Equipment

Sony Australia is trying its hand at some viral marketing for its mirrorless cameras. The company has created a YouTube account called DSLR Gear No Idea, which contains a number of very short videos that poke fun at clueless DSLR users. The description of the channel reads:

These are the DSLR clueless - all the gear and no idea. Remind you of someone? Share it with them using the 'share' button. To find out more visit http://www.sony.com.au/productcategory/nex-camera

Each of the videos (apart from the lengthier compilation above) runs about 15 seconds and features a different stereotype. "F-Stop Fusspot" mocks the portrait photographer who's constantly changing settings on a camera he doesn't understand. "The Flasher" pokes fun at those who insist on using their flash in any and every situation.

Photographer Dominique Vankan wanted to play around with the old Autochrome Lumière process from the early 1900s, so he built himself a custom large format camera using LEGO pieces, cardboard, and duct tape.

Back in September, we shared the first photos snapped by the world's largest and most powerful digital camera: the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera located on a mountaintop in Chile. Reuters recently paid a visit to the massive astro-camera and the scientists behind it, and created the short 2-minute piece above that offers a closer look at the unique piece of camera equipment.

Samsung's smartphone-esque Galaxy Camera finally has a definite price and launch date. AT&T announced today that it will begin selling the Android-powered camera on November 16, 2012 for $500. The camera comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and can be connected to the Internet via the carrier's 4G mobile network.

Leave it up to Samsung to hold crazy promotions for its mirrorless cameras -- at least in the UK. The company recently offered to give a NX1000 mirrorless camera to anyone named David Bailey; 142 David Baileys came forward to claim their camera. Now the camera maker is doing another unique promo, and this time it's open to the general public: it's giving away tablet computers with its mirrorless cameras.

Here's a dissection video for those of you who like photography better than biology. It's a Khan Academy lesson that offers a glimpse into how digital cameras work on the inside. The camera being dissected is a Vivitar V25, a 2.1 megapixel camera that you can pick up for around $18 from places like Walmart. Although it's basically the digital equivalent of a disposable camera, the camera still shares some things in common with higher-end digital cameras. You might be able to learn an interesting thing or two about how your own camera works.

Photographer Patrick Ng has an obsession with natural materials such as wood and leather. Recently, he decided to "woodenize" his beloved Canon F-1n SLR (a professional film SLR released back in 1976). He didn't use a pre-made kit for the conversion, though... Instead, he simply ripped off the faux-leather and replaced it with faux-wood wallpaper.

Hardware security guru Joe Fitz has successfully hacked the WU-1a wireless mobile adapter to be compatible with the Nikon D800. "Why would anyone want to do this?" you might ask. Well, to get the same features, you could also buy a Nikon UT-1 Communication Unit for $470 and Nikon WT-5A Wireless Transmitter for $580 -- a combined total of $1050. The Nikon WU-1a, designed for the entry-level D3200, costs just $58!

I’ve always been a bit fascinated by digiscoping. For those who are out of the loop, digiscoping involves taking images through a spotting scope rather than a camera lens. The advantages are obvious. A spotting scope provides magnification equivalent to a lens of 1,250 to 3,000mm. Who wouldn’t want that?

Just a few years ago, Eye-Fi was the only company at the wireless memory card party; now the dance floor's starting to get a bit crowded. Transcend launched its own line of Wi-Fi SD cards yesterday, joining Eye-Fi, SanDisk, Toshiba, and PQI.

Camera companies are doing their part to help victims of Hurricane Sandy get back on their feet. Here's something that might be great news to some photographers on the East Coast: Sigma is extending its warranty to cover damage caused by the hurricane.

Yesterday we featured a photographer's DIY teardown of the Nikon D700, offering a peek at the camera's guts. It was interesting, but a bit outdated since the camera was released back in July 2008. iFixit and Chipworks have just finish their own teardowns of a camera that's much more recent: the Nikon D600 "entry-level" full-frame DSLR.

Nanoblock is a plastic building block system that's like a shrunk-down version of LEGO. It has been growing in popularity as of late, and may soon become a fad on the level of Buckyballs. Japanese novelty photo company Fuuvi has partnered up with Nanoblock for a new toy digital camera that can take on all kinds of custom shapes and designs.

You know those handle-equipped glasses called 'lorgnettes' that were popular among fashionable women in the 19th century? Instead of being fixed to your face, the spectacles were simply held up to your eyes with one hand, and were used mainly for style rather than vision correction. Kenko's new Filter Stick is kinda like that, except for camera lenses instead of booshie eyeballs.

