Equipment

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".

Lytro is currently the only camera on the market that lets you refocus photographs after they're shot, thanks to its fancy schmancy (and proprietary) light field technology, but it won't be the only one for long. Toshiba is reportedly developing its own Lytro-style camera that will target a different segment of the photography market: smartphone and tablet photographers.

In a recent interview with Quesabesde, Miguel Angel Garcia, the CEO of Olympus Spain, dropped another "official" hint at what the camera company is cooking up to replace the E-5. The subsequent article, which initially said that the camera would be compatible with both Micro Four Thirds and Four Thirds Lenses, has since been reworded to state simply that the replacement for the E-5 will be "capable of harnessing the full potential of Four Thirds lenses."

Remote shutter release cables are extremely simple devices, but they can cost quite a bit if you buy the official accessories sold by major camera manufacturers. Instructables user nk dtk has an awesome makeshift alternative that's dirt cheap: all you'll need is a cable and a can of soda!

The Canon 5D Mark II's illustrious career is coming to an end. The DSLR, which Canon Rumors calls "Quite possibly the most popular and influential DSLR in history," has been added to Canon's official list of discontinued EOS products over in Japan.

We're not sure how many punk rock fans moonlight as photographers (or the other way around), but those who do may find the new CamCuff a tempting camera accessory. It's a fashion accessory wrist cuff that doubles as a camera strap for those of you who aren't big on the neck variety.

We've seen quite a few wired and wireless DSLR controller options in our day -- ranging from the creative DIY variety to the cool but expensive type -- but we've never seen one that looks quite like this. The newly announced K-Circle from LockCircle looks like something Iron Man would use if he were into photography -- assuming he shot Canon, that is.

If you shoot film and aren't much into chemicals (or don’t have a basement in which to keep a gigantic 5×7″ enlarger), you’ll soon find yourself needing a way to import those beautiful pictures you’ve taken onto your computer. What? Why didn’t I say, “you'll need a scanner”? After all, it’s not 1987 anymore -- scanners are as common as toaster ovens.

When it comes to figuring out our car's life expectancy, we've come to expect a little bit of community involvement. Sure, the car company will tell you that your truck is supposed to last X-number of miles, but if the majority of real owners online disagree, we tend to side with them. But why stop at your car? Why not see what users are reporting about your camera's life expectancy?

The mirrorless camera market has been bustling with activity as of late. Rumors have already begun circulating that Canon will be releasing a viewfinder-equipped EOS-M sometime in 2013, Polaroid is working on a Nikon J2 lookalike, and CES is just around the corner, which means many camera makers will be taking the wraps off upgrades to their mirrorless lines.

The latest word from the world of Nikon is still a bit surprising, though: Nikon Rumors is reporting that the camera giant is going to add not one, but two new mirrorless cameras to its Nikon 1 line at CES 2013.

Sony is taking full frame sensors very seriously. A few months ago the company launched the RX1, bringing full frame sensors to fixed-lens compact cameras. Around the same time, a rumor emerged that Sony is working on bringing the same sensor size to its NEX mirrorless cameras. It now looks like a full frame NEX is indeed on the way, to be announced in roughly one year.

Newer weatherproof compact and high-end cameras often feature "freeze-proofing" as one of their attributes, but unless you live in an extremely cold environment (or enjoy sticking your camera inside a freezer), you probably haven't experienced temperatures low enough for even an ordinary camera to break down.

Swiss photographer Alessandro Della Bella has. The photographer above shows what one of his cameras recently looked like during a shoot in extremely low temperatures.

After the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L Mark II was announced at the beginning of this year, many photographers were disappointed that it didn't include Image Stabilization. When October rolled around, there were new rumors that Canon had an IS version of the 24-70mm up its sleeve. The company did, but it wasn't what people were expecting. When the new IS lens was unveiled in November, it was an f/4 lens rather than an f/2.8.

If you're one of the many people who wanted both the convenience of having IS and the benefits of having f/2.8, here's some good news: there is indeed a 24-70mm f/2.8 IS on the way.

