Equipment

It appears that Nokia's upcoming 41-megapixel smartphone (codenamed "EOS") will carry the name "Lumia 1020." This latest leak comes packaged with an even more interesting leak: new photos captured with the phone itself.

A couple of days ago, we shared a great little DIY project by Phoenix-based photographer Dan Tabár. Since he sometimes has to shoot on quiet soundstages where camera noise is not an option, he created a makeshift sound blimp for his Nikon D800 for only about $80 -- a professional sound blimp would have run him closer to $1,000.

As it turns out however, his DIY creation has another function. As you can see from the test video above, it doubles as a poor man's underwater housing!

As camera film companies continue to shutter flagging film lines in order to focus on their most profitable wares, it's not uncommon for analog photographers to build up personal stockpiles of film and store them in a freezer (or two) to use in the future.

It is unusual, however, for one photographer to pay the price of a small house for a stockpile that requires a walk-in freezer to store -- and that's exactly what one recently did.

When the first Capture Camera Clip went to Kickstarter in 2011, it absolutely blew away its funding goal. Creator Peter Dering needed $10,000; he wound up raising almost $365,000! The last two years have been very kind to the versatile camera clip that allows you to securely hook your DSLR just about anywhere on your person, but along with the success have come many suggestions for possible improvement.

So, like any good designer, Dering is taking another stab at it: attempting the same idea, only this time with "brilliant execution." The v2 is a redesigned, sleeker, better version of the first Capture system, with a bunch of new functionality built in.

Canon has officially announced the 70D, the company's latest mid-range DSLR for serious photography enthusiasts. It's a successor to the 60D that packs some major improvements in how autofocusing is done.

As the Canon EOS 60D gets ready to make way for its big brother at an announcement expected later tonight, more info is leaking about the soon-to-be official 70D. In addition to the whole list of leaked specs and pictures from last week, we're now hearing that the camera will set "a new benchmark" when it comes to ISO performance.

So far, the partnership between Hasselblad and Sony hasn't been as enriching as both companies might have hoped for. Hasselblad's Lunar mirrorless camera was met with less-than-favorable reviews once people realized it was basically a re-branded Sony NEX-7 with a massive price tag.

But have no fear, the companies haven't stopped working together yet. In fact, if recent Hasselblad job listings are to be trusted, the company has three new cameras in the works.

Street photographer and Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley Richard Koci Hernandez (known best as just Koci) lucked out when he won Google's #ifihadglass contest and earned the right to purchase (that's right, they didn't give them to him for free) a Google Glass pair and become a "Glass Explorer."

We also lucked out, because Koci has been able to do what many Glass Explorers can't: give us a street photographer's perspective on the revolutionary product that may one day do to smartphones what smartphones did to point-and-shoot cameras.

Canon will soon be announcing a 70D to replace the 60D in its mid-level lineup, and we have a pretty darn good idea of what that camera will be like. An advertisement for the camera has leaked onto the web, revealing just a couple of photos but a whole list of specs and features.

The "best pocket camera of all time" now has a successor. Sony today announced the RX100 Mark II, the followup to its highly-acclaimed RX100 premium compact camera.

Sony now has two full frame compact cameras in its lineup---kinda. The company today announced the RX1R, a souped up (or perhaps stripped down?) version of the RX1 that shoots sharper photographs by ditching the anti-aliasing filter in front of the sensor. Aside from the lack of an AA filter, the RX1R and its sibling are virtually identical cameras.

Sony is scheduled to announce followups to the RX 1 and RX200 tomorrow, but photos of the cameras have already begun appearing on the web.

If you're a owner of a Fujifilm X-Pro1 or X-E1 and have been dying to see focus peaking brought to your camera, today's your lucky day. Fujifilm has announced a new set of upcoming firmware updates for those two cameras, and focus peaking is front and center as one of the big new features introduced.

Fujifilm's newest creation, the X-M1, was outed last week when photos of the entry-level X-Series interchangeable lens camera (ILC) leaked onto the web. But while the photos did reveal that the camera would pack a serious punch in a tiny package (in large part due to the lack of a built-in viewfinder), many of the camera's specs and features were still unknown.

Well, the day has arrived for Fuji to make the camera official, and along with some high-res press images, we're also getting a full breakdown of specs, pricing and an expected release date.

If Optimus Prime ever decided to retire from saving Earth and take up photography as a hobby, this is one camera he might consider using. Called the Hyper Suprime-Cam, it's a 870-megapixel ultra-wide-field camera that stands 3 meters (~10 feet) high and weighs in at 3 tons. The comparison illustration above shows what the camera looks like next to a 5.2-foot-tall girl.

I’ve done it. I’ve switched over from a DSLR to a compact camera -- the Fujifilm X100. Well, technically, that’s not true since I didn’t really consider myself a DSLR user to begin with, but regardless of that, my main (and only) digital camera is now an X100. Here are my impressions after three weeks with the camera.

