It's not uncommon for photographers to feel much more at ease behind the camera rather than in front of it. Duo, a concept from Chin-Wei Liao, a Korean design school graduate, aims to transform the person behind the lens into photographer and subject simultaneously. Each half of the Duo is an individual camera. Assembled as one unit, pressing the shutter will record and an image while capturing a picture of the person using the camera. Click through to read more about this modular camera system.
We've just posted our review of the Pentax WG-3 GPS. This uniquely shaped camera can handle whatever nature throws at you, and the fast lens (at wide-angle) doesn't hurt, either. There's one more review left in our waterproof camera series, followed by a wrap-up article that will help you pick the best one. In the meantime, you can read more about the WG-3 GPS after the link.
We've been fans of Aaron Johnson's comic strip 'What the Duck' for years. 'WTD' is one of the best satirical comic strips in the world, and it's published here every week, as well as being included in our weekly newsletter. Barbed, topical and always amusing, we hope you enjoy WTD as much as we do. Click through for one from Aaron's archive. Appropriate this week, we think...
With newspapers laying off photographers and picture editors, and the rise of 'citizen journalism', can traditional photojournalism survive? Nonprofit news organization Mother Jones has published an interesting interview with photographer Fred Richin, whose new book 'Bending the Frame: Photojournalism, Documentary and the Citizen' aims to explore the current state of the profession, and answer some of the questions about its future. Click through for extracts from the interview, and a link to the full article.
Rumor and tech sites have been buzzing about Sony's upcoming smartphone, code-named Honami. Recent rumors have shifted to the possibility that the new phone will be capable of working with an interchangeable lens that may have its own sensor and some sort of storage built in, with the ability to communicate with smart-devices wirelessly and via NFC. Click through for more details about the rumors at our sister site, connect.dpreview.com.
Our friends and collaborators over at DxOMark have been investigating lenses for the Canon EOS 6D, and have tested no fewer than 95 lenses from Canon, Samyang, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina and Zeiss to see which score highest. The results are presented in a multipart article, that also compares the EOS 6D results to those from the EOS 5D Mark III and the Nikon D600. Meanwhile for APS-C SLR users, this week DxOMark also reviewed two fast lenses from Sigma, the 30mm F1.4 DC HSM and (in case you missed it earlier this week) the 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM. Click through for the links.
Nikon has released distortion correction data v1.009, adding support for additional lenses for the D4, D90, D600, D800, D800E, D3100, D3200, D5000, D5100, D5200, D7000 and D7100. The latest update means these cameras can now correct distortion in 107 Nikkor lenses. The latest update includes recent launches such as the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5G ED and can be downloaded from Nikon's global website.
We love this 50 Things I've Learned About Mobile Photography List (and iPhone Photography) by Misho Baranovic, an accomplished mobile photographer and Connect contributor. You'll find some universal truths in there and maybe a few things you disagree with, but Baranovic's list is guaranteed to get you thinking, and laughing, too. Click through for some extracts and a link to the full article.
A good summer photo project doesn't necessarily require a lot of expensive equipment, just a camera, an idea and the persistence to see it through. Chances are you've already got everything you need to kick off a photo series of your own. At DPReview we're always looking for new and interesting photos on the web and lately we've noticed a lot of inspired projects. Some are fairly laborious, while others take a simple idea and run with it. Check out these projects and why not get started on your own?
Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-FZ70, a 16MP compact superzoom with a 60x optical zoom that more than doubles the zoom reach of its 24x FZ60 predecessor. Spanning the equivalent of 20-1200mm, the FZ70's zoom lens has a maximum aperture range of F2.8-5.9 and is claimed to be both the longest and widest in its class. The FZ70 effectively replaces the FZ60, but the constant-F2.8 Lumix DMC-FZ200 remains in the lineup.
Panasonic has announced the Lumix DMC-XS3, a budget zoom compact camera that's just 14mm thick. It sports an optically-stabilised wideangle 5x zoom lens (24-120mm equivalent), a 14.1MP 1/2.3" High Sensitivity MOS sensor, and can record Full HD video in MP4 format. It includes a range of Creative Filters which can be applied either during or after shooting, and can also be used when shooting panoramas. The XS3 appears to be a Europe-only release, and will be available in September at a price of £119.
Today, DPReview officially opens GearShop to the public. GearShop is a highly curated and content-rich online store for buying cameras, lenses and photography accessories. Utilizing DPReview’s comprehensive testing and research, GearShop provides photography enthusiasts with expert guidance when buying photography equipment online. In celebration of the launch, GearShop customers will be able to claim up to $150 in free accessories with select camera purchases now through July 27, 2013. Click through for more details. Apologies to our international visitors: At this time GearShop is only able to ship to customers in the USA.