If you've ever wondered what a Nikon D700 looks like when completely disassembled, today's your lucky day. Czech photographer Martin Kozák recently did a complete teardown with a ruined D700, and then snapped the still life photo seen above.

Sigma has officially launched its new 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM lens for Canon-, Nikon-, Sony-, Pentax-, and Sigma-mount cameras. The Japanese-made lens features a sleek matte finish, low dispersion elements, multi-layer flare-reducing coating, a hyper-sonic motor for speedy and quiet AF, and a 9-blade diaphragm for smooth bokeh.

Despite its girth, weight, and price, Canon's original 24-70mm f/2.8L is a highly-regarded general-purposes lens. When the followup Mark II version was announced back in February, the higher-price tag, similar specs, and lack of IS had many photographers scratching their heads. Then the reviews started coming out.

Mobile operating systems have begun making their way into digital cameras, but so far their foray has been limited to compact and mirrorless cameras. However, DSLRs are starting to have built-in Wi-Fi, but it seems to be only a matter of time before a full-fledged mobile OS appears in one.

Apparently some photographers (and Photoshoppers) over in China can't wait for that day to arrive. There's a series of viral images floating around showing Canon and Nikon DSLRs running various operating systems and programs.

Alongside the 24-70mm f/4 IS and 35mm f/2 IS lenses Canon announced today was an interesting tidbit that hasn't gotten that much press: Canon is refreshing its lens cap design. Canon's 'Mark II' lens caps feature a pinch-style design that's pretty standard in the industry.

Nikon has released a set of sample photographs to give pixel-peepers a first look at the new D5200's image quality. The photographs, captured by photographer Douglas Menuez, were all shot using "non-professional" DX lenses that cost less than $500. The photograph above was shot using the $200 Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX lens at ISO 200.

The Consumerist writes that a guy named Nate recently had a negative experience with Amazon's Trade-In program. After sending in his

The rumors were off but the leak was spot on: today Canon officially announced the not-so-secret 24-70mm f/4 IS and the 35mm f/2 IS, bringing image stabilization to two new focal length ranges.

Nikon has just officially announced its new D5200, a mid-range DSLR geared towards consumers. The successor of the D5100, the D5200 shares a lot of guts in common with its sibling the D7000. It's difference is that it's geared towards less advanced photographers and has a body that reflects that.

When we handled a pre-production model of the Fujifilm X-E1 at Photokina back in September, we noted that there seemed to be some strange pixelation, a little lag, and a delay after shots. We said at the time that those issues were likely due to the fact that it was an early demo unit of the camera, and that now appears to be true. A photographer named Andrew (apw100 on YouTube) recently got his X-E1 before most people by ordering through eBay from a company in Hong Kong. He then shot a series of videos showing the EVF quality by putting his iPhone up to the viewfinder.

Canon's two soon-to-be-announced lenses were leaked today by Japanese website Digicam info. The first one is, as suspected, the 24-70mm f/4 IS. The second one was more a surprise: it's not a new 50mm, but a 35mm f/2 IS. Canon is continuing its new trend of building image stabilization into wider-angle lenses -- a bit strange for still photographers, but great news for people who record video with their DSLRs.

Last week we reported on rumors of an upcoming Canon 24-70mm f/4 IS lens. The latest word is that the lens is "coming soon", and won't be announced alone. In addition to updating the popular 24-70mm focal range with image stabilization -- useful for video recording -- Canon may also be planning to announcing a second lens, reportedly an image-stabilized followup to the much-loved Canon 50mm f/1.4.

Want to illuminate an entire football field for a photo shoot, but can't find enough friends who will let you borrow their external flashes? Have deep pockets? Here's a "lighting accessory" you might want to add to your camera bag: the light truck.

Ever since the launch of iOS 5 in mid-2011, iPhones, iPads, and iPods have accepted the "volume up" signal as a "take a picture" command, allowing Apple's headphones to double as handy remote shutter releases. If triggering your camera's shutter with a pair of earbuds in your hand isn't "hip" enough for you, check out this new iCA Remote Shutter by Japanese novelty photo company Gizmon. It's a dedicated shutter release for your iOS device that's designed to look like a roll of film.

If you have an old plastic kit lenses lying around, something that you are not using for anything serious, you can give it a new life as a macro lens by removing the front element.

There's some pretty big news over in the cinema camera world today. RED founder Jim Jannard announced that massive price cuts have been made to the prices of his company's high-end cinema cameras (which are also used for still photography).