manufacturing

These Photos Show How Steinway Makes Its Famous Grand Pianos

Founded in Manhattan in 1853, Steinway & Sons is widely considered to be one of the greatest piano makers in the world. Its grand pianos grace the world's grandest stages and are played by the best pianists.

Architectural photographer Chris Payne visited the company's factory at One Steinway Place in Astoria, New York, and created beautiful photos that document how raw materials are turned into some of the world's finest musical instruments. His project is titled "Making Steinway: An American Workplace."

An Exclusive Glimpse Into How Lomography Petzval Lenses are Made

Back in June, Lomography raised nearly $1 million on Kickstarter to launch its new Petzval 58 Bokeh Control lens. It's a lens that takes a classic design and adds a new twist: a bokeh control ring for adjusting the look of out-of-focus areas in your shots.

Today we have some exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of how Lomography's Petzval lenses are manufactured by the skilled optical technicians at the Zenit factory in Russia.

This is How Fujifilm Recycled Disposable Cameras in 1998

What happens to used disposable cameras once the film has been processed and printed for customers? Well, oftentimes the camera company is able to get its hands on the discarded shell, load it up, and sell it to customers again. If you want to see exactly how this recycling process is/was done, check out the fascinating 15-minute video above, which shows how Fujifilm recycled and reused disposable cameras back in 1998.

How Nikon Film SLRs Were Made in the 1990s

Want to see how Nikon SLR cameras were made two decades ago? Back in 1998, the Japanese TV show "The Making" -- an international predecessor of How It's Made -- aired this 15-minute-long segment showing how Nikon manufactured its F70 film SLR (known as the N70 in the US), which was first introduced in 1994.

Kodak Turns 92-Year-Old Film Manufacturing Building Into Rubble

Yesterday marked the end of another piece of Kodak's once-powerful film manufacturing business. The company used 100 pounds of dynamite to take down the 92-year-old Building 53 at Eastman Business Park in Rochester, New York. The sprawling 250,000-square-foot plant, once used to manufacture acetate base for camera film, was reduced to 1,500 tons of steel and concrete in less than 20 seconds.

How Kowa Makes Its Micro Four Thirds Lenses

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at how Japanese lens maker Kowa creates its Prominar line of lenses for Micro Four Thirds cameras. The 3-minute "how it's made" video above steps through each of the stages of manufacturing, from designing the lenses on a computer to putting the components together into a final product and testing its optical qualities.

Canon Issues Product Advisory for T6 White-Spotted Sensor Problem

A week ago, it came to light that some Canon T6s and T6si DSLRs were shipping with a strange defect: a large number of tiny white spots can be seen across the surface of the camera sensor, and the spots show up as dark dots in photos taken in certain conditions.

Today Canon has released an official product advisory confirming that this problem exists and promising free repairs for affected customers.

A Day in the Life of a Service Technician at Sigma’s Aizu Lens Factory

Since 2013, Sigma has been releasing an annual short film that shows how its highly regarded lenses are manufactured in the company's only factory located in Aizu, Japan. The company just released the third video in the series, which documents the daily life of the customer support department in the factory that services equipment for Sigma shooters.

Canon to Return Camera Production to Japan as Yen Value Tumbles

The value of the Japanese yen has tumbled in recent months, and that could mean changes to where Japanese camera companies choose to manufacture their products. Canon is one company that is making changes in response to the changing economic landscape: it says it plans to bring more of its camera manufacturing back to Japan.

Fujifilm is Selling Off One of its Major Film Factories in Europe. Here’s a Look Inside

During the glory days of film photography, Fujifilm ran one of its major production facilities in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The plant was founded in 1982 and became one of the biggest manufacturing sites for the company outside of Japan, with nearly 1,000 workers producing film (reportedly up to 200 million rolls per year), photo paper, and other imaging equipment.

In 2006, Fujifilm shut down much of the operations at the plant, and now the company is auctioning off the equipment that has been sitting idle for the past 9 years.

Video: How Carl Zeiss’ New Touit Lenses Are Manufactured

There's something to be said about lens manufacturing. You could even go so far as to say it, in itself, is an art form, with the hands of skilled and methodical workers ever-so-delicately assembling the glass we use to take photos.

Speaking of lens manufacturing, Carl Zeiss Lenses has just posted an short, yet interesting, video behind the manufacturing process of their Touit lens line (for what it's worth, the video is also available in 3D, if you need an added dimension to your viewing experience). These lenses come as 12mm f/2.8 or 32mm f/1.8, and are available for both E-mount and X-mount cameras starting in June.

A Look at How Nikon’s Nikkor Lenses Are Made, From Start to Finish

On January 28, Nikon announced the 80th anniversary of the launch of the Nikkor lens brand, and that the total number of lenses manufactured since the beginning has exceeded 75 million units. The lineup now includes more than 80 types of lenses.

To celebrate the occasion, Nikon released the above video, which offers a behind-the-scenes look into how its widely used lenses are made. The video starts from the production of the glass from sand and goes through final assembly, all in three-and-a-half minutes.

A Glimpse Into How Nikon Produces the Optical Glass Used in Its Lenses

Nikon recently put out this short 3-minute video that offers an interesting glimpse into one of the critical steps of lens making: the production of the optical glass. It steps through the various stages of manufacturing, from combining the raw elements through examining the chunks of glass before they're polished and perfected.

Rumor: Canon 200-400 f/4L IS 1.4x Delay Caused by Design Flaw and Redesign

Way back in February 2011, Canon announced that it is developing a new EF 200-400 f/4L IS 1.4x super-telephoto lens. Since then, there hasn't been much news on when we might finally see the lens on store shelves, and Canon has issued a couple of press releases stating that it has been delayed. Rumors are now emerging that Canon had to go back to the drawing board with the lens in order to resolve a design flaw that had been reported during tests.

A Glimpse Inside a Photographic Lighting Factory in China

Want to see how studio lighting equipment is made? David Selby of Lighting Rumors was recently invited to tour the Shenzhen factory of a Chinese lighting company called NiceFoto, which sells gear both under its own brand name and to various international distributors under different marques. He snapped a number of photographs showing various workspaces where equipment is assembled.

Sony Pulls Plug on DSLR Lens Factory, Hands Out 840 Pink Slips

When Sony unveiled its "One Sony" game plan back in March after posting billions in losses, the company highlighted digital photography as one of its three main pillars going forward. It was a bit of a surprise, then, when Sony announced today that it will soon be closing a large lens manufacturing factory in Japan as part of the restructuring efforts.

The Making of the Limited Edition Leica M9-P “Edition Hermès”

Having released three (count em') new cameras yesterday, you'd think Leica would be spent; but it looks like they had one other camera up their sleeves, a special edition of their M9-P called the "Edition Hermès." If the name sounds familiar that's because it is: every few years Leica announces an "Edition Hermès" of one of their cameras in collaboration with Parisian house Hermès -- only this year they've also decided to include a making of video to go along with it.