Do you remember having to change floppy disks on your Sony Mavica? Or perhaps plugging your Coolpix 100 into the side of your laptop? The early days of consumer digital photography were filled with cameras that broke new ground, though not necessarily in directions that were widely adopted. In this article, DPReview's Jeff Keller takes a look back at ten unique cameras from the era of PC Cards and SCSI ports. Follow the link to explore some of the interesting dead-ends of early digital photography.

Being a photojournalist is inherently competitive. Sometimes, you are competing against other professionals in your area, sometimes you are competing against the kid with an iPhone who happened to get to the crime scene 30 minutes before you. For photographers Eric Thayer and Joshua Lott, the competition is personal and public. What started as classic one-up-manship has escalated into an official Instagram face-off. Head over to our sister site connect.dpreview.com to read more about the friendly rivalry. 

Garmin has taken a leap into the rugged action camera market with the Garmin VIRB and VIRB Elite, designed to capture video and stills in extreme conditions. In a market segment currently dominated by GoPro, the VIRB steps into the ring with a 1.4-inch display, 1080p video capture, integrated weatherproof housing and ANT+ connectivity. The VIRB Elite is a step-up model with built-in Wi-Fi and GPS. Both are capable of 16 megapixel still images, as well as time-lapse photography. Click through for the full press release and pricing.

In the early days of digital photography a small American company, Imagek, started developing a digital sensor module that could be installed in film SLRs. The idea still generates excitement today, more than ten years after the company (by then named Silicon Film) failed. Photographer and blogger Olivier Duong has taken a look back at the promise and disappointment of the Silicon Film dream.

We've just expanded our gallery of real-world Samples from Sony's Cyber-shot RX1R. The RX1R is essentially the same camera as the older RX1, but without an AA filter on its 24MP full-frame CMOS sensor. We've been shooting with it since we received a production-quality sample and recently took it on a camping trip here in Washington State. We've added 35 images from that trip to our original gallery of real-world samples, including a handful of Raw conversions 'to taste', to give you an idea of what the camera can do. Click through for a link. 

Rokinon has made available a video version of the Samyang 16mm f/2.0 prime. The 16mm T2.2 Cine lens is available for pre-order in Nikon F, Canon EF, Micro Four Thirds, Sony A, and Sony E mounts. Like other video primes, it offers focus and aperture racks for use with cinema rigs, stepless aperture control, and calibration in T-stops rather than F-stops. Rokinon's website lists compatible mounts for Pentax, Samsung NX and Fujifilm X though they aren't yet available for pre-order, and lists the lens at an MSRP of $499.

Landscape photographer Carsten Krieger is no stranger to poor weather, but in this article he explains how you can get great shots even when the sun is hidden from view. His three-page article features several images taken in Ireland which should provide plenty of inspiration for those damp, rainy days that are just around the corner. Click through for a link to the full article. 

General-interest blog The Roosevelts has posted a selection of artist Sanna Dullaway's colorized images, showing what iconic images might have looked like to the photographer that captured them. Among the (exceeding well-done, it must be said) adjusted images are Malcolm Browne's iconic shot of monk Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation, Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous image of the kiss in Times Square on VJ Day, and Anne Frank's haunting 1942 portrait. Click through for a selection of shots, and links to both the full article and Sanna's website.

World War II and Depression-era America was mostly documented in black and white. That's why these color photos of the time belonging to the Library of Congress are so engrossing. Shot in color at the same time as more widely recognized black-and-white photos, these images offer a vivid look into American life in 30's and 40's. We've picked a few favorites of the more than 1500 images total contained within the Library of Congress' Flickr account. 

Printing in 3D is in the news a lot lately, but applications are usually limited to industrial prototypes. A company called Captured Dimensions has a different use for this technology. They've rigged 60 DSLRs in a 360-degree array to capture 3D portraits. The likeness is then printed using a substance containing gypsum powder, resulting in a 3D sculpture of 1/12 to 1/5 scale. Ready for your 3D closeup? Click through for more details (including how much it'll set you back).

Photographer Nick Ballon stumbled across the Lloyd Aero Boliviano headquarters on an annual trip to Bolivia. He was captivated by the expansive property and dilapidated buildings he saw, and his curiosity sparked a photo series and collaboration with Bolivian writer Amaru Villanueva Rance. Six months exploring the grounds, talking with employees and researching the long history of the dying airline has resulted in a stunning photo series and a book called Ezekiel 36:36. Click through for a glimpse into the L.A.B. 

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. 

ThinkTank has announced a new sling-style camera bag. Called the TurnStyle, it's available in three different models, the smallest of which is targeted to mirrorless camera owners. TurnStyle 5 is designed to hold a mirrorless body and up to four lenses. ThinkTank claims the larger TurnStyle 10 and TurnStyle 20 will hold a standard DSLR body and up to three and four lenses, respectively. All three are built with weather-resistant materials and include a rain cover. Click through for details.

