Equipment

It's been a little while since we've seen fit to report on a rumor. Most of what has passed through the rumor mill of late has either not been significant enough, or only worth linking out to. This news, however, caught our eye: it seems Sony is working on a 'non-Bayer' sensor that might appear in cameras as early as late 2015.

GoPro cameras may be ready to migrate from helmets to film schools thanks to the Ribcage, an in-development assembly that allows the tiny action cams to be outfitted with interchangeable lenses.

It seems the Nikon engineers had some tricks up their sleeves when they put the D4 sensor inside the new Nikon Df, because while the sensor earned identical scores to the D4 in almost every category when DxOMark put it through its paces, the Df actually BEAT the D4 in the "low-light ISO" category.

But more than that, it beat EVERYBODY in that category, narrowly edging out the previous champion D3s to claim the number one low-light spot among DxOMark's rankings.

A lot of film people have deep connections to Super 8 cameras, once the medium of choice for everyone from film school students to porn directors. But it's getting harder and harder to actually use the things, as stocks of film cartridges dwindle.

To the rescue comes Nolab, a project to build a digital adapter that will allow any Super 8 camera to shoot 720p HD video.

Nikon recently released a firmware update for its D3100, D3200, D5100, D5200, and P7700 cameras that maximized battery performance and allowed the camera to more accurately tell you how much charge you have left. But it seems there was an unintended (or maybe not so unintended) side-effect: third party batteries no longer work.

Although it can't compare to a quality camera, it's hard to deny that the iPhone is capable -- after all, we've seen NY Times cover photos, fashion shoots and even a professional portrait taken using an iPhone as the camera of choice.

The Polaroid iM1836 has had a rough go of it since it first burst onto the scene at last year's CES. Nobody seemed to think the camera was anything to write home about, and its similarity to Nikon's 1-Series cameras was undeniable.

So undeniable, in fact, that earlier this year, Nikon filed a lawsuit to try to get the iM1836 pulled from the shelves. Yesterday, they succeeded.

Photojournalist Christopher Morris has documented some of the world's hottest war zones, reclusive North Korea and the 2012 Republican National Convention. But it took modern Detroit to totally punk him, with thieves there stealing $15,000 in camera equipment and another crook cheating him out of $200 in reward money later that same day.

Rest easy, future astronauts. If occasional filmmaker and full-time tinkerer Mark Rober and his pals are any indication, NASA engineers can MacGyver their way into or out of any situation.

Metabones, maker of the impressive Speedbooster adapters is back at it again. When the Speedbooster first came out, I wrote about it being like magic, increasing the aperture and field-of-view of Nikon and Canon full-frame lenses mounted to NEX and micro 4/3 cameras, while maintaining or even improving image quality. Now they’ve brought the Metabones magic to the Blackmagic cinema and pocket cinema cameras.

Canon owners certainly boast the most advanced custom firmware with Magic Lantern, but Nikon Hacker is making some progress. Case in point: with the release of a new hack, Nikon D5100 owners can now use manual controls while shooting in LiveView.

Canon's first mirrorless camera, the EOS M, received mixed reviews when it first hit the market, mainly because of its slow autofocus. Canon is hoping to address those concerns with the newly-announced EOS M2, but it looks like this one might not even make it to the US or Europe.

Try all the tricky ski moves and skateboard jumps you want, but it'll be hard to beat the latest action video auteur -- a curious Australian sea eagle who snagged a wildlife camera to create a brief but exciting aerial tour of his neighborhood.

Usually we try to stay away from traumatizing you at the very beginning of the week, but this week, we'll make an exception. The video above started out as a tutorial on how to quickly attach and detach a lens "just like a pro"; it turned into a cringeworthy photographer fail.

A super-fast, affordable new camera currently under development at MIT could improve everything from video game experiences to driving safety, researchers reported at a recent tech convention.

Lomography is no stranger to releasing strange cameras -- everything from Where's Waldo editions to a hand-cranked movie camera have crossed our desks -- but the Transparent Collector's Edition Konstruktor is perhaps cooler and definitely less useful than all of those.

Leica began its takeover of Swiss view camera manufacturer Sinar all the way back in 2006, when the German company acquired a 51% stake in Sinar from Jenoptik. The real goal, however, was only truly achieved yesterday when both companies announced via press release that they had reached an acquisition deal.

