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The Star Eater Issue: Why I No Longer Recommend Sony Cameras for Astrophotography

Sony makes excellent cameras. In the last few years, they launched a completely new full frame camera system that has pushed the bounds of digital photography. I switched entirely to Sony gear after first seeing the tremendous low-light capability of their a7S and have enjoyed many outings shooting astrophotography on many different Sony camera bodies since.

Why and How Fuji Cameras Produce a Strange Purple Flare/Grid Artifact

When FujiFilm’s X-Trans III sensor was introduced in the X-Pro2, many users began noticing a strange new artifact in their backlit photographs. Upon further experimentation, it became apparent that the same artifact could also be found in images from cameras using the older X-Trans II sensor.

Parody Film Pokes Fun at Photo-Crazed Wedding Guests

Wedding photographers these days often find themselves competing with guests who spend the whole ceremony shooting photos with smartphones, DSLRs, and even tablets. The short film above, titled "Unplugged," is a parody that shows why couples are sometimes choosing to have an "unplugged" wedding free of these distractions.

PSA: SanDisk CFast 2.0 Cards Corrupt Some Canon 1D X Mark II Photos

Canon has released an official service advisory for the 1D X Mark II that you'll want to pay attention to if you're one of the few already using the new camera. Apparently, some SanDisk CFast 2.0 cards don't play well with the 1D X Mark II; in fact, they'll corrupt some of your images.

National Geographic Indonesia to Publish First Photo-less Cover on Climate Change Issue

National Geographic Indonesia is attracting attention this week after revealing the cover of the November 2015 issue. The special edition issue is about climate change, and it will be the first issue of National Geographic Indonesia to be published without a cover photo or illustration.

Instead, the cover is dominated by stark text that roughly translates to: "Sorry: There are no beautiful images of climate change. Can we survive?"

This is How Much Ink the Epson 9900 Printer Wastes

It is said that printer ink costs more than black market human blood. With such high costs involved, you might expect that printer companies help you squeeze every last drop from an ink cartridge before you're forced to replace it. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

The folks over at Bellevue Fine Art in Seattle recently decided to find out exactly how much ink their high-end Epson 9900 printer wastes. The answer: a ton.

Some Canon T6 DSLRs May Have a Sensor Issue

Every once in a while my gear rental company notices something, because of the large quantities of cameras and lenses we buy, that we think people should be aware of. This particular issue won't affect our renters; we've sent the affected cameras back. It may not affect very many people at all, since this is from a relatively small sample size. But I still think it worth mentioning.

The Nikon D750 is Disappearing From Stores Shelves. A Quiet Recall is Underway

It appears that the Nikon's response to the D750 flare issue is much more than an offer for a free repair. The camera is currently disappearing from stores, both online ones and brick-and-mortar ones, suggesting that some kind of recall or delay has been implemented while Nikon fixes the defect. [Update: We have confirmed that there is a recall.]

Nikon D750 Owners Reporting a Dark Band Problem That Causes Ugly Lens Flares

The Nikon D750 full frame DSLR has been receiving fantastic marks from reviewers so far, but now an issue has popped up that threatens to damage the camera's reputation. Photographers around the world are reporting a problem with their lens flares. At certain angles, an ugly dark band shows up across the top, separating lens flares from the edge of the frame.

Some Samsung Galaxy S5 Units Plagued by Camera Failure

Samsung is proud of the camera in the Galaxy S5 smartphone. So proud, in fact, that the company released an ad that called the iPhone out by name. But the company may have jumped the gun now that it has been confirmed that an unspecified number of Galaxy S5s have shipped with cameras that don't work at all.

Facebook Tries Out Google’s WebP Image Format, Upsets Users in the Process

In an attempt to speed up its sizable network and lower costs, Facebook recently decided to begin using Google's WebP image format. The format was designed by Google as a space-saving alternative for PNGs and JPEGs. WebP provides lossless and lossy compression, support for an alpha channel, support for animation and more -- all at much smaller sizes and almost identical image quality.

But all of these advantages come at a price, support for the WebP image format outside of your browser is far from universal. Google set it up as a Web format that, for now, is not supported by any of the major operating systems natively. And so, after the switch, when Facebook users tried to download a funny photo or the vacation pics their friends decided to share through Facebook, they wound up with un-viewable WebP files.

Nikon Issues Official Service Advisory for D600 Dust Issue, Stance is Same

In October 2012, LensRentals owner Roger Cicala reported that the Nikon D600 seems to collect more sensor dust than other DSLRs. Other owners began reporting the same thing, and different theories began emerging to explain the origins of the annoying specks.

When Imaging Resource reached out to Nikon for comment, it was told that Nikon customers are encouraged to have their cameras serviced if the dust becomes "bothersome." Nikon finally issued an official advisory this past Wednesday regarding the issue, but its message is the same.

Nikon’s Service Center Can “Change” the Green Tint on Your D800

Back in April, there was a small hoopla amongst Nikonians who purchased the Nikon D4 or D800 and discovered that the LCD screen had a greenish tint when compared to the D3s and D700. Nikon denied that anything was wrong with the new cameras, and stated that it was actually the older models that were too cool. A couple of months later, it was rumored that a soon-to-arrive firmware update would address the issue. That update has yet to arrive.

There's now some good news for those of you looking for a fix "change". Photographer Noah Bershatsky is reporting that Nikon's service center will actually do the correction "change".

A Time-Lapse Showing How Quickly Dust Accumulates on Nikon D600 Sensors

Back in October, we wrote that the Nikon D600 suffers from excessive sensor dust in the upper left hand corner of the frame -- something many owners have been reporting and a flaw confirmed by review sites such as DPReview. Toronto-based artist Kyle Clements wanted to test this himself, so he bought a new D600, pointed it at a white piece of paper, shot 1000 frames, and created the time-lapse video above.

The Nikon D600 Has Sensor Dust Issues

We tend not to get too excited about sensor dust problems at LensRentals; we clean sensors on every camera after every rental, so it’s just routine. When we started carrying the Nikon D600, they all arrived with a fair amount of dust, but that’s pretty routine, too. Manufacturing and shipping can be a dusty experience.

Canon Confirms “Light Leak” Issue in the 5D Mark III

Earlier this month, reports started emerging that Canon's new 5D Mark III DSLR has a "light leak" issue. Photographers found that turning on the LCD backlight in a dark room directly affects the camera's metering system (as seen in the video above). Canon published a product advisory today acknowledging the issue, saying,

In extremely dark environments, if the LCD panel illuminates, the displayed exposure value may change as a result of the AE sensor’s detection of light from the LCD panel.

The phenomenon [...] has been confirmed when using the Canon EOS 5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera. Canon is now examining the countermeasures and once the countermeasures are decided, we will post the information on our Web site.

Problem is, the issue isn't limited to the LCD's backlight in a dark room. Apparently any light (e.g. sunlight) shining onto the LCD screen can affect exposure.

Facebook Has a Zombie Photo Problem

Ars Technica published an interesting story today about how photos uploaded to Facebook remain on their servers months -- or even years -- after they're "deleted" from the service. We decided to test this out ourselves, uploading the above photo to Facebook, copying the direct URL to the image file, and then deleting both the photo and the album. As you can see from the hotlinked photo above, the image continues to live on as a zombie photo on Facebook's CDN servers.