Yes, it looks like some kind of futuristic spaceship fuel cell, but it’s actually the Alpinist camera case by BetaShell. As you might remember, BetaShell sells a line of lens cases that guard against extreme environments, and the Alpinist offers the same kind of protection for people looking to bring compact cameras into extreme environments (rock climbing or extreme skiing, for example). They’re made out of aircraft-grade aluminum, and come in a few different sizes priced between $60 and $120 over on the BetaShell website.
You’ve probably seen countless photographs already of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan back in March, but they were likely captured by professional photographers looking to have the images published in news outlets. What, then, would photographs look like if they were taken by ordinary people who were directly affected by the disaster? Aichi Hirano found out the answer to this question by distributing 50 disposable cameras to survivors at a number of shelters with a note that read,
Please take photos of things you see with your eyes, things you want to record, remember, people near you, your loved ones, things you want to convey… please do so freely. And please enjoy the process if you can, even if it’s just a little bit.
The Arizona Republic features photographer Michael McNamara shot this photo of his camera bag showing the gear he uses for his work. His photographs are used for food, fashion, and lifestyle pieces, and usually requires lighting.
I use a Think Tank Photo Airport Security roller. I use a Canon 5D mk2 and a 1D mk2N for my bodies. I have the standard 16-35, 24-70 and 70-200 zooms, and also have a 50 macro, 100 macro (both for food), 50 1.4 and an 85 1.8 (mainly for portraits). I have a 580EXII and five 550EX strobes.
The “Holy Trinity” of Canon zoom lenses and six strobes. Lovely.
Photographer Nasim Mansurov’s friend recently ordered Canon 5D Mark II from online camera store AjRichard for just $2,350, but was then called by a sales rep and told that the battery and charger weren’t included. The final order came out to $2,629, which included some unneeded accessories and 3-day shipping. When the order finally arrived in 2 weeks, he found that it was a 5D Mark II + 24-120mm kit box with the lens removed. Read the rest of this entry »
We shared a video of Canon’s Image Stabilization technology in action in the beginning of the year, but that was on a pro telephoto lens and inside a glass display case. What would the same technology look like in a cheaper, consumer lens? Preston over at Camera Technica decided to find out, disassembling a Canon 18-55mm kit lens to capture this short video of the IS mechanism in action. I had no idea the thing used springs, did you?
Panamanian photographer José Castrellón‘s series Priti Baiks features portraits of men standing proudly next to their decorated bikes. The bikes are their owners’ only form of transportation, and the owners spend a considerable amount of their time and resources personalizing their bikes into symbols of identity and individuality. Read the rest of this entry »
Harry McCracken over at Technologizer wrote a fascinating piece about Polaroid founder Edwin Land and the history of the SX-70 camera.
“Don’t undertake a project,” an oft-quoted Land maxim goes, “unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.” The SX-70 was both.
Did you know that “SX-70″ was actually the codeword used by Land a quarter century before the SX-70 camera for his first instant film camera project? It was his 70th Special eXperiment (Land was a Harvard dropout and prolific inventor, inventing the first synthetic material capable of polarizing light when he was just 19-years-old!)
It’s a pretty lengthy piece, but a must-read for any Polaroid lover.
This photograph was taken by a lens with some “obstruction” on the front element. Aside from the blurry patch of nastiness in the bottom portion of the frame, the rest of the image looks pretty decent. What do you think the “obstruction” is? A little dirt? A smudge where the photographer accidentally touched the front element? A scratch? The answer is a little closer to a scratch than a smudge… Click here to see the answer
I’m not sure how useful this would be for most people, but it’s a neat look at the kinds of technologies people are working on to enrich our photo sharing experience. Pass-Them-Around is an app developed by researchers at Nokia that lets you share digital photographs with friends sitting around a table as if you had physical prints sitting in front of you. The phones can also be placed side by side to act as larger displays for the photos.
