Here’s a walkthrough of how I hooked up my Android phone to my DSLR. Why did I do this? Because of Dropbox, social media, quick editing for the web, an intervalometer, macro/low-angle photography, an external LCD screen for video, Wi-Fi, and more.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

• An Android phone with USB OTG (USB host) capabilities
• A USB OTG cable
• A Canon or Nikon DSLR
• CamCap and DSLR Controller (paid apps)

Connect the camera to the phone using the USB OTG cable and choose one of installed apps:

CapCam is a great for tablets but also work well on smartphones.

The most interesting feature of CamCap is that photos shot using the DSLR will automatically be saved to your phone.

…and that gives us endless possibilities for things like… Wi-Fi file transfers:

Instagram:

DSLR Controller (which only works for Canon EOS cameras) provides a LiveView for photos and video. This is great for low-angle shots and for quick overview with pinch-to-zoom and tap-to-focus feature.

To attach the phone to the camera I use a standard hot shoe mount adapter and a modified phone holder for tripods.

That’s a taste of what you can do when you combine your Android phone/tablet with your DSLR.

About the author: Maciej Pietuszynski is a photographer based in Dublin, Ireland. Visit his blog here and his Facebook page here. This article originally appeared here.

Nikon has announced that it will soon be opening up a new DSLR-making factory in the Southeast Asian country of Laos (officially called Lao People’s Democratic Republic).

The Japanese camera company says that the purpose of the expansion is to reinforce its manufacturing and to reduce the costs associated with creating the cameras.

When the plant starts up in October 2013, it’ll be tasked with producing components of entry-level and mid-level DSLRs, which will then be completely assembled as finished products at Nikon’s facilities in Ayutthaya, Thailand.

A Wikipedia map showing where Laos is located in Southeast Asia

The $6.3 million factory will have 10,000 square meters of floor space and will employ 800 employees.

No word on whether this development is related at all to the fact that Nikon’s Thailand facilities were crippled by massive flooding back in late 2011, reportedly causing major setbacks to Nikon’s DSLR roadmap.

Image credit: Vientiane by goflashpacker

New cameras are like new computers. Both of them depreciate quite quickly as new technologies and new models are churned out year after year. This presents a perpetual problem for photographers, as many constantly grapple with the question of whether to upgrade their camera to a more recent model, or whether to purchase a higher-end model so that it keeps its value longer.

Market research software company Terapeak recently did a study that looks at depreciation in Canon EOS DSLRs. The results are pretty interesting.

The study used a tool called Terapeak for eBay, which aggregates and analyzes transactions on eBay. Data regarding new Canon camera body sales were imported into the tool and then crunched to see what would turn out.

The chart above is an apples to apples comparison of depreciation for four Canon models released over the past year: the Canon 1D X (MSRP: $6,799), the Canon 5D Mk III (MSRP: $3,499), the Canon 6D (MSRP: $2,099), and the Canon 650D (MSRP: $850).

This is the same comparison graph with some trend lines added in:

Here’s what the study discovered: cheaper cameras do indeed depreciate faster than more expensive models.

High end cameras such as the 1D X and 5D Mk3 depreciate at roughly the same rate (i.e. they both hold their values relatively well), even though one model is much more expensive than the other (the former is double the price of the latter).

For some reason, even though the full frame 6D is billed as a prosumer camera that sits alongside the 5D Mark II and Mark III, it depreciates at roughly the same rate as the entry-level 650D.

After 26 weeks after being launched, the 1D X and 5D Mark III are still worth about 90% of their original market price, but the 6D and 650D have plummeted down to around 70% of their original values.

The key takeaways of these findings are: (1) purchasing a more expensive and higher-tier camera doesn’t ensure that the body will depreciate more slowly, and (2) purchasing a higher class of camera (pro versus amateur) is the way to go if you’d like to have a camera that keeps its value for a longer period of time.

For a closer look at how this study was conducted and the results that it came to, check out the reports on the Terapeak blog here and here.

With the cost of my local neg scanner in London being £40/hour for a Hasselblad Flextight, I have been digitising using a DSLR for a quite a while. The results can be extremely good as long as a little time is put into the setup to begin with.

Obviously this type of digitising is only suitable for enlargments that the camera used is capable of, but with that in mind the results are extremely sharp, with a smooth tonal graduation and the ability to go through a few rolls of film very quickly!

