It seems that Nikon has partnered with toy block maker Nanoblock to create a special set that lets you build a Nikon F SLR, Nikon's first SLR camera that was introduced back in April 1959.
Luxury wedding selfie sticks are a thing. Not only do they exist, but they're actually a hit with brides who want to shoot selfies on their big day with style.
The folks over at Luma Labs have released the third generation of their ‘Luma Loop’ camera sling, a piece of equipment that aims to be incredibly accessible and stable, yet out of the way when not needed. Designed and manufactured with premium materials here in the United States, Luma Labs says every component is custom made exclusively for their production. We are taking a look to see if all that extra work has resulted in a product that is truly worth it.
There are a number of products out there, from grid patterns to cute creatures, that are designed to make babies look at your camera while you're photographing them. Pooch Selfie is that same idea, except designed for dogs.
Want to give the LCD screen on your digital camera a super tough layer of protection? The company Phantom Glass announced earlier this month that it has extended its tempered glass screen protector products to the world of digital cameras. It's touted as "the last screen protector you'll ever need" for your camera.
Remember that strange vacuum cleaner lens we featured last year? A new version has been unveiled, and this one sucks even more than the original.
Here at PetaPixel, we receive quite a number of review requests daily, and picking what we feel is unique and interesting can prove to be a difficult task. But when we recently got a slightly more unusual request to review custom-branded wooden boxes from a company called ‘Woody Woodclick’ we had to give it a try. Producing custom wooden boxes and engraved flash drives, the company aims at premium packaging for photographers.
Back in 1974, photographer Mike Mandel traveled across the United States and photographed 134 top photographers and curators as baseball players. Mandel then used those portraits to create Baseball-Photographer Trading Cards, an unusual set of trading cards featuring big names in the industry. As you can see from the card above, Ansel Adams was one of them.
The promise of truly immersive, virtual reality headsets for the masses is just around the corner with Oculus Rift launching its consumer version in 2016. In the meantime, a number of alternative solutions have been introduced including Google’s Cardboard, Samsung’s GearVR, and Carl Zeiss’ VR ONE headset. We’ll be taking a look at the latter to see if one of the world’s greatest optics manufacturers has what it takes to jump into the virtual reality space.
There's a new GoPro housing that wants to transform the way your GoPro looks and works. Newly launched today, it's called the Exo GP-1, and it's a shell that makes your GoPro look like a stylish classic camera while giving it more functionality.
German photography accessory company COSYSPEED has just introduced their latest creation on IndieGoGo. The CAMSLINGER Streetomatic is a sling strap and camera bag for mirrorless cameras, DSLRs, and superzooms. Aimed to rest comfortably on your outer thigh, the CAMSLINGER promises one-handed operation while protecting against rain, bumps, and dust.
Cube is a small new device from the Australian company Palette. Easily sample colors around you using the portable color digitizer and sample them later on your PC or Mac. While the Cube’s central abilities focus on identifying the beautiful colors that surround us every day, it can also be used for color matching and achieving picture-perfect white balance in photos.
Finding the perfect camera strap can seem like an overwhelming endeavor due to the sheer number of available options. Today, we are going to be taking a look at two different straps that are coming soon from Peak Design and may just help you in your search. The first strap is the Slide Summit Edition: a design variation of the company’s standard Slide strap. The second is the Slide Lite strap designed for smaller mirrorless camera systems.
Want to wear all your camera gear around you? The Vest Guy has photographer vests designed just for you. Many of the company's offerings have a large number of spacious compartments that allow you to carry multiple cameras, lenses, accessories... and even your laptop.
The Everyday Messenger bag is Peak Design’s latest product to make a debut on Kickstarter, and it has blown past its $100,000 goal and raised over $2.2 million so far. Designed with the help of photographer Trey Ratcliff, the bag aims to fulfill the “workflows of photographers, creative, travelers, and commuters." We got our hands on the world's first pre-production sample bag, and today we'll be taking a closer look at it.
This is pretty crazy if it's real: an ammunition company called Snake River has just announced a new product called the Drone Munition shot shell: it's a shotgun shell designed specifically for shooting down camera drones.
This week, software developer and photographer Dan King introduced the world to the DAKboard: a customizable display for showcasing your photographs, calendar events, and weather. The actual wall display isn’t currently available for purchase, but the software is in the beta stage, so anyone can test it out via their web browser or tablet device.
Have you ever wished you could remotely control your smartphone’s camera with a trigger remote disguised as a 35mm film canister or a mini twin-lens reflex camera? If so, then your wish has been granted by the Japanese company Gizmon. For a small price, you can pick up one of these cute and colorful gadgets and pair it with your iOS or Android smartphone.
