engineering

There is no denying that shooting on film is expensive. It is among the many reasons major studios have all shifted to using digital cameras for their movie-making. But even with the shift in technology and cost, there is just something appealing about the way these old analog cameras work. This is why engineer and designer Yuta Ikeya decided to make his own analog movie camera with 3D printing.

Researchers from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology have developed a method of manufacturing optical components faster and cheaper for a variety of purposes, which could include camera optics.

Researchers from Northwestern's Engineering department have invented a new high-resolution camera that can see around corners and through objects -- even skin, fog, or a human skull.

In 2018, Cornell researchers built a high-powered detector that set a world record for the highest resolution state of the art electron microscope which, at the time, tripled the previous resolution it could capture. Now, they've beaten their own record by a factor of two.

Electrical engineering student Sam Zeloof recently created something really cool. Using his ample do-it-yourself skills and engineering knowledge, he retrofitted an old Polaroid camera with a Raspberri Pi and thermal printer, turning it into an instant digital camera that prints photos on receipt paper.

A team of engineers at MIT and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell have created something that, on the surface, seems impossible: they've designed a 180° fisheye lens from a single, 1mm-thin piece of calcium fluoride glass that is completely flat.

Photographer Matt Irwin recently took to his YouTube channel to share a theory—or maybe it's just a glimmer of hope—about Nikon's plans for the mirrorless Z mount. That theory is that Nikon wants to turn the Z-Mount into an all-encompassing system that includes APS-C, full-frame, and medium format cameras.

Dave Etchells over at Imaging Resource has released a fantastic breakdown the dives deep on exactly how camera makers—Olympus specifically—go about properly weather-sealing their cameras. In keeping with Etchells' reputation, this video is the most comprehensive overview of the topic that we've ever seen.

LensRentals' Roger Cicala finally got a chance to crack open the new Nikon Z-Mount 24-70mm f/2.8 S lens, and what they found inside should make Z shooters happy. Not only is lens meticulously engineered and well-sealed, it features a "modernized" design that's unlike any LR has seen from other manufacturers.

LensRentals just finished their teardown of the incredibly light and compact new Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, and what they found will make Canon users very happy. Not only is this lens a beautifully engineered marvel--a total redesign of the "typical" 70-200mm f/2.8 formula--it is also, in Roger Cicala's words: strong, like bull.

Google's new Pixel 2 phones boast the best smartphone camera ever tested by DxOMark. In this 9-minute video by Nat and Friends, learn how Google created this bar-raising camera. The video includes a number of interesting interviews with the Pixel 2 team.

Want to see the inner workings of a Sony E-mount lens? Engineer Dave Jones of EEVblog was having problems with his $350 Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS E-mount lens, so he decided to take it apart on camera to see what's inside. You can watch the teardown in the 26-minute video above.

If you shoot with a DSLR, you might take for granted that the mirror inside your camera swings out of the way to allow light to hit the sensor. There's actually quite a bit of precise engineering behind those seemingly simple flips.

With its new Canon 5DS and 5DS R, Canon introduced a new mechanical mirror mechanism that's designed to reduce mirror flip vibrations. The 43-second video above shows how the system works.

Long-time film photographer Timothy Gilbert was frustrated with existing options for processing 4x5 large format sheet film at home, so, as an engineer, he decided to create an easy-to-use and affordable system himself.

After several prototypes and extensive testing, what he came up with is the SP-445 processing system, an extremely compact and simple tank that requires minimal chemicals and effort.

Last year, Sony controlled around 40% of the $8.7 billion image sensor market. Now, Sony is looking to take on a new challenge: building small high-resolution sensors for the mass-market that can capture images at 1,000 frames per second. If this sensor makes it to the market, Vision Research's Phantom high-speed cameras may have some stiff competition on its hands.

The way lovebirds turn their heads while flying could help engineers build better camera drones that can capture scenes with less blur, even during high-speed maneuvers. That's what scientists are saying after studying the flight of lovebirds with a high-speed camera.

Lytro’s research into the world of light field technology has produced two consumer devices. Their first camera was released in 2012 and introduced photographers to the concept of being able to refocus images after they had been taken. Then in 2014, Lytro released their flagship: the ILLUM. Armed with an integrated 30-250mm f/2.0 lens, a 40 megaray sensor, and upgraded software, Lytro was ready to show the world that their technology wasn’t just a gimmick.

The shutter fires and your camera’s digital image sensor is hit by photon particles, creating a two-dimensional photograph; this process is one that photographers are familiar with in their day to day work. However, when Lytro introduced the first commercially available light field camera, the game was changed with a sensor that could capture more than before - aperture and focus became adjustable in post-production, and an interactive perspective became possible.

From images of graphene flowers and foam to a portrait of a self-taught engineer fixing one of his elephant pumps that is providing clean water for a village in Malawi, the winning images and other impressive entrants in the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering's photography competition beautifully illustrate how art, science, and humanity mesh.

Instagram only just released Hyperlapse earlier this week, and already it’s amassed a cult-like following thanks to its dead-simple interface and amazing results.

But, as simple as the interface may be and as impressive as the results are, what happens between when the app is opened and the final hyperlapse actually involves a lot of incredibly technology at work.

When Milan-based engineer and photographer Andrea Biffi needed a constant source of power for his Canon 40D in order to shoot time-lapse photos over many hours, he decided to save some money by going the DIY route. Biffi turned a defunct lithium DSLR battery into a power supply unit that can be used with everything from a wall outlet to a car battery.

You can do the same thing at home, but you'll need a bit of engineering know-how to accomplish the hack.

One of the main reasons Apple has been so successful as a tech company is its focus on usability.

Here's a neat behind-the-scenes video by Samsung featuring short interviews with the developers and engineers behind its NX lenses. One of the things I found interesting was how the engineers are constantly working to overcome the prejudice that Korean-made lenses are inferior to those crafted in Japan or Germany. The video also briefly shows a Samsung 300mm f2.8 XF ED lens -- a lens that doesn't officially exist.

We’re waiting for the day when someone makes this kind of video for how DSLRs are made, but in …