The folks at Magic Lantern are no stranger to adding new features to Canon DSLRs, courtesy of their EOS Camera Tool software. Their latest creation, Dual ISO, increases the dynamic range of the 5D Mark III and EOS 7D by four stops, bringing the total dynamic range to 14EV. This allows you to pull detail out of the shadows with a lot less noise than with the 'stock' firmware. Click through for more details.
Fujifilm has given more details about its upcoming firmware updates for the X-Pro1 and X-E1 (Versions 3.00 for the X-Pro1, and 2.00 for the X-E1). In addition to the existing promise to improve autofocus speed, it says that focus accuracy will be improved with difficult subjects. The updates will also add a 'focus peaking' function to aid manual focus, and improve image stabilisation during movie recording with the 18-55mm F2.8-4 lens. They are due to be available for download on 23rd July.
The 2013 UK Picture Editors Guild Awards are now open for entries. Amateur photographers can show off their skills by entering the 'BT Citizen Photographer of the Year' category; images must have been taken between July 17th, 2012 and July 16, 2013, and the final date for submission of entries is September 1, 2013. Meanwhile professionals can enter images into a range of categories, for a £20 fee. Click through for full details and entry links.
We've just updated our preview of the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM with lens test data, courtesy of DxOMark. This lens has generated a lot of excitement as the fastest zoom ever made for SLRs, but the big question is whether its speed comes at the cost of optical quality. We've looked into this by comparing the 18-35mm to some current benchmark designs - and the results may surprise you. Click through to read all about it.
Sensor maker Aptina has given more details of its Clarity+ technology that it claims will offer a 1EV improvement in sensitivity over conventional sensors. The company believes it has found a way to use clear pixels to capture more light while retaining the image quality of a standard Bayer sensor. Although initially intended for smartphone sized sensors, the company says it could have applications in larger formats. Find out more over at connect.dpreview.com
Florida-based photographer and blogger Olivier Duong has concluded his examination of so-called 'gear acquisition syndrome' with an article that explains how he broke free from his addiction. Starting with the mantra 'there is more to photography than gear', Duong describes how he make a conscious effort to appreciate the equipment he already owns, and to concentrate on using it to improve his photography. Click through for more details.
Toshiba has announced the Exceria and Exceria Pro ranges of SD cards - the first to conform to the UHS-II standard and the fastest SD cards yet announced. The Exceria Pro cards will be available in 16GB and 32GB sizes from October 2013 and will offer read/write speeds of 260MB/s and 240MB/s respectively. 32GB and 64GB Exceria series cards offering the same read speeds but half the write speed will follow a month later.
Engineers at Tokyo University's Ishikawa Oku Laboratory have come up with new technology to track extremely fast motion. Their new system - which uses 'Saccade Mirrors' for pitch and tilt, a 'pupil shift system', and very fast image processing - is able to keep even the quickest subject in the center of the frame at all times. According to engineers, the initial application for this system could be to capture video at sporting events. They expect it to be market-ready in about two years. Follow the link for a video demonstration of this intriguing new technology.
Online product reviews are a huge part of our lives these days, and often, they're the nearest thing we get to a 'hands on experience' before we buy something. But how do we know they're honest? Dishonest reviews are a serious problem for retailers (and indeed for content websites like dpreview.com) and a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been investigating why people are driven to leave reviews of products that they haven't actually used. Their findings might just surprise you. Click through to read more.
DxO Labs has released version 8.3 of its Optics Pro RAW conversion and image correction software, adding support for the Samsung NX system, GoPro cameras, and the most popular smartphones. The Samsung models added are the NX10, NX11, NX20, NX100, NX200, NX210, and NX300, along with the EX-1 and EX-2 compacts. The GoPro HERO3 line (Black, Silver, and White editions), and the HD HERO2 are also now covered, along with the iPhone 4, 4S and 5, and the Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 smartphones. Click through for the full press release, including download links.
In the second in a series of articles, landscape photographer Erez Marom takes us through the process of getting his striking shot of Goðafoss - the 'waterfall of the gods' in Northern Iceland. As well as gear choices, Marom explains his compositional approach, and the software techniques that he used to get the final result. Click through for the full story.
With summer finals out of the way, 17-year-old photographer Ian Komac has devoted his newfound free time to a photo project. Called 60 Days of Summer, the Belgian teen's manipulated photos give landscapes and everyday objects a whimsical twist. Click to see more of his photos and gain a little inspiration for your own summer photo project.
We've just posted our review of the Panasonic Lumix DMX-TS5/FT5. In the latest of our series of reviews of this year's crop of waterproof tough compacts we've put the TS5 through our usual studio and real-world tests to get a feel for how well it performs. On paper, the 16MP TS5 is one of the best specified cameras of its type, offering built-in GPS, Wi-Fi and NFC (near field communication) inside a tough body and Leica-branded lens. Does it live up to expectations? Read our review to find out.