After going through the images, I can then select a few frames to take to the Flextight in order to do the high-resolution scan for fine art printing if needed…

The setup is very basic; the negative is placed onto a horizontal piece of clean optical glass (taken from an old scanner) the camera is above pointing down. As always the choice of lens here is critical, Canon L glass (or equiv.) macro if possible. Also getting the camera perfectly square on saves a lot of time later in Photoshop.

Under the glass is a gap of an inch or two, then a horizontal sheet of 5mm translucent acrylic. The acrylic is to diffuse the light, and the air gap to ensure that any surface irregularities or scratches in the acrylic do not come through into the capture.

On the floor is a strobe pointing upwards, with layers of trace to diffuse and reduce the power of the strobe, as per the diagram.

As with the zone system in the darkroom, I found that the best practice for a correctly exposed black and white neg is to expose for the film density, so it registers just above black (RGB 10,10,10). Then everything else will fall into place along the histogram, with any further adjustments being done with curves and levels. Very thin or very dense negs can take some trial and error but almost any neg can be digitised with some experimentation.

As you can see from the screen shot, the camera is set to fairly normal studio settings (1/125 F11 ISO100), with the aperture adjusted to maximise sharpness for the lens begin used. Too low and the best of the glass is not being used, too high and diffraction errors will start to creep in. The levels have been crossed over to invert the negative back to positive again.

Here are a few more sample photographs digitized using my Canon 5D Mark II:

About the author: David Wilman is a London-based fashion, still life and fine art photographer. Visit his website here.

If you’re the proud owner of a Wi-Fi-connected digital camera, there’s something you need to be aware of: your camera could be used to spy on you.

At the hacker conference Shmoocon 2013 last month, German security researchers Daniel Mende and Pascal Turbing reported on findings that Internet-connected cameras can easily be exploited and turned into spy cams.

Vulnerable cameras could be accessed and controlled by others through a web browser

The researchers were able to take advantage of a security flaw in the Canon 1D X DSLR, stealing information sent to a network from the camera and taking complete control over the camera itself.

Unlike computer servers, cameras do not contain logs that would allow unauthorized accesses to be detected and/or discovered after the fact.

Here’s a presentation (it’s nearly an hour long) in which the duo reports on their findings, detail how the attack is carried out, and share tips on how to keep your cameras and network connections secure:

YouTube user BobHousedorf2 summarizes the findings this way:

Basically, it comes down to: use WEP. If you buy a new Canon 6D, use WEP, or, if the 6D doesn’t support WEP, don’t buy it. (Or if it doesn’t support some form of advanced network connection encryption, like WPA).

The problem isn’t just with cameras that come with Internet connectivity, but also memory cards that add that type of connectivity to non-connected cameras.

(via Help Net Security via Boing Boing)

US Army lieutenant Alexander Jansen has spent the past year serving in Afghanistan as a liaison officer, training the members of the Afghan National Army. During this time, he has been very involved in photography, using his DSLRs to capture what deployment is like through a soldier’s eyes.

We’ve mentioned Jansen a couple of times last year. The first time was when he shared some techniques for stabilizing your camera that he learned through marksmanship training. The second time was when he used the dust of Afghanistan to demonstrate how effective the weathersealing is on Pentax DSLRs.

Since February 2012, Jansen has also been publishing his photographs over at PentaxForums every few weeks. Here is a selection of photographs that Jansen has captured:

Here’s the list of gear in Jansen’s arsenal: Pentax K-5 IIs, Pentax K-5, Pentax K-30, Pentax K-7, DA* 16-50mm, DA* 50-135mm, DA* 60-250mm, DA 55-300mm, DFA 100mm Macro WR, Sigma 8-16mm, and Sigma 30mm.

You can find his entire collection of 283 published photographs photographs divided into 17 separate updates over on PentaxForums. There are higher-resolution images, as well as Jansen’s descriptions that describe what the photographs are showing.

Image credits: Photographs by Alexander Jansen and used with permission

Remember how Usain Bolt grabbed a photographer’s DSLR last year during the London Olympics and started snapping photos of his fellow athletes? A similar thing happened today in an NBA basketball game between the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors.

At one point in the game, as play was under way, Bulls power forward Carlos Boozer accidentally kicked a photographer’s DSLR (with a wireless trigger attached to the hotshoe) onto the court.

It was at the same time Raptors player Terrence Ross drove to the basket and got fouled in the process of making a shot. Seeing the professional camera lying on the ground, Raptors power forward Amir Johnson decided he would use it to celebrate his teammate’s basket.

He picked it up and snapped a few photographs of his teammates before handing it off to a man on the side of the court.

