Adam Griffith

A portrait session that results in the death of the subject should be called a failure.

As reported by the Salt Lake Tribune, a group of photographers and onlookers experienced precisely that level of catastrophic botchery last week in Grand Teton National Park when crowding too close to a moose (not a good idea).

The moose, already agitated by the presence of a nearby bull moose, was scared by the approaching park-visitors and bolted before stumbling over a picnic table and landing on a fire grate. With its hoof caught in the grate, the half-ton animal collapsed and broke its leg so badly that park rangers were forced to put it down.

Photography drones are facing a perilous atmosphere of distrust and legal chaos. In these circumstances, even small mistakes can have big consequences. A shift in public sentiment against private drone usage could easily result in the application of restrictive regulations, or perhaps even conditional bans.

Shopping for an action camera is like shopping for adhesive bandages: you either buy Band-Aids ... or you pick up something  called "Aid Plus Bandages" because they're on sale. And when you bring them home, you just call them Band-Aids anyway.

Last week, Lomography announced their first instant film camera: the Lomo'Instant (a quirky name to match a quirky camera). And rather than outright launching the product, or even just announcing a shipping date, they chose to introduce the new camera through a Kickstarter campaign.

This isn't Lomography's first attempt at crowdfunding. They did the same thing when launching their Petzval Lens and their Smartphone Film Scanner last year. Given the trend, we're likely to see more of their future launches taking the form of Kickstarter campaigns as well. But why?

Using the bones of a dying giant and a healthy dose of innovation, Sony built one of the most forward thinking lines of high-end cameras available in recent memory.

When they entered the serious photography market following their acquisition of the struggling Konica Minolta camera business, Sony brought the coffers and clout of an international conglomerate as well as the fresh eyes of a newcomer. Using those tools, they've pushed the technological envelope in a way that few others were willing or capable of doing and, now, are setting the benchmark for where others ought to be aiming. Oh, and they did it all in just eight years.

A slew of new technologies are making it possible (even easy) to document everything around you without much effort or input. Wearable, automated cameras represent the most extreme end of this spectrum - devices like Autographer and the Narrative Clip record your daily life with a mind of their own.

If you had to summarize this year's NAB Show in Las Vegas in one word, it would probably be "4K."

The NAB (Which stands for National Association of Broadcasters) Show is the world's largest Electronic Media show, and deals largely in video. But, this year, at least one of the announcements had interesting implications for the still photography market.

Enthusiasts of bitcoin, the electronic cryptocurrency, have more ways than ever to spend their digital cash. But should professional photographers try to take advantage of the growing popularity of bitcoin and similar systems by accepting it as payment for their work?

A few photographers say so, but first, what is bitcoin and how does it work?

New photographers today can buy their first camera, take lessons on how to use it, research photography destinations, order prints and books of their work, and start selling it without ever setting foot in a brick-and-mortar camera store or printing business. It's hard to imagine how any photo store with an actual sales floor can still survive.

There's a good chance you're sick of reading about Fujifilm this week. But with the fever-pitch buzz surrounding the release of the X-T1, it's not often that we consider the business behind these popular cameras.

Let's take a moment to reflect on the unique history of the Fujifilm X-Series, and the ways in which it reinvigorated both the company that created it and the camera industry as a whole.

From a design concept to a crowd-funding campaign to a product backed by a major brand, the Polaroid Socialmatic represents an alternative to traditional product development methods. Is crowd-sourced innovation the shakeup that the photography industry needs?

The holidays are a great time for gift giving, which also normally means they're a time for cleaning out closets and camera bags. Every year, I find myself needing to get rid of old stuff that has been replaced; or dealing with the thoughtful but odd and/or useless gifts given to me by well-meaning family and friends.

But what to do with that redundant lens or knitted camera cozy? The simplest answer is to return or re-sell it, but sometimes there's no gift receipt to be found or the gizmo in question is too beaten up to be sold for any real value. Fortunately, there's plenty of ways to find a use for your used gear.

With every passing year, the digital camera sales dataset offered by the Camera and Imaging Products Association (CIPA) grows more comprehensive. These records are made available to the public by this coalition of camera manufacturers which includes Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm, Sony, Sigma, Ricoh, Olympus, and dozens of other recognizable brands. Since 2002, they've been improving and increasing the scale of their database, which now separates digital cameras into fixed-lens, mirrorless and DSLR categories, and reports sales figures for different regions.

It sometimes seems that commentators are primarily interested in the CIPA data to prove just how far up a creek camera manufacturers are so far this decade. But these depressing pronouncements are just scratching the surface. Here's some other things the data shows:

News broke yesterday that four of the photographers fired in last May's mass-layoff instituted at the Chicago Sun-Times may soon be rehired, while others will see restitution payments, thanks to a new agreement reached by the Chicago Newspaper Guild. Under the agreement, four photographers would get their jobs back and some of the rest will see one-time payments of $2,000.

Some may be inclined to call that a victory for photojournalism, at least a small one, but they should reconsider.