Samsung's successor to the popular Galaxy S3 has a lot to live up to, especially given the S3's impressive performance as a camera. We've put Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, through our rigorous imaging tests to see if it meets the high expectations set for the new model. Read our full camera review now on connect.dpreview.com.
Our friends and collaborators over at DxOMark have been investigating Samsung's NX system, and have recently published reviews of the NX210 and NX300 cameras, alongside an article covering how the company's lenses measure up in comparison to those from the Sony NEX system. Other reviews on the site this week include lens tests on Nikon super-telephoto primes, an assessment of the Sony RX100 II's new back-illuminated CMOS sensor, and the first installment of a multi-part article looking into which lenses score best on the Canon EOS 6D. Click through for the links.
We've been fans of Aaron Johnson's comic strip 'What the Duck' for years. 'WTD' is one of the best satirical comic strips in the world, and it's published here every week, as well as being included in our weekly newsletter. Barbed, topical and always amusing, we hope you enjoy WTD as much as we do. Click through for this week's strip.
Ever since Harold Edgerton photographed a bullet tearing through an apple, it seems the urge to document these split seconds of destruction has not flagged. In photographer Jon Smith’s case, his victims are lightbulbs filled with colorful objects. He creates the images using a DSLR, a pellet gun and a relatively inexpensive lighting setup all in his garage. Click through for more details.
After company president Makoto Kimura made it clear that Nikon really is forward-thinking in an interview earlier this week, the camera manufacturer has launched its My Nikon World Facebook application and community. My Nikon World is designed for photographers to display and share images, compete in challenges and learn from pros and peers. Click through for more details at connect.dpreview.com.
Just posted: Our review of the Olympus Body Cap Lens 15mm F8. In essence this is a tiny three element optic hidden inside a body cap, and probably the cheapest lens of any description made by any camera manufacturer. But is it any good? In the latest of our lens reviews in collaboration with DxOMark, we take a look both at how well it performs in studio testing, and in real-world use. Does it have any place in the Micro Four Thirds user's camera bag? Click through to find out.
Today Nokia unveiled the Lumia 1020, its flagship 41MP camera-centric smartphone for Windows Phone 8. Aimed squarely at photo enthusiasts, the Lumia 1020 employs a large and extremely high resolution 41MP imaging sensor that we first saw in the ground-breaking 808 PureView. However, the 1020 has the decided advantage of running on the Windows Phone 8 platform instead of the end-of-life Symbian OS. Our sister site, connect.dpreview.com is at the launch event in New York and has published a detailed hands-on look at the new phone. Click through for more.
After months of rumors and leaks, Finnish handset maker Nokia today officially launched its latest flagship Windows phone, the Lumia 1020, at a press event in New York City. As far as we're concerned of course, the most interesting feature is the Lumia 1020's 41MP imaging sensor, an iteration of the groundbreaking technology that Nokia debuted last year in the 808 PureView phone. Click through for more details and some hands-on pictures on our sister site connect.dpreview.com.
Florida-based photographer Olivier Duong has expanded his ongoing examination of so-called 'Gear Acquisition Syndrome' with a description of how he overcame his own personal addiction to buying photographic equipment. Categorizing G.A.S. as a 'habit', Duong identifies three components - trigger, routine, and reward, and describes how he went about overcoming his addition by 'changing the routine [but] keeping the trigger, and the reward'. Click through for more details.
We've added the Pentax Q7 to our database of studio comparison images. The Q7 is the first Pentax Q-mount camera featuring a 1/1.7" sensor to match its enthusiast compact peers. We'll be adding a comprehensive review in the coming weeks but, in the meantime, click through to see how the Q7 stacks against the competition.
We've been shooting with the Olympus PEN E-P5 for the past few weeks, in preparation for our review. Using a selection of lenses, we've put together a real-world samples gallery showing what the latest big PEN can do. In addition to shooting at the default settings, we've also tried adjusting the noise reduction and sharpening settings, and have included both out-of-camera JPEGs and Adobe Camera Raw conversions to give an idea for the choices you're offered. Click through for a link to the gallery.
Florida-based Olivier Duong has been blogging about a common addiction among enthusiast and professional photographers - G.A.S., or 'Gear Acquisition Syndrome'. Among its symptoms are 'hoarding gear that you don’t really need and getting stuff for the sake of getting it'. Does this sound painfully familiar? In his blog post, entitled 'How buying cameras and lenses made me miserable and lose thousands', self-confessed former 'gear addict' Duong explains how his gear acquisition got out of control. Click through for a link to the full article.
