If you're here to read about the Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8 for the Fujifilm X-mount, you've probably heard words like "great", "amazing", "superb", "lovely" and "well damped" used to describe this lens. It's wider then the Fuji 14mm and maybe, just maybe, as sharp as the Fuji 35mm. These too are all things others will say about this lens. The jury, however, is still out for this guy.
It wasn't very long ago that Leica began teasing its Mini M camera on the homepage of their website. Purported leaks of Mini M began to surface, including photographs and specifications.
Slowly but surely, the black box labeled "Mini M" on the Leica website began to open up as the rumors continued to flow through the blogosphere. Some sources had confirmed that the rumors and images were, in actuality, the real deal. Others, on the other hand, were convinced the leaked images and specs were fakes.
Just a few days old, a new Kickstarter project called "Spinpod" is aiming to improve your panoramic photos and videos through the use of a spinning pod designed for smaller cameras such as smartphones, GoPros and so forth.
I was cleaning out my gear drawer recently when I came across a couple of holders for Cokin filters. The filters had long since been sent to an eBay afterlife, but tossing the cases started me thinking, mainly about how I hadn't missed the things a bit.
This one is a little hard to interpret, but a recently published patent application from Nikon seems to pave the way for a new lens mount.
If camera manufacturers were high school boys, building super telephoto zooms would be their equivalent of a pissing contest to see who can shoot the farthest or most accurately. Sports photographers would arrive at the stadium packing the biggest lens to win bragging rights, acting like Arnold Schwarzenegger slinging his Gatling gun in Terminator. But Canon’s super telephoto zoom, the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, is getting long in the tooth, and it’s time to say, “hasta la vista, baby” to that lens.
Eye-Fi has offered the ability to wirelessly transmits photos from a camera to another device for quite a while now, but there was a downside: you were required to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot to do so (with the exception of the Eye-Fi X2). This presented a challenge to photographers shooting on location where a Wi-Fi hotspot may not have been readily available.
Eye-Fi has come forth with their new "Eye-Fi Mobi" product, which streamlines the process of sending images to a mobile device.
For some filmmakers, the arrival of the Magic Lantern RAW video recording ability has become a godsend. With increased sharpness and a remarkable improvement in dynamic range, it's quickly become a much talked about topic.
But how does the RAW footage fare when it comes to bumping up ISO in those low-light situations?
The first fruits of Kodak's partnership with JK Imaging are starting to emerge. Chinese camera site DCFever has published some photographs of the Kodak S1, a new Micro Four Thirds camera that was announced at the beginning of the year.
There's something to be said about lens manufacturing. You could even go so far as to say it, in itself, is an art form, with the hands of skilled and methodical workers ever-so-delicately assembling the glass we use to take photos.
Speaking of lens manufacturing, Carl Zeiss Lenses has just posted an short, yet interesting, video behind the manufacturing process of their Touit lens line (for what it's worth, the video is also available in 3D, if you need an added dimension to your viewing experience). These lenses come as 12mm f/2.8 or 32mm f/1.8, and are available for both E-mount and X-mount cameras starting in June.
When I first began looking at the new Sigma 35mm f/1.4, I made judgements about its quality. "It's plastic, yuck." "I bet that focus control feels like a rusty zipper." "The AF selector switch will tick me off." "It won't match the speed of my Nikon's and my focusing tendencies." My preconceived notions were that I was set for a so-so experience.
If you find that the flash on your mobile phone simply isn't cutting it anymore, take a look at The Kick Light? Described as "a super customizable light studio that fits in your pocket" the Kick Light is a panel of LED lights that can attach to your iPhone (or be used separately), and can apparently display any color in a brightness of a user's choice.
Olympus is slated to begin developing and supplying Sony with lens parts and lens units in the near future as part of what has been called a "mutual parts supply". The news comes months following a formed alliance between the two companies in September 2012.
"The imaging sensor has already started to source from Sony to Olympus. And the lens [parts] and lens units will start to source from Olympus to Sony," said an Olympus Japan spokesperson in a recent statement.
Let’s take a moment to reflect on mirrors. Mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, like the Olympus Pen E-P5 or Samsung NX300, have enjoyed increasing popularity over the past few years, and it’s become clear that they are more than a passing fad.
This motley collection of high-tech cameras filled the gap that existed between bulky DSLRs and compact cameras, but manufacturers are now starting to expand their mirrorless lineups in hopes of attracting a wider cross-section of photographers, including professionals.
This is the first leaked photograph of Leica's upcoming Mini M -- a camera that the German company first started teasing on its website last week.
Next time a significant other bugs you about how much you spend on photo gear, remind them how much worse it could be if you were into vintage kit.
Such as the 1931 Leica IIIa shown above, owned by the great Alfred Eisenstaedt and used to shoot everything from his iconic V-J Day image of a sailor kissing a girl in Times Square to a portrait session with President Bill Clinton. The camera sold at Vienna auction house last weekend for 114,000 Euros, equivalent to $147,117.
