A friend asked the internet: Can anyone recommend a mirrorless camera? I have some travel coming up and I’m hesitant to lug my DSLR around. Of course I had an opinion: I go back and forth on this question myself. My current travel camera is a Sony RX100 mark 3 (the mark 4 was recently released). […] » about 400 words
Hasselblad Historical and Blue Moon Camera both offer this table to translate Hasselblad serial numbers to year of manufacture: V = 1 H = 2 P = 3 I = 4 C = 5 T = 6 U = 7 R = 8 E = 9 S = 0 That should work for both the […] » about 300 words
After playing with Fuji Instax and Polaroid (with The Impossible Project film) cameras, I realized I had to do something with Kodak. My grandfather worked for Kodak for years, and I have many memories of the stories he shared of that work. He retired in the late 70s, just as the final seeds of Kodak’s […] » about 300 words
From Flux Machine: a tumbler of Kevin Weir’s creepy gifs. The original is from the Library of Congress. If the name “Roebling” sounds familiar, it’s because this is the company, founded by John A. Roebling, that built the Brooklyn Bridge and setup a good business making cables, or wire rope. The Roebling brothers suspected the […] » about 100 words
Yeah, iPhoto is just about dead, and I’m probably a little crazy to still be using it at all, but I do and now I need to rebuild the library. The knowledgebase article can be summed to this: Hold down the Command and Option keys while opening iPhoto. You can’t just click the icon in […] » about 100 words
Airport x-rays can damage, maybe ruin film, and there's nothing more you can do about it than beg for hand inspection. » about 500 words
Short answer: Triggertrap app audio triggering latency is too long to capture a fast moving event. The app, the dongle, my trusty EOS Rebel XTi, Lensbaby (manual focus, soft edge details), and Neewer flash worked, but too slowly. The phone was just inches from where I was throwing the dice, but the flash and camera […] » about 300 words
This 2011 blog post by Maurice Ribble explains the problem with xenon flash tubes such as those typically used in photography: [X]enon flash tubes have a minimum duration of 1/40,000th of a second. That’s fast enough for most things, but not for a shooting bullet [that] travels around 1000 feet/second. In 1/40,000th of a second […] » about 200 words
The core point of Triggertrap is to release the camera shutter faster and more reliably than can be done by hand, so this is a bit concerning: The explosion was so fast, that the Triggertrap and camera just weren’t fast enough to capture it. So…what is the minimum latency between trigger noise and shutter signal […] » about 200 words
On focusing and using the closeup attachment lens: If you want to take portraits, use [the included closeup adapter]. With the camera focus set to infinity, the point of sharp focus becomes 1 meter. With the same [closeup] attachment the .9-3m focus setting gives pin sharp results at 45cm. (Selfie range) The depth of field […] » about 300 words
Big Huge Labs reminded me that my 10 year Flickr birthday is in just a few days. Tthat has me thinking about the cameras I've used over those years. Ten years is long enough that I had to go looking to remember some, and long enough that I found some I'd forgotten. » about 3300 words
First there was the bad engagement photos tumblr, but now it’s been one-upped by this crazy Russian wedding photos LiveJournal. » about 100 words
I’ve been re-reading David Hobby‘s Lighting 101 tutorial while at the same time exploring HDR (Wikipedia’s HDR article is a good read for those unfamiliar with it). The question that eventually came to mind was how the guy that wrote the following feels about HDR? How often have you heard this, usually with a tone of superiority: […] » about 800 words
I’ve been thinking a bit about how overkill a full Arduino is for Shutterfingers, and feeling a bit sheepish about how lazy I am about learning to use some other microcontroller. Then I found this guide talking about the ATtiny85: If you’re just blinking a few LEDs, and reading a single sensor, you can get […] » about 300 words
Shutterfingers is my simple servo controller that presses the shutter on cameras that don’t support remote control. My first attempt was in a sweet looking, but big aluminum case and incorporates a 6600 mAh battery to power the Arduino, servo, and external power for the camera. Well, it all works, but I’m not sure why I […] » about 400 words
John Gruber links to Mike Johnston’s post asking: I mean, with hundreds of cameras on the market, wouldn’t you think they could make one that was super-simple, just for that segment of the population that wants it? To this I offer the Panasonic Lumix LX3. I’ve been pretty in love with it lately, and I […] » about 400 words
I have a new computer, which has me looking up my old documentation on how I encode still photos from a timelapse series into a video file. As I often do, I’m blogging about it now to make it easier to find next time I need to remember what to install and what settings I’ve […] » about 300 words
Enfojer is an enlarger that uses your smartphone as both light source and negative. It’s on Indigogo now. From the FAQ: What lens are we using in the Enfojer? It is a wide angle polycarbonate toy camera style meniscus lens. It blurs the image just right so you don’t see the pixels on your print. […] » about 100 words
If I get a new camera system I’ll need new lenses. I’m looking carefully at the Sony NEX E-Mount and Fujifilm X-mount because they offer fairly compact cameras with large, APS-C sized sensors. On top of that, however, I usually like to shoot a very wide-angle lens. On a Sony NEX, my best choice might […] » about 600 words
Given that my feelings for Canon’s lackluster approach to mirrorless cameras, I’m now obligated to look for a new camera system, and that has me looking at cameras I’d previously ignored. Fujifilm’s X system is a recent entrant into the interchangeable lens mirrorless camera fray (note that not all the cameras in the X line […] » about 500 words
Amazon is now selling EOS M cameras for $329 with free shipping. At that price you have to think about buying it as a joke, but that’s exactly what it is. The camera is hobbled by Canon to avoid cannibalizing sales of their other products. Consider this: Fujifilm’s X series, Sony’s mirrorless NEX 6 and 7 […] » about 300 words
I started work on my first Arduino project today, though I have yet to get the hardware. The plan is to build a servo controller that can trigger the shutter on my Panasonic LX3 camera that lacks any sort of remote shutter release. I started looking into this before and found Cris Benton struggled with […] » about 500 words
I added battery life as a factor in my recent review of cameras, but what does the reported battery life of a camera mean? Assuming the 2003 translated PDF is correct, CIPA standards for camera battery life amount to something like this: Take pictures continuously until the camera shuts down due to power loss. Fire the […] » about 500 words
I concluded my review of current camera options with the claim that I’d switch lens systems for a compact interchangeable lens camera that had built-in GPS. Why do I want GPS? Because the competition for all the cameras I listed there is my iPhone, and one of the reasons I prefer my phone is because […] » about 300 words
I reviewed a lineup of cameras I’d consider to replace my aging Canon Rebel XTi and Panasonic Lumix LX3 back in February, but I’m on a roll after collecting some film camera party packs so I decided to update this list as well. Since I gathered my original list I’ve started using motion control robots and my photo habits have changed. […] » about 1600 words