News entries for March, 2014
Gary Fong launches LightBlade flash diffuser, lightbulb adapter kit for LightSphere
Photo accessory company Gary Fong Inc. has just launched two new accessories aimed at making diffuse flash and video lighting more affordable. The LightBlade flash diffuser mounts on most speedlight flashes, and redirects some of the flash output to create a diffuse direct light, while the remainder continues...
Why I LOVE the Japanese people: How to lose $7,000 of gear and get every bit back
My most recent trip to the annual CP+ show in Yokohama was my seventh to Japan to date, and the more I visit, the more I come to love the country. The Japanese people themselves are a very big part of that. They're endlessly helpful, exhibit a genuine compassion and caring for foreigners as well as each...
Nikon Ambassador Corey Rich makes a documentary film about three D4S photographers, with a D4S
Now if that isn't a clever marketing stunt! For the launch campaign of the new Nikon D4S, the Japanese camera maker commisioned Nikon Ambassador Corey Rich to make a documentary film about three photographers using the company's new flasghip DSLR – with a D4S. As meta as this may sound at first, when you come to think of it, it actually makes...
Zenfolio goes Raw, will now let you upload uncompressed files
If you're a paying Zenfolio member, then your account just got a little more useful—you can now upload Raw files directly to your portfolio, and share them however you want. So if you need to share the uncompressed image with a collaborator, or have arranged to pass on your .DNG to a client, you can now rely on...
Sigma wasn’t bluffing: 50mm f/1.4 Art appears to match Otus on sharpness, beats it on contrast
One of the most eagerly awaited lenses in recent memory is the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens, the upcoming new entry into Sigma's well received Art line. While we don't know how much it'll go for yet, Sigma has made no secret of the fact that they're going after the big boys—like the $4,000 Zeiss Otus 55mm f/1.4. And...
Firmware Friday: EF-mount, Super 35 movie cameras from Canon, Blackmagic get updates
This week, Firmware Friday brings news for owners of two Super 35mm-format, EF-mount interchangeable-lens video cameras, the Canon Cinema EOS C100 and Blackmagic Production Camera 4K. While Canon adds a brand new feature for customers shooting its camera, Blackmagic's update focuses on resolving startup...
The GIF animation is now officially an art form, thanks to first Motion Photography Prize
Back in the day when the internet was young, when websites consisted mostly of text and hyperlinks, and when so-called 'modems' made funny noises, there was little multi-media going on in the WWW. Despite a lack of high-definition video and modern compression algorithms, the bandwidth of a typical mid-nineties 14.4k dial-up connection would've...
Flash gets friendly as Bowens, PocketWizard, and Sekonic announce alliance
Three companies well known for their ventures into off-camera lighting have announced a new technological alliance that will see their gear communicate more effectively with one another. Bowens, PocketWizard, and Sekonic have announced what they're calling a "technology alliance" to allow for standardized wireless...
500px tutorial shows you how to get started with astrophotography
If you've ever wanted to go out ant start shooting the night sky, but feel like you don't know where to start, this tutorial could be exactly what you need. Presented on 500px by astrophotographer Dave Morrow, it delves into just about everything you'll need to get started shooting the Milky Way and stars.
It's a...
California to use NASA satellite imagery to prepare for future droughts
Since late fall of 2013, California has been experiencing a terrible drought that turned much of the state into a wasteland. One composite image released by the California Department of Water Resources dramatically sums up the situation. It shows the Folsom Lake reservoir near Sacramento in July 2011 and in January 2014, and the difference is...
Canon Q&A: The future of EOS mirrorless and the challenges of on-sensor AF
During the CP+ photography tradeshow in Japan, Imaging Resource publisher and editor-in-chief Dave Etchells met for interviews with executives from some of the best-known brands in the camera business....
Canon Dual Pixel CMOS AF: Autofocus secrets of the Canon 70D explained
Autofocus precision with Canon's groundbreaking Dual-Pixel CMOS AF technology (as found in the Canon EOS 70D) is a somewhat different beast than with the conventional phase-detect systems used in DSLRs.
In my recent interview with Mr. Go Tokura and Mr. Naoya Kaneda of Canon Inc., the company's Japanese...
Panasonic GM1 Review: The tiny ILC packs powerful performance and image quality into a pocketable size
We've just taken the wraps off our complete Panasonic GM1 review. This camera was the first of ours to be reviewed in our new multi-stage Shooter's Report installments, so many of you may have perused through the Shooter's Report section, but now with the complete review, we have all the nitty gritty details,...
For Vanity Fair’s 20th Hollywood issue, Chuck Close used a giant polaroid to take life-size portraits of movie stars
Back in 1970, Polaroid created a unique instant camera that uses 20x24" instant film, and that can, when used from the right distance, yield life-size portraits. Now before we go into any details, just let that sink for a moment. 20x24" is even larger than most 'large format' film sizes, which typically go up to 8x10, and these days you have a...
100 year old time capsule reveals perfectly preserved glimpse into Oklahoma City’s past (VIDEO)
In 2013, Oklahoma City dug up a century old timecapsule, diving into all manner of item stashed away from the early 20th century. What they didn't know was what was inside a perfectly preserve package of Westfall Drugstore wrappings, which they've only now opened. Its contents? An immaculate camera, and a developed...
Super 8 goes digital with mysterious Bellami HD-1
With the Digital Bolex reigniting the dreams of the super 16 camera, it seems like the world is as ready for retro themed video cameras as they are for vintage looking still cameras. In fact, a recently spotted Japanese camera has taken the Bolex one step further, bringing back the style of the Super 8. Called the...
Magic Lantern video manages to correctly expose both the Moon and Saturn in one video
If you've ever taken a shot at shooting the night sky, you know that a bright moon can completely overwhelm everything else. Expose for the Moon, and you lose the stars. Expose for the rest of the sky, and the Moon gets blown out. But thanks to the capabilities of the Magic Lantern firmware hack for Canon cameras,...
DxOMark finds Leica S lags rivals; DxO Optics Pro gains D3300, EOS M2 support
French software company DxO Labs has made several interesting announcements over the last few days. First of all, its DxOMark camera testing site has published an analysis of sensor performance for the Leica S, a pricey medium-format DSLR -- with surprising results. The company's software arm has also...
Gorgeous camera paintings highlight the beauty of vintage photo gear
Our focus here at Imaging Resource is obviously on photography, but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate a great painting when we see one. Toronto-based artist William Fisk is clearly a man after our own heart, and he's identified what might just be the perfect subject matter for us. His "Portraits" painting...
Would you pay to take someone’s portrait? The ethics of paid portraiture
Feature Shoot has put together a very interesting feature about the ethics of paying for portraiture, profiling a number of photographers who both paid to take photos of certain people, and those who refused to—and it raises some very interesting issues about ethics, power, and the relationship between photographer...