Wireless adapters for digital cameras can be very pricey accessories, especially when you're dealing with high-end DSLRs. Manufacturers can squeeze more money out of those who pay thousands for a camera by charging hundreds for an adapter, even though a cheaper one could work just fine. What's more, the adapters are often designed specifically for certain cameras, making them useless if you change models or makes.

The rise of smartphone photography in recent year has been transforming how people think cameras should look and work. Instead of pulling out a single-purpose device that has dedicated controls for picture-making, legions of consumers are now content with pushing a single button (whether physical or digital) in order to preserve a moment in time.

One of the emerging ideas that directly results from this shift is the modular camera. Since smartphones provide all the computing power a camera needs (as well as apps and wireless capabilities), why not simply treat smartphones as a brain, and use lens, sensor, and interface attachments to give the brain a body? That's what Snappgrip is trying to do (the interface thing, at least).

Wet plate photographer Ian Ruhter has received a good deal of attention over the past year for using a custom camera van to create giant collodion process metal photos. When he's not turning large sheets of metal into photographs, he's sometimes working on the opposite side of the spectrum.

One of his recent interests has been shooting pint-sized photos using a Holga toy camera that he converted into a wet plate camera.

Here's a strange leak that has people scratching their heads: photos and specs have emerged that show a soon-to-be-announced interchangeable-lens mirrorless camera by Polaroid. Called the IM1836, the camera will be a Polaroid-branded camera manufactured by Sakar International and will be powered by Android OS.

Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) charts are a very commonly used tool in the photo industry for measuring and describing how sharp a particular lens is. However, it's a system that is largely enigmatic to those outside the realm of optic experts and camera gearheads.

For those of you who don't want to learn how to read MTF charts, camera gear testing service DxOMark has announced a new metric that boils a lens' sharpness down to a single easy-to-understand-and-compare number: the Perceptual Megapixel.

Whoa... Big news on the camera patent scouting front today: Nikon appears to be tinkering with the idea with creating a special 35mm SLR replacement back that would turn a film camera into a digital camera!

Fujifilm made quite a splash in the camera industry when it announced the sleek X100 back in September 2010, but since then the camera's spotlight has been stolen by newer interchangeable-lens followups, namely the X-Pro1 and the X-E1.

When the X100 was discontinued back in July, many expected to see a followup announced at Photokina in September. It wasn't. However, it now appears that the camera will be launched in early 2013, equipped with the same X-Trans sensor technology as its interchangeable-lens siblings.

When travel photographer Craig Pulsifer accidentally smashed the front of his lens recently and found his lens filter fused firmly to the metal threads, he went to Canon for help. The removal process explained to him by a Canon Professional services technician is probably something most people wouldn't think to try: use a hammer and hacksaw to surgically remove the stuck filter. Pulsifer followed the advice, and found that it works quite well (though he does warn that it's "not recommended for the faint of heart").

Film photography has been taking a lot of hits in the business world, but while major manufacturers continue to discontinue film production, one small company is doing the exact opposite. Revolog -- a small online shop founded by photography school graduates Hanna Pribitzer and Michael Krebs in 2010 -- has been finding success by selling handmade specialty film.

And while you may think that specialty film wouldn't be a very lucrative business to enter right about now, get this: yesterday the duo announced the sale of their 10,000th roll of film.

It was about this time last year that the world was introduced to the Holga iPhone case: a strange-looking gizmo complete with a rotary wheel packing 9 separate lo-fi filters for the toy-camera, retro lover in you. Well, much like the Swivl we reported on yesterday, Holga has decided that bigger is better, and is attempting to break into the DSLR market with a new rotary wheel lens for DSLRs.

If you've recently purchased a Nikon D600 at its standard body-only retail price of $2,000, you might want to stop reading this post lest you suddenly find yourself filled with manufacturer-induced buyers remorse. If you're a budget-conscious photographer in the market for a new full-frame DSLR, today might be your lucky day.

Nikon has launched a brand-wide fire sale of the Nikon D600. While the body-only price hasn't changed, retailers around the web are selling the camera with a bundled lens and pricey accessories for the same price as the body itself.

