brand

Manfrotto Founder Lino Manfrotto Dies at 80

Lino Manfrotto, the photojournalist who founded the eponymous Manfrotto line of tripods and camera accessories, died at his home in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, on Sunday, February 5th, 2017. He was 80.

B&H Responds to US Govt Lawsuit, Calls Claims ‘Inaccurate’ and ‘Bizarre’

One of the big stories in the photo industry this month was news that the US government is suing the camera superstore B&H Photo Video for discrimination and harassment of its workers.

After initially refusing the comment to the media, B&H yesterday published a statement about the lawsuit and offered its defense. The store calls the governments claims "not only inaccurate, but bizarre."

Sony Unveils Its New G Master Line of Flagship Lenses

Sony today launched an entirely new brand of interchangeable lenses: the G Master. This line will represent the best of what Sony has to offer in terms of optics.

The brand will launch with 3 new E-mount lenses: the 24-70mm f/2.8, 85mm f/1.4, and 70-200mm f/2.8.

Bye Bye Gura Gear: Company to Sell All Camera Bags Under the Tamrac Brand

The Tamrac brand of camera bags has been around for nearly 4 decades now, and it looks like it will continue to live on much longer. Gura Gear, on the other hand, ends here.

When Tamrac went bankrupt last year, Gura Gear swooped in and acquired the company's brand and assets. Now, a year later, Gura Gear has decided to drop its own brand name in favor of the older Tamrac brand. Thus, Gura Gear will be no more.

It Lives: Photoflex Acquired by PromarkBRANDS

Back in April, the lighting company Photoflex unexpectedly announced that it would be closing shop after 30 years in the business, to the disappointment of many. Later that month, the struggling company revealed that it was working on a deal to allow the brand to live on. They succeeded.

Photoflex announced yesterday that it has been acquired by the lighting company PromarkBRANDS. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Photoflex Returns From the Grave, Says It’s Back in Business

Well-known lighting gear manufacturer Photoflex may live on after all. No, its original April 1st announcement that it was closing shop wasn't an ill-conceived April Fool's Joke or a bizarre marketing stunt -- the struggling company is reportedly working on a deal that will allow the brand to live on.

C&A Marketing Buys Out Calumet Brand, Bringing Back a Few Entities

It came as quite a surprise to everyone – including their own employees – when Calumet camera stores went out of business quite literally overnight. As is to be expected in such a downfall, much of their capital has been sold off in hopes to gain back as much as possible. But, as much as anything else, the fall of Calumet has left people wondering what will happen to the brand that many photographers came to know and trust.

Brand Licensing and the Nikon Phone

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.

Personally Branded Product Photos Take a Swipe at the Selfie Generation

If you live in New York City, one of these days you might just stumble upon a bottle of Aunt JeMichael instead of Aunt Jemima while shopping for syrup in the supermarket. No, it's not a strange off-brand that somehow got mixed in with the big-name stuff, it's part of advertising and fine art photographer Mike Mellia's Self-Absorbed series.

The Emperor’s New Gadget: Behold the Effect of Fanboyism on Consumers

Marketing and customer loyalty are two powerful things. They can make minor improvements in gadgets seem great, and major advancements to-die-for. In the world of photography, many camera owners feel strong allegiances to the brand they use, fiercely defending it as their own, and even going on the offensive to belittle other photographers who shoot under a different banner. This kind of customer loyalty does strange things to how the "fanboys" perceive the quality of their camera gear.

Household Objects with Visual Branding Completely Removed

Brand Spirit is a new photo project by NYC-based branding strategist Andrew Miller, who writes,

Every day for 100 days, I will paint one branded object white, removing all visual branding, reducing the object to its purest form. Each object may be purchased for less than $10, something I own, something another person gives me, or something I find.

See if you can identify each of the objects despite their lack of branding.

That Explains It: Canon vs. Nikon Debate Linked to Self-Esteem

Ever wonder why certain people always seem to engage in meaningless Canon vs Nikon vs et al. camera brand debates at every opportunity? A recent study conducted at the University of Illinois has found that the more knowledge and experience you have with a particular brand, the stronger your self-esteem is tied to it.

Did Sigma Make the SD1 to Serve as the Brand’s “Halo Product”?

Sigma generated a lot of buzz recently after announcing its SD1 DSLR with a $9,700 MSRP, and that's probably exactly what they were trying to do. As articles all over the Internet questioned why a 14.7MP Sigma DSLR would cost the same price as Pentax's 40MP medium-format DSLR, Sigma was quick to point out that the camera would actually be selling for a slightly more reasonable street price of $6,900.

How to Prove Your Loyalty to Canon

Julio César Assis is a hardcore Canon fan. To show his loyalty to the brand and his allegiance to fellow Canonites, he decided to have the logo tattooed on his bicep.