Animated GIF by SBNation

Here’s a short clip showing the incident as it happened on TV:

Usain Bolt’s photographs were published shortly after his camera hijacking incident, and those images went viral across the Web. It’ll be interesting to see whether any of Johnson’s photographs are published (leave a comment if you see them anywhere!).

If you thought the LEGO Nikon F SLR we shared earlier this week was neat, check out this LEGO DSLR created by Taiwanese LEGO enthusiast RGB900. The realistic toy camera is created entirely out of various LEGO pieces, and features an external hotshoe-mounted flash unit and a flexible camera strap!

On the front of the camera is a lens created out of rubber LEGO tires. It features a red rubber band ring that resembles what you might find on a Canon L series lens.

From above, we see that the camera has an LCD panel, a shutter button, a hotshoe mount, and a mode dial:

On the back is an LCD panel, various buttons and dials, and a viewfinder that even comes with a “rubber” eyecup:

As we mentioned earlier, the camera has a removable flash unit. Here are a couple of closeup photos of the flash unit mounted on a hotshoe stand:

Finally, a couple of photos showing the entire LEGO SLR kit in all its fully-assembled glory:

You can find higher-resolution photos through RGB900′s Flickr photostream.

(via Gizmodo)

Image credits: Photographs by RGB900

Canon’s DSLRs come with a variety of continuous shooting speeds, ranging from 2.5 frames per second on the 300D (AKA Digital Rebel/Kiss Digital) to a whopping 14 frames per second on the high-end 1D-X. If you want to get a taste of what these shutter speeds sound like on the actual cameras, check out the comparison video above by YouTube user dochero2005.

It was created by taking the burst mode shutter sounds of cameras in the Canon lineup, visualizing them, and then arranging them in order of speed.

Here are the cameras featured in the video: 300D, 1100D, 350D, 440D, 550D, 5D Mark II, 6D, 30D, 1Ds Mark III, 5D Mark III, 60D, 50D, 40D, 7D, 1D Mark III, 1D Mark IV, 1D X.

Back in 2011, we shared a couple of videos showing what 14 frames per second looks and sounds like on the Canon 1D X. The same burst mode frame rate existed in Canon cameras as early as 1984, albeit in a very different form.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on mirrors. Mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, like the Olympus Pen E-P5 or Samsung  NX300, have enjoyed increasing popularity over the past few years, and it’s become clear that they are more than a passing fad.

This motley collection of high-tech cameras filled the gap that existed between bulky DSLRs and compact cameras, but manufacturers are now starting to expand their mirrorless lineups in hopes of attracting a wider cross-section of photographers, including professionals.

However, efforts to court the professional buyer thus far have been misdirected, and they’ve focused on building luxury cameras rather than professional cameras. Mirrorless platforms have the potential to compete with, and outshine, even the most formidable of professional DSLRs, and camera manufacturers need to take note.

Manufacturers’ faith in a broad demand for mirrorless cameras is visible in their expanding lineups. While most of the current players — pretty much all of the big names in consumer photography — entered the mirrorless market offering just one or two models, there has been rapid expansion since then. For example, Sony’s NEX brand now includes four different lines, while Panasonic is actively selling more than ten different models of mirrorless camera bodies.

Part of this branching out includes a reach for amateur and casual photographers. While demand for conventional compact cameras is performing a spectacular dive, in large part due to the proliferation of smart phones, it’s not hard to imagine many amateur snappers being drawn to these middle ground offerings.

Meanwhile, some manufacturers have taken steps to court the professional market. These sorts of efforts may soon prove to be far more profitable than focusing on amateurs as demand for cameras with changeable lens systems, like mirrorless cameras and DSLRs, is picking up. These early efforts have produced some beautiful cameras, but their focus on style over substance may be missing the point.

The Hasselblad Lunar is the most egregious offender. For decades, Hassleblad defined the high water mark in professional studio cameras, but the Lunar, their first mirrorless offering, doesn’t come close to upholding that legacy.

To be fair, it’s a beautiful little work of art, featuring grips made of Tuscan leather and mahogany, but all the extra bells and whistles don’t hide the fact that it’s just a reworked Sony NEX-7. A reworked NEX-7 that costs more than $6000. For cameras like the Lunar, the primary goal isn’t to build a reliable professional tool, but rather to create a phenomenal user-experience.

Another great example is the Fujifilm X-Series, which tries to emulate the look and feel of classic rangefinder cameras while deploying a series of new technological tricks.

Don’t get me wrong, I regularly use my Fujifilm X100 (technically not a mirrorless camera, but certainly a spiritual brother to the mirrorless X Pro-1), and I often enjoy using it more than my DSLR. But that’s just the point: it’s designed to produce a specific kind of experience rather than an optimal product.

