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.
Michael Zhang

Lytro Camera Used in a Fashion Shoot

After reading about the revolutionary "shoot first, focus later" Lytro camera that's currently in development, Canadian fashion model Coco Rocha reached out to the company to ask if they could work with a prototype.

Michael Zhang

Leaked Photo Alleged to Show Nikon Mirrorless Mount and Sensor

This photo that allegedly shows the mount and sensor on Nikon's upcoming mirrorless camera was just leaked onto the Chinese forum Xitek. My initial reaction was, "wow, that sensor looks small!". However, the camera is in fact rumored to have a relatively small 2.6x crop sensor (by comparison, the new Pentax Q has a 5.7x crop sensor).

Michael Zhang

A Cheap and Simple Way to Weatherproof Your DSLR

Check out this mummified camera used by Reuters photographer Jo Yong-Hak. Yong-Hak was assigned to cover the popular Boryeong Mud Festival this year in South Korea, and decided to protect his gear with some good ol' fashioned plastic wrap.

Michael Zhang

Nikon Ranks Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Online DSLR Buyers

A study conducted by market research firm J.D. Power and Associates has found that "Nikon Pro Series" DSLRs rank highest in customer satisfaction. The company surveyed 4,500 verified online DSLR buyers to find out their satisfaction across five factors: image quality, durability, features, ease of use, and responsiveness.

The Nikon Pro Series ranks highest in online buyer satisfaction with a score of 914. The Nikon Pro Series performs particularly well in shutter speed/lag time, durability and reliability and ease of operation. The Canon Mark-Series follows in the rankings with a score of 909, and performs particularly well in performance and picture quality. The Canon D-Series and Nikon D-Series rank third in a tie, each with a score of 889.

Overall, customers were most satisfied with image quality but least satisfied with durability and responsiveness.

Michael Zhang

Samsung Might Give Compact Cameras Shallower DoF with Second Lens

A compact camera probably isn't the first thing someone would grab when looking to make a photo with an extremely shallow depth-of-field, since the small aperture and small sensor limit it in this regard. That might soon be different: a recently published patent application by Samsung shows that the company is looking into producing achieving shallow depth of fields with compact cameras by using a second lens to create a depth map for each photo.

Michael Zhang

A Photo Gear Rube Goldberg Machine

Let's start off this week with something lighthearted and awesome. The folks at 2D Photography spent nearly six months working on building a giant Rube Goldberg machine using photo gear. Like the epic Battle at F-Stop Ridge video, it seems pretty likely that this video will soon be going viral.

Michael Zhang

CNBC: Point-and-Shoot Cameras Are an Endangered Species

Update on 12/18/21: This video has been removed by its creator.

CNBC ran this short segment a couple days ago in which they invited CNET's Dan Ackerman to explain the changing landscape in the digital camera industry. He thinks point-and-shoot cameras may soon become extinct due to the rise of camera-equipped phones, but also that DSLRs are the cameras here to stay.

Michael Zhang

iPhone SLR Mount Lets You Attach Your Fancy Canon and Nikon Lenses

If for some reason you've always wanted pair up your SLR lenses with the tiny sensor found on the iPhone 4, Photojojo has a new mount that can make your dream come true. The package includes a special aluminum case for your phone, a UV filter attachment, and the lens adapter, and almost guarantees that you'll be the strangest looking iPhone shooter on your street.

Michael Zhang

An Electronic (Not So) Instant Camera

Niklas Roy built a unique electronic "instant" camera using an old black & white video camera and thermal receipt printer. When turned on, the printer slowly prints the live video feed from the camera onto cheap receipt paper. Since the image isn't stored anywhere first, the subject has to remain still during the three minutes it takes for the image to be printed.

Michael Zhang

Olympus Announces Three New PENs: the E-P3, E-PL3, and E-PM1

Olympus unveiled a boatload of Micro Four Thirds gear this morning, including three new PEN cameras, two new prime lenses, and a flash. All three cameras pack a 12.3 megapixel sensor with ISO that goes up to 12,800, a speedy new autofocus system (the "world's fastest"), and 1080i HD video recording. The E-P3 (shown above), the flagship camera of the PEN line, features an all-metal body, a pop-up flash, and an OLED touchscreen. It'll cost you $900 when it's out in August 2011.

Michael Zhang

Japanese Magazine Imagines What the Nikon D4 and D900 Might Be Like

CAPA magazine over in Japan asked some professionals in the camera industry to speculate on the rumored Nikon D4 and D900 DSLR cameras, and came up with some concept drawings for what the cameras might look like based on the information gathered. Their imaginary Nikon D4 packs a full-frame 18MP sensor, ISO 51200, 11fps burst mode, a tilting LCD screen, built-in Wi-Fi, and a 51-point cross-type autofocus system.

Michael Zhang

Wave this Programmable “Light Saber” to Light Paint Words and Images

Gavin of Sydney, Australia created an awesome 2-meter long programmable staff that makes painting giant words and images as easy as waving/walking the staff around during a long-exposure photograph. The staff, which he call the LightScythe (we would have called it the "Lightsaber"), was inspired by the Wi-Fi light painting project we shared here earlier this year.

The hardware is pretty simple. There’s a 2m programmable LED strip inside an acrylic tube, which is controlled from a small receiver and battery pack. A laptop PC with a wireless Xbee link sends the image data to the scythe at a specified time. [#]

Michael Zhang

Triggertrap Lets You Trigger Your Camera with Anything You Can Think Of

We have a bit of a scoop for you today: there's going to be a new Kickstarter-funded gadget announced on Thursday called the Triggertrap. It's a pretty nifty universal camera trigger that can trigger your camera's shutter with anything you can think of using a built-in intervalometer, a laser trigger, a sound sensor, and an Aux input that you can connect custom triggers to:

Think about it: You press your car horn, it takes a photo. Your phone rings, it takes a photo. The sun rises, it takes a photo. Anything is possible - and that's why this camera trigger is so eminently hackable and exciting to experimental photographers all over the world!

There's also a private sneak-peek of the Kickstarter video over on Vimeo. The password is TriggerTrap123.

Michael Zhang

Nikon Shows Off Some Funky Concept Camera Designs

At the Hello Demain (Hello Tomorrow) exhibition in Paris, France this year, Nikon showed off a number of strange looking concept camera designs. While it's pretty unlikely they're actually planning to release any of these designs, it's interesting to see what they would come up with for this kind of exhibition.

Vadim Gordin

How to Turn an Old Seatbelt into a Useful Camera Sling

Editor's note: The guest author of this DIY tutorial, Vadim Gordin, is also selling DIY kits and ready-made Lens Loop slings for $15 and $25, respectively. You can find the project over on Kickstarter.

Here's a DIY camera strap I came up with 2 years ago and have been steadily revising as I use it while traveling and shooting all over the country. The design is simpler, more comfortable, and more attractive than any of the other commercially available slings. I hope that by sharing my design here, I can generate interest in my project and help DIYers make a great camera sling on their first try.