Back in 2011, we shared a simple tutorial on how you can create a sturdy camera strap using about $7 worth of paracord. Hamburg, Germany-based photographer Bo Ismono recently published the 3-minute video tutorial above on how you can use paracord to make a cheap, simple, and durable wrist strap.
Any photographer who travels understands the hardship of being able to identify their bag amongst a sea of similar looking black travel kits. Luckily for us, the folks at Think Tank Photo have come up with a solution that they are calling ‘Roller Flair’. Easily decorate your Think Tank brand roller with a splash of color to make it stand out amongst the bags around it.
A few months ago, Nikon released a stainless steel hot shoe cover, the ASC-01, to help you spice up the look of your DSLR and protect its hot shoe mount contact points. Now, the company has released a new leather variation with gold writing. The ASC-02, as it is called, is only being sold in Japan for a price of ¥3,500 (~$28), but we're pretty sure it'll appear on eBay soon, just as the last model previously did.
Photography can be a thrilling way to explore the world around us, but sometimes we need a bit of inspiration to get moving. ‘The Bigger Picture Cards’ are a way to not only get inspired but to also learn new photographic skills along the way. Sold as a $15 set of flashcards, the deck includes 50 cards to get you out and shooting. Just draw your selection, accept your challenge, and you are on your way to learning by doing.
To celebrate 60 years in Canada, KFC created a new bucket for fried chicken that doubles as an instant photo printer.
Now here's a bright idea: LumoPro today announced the LP742 LightSwitch, a new protective case for flash units that transforms into a light modifier of your choice.
Julie Watai is a photographer on a mission to capture beautiful self-portraits no matter what the environment. She has set out on a mission to create a portable ring light for smartphones; it is dubbed the “Kira” and Watai is seeking public funding to bring it to life.
Rocket Rooster is a digital filter company that produces affordable plugins for Adobe’s Creative Suite. After creating over half a dozen styles for cinema purposes, the company set their sights on creating products for still photographers using Lightroom. Rocket Rooster’s latest filter set, the Analog Film Pack, includes 20 old school film presets and over 100 variations.
This week, Cokin has announced a new lineup of mineral glass neutral density (ND) filters to fit within its Creative Filter System for photo and video cameras. Consisting of an adapter ring, filter-holder, and a number of various filters available from the company, the system allows photographers and videographers to modify the color, contrast, and saturation of their images. The new ND filters, called the ‘NUANCES’ range, feature a special new coating process to ensure a uniform result.
Photo Box is a monthly subscription service that is aimed at delivering surprise and inspiration to photographers around the world. The service has yet to launch, but we got our hands on a ‘Photo Box Pro’ sample for a special unboxing preview for all of you.
A graphic tablet can be a useful but expensive piece tool in a photographer’s setup. That's why the folks over at Astropad HQ decided to enable Apple’s iPad to give you the same experience as using a graphic tablet. Astropad is a $20 solution that lets you to turn your iPad into a full featured graphics tablet. Powered by the company’s custom technology know as ‘LIQUID’, your iPad is always responsive and ready to work.
In a world saturated by digital controls and on-screen buttons, the team at Palette is looking to create a more tactile future. Originally launched on Kickstarter, Palette wanted to change the way people interact with software by creating hot-swappable hardware modules. We got a chance to test the Palette Expert Kit, which allowed us to map our favorite programs, such as Lightroom, onto three dials, two sliders, and two buttons.
After raising $158,470 through Kickstarter two years ago, Palette today launched its modular control interface to help photographers take their photo editing workflow to the next level.
I just installed an ANKR in my camera bag. Over the past 10 years I’ve had this reoccurring dream about my camera gear and my backpack being stolen. I’ve actually had two cameras stolen over the years, unfortunately.
Last year, the mobile photography company Moment announced the release of two mobile lenses for smartphone devices: the 18mm wide angle and the 70mm telephoto. The company then followed up earlier this year by producing the ‘Moment Case’ for iPhone 6, which features a shutter button, lens mount, and camera strap. Now the company is back again by announcing a brand new macro lens.
If you have ever looked at a camera lens and wished you could simply stick helicopter rotors on it and then fly it around the house, you are in luck. Toy Company, Silverlit, has introduced the Nano Flacon DigiCam: an incredibly tiny RC helicopter with a built-in camera capable of photo capture and video recording. Costing 8,980 YEN ($72), the little copter may just be worth picking up for a joyride when it is released this July.
Check out this handmade wooden Leica camera replica. In addition to looking beautiful on your desk, it has a practical use as well: it's a working nutcracker.
