Equipment

Photographers use all kinds of equipment to craft their art, from cameras and lenses to lights and accessories. We cover the latest news and information on the tools of the trade in the photography industry.

First Pictures of Sony’s Groundbreaking Lens Cameras Surface

There's been a lot of doubt surrounding recent rumors that Sony is working on a couple of revolutionary "lens cameras." The smartphone-attachable lenses -- complete with built-in sensor and processor -- seemed far-fetched to some, but now that we have our first leaked images, any remaining doubts should start melting away.

Minox Riga: A Subminiature Spy Camera from the 1930s

In 1938, after many prototypes, the first 8x11mm subminiature camera was brought to market by German inventor Walter Zapp. It was called the Minox Riga, and the tiny camera actually saw espionage action in both WWII and the Cold War.

Building a DIY Barn Door Tracking Mount for Long-Exposure Astrophotography

Getting quality astrophotography shots comes with several challenges, and one of the main ones is that the starts don't stand still -- or, more accurately, we don't. Since the Earth enjoys spinning on its axis once every 24-hours or so, exposures in excess of about 1 second begin producing star trails unless you have the camera or telescope on some sort of tracking mount.

Fortunately, if you don't have the money to purchase a $1,000+ equatorial mount but still want to take long-exposure astrophotography, the DIY barn door tracking mount above will enable you to do so on the (relatively) cheap.

Andy Warhol’s 1986 SX-70 Polaroid Land Camera Selling on eBay for $50,000

Iconic artist Andy Warhol is a legend in the arts community. The Andy Warhol Museum -- which contains a massive archive of his creations -- is actually the largest US museum dedicated to a single artist.

But one thing the museum doesn't have that you could -- assuming you have about $50K in spare change hidden under you couch cushions -- is Andy Warhol's personal SX-70 Polaroid Land Camera.

Nikon Unveils 18-140mm Lens, Speedlite, and Superzoom in One Fell Swoop

There's nothing like the smell of fresh press release in the morning, and earlier today, Nikon decided to send two our way. The releases contain info about three new products that Nikon is announcing all at the same time: a new DX format lens, a small speedlight, and a 14x superzoom compact camera.

A Review of the Hasselblad Stellar

From the moment of its announcement, Hasselblad's Stellar camera's purpose has been controlling the damage done by the same company's Lunar crash landing. The latter camera is (was?) a ridiculous thing as noted in my Hasselblad Lunar review.

In addition to catching up on Hasselblad's lost dignity, the Stellar also needs to introduce as little damage as possible. After all, the Sony RX100 camera that the Stellar is based on was already discontinued at the time the Stellar was launched, but the latter's price is almost $2000 (~€1500). That is more than 2.5X the price of the RX100 successor, the RX100 II.

10 Quirky Camera Designs from Digital Photography’s Past

Camera makers narrowed the point-and-shoot market down to a couple of basic designs some years ago, and ever since it's been one variation after another on slim-and-silver or megazoom brawn. But oh, back in the day...

There was room for experimentation, as shown by these inventive camera designs that turned heads at the time but never quite became industry reference points.

A Tour of the Hardware Found in Modern Smartphone Cameras

Want to take better photographs using your mobile phone camera? It helps to know what you are working with. I'll assume you already know the basics for all kinds of photography (composition, exposure, focus and DOF, shutter speed, aperture, et cetera).

Once these are set, its time to get to know your equipment, and using that knowledge to your advantage.

LightRight Combines an LED Panel with a Flash Diffuser for Video and Portraits

Are you sick and tired of switching between a video LED light and flash? Folks, it just may be that LightRight is the product for you.

Designed by ColorRight (a family owned business that specializes in lighting for photographers and videographers), LightRight is the LED panel and flash diffuser combo you've potentially waited for you're entire life. It's not out yet, but there's an Indiegogo campaign going on right now to get this thing on sale near you.

Hand-Crafted Leather Camera Bags that Won’t Break the Bank

Leather messenger bag-style camera bags don't come cheap. A cursory search on B&H Photo will reveal prices that often run in the $300+ range for something with decent storage space. Fortunately, Etsy seller LeftoverStudio offers a hand-crafted, high-quality alternative that will cost you half as much.

Sigma Announces Conversion Service for Switching Lenses Between Mounts

The rumor was true -- kinda. Sigma today announced a new Mount Conversion Service for its Global Vision line of lenses that will allow photographers to convert their lens lineups to different mounts if they ever decide to change camera brands (e.g. Canon to Nikon and vice versa).

Unlike what was previously rumored, it's not a free service: the conversion will cost you a pretty penny -- just not as much as you'd pay to buy a new copy of the lens.

Nikon F2D: A Homemade Digital Nikon F2 Replica Crafted Out of Wood

When you hear the words "retro camera," you probably think of some kind of silver or black camera crafted decades ago out of solid chunks of metal. But what would a retro camera look like if you kept the design the same but replaced its metal body with wood?

French photo enthusiast Cesar Sebouhian and his father recently decided to find out, and created the gorgeous Nikon "F2D" seen above.