A few weeks ago, I found myself wandering around a local career fair -- the type of event I normally find pretty loathsome, or at least overcrowded an unhelpful. This time though, a fun surprise: representatives from Snapchat and Shutterfly stood at booths right next to each other.

Oh boy! I couldn't turn down the chance to chat with some folks more or less connected to the photo industry.

It’s 2004, and a group of young entrepreneurs is working on a wearable camera geared towards action sports.  Their experimentation results in a multi-million dollar company that launches a series of versatile waterproof cameras that can be attached to a person or vehicle in any number of ways. Their products have been used to film everything from spear fishing to paintball battles. Oh, by the way, I’m not talking about GoPro.

Rumors, leaks, and sneak peaks dominate headlines in photo gear news. More often than not, the appearance, specs and even price of a new piece of gear (this applies particularly to cameras) is known well before its manufacturer announces it themselves -- a fact that should come as no surprise to frequent PetaPixel readers.

A Bohemian-looking man stands in a picturesque Scottish glen. Wild grasses sway in the wind, green hills loom to either side and moody, dark clouds drift along above. The man takes in the scene and fiddles with a camera around his neck. We hear satisfying mechanical clicks as he sets the aperture and shutter speed.

The shot cuts to a wide view of the man in the landscape, and we see him lift the camera to his eye, although it is still obscured from view. Another satisfying snap as he trips the shutter, and the screen fades to black. Then a brief flash of the front of a lens, and the words "Pure Photography" in dainty, white lettering.

It's hard to look at  the spec sheet on the upcoming Sony A7 and A7r mirrorless compacts and not be impressed. With a 36 MP full-frame sensor (on the A7r), compact body, interchangeable lens system, and a price tag that undercuts most full-frame DSLR's by a good margin, some will be tempted to call it the perfect camera on its expected announcement date of October 16th.

A few might agree with that sentiment, but a better way to look at Sony's newest wunderkind is as a manifestation of the trend towards diversification in the digital camera market.

Since its spec sheet leaked on Monday, there's been plenty of buzz surrounding Pentax's newly-released K-3 APS-C DSLR. Many are particularly atwitter about the K-3's unique anti-aliasing system, which relies on a vibrating sensor to remove moire-effects. Because it's not filter-based, the effect can be turned off.

Therefore, the K-3 offers the moire-eliminating effect of an anti-aliasing filter when it's needed, and the greater sharpness of a filterless sensor when it's not. Not only do people care about this innovation, but for many it was a cardinal feature of the camera.

In the corporate world, diversification is a way of life. As multinational conglomerates like PepsiCo can tell you, spreading out business over multiple sectors protects a company from economic shocks to any one industry, and opens up access to more markets.  A quick peek at SEC filings for some of the most prominent camera manufacturers reveals that many of them have made a strong effort to put this concept into practice, and you might be surprised at how small a role consumer photography plays in their annual sales.

These days, most photographers spend way more time staring at a computer screen than peering through a viewfinder.  Despite this, we sure do spend a lot more talking about lenses and cameras than widescreen monitors. Perhaps that's because editing tends to be the far more tedious part of the job. With a little investment though, you can make those late nights pouring over the day's images just a little bit more comfortable.

Good or bad, photography as a medium is closely tied to the technological heritage of our cameras. As a result, technological developments often influence the type of gear we use and the type of photographs we take.

With that in mind, here are some areas of innovation that are likely to create even more change in the way we take pictures and the way manufacturers design cameras in the future.

Kodak clawed its way out of bankruptcy this past Tuesday, but the Rochester-based company has a long climb yet.

There's been plenty of talk on this topic over the past week, but most of it seem to be focused on what Kodak gave up to emerge from the shadow of Chapter 11. NBC News, for example, emphasizes the loss of consumer-oriented operations and a 50% reduction in yearly expected revenue when they discuss the "New Kodak Moment."

Anyone with an appreciation for Kodak’s heritage is sure to feel a twinge of sadness over these developments, but it is still far too early to be asking if the sacrifice was worth it. The more important question is "will it work?"

By this point, the crippling blow dealt to compact cameras by the rise of smartphones is old news, but camera manufacturers are now mounting counterattacks. They've certainly suffered for long enough. Sales for compact cameras fell by 30% in 2011 alone, and kept on falling. They're at 102 million units for this year, compared to 144 million units just three years ago.

For travel shooters and those looking to keep their kit light, new Interchangeable Lens Compacts (ILC) have been a major boon. But the real beneficiaries of the rise of this new system -- still less than five years old -- are the companies that make them. However, in order to maximize those benefits, manufacturers of ILCs need to establish the format as viable and resilient. For some, that means working together rather than against one another.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on mirrors. Mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, like the Olympus Pen E-P5 or Samsung  NX300, have enjoyed increasing popularity over the past few years, and it’s become clear that they are more than a passing fad.

This motley collection of high-tech cameras filled the gap that existed between bulky DSLRs and compact cameras, but manufacturers are now starting to expand their mirrorless lineups in hopes of attracting a wider cross-section of photographers, including professionals.