Lytro's groundbreaking consumer light-field camera made a splash in the camera industry this year by making it possible to refocus photographs after they're shot. However, the cheapest model for the boxy device has a price tag of $399, and the reviews have been mixed so far.

If you'd like to play around with your own refocus-able photographs without having to buy an actual Lytro device, you can actually fake it using a standard DSLR camera (or any camera with manual focusing and a large-aperture lens).

Most SLR cameras feature a mirror lock-up mode that allows photographers to eliminate the vibration (and blur) caused by the mirror flapping up and down whenever a shot is snapped. Sony's SLT cameras don't offer this when it comes to the pellicle mirror found inside -- not yet, at least.

A Sony patent filed back in 2009 and published earlier this week shows that the company has been tinkering with the feature. sonyalpharumors is also hearing from a source that it's something the next generation of Sony SLT cameras will offer.

Astrophotography enthusiast Don Marcotte wanted to find out whether the Canon 6D or Canon 5D Mark III was more suitable for his area of photography, so he pitted the two cameras against one another in a few noise tests at his local camera store. He simply shot long exposures without any light (the cap was on) in order to see how much noise would show up in the frame.

In yet another business move no doubt influenced by the rise of the all-mighty smartphone camera, a "source familiar with the plan" has told Reuters that Panasonic aims to sell camera and battery manufacturer Sanyo to a Japanese equity fund by the end of March.

About this time last year, a startup named Satarii released the original Swivl: a nifty little motion tracking dock for your smartphone. Meant for shooting video and video conferencing, the dock would follow your every move by keeping a remote tracking marker in frame.

At the time we speculated that if the Swivl was successful, Satarii would probably go on to manufacture something compatible with larger cameras. We also mentioned that, paired with a remote shutter release, the Swivl could become a useful tool for still photographers. Not that we're taking credit or anything, but it seems Satarii were listening; this week the company announced two new, beefier, tablet- and DSLR-compatible Swivls.

Canon broke new ground in its lens-making this year by bringing image stabilization to non-L wide-angle prime lenses (the widest IS prime was previously the 100mm f/2.8 IS L). There are now three: lenses at the stabilized-wide-angle party: a 24mm and 28mm, announced in February, and a 35mm that was announced just last month.

According to new rumors, Canon will continue to spread its IS technology to non-L and non-telephoto primes next year. One that's on the way is a replacement to the popular 50mm f/1.4.

The megapixel war is heating up again in the high-end DSLR market, with the 36MP Nikon D800 leading the …

This isn't a biggie as far as camera issues go, but there are a few photographers reporting some strange discoloration on sections of their Canon 5D Mark III that makes the camera look like it's a lot older and more beat up than it actually is.

The Economist has published an article on photographic film's "transition from the mass market to the artisanal," writing that the future is bleak for film as we know it:

Consumers and professionals ditched film first. Then health-care services, which used it for X-rays, shifted to digital scans. The final blow came with the film industry's switch to digital projection. IHS iSuppli [...] estimates filmmakers consumed 2.5m miles [...] of film each year for the distribution of prints at its height. That was just a few years ago. By 2012 this plunged by two-thirds. In 2015 it will be next to nothing.

A Canon patent filed in May of last year and published last week reveals that the company has a new optical viewfinder up its sleeve that offers both a compactness and 100% coverage. While 100% coverage is a standard feature in high-end DSLRs, the new technology may help bring it to smaller and lighter cameras that have traditionally displayed less than what is actually captured.

If you'd like a cheap and simple way to protect your camera lenses from rain and from drops, you can make a makeshift lens case using ordinary plastic bottles (e.g. water bottles, soda bottles). Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do so.

After bidding farewell to the Super Wide and Silver editions of its Zeiss Ikon 35mm rangefinder earlier this year, Cosina is officially saying goodbye to the last of the Zeiss Ikons, relegating the whole line to the history books. The news, which began as a rumor based on this tweet by one of Cosina's retailers, has since been confirmed by The Phoblographer with the company itself.