Sigma May Be Building a Groundbreaking 24-70mm f/2 Lens for Full Frame Cameras

Sigma has been on a tear as of late. Since late 2012, the company has put out a highly regarded 35mm f/1.4 lens, a novel USB dock that lets you calibrate lenses at home, and a revolutionary 18-35mm lens with a constant f/1.8 aperture (shown above).

It appears Sigma is only just getting warmed up: new rumors suggest that Sigma may be building a 24-70mm zoom lens for full frame cameras that boasts a constant f/2.0 aperture.

Goodbye to the Days of Point and Shoot

According to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, the market is not looking great for digital cameras. The report states that as the popularity of smartphones has increased, sales of digital cameras have decreased.

Vu Booth Rig Lets You Quickly and Easily Turn Your Gear Into a Photo Booth

It's not uncommon these days for photographers to want to add a photo booth option to their offerings. In the past, we've seen everything from an awesome VW Photo Bus, to a portable battery-powered option, to an Instagram-inspired DIY project.

The Vu Booth is a rig that offers yet another approach. Made up of 4 separate parts, it allows you to put together your SLR, a monitor, tripod and a wireless trigger into a ready-to-use photo booth.

OPPO to Create a Line of Camera-Centric Devices to Rival Samsung’s Galaxy Cam

While smartphones have, especially of late, taken to blurring the lines between camera and phone, "smartcameras" like Samsung's Galaxy Camera flipped the idea on its head by putting a phone's operating system on a camera rather than the other way around.

Since then, Samsung has announced a few other options in the same milieu, (e.g. the Galaxy NX interchangeable lens camera and the 10x optical zoom Galaxy S4 Zoom) with fairly little in way of competition on that front. But Chinese electronics manufacturer OPPO is looking to move in on Samsung's territory.

Product Shots and Specs for Panasonic’s Upcoming GX7 Leaked

Panasonic is having a hard time keeping a lid on its upcoming rangefinder-styled GX7 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera. Just last week, the first images and a list of specs leaked through an online photo magazine, and now we have a full set of specs and product shots to look at.

Sigma Teaser Website Gets the Internet Buzzing with Speculation

It's not uncommon for photography companies to launch strange teaser campaigns that get folks wondering what the company has up its sleeve. In the past, we've seen everything from bags of walnuts to mysteriously worded ads. The latest from Sigma falls into the second category, and has the entire photographic community buzzing with speculation and excitement.

Thanko’s APOLLO2 is a Tiny Camera that Packs a 30x Optical Zoom

We've seen some interesting gimmicky cameras come out of Japan in the past -- from Japanese anime special editions to a donut camera -- but this latest one might come in handy a bit more often. Dubbed the APOLLO2 and created by the company Thanko, it's a compact camera strapped to a whopping 30x telephoto lens.

Hasselblad Quietly Announces the Stellar, an RX100 With an Expensive Makeover

About a week ago, the first images of Hasselblad's upcoming compact camera, the Stellar, leaked onto the Internet amongst rumors that it would essentially be a Sony RX100 with some very exotic housing materials and a much steeper price tag. Basically, people were thinking the RX100 would be to the Stellar what the NEX-7 was to the Lunar.

Images of Panasonic’s Rangefinder-Styled GX7 Leak One Month Early

Earlier this month, we told you that Panasonic was planning to jump onto the retro-style bandwagon sometime in August with the release of its GX7 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera.

At the time we only had a few illustrations and some preliminary specs, but now that we're about a month out from the announcement, some official photos and a more comprehensive spec list have both surfaced.

StrobePack: Wearable Portrait Studio and Cutting-Edge Fashion Statement

You can spot-meter and bounce strobes all you want, but on-location portrait photography can still be a pain the butt. Unless you take your studio lighting rig with you.

Mark Kaplan has devised a novel way to do just that with the StrobePack, a professional-level lighting setup rigged to be worn on the photographer's back.

LensRentals Launches LensAuthority as a Used Gear Outlet

LensRentals is at the height of its popularity and still growing. About a week ago, we shared some stats that more than proved this, showing how a company started by one man and $5,500 dollars in 2006 is now a 42 person operation on track to bring in $13 million this year.

But if you think that LensRentals has reached a point where it is content to rest on its laurels, you would be wrong. The company has just launched a brand new site, LensAuthority, where it will sell off the used gear it is constantly turning over through the main website.

Build Your Own DIY Tripod from Scratch

Are you the type of person who enjoys using things built using your own two hands? 20-year-old Croatian tinkerer CroBuilder is like that too. He recently spent 10 hours in his workshop building a camera tripod from scratch.

Review: Leica M Monochrom is Not Quite a Black and White Decision

“Monochrome is the new color” The world was introduced to color photography when Kodak introduced the revolutionary Kodachrome film in 1935. But fast forward to 2012, Leica decided that “monochrome is the new color”, and wants to turn back the clock with a digital rangefinder that shoots only black-and-white for $7,995. At this point, I can hear you screaming, “That’s the silliest way of spending eight grand!”