Michael Zhang

Founder, Editor

Michael is a photography enthusiast, entrepreneur, and programmer based in Northern California near San Francisco. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with two degrees in computer science.

Articles by Michael Zhang

Michael Zhang

Kuwait Bans the Use of DSLR Cameras in Public Places

Update: Turns out this story wasn't true.

If you think photographers' rights in the US or UK are bad, get a load of this: Kuwait is now banning the use of DSLR cameras in public places for everyone except accredited journalists. Three ministries (information, social affairs, and finance) issued the joint ban last week, but strangely ignored the use of other cameras and forms of photography, meaning that citizens can still shoot publicly with compact cameras and camera-equipped phones.

Michael Zhang

Add an LED Flash to Your Older iPhone with the iFlash

If cameras can have external flashes, why can't mobile phones? The iFlash is a flash module that allows owners of older iPhones to illuminate dark scenes with a blast of LED light. iPhone 4 owners can also use it to gain some additional light.

Michael Zhang

Pentax-esque Nikon Concept Camera

DCHome forum member voigtlander just posted this photograph of a Nikon concept camera from Nikon Sapporo Showroom, where photography is prohibited. There's a lot of discussion over whether or not this design suggests what a future Nikon EVIL camera might look like, since it seems to have the same form factor as existing EVIL cams (e.g. Samsung NX10).

Michael Zhang

Oprah Picks the Nikon D3100 as One of Her Favorite Things

During her "Ultimate Favorite Things 2010" this past Friday, Oprah revealed the Nikon D3100 as one of her favorite things, and gave one to each member of the audience. As one of the most influential people in the world, the Oprah Effect should definitely give Nikon a huge boost in sales of the camera, just like Michelle Obama does for fashion companies with her outfits.

Michael Zhang

Music Video Made with Timelapse and 3D Light Painted Words

After photographer Ross Ching came across Dentsu London's creative 3D light painting technique with an iPad, he decided to give it a try, combining it with timelapse photography to make a music video for "I'll Try Anything Once" by The Strokes (seen above). The app he used was Holographium, which you can pick up for $5 from the app store.

Michael Zhang

A Photography Book Featuring Work by Cooper the Cat

Here's one of those "I could do that! Yeah, but you didn't" things: a cat named Cooper recently published a book filled with his photographs, titled "Cat Cam". Basically, a couple named Michael and Deirdre Cross decided to attach a micro camera to their cat's collar, automatically snapping photographs every two minutes. The book has received pretty positive reviews from both critics (Good Morning America, People Magazine, etc...) and customers.

Michael Zhang

MIT Camera Uses Echos of Light to See Around Corners

The "femtosecond transient imaging system" is a camera being developed by researchers at MIT that uses high intensity light from a femtosecond laser to capture images from around corners. Once the laser beam bounces around the scene and returns to the sensor, algorithms are used to turn the time and distance information into a representation of the scene.

Michael Zhang

C-Loop Strap Mount Upgrades Your Boring Camera Strap

You might be seeing your photography enthusiast friends upgrading their camera straps left and right, opting for fancier ones that are attached to the bottom of a camera via the tripod mount, but what if you're super attached to your traditional strap? Say hello to the C-Loop, a simple little attachment being developed by Custom SLR and funded through Kickstarter. It's an elegant solution for transforming your beloved (albeit ordinary) strap into a fancier R-Strap-style one.

Michael Zhang

Homemade 900mm Super Telephoto Lens

Over at Leica User Forum, member dkpeterborough wrote a series of posts detailing how he and a fellow member of the Peterborough Photographic Society named Tony Lovell created a beastly 900mm lens. The lens uses optics salvaged from a government flight simulator projector lens, and cost only hundreds of pounds in parts (comparable lenses cost thousands).

Michael Zhang

High Speed Photography Helps Unlock Mystery of How Cats Drink

In 1877, photographer Eadweard Muybridge settled a longstanding debate on whether or not a horse completely leaves the ground at any point during its gallop by taking a single photograph of a horse completely airborne. In the same way, photography was also used recently by a group of researchers to uncover the mystery of how cats drink.

Michael Zhang

Futuristic Eye Dropper Concept for Transferring Photos and Files

The i dropper is a conceptual device designed to make transferring photographs from different devices and computers intuitive, quick, and easy. To move a photograph from your iPad to your desktop, all you would have to do is "suck up" the photo on your iPad using the stylus pen-shaped device, and "drop" the data onto your computer screen. What's more, the data contained in the pen is displayed on a little screen to inform you of what's ready to be dropped.

Michael Zhang

Instax Mini Print Playing Card Deck

Sarah Ann created this beautiful full deck of 52 playing cards using Instax Mini instant film prints. Each card is a unique, and is a photograph of the card it represents.