Check out the two memory cards above. One of them is a counterfeit card while the other is a genuine one. Can you tell which is which? If you can't, we don't blame you. Japan-based photography enthusiast Damien Douxchamps couldn't either until he popped the fake card into his camera and began shooting. The card felt a bit sluggish, so he ran some tests on his computer. Turned out the 60MB/s card was actually slower than his old 45MB/s card.

While it's not unusual to come across counterfeit memory cards -- it's estimated that 1/3 of "SanDisk"-labeled cards are -- what's a bit concerning is how Douxchamps purchased his: he ordered the cards off Amazon -- cards that were "fulfilled by Amazon."

After receiving much press coverage for its groundbreaking fusion of camera and smartphone, Samsung's $500 Galaxy Camera finally hit store shelves in the middle of last month -- AT&T store shelves.

Although the launch was done exclusively through what's considered to be the worst US carrier, it appears that Samsung will soon be branching out to additional providers. Verizon customers are reportedly next in line for the unique smartcamera.

Do you ever clean the front element of your lens by fogging it up with your breath and then wiping it off with a cloth? If so, you might want to stop -- Nikon says the practice could be damaging to your glass. Apparently human breath contains stuff that isn't too friendly toward camera lenses.

An anonymous reader emailed us with a complaint about the way Fujifilm is marketing the X-E1 in a non-gender-neutral way.

Back in October, we shared some photos taken inside a small Chinese studio lighting maker named NiceFoto. Now we have a look at what operations look like at a much larger manufacturer: Godox. It's reportedly the second largest studio lighting producer in all of China.

We've all used a little bit of Photoshop magic to take care of a blemish or two when taking portraits, but Sony's newly announced Smart Skin Evaluation Program (SSKEP) is taking on blemishes in a whole new way. The sensor technology, which was announced just a few days ago, can actually go beyond skin-deep and take a peek at blemishes that haven't even surfaced yet.

Canon has issued a couple of service advisories to notify customers of known issues with the 6D and 1D X DSLRs. The former camera has a YouTube problem, while the latter has some autofocus issues for certain customers.

You may have heard that there are 12 Hasselblad film cameras sitting on the surface of the moon at this very moment, left there by astronauts who needed to lighten their vessel's load as much as possible. However, did you know that at least one of those cameras was left there to test the durability of the gear?

A little earlier today, we reported on how Sohail Mamdani of BorrowLenses had discovered that one particular Nikon D600 he was testing was consistently overexposing photographs by two stops. After searching long and hard for the cause, he stumbled upon the culprit: the D600 wasn't closing the aperture blades to the correct opening size.

Well, what do you know: upgrading a Fujifilm X-E1 is easy! A photographer named Richard over at Fuji Rumors figured out how to transform his $1,000 X-E1 into a $6,400 Leica M9 digital rangefinder. The upgrade costs just pennies -- it only requires four strategically placed decal stickers.

Gear reviewer Sohail Mamdani over at BorrowLenses was testing the Canon 6D and Nikon D600 last week by shooting nighttime photos of San Francisco Bay, when he discovered something strange: the DSLRs exposed the scene differently even when all the settings were identical in full manual. The photograph above was captured using the D600 at f/8, 30s, and ISO 100 (in JPEG mode).

Canon is reportedly planning to introduce yet another model name to its Speedlite family sometime early next year. Canon Rumors hears from a good source that two new Speedlites will be arriving in the first or early second quarter of 2013. Both are said to be replacements of the bestselling 430EX II, which was announced back in June 2008.

The camera film industry may be struggling, but there are certain segments that are still profitable. One such niche is the one-time-use disposable film camera market, and Ilford Photo wants a piece of the pie. The company, which makes widely used films, papers, and chemicals, announced two new black & white disposable cameras today.

Could Panasonic be planning to jump into the action camera market and compete against the likes of GoPro? A recently published US design patent suggests that it might be the case. The patent, first spotted by 43 Rumors, was filed in December of last year but published a week ago. Simply titled, "Digital Camera," it contains a series of simple illustrations showing what appears to be a pocket-sized durable action camera.