DxO Labs has updated its distortion-correction software Viewpoint to version 1.2.1, meaning it's now compatible with Adobe Photoshop CC and Lightroom 5. Viewpoint works both as standalone software and as a plug-in, and is designed to correct for perspective distortions such as converging verticals, and to restore more natural proportions to objects at the edge of the frame when shooting with wideangle lenses. The company has also announced that all of its software is on sale at reduced prices until 31st July. Click through for more info and download links.
In the aftermath of Andy Murray's historic victory at Wimbledon 2013, Nikon UK has been explaining how its cameras were used in a robotics setup to capture images from unique angles during the championship. The system was developed in partnership with Mark Roberts Motion Control, and operated by photographer Bob Martin. It used a Nikon D4 mounted on the roof above Centre Court, with 200-400mm and 80-400mm lenses. Click through to see some of the resultant images.
So-called 'blimp' cases are designed to greatly reduce the sound of a camera's shutter, making it safe to take record shots during filming for TV and movies. Typically, commercial blimp cases cost upwards of $1000, but pro photographer Dan Tabár made his own using a Pelican case, some ABS pipe fittings, a wireless shutter release, and other simple parts sourced at a hardware store, for around $80. Click through to see how well it works for both sound suppression and underwater shooting.
Eye-Fi's X2 wireless SD cards, which provide your camera with a Wi-Fi connection have been around for a few years, and now the company has come out with a new range of 'mobi' cards. The Eye-Fi Mobi, which is available as a 8GB/Class 10 SDHC card for $50 and a 16GB/Class 10 SDHC card for $80, lacks some of the features of the X2-series but offers the ability to send full-resolution photos wirelessly as they’re captured to iOS devices and Android devices. Click through for our hands-on article over at connect.dpreview.com.
Panasonic has released firmware updates for its Lumix DMC-GH3 and DMC-G5 mirrorless cameras. Version 1.2 for the GH3 adds 'Low light AF' that works down to -3 EV, a 'Silent Mode', and an 'Exposure Compensation Reset' function. Meanwhile version 1.1 for the G5 only corrects wording of the Motion Picture menu on cameras sold in PAL broadcast regions, and therefore isn't required by US owners. Click through for download links.
We've just posted an update to our samples gallery taken with the new 20MP Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II. Now that we've had a little more time with the camera we've concentrated on getting a wider range of real-world shots, highlighting the potential of the camera's fast wideangle lens setting, and its improved low-light performance. Click through to see our expanded gallery of real-world samples.
Nikon President Makoto Kimura says the company could make a non-camera consumer product, prompting speculation that it's eyeing the smartphone market in response to falling compact camera sales. With compact camera sales down by around 25% across the industry, Kimura says he expects the company's DSLR sales to support the loss of compact sales for 'several more years' until it can produce 'a product that will change the concept of digital cameras.' Read more over at connect.dpreview.com
We normally don't cover film cameras on DPReview, but this one's too cool to pass up. Twenty-four year old Léo Marius has created a 35mm film SLR using a 3D printer, complete with a viewfinder and compatibility for any lens mount (once the appropriate mount is created and attached, of course). The camera isn't available for sale, but Marius provides instructions for creating your own. Click through for more details, and pictures of the homemade camera.
Photographers around the world are sharing their favorite photos of summer (and winter, for those in the Southern hemisphere) across various social photography sharing sites. We scoured the web for some of the best shots of the season and are sharing them on connect.dpreview.com. Click through to see our selection, and remember that you can share your own photos on our busy Forums, and via our Galleries system.
We've completed the third in our series of underwater/rugged camera reviews, this time covering the Nikon Coolpix AW110. This camera is loaded with features, including a GPS system with maps and landmarks, plus Wi-Fi that gives the ability to control the camera from your smartphone. Click the link to read the review, and don't forget that we'll be comparing all six cameras in a few weeks.
DxOMark has been busy testing lenses for the Sony NEX system, and has just published an article detailing which lenses score best on the NEX-7. As part of our ongoing collaboration, we've added the test data for most of Sony's own E-mount primes to our lens widget, which you can use to assess their performance and compare them against each other. We'll be adding Sony's zoom lenses and third-party primes very soon, but for now you can explore the test data for the Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 ZA, E 20mm F2.8, E 30mm F3.5 Macro, E 35mm F1.8 OSS and E 50mm F1.8 OSS. Click through for the links.
We've been fans of Aaron Johnson's comic strip 'What the Duck' for years. 'WTD' is one of the best satirical comic strips in the world, and it's published here every week, as well as being included in our weekly newsletter. Barbed, topical and always amusing, we hope you enjoy WTD as much as we do. Click through for this week's strip.
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