Contrast that sort of mentality to the latest high-end DSLRs offered by Canon and Nikon. They’re big, bulbous, and heavy. To be sure, aesthetics were considered, but they clearly weren’t the primary, secondary, or even tertiary goal. That’s fine because photographers don’t buy them for their looks, but rather for their big sensors, high shooting speeds, great lens lineups, and tough casings.

And there’s no reason a mirrorless camera can’t be all of that and more.

The main difference between these two styles of camera, after all, is the mirror and prism system in the DSLR that allows photographers to peer directly through the camera lens when they peek into the viewfinder. Viewing the scene without needing an electronic screen, like the LCD displays and electronic viewfinders used on mirrorless cameras, can be a smoother experience, but mirrors also have major disadvantages. They’re bulky and mechanically complex, and require that the lens sit far away from the sensor. As mirrorless cameras have already demonstrated, throwing this set up out and relying on digital systems allows for huge size and weight reductions, in addition to a number of other advantages.

Imagine, for a moment, a mirrorless camera with the specs of a Canon 1D Mark IV, but at half the weight, half the size, and perhaps even half the price. With a little effort by manufacturers to realize this hypothetical, such a camera might not be that far away, and professionals should care about that possibility.

The industry now faces an opportunity for innovation similar to that experienced in digital cinematography during the late 2000’s when companies like RED Digital Cinema and Silicon Imaging developed small, light video cameras with tremendous power by embracing the potential of a fully electronic imaging system and scrapping the vestigial remnants of past film cameras.

Check out the documentary Side by Side, an exploration of the rise of digital cinema cameras in the movie industry for a fascinating examination of this trend.  Smaller, lighter, more computer reliant cameras with big imaging power will open up new creative possibilities for photographers and will help make powerful photographic tools more accessible to more people.

That’s why photographers should care about innovation in the mirrorless sector, but camera manufacturers should care because there’s going to be big money for the first company to get it right. Sony seems to agree, and it looks like they’ll soon be moving a larger proportion of their lineup towards mirrorless systems.

To be sure, there are technological kinks to work out, and there will be a place for DSLRs in professional photographers armories for the forseeable future. Sports and wildlife photographers, for example, benefit in particular from the clarity and precision of optical viewfinders. But it seems inevitable that professional mirrorless camera platforms will soon be able to challenge the dominance of the DSLR. With all the opportunity for innovation that this shift will bring, that’s a day worth looking forward to.

Image credits: Photographs by vernieman/Flickr, Smial, Hasselblad, Rama, and Neil P Cronin

Back in March, we shared about how realistic computer generated images has been encroaching on the commercial product photography industry and killing photography jobs. More and more of the product photos you see in advertisements and press releases these days did not involve an actual camera and photographer at all, but rather artist, a computer, and 3D rendering software.

For example, the Nikon D60 product “photo” seen above was created entirely in Keyshot, a powerful 3D rendering program.

Humster3d is an online store that sells 3D models. Among the 2,500+ items in its shop are three popular DSLR cameras: the Nikon D600, Nikon D5200, and Canon 5D Mark III:

Here are some stills showing what you’d get if you purchased the entirely computer-generated 3D renders:

Aside from some strange pixelation in some areas (i.e. the “Canon” on the lens of the 5D Mark III), the shots look pretty usable as product shots — especially at low web resolutions.

Here are a few 360-degree views of the cameras:

Although the quality may not be on par with what you’d be able to achieve in a photo studio and through shooting an actual, physical camera, it’s the price point that makes this type of “next gen” product photo very attractive to “photo” buyers: each 3D model costs just $95 through Humster3D — far less than what it’d cost for a professional to shoot a product photo for you in a full-fledged studio.

And this type of rendering is only going to get lower in price and higher in quality… Yikes.

(via Humster3D via Nikon Rumors)

Have you ever wondered why the professional photography industry is dominated by cameras that carry on the design tradition that was started by classic film SLRs?

Diagram of an SLR pentaprism

When digital cameras first appeared, the available display technology was deficient when compared to the “resolution” achieved by simply projecting the image entering the camera via a mirror into a focusing screen (usually, a round piece of ground glass, although some designs used fresnels) that would then be reflected by a pentaprism (or pentamirror). So, it’s natural that, from the start, DSLRs retained the traditional SLR bodies, with some minor changes, namely, being a little bulkier than regular SLRs, to fit inside all the electronic components.