Shoot with Nikon DSLR gear and want to give your lens a paint job? Instead of doing it yourself---which, by the way, can produce some neat results---you can send your lens over to the Nikon Repair Center in Taiwan. In addition to fixing up damaged lenses--sometimes by boiling the parts in water---the center can also give your lens a sleek, white paint job.

Fujifilm's upcoming "entry-level" X-M1 X Series mirrorless camera was outed today after photographs of the camera were leaked onto the Web. We now know what the camera will look like, but many of the camera's specs and features are still unknown. The size and weight of the camera haven't been revealed yet, but it's actually possible to determine the relative size of the camera to other X Series mirrorless cameras using just the leaked photos.

When The Impossible Project announced its Impossible Instant Lab back in September 2012, it turned to Kickstarter to raise $250,000 to fund the project. After the Internet got wind of the smartphone-to-instant-photo printing device, the fundraising campaign blew past its goal and ended up with a total of $559,232 from 2,509 supporters.

Today the company announced that the Impossible Instant Lab will be hitting store shelves on August 29th, 2013 for a retail price of $299.

Rumors emerged last month that Fujifilm would be announcing an entry-level X Series mirrorless camera this summer. Looks like those rumors were spot on.

Photographs of an upcoming Fujifilm X-M1 mirrorless camera leaked today, showing a sleek and minimalist camera that looks like a stripped down version of existing X Series cameras.

Samsung today officially announced its new Galaxy NX mirrorless camera, the Android-powered mirrorless camera that leaked onto the web one week ago. The Galaxy NX is the world's first interchangeable lens camera that features 3G and 4G wireless connectivity.

Lytro has today taken their light field camera to the next step with the release of a new application for iOS, eliminating the need for users to connect the device to a PC or Mac computer to sync and manipulate photos.

Earlier this month, Canon announced that there's a firmware update for the Canon EOS M on the way that will boost the mirrorless camera's sluggish autofocusing speeds by up to 2.3x. Given that AF slowness is one of the biggest gripes EOS M owners have with the camera, the news was likely music to many a EO M owner's ear.

If you want to see what this 2.3x looks like in real life, Korean photographer Daero Lee has published a number of comparison videos showing updated and non-updated EOS Ms focusing on things.

Under development in the Ishikawa Oku Lab at the University of Tokyo is a dynamic target tracking camera capable of keeping fast-moving objects centered in frame.

Many of us know that feeling. That gut punch of shock and denial as we watch our camera fall from our grip or swing to the earth from an unsecured tripod. We've watched as it impacted with the ground with a hard thud or bounced amongst the rocks collecting more damage with every tumble as it travels farther away from the safety of your hands.

Light meters are less common now than they used to be. Now that we can see our photos right after we've shot them and delete, adjust settings and re-shoot, some people just don't see the merit in spending $300+ on a professional meter.

Of course, a light meter can be an amazing tool, and so the folks at Lumu Labs have designed one they're calling "the light meter of the 21st century": a tiny, iPhone attachable light meter that claims to perform far outside its price range.

Rumors of a high-megapixel Canon DSLR have been floating around for quite some time now, but the photo above might be the first time a photograph of the actual camera has leaked onto the Web.

How should I describe the Leica X Vario? It's as if Leica engineers met at the cafeteria and decided Fuji wasn’t kicking their a** hard enough with the X100/X100s. “Hey, let’s challenge the Fuji XE-1 with a new camera. We will up the ante this time… let’s be double the price of Fuji, AND we will not have interchangeable lens!” Guffaws exploded across the cafeteria as the engineers outlined more specifications to make life living hell for the Leica sales team.

Electronic autofocus and aperture control are new features introduced by Zeiss' new Touit lenses into the company's consumer lens lineup. After the lenses were announced, I couldn’t wait to take a look inside and see how things were put together.

Rumors emerged earlier this week that Sony is planning to announce a followup to its popular RX100 large sensor compact camera by the end of this month. Those rumors got a huge boost in credibility today after pages from the camera's Japanese instruction manual were leaked onto the web.

Sigma shook up the camera world back in April by announcing its new 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM lens -- the world's first zoom lens with a fixed maximum aperture of f/1.8. It turns out the revolutionary lens will have a revolutionary price tag as well: the company announced today that the lens will cost just $799.

We reported earlier today that Samsung's CEO recently said that his company's next "mirrorless" camera would be Android-powered, but that it wasn't clear whether it would actually be an interchangeable lens NX mirrorless camera or simply a point-and-shoot. Turns out it's the former.

Photographs of an upcoming Samsung Galaxy NX leaked onto the web today, confirming that Samsung will soon be launching an Android-powered mirrorless camera.

