October 2011

The latest version of Android, called "Ice Cream Sandwich", was unveiled by Google and Samsung in Hong Kong this morning, and they've focused a great deal on improving the gallery and camera aspects of the mobile OS. There is indeed built-in photo editing now, allowing users to do everything from crop and rotate to adjust levels and remove red eyes. There are also a number of Instagram-style filters that can be applied to photos. Adjustments are non-destructive and stored in a file separate …

Yesterday we shared some clearer comparison images from Adobe's jaw-dropping Image Deblurring demo. Cari Gushiken over on the Photoshop.com blog has written up a post that sheds a little more light on how the idea came about, the current challenges they face, and where they see it headed.

Here's another helpful step-by-step guide teaching how to develop B&W film (in this case it's Agfa APX 100) using powered coffee and vitamin C (AKA "caffenol"). You can also download a text version of the process here.

Update: Olympus has released an official response to the allegations.

The Image Fulgurator is a brilliant device created -- and patented -- by Berlin-based artist Julius von Bismarck. It's an optically triggered slave flash that fires through the back of a camera, projecting a message or image on the film through the lens -- basically, it's an optically triggered projector. What this allows von Bismarck to do is prank unsuspecting photographers by adding random pictures or words into their photographs whenever they use their camera's flash.

Remember the network and Wi-Fi icons in the Canon patent we shared yesterday? Well, they both appeared today in the Canon 1D X announcement, but only one of them is built in. The new DSLR offers a built-in gigabit Ethernet jack for ultra-fast data transfers, but wireless transfers will require an additional add-on: the WFT-E6A Wireless File Transmitter. It's designed exclusively for the new camera, and supports Bluetooth in addition to Wi-Fi. Priced at $600, it costs as much as an entry level …

Here's a slow motion video showing a closeup look at the human eye, our amazing biological lens (and sensor). You might be surprised at how mechanical its movements are and how fluid the iris is. Another crazy fact is that we're continually relying on "image stabilization" to see things clearly: …

500px, quickly becoming known as the "Flickr for artsy photographers", has released a new iPad app designed to deliver a beautiful photo viewing experience. In just a few days the app has already risen into the top 5 free photo apps in the app store, and now serves half of all traffic seen by 500px. GigaOM reports that users spend an average of 35 minutes per visit, viewing 80 photographs in the process.

As the rumors foretold, Canon has announced a new DSLR today combining the 1D and 1Ds line of DSLRs into a single camera: the EOS-1D X. This beastly DSLR is an 18-megapixel jack of all trades. It's full frame, but still shoots 14fps using 61 autofocus points and a 252-zone metering system. ISO can be boosted up to a whopping 204,000. There's a large 3.2-inch LCD screen on the back, and a futuristic optical viewfinder that offers things such as a dual-axis electronic level and an on-demand grid.

A Lancome advertisement featuring Julia Roberts caused a stir back in July after it was banned by the UK for being too "Photoshopped". Now a couple in the US are trying to bring stricter regulation to the United States. Seth and Eva Matlins, founders of Off Our Chests, have started the Self Esteem Act: …

Earlier today we shared an interesting video comparing 1080p video shot with the iPhone 4S with footage from a Canon 5D Mark II. Here's another short video demonstrating the quality of the new f/2.4 lens and Sony-made sensor, created by photographer and filmmaker Benjamin Dowie. He says, …

We may be close to seeing a Canon DSLR with an articulating touchscreen -- and possibly even built-in Wi-Fi. A patent filing discovered by Photography Bay has more details on the touchscreen, which we reported on two years ago. A sensor above the screen prevents your nose from changing settings by detecting when your face is pressed against the camera. There are also what appear to be network and Wi-Fi icons on the screen, suggesting that Canon may soon bring Eye-Fi style data transfers to …

Last week we shared a sneak peek at some jaw-dropping image deblurring technology currently in development at Adobe. The video wasn't the best quality and was captured from the audience, so we didn't get to see the example images very clearly. Adobe has now released an official video of the demo, giving us a better glimpse at what the feature can do.

Booooooom and Adobe have partnered up for a photo project and contest called "Remake", which asks people to recreate famous works of art using photography.

