Nikonian DSLR shooters will soon be able to use their existing F-mount lenses with Nikon’s 1 System line of mirrorless cameras. The FT1 adapter launches next week in Japan on December 22nd for ¥23,310, or roughly $300. Most lenses in the mount system will be compatible, and AF-S lenses will have the added advantage of being able to utilize the cameras’ autofocus systems. Be prepared for massive crop though — the tiny sensor on the cameras mean that your lenses will have a crazy 2.7x crop factor. A 50mm normal lens will turn into a 135mm telephoto lens.

FT1-mount adapter (via The Verge)

Photography business analyst Dan Heller has written a helpful post in which he busts common misconceptions photographers in the US have about model releases. A big one is that you need to first obtain a model release before selling photos of people. Heller writes,

[...] newspapers buy photos, and their use of the photo is unlikely to need a release. So, selling a photo (and making a profit doing so) to a newspaper also does not require a release. And because the law does not require you to have any knowledge of the buyer or their intended use of a photo, you are always allowed to sell photos without a release.

His point is that model releases have to do with photographs being published, not sold. A photographer cannot publish the photos however they’d like, but they can sell them however they’d like since liability rests solely with the eventual publisher. That said, it’s still a good idea to always use one, since they’re often required by the buyers.

Busting Myths about Model Releases [Dan Heller]

Image credit: 257/365 by /*dave*/

If you’re a Flickr loyalist that hasn’t jumped ship for competing services, Flickr is rewarding you with a couple new tools for sharing your photos. Today the company announced an official app for Android and a new photo-sharing feature called Photo Sessions.

Android App

The new Flickr app for Android is designed to compete against other popular photo sharing apps — namely Instagram — by not being limited to Flickr. Instead, users can take pictures and share it across many different services including Facebook and Twitter. They’ve also jumped onto the retro bandwagon by providing different filters for altering the look of your photos.

Photo Sessions

Photo Sessions is a feature for viewing images in real-time with friends and family. Simply start a new session and invite your friends to start looking at pictures, chatting about them, or drawing on them. The feature is also available for iPhones and iPads.

Here’s a teaser for Photo Sessions:

If Flickr can continue this trend of regular updates, then maybe they do stand a chance against the new upstart photo-sharing services and apps…

(via Flickr)

Sigma announced today that its flagship SD1 DSLR will be available starting in June 2011 with a hefty price tag of $9,700. The unique thing about the camera compared to its competitors is the 15MP Foveon sensor that uses 3 stacked sensors, giving each photo 46 million pixels of color data — this supposedly helps provide sharper pictures, truer colors, and fewer artifacts compared to traditional sensors (but also means 45MB Raw files). The camera will shoot at 5fps, use 11 autofocus points, and have a 3-inch LCD screen.

Sigma is reportedly targeting existing medium format shooters with this camera, but the sensor had better be out of this world to justify shelling out nearly 10K on a 1.5x crop factor 15MP DSLR, since photographers can pick up the 40-megapixel medium-format Pentax 645D for the same price.

Update: Sigma has released a number of sample photos here. Be patient with the site though — it seems to be under a heavy load.

Last November NYC firefighter Robert Keiley posed for a stock photograph that showed him covered with soot and holding a helmet. Despite signing a release when the image was made, he was shocked when he found an edited version of the photo in an advertisement show him holding a picture of the Twin Towers on 9/11. The ad read “I Was There”, and was for a law firm specializing in 9/11 lawsuits. Keiley, previously a model, didn’t join the fire department until 2004. Now, the agency behind the ad has pulled it after Keiley announced intentions to sue. The news clip above shows two lawyers debating this case. Your thoughts?

(via A Photo Editor)

Television network TBD recently sent photographer Jay Westcott to cover a Lady Gaga concert in Washington D.C. Upon arriving at the Verizon Center, Westcott was given a release form, on which the fourth paragraph read,

Photographer hereby acknowledges and agrees that all right, title and interest (including copyright) in and to the Photograph(s) shall be owned by Lady Gaga and Photographer hereby transfers and assigns any such rights to Lady Gaga.

After making a call to his editor, Westcott was told to not sign the release and to not shoot the concert.

Afterwards, they discovered that the Washington Post photographer was given an entirely different release (presumably because it was for print as opposed to online) — one that didn’t limit the amount of time it could be used or demand any copyright.

PDNPulse characterized the story as Lady Gaga gobbling up photographers’ copyrights, while others are arguing that these types of contracts are pretty common for big-name acts.

Freelance photographer Kyle Gustafson writes,

Everyone has a camera at concerts these days. And it’s unfortunate that they are trying to crack down on the professional photographers. People that are given photo access have more restrictions than people sitting in the front row with their cameras and their flashes popping off. [#]

What are your thoughts on this case?

Dear photographers, Lady Gaga wants the copyright on your work (via PDNPulse)

Image credit: Lady Gaga by a_choudhuri

Olympus announced new compact cameras today. The SZ-30MR (on left) is the world’s first compact that can shoot both 1080p Full HD video and 16 megapixel stills at the same time. What’s more, the camera can record two different videos at once — videos that differ in zoom, quality, or filters.

Next, the TG-810 (on right) is supposedly the “world’s first 100kg crushproof camera”. While we’re not so sure that it’s the world’s first, it certainly seems to be one tough camera. This 14 megapixel camera capable of 720p HD video is crushproof up to 100kg (~220lb), shockproof from a distance of 2m (~6.5ft), waterproof to 10m, and freezeproof to -10°C. Both cameras will be available in April 2011 for $400.

Nikon announced the high-end compact P300 today to compete against the likes of Canon’s popular S95 and Olympus’ XZ-1. First, the good things — the 12 megapixel camera has a sweet f/1.8 24-100mm equivalent lens that should perform quite nicely in low light situations (especially with an ISO that can be boosted up to 3200). It can also record HD video at 1080p and 30fps, and has a 3-inch LCD that’s easy on the eyes.

On the flip side, Nikon decided for some reason to leave RAW shooting out, making this an extremely expensive, high-quality JPEG shooter, something that isn’t going to satisfy more serious photographers who want a smaller compact that still allows serious post-production work. You can find some comparison tables showing this camera stacked up against competition over on CNET and on Nikon Rumors. It’ll be available in March 2011 for $330.

A day after Carl Zeiss announced they would be joining the Micro Four Thirds format, Sony is striking back by announcing that they will be releasing specifications for its E-mount, allowing lens makers to develop third-party lenses for the NEX line of mirrorless cameras and camcorders. What’s more, Carl Zeiss, Cosina, Sigma and Tamron have already committed to manufacturing lenses for the format.

It’ll be interesting to see how this growing war between mirrorless camera formats plays out.

Image credit: SONY NEX-5 by DORONKO

Looks like the leaked photos of the Sony A290 we published last month were of the real thing. Sony has just announced the A290 and A390, two entry level DSLR cameras that replace the A230 and A380. The new cameras are nearly identical, with both boasting 14.2 megapixel sensors, but the A390 offers an extra “Quick AF Live View” and tilt-LCD for more flexible shooting. Aside from increasing the megapixel count from 10 to 14, redesigning the grip and button layout, and adding the “Quick AF Live View” to the A390, there does not seem to be too much of a difference between these cameras and their predecessors.

The cameras will be priced at $500 and $600 respectively (which includes a 18-55mm kit lens), and will be available starting in July.