May 4, 2011

If Fujifilm has been waiting to see whether the retro-tastic FinePix X100 would sell well before working on an interchangeable lens followup, they'd better start calling the engineers into the office. The camera is finally starting to become available in the US, but every time a handful of the cameras appear on Amazon, photography blogs alert their readers and the inventory is sold out within minutes. Reviewers are also heaping their praises on the camera -- here's what Steve Huff has to say …

Mother's Day is just around the corner, and if you haven't gotten anything for your mom yet we think these tiny Polaroid magnets would make an awesome gift. Simply download the template, add your photos, print them out, glue them to chipboard, and attach a magnet to the back. Graphic designer Jennifer Kirk has a writeup and tutorial over on her blog Ambrosia Girl.

This photo might not seem very special, but it's actually the most viewed photograph on Flickr. Since it was uploaded back in 2006, "Nohkalikai Falls, Cherrapunjee" by Pankaj Kaushal has amassed over 3 million views, though Kaushal himself admits that he has no idea why the photograph -- taken with a Nikon D70 and 18-70 kit lens -- became so popular.

Here's a neat behind-the-scenes video by Samsung featuring short interviews with the developers and engineers behind its NX lenses. One of the things I found interesting was how the engineers are constantly working to overcome the prejudice that Korean-made lenses are inferior to those crafted in Japan or Germany. The video also briefly shows a Samsung 300mm f2.8 XF ED lens -- a lens that doesn't officially exist.

What you see above is the largest true-color photograph of the night sky ever created, shot by 28-year-old amateur astrophotographer Nick Risinger using six astronomical cameras. It's not just the view of the sky from one location, but is instead a 360-panoramic view of the sky taken by trekking 60,000 miles across the western United States and South Africa starting in March 2010. The final image is composed of 37,000 separate photographs. Check out the massive zoomable high-definition version …

Illinois industrial design student Ned Mulka created this Nikon D5R concept camera for his senior thesis design project. While the design itself may be pretty iffy for a camera, the main idea behind it is pretty interesting -- instead of having to rotate the camera itself for portrait orientation photos, why not only rotate the sensor, mirror, and viewfinder? An even crazier design would involve only rotating the sensor, allowing the camera to shoot any orientation without having to change how …

The big story around the world this week was the death of Osama bin Laden after a raid of his compound by US Navy SEALs. As a terrific example of how the Internet is transforming the way we view these world events, behind the scenes photos taken at the White House as these events transpired were almost immediately shared on the White House Flickr photostream. One particular photograph (shown above) showing President Obama and his national security team in the Situation Room has been widely …

Engineer Peter Dering wanted a better solution for carrying his DSLR around so, after tinkering around with ideas and prototypes for a couple years, he quit his job and designed the Capture Camera Clip System, a small device that lets you securely attach your DSLR to belts and backpack straps. There's also plans for an attachment that will allow you to attach cameras to the frame of your bike or the roof of your car. The camera attachment uses the standard tripod mount, and the base piece has a …