gear

Michael Zhang

Unboxing the $30,000 Leica M9 Titanium

With a suggested retail price of £19,800 (currently about $32,000) and only 500 units in existence, Leica's limited edition M9 Titanium probably isn't a camera you're ever going to lay eyes on in real life. When it was announced back in September of last year, we predicted that most of them wouldn't see the light of day and would be placed immediately into collectors' vaults. Luckily for us, someone decided to actually unbox (gasp!) one of these babies (camera #164), allowing us to see what it's like to receive such an absurdly expensive camera.

Michael Zhang

Christmas Tree Constructed with $150K in Camera Gear

With a huge arsenal of camera gear at their disposal, the folks over at BorrowLenses can do a lot of fun and random experiments that us ordinary folk can only dream about. After first stacking lens filters and then teleconverters, they've gone to the next level by stacking $150,000 worth of camera gear into a Christmas tree.

Michael Zhang

Wide Angle Pinhole Cap for Micro Four Thirds Bodies

The Pinwide is a new pinhole cap by Wanderlust Cameras that takes advantage of the mirrorless nature of Micro Four Thirds cameras by recessing the cap into the body of the camera, achieving a wide field of view and strong natural vignetting. The "lens" is the equivalent of a 22mm on a 35mm camera, and boasts a perfectly round pinhole "made with the same precision etching technology used to manufacture semicoductors" to ensure sharpness.

Michael Zhang

Make a Simple DIY Follow Focus for $6

Want more precision in your focus adjustments when shooting video with your DSLR, but don't want to shell out money for a pricey follow focus? Flickr user Adam Lisagor shot this photo showing how he created his own DIY follow focus for $6. All you need is a steel hose clamp, drawer handle, nut, and bolt. Drill a hole through the clamp, and put it together as shown above.

Michael Zhang

Lens Guard Provides Extra Protection for People with Butterfingers

Lens caps, filters, and hoods are great from protecting lenses from scratches and bumps, but they aren't the best for reducing the impact in the case that you accidentally drop your gear. The Lens Guard by DeluxGear is designed to absorb this kind of shock, protecting your lens from the impact of bumps and drops, and slips over lenses snugly with or without the filters or lens cap attached.

Jon Martin

Checklist for Buying Used Cameras and Lenses on Craigslist

Editor's note: The checklist presented in this post is also available as a text file for you to print out and carry along for reference. This post was first published here.

Almost all of the camera equipment I have ever owned was purchased used. While this isn’t something to be proud of, I do like to think I know a thing or two about cameras and lenses. I have run into the occasional problems with lenses, but I made sure I had the option to return them if they had issues. I have also purchased a few lenses and cameras from people on Craigslist as well and as long as you know what you’re getting and tried it out when you made the purchase, you should be covered. There are a few things that I always check and I’m putting them up here in the hope that you might find some of it useful.

Michael Zhang

Canon Unveils the 60D: HD Video Recording and a Swivel Screen

Turns out the leaked photos of the Canon 60D we posted a couple weeks ago were of the real thing. Canon just announced this camera this morning, and the rumored specs were spot on as well: an 18-megapixel camera with an articulating LCD screen and heavy emphasis on video recording.

Jessica Lum

Breathtaking Images from the International Space Station Taken With Nikon Gear

Nikon and NASA are showcasing some amazing photos taken aboard the International Space Station with Nikon equipment. According to Nikon, NASA took over 700,000 photos with the Nikon gear kept on board, which includes one Nikon D3S DSLR, eight Nikon D2XS cameras, 36 NIKKOR lenses including three teleconverters, seven SB-800 Speedlights, and other gear. Nikon notes that the D3S is unmodified, and is the same quality as available on the consumer market.

Nikon has a long history with NASA since sending a Nikon F camera with Apollo 15 in 1971. Since then, Nikon's enjoyed exposure while helping NASA get image exposures. Most recently, the D3S that is currently on board was delivered to the ISS via the Space Shuttle Discovery, launched April 10, 2010. NASA says each shuttle launch costs approximately $450 million -- that is one expensive delivery! Here are more images from the International Space Station taken with Nikon gear:

Michael Zhang

Nikon 24-70mm and 70-200mm Coffee Cups Appear on eBay

After the enormous success of the Canon 70-200mm Coffee Mug, it was only a matter of time before Nikon-branded cups joined the party. Nikoneans can now rejoice -- a 24-70mm coffee cup has just appeared on eBay as a pre-order for $50. It doesn't appear that Nikon has anything to do with this 1:1 replica cup, but those who have been eagerly waiting for such a thing to appear can now pounce on this awesome (but unofficial) accessory.

Michael Zhang

Uber Flexible Tripod Heads by Induro

There's a video demonstration of a Chinese military shovel that's becoming quite popular on YouTube. Induro's PHQ-Series tripod heads are similar in that they seem to do a little of everything. These are a cross between flexible ball-heads and accurate pan-heads, offer five directions of precise control (quintaxial positioning), and are equipped with five different bubble levels to help you adjust. Want to take 3D photographs? There's a feature for that.

Michael Zhang

Digital Cameras With Detached LCDs

We've been seeing this idea floating around in concept cameras and new camera accessories, so it might be a coming trend in digital photography: detached LCD screens.

Michael Zhang

Collapsible Tent Pole Tripod by Tamrac

Here's a "carry around" tripod for your carry around lens and camera: The ZipShot is a "compact, ultra-light tripod" by Tamrac that has aluminum-alloy legs that resemble the collapsible poles used in tents. While it's not very useful in windy situations, or with heavy professional gear, it might suffice for most ordinary uses and lighter cameras (supposedly it can hold up to 3lb). The biggest benefits are obviously weight (11oz) and setup time.

Michael Zhang

Canon Announces the EOS 550D

Today's big story is announcement of the Canon 550D, also known as the Canon Rebel T2i. This camera offers many of the same features as the Canon 7D, including an 18 megapixel sensor, an ISO range of 100–6400, full 1080p video (at 30, 24 or 25fps with manual exposure control), 1.6x crop factor, and a 3-inch LCD screen.

Michael Zhang

The Mystery of Disappearing Canon Lenses

As Canon Rumors reported two days ago, a large number of lenses have completely disappeared from the Canon USA website. What made the story even more interesting was the fact that many of the missing lenses were among Canon's most popular and highly acclaimed, and lenses about which upgrade rumors have been circulating for a long time.