Even today, any photographer (and videographer) who is worth his salt will prefer looking into the eyepiece than at an exposed display, at least during framing, exposure, and focusing, because incident light on the display (glare) will reflect on to your eye, making it difficult to see what the image actually looks like.

Using a pentaprism still has many advantageous features that make them better than digital displays, although they don’t hold the same degree of truth they did 10 years ago:

1. When using an optical viewfinder, you are sampling EVERY light ray that hits the focusing screen, and not only the ones that hit a pixel sensor. Provided that your camera’s focusing array is in good condition, the eyepiece will display a very faithful representation of what your scene actually looks like, in regards of color and brightness. Nowadays, displays (and sensors) have resolutions and dynamic ranges that approach that of the human eye, but we are not quite there yet.
2. Contrast detection autofocus is deficient when compared with phase detection focus on SLRs and the good old “something is wrong” approach of the human eye. Contrast detection is slower, and does not operate properly under low light conditions. Contrast detection is common to mirrorless cameras.
3. This one might seem like a minor point, but not having a mirror in front of the sensor really leaves your sensor exposed to debris and dust. I clean my camera’s sensors (with the menu option, of course. NEVER clean a sensor by hand) each time I use them on the field, and, most of the time, the mirrorless camera is the one that needs servicing because of the sheer amount of dust that gets stuck on the exposed sensor. This is something that will never change.

Sony’s SLT line of cameras use a modified SLR design: Instead of having a completely opaque mirror, the camera’s use a semi-translucent mirror set at a 45 degree angle. When light hits the mirror, it is directed towards two different sensors: One set directly above the mirror, where the focusing array would be, which is used for phase detection focus and exposure, and the second one behind the mirror, where a normal sensor would be, for imaging.

The design of Sony’s Single Lens Translucent (SLT) cameras

The SLT design uses the image rendered by the imaging sensor for displaying, dumping completely the optical approach to focusing/framing. Mind you, the SLT line was designed especially with filming and video in mind (which makes them my favorite line of DSLRs), and most, if not all, professional photographers would rather use the regular SLR design with pentaprism.

So, there are three basic reasons we cling to the old SLR design:

1. Technology: the eye, and pure optics, are still the best way to get a faithful image for focusing and framing. Sensors and displays are not quite there yet.
2. Ergonomy: The GH line of mirrorless cameras by Panasonic uses the SLR design. Sturdier and easier to handle and stabilize than the viewfinder or rangefinder design, this is, I believe, the main reason why we still use the SLR design
3. Tradition: The photography crowd is one that does not embrace paradigmatic change with ease. Optics is an old science, perhaps one of the oldest studies of physics. The adoption of new technologies involving optics would require a very objective upgrade from the older model, especially when you consider how much money one invests in collecting all the necessary equipment for photography.

   Unlike other areas of digital technology, photography does not require one to change equipment every year. A Canon T2i bought 4 years ago is still a very respectable piece of equipment when used properly. So, letting go of a design that has worked perfectly for photographers for the past 60 years and that has yet to be replaced by a significantly better design is not an easy thing to do, especially when you consider the costs of embracing a new model.

About the author: Diego Noriega Mendoza is an amateur photographer and aspiring filmmaker based in Mexico City, Mexico. You can find him on Twitter and Facebook. This article originally appeared here.

Image credits: Film star by APM Alex, Pentaprism by avikovacevich, Wide angle viewfinder by Lars Plougmann

Pentax had a big announcement day today, unleashing three new cameras on the world of photography. The K-50 and K-500 are new mid- and entry-level DSLRs (respectively), and the Q7 is a new mirrorless camera that carries on the pint-sized tradition started by the Pentax Q back in 2011.

Pentax K-50: A Colorful Mid-Level DSLR

The K-50 is a new mid-level DSLR that packs respectable specs and serious color — it’s a camera that’s available in 120 different color combinations.

81 weather seals found throughout the camera’s surface will give you peace of mind when you take it to environments that aren’t friendly to most cameras. The K-50 is weather-resistant and can put up with rain, snow, and sand.

Tucked inside the camera is a 16-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor that can shoot 6 frames per second at ISOs of up to 51200.

On the back of the camera is a large 3-inch LCD screen with 921K dots of resolution.

Other features include a 100% coverage viewfinder, in-body sensor-shift shake reduction, HD video recording, and 4 optional focusing screens.

The K-50 will start shipping in July 2013 with a price of $700 for the body only or $780-$880 when bundled with a lens or two. You can build one with custom colors over on Pentax’s website.