You might have found yourself in this situation before: you're in the middle of a photo shoot and you find that you badly need to set up a shot or lighting that is, in fact, impossible to do 'professionally' given the gear you have on hand.

So what do you do? You go all MacGyver of course! You put together an off-the-top-of-your-head DIY fix that gets the job done (even if it doesn't look all that good doing it). The Tumblr blog Shitty Rigs is dedicated to showing off those brilliant, if a bit silly, creations.

The one-of-a-kind Leica M created by world-famous designers Jony Ive and Mark Newson finally went up on the auction block yesterday, and it wound up fetching more than twice as much as auction house Sotheby's highest estimate.

A new smartphone photography product is making some serious waves on the Internet ever since the launch of its Kickstarter campaign just a few days ago.

It's called Foldio, and it's an ultra-portable (foldable in fact) light box for smartphone shutterbugs who want to add a new dimension to their work or take some professional-looking product shots.

If you love everything about your GoPro camera except the anemic battery life and minimalist portability, say hello to the CagePro: a new system that allows you to attach a Canon SLR battery to your GoPro.

It seems like we just got done with a round of leaks and rumor frenzy that had everyone in speculation overload, but now we have something coming out of the Nikon camp -- or rather leaking out of the Nikon camp: the first photos (if legit) of the Nikon D3300.

I’m probably setting myself up for a replay of the Exo Tria Arxidia scene, but my friend Bernhard introduced me to the German term scharf the other day. It can mean both sharp and hot (as in spicy, or as in, you know, hot). After testing our first copies of the Zeiss 55mm f/1.4 Otus lens I felt the term scharf was just perfect to describe this lens.

Alright folks, we don't often post about deals but this is a great one and it's only available through midnight tonight (Eastern Standard Time). If you're in the US and you're okay with buying some refurbished Canon gear instead of brand new, today only, you can get $20 off a purchase of $100 or more, $50 off of $250 or more and $125 off $500 or more.

Mmmm -- monkey brains haven't looked this good since the banquet scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

That would be thanks to the StyleShoots fashion photography rig that researchers at the Netherlands-based Primate Brain Bank used to capture detailed, perfectly posed images of the grey matter of everything from gorillas to tiny lemurs.

I’m going to open a can of worms today. I’ve been getting more and more emails from people telling me the same story that goes like this:

I’ve got this lens. It’s awful. I’ve sent it in for adjustment and the service center tells me it’s ‘in spec’ and nothing is wrong with it. Am I crazy?

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.

After a couple of teasers from Canon Korea and Canon Japan, the promised ‘white kiss’ …

The last time we wrote about the Nikkor 2000mm f/11 C Reflex lens was in 2010 when a working version of the behemoth was up on eBay for the not-so-affordable price of $19,950. Given that information, how much would you pay for a broken, beat-up version of the same lens 3 years later? Well, someone on eBay thinks it's worth $25K.

"Here, boy! Go fetch the camera! Good dog!" Such conversations could become commonplace as panoramic camera balls threaten to become the next offbeat photography meme. Squito appeared on the scene in July, Bubl Technology is already well on its way to producing the Bublcam, and now comes the Panono, which launched its Indiegogo fundraising campaign today.

The very first GoPro was sold by company founder and CEO Nick Woodman out of his van all the way back in 2004, and it took 35mm film. Fast forward 9 years and now Woodman is a billionaire whose creation is officially the best-selling camera in the entire world.

At the end of last week, Canon Korea teased a new camera in an ad that showed what seemed to be a DSLR hidden behind a semi-see through sheet. Now, adding fuel to the fire (albeit a small fire) that the Korean branch of the company started, Canon Japan has released a teaser video (embedded below) about the same camera.

Just when we thought we were done with all the teasers, it looks like Canon is picking up where Nikon left off. To be fair, the teaser released by Canon Korea today is an ad, not a video. And chances are there won't be another ad every other day until the camera comes out... but who knows.

Either way, we have another camera to anticipate, and Canon is teasing this one with the words, "Canon will start from the white world."

Way back when, I wrote about the dust problems we were seeing in Nikon D600 cameras. There was enough of a furor about it that when the Nikon D610 was released I assumed that the dust problem would be fixed. But I’m rather the paranoid type, and I never like assumptions, so as soon as the first D610s were delivered I thought it worthwhile to just double-check that assumption.

