News

Photographers Upset at Wedding Blog for Offering Paid Facebook and Pinterest Posts

The popular wedding blog The Wedding Chicks has become the focus of much of the photo community's ire today after an article on the popular photography blog Fstoppers brought attention to one of their business practices. Namely: that they offer "social media packages" in which photographers can pay the blog to have their work featured on the Wedding Chicks Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter.

GoPro to Go Public, Files for a Confidential IPO

GoPro's rise to the undisputed title of action camera king has been nothing short of meteoric. The company has gone from an operation out of founder and CEO Nick Woodman's van, to a massive company that expects revenue to top 1 billion this year (a great story that you can find out about here) and now they're hoping to make the jump to a publicly traded company.

Nikon Refreshes Coolpix Lineup with New P&S, Superzoom and Rugged Models

At the beginning of the year, Nikon usually overhauls its entire Coolpix line of cameras, releasing new point-and-shoots and bridge cameras galore in an announcement fest that is usually swallowed up by other photography news.

Like we did last year, we'll give you a quick rundown of all the new models, which this year include two new 'professional' point-and-shoots, a couple of superzooms and a some upgraded rugged cameras.

Panasonic Unveils the Long-Rumored GH4, a 4K-Capable Micro Four Thirds Beast

After months of rumors, spec and image leaks -- including a full press text leak... yikes -- Panasonic has is finally launching the much-talked-about GH4: a Micro Four Thirds shooter with 4K video capability that the company is calling the "ultimate photo/video hybrid Digital Single Lens Mirrorless(DSLM) camera."

High School Girl Takes Selfie with Cadaver, Wins Our Vote for Most Repulsive Selfie

And the award for most repugnant and moronic selfie of the year (or maybe decade?) goes to... an Alabama High School senior who, earlier this week, decided it would be okay to completely ignore rules she was explicitly informed about (not to mention any shred of common decency) in order to take a selfie with a cadaver in a University of Alabama at Birmingham anatomy lab.

Ricoh Introduces Two New Rugged Cams, Drops the Pentax Name for the First Time

It's February, which means Ricoh is right on schedule when it comes to introducing the new 'rugged' cameras in the Pentax WG line... except they're not called Pentax anymore. For the first time since acquiring the brand, Ricoh has dropped the Pentax name from these cameras entirely by introducing the updated Ricoh WG-4, WG-4 GPS and WG-20.

Police Officer Who Threatened to Arrest Seattle Newspaper Editor Fired

We all-too-frequently find ourselves sharing stories of police officers abusing the power they have been given by harassing and often threatening to arrest photographers even if they have done nothing wrong.

What we don't hardly ever share -- in fact, a cursory search dug up exactly zero such stories -- is the news that those officers, who are usually 'under investigation' at the time of the original story, have been fired or significantly disciplined in any way. Today, that changes.

The $28K Ralph Gibson Leica Monochrom Sold Out in 5 Minutes

A lot of people might have thought Leica had staked out enough of a challenge convincing people to pay $8,000 for a digital camera that only shoots black-and-white.

Never one to shy away from a luxury marketing opportunity, however, the German camera maker briefly offered the opportunity to pay an extra $20,000 for a limited-edition version of the M-Monochrom... an opportunity people jumped at.

Rumor: Sony Set to Unveil Faster APS-C Camera Next Week

If recent rumors are to be trusted, Sony is getting ready to continue its assault on all ends of the mirrorless market with the announcement next week of a successor to the mid-line NEX-6 and NEX-7 models -- among other potential announcements.

Adobe Further Beats Dead Horse, Extends Photography Program for Everyone Again

Don't lie, you saw this one coming. Adobe has already beaten the proverbial horse bloody when it comes to their Photoshop Photography Program being extended again and again and again... and again.

And yet, here they are doing it again, this time once more allowing anybody in the US (regardless of whether or not you own a previous license or not) to get the special bundle for only $10/month on an annual basis.

Hasselblad Launches the Hasselblad HV, a Tougher Sony A99

Hasselblad today announced the next camera in its line of Sony re-makes: The Hasselblad HV. Unlike the Lunar and the Stellar before it, this one has neither an astronomical name nor a particular focus on rare materials, although the differences between the HV and the full-frame Sony A99 it's based on are still minimal with the exception of price.

Photojournalist James Nachtwey Shot in the Leg Covering Thai Protests

While covering the pre-election violence in the Thai capital of Bangkok, renowned photojournalist James Nachtwey was shot in the leg, reports the Wall Street Journal. Fortunately, according to a report in TIME, it seems the photog wasn't badly injured and returned to work soon after being shot.

How Would You React if Your Photography Dreams Were Shattered in an Instant?

It's a question we hope none of you ever have to answer, but one that a talented colleague and PetaPixel reader is facing with incredible optimism and strength.

Wedding photographer Anthony Carbajal was recently diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. And he's now reaching out to the photography community for support as he comes to terms with the end of a three-year professional career that was everything he could have hoped for.

The New ‘Flag’ App Will Print and Mail You Your Photos for FREE

A new app called 'Flag' is exploding on Kickstarter today, and it's based on a very simple premise. The app will print and mail you museum quality, 220 gsm prints of 20 photos per month absolutely free... just as long as you allow them to place advertisements on the usually-blank back side of the photo.