Pentax K-500: A Not-as-Colorful DSLR for Newbies

The new K-500 is the only one of the three new cameras to not feature a bazillion different color combinations. It’s a rather straightforward entry-level DSLR that focuses on putting advanced features in the hands of people who are just starting out with DSLR photography.

Like the K-50, it features a 16-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with a maximum ISO of 51200. The continuous shooting speed is also the same at 6fps. Oh, and you’ll also find the same 100% FOV viewfinder, in-body shake reduction, and snappy autofocus.

Basically, if you step down from the K-50 to the K-500, two of the main features you’ll lose are the colors and the weather-sealing. The K-50 also comes with a rechargeable battery, while the K-500 comes with four AA batteries and an option to use the K-50′s battery.

The K-500 will also be hitting store shelves in July 2013 with a price of $600 when bundled with an 18-55mm kit lens, or $700 when bundled with an additional 50-200mm.

Pentax Q7: A Tiny Q Camera with a Slightly Bigger Sensor

Pentax remains committed to its Q line of pint-sized mirrorless cameras. In 2011, the Pentax Q became the world’s smallest interchangeable lens camera. It was cute to look at, but photographers grumbled about the fact that it only contained a 1/2.3-inch sensor. The Pentax Q10 of 2012 was largely the same camera, and didn’t do much to ease the grumbling.

Pentax is attempting to address the sensor size issue with the new Q7. It actually features a slightly larger sensor: you’ll find a 1/1.7-inch sensor inside instead of a 1/2.3-inch one. The sensor is a backside-illuminated CMOS sensor with 12.4 megapixels of resolution and a max ISO of 12800. It’s capable of capturing 12-bit RAW files in DNG format.

Despite the size change, the camera is still compatible with the same Q-mount system of lenses.

Other features include 19 smart effects, creative modes and filters (e.g. Brilliant Color, Vintage Color, Warm Fade, Bold Monochrome, and Water Color), a convenient customizable Quick Dial on the front of the camera, in-body sensor-shift shake reduction, and a built-in pop-up flash.

The Q7 will start shipping in August 2013 for $500. Like the K-50, it’s available in 120 different color combinations.

Rumors of a high-megapixel Canon DSLR have been floating around for quite some time now, but the photo above might be the first time a photograph of the actual camera has leaked onto the Web.

The photograph was first uploaded to the Chinese microblogging website Weibo (page has since been taken down) and then subsequently spotted by Photo Rumors:

The photograph shows a man holding two cameras. One of them is a black rangefinder-style camera, but the other one is a Canon DSLR:

The Canon brand is visible on the camera strap and body, but most of the details of the camera itself have been blurred out:

A closer look at the camera strap shows what appears to be a “Canon 3D” logo hidden behind a light meter strap:

Rumors of a high-megapixel Canon DSLR started swirling last September. “3D” was one of the model names attached to the camera from the beginning, and the camera is rumored to have a body similar to the 1D X — something that matches this latest leaked photo.

In October 2012, it was reported that multiple prototypes of the camera were already being tested in the wild in locations that include the United States and the “Far East” (again, a detail that matches this leak).

A “Canon 3D” DSLR also appeared briefly on B&H Photo Video last October, adding additional fuel to the rumors of a 3D high-MP DSLR.

The camera is said to have 40+ megapixel and a price tag of over $9,000. We’ll likely be hearing about this camera much more — perhaps even officially — by the end of this year.

So far, the partnership between Hasselblad and Sony hasn’t been as enriching as both companies might have hoped for. Hasselblad’s Lunar mirrorless camera was met with less-than-favorable reviews once people realized it was basically a re-branded Sony NEX-7 with a massive price tag.

But have no fear, the companies haven’t stopped working together yet. In fact, if recent Hasselblad job listings are to be trusted, the company has three new cameras in the works.

Rumors that Hasselblad was working on a modified Sony SLT and compact camera first surfaced in September of last year at Photokina, when people noticed that a couple of the sketches showing how the Lunar came about actually showed a fixed-lens compact and an SLR-style body.

Until now, that’s the last we head of the possibility, but two new job listings on Hasselblad’s website (here and here) confirm that the company is in fact working on two compacts and a DSLR or SLT.

The listings read “We have set extremely high targets for 2013 with planned releases of at [least] 3 new cameras and supporting camera accessories,” and “You will be responsible for the worldwide sales of consumer-oriented line of Hasselblad products starting with a mirrorless Lunar and followed already this year with 2 compact cameras and a DSLR.”

Although they use the term DSLR, some sources speculate that the camera will in fact be an SLT, even as Sony may be saying goodbye to the technology.

