuesday evening, because that's what you're going to get with this video. At the direction of creative agency, Proximity BBDO Paris, coffee brand Carte Noire has a beautiful new video advert out that will tease your senses to no end.

Don't expect Canon to come out with any retro-styled cameras. According to a brochure on the design process that went into the recently released Canon G1 X Mark II, the company prefers function to form, which is why it has 'kept its distance' from the retro design movement.

For those intrigued by the notion of add-on lenses for smartphones but put off by the bulky design, Apple offers hope with a couple of recently patented designs for swapping camera components on an iPhone without turning it into an unwieldy monster.

We’re not entirely sure what Sony was trying to do with this video, but we find ourselves sort of …

From a design concept to a crowd-funding campaign to a product backed by a major brand, the Polaroid Socialmatic represents an alternative to traditional product development methods. Is crowd-sourced innovation the shakeup that the photography industry needs?

Patrick over at Fujirumors has published what appear to be the first leaked photos of an upcoming Fujifilm X-E2. Sent to him by an anonymous source, the photos suggest that the camera will have a frontside that's nearly identical to the X-E1.

Flickr's recent attempt at a major website redesign didn't go over very well with many of its users, so now the Yahoo-owned company is taking the feedback it received to try again. A help page on the Flickr website reveals that a new photo page is currently being rolled out across the service.

Camera makers narrowed the point-and-shoot market down to a couple of basic designs some years ago, and ever since it's been one variation after another on slim-and-silver or megazoom brawn. But oh, back in the day...

There was room for experimentation, as shown by these inventive camera designs that turned heads at the time but never quite became industry reference points.

Have you ever wondered why the professional photography industry is dominated by cameras that carry on the design tradition that was started by classic film SLRs?

Last month, a rumor emerged saying that Olympus' upcoming E-P5 flagship Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera would have a design inspired by the old Olympus PEN F. Today the first photograph of the camera leaked on the web, confirming that it will indeed carry a sleek new retro styling.

Most high-end digital cameras (not named Ricoh) aren't designed to be modular. If you want a new sensor in your camera, you'll need to buy an entirely new camera. Want to use a different lens system? You're out of luck.

What if there existed a universe in which all the major camera companies came together to form an extremely versatile modular digital camera? That's what Korean designers Dae jin Ahn and Chun hyun Park are attempting to answer with their concept camera design, called Equinox.

Fujifilm’s new X-Trans sensors diverge from the traditional way CMOS sensors are designed by using an irregular …

Could Panasonic be planning to jump into the action camera market and compete against the likes of GoPro? A recently published US design patent suggests that it might be the case. The patent, first spotted by 43 Rumors, was filed in December of last year but published a week ago. Simply titled, "Digital Camera," it contains a series of simple illustrations showing what appears to be a pocket-sized durable action camera.

After seeing the "woodenized" Canon F-1n that we featured earlier this month, Vancouver, Washington-based photographer Charlie Boucher decided that he wanted to give the mod a go. Unable to find any wood shoots locally, Boucher decided to go with a somewhat different (but slightly related) material: cork.

Tom Brinckman is a Belgian-based freelance photojournalist and wedding photographer. Since he works one deadline every week for his local newspaper, he's able to do most of his image editing work from his home office. Recently he decided to upgrade his workspace, and not just with new equipment or a new arrangement: he decided to put a good deal of effort into building a completely customized home office with an emphasis on functionality.

Photographer Jessica Nichols' most popular photograph on her Flickr account (above left) is titled "Loads of Ranunculus" and has more than 10,000 views. Nichols got a nasty shock a year ago when she discovered that American fashion designer Chris Benz had apparently turned the photo into numerous clothing designs for his Spring 2012 line, without Nichols' knowing and/or permission. Since July of this year, Nichols has been fighting against the infringement in an attempt to get the designer to pay up.

Photographer Patrick Ng has an obsession with natural materials such as wood and leather. Recently, he decided to "woodenize" his beloved Canon F-1n SLR (a professional film SLR released back in 1976). He didn't use a pre-made kit for the conversion, though... Instead, he simply ripped off the faux-leather and replaced it with faux-wood wallpaper.

Nanoblock is a plastic building block system that's like a shrunk-down version of LEGO. It has been growing in popularity as of late, and may soon become a fad on the level of Buckyballs. Japanese novelty photo company Fuuvi has partnered up with Nanoblock for a new toy digital camera that can take on all kinds of custom shapes and designs.

Hasselblad surprised the photo world last month by announcing the Lunar: a hyper-luxury mirrorless camera with an opulent exterior and a Sony NEX-7 at its core. To say it wasn't well received would be an understatement; photographers immediately mocked the camera's over-the-top design -- it's decorated with gold and precious metals -- and the fact that it will carry a price tag $5,000 more than the camera it's based on.

Hassy isn't fazed by the criticism. The latest word from the Hasselblad camp is that it has opened a new design center in Italy, where the Lunar was conceived. Regardless of what you think about the camera, at least Hasselblad's game plan is becoming more clear.

Watts Martin of Coyote Tracks has an interesting piece titled “Iconic” that discusses …

Hasselblad mixed things up today by announcing a new "ultra luxury" APS-C mirroress camera. Sounds like Earth-shattering news, right? Take a little closer, and you'll notice that it's not as monumental as it sounds. Basically, the company has taken a page from Leica's book by playing the rebranding game. Just as Leica -Lux compact cameras are essentially rebranded Panasonic Lumix bodies, the new Hasselblad Lunar is a dressed-up version of the Sony NEX-7.