Pinhole cameras can be easily and cheaply made using things you have lying around the house... or you can go to the opposite end of the spectrum and fashion yourself a highly intricate pinhole camera. That's what Korean photographer Kwanghun Hyun did with his Heartbeat cameras. The two cameras created so far feature one crazy design choice: they use intricate watch movements as their internal timing mechanisms.

How would you like to bring your cell phone with you into the pool this summer to capture pictures of your precious family moments? You needn't stuff your iPhone in a plastic sandwich bag, because today, AT&T has announced the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active.

You may have seen built-it-yourself 35mm pinhole cameras before, but have you ever seen a DIY SLR? Lomography today announced the Konstruktor, a camera it calls "the world's first 35mm do-it-yourself" SLR camera. If you loved building model airplanes as a kid, this is one camera kit you're going to love.

Pentax had a big announcement day today, unleashing three new cameras on the world of photography. The K-50 and K-500 are new mid- and entry-level DSLRs (respectively), and the Q7 is a new mirrorless camera that carries on the pint-sized tradition started by the Pentax Q back in 2011.

Have you ever wondered why the professional photography industry is dominated by cameras that carry on the design tradition that was started by classic film SLRs?

It is probably safe to say that the rumors of an alternate Samsung Galaxy S4 with an improved camera can be given the "true!" stamp of approval. The company has announced the Galaxy S4 Zoom, a smartphone sporting a high-resolution image sensor and optical zoom.

After teasing a mysterious "Mini M" camera on its website since mid-May, Leica today finally announced the camera behind the codename. It's the Leica X Vario, a large sensor compact camera that "contains the DNA of the Leica M" rangefinder.

Living in a tourist town like San Francisco, I have frequent opportunities to observe how people use their cameras. Inevitably, these lead to "Why, oh why?" moments in which advanced technology collides with general cluelessness.

As Apple's WWDC kicks off this week, my thoughts keep coming back to the heated debate with my friends about the future of photography.

Let me step back for a second. Marissa Mayer famously said a few weeks ago that there’s no such thing as professional photographer anymore. The Internet rage followed, and she apologized, saying that what she meant is that we all take photos now. And it’s true. Nothing has revolutionized photography and made it truly global as Apple’s iPhone.

“Commerce makes progress. Fortune passes everywhere.” – Frank Herbert

A few years ago I was accused of being a Sigma hater. (For the record, I did hate their quality control and so-called repair service at that time, and I didn’t hesitate to say so.) For the third or fourth time in the last year, I’m about to be accused of being a Sigma fanboy.

A mysterious tech blog called Vizileaks appeared on the web yesterday and stirred up some excitement in the tech world by claiming to have gotten its hands on a Nokia "EOS" smartphone. The site's "hands-on mini review" of the device features a number of photos and one video (shown above) that shows that the device features a mechanical shutter.

Phoenix-based photographer Dan Tabár sometimes shoots on sound stages, sets, and quiet studios -- locations where a loud camera would either cause problems or cause angry glares and murderous thoughts. Needing a way to surpress the shutter sound of his Nikon D800 -- he says the "quiet mode is a joke" -- Tabár decided to create his own DIY sound blimp.

There was a great deal of excitement when Canon entered the mirrorless camera market with the EOS M last year, but much of the buzz evaporated when people began putting the camera through its paces. Although the camera features impressive image quality, one of the biggest issues is the sluggish autofocus that often gets in the way of capturing "decisive moments."

If you're the not-so-proud owner of a EOS M who constantly grumbles about the AF, here's some news that'll be music to your ears: your camera is set to receive a major AF speed boost by way of a firmware update.

Check out this photo of a gigantic Canon 9.3-930mm broadcast lens mounted to a tiny Panasonic GH2 mirrorless camera. The size difference is so great that it might be more accurate to say that the camera is mounted to the lens.

When the Canon 50D camera made its debut in August 2008, video capture wasn't one of the listed features available to buyers. Today, that's a different story, thanks to the Magic Lantern RAW hack that has brought video recording to the now 5-year-old camera.

Leaked images from GSM Arena and a Twitter user of what could very well be Nokia's next flagship mobile phone reveal yet another camera-centric device with a high-capacity sensor.

That device, the Nokia EOS, is purportedly sporting a PureView image sensor, xenon flash unit, and Carl Zeiss optics.

Canon has today announced to the masses the an 11-22mm f/4-5.6 IS STM lens, expanding the company's EF-M lens line with an ultra-wide barrel of glass fit for the EOS-M mirrorless compact system camera.

Perhaps Leica isn't spreading false rumors through a strange marketing campaign after all. Earlier this week, we wrote that Leica may have been leaking fake photos and specs of its upcoming Leica "M Mini" camera in order to make the real thing seem more attractive once it appears. That no longer appears to be the case.

Multiple sites are now reporting that those initial leaks and rumors were indeed true, and that the camera will officially be called the Leica X Vario Type 107.