Here's a little gear porn to keep your G.A.S. revving this Thursday. Japanese lens manufacturer Tamron has officially announced that it is working on a 150-600mm f/5-6.3 ultra-telephoto zoom lens that will replace the company's current 200-500mm lens and become the longest focal length zoom in its lineup.

Sometimes, taking a straight-on photograph is exactly what the situation calls for. But what about those moments when you want a more complete view? What happens when you want to capture everything around you, all at once, in a snapshot or video that is as interactive as Google's Street View? Well, that's when you reach for the Bublcam.

In an insightful essay about the "graying" of photography, Kirk Tuck opines about seeing 50-year old men proudly displaying their huge DSLRs while hanging out at the counters at the Photo Plus Expo in New York last month. The generation that obsessed over pristine primes, low noise and 16×20 prints has been supplanted by a gaggle of Snapchatting millennials for whom photography is no different than a text conversation.

It's been a good few weeks for revolutions in photography. First, Sony broke ground on affordable full-frame mirrorless cameras with the a7 and a7R, and now Profoto has up and changed the lighting game by releasing the B1 Off-Camera Flash: a powerful cordless monolight with TTL metering capabilities.

If versatility is the name of the game, then the Lollipod is doing its best to win that game. A new product currently making the press rounds, the Lollipod combines the functionality of a tripod, monopod, boom, lighting stand and selfie stand into an extremely portable and easy-to-use package that will come in handy in a slew of different situations.

First comes hype, then comes the announcement, and last comes the post-release marketing. In regards to the Nikon Df, we've officially moved into the last of those three steps, and right on cue, Nikon has released three videos of big time photographers endorsing the Df by talking about their experiences shooting with it.

The time has finally arrived to do away with terms like "rumored," "soon-to-be-announced" and "expected" and replace them with the term "official" where the Nikon Df is concerned. After leaks so severe earlier today that they left nothing to the imagination, Nikon has finally unveiled its retro-styled full-frame 'Pure Photography' machine.

It looks like Amazon made a major goof and accidentally (or maybe not) published the Nikon Df sales page momentarily before taking it back down again. In addition to confirming the specs we already expected were coming, the page also let the cat out of the bag in regards to how much the Df will cost... as it turns out, it's an expensive cat.

If the Nikon "Pure Photography" teaser videos left you wanting a lot more in terms of info or pictures of the upcoming Nikon DF retro full-frame, you're in luck. Less than 24 hours before we expect the camera to finally make its official debut, several press pics of the shooter have leaked.

Alright, last but not least of the posts meant to convince you that I went to Nashville for photographic reasons and not because Sony paid for me to go hang gliding, I present to you: the sample images taken with the new Sony RX10.

The Sony RX10 was in shorter supply than the other two cameras during my time with Sony in Nashville, so getting my hands on it was a little bit more challenging. But get my hands on it I did, and even though I spent less time shooting with it than I would have liked, what I found was a camera that really blew away whatever expectations I had.

The last Nikon DF (if it is indeed called that) teaser is out and ready for you to take a look, but honestly, there's not much left to see. The 4th and 5th teasers gave us our best look at the upcoming camera, and so you would think the 6th would be all but a reveal.

Rather, Nikon seems to have moved in the opposite direction by recapping the old teasers, showing nothing new, and letting us all sweat it out for the next two days while we wait to see if the official announcement can live up to all this hype.

Over the course of my week in Nashville, I got to try out both of Sony's new full-frame mirrorless cameras. And so, here is the promised sample image gallery, broken up into categories of photos taken with the a7, the a7R and the a7R with the E-Mount 24mm f/1.8 APS-C lens.

This last week, I had the great pleasure of joining many of my fellow writers from other major photo and tech news outlets for a week of fun and photography with Sony in Nashville, TN. Basically, the event gave us all a chance to test out the new mirrorless full-frame a7 and a7R cameras (as well as the RX10, which I'll hit on in another post) in a variety of situations, with Sony artisans and engineers on hand to answer all of our questions.

When Sigma announced a new version of the much loved 120-300 f/2.8 I immediately kicked myself for buying a much pricier 300mm Nikon about 6 months earlier. The reasons why may not be readily apparent, but we'll get to that. First let's discuss the aesthetics and specs.

From the Dept. of "I Wonder What Will Happen If I Shove This Into There" Research comes news of handy substitute for a dedicated remote camera trigger.