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The Pentax 50mm f/1.8 DA has recently hit store shelves, offering Pentax shooters an inexpensive portrait lens for their APS-C camera bodies. Made predominantly of plastic, we've put this lightweight lens through its paces in our test lab: click here to read our full review of the Pentax 50mm f/1.8 DA.

It's that time again, fans of the bleeding edge: Adobe has just issued release candidate versions of Camera Raw 7.2, DNG Converter 7.2, and Lightroom 4.2. All three share support for much the same raft of brand-new cameras and camera backs. The release candidates of Lightroom and Camera Raw also fix a variety of bugs found in their previous incarnations, and the latter adds...

 

 

When we last took a look at ACDSee Pro in 2007 we lauded its affordability and capabilities but complained that it had remained a bitmap editor in an age of non-destructive editing. That isn't an issue any more. And the good news doesn't stop there.

We cover the latest advances and report the modest system...

When the Nikon 1 J2 compact system camera ships next month, it will bring with it a change in operation that makes it subtly more intuitive than its predecessors, the J1 and V1. Unlike those models, the J2 can be powered off simply by locking the lens barrel of the attached zoom lens.

By contrast, while the earlier cameras could be powered on with the locking button when...

A few weeks ago, we told readers about an issue with Canon's EF 40mm f/2.8 STM lens, which only recently began shipping. According to the company, pressing on the lens barrel while the lens was mounted to a camera could cause autofocus to stop working.

As a temporary workaround, the issue could be resolved simply by reseating either the lens, or the attached camera body's...

 

 

It really was “a dark and a stormy night” as we drove through the English Midlands, in a cold, autumn rain. It was my first trip to the UK and I was loaded for photographs. However, with the morning, I could only stare at the BBC weather lady talking about at least a week of lousy weather.

My expectations for...

Just a couple of months shy of its second birthday, photo app Instagram has become incredibly popular, incredibly quickly. Last April, we reported that social networking giant Facebook planned to purchase Instagram for a staggering one billion dollars. (The US Federal Trade Commission has now officially given that deal the nod, closing its nonpublic investigation without...

And Now Some Meaningless Speculation...
These are simply my observations and speculations. I have absolutely no real information about any manufacturer’s plans. If I did, I would have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and couldn’t write this stuff. But I like to speculate. It’s sort of like playing Fantasy Football with camera manufacturers.

I’m going to split this up...

 

 

The cloud is not enough, Revel Product Manager Sumner Paine told us in July.

With our photos scattered across our phones, tablets and multiple computers, a lot of companies want you to store your collection in their cloud. But they're missing an essential ingredient, Paine said.

That's a great photo app that...

Ever heard that old maxim "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Well, the design team at Pentax certainly have. The Japanese camera brand--now part of Ricoh Co. Ltd.--has announced its new Pentax X-5 ultrazoom digital camera, and the styling couldn't be much closer to that of the popular Pentax K-5 and K-7 digital SLRs. It's almost as if the company took the existing design,...

 

 

Eastman Kodak announced today that it plans to sell off its film, imaging and retail print businesses as part of its plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Instead of imaging, the Rochester, NY-based company will focus on commercial printing and business services. Though details were still sketchy Thursday...

You don't have to be the Mars Rover Curiosity to capture out-of-the-world imagery of outer space. A Danish photographer used an astro-modified Canon 5D Mark II to record an eye-popping photo of Red Sprites, which are a form of cosmic lightning that "dances at the edge of space," according to Spaceweather.com.

The photographer, Jesper Grønne of Silkeborg, Denmark, was...

Leicaphiles rejoice, Le Camera Cie, (Cie is the French version of "Inc.") has created an app that simulates the classic M series Leica viewfinder on your iPhone. The app is called Viewfinder Classic and it's available here.

Yes, the Germans can finally relax as their Euro-allies, the French, are becoming entrepreneurial, just like their Teutonic mentors. (How do you say...

Olympus has long preferred Ultra over Super and Mega to describe its line of compact zoom cameras, and the new Olympus SP-820UZ iHS Ultra Zoom is now the most ultra of the bunch, sporting a 40x super-wide-angle optical zoom lens that lets you get up close and personal at its maximum 896mm equivalent focal length.

Olympus designed the Stylus SP-820UZ to offer all-in-one...

Want to really light up a room? If you're as photo gear obsessed as we are, you can't do much better than these old cameras that have been retrofitted to become lamps.

Called the Vintage Camera Lamp and made by Tinker & Tailor, each lamp is one of a kind. "Once it's sold, we may not have another one like it," according to the website.

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Today’s post is one of those exercises in randomness that I just have to do every so often. I’ve been working with mirrorless cameras lately. That led to several people reminding me that two years ago I predicted mirrorless cameras would largely replace entry-level SLRs.

After careful evaluation I have to admit I was only 62.5% correct. While mirrorless is the fastest...

 

Lunch atop a Skyscraper (New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam) by Charles C. Ebbets

Everyone can identify New York City simply by its unique skyscraper filled skyline. The story of the construction of these skyscrapers, and one iconic photo in particular, is the basis for Men at Lunch, one of the...

 

 

When Reuters senior producer Ayana Morali was asked to do a video piece on a major law enforcement initiative in New York City, rather than reach for her typical camcorder workhorse, the Panasonic HPX-250, she went with something smaller: the Canon EOS 60D HD-DSLR.

The video segment (at the bottom of this post)...

Have you ever wondered why optical viewfinders have largely gone the way of the Dodo? A quick comparison of the brand-new Nikon Coolpix P7700 against its sibling, the P7100, could prove informative.

Nikon's latest enthusiast flagship compact drops the viewfinder from the design, and in the process makes way for a significantly brighter lens, despite having a slightly more...