Contrary to popular belief, some people still shoot on film. But even these old-fashioned types might see the benefits of modern technology. They may want to post-process their pictures using a computer, or send their masterpieces off the Flickr. For those folks, Canon has released a new scanner, the CanoScan 9000F, which will digitize both prints and film into more than usable files.
The $250 scanner pulls out 9600×9600dpi scans in 48-bit color from its CCD sensor, and can be loaded with paper, mounted 35mm slides and strips of film in both 35mm and 120 formats. It uses infrared sensing to remove dust and scratches from scans, and delivers results as images or PDFs.
Before I switched entirely to digital, I used to have my film processed and sent back to me on CD. Before that, I would scan prints. Back then, a decent film-scanner was prohibitively expensive, but if there had been something as cheap as this around, my darkroom may have disappeared a little faster. Available June.
Matthew Clark’s Aerial Capture sits (or rather, floats) somewhere between a kite, a party balloon and a novelty toy camera kit. It is in exactly the kind of fun photographic niche that Polaroid should be in, instead of trying to persuade kids to pay $1 a pop for crappy, small paper photographs.
The Aerial Capture concept kit combines a cheap and light digicam with a helium balloon and a kite-like reel of string, only in this case the string is a cable connected to the camera and the reel acts as both a spool and as a remote shutter release. You pay out the line up to 20 meters (66-feet) and snap pictures from up on high.
This is what digital does so much better than film. No moving parts means a cheap and light it is almost indestructible, and you don’t have to pull the camera out of the sky every 36 shots to change the roll. The only downside is the requirement for helium. It was bad enough when I got a chemistry set for Christmas and had no methylated spirits around for the burner. I don’t think anyone’s parents are going to have a cylinder of helium handy.
It looks like a lot of fun. Combine this with an Eye-Fi card and an iPad from yesterday’s ShutterSnitch application for instant review of your aerial shots.
If you have an Eye-Fi card and an iPad, you need ShutterSnitch. The $8 iPhone and iPad application lets you beam photos as you shoot them direct to the iPad where they are displayed on the large 10-inch screen. This is useful for “tethered” shooting where you may want somebody else to monitor the images as you shoot, or just to help you out with a giant image preview.
ShutterSnitch has a built-in FTP-server, which is how it communicates with the Eye-Fi (Canon and Nikon transmitter accessories also work). As you shoot, the pictures are sent over the Wi-Fi network (you’ll need some kind of router here, as the iPad can’t create an ad-hoc network) and appear on the screen. You can also set rules that trigger on-screen messages based on the photos’ metadata. For instance, if your auto-ISO creeps up to high, a warning will flash up.
There is also an on-screen, full-color histogram. This alone could be worth the price for many. From the app you can email photos, rename them and run slideshows, although I can’t spot any way to add the pictures to your photo-roll.
The application also works on the iPod Touch and iPhone, but really, the point here is that lovely big iPad screen. And we will also point out that this app is a lot cheaper than Apple’s way of getting photos into the iPad, the $30 Camera Connection Kit. RAW photos can be sent across, too (along with video) but not displayed. Given this limitation, we expect the best workflow is to shoot RAW+JPEG with the camera and just send the JPEGs across, saving the RAW files for later. You get the previews, and those small JPEGs will be a lot faster to load, too.
Tripod-maker Induro has tried to combine the quick-adjusting ball-head and the slow-but-accurate pan-tilt head into the new PHQ-series of tripod heads. While these two new heads don’t quite manage this feat, they pack in enough smart gimmicks and features to make your old head look positively primitive.
The idea of these pan heads (there are two, identical in features but different in size) is to get your camera level, fast, and then let you pan smoothly or shoot panoramas. The first (and best-named) part of this is the quintaxial (five-way) adjustment. A couple of levers let you get the head level, and the bottom section rotates to let you point the right way.
The top-plate also rotates for pans, and with a slot-in accessory you can make sure your lens is positioned to rotate around its nodal-point for panoramas (the nodal-point is the spot around which the lens should spin to make the images line up with minimum distortion). This plat will also let you slide the camera sideways to take a second shot for 3D photos.
The head bristles with bubble-levels (five of ‘em), the handles fold and collapse for transportation and you can lock the motion on any axis. And yes, the head is compatible with Arca-Swiss plates.
The PHQ1 and PHQ3 do not yet have prices listed, but I managed to track down details via Twitter: The PHQ 1 will cost $230, and the PHQ3 $290. This fits with the generally reasonable prices of other Induro gear.
Samsung is set to launch a black and white version of its mirrorless APS camera, the NX10, on May 7th, according to the Samsung Imaging blog. I have one question: Who buys these fancy-colored cameras?