Since all of this info comes courtesy of a couple of job listings, there are no specs, price tags or potential announcement dates to speak of. But we’ll keep an eye out for any leaks as the second half of 2013 gets underway and official announcement days draw ever nearer.

(via Mirrorless Rumors)

Canon has officially announced the 70D, the company’s latest mid-range DSLR for serious photography enthusiasts. It’s a successor to the 60D that packs some major improvements in how autofocusing is done.

Inside the camera is a 20.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor that was designed and manufactured by Canon. Its basic specs are pretty standard: an ISO range of 100-12800, 7fps continuous shooting, and a 14-bit DIGIC 5+ processor.

It’s the autofocus system built into the sensor that’s quite groundbreaking. Canon is introducing a new technology called Dual Pixel CMOS AF. The feature takes each pixel on the sensor and splits it into two photodiodes. Data gathered by these photodiodes can be read independently to assist with autofocusing, or together for capturing a photograph.

Dual Pixel CMOS AF helps the 70D do smooth and sharp autofocusing when capturing HD videos and speedy autofocusing when capturing photographs in Live View mode. When it’s not in Live View mode, the camera can take advantage of 19-autofocus points that are all cross-type. The points can be selected individually, in small groups, or automatically in a large area of the frame.

On the back of the camera is an Intelligent Viewfinder that offers a 98% frame coverage at a 0.95x magnification. Underneath it is a 3-inch swiveling LCD screen with a 1.04-million-dot resolution. It’s also a capacitive touchscreen, allowing the photographer to control various features of the camera by touching, swiping, and pinching.

The 70D is also features wireless connectivity thanks to its built-in Wi-Fi adapter. The camera can be paired with Canon’s EOS remote app for remote controls and Live View.

Other features include in-camera HDR, multiple-exposure mode, creative filters, an Integrated Speedlite transmitter for controlling multiple external Speedlite flashes, and 1080p HD movie recording.

You’ll be able to pick up a Canon 70D beginning at the end of August 2013 for a price of $1199 for the body only, $1349 when paired with an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens, or $1549 when bundled with a EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens.

Photographer Benjamin Von Wong was taking a tour of Nikon Professional Services facilities recently when he had an idea: with so much Nikon gear around, why not try making music with the cameras? After all, it’s not often that you have tens of thousands of dollars in gear at your disposal to create something fun. The video above is what resulted.

Ben tells us that he was inspired to create it after seeing the recent video that compared the shutter sounds of various Canon DSLRs — a Nikon one appeared shortly after — and that he used about $30,000 worth of Nikon gear for the video:

After gathering the gear together, the challenge was to create as many different sounds as they could with the cameras. The bodies had different continuous shooting FPS speeds, and the team also played around with the “CL-Continuous Low” setting to milk 1, 2, and 3 FPS speeds out of the bodies.

In addition to shutter speeds, they also incorporated Live View toggling, Mirror toggling, various beeps within menus, and even slamming one of Nikon’s pro bodies onto an apple crate.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video showing how the project went down:

Oh, and if you want to listen to or download the MP3 file of this “song,” you can do so here:

You can find a little more info on this project over on Benjamin’s blog.

Image credits: Photographs and videos by Benjamin Von Wong and used with permission

Nikon appears to be gearing up to drop some bombshell announcements on the camera industry sometime in the next half decade — things that could shake up the photo world and change the way consumers think about cameras.

Bloomberg reported this past weekend that Nikon has been brainstorming ways to combat the encroachment of smartphones in the camera world. Compact cameras sales dropped 48% over the past year and DSLR sales dropped 6%, but smartphone sales have exploded 46% during that same period.

Fewer people are carrying standalone cameras to document their lives, and are opting instead for the convenience of snapping shots with their phones.

Nikon president Makoto Kimura is quoted by Bloomberg as saying that even though Nikon has historically been geared toward the concept of traditional cameras, it’s more than willing to “change its approach to offer products to that bigger [smartphone] market.”

The company’s slumping point-and-shoot sales have recently been offset by the profits from its pricier DSLR models, but the company is hard at work developing “secret products” in order to create new growth opportunities.

Kimura says that they are looking to “create a product that will change the concept of cameras.” It may or may not be a “camera consumer product,” but is expected to be unveiled within the next five years.

When asked whether Nikon was developing a smartphone, Kimura refused to divulge any information.

(via Bloomberg via The Verge)

Image credits: Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI by niXerKG, Chegou! by George Vale

It’s official — the point-and-shoot market is dying, while DSLRs and other interchangeable lens systems champion the cause for standalone cameras.