Following last week's update to the Canon EOS 70D preview, we've been spending a little more time with the camera to get a feel for its new Dual Pixel CMOS phase-detect autofocus system. What we've seen so far has impressed us: in live view the camera offers very responsive AF, eliminating the annoying focus seek we’ve seen in past models. We have a complete rundown, with samples, on how the Dual Pixel AF performs in both live view and movie mode, as well as a brief studio and low light analysis. Click through to read our review-in-progress.

Sometimes, the best thing that you can do creatively is to give yourself limitations. For filmmaker Jason van Genderen, that meant putting down his camera and picking up his smartphone. Van Genderen prides himself on being a 'pocket filmmaker.' Living in Terrigal, Austrailia, van Genderen spends his days running a creative agency and whenever he gets a chance, he uses smartphones to create films. We spoke to van Genderen about his experience using the Lumia 920 for filmmaking. Click through to read the full interview on connect.dpreview.com.

Photographer Anthony Karen has built a career around gaining access to ostensibly inaccessible societies. After a trip to Haiti documenting Vodou rituals, he has gone on to photograph white supremacist groups, the infamous Westboro Baptist Church and the Ku Klux Klan. His compelling photos and unrestricted access to the KKK resulted in a collaboration with the Discovery Channel, and slate.com has published an interesting profile of his work, in which he explains his approach. Click through for extracts, and some of his compelling images. 

We've been working on a brand-new studio comparison scene for some time, and we've decided to give you a sneak peek, using images from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7. We'll be speaking more about this new scene (and the new interface that goes with it) very soon, but for now we wanted to let you have a look, try it, play around and tell us what you think. As well as the new scene, you'll find two new options - 'daylight' and 'low light' simulation modes and the option to 'normalize' resolution to simulate print and web output, as well as 100%. Click through for more. 

We've just published a gallery of real-world samples shot using the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7. The GX7 is Panasonic's latest Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens camera, and one of the company's most interesting models yet. It features a new 16MP sensor, tiltable EVF and LCD, and offers several enthusiast-friendly features including highlight and shadow tone adjustment, an electronic (entirely silent) shutter and in-body image stabilization - a first for Panasonic. Click through for a link to our gallery of real-world shots. 

What would you do for a new smartphone? At recent promotional event in Seoul, South Korea, twenty people were injured, seven seriously, while trying to collect free phone vouchers for LG's new G2 handset. According to authorities, the stunt went badly wrong when crowds showed up carrying BB guns and 'knives on sticks' to retrieve the vouchers, which were suspended from helium balloons. This simply confirms our long-standing suspicion that the human race truly is doomed. Click through to read more at connect.dpreview.com.

Swiss company Hyetis has created a new wristwatch which features a built-in 41MP camera (because anything less would have been soooo 2012...) which is expected to cost around $1200 when it goes on sale. Details are sketchy, but according to the manufacturer, the watch's built-in camera features an 'optical zoom lens', with an integrated ring flash, as well as communication features including a microphone. Click through for more details on our sister site, connect.dpreview.com.

Lowepro has announced the Photo Sport Shoulder bag, in two sizes for both DSLR and mirrorless ILC camera kits. The Photo Sport Shoulder 18L is designed to fit a 'pro DSLR without grip' and a standard zoom lens, with a second small lens and room for accessories, including a 10" tablet computer. The smaller Photo Sport Shoulder 12L is designed for an interchangeable lens camera with two lenses, and similar capacity for accessories - including a 10" tablet - as its bigger companion. Both bags are available now for $84.99 and $74.99 respectively.

While some of us were sleeping this weekend, photographers around the northern hemisphere were capturing the Perseid meteor shower as it peaked. The annual shower continues through August 24th, but it reached its highest activity levels on August 11th and 12th as debris from a passing comet produced as many as 100 meteors per hour. This year's relatively dim waxing crescent moon meant more meteors were visible to eager stargazers. Businessinsider.com has put together an impressive gallery of shots. Click through to take a look. 

Commercial photographer Frank Ockenfels III has worked on several high-profile blockbusters like Harry Potter and Men in Black 3, as well as a number of TV shows, and his most recent work is currently being used to promote the season five finale of Breaking Bad on AMC. PopPhoto has published an interview with him, in which he explains how he got started in the TV and movie business, the equipment he uses, and why he bases his career around the concept of 'never having just one idea'. Click through for a link to the full article. 

We've just posted a 39-image gallery of real-world samples shot on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ70 zoom compact. Spanning the equivalent of 20-1200mm the FZ70's lens is the largest zoom available in a consumer compact, and we've spent a few days testing it out in a variety of situations, to see what this new superzoom can do. Click through for a link to our gallery of real-world samples. 

