News entries for March, 2012

New firmware updates seem to be rolling in faster than we can keep up with them lately. That might mean more typing for us, but it's great news for photographers out there: it means products that are more stable, and occasionally, that offer new features.

First of all, Canon's EOS-1D Mark IV gets a new update to firmware version 1.1.1, available immediately from the Canon...

Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photograph of the Nobel Prize winning writer Albert Camus is one of Bresson's most famous images. Taken in 1947, the good folks of Montpellier, France decided to display it outside their new médiathèque, a multimedia library, in the center of the city.

Most everyone agreed that it was a wonderful way to honor one of France's most famous authors and...

With the recent camera releases (or maybe Spring fever) I’ve been rather amazed watching various photography forums have major melt downs during the last few weeks. I said something about cameras and lenses just being tools, not life and death, and got immediately annihilated. They aren’t just tools, I was told, they are the means to make a living for some people, and the...

I just got a press release that makes me wonder where the world is headed. A team of researchers at Japan's Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS) in Ogaki have designed a device called the Ubi-Camera that takes pictures of what you frame with your fingers.

That’s right, a camera that only requires you to frame your subject between your fingers. Sort of a...

No, not everyone is a fan of the Apple iPhone 4S' talking personal assistant, known as Siri. But if you don't mind Siri taking over your life -- and your iPhone -- you might be interested in this truly bizarre case that forces you to use Apple's chatty digital factotum for all your tasks.

Designed by Shapeways, the 3D iPhone case looks like something from a sci-fi horror...

Olympus has released updated firmware for the M. Zuiko Digital ED 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 EZ zoom lens. Announced last December, the M.Zuiko 12-50mm is the company's first to include a power zoom feature, and is also weather-sealed.

There are only two change listed in the release notes for firmware version 1.1. The first is improved stabilizer performance for macro shooting...

A new release candidate of Adobe's photographer-centric imaging application Photoshop Lightroom released today aims to squash bugs in the major release that debuted about three weeks ago. Simultaneously, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.1 Release Candidate adds support for the Canon EOS 5D Mark III digital SLR.

Beyond the Canon 5D III support, there are six main changes noted...

Here's a great product for outdoor photographers: a walking stick that doubles as a monopod with a hidden tripod mount for attaching your camera.

Called the Twisted Hickory Photo Stick -- yes, that sounds a little diabolical -- this handsome, knurled walking stick is handmade by the Texas-based Brazos company and comes in four sizes. The secret to the wooden stick is that...

I am one of those newshounds trained to follow up on stories. It is a nasty business, full of heartbreak and disillusionment. It is often a walk on the dark side of cyberland. But, as someone once said, after the news breaks, someone has to clean up the mess.
 
Today’s unfortunate follow-up involves none other than her highness, the Queen of Music, Lady Gaga. Long, long...

When Fujifilm announced the Fuji X-Pro1 last January, a new flash strobe was quietly introduced alongside the attention-grabbing compact system camera. Today, the Fuji EF-X20 flash strobe makes its formal debut.

Although the retro-styled EF-X20's looks nicely complement those of Fuji's X-series cameras, the new strobe is also compatible with many of Fuji's other cameras,...

We've seen a lot of camera bags in our day but nothing quite like the cartoonish "Cheese!" bag from Jump from Paper.

Though it may look like a two-dimensional drawing of a bag torn from a comic strip, Cheese! is fully 3D and made from polyester not paper. It's also roomier than it appears -- 16.5" x 13.0" x 0.8" (3.1" expanded) -- with space for a camera, iPad, and laptop...

We've just received a Fuji X-Pro1 compact system camera with XF 35mm f/1.4 R lens, and have posted our Still Life ISO/NR series test shots straight from the lab!

The 16-megapixel Fuji X-Pro1 uses a brand-new color filter array intended to reduce moire, which, according to Fujifilm, negates the need for an optical low-pass filter, something absent from the design. The...

Photo sharing site SmugMug's recently-announced photography app--Camera Awesome--has proven very popular according to the company, which reports today that its creation is now the number one photo app in 55 countries. After more than two million downloads in just the first week, Camera Awesome has gone on to pass four million downloads in its first month on Apple's App...

The Byrds once sang "So You Want to Be a Rock n' Roll Star" but what if you always wanted to be a Rock n' Roll photographer? Well, for the aspiring Bob Gruens and Mick Rocks of the world, there's an iPhone app for you.

Called Rock Photographer and designed by All-Nighters, this game for the iPhone and iPod Touch (iPad version coming soon) uses real footage of musicians,...

There are two kinds of photographers in this world. One kind attaches their straps to the camera eyelets and the other to the tripod socket.

If you use your tripod socket for your strap, you've have to remove your strap to use a tripod. Until now, that is.

Custom SLR has designed a plate that screws into your tripod socket and provides both a Manfrotto RC2 and Swiss...

Francesco Capponi is one of those unique people who sees the ordinary and imagines the extraordinary. While studying at the Fine Arts Academy of Perugia (Italy), he fell in love with “stenopeic” photography and wanted to learn as much as he could about it. His photography teacher suggested he search the Internet for information but instead of stenopeic, to use the English...

Last month, we reported that Sony Corp. was in the midst of major changes to its management structure, as its Consumer Products & Services Group president, Kazuo Hirai, prepared to step up to replace current Sony CEO and president Howard Stringer in both roles.

The company has now announced further management and organizational changes, including some that touch on its...

Compared to that limited edition, white Leica M9-P camera rig selling for over $30,000 in Japan that we told you about last week, this deluxe Fuji X-Pro 1 set-up seems like a relative bargain. Along with the X-Pro 1, this special kit includes all three XF-mount lenses -- an 18mm f/2, 35mm f/1.4 and 60mm f/2.4 -- a set of filters and a flash.

The price? A relatively...

Nikon's latest FX-format digital SLRs--the Nikon D4 and D800--both feature brand-new image sensors. We note with interest, then, that both models have recently completed DxO Labs' DxOMark sensor tests. DxO Labs is the company behind the Optics Pro image processing application, and they're rather uniquely-positioned to offer judgement on sensor performance.

We won't spoil...