One of the most important things I’ve learned during my ongoing adventure as a small-town, self-employed photographer is that nothing is more important than the relationships I’m building. So when I decided sometime last year that I was going to do a 2012 promo I wanted to create something that looked elegant, something that the recipients could be a part of and most importantly, something that could start building long-lasting relationships.
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Photographers used to spend lifetimes building up their portfolios and networks before their work became widely known to a global audience, but with the advent of the Internet, the fact that anything can “go viral” is completely changing the equation for success.
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The brilliant marketing gurus over at Pentax came up with this photograph as a way of illustrating that the company’s new Optio WG-2 is mudproof. Makes you want one, doesn’t it?
(via Pentax via Photo Rumors)
Cloud-based photo hosting service Snapjoy launched a clever web app (and marketing ploy) yesterday called Flickraft that made it easy for Flickr users to rescue their photos “from a sinking ship”. With just a few clicks, the app would import a user’s entire collection of Flickr photos over to Snapjoy using the Flickr API. The response was overwhelming: in just two hours, Flickr users had exported over 250,000 photos from their accounts. The app became so popular that Flickr disabled the API key used by it, likely for violating its terms of use. This short-lived exodus came roughly one week after Yahoo was blasted for laying off a number of Flickr employees.
(via The Next Web via TechCrunch)
Ever wonder why camera manufacturers these days are describing often sensor sizes with fractions instead of millimeters? Roger Cicala of LensRentals explains:
[...] then we get into all of these fractional-inch-type-measurements for the smaller sensors. That measurement system originated in ancient times (the 1950s to 1980s) when vacuum tubes were used instead of CCD or CMOS sensors in video and television cameras. The image sensor was, in those days, referred to in terms of the outside diameter of the vacuum tube that contained it.
Why do manufacturers keep using such an archaic measurement? Because it helps them lie to you, of course. If you do the math 1/2.7 equals 0.37 inches, which equals 9.39 mm. But if you look at the chart above you’ll see that a 1/2.7″ sensor actually has a diagonal of 6.7 mm. Why? Because, of course, a thick glass tube used to surround the sensors. So they calculate the sensor size as if the glass tube was still included. Makes perfect sense to a marketing person who wants to make their sensor seem larger than it is. What sounds better: 1/2.7″ or ‘less than 10% the size of a full frame sensor’?
If you have a few minutes, give his entire post on sensor sizes a read — it’s quite illuminating.
Sensor Size Matters [LensRentals Blog]
Image credits: Photograph by Sphl
Back in September we featured a project called This Was Found that promotes art by leaving framed prints out and about in the UK. Now, printing company Jondo is taking it to the next level with a project called Art Heist. They’ve left 26 gigantic, museum-quality 40x60inch canvases in various secret locations around Los Angeles. Find one, and you’re free to take it home. Just make sure you have a good way of bringing home the massive photo!
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Nikon says the megapixel race ended years ago, but its upcoming camera is rumored to be a 36MP beast. Canon, on the other hand, actually took a step backward in terms of megapixels, dropping from 21 in the 1Ds Mark III to 18 in the new 1D X. However, the company states that camera’s resolution is by no means worse than the 1Ds Mark III, despite what marketers want you to believe. A representative recently spoke to Amateur Photographer, saying:
We have designed the Canon CMOS sensor for the EOS 1DX so that it is much thinner than before and so that the photodiodes are closer to the surface of the sensor. This way the pixels collect more light and produce a better, clearer, signal.
With less noise, and our new improved processing algorithms, the camera is able to reproduce more detail. While using MFT is perhaps not the best way to measure the resolution of the camera, if you did use this method the results for the EOS-1D X and EOS-1 Ds Mark III would be very similar.
The 1D X also has a mirror that utilizes mechanical movement both ways rather than gravity, allowing for faster frame rates while at the same time reducing mirror bounce.
Canon EOS-1D X Equals ’21MP’ DSLR, Claims Firm [Amateur Photographer]
What has the world come to? Apparently the prestigious Magnum Photos has partnered with Nintendo to promote the Nintendo 3DS as a camera. Photographers Martin Parr, Thomas Dworzak and Gueorgui Pinkhassov used the handheld gaming device to shoot a series of 3D photos that were then put on display in an exhibition held at the Magnum Gallery in Paris. Here’s what Vingt Paris Magazine had to say about the show:
The exhibition has transformed the white walls of the Magnum Gallery into an upmarket video games console store. Several portable games consoles sit on flashy plastic Nintendo-branded pedestals. Peer closely at each console and you’ll see a slideshow of a few eerie 3D images of each photographer’s ‘perception’ of everyday life. (‘Perception’ because it could be too strong a word to use to describe the result.) The lack of a guiding artistic thread puts the spotlight on the tool rather than the work. The images are nothing to write home about and disappointingly so, especially from Magnum Photos’ best.
The video above shows Parr shooting with the 3DS and referring to it as a “camera in disguise.” Hmmm… That’s nice, but please go back to shooting with Leicas now.
Turns out the giant hand sculptures that popped up all over the world over the past few days were indeed part of a marketing stunt for Nikon’s new mirrorless cameras. thebighands.com is now an “I AM Nikon 1″ website. Our guess yesterday turned out to be true as well: the hands are now holding giant Nikon mirrorless cameras!
All signs point to a Nikon mirrorless camera announcement at midnight tonight and, after Nikon’s strange “I AM COMING” proclamation yesterday, another strange teaser has emerged that appears to be related to the camera. People in Europe have received postcards with the words “THE BIG HANDS”, and a link to the website thebighands.com.
The video above was also uploaded to YouTube a couple days ago, showing gigantic sculptures erected around the world that appear to show hands holding a small invisible camera. Maybe after the announcement giant Nikon mirrorless cameras will be placed in the hands…
21.09.2011 (via Nikon Rumors)
