Here are the first full photographs of Olympus’ new OM-D series Micro Four Thirds camera, the EM-5 (with an optional battery grip attached). The images were published to Amazon Japan before quickly being taken down. The camera is expected to become official on Wednesday, so we’ll have a full spec list in a couple days.

What do you think of this new camera’s design?

(via Photo Rumors)

New photos have emerged showing the retro OM-styled EM-5 Micro Four Thirds camera that Olympus is planning to unleash on the photo world. It’s the first camera in a new OM-D line, and offers a beautiful old school SLR aesthetic. The image above, which looks like some kind of ad, reads,

A new digital SLR era is about to begin. Digital SLRs, which simply replaced film with an imaging device did not change significantly in terms of size, weight and user interface. The revolutionary, new mirrorless camera, the OM-D, has an exceptionally light and compact body. Its Electronic View Finder enables photographers to check the Art Filter effect, color temperature, and exposure levels in real-time. When shooting, you can instantly “create” a truly unique world and preserve it in exceptional quality. The “world” will be transformed from something you see to something you “take part” in.

The OM-D is a groundbreaking, new digital interchangeable lens camera perfect for people who want to “take part,” “create,” and “share.”

You can see a higher-res version of the ad here.

The camera is expected to offer 16-megapixels, ISO that goes up to 25,600, image stabilization, blazing fast autofocus, and 9fps continuous shooting. Expect to see an official announcement on February 8th.

(via MLZphoto via 43Rumors via The Verge)

Apple’s tiny iPod Nano may soon be rejoining the ranks of Apple products that offer picture-taking capabilities. Photos have emerged on the Internet showing what appears to be the seventh-generation iPod Nano with a camera built into the clip on the back. It’s rumored to be a 1.3-megapixel camera, though Apple may also be looking into a 2-megapixel version as well. A patent filed by the company near the end of 2009 shows illustrations that resemble what’s seen in these photos.

(via Apple.pro via Engadget)

Fujifilm claims that the sensor in its new X-Pro1 mirrorless camera system beats DSLR sensors (both crop and full frame) in resolution and signal/noise ratio. To give salivating photographers a taste of the camera’s image quality, the company has released 9 full-resolution JPEG images shot at different settings and focal lengths. The photo above was captured at ISO 1600 (check out the full-res here). They also provide a glimpse into the camera’s film simulation mode, as each one was shot in either Velvia or Provia mode.

At CES the company also announced that they’ll be releasing a lens adapter for the camera that will make it compatible with Leica M-mount lenses as well as old Fujinon lenses.

(via 1001 Noisy Cameras)

The folks over at Triposo wanted to know when people around the world take pictures, so they harvested the timestamps and geolocation data from photos shared on the Internet and created this beautiful visualization showing one year of photos taken around the world (be sure to watch it full screen and in HD). It’s neat seeing certain parts of the world light up with photo activity on special days.

On January 1st, the whole world celebrates the New Year together:

Spring festival begins in China on January 30th:

Labor Day celebrations can be seen in Europe and China on May 1st:

Canada celebrates Canada Day on July 1st:

On July 4th, Americans celebrate Independence Day in the United States:

There’s also a strange burst of activity on November 30th, which might be the default date that many new cameras are set to.

See if you can pick out any other unusual bursts of activity in the animation. Be sure to share them with us in the comments!

(via Triposo via Visual News)

What you see above is reportedly what the upcoming Nikon D800 will look like from the side. The leaked photo, published by Nikon Rumors, appears to match the front and rear views that were leaked last month.

(via Nikon Rumors)

Want to go beyond using ordinary wrapping paper for your Christmas gifts? You can make some DIY wrapping paper out of photographs. Print out your favorite photos at home onto ordinary copy paper for smaller presents, and tape multiple sheets together for larger packages.

DIY Photo Wrapping Paper [Photojojo]

Now here’s an absolutely bizarre statistic if it’s actually true: 76 percent of Facebook photos with tagged Britons show the subjects in some state of drunkenness. Photo book service MyMemory.com surveyed 1,781 Britons over the age of 18, asking them to estimate the percentage of their pics that showed them under the influence of alcohol. A quarter of those respondents also said that their privacy settings allowed the general public to view their tagged images.

(via Telegraph via Digital Trends)

Image credit: Drunk by Oneras

If you had the task of choosing some photos that represented Earth and mankind to extraterrestrial life forms, which photos would you select? NASA had to do this back in 1977 when it launched the Voyager space probes, which are now the farthest human-made objects from Earth. A committee led by Carl Sagan eventually settled on 116 images:

[...] a collection of 116 pictures (one of which is for calibration) detailing but not limited to human life on earth and the planet itself. Many pictures are annotated with one or many indications of scales of time, size or mass. Some images also contain indications of chemical composition. All measures used on the pictures are first defined in the first few images using physical references.

Among the photos chosen was Ansel Adam’s famous Snake River and Grand Tetons photograph.

Here are some of the other images they decide to include:

A photograph showing Egypt, Red Sea, Sinai Peninsula and the Nile:

An image that shows humans eating. More specifically, licking, biting, and drinking:

A photo of a human hand, and an X-ray of the hand:

A woman in a supermarket who’s also eating:

Wikipedia has a comprehensive list of images (and other messages) that we included on the spacecraft.

Contents of the Voyager Golden Record (via ALTFoto)

The Nikon D800 has been rumored for quite some time, but was reportedly delayed last month after production was halted by the massive floods in Thailand. If you’ve been frustrated with the lack of Nikon news on the DSLR front, here’s something that should tide you over temporarily: photos of the upcoming Nikon D800 were leaked this past weekend.

In addition to the images, Nikon Rumors has confirmed some of the camera’s main specs: the camera is smaller and lighter than the D700, shoots 36MP photos, has dual CF+SD card slots, boasts a slightly larger LCD screen, shoots excellent video (1080p), and has the same AF as the D700.

(via Nikon Rumors)