February 2012

Michael Zhang

Gutsy Photographer Captures His Own Feet Dangling Off High Ledges

For his project Life on the Edge, Detroit-based photographer Dennis Maitland seeks out high locations for vertigo-inducing shots of his feet dangling off the edges. Rather than use a remote shutter release, he captures all his photographs by hand. Once an acrophobe, Maitland now craves the adrenaline that comes from doing his photography.

Michael Zhang

Nikon Unveils the D800: A DSLR That Tips the Scales at 36.3 Megapixels

The months of rumors and speculation are finally over: Nikon has announced its long-awaited D800 FX-format DSLR. As was revealed back in October 2011, the camera offers a staggering 36.3-megapixels -- the world's highest in a 35mm DSLR. Other specs include an ISO range of 100-6400 (expandable to 25,600), 91k RGB 3D color metering, a speedy 51-point AF system, a 3.2-inch LCD screen, 4fps continuous shooting (5fps for DX shots), 1080/30p HD video recording, and... in-camera two-shot HDR.

Michael Zhang

Little Planet with the Aurora Borealis

Swedish photographer Göran Strand created this amazing "little planet" photo (AKA a stereographic projection) that shows the Aurora Borealis overhead. He titled it "Planet Aurora".

Michael Zhang

Dreamlike Photographs of Insects Found in a Garden

Malaysian photographer Peiling Lee captures beautiful, dreamlike macro photographs of tiny critters she finds in her garden. She uses a Canon 50D and a 100mm Macro lens. Her work reminds us of Nadav Bagim's Wonderland project that we shared last year.

Michael Zhang

Full Photos of the Olympus OM-D EM-5 Leaked by Amazon Japan

Here are the first full photographs of Olympus' new OM-D series Micro Four Thirds camera, the EM-5 (with an optional battery grip attached). The images were published to Amazon Japan before quickly being taken down. The camera is expected to become official on Wednesday, so we'll have a full spec list in a couple days.

Michael Zhang

New Leaked Photos of the Retro Olympus OM-D Camera

New photos have emerged showing the retro OM-styled EM-5 Micro Four Thirds camera that Olympus is planning to unleash on the photo world. It's the first camera in a new OM-D line, and offers a beautiful old school SLR aesthetic. The image above, which looks like some kind of ad, reads,

A new digital SLR era is about to begin. Digital SLRs, which simply replaced film with an imaging device did not change significantly in terms of size, weight and user interface. The revolutionary, new mirrorless camera, the OM-D, has an exceptionally light and compact body. Its Electronic View Finder enables photographers to check the Art Filter effect, color temperature, and exposure levels in real-time. When shooting, you can instantly "create" a truly unique world and preserve it in exceptional quality. The "world" will be transformed from something you see to something you "take part" in.

The OM-D is a groundbreaking, new digital interchangeable lens camera perfect for people who want to "take part," "create," and "share."

You can see a higher-res version of the ad here.

Michael Zhang

Portraits of People in Two Different Times

AgeMaps is a project by photographer Bobby Neel Adams in which he does "photo surgery" on portraits to show two different moments in a person's life in the same image. For each subject, Adams takes a childhood photo and a current photo, prints them at the same proportions, tears them in half, and glues the halves together. He says that this is to "telescope the slow process of aging into a single picture," and that "a jump of time is established at the tear."

Michael Zhang

Amateur Astronomer Captures Beautiful Photos of Space from His Front Yard

Reddit user tirceol's father is an amateur astronomer who captures some amazing photographs of space from his front yard by hooking up a camera to his telescope's eyepiece. He uses everything from a webcam to a Meade camera to capture the images, which are sometimes composites created using multiple photos. The above image shows the Andromeda galaxy 2.5 million light years away.

Michael Zhang

Pentax K-01 Now Official with The World’s Thinnest Interchangeable Lens

Pentax officially announced its new K-01 mirrorless camera today after leaked photos emerged yesterday. The system features the world's thinnest interchangeable lens: a 40mm lens that's just 1cm thick. The body, on the other hand, isn't exactly the sleekest camera we've seen. It's designed by "acclaimed and influential" designer Marc Newson, who hadn't designed a camera before this one (he spends much of his time designing airplanes). The camera features a 16.28MP sensor, an ISO range of 100-25600, 1080p video recording at 30/25/24fps, and an aluminum body available in yellow, black, and white. The system starts shipping next month, with the body priced at $750, the lens priced at $250, and the combo priced at $900.