The 4th version of Android, named Ice Cream Sandwich, is set to be released sometime in the next month or so. If you've been craving for a built-in photo editor, you may soon get your wish. Android Police has uncovered a boatload of icons and images that strongly suggest that future Android phones and tablets will ship with photo editing tools built into Android Gallery. In addition to basic tools such as crop, sharpen, and rotate, there will apparently be 19 different photo effects you can …

Last Friday, we reported that Olympus had fired CEO Michael Woodford, claiming that he clashed with the company's 92-year-old management style. Woodford is now coming out with different story: he believes that he was dismissed after raising questions about $1+ billion in payments the company made in acquisitions between 2006 and 2008. The Financial Times writes, …

Daniel strapped a small camera to his pug to capture what the world looks like from his dog's perspective.

Here's a strange (and extremely rare) piece of camera gear: the Leica Telephoto Assembly Rifle. Also known as "the Leica Gun", it was made for photographers at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, and became popular among wildlife and sports photographers during the interwar years. One of them will be auctioned off at the Tamarkin Rare Camera Auction on October 30th, and is expected to fetch up to $100,000.

Here's a test comparing the 1080p HD video recording capabilities of the iPhone 4S and the Canon 5D Mark II. Vimeo user Robino Films shot the same scenes at the same time with both cameras using a special rig, and then synched the footage together. They also tried to match the exposure, shutter speed, frame rate, and picture style as much as possible.

Here's a scene from NBC's comedy show Parks and Recreation that can give you some ideas on how to direct your subjects the next time you're doing a family portrait session.

Have an idea for a photo product and an entrepreneurial itch? PDN published an article this past week with three stories of people who successfully turned their ideas into products (and businesses). One of them is the story of Gary Fong and his Lightsphere: …

Google+ is becoming pretty popular among photographers as a way to share work and connect with others. If you've been thinking about jumping in but don't know where to begin, Scott Kelby and Co. made this helpful (and free) hour-long primer with tips on how to use the service effectively.

Here are some fantastic compliations of commercials promoting Japanese camera companies. They aired from the 1970s to the 1990s. The video above is the Canon collection.

Having this image on your camera might get you out of a situation where someone illegally demands that you delete a photograph. You can download a higher res version here.

Here's the second half of Tamara Lackey's recent interview with photographer Chase Jarvis.

Product developer and part-time wedding photographer Joel Malone has come up with a product called "Lens Filter Coasters": 4 colored or UV filters and an indestructible steel coaster holder. The coasters are actual 86mm filters made of optic polycarbonate resin (similar to plexiglass). Malone is currently raising funds for the project through Kickstarter: $40 will preorder you a UV set, and $50 will land you a colored one.

In this video, photographer Julie Johnson offers some helpful tips and tricks for photographing pets. For example: to get your dog's attention and its ears to perk up, ask it some questions.

Photographer Zack Arias has written up a lengthy and insightful post detailing how he goes about updating and editing his portfolio: …

Photographer Carli Davidson -- now Internet-famous for her portraits of dogs shaking off water -- has a heartwarming project titled Pets with Disabilities in which she uses portraits to tell the stories of happy dogs that have various handicaps. For the photo above: …

Over the past year, major movie camera manufacturers ARRI, Panavision and Aaton have all quietly stopped manufacturing film cameras -- a tough blow to film, and grim news for film photographers. Debra Kaufman over at Creative COW writes, …

Earlier this year, UT Austin grad student Matthew Goodman set up a Canon DSLR on Razorback mountain, which overlooks the desert where Burning Man was held. Over the next two months, the camera snapped a photograph every 10 minutes, resulting in roughly 8,000 12-megapixel photographs. Goodman then used the images to create this impressive time-lapse video showing 5 weeks of Burning Man in just 5 minutes. Every second shows 3 hours, so a full day passes every 8 seconds.

Canon is set to announce a new EOS DSLR next Tuesday, and Canon Rumors is reporting that the camera will mark the merging of the company's flagship 1D and 1Ds lines. It makes sense too, since the camera packs the best of both worlds: it has an 18MP full frame sensor, yet also shoots at a whopping 12fps with 61 AF points. Pros will no longer have to choose between crop factor and speed.