A new report from retail researchers NPD tallies U.S. sales of $2.1 billion worth of interchangeable lens cameras between June 2012 and May 2013, an increase of 5 percent over the same period a year ago. U.S. sales of compact cameras, meanwhile, plunged 26 percent, to $1.9 billion. This is the first time interchangeable lens cameras have surpassed the sleek-and-shiny segment.

Analysts say the drop is (surprise!) due to smartphones, which have been eating away at the point-and-shoot market since 2009. Manufacturers such as Olympus and Fujifilm are trimming or eliminating their compact lines to focus on higher end offerings.

Yet plenty of people still care about image quality (or at least want to look like they do), hence the proliferation of what used to be the high end of the camera market.

The upshot is if that people are going to schlep around a dedicated camera these days, they want it to be worth the trouble.

Which seems pretty obvious. Yet apparently not obvious enough to prevent speculation such as ZDNet‘s “Have smartphones killed the SLR” online debate (resounding reader answer: “No”), which posits that superphones such as the 41-megapixel Lumia 1020 are turning SLRs into a “niche” market just a notch above wet collodion process enthusiasts.

“The DSLR’s bread and butter market — the consumer, the prosumer and photography enthusiast — no longer needs or even wants to carry these beasts anymore,” asserts ZDnet.

This may have some truth to it, but it’s still a big stretch to assume those sore-necked enthusiasts are ditching everything in favor of smartphones. Anyone heard of the mirrorless segment, which continues to toy with the perfect delta between portability and image quality?

(via MarketWatch and ZDNet)

Thanks for sending in the tip, Raymond!

Image credit: D5200 is compact enough to carry everyday and everywhere by Takashi(aes256), Him: P&S, Her: DSLR by garryknight

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros are due on stage in 15 minutes and I walk up to the doorstaff ticket in hand. They tear the ticket and ask to look in the camera bag for deodorants and liquids. I’m not too sure why. This is the Trinity Centre in Bristol with a capacity of 650 and normally holds community events.

The doorman tuts and says “Interchangeable lens.” I’m a bit confused. “Tour manager has said no interchangeable lens cameras, sorry.” I returned to my car, out the equipment in the boot and went back to the gig.

I have been covering gigs and festivals for 4 years for local newspapers and magazines and it’s taken me all over the UK. Sometimes it is pre-commisioned, and sometimes like this gig it’s freelance. Occasionally you’ll get the odd musician that will ban photographers from the pit. Sometimes venues ban long lenses. But I have never heard of DSLRs being banned at the door.

Once inside I spotted two people with DSLRs happily snapping away in front of the door staff, no credentials in sight. When the band came out hundreds of people lifted smartphones and flashed the band. I even spotted one girl with an iPad and another filming all their songs.

The band were terrific and like everyone else at the gig I took a photo with my smartphone to see what all the fuss was about:

It’s horrendous, I do not understand why people do it, I can’t even make out that it’s a stage with people on. People in the front row were openly filming and taking photographs. That footage is already on Youtube including one girl who has uploaded 10 songs from the second row. A similar search on Twitter reveals dozens of photos.

It left me wondering the reasons behind why the tour manager has banned DSLRs from the gig. They cannot stop photographs being taken. Nobody in their right mind would ban smartphones from venues and while there are smartphones at venues there will be film and photographs being taken. With the power and capabilities of bridge cameras which are not interchangeable, along with point and shoots, the DSLR ban makes no sense. It is just discriminating against music lovers who own the wrong type of camera.

I carry a DSLR over a point and shoot as you never know where you’ll be placed in the venue. Sometimes a prime lens will get the job done and other times you’ll need a 70-300mm lens.

A photo of Elvis Costello I shot at a concert that didn’t ban DSLRs

A photo of James Morrison I shot at a concert that didn’t ban DSLRs

A photo of Professor Green I shot at a concert that didn’t ban DSLRs

A photo of Sting I shot at a concert that didn’t ban DSLRs

The article I wrote was a glowing review of one of the best bands I’ve ever seen, yet it did not get picked up by any news outlets as it did not have an accompanying photograph. The only real loser I can see having DSLRs banned is the musicians themselves.

About the author: Luke Plastow is a photographer based in Oxfordshire, England. He is a creative person who also paints and writes. Originally from Essex, he is a Multimedia Computing graduate from Staffordshire. Visit his website here and his Facebook page here.

Image credit: Marlango by auggie tolosa, TelePhoto Shooter by Jsome1, IMG_5044 by V31S70