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After leaking onto the web late last week, the Pentax K-5 II and K-5 IIs have now been officially announced. The cameras succeed the K-5 as Pentax's flagship DSLR, and feature a 16.3MP APS-C CMOS sensor, an ISO range of 100-12800 (expandable to 80-51200), an 11-point autofocus system, a 3-inch LCD screen, 1080p HD video recording, in-camera stabilization, RAW shooting, a 100% FOV viewfinder, full weather sealing, and 7fps continuous shooting.

360° interactive photographs of products are a great way for online merchants to increase their conversion rates -- people apparently feel more comfortable buying things if they can see what it looks like all the way around -- but creating those views can be a pain. Enter RotaryView's new CupChair, a simple app that greatly simplifies the process by taking care of most of the steps for you.

One of the biggest photo stories at the moment is the fact that Sony is planning to stuff a full frame sensor inside an upcoming compact camera called the RX1. While the $2799 price tag likely puts it out of the reach of many photo enthusiasts, the fact that full frame sensors are starting to appear in fixed-lens compact cameras by a company other than Leica is pretty exciting.

Photographer Jon Shireman has a cool project titled Broken Flowers that features photographs of flowers that were shattered. How do you shatter flowers, you ask? By freezing them with liquid nitrogen!

Everyone is a photographer these days, and it is estimated that 380 billion photographs were taken last year, with a huge percentage of them created with the 1 billion+ camera-equipped phones now floating around. The New York Times' James Estrin has some interesting thoughts on where this radical-shift in the practice and definition of photography is taking us: …

Benjamin Von Wong is a photographer based in Montreal, Canada. Visit his website here.

Love it or hate it, Instagram is currently a pretty big deal in the mobile space. Big enough, perhaps, that many smartphone users might not even consider switching to a phone running Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system unless the photo sharing app is available. If you're one of those people, get ready to think about jumping ship: Instagram is coming to Windows Phone.

We've shared a number of examples of surreal images created using multiple exposure techniques or by combining images using Photoshop, but did you know that you can also create beautiful images by stacking actual film negatives? Photographer Laina Briedis did some experiments with 35mm film stacking, and achieved some stunning results. She combined photos of stars and sky with pictures of people, creating images that look like they were plucked from someone's dreams.

New York Times photographer Damon Winter shot a neat portrait project earlier this year during the London Olympics. Titled Their Golden Years, the Times tracked down former athletes who represented the United States of America during the 1948 Olympic games, which were also held in London. The project provides a neat little biographical glimpse into each athletes life, using before-and-after photos, a brief description of what they did, and short audio interviews in which they share some …

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.

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.

A couple of weeks ago, we shared the sad story of how one hiker was killed after venturing within 50 yards of a grizzly bear to snap photographs. One of the biggest rules for photographing wildlife is to make sure you're a safe distance from the wild animals. This distance varies depending on the animal you're photographing. For grizzly bears, you're supposed to stay at least a quarter of a mile away.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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).

Is a college photography degree worth it? It depends on who you ask. There are plenty of successful photographers out there who have never set foot inside a university photography lecture, while others have done just as well after earning that diploma.

Photographer John Eklund spent the past year visiting various locations in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, using his camera to document the stunning beauty of places ranging from Crater Lake in Oregon to Mount St. Helens in Washington. He writes, …

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.

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.

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.

Here's the first leaked photograph of Sony's upcoming high-end full-frame single-lens-translucent DSLR, the A99. sonyalpharumors confirmed the authenticity of the image, which was first leaked onto the chinese website Xitek. We'll likely be seeing the official announcement on Wednesday, September 12.

If you want a way to display and rotate through your latest prints and instant photos, you can try making yourself a photo ledge. It's a simple photo holder created using a long piece of plastic u channel molding, available at your local hardware store. Find a way to attach it to a wall -- perhaps using velcro, tape, pins, or adhesive -- and you'll have yourself a convenient little ledge that you can use to show off your images. The photos simply rest inside the gap in the plastic ledge, so you …

Freelance photojournalist Tracey Shelton captured the striking image above showing the instant a tank shell exploded in a Syrian rebel outpost earlier this week.

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).

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.

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.