The recent announcement from Olympus that it's dropping out of the compact camera market started us thinking: Why is anyone bothering to make those things anymore?
High-end DSLRs by major camera manufacturers are made to be durable. After all, photographers find themselves in all kinds of environments documenting all kinds of subjects, so their cameras need to have serious protection against accidents and the elements.
Ruggedness is often a characteristic that's touted in new camera announcements, but exactly how rugged are flagship DSLRs? French Nikon photographer site Pixelistes recently decided to find out by torture testing a Nikon D3s.
Remember that 50-gigapixel camera being developed by Duke University scientists? Since we reported on the project last year, researchers have created a spin-off company called Aqueti for bringing the technology "into the world for everyone to experience." The camera they've developed will soon be making public tours, and we're starting to get a peek at what it's capable of.
What's cooler than a multi-cell pinhole camera? How about a multi-cell pinhole camera upgraded to a lensed version? That's exactly what James Guerin has put together as a follow-up to a previous lens-less camera experiment.
The iPad mini and the Mac mini. Those are two "minified" products Apple has released to give its customers a choice for products that are cheaper and more portable. It appears Leica is planning to take a page from Apple's playbook.
The camera company's website has begun teasing a new Leica Mini M, a camera that will presumably be a smaller (and possibly cheaper) version of the Leica M flagship digital rangefinder.
Want to see what the camera arsenal of a world famous photographer looks like? A photographer whose work fetches millions of dollars at auction?
Check out the photograph above (larger version here). It was shot by photographer William Eggleston for WSJ Magazine, and shows just a portion of Eggleston's extensive camera collection.
Here's an interesting concept! Jiho Jang, a student, has come up with Polaroid-like instant camera, dubbed GIFTY, that captures short clips and prints them out. According to Jang, it was put together as part of his college thesis.
Wait -- printing out a video? What's next? A GIF with sound? The concept involves first capturing a small clip (the camera prototype includes a timer). Thereafter, the camera will print each frame, at which point in time you can tear each frame apart to create the flip-book. By the looks of it, the concept includes a page holder of some sort, so you don't easily lose frames. So there you have it, a GIF on-the-go. Sound not included.
It's one of a photographer's worst fears: dropping your DSLR. Especially for the amateur who may not have a backup, knowing that your camera can withstand a beating has led to some interesting videos in the past.
Last Friday, we shared a video that compared the burst mode shutter speeds and sounds of various Canon DSLRs, and lest Nikon fanboys think we're biased towards one brand or another, here's a similar video by YouTube user bauercti that does the same thing for several of the camera's in Nikon's lineup.
This is a “first look” preview of a pre-production unit of the Ricoh GR, which I have been fortunate enough to get my hands on -- for a day. My time with it is limited to the half-day of shooting I had, and I am only sharing my initial impressions of it.
The images are selected to demonstrate the fast response of the Ricoh GR, and not the noise performance because it will not be fair to make any judgment based on a pre-production unit. Most of the images are in monochrome because I prefer black-and-white in street photography. None of the images have been cropped, to demonstrate the focal length effect of the Ricoh GR.
A few weeks ago, we reported that Sony may be in the process of dropping its unique pellicle mirror SLT technology. The rumor claimed that the company would be saying goodbye to the translucent mirror in favor a fully mirrorless A-Mount line. Well, if patents are to be trusted, that rumor has been confirmed just as another exciting Sony rumor hits the mill.
Back in January 2013, lens adapter company Metabones rocked the camera world by announcing the Speed Booster, an SLR-to-mirrorless lens adapter that can magically increase your maximum aperture, sharpness, and angle of view.
So far the adapter has been released for Sony NEX and Fuji X cameras, but greater things are on the horizon: Metabones will be releasing the Speed Booster for Micro Four Thirds cameras as well.
Canon's DSLRs come with a variety of continuous shooting speeds, ranging from 2.5 frames per second on the 300D (AKA Digital Rebel/Kiss Digital) to a whopping 14 frames per second on the high-end 1D-X. If you want to get a taste of what these shutter speeds sound like on the actual cameras, check out the comparison video above by YouTube user dochero2005.
Slovenian industrial designer Elvis Halilović, who dubs himself "a passionate lensless photographer" is aiming to bring several sleek-looking wooden pinhole cameras to the masses through a Kickstarter project that has already exceeded its financial goal by over $20,000.
After two years of testing, renting, buying and selling just about every level of Nikon and Canon lenses and cameras, I have learned quite a bit about what works and what doesn’t. Pretty much you can’t go wrong with Canon or Nikon, and just about everything they make is top notch.
Here's a question I get asked about 15 times a week: “How can I get the dust out of my lens?” The right answer is you don’t. All lenses have dust in them and it doesn’t affect the images at all 99% of the time. Even if you clean it all out, it will be back after you use the lens a few times.
