September 2012

Sony’s Upcoming A99 Flagship Camera From Every Angle

We're a couple of days away from Sony's official announcement of its new flagship single lens translucent full-frame camera, the A99, and all the leaked pieces are starting to come together. These new leaked photographs, first published by sonyalpharumors, shows the new camera from all the standard press shot angles.

Impossible Instant Lab Turns Your iPhone Photos Into Real Polaroid Pictures

Now that The Impossible Project has succeeded in reviving Polaroid-style instant films -- even giant ones -- the company is expanding its horizons and branching out to new products. Today, it announced a crazy new device that's dedicated to turning your digital iPhone photos into analog instant photo prints: the Impossible Instant Lab.

Google Glass Camera Glasses Used by Runway Models as a Fashion Accessory

If Google's vision of the future of photography comes to pass, we'll soon find ourselves in a world in which camera glasses are worn around as an everyday fashion accessory. Perhaps in an effort to make this idea easier to stomach, Google partnered up with luxury fashion company Diane von Fürstenberg (DVF) today for the label's Spring 2013 fashion show, equipping people on and around the runway with its high-tech glasses. Glass wearers included runway models, Google founder Sergey Brin, and designer Diane von Furstenberg herself.

Shooting Photos of Ballet Dancers on the Streets of Bratislava

Photographer Benjamin Von Wong recently traveled to the city of Bratislava (the capital and largest city of Slovakia) to photograph ballet dancer Ana Beschia and a number of dancers from National Slovak Theater. Using mostly natural ambient light, Von Wong captured the dancers leaping, dancing, and posing in various locations around town.

More Pentax Q10 Photos and Specs: Tiny and Colorful with Interchangeable Lenses

New details about Pentax's upcoming Q10 interchangeable lens camera have emerged. The tiny camera -- which likely has a tiny sensor -- is the followup to the Pentax Q, the world's smallest interchangeable lens compact. It'll be available in a number of colors, and will feature a 12.4 megapixel CMOS sensor, an ISO range of 100-6400, 5fps continuous shooting, AF face detection, 1080p HD video recording, in-body image stabilization, manual exposure modes, and a built-in flash.

Time To Buy That Camera: Amazon to Start Collecting CA Sales Tax in a Week

If you live in California and have been eyeing some camera gear on Amazon, you might want to bust out your wallet and make the purchase this week. On September 15th, 2012, Amazon will start collecting sales tax for purchases made from California. The tax rate ranges from 7.25% to 9.75% depending on where you live, so the cost difference could be quite significant depending on what you buy. For a $1,500 camera or lens, the tax could be as heavy as $150.

Sony RX1 Leaks: A Full-Frame Fixed-Lens Compact Camera for $2800

A huge leak in the photo world today: Sony is planning to unleash a full frame compact camera called the RX1 that's designed to compete against the Leica X2, which contains a smaller APS-C sensor, and the Leica M9, which is much more expensive. Photoprice Canada and sonyalpharumors published photos of the camera, which looks like a beefier version of the highly-acclaimed RX100 compact camera (which has a smaller 1-inch sensor).

Shooting with the First Lot of Impossible’s New 8×10 Large Format Instant Film

San Diego-based photographer Tim Mantoani, the guy who shot giant Polaroid photos of famous photographers holding their works, recently got his hands on Lot #1 of The Impossible Project's new 8x10 instant film. To test it out, Mantoani busted out his large format camera and 8x10 processor, and then visited a local surf shop to create a multi-shot panorama.

Nokia Lumia 920 Low-Light Performance Pitted Against Competing Smartphones

After The Verge broke the story this week about Nokia's dishonest promo video for its PureView camera technology, Nokia went into damage control mode. As its stock took a tumble, the company hired an internal ethics investigation into the matter, and took steps to turn the media's attention back to its revolutionary PureView features rather than the dishonesty seen in the video promoting them.

It also invited The Verge out to Central Park in NYC to do a hands-on test of the Lumia 920 camera, in an effort to show that the camera is worthy of the hype.