Is the snapshot dead? Seattle-based photo collector Robert E. Jackson believes so. In an interview with National Public Radio, Jackson argues that today's snapshots, stored digitally rather than printed out, are about self-promotion: 'creating an identity about who I am and that's what you want to transfer to Facebook'. You can read extracts from the interview, and watch it in its entirety over at our sister site, connect.dpreview.com.

Which words spring to mind when you think about 70-200mm zoom lenses - solid and dependable or fragile and unreliable? Lensrentals' Roger Cicala has just published an analysis of the failure rates of the 12,000 lenses he rents out, and the results may surprise you. Even having taken into account popularity and accidental damage, five 70-200s turn up in his highest failure rate table - including the latest models from Canon and Nikon.

Sigma has been doing lots of good things recently, and one of its most interesting recent products is the USB Dock. This device connects a lens to a computer and, in concert with Sigma's Optimization Pro software, allows the user to do such things as update the firmware and configure detailed autofocus microadjustment settings. In our quick review we take a close look at how it works and what it can do. Click through to find out more.  

Rumors continue to fly about a Sony lens/sensor combo in the works for Android and iOS devices. Now, more images have emerged of the rumored accessories, apparently designed to attach magnetically to your existing smartphone. It's speculated that one of these models bears the same 1-inch sensor as the Sony Cyber-shot RX100 II, and both models reportedly boast NFC and WiFi connectivity. Click through for the most recent images and details at connect.dpreview.com.

Lytro CEO Jason Rosenthal has acknowledged that the company made a 'small number' of layoffs earlier this year and that there are some 'kinks' to be worked out with its unique 'light field' camera. Meanwhile, according to an article by tech blog SFGate, industry sources report that the Lytro camera 'isn't selling well so far', due to its price and lack of appeal to professional photographers. Rosenthal is, however, bullish on the future of the company, promising 'multiple [...] breakthrough products' in 2014. More details are available after the link.

New York Times writer Nick Bilton recently wrote an article about his experience with Leica cameras and lenses, and was surprised when this was met by an aggressive influx of 'vehement messages from all kinds of photographers and camera fans'. Not only did Canon and Nikon fans attack him for not writing a similar piece about their favorite brands, but according to Bilton many Leica fans were also critical of his article, as well as his selection of 'experts'. Click through for more on this surprising development.

New printer concepts from Samsung look to lower-cost and sustainable materials as a way to reduce prices and environmental impact. Receiving recognition at the 2013 International Design Excellence Awards, these three designs take a page from Ikea's flat-pack, assemble-it-yourself playbook, using materials like corrugated cardboard and Polyethylene plastic to create printers with exteriors that are easier to manufacture. Will your next printer come with a cardboard shell? Click through and take a look at the concepts.

Olivier Morin, photographer for Agence France-Presse (AFP) managed to capture champion runner Usain 'lightning' Bolt approaching the finishing line at the same time as an actual lightning bolt lit up the sky behind him. The image, captured at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, was taken using a remote-controlled camera, one of five that Morin had set up by the side of the track to cover the finishing line. Click through for more details, and a closer look at the 'double lightning' shot. 

Nokia's new Lumia 1020 smartphone packs some impressive features, most notably a 41MP imaging sensor capable of high-resolution stills and video. A new Nokia advert goes deep (literally) into this aspect of the phone's hardware with a virtual look inside the imaging pipeline of the 1020, showing the entire process of image capture from the shutter opening and light coming through the lens to the creation of a digital image. The result is pretty stunning. Click through to see for yourself.

Walker Evans' iconic images of American life in the early 20th century helped elevate photography to the status of fine art. His 1938 book 'Walker Evans: American Photographs' celebrates its 75th anniversary this year and the Museum of Modern Art is commemorating this milestone by bringing it back into print with an accompanying exhibition of his work. Click through and take a look at some of Walker's captivating images of American society in last century.

What's the safest way to get close up photos of lions on the Serengeti? Send in a robot. And an aerial drone. That's what photographer Michael Nichols and his team did, producing incredible images for a National Geographic feature. From a nearby car, Nichols and crew directed a small remote-controlled robot outfitted with a Canon camera toward lion prides as they hunted, slept and well, do everything lions do. And we do mean everything.

Over the past few weeks we've been reviewing this year's collection of weatherproof tough cameras, and in this article we're rounding them up, comparing their relative strengths and weaknesses and taking a more detailed look at how their image quality and feature sets stack up. Even if you've read the full reviews, we recommend clicking through and reading our final, definitive roundup of this year's class of waterproof rugged compacts. Click through for a 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. 