Want to see how the prices of various compact and mirrorless cameras stack up against each other? 1001 Noisy Cameras created this handy chart showing the prices of RAW-capable compact cameras on the market.
Nikon 1 photographers have a decent selection of eight lenses for their mirrorless camera, and now we can add one more choice to that list: the super-fast medium-telephoto 32mm f/1.2. The lens was announced earlier today, and promises "Superior Resolution and Incredible Depth of Field" for Nikon 1 shooters.
Hasselblad's luxury Lunar mirrorless camera is set to arrive in June 2013, but hands-on reviews of the camera are slowly trickling onto the Web. Photography blogger genotypewriter managed to get his hands on a Lunar recently, and published a short article sharing his thoughts.
Canon today officially announced its new 200-400mm f/4L IS 1.4x extender lens. No, that's not two products mistakenly smashed into one name -- the lens features a built-in 1.4x extender that can be activated with the flip of a switch.
Waterproofing is one specialization that compact cameras have had that smartphones (and their cameras) haven't, but that's about to change. Sony has launched a new phone called the Xperia ZR that will help smartphones further erode the point-and-shoot market by opening the door to underwater smartphone photography.
Want to play around with lens filters that add splashes of color to your photographs? Stanford design students Olivia Vagelos and Martin Bush want to help you out. They've designed a new line of color-splashed lens filters that can transform "the feel" of your photos.
Last Friday, Nokia launched its new Lumia 928 smartphone that has a strong emphasis on photography. The device features PureView technology, optical image stabilization, a Carl Zeiss lens, and a xenon flash.
It was exciting news for photo-lovin' Nokia fans, but sit tight: there's more to come. Nokia will reportedly have a major launch event tomorrow to unveil a phone that has some serious photography chops.
Thanks to the prevalence of digital photography and the fact that camera stores seem to be closing left and right, it can be hard enough to find film in the first place these days. But if you shoot with ultra large or specialty format films, your job is even more difficult. Thankfully, Ilford is here to help.
Harman technologies Inc. -- the folks behind the manufacture of Ilford film -- are opening their annual window during which photographers can order as much custom-manufactured specialty film as their hearts desire.
For those of you that were disappointed when you saw the price of Olympus' newly-announced E-P5 earlier, the company has another camera up its sleeve to help ease the pain. Although it's only been given a release date in Japan -- lending credence to rumors that it may never sell anywhere else -- the much rumored and leaked Olympus PEN Lite E-PL6 has also arrived.
After weeks of rumors and leaks, Olympus' new PEN E-P5 finally became official today. It's the company's new flagship Micro Four Thirds PEN mirrorless camera, and features both retro styling on the outside and powerful specs on the inside.
You've probably heard of cameras that can detect wavelengths of light that human eyes can't, and also cameras that can detect heat in a scene, but have you ever heard of one that can capture sound? That's right: scientists at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have created a portable sound camera that's sensitive to sound waves.
Want to see how old film single-lens reflex cameras were put together? Clare (Wyoh on Tumblr) recently found a number of camera schematics inside an old French magazine from decades ago. The schematics show exploded views of the Nikon F, Nikon F2, Nikon FM, and Nikon FA SLRs. Each camera is shown in its most basic parts, which are numbered and labeled (in French).
Think subject tracking in camera is impressive? Future Canon digital cameras may have image stabilization systems that can track stars. At least, that's what a recently published Canon patent seems to suggest. The company may also be working on technology that can produce higher resolution photographs by shifting the camera sensor.
Want to shoot insanely cool Matrix-style "bullet time" footage at home? You can do so with a single rig built out of relatively cheap components.
NASA spaceship engineer Mark Rober came up with a brilliant way to shoot eye-popping imagery using just a GoPro camera and a cheap ceiling fan.
Dublin, Ireland-based photographer Maciej Pietuszynski was doing a bit of spring cleaning recently when he decided to upgrade a plastic box he has been using to carry his camera and flash unit. His idea was to give the box an extra job as a makeshift softbox in addition to its storage/transportation/protection duties.
Taking all of your photography gear on the road with you can be a burden, not to mention risky. But even if you don't want to break your back carrying it all or risk having it stolen, your options are limited. Not all cities have shops that rent out gear, and smaller shops may not have the gear you want and/or need.
Thankfully, there's a new peer-to-peer solution in town that should greatly increase your odds of finding the gear you need, no matter where you're headed: it's called CameraLends.
Olympus has a major camera announcement day coming this Friday, but the cameras it's planning to unveil--the E-P5 and E-PL6--have been almost fully revealed now. New leaks have revealed the full specs for the E-P5, photos of a fancy "premium" version of the E-P5, and product photos of the E-PL6 (shown above).
If there hasn’t been a Color Run 5k or 10k race near you, there probably will be soon. And with all that color, you certainly want to take some pictures, right? Not with your camera you don’t.