If quadcopters haven’t yet caught your interest then maybe the B-Unstoppable hybrid drone will be the first. A Kickstarter project created by a company named ‘B’ aims to introduce the first commercially available hybrid tank-quadcopter to market. With the flip of a switch, your drone can transform from a dirt-barreling tank into a sky-flying aircraft while capturing footage the entire time via an optional 720p HD camera.
Gimbal stabilizers can be used to help produce smooth, high-quality video. However, inexpensive gimbals typically use heavy counterweights for stabilization, making them difficult to carry around, while more expensive models utilize precision electronics. A happy medium may soon be on the market; the California-based company, Neuvison, has announced their Kickstarter for the AutoSteady, an affordable electronic 3-axis gimbal stabilizer.
If you shoot film, you know how difficult it can be to properly organize your photographs once they have been digitized to your computer. Modern digital cameras allow easy organization with built in metadata that provides every bit of information you could ever need; however, digitally scanned photos contain no such data. Promote Systems has introduced the Meta35, a device to easily import and sync your film camera’s metadata.
Tired of having to memorize new keyboard shortcuts for every application you use? Want to see every Photoshop tool icon right under your fingertips? Sonder is a new customizable keyboard that can help you navigate shortcuts. Each of the main keys features an E Ink display that can be customized with different icons for different programs.
Photography has always served as a way to preserve family memories; now, Shutterfly wants to make them easy to turn into travel albums. Using your iPhone and the company’s new service, TripPix, users can design full-featured albums, which include 15-30 photographs, on their iOS devices and then print them for only $20. Anyone can easily convert their collection of digital photos into beautiful travel books in just a few minutes.
Camera dollies can add beautiful and fluid movement to your videos, but they tend to be both bulky and difficult to travel with for extended periods. Edelkrone is here to try and fix that problem with the PocketSkater2, a product they are calling “the world’s most flexible fully featured camera skater that can fit in your pocket.” With an extensive collection of mini-dollies already available, what does the PocketSkater2 bring to the party?
The Polaroid ZIP is an instant photo printer designed for printing out your favorite snapshots on the run; we got a chance to play around with one, and, to be frank, we are quite reluctant to send it back - we are having too much fun. The ZIP was designed to make use of ZINK zero ink paper and works with both iOS and Android smartphones via Bluetooth or NFC technology to create 2" x 3” full-color prints.
Design technologist Roo Williams was recently tasked with creating a better way to capture corporate employee headshots. What he came up with is a Raspberry Pi-powered mobile photo booth that's controlled entirely through the subject's smartphone through a special website. He calls it the "Pi-Booth."
Alpine Labs has announced their latest Kickstarter project, the Radian 2. The second generation Radian is designed to act as a precision motion time-lapse unit with the ability to be wirelessly controlled from a smartphone via Bluetooth. The project has three days to go as of this article’s publishing date but has already surpassed its $153,471 goal, so you are guaranteed to receive the item as a backer.
StuckOnz may be the perfect solution for capturing your ideal self portrait without the need to carry around a clunky Selfie Stick. The new project on IndieGoGo aims to provide affordable “nano suction for phones, cases, and tablets”. For $5, you will receive a pad that allows you to stick your gizmos onto many different surfaces to help you get that perfect photograph you are seeking.
A new startup company, TEKNIQ Photo, believes that you are carrying around too many camera bags and that they have the perfect solution. TEKNIQ is a modular camera bag that is designed to act as three in one - a backpack, a sling, and a messenger. The project itself has launched on KickStarter, where the company is seeking $50,000 to proceed with manufacturing.
Zuckerim Inc. has launched a Kickstarted campaign to fund their new product, the GekkoPod. Modeling its design off of gekko feet, the GekkoPod aims to be a flexible phone and camera mount for all of your favorite devices. Similar to JOBY’s GorillaPod, the GekkoPod serves as a nifty little solution for photographers on the move. However, Zuckerim’s product may have a few advantages over the competition.
From the annals of strange photography promo products comes this: a barbecue grill that's designed to look like a roll of Kodak's 200 Kodacolor VR film.
QromaScan is a new photo scanning solution that's the world's first to pair smartphone scanning with voice commands for easy digitizing and tagging. It's simple option for people who want to scan their collection of physical prints without having to spend time and money on high-end scanning solutions or services.
Hobbyist photographer and motor racing fan Carlo Bingen was at a race at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium yesterday when he cane across this photographer taking pictures over the chain link fence. While many people would be content with shooting through the fence gaps with a telephoto lens, this guy created a DIY platform that lets him stand over the top.