In the latest of his series of 'Behind the Shot' articles, landscape photographer Erez Marom shows us how he got his stunning shot inside an icecave in Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Iceland. As well as setup and equipment choice, Marom also gives us a detailed look at the post-processing required to achieve the final result. Click through for a link to the full article. 

Olympus has announced reduction in its camera business's losses but PEN sales have fallen behind expectations. The predominantly medical company said PEN sales had fallen 12% in the first quarter, but that it expected the year's income from mirrorless models to be consistent with last year's figure of ¥9bn ($90m). The company blamed the fall on its delay in releasing the E-P5 and said the camera business is on track to break even this financial year.

Money may not buy happiness, but it can buy you some pretty weird things. Luxury London store Harrods has a long history of catering to the 1%, and its exclusive 'Olympus Pen Art Edition' kit includes two Olympus E-P5 camera bodies - one hand-painted - with an assortment of lenses and accessories, all bundled together with a customized Vespa scooter. We presume this must have made sense to someone. Just how much will it set you back? Click through for more details.

We've just published our review of the Pentax Q7. The Q7 is of course the latest miniature interchangeable lens camera in Pentax's Q line, and the first to use a larger 12MP 1/1.7 inch BSI CMOS sensor. Despite a larger sensor than its predecessors, the Q7 is fully compatible with all seven of Pentax's existing Q-mount lenses, and offers a range of fun and useful features designed to appeal to enthusiasts and novices alike. But is it any good? Click through and read our full review to find out. 

Nikon has lowered its sales and revenue estimates for this year, prompting a rethink of its 1 Series mirrorless cameras. Nikon cites poor market conditions, a large drop in compact camera sales and, most interestingly, a 'deceleration' in mirrorless camera sales growth. Nikon's measures against these changing conditions include accelerating production of entry-level DSLRs and 'reconsider[ing] product planning' of their Nikon 1 mirrorless camera system. Follow the link for additional details.

Ricoh has released firmware v2.30 for its GR Digital IV enthusiast compact. The latest update is the fifth for the GRD IV, and adds a couple of features, slightly modifies the camera's behavior and fixes some minor bugs. The latest update brings the white balance options of the GRD IV into line with the more recent, large sensor, GR model, for which Ricoh has also said it will provide function-enhancing firmware.

Lomography's campaign to raise funds to bring the centuries-old Petzval lens back into production via Kickstarter has now raised more than $1 million - ten times the original target. The 'New Petzval' lens looks and functions much like the originals, with a brass exterior, and the aim is to produce it in both Canon EF- and Nikon F- mounts. The lens is expected to be available next spring. 

A woman who had her phone stolen has been keeping an eye on the thief, using Dropbox. Apparently unaware that the phone was set to automatically sync its camera roll, the phone's new 'owner' has been merrily posting pictures of himself and his surroundings, which now form the basis of an amusing Tumblr account, 'Life of a Stranger who Stole my Phone'. Click through for some pictures and a link over at connect.dpreview.com.

Casio Europe has announced the Exilim EX-ZR800 - a Raw-shooting compact with multi-shot-based 'five-axis image stabilization.' The 16MP BSI-CMOS camera shares many features with the existing EX-ZR700, including the 18x, 25-400mm equivalent lens and ability to capture DNG files. The ZR800 gains the ability to shoot time-lapse sequences, along with a stabilization system that can be used for both stills and movies, on top of the usual multi-shot and high speed modes that Casio has developed over recent years.

One of the hottest cameras of the year so far, the Canon EOS 70D won't be in stores for a few more weeks but we've got hold of an early beta sample, and Canon has let us post pictures from it. Not wanting to waste any time, we've been busily shooting with it for the past few days both in the studio and out in the real world, and we've added a lot to our previously-published preview. Click through for a link to the expanded preview, now including studio comparison pages and a large gallery of sample images.

The recently-launched Leonardo is a full-featured image-editing app for iOS that offers tools you won't find on too many other comparable apps. Containing options familiar from high-end PC applications like Photoshop, Leonardo allows you to make selections using lasso and 'magic wand' tools, and create layer masks, gradients and much more. For more details head over to our sister site connect.dpreview.com. 

In his series 'Time is a Dimension,' photographer Fong Qi Wei stretches the boundaries of still photography to produce images that convey the passage of time. Rather than using time-lapse, he has created a series of photo collages, each composed of many 'slices' taken in a 2 to 4 hour timespan. The resulting images capture the changing colors of sunrise and sunset in a way a single still or video clip can't match. Click through and take a look at some of his work.

Zeiss has posted a blog article that talks about the inception and development of its latest line of lenses, led by the 55mm F1.4 that was first shown at Photokina last year. Titled 'No Compromise', it explains how the company is aiming to meet the demands of the latest high resolution sensors, to satisfy the needs of both professional photographers and ambitious hobbyists. Click through to read more, and the link to the original article.