That's it: no catch, no shipping charges, nothing. For now, you have to live in the US, but they hope to expand out soon.

The Only Camera NASA Ever Brought Back from the Moon Will Soon be Auctioned Off

Update: According to collectSPACE, this might not have been the only camera brought back from the moon. Check out the update at the bottom for details.

A total of fourteen Hasselblad cameras made it to the moon on the Apollo missions; but of those 14, only one ever made it back. And now, that one camera is going to go home with a lucky (and rich) collector pending an auction at WestLicht in Vienna on March 21st.

New Sony Add-On Lets Tablet Users Strap the QX Lens Cameras to Their Devices Too

Tablet photography is something of an oxymoron for most photographers, but there are those who occasionally (or more than occasionally) snap a photo on their iOS or Android tablet, and Sony would like to help those people take better pictures.

To that effect, the company has released a new add-on that will allow tablet users to securely fasten their QX10 or QX100 lens cameras to their tablets as well as their phones.

Microsoft’s 20-Gigapixel Seattle Panorama is Packed Full of Fun Artistic Surprises

There's no rule against having a little fun while proving a technological point, even if you're Microsoft.

So when the software giant's research arm wanted to flex some image-editing muscle by creating a 20-gigapixel panorama of Seattle, they decided to bring local artists into the picture (literally) and encourage them to do creative stuff while the camera was clicking away.

Apple Wins Patents for Removable-Lens iPhone Designs

For those intrigued by the notion of add-on lenses for smartphones but put off by the bulky design, Apple offers hope with a couple of recently patented designs for swapping camera components on an iPhone without turning it into an unwieldy monster.

Santa Ana Woman Beaten to Death Outside of a Nightclub Over a Photobomb

On the weekend of the 18th, 23-year-old Annie 'Kim' Pham accidentally photobombed a group of strangers in front of a Santa Ana nightclub while out with her friends. That accident cost her her life, as the strangers converged on her and beat her to the point where she had to be put on life support before ultimately succumbing to her injuries one week ago yesterday.

Nikon Replacing Some Problematic D600’s with D610’s for Little to Nothing

Nikon's release of the D610 was met with a bit of... hostility... from many of the D600 users who were and still are dealing with sensor spot/oil/dust (whatever the heck you wanna call it) issues. But it looks like at least a few D600 owners have been treated to a nice surprise from the company service center.

Revolution in Kiev, Ukraine

In the last days I received multiple requests to translate my posts for foreign readers, as they have very limited information about the happenings in Ukraine. This material describes events which took place in Kiev on January 22nd and 23rd.

Sharing and distribution is appreciated.

DxOMark Put the Lumia 1020 to the Test as a Dedicated Camera, See How it Performed

When DxOMark tests out the quality of mobile phone cameras, they usually classify and rank them as such. There's a whole mobile section to the site where one can compare different smartphone cameras using a different scoring system.

The thing is, the Lumia 1020 is no typical smartphone. Nokia has touted it as a camera first, and it seems DxOMark was listening. When they put the Lumia 1020 through its paces, they tested it as a full-fledged camera. And it didn't perform half bad.

Mars Rover Opportunity Commemorates 10 Years on Mars by Sending Home a Selfie

When the Mars Rover Opportunity landed on our planetary neighbor on January 25th, 2004 it was undertaking a three-month mission. Well, it's a full decade later and the little guy is still alive and kickin' (in a robotic kind of way).

And what better way to celebrate that achievement then by taking a good ol' fashioned, 2014-like selfie?

The AP Goes After George Zimmerman for Copying a Photo for One of His Paintings

For the second time in one week, the Associated Press is making headlines of its own. Earlier in the week, the agency was praised by some and condemned by others when it decided to let a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer go over an edited photo, and now the AP is going after George Zimmerman over a painting he was selling.

PhaseOne Rains on the Hasselblad Parade with a New 50MP CMOS Digital Back

Well, that didn't last long. Only a few days after Hasselblad revealed the exciting news that a 50MP CMOS Medium Format camera was in the works, PhaseOne has made a very similar announcement. Like Hasselblad, PhaseOne is calling this one a "world's first," only this time the title is "world's first CMOS-based medium format digital camera back."

JPEG Standard Gets a Boost, Supports 12-Bit Color Depth and Lossless Compression

The JPEG standard made its debut in 1991 (publicly in 1992), and since then it's become the most widely used lossy compression format for digital images. Now, The Independent JPEG Group at the Leipzig Institute for Applied Informatics -- the folks responsible for defining the standard -- has released an all new version 9.1 of the software library that comes with some powerful new abilities.

Lingerie Ads Aimed at Young Women Take a Stand Against Retouching

More compelling (at least for us) than the anti-Photoshop/retouching campaigns that have recently been going viral are the magazines and advertising campaigns that are backing these movements by actually taking excessive retouching out of the equation.

Magazines like Verily, who earlier this year explained their no-Photoshop policy, and ad campaigns like Aerie Real, a new campaign for the lingerie brand Aerie that is currently taking the Internet by storm.