Back in March, a location-based mobile chat startup named Yobongo was acquired by DIY photobook publisher Mixbook. The target of the purchase was the talent of the team, not the app, and over the past half year, the programmers have been stealthily building a new photobook app. Although the launch might still be a little ways off, some details about the project are starting to emerge. Sarah Perez of TechCrunch writes, …

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 …

Earlier this week, we shared a funky piece of camera equipment called the Bounce-Wall, which features a large card that serves as a surface to bounce your flash off when you're out and about. While the pricing wasn't available at the time, David Hobby of Strobist has since revealed that it'll carry a $99 when it's released later this month.

Sorry for the blurriness, but that's what you often have to live with in exchange for seeing cameras before they officially exist. Digicam-info has published leaked photos of the upcoming Q10 mirrorless camera and the K-5 II and K-5 IIs DSLRs.

What does your choice of Instagram filter say about your character and personality? Check out the Instagram Horoscope to find out. Marco Kaye and Sloan Schang over at the publishing house McSweeney's came up with a humorous list of interpretations. Here's a sampling: …

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.

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.

Shepard Fairey avoided jail time after all. The Obama HOPE poster artist was sentenced today to two years of probation and a $25,000 fine for using an AP photo without permission and then destroying evidence to cover his tracks. The New York Times writes that the entire dispute will be an interesting case study for fair use law: …

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.

In daguerreotype photography, the first commercially successful photographic process, a positive image is recorded directly onto a silvered copper plate. Although mercury is traditionally used to develop the plate, there's a way of creating daguerreotypes called the Becquerel method that eschews mercury in favor of non-lethal ingredients.

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.

Did you know that in California, "rights of publicity" are transfered to a celebrity's heirs after the celebrity dies? This means that photos of the famous individual may continue to be subject to the heir's licensing fees when the photo owners want to license them out for use in commercial products. A court ruling issued last week provides an interesting case study into how this California law can affect photography rights. PDN writes, …

Last week, a seascape photo I made showed up on link-sharing powerhouse Reddit. It caused a bit of a stir since it is a copyrighted image and was rehosted and posted without my permission. A lot of the photographers in r/photography and r/pics (where it was originally posted by a user) made it known that it was I who had created the work. I’m very grateful for both the exposure that posting gave me, and even more grateful for the support I received from my fellow photographers and Redditors.

In addition to the new X-E1 announced this morning, Fujifilm has also unveiled its upcoming version 2.0 of its X-Pro1 firmware. Autofocus has been a much-griped-about feature of the X-Pro1 (and the X100, for that matter), and the new firmware addresses that issue by improving the AF capabilities of the camera in different ways.

Shepard Fairey has spent the past few years fighting a messy legal battle with photographer Mannie Garcia and the Associated Press over his use of a portrait of Obama his iconic HOPE poster. He has raked in a significant amount of dough from the artwork, but may now face jail time for foolishly attempting to destroy evidence when the copyright infringement investigation began. The Smoking Gun reports, …

The bean bag is a tool that photographers sometimes use to stabilize their camera. Plop it down on a fixed platform, and the bag can do wonders for achieving sharper shots. Instead of buying a bean bag for a marked up price, you can easily create a do-it-yourself version at home. After all, it's just some beans in a bag... Digital Camera World has a step-by-step tutorial on how you can create one using some lentils and a pair of unwanted jeans.

The final hurdles have been cleared, and Instagram is now officially part of Facebook. The startup's 16 employees will be relocating from San Francisco to Facebook HQ in Menlo Park.

San Francisco residents were treated with a dazzling sight yesterday: a double rainbow all the way across the sky, visible from many parts of the city.

Lets say you find an imaginative kid, put a pen in one of his hands, put a camera in the other, and ask him to create a movie. What would you get? …

German student Hans Findling has some interesting architectural photos captured deep underground in subway stations around Europe. The images, snapped in Germany, Austria, and Spain, are generally devoid of the hustle and bustle you usually find inside a metro system. Findling chooses to focus on capturing the eye-catching patterns, lines, and symmetry built into many parts of these stations.

Photo printing company PhotoBox recently conducted a survey of 1,000 women aged 18-65 to find out how they feel about being in photographs. An interesting finding was that the women generally cared much more about how other women view the images than how men view them. Only 10% of women care about what men think of their photogenic-ness. Of the other 9 in 10 women, it's the 36-45 demographic that cares the most about being judged by other women.

Nokia faced the heat of the Internet yesterday after it came to light that a promo video for its new PureView image stabilization technology had been faked. The video, which was supposed to show off the company's fancy-schmancy new floating lens technology, didn't actually show real Lumia 920 footage, but rather footage captured using an actual stabilized camera. Nokia responded today in a blog post titled "An apology is due": …