Australian photographer Liam McHenry tells the inspiring story of an encounter he had with a confrontational teenager when doing street photography. What started out as a situation spiraling out of control instantly changed when his subject suddenly "understood" his photography. McHenry says that the big revelation he had through the experience was: "it's never just a photo."

Olympus fired CEO and President Michael Woodford today, causing the company's stock price to take a 17% dive. The 51-year-old Briton was accused by the board of ignoring the management culture that the firm has had in place for 92 years. Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa (who replaces Woodford) says, …

Exploded Flowers is a project by Singapore-based photographer Qi Wei in which he carefully disassembles various flowers into their most basic "parts", and photographs them neatly arranged against a white background.

Check out this Humunga Stache dog toy -- it's a rubber ball toy that adds some culture to photos of your dog by giving it a massive mustache. They cost $10 each over on Amazon.

For three years, Italy-based photographer James Mollison visited music concerts and photographed the rabid fans outside. The resulting photographs became an interesting project titled, The Disciples, which shows how people emulate the singers and bands they love to form their identity.

The 'Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera' is an awesome new camera developed by a group of computer science researchers led by Jonas Pfeil.

Photographer Tony Wu constantly receives requests that ask whether he would be willing to work for free in exchange for "credit" and "exposure". Instead of a lengthy response explaining why he doesn't want to work for free, Wu often leaves the emails unanswered, or worse, ends up sending snippy responses that he later regrets. He recently came up with the idea of writing a generic and informational response that all professional photographers can respond with.

John (AKA knife141) loves turning junk into unusual creations, and one day came up with idea of building a camera for the sole purpose of confusing strangers. He took a $15 digicam and transformed it into a Argus C3 from the mid-1900s: …

Lytro's revolutionary consumer light field camera is rumored to be in production now, and photographers currently testing the super-secret prototypes are saying some pretty positive things about the camera.

Street artists Jana & JS visit cities across Europe and paint portraits of themselves (and sometimes others) shooting with various film cameras. Each piece first starts out as a photograph, which is then turned into a stencil that's used to put up the painting.

There are a number of products out there that connect your strap to your DSLR via the tripod mount, allowing it to swivel, but taking up the mount is an inconvenience for photographers who actually use it regularly with their tripod. San Francisco-based Custom SLR (makers of the C-Loop) has come up with a solution that offers the best of both worlds: the M-Plate.

Photographer Jan von Holleben, known for his Dreams of Flying series, was recently hired by a German newspaper to make photos using his signature "lying on the ground" style for a feature on dreams. He ended up shooting photographs showing a girl's dream using a mattress and other ordinary objects you might find inside a bedroom.

If you've ever wondered how Facebook profile pictures come about -- and why so many of them look so similar -- check out this behind-the-scenes video with professional Facebook photographer Nickolas Grisham. He specializes in everything from duckface to Photobooth portraits for couples, and is famous for his "modern Facebook expressionism".

The rumblings in the rumor mill are getting stronger, and it seems like there's a good chance that we'll be seeing new DSLRs announced by both Canon and Nikon by the end of the month. Craig Blair over at Canon Rumors says that he knows with near certainty that Canon will be announcing a new full frame DSLR on October 18th. The camera is rumored to pack between 16-18 megapixels, have ISO that goes up to 51,200, shoot at high speeds (possibly between 12-14fps), and have 61 AF points.

Graphic designer Ksenia Podgornaya makes and sells these nifty Polaroid camera greeting cards that feature an original watercolor illustration printed on 100lb satin paper.

Chinese photo enthusiast Benny Wong mounted his large (and rare) Canon 50mm f/0.95 lens onto his tiny Olympus E-P1 Micro for a pretty awesome looking setup.

We've featured photographs of paintings and candies captured in drops of water before, but photographer Markus Reugels' water drops double as planets. By photographing drops of water in front of images of Earth and the moon, he's able to transform the liquid spheres into beautiful worlds.

Want a wooden DSLR? If you have extremely deep pockets, nows your chance: Sigma has announced a special wood edition of its high-end SD1 DSLR, which ordinarily sells for $9,700. dpreview writes, …