Teen Girl Shoots Beautiful and Creative Portraits of Her Pet Dogs

If you're a dog lover, you've got to check out the photography of 17-year-old photographer Jessica Trinh. Her two main photo subjects are her two dogs: a Golden Retriever named Chuppy and an Australian Shepherd named Daisy. Over the past few years, Trinh has captured hundreds of beautiful and creative portraits of her furry happy-go-lucky friends, aided by her keen eye for spotting gorgeous lighting and happy expressions. We dare you not to smile as you look through the images in this post.

It’s the End of the Road for Ritz and Wolf Camera Stores

The Internet has won, and the United States' largest camera store chain will soon go the way of the Polaroid camera. We reported earlier tonight that the entire chain of Wolf Stores was slated to be liquidated, but it turns out the damage doesn't end there. A second source has now confirmed that the shutdowns go all the way up, and include Ritz Camera stores as well (Ritz Camera owns Wolf Camera).

Wolf Camera Liquidation May Be on the Near Horizon

Ritz Camera went under the hammer yesterday at a public auction, the latest chapter in the company's efforts to figure out a profitable business model in the increasingly Internet-driven business of selling camera gear. Among the things on the auction block yesterday was Wolf Camera, the competing chain of photo retail stores that Ritz acquired back in 2001. If you're a fan of Wolf Camera shops, here's some bad news: their days may be very numbered.

A source just informed us that all Wolf Camera shops are slated to be liquidated. He heard from a Wolf store manager friend that the chain was purchased by a liquidation company at the auction, and that exact time frames will be announced soon.

Nokia Photo Challenge Shows Off the Low-Light Ability of PureView Cameras

Nokia has endured a torrent of bad press over the past couple days over its faked promo video, but the truth is, the company is investing heavily in improving photography in its mobile phones, and its PureView technology is definitely something we should be keeping our eyes on.

In order to back up its claim that PureView low light performance is "unbeatable", Nokia set up a "photo challenge" booth at its launch party and invited passers-by to pit their cameraphones against the Lumia 920. The challenge involved shooting a photograph of a still life setup stuffed inside a dark cubby hole in a brick wall. Check out the video above for a glimpse of how the phone's camera stacked up against the iPhone's and the Samsung Galaxy's.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Master Tweets Photos of “Mugging Attempt” as it Unfolds

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter Renzo Gracie was walking on the sidewalk at 22nd street and 10th avenue in Manhattan last night, when he noticed two shady-looking fellows following him. Suspecting that they were planning to mug him, Gracie began sending live tweets and photos to his 100,000+ followers on Twitter. Once the two men finally approached him, asking for a cigarette, he decided to launch a preemptive strike by beating the crap out of the would-be assailants... while live-blogging the whole thing.

Yup, Nokia Faked the Still Photos In Its PureView Promo

Nokia has already confessed and apologized for faking the optical image stabilization sample footage in a new promo video for its Lumia 920 phone. In case you weren't sure: yes, the sample still photographs in the video were faked as well.

Designer Youssef Sarhan did some investigative work after the story initially broke, and came to the conclusion that the images were almost certainly taken with a camera other than the Lumia 920.

Portraits of High School Football Players in the Style of Political Campaign Photos

Four years ago, Kai-Huei Yau had an idea. During a presidential election year, why not create a series of high school football preview photographs that tie into the political atmosphere? This year, the Tri-City Herald photographer finally put the idea into motion. His "Football Campaign 2012" series features portraits of local high school football players that make them look like they're running for office rather than preparing for a season of war on the gridiron.

Photographs of Astronauts Using DSLRs on Spacewalks

This photograph of Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide taking a self-portrait was published to NASA's amazing 2Explore Flickr account on Wednesday. It was snapped during a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The EXIF data embedded in the photo reveals that he was using a Nikon D2Xs with a 10.5mm fisheye lens at f/11, 1/500, and ISO 200.

Photographer Finds Identity of Couple in ‘Last Kiss’ Photo After Internet Hunt

Photographer Mo Gelber was standing outside the Manhattan Criminal Court on August 16th when he noticed a couple being led in handcuffs toward the courthouse by two officers. Just as they were about to enter the building to be booked, the young man leaned in to his significant other for one last kiss. Gelber instinctively snapped a photograph, resulting in the picture-perfect image seen above.