Pentax loves to put out multi-hued versions of its SLRs, and Panasonic’s G and GF-series cameras can be had in all manner of nasty shades, but who buys them? In a world where people were prepared to pay a $100 premium for a black MacBook just a few years back, it would seem that we are pretty conservative in our color choices for big-ticket gadgets. In fact, even seeing the odd silver Canon Rebel in the wild makes me softly gag.
The NX10 is, by most reports, a fine camera, with its SLR-sized sensor in a slim, mirrorless body and three-inch AMOLED display, but one thing it is not is handsome. Even in its black incarnation, the body is little more than curvy-utilitarian in design. Giving it a lick of paint doesn’t help, and the extra attention this will attract reminds me of that lottery-winners’ favorite, the bright-yellow Lamborghini.
Actually, the Samsung Imaging post gives us a clue as to who is snapping these things up. The Hoth-ready body, with 30mm pancake lens, will ship to Korea, the Netherlands, China, the US and Taiwan. Yes folks, the US is on that list. It’s time to come forward and admit it. Stand up and be counted in the comments, color-freaks. Why do you do it?
In a quest to get the perfect shot, Eric Austin, a Texas-based videographer, found a neat way to fuse a remote controlled helicopter and a Canon DSLR camera so he could shoot aerial videos easily and get the kind of footage that would otherwise be difficult to pull off.
“I took a hobbyshop helicopter and modified it to hold a camera, so I can get low altitude, close and tight aerial shots,” Austin told Wired.com.
An amateur videographer turned pro, Austin got interested in remote-controlled photography just four months ago.
“As I did more photos and videos, I realized I could develop a niche where I could use the advancements in technology to provide the kind of photos most people can’t get easily,” he says.
Austin is one of the many hobbyist photographers who are finding ways to use drones and remote-controlled helicopter toys to get a more attractive camera angle. Wired magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson helms a site called DIY Drones where users have found a way to use unmanned aerial vehicles to do aerial photography. Last year, New York City photographer Anthony Jacobs showed a helicam built using a German helicopter rig called MikroKopter. Jacobs used his helicam rig to shoot videos of neighborhooods in the city.
Austin, who has a website devoted to his RC helicopter videography, says he wanted to do something similar and offer HD-quality video and photos.
That’s why, he says, he decided to create a rig that would be reliable and produce the kind of footage that could be used by professionals. And as this clip shows, the video can be interesting.
Austin started with a remote-controlled helicopter called Align T-REX 700 and modified it to carry a special frame and camera mount. He tweaked the landing gear for the helicopter, covering it with a bright pink foam from the “noodles” used in swimming pools.
“The color stands out when I am flying the helicopter outdoors,” says Austin. “And if I crash into the water, my whole equipment won’t go to the bottom. It will be ruined, but at least I will get my gear back.” Austin says he hasn’t crashed his helicopter yet, but the foam ensures that in case of a hard landing, the equipment is less likely to completely fall apart.
He adjusts the camera’s settings when it’s on the ground and presses the Record button right before takeoff. For still images, Austin says he uses an external timer that activates the shutter every few seconds.
To create his flying video rig, Austin says he spent hours on the online discussion forums at the Helifreak.com website.
“I didn’t know anyone to talk to,” he says. “And then realized the only place to go was online where people were discussing this.”
One of the more challenging shoots that Austin has done with his helicam was flying over a cliff that was about 25 feet high with a river below. And he didn’t crash the copter.
“The probability that a crash will happen is there, but so far, I have been careful,” he says.
To download video, Austin has set up a 5.8-GHz video downlink feed using an on-board wireless transmitter.
All of this didn’t come cheap. Austin estimates the entire rig cost him about $15,000. But for those at home, who want to do something similar, he says there are cheaper alternatives.
“I went for the best and most expensive components because I didn’t want to risk it failing mid-air,” he says. “But you can get an RC helicopter for about $400 and put a point-and-shoot camera on it.”
The two-part, leather (or leatherette) “ever-ready” camera case used to be pretty much your only choice back in the days of the all-manual film SLR. They were expensive, made-to-measure for your specific camera model and they would last pretty much forever. The one thing they weren’t was convenient. Their slow-to-open design earned them the nickname “never-ready”. I just bought one for my Panasonic GF-1.
The case is a custom-designed model made in Hong Kong and bought new on Ebay (from seller Kanye Wayne) for a probably ridiculous $120 (plus $10 shipping). It costs more than the official Panasonic version, but both looks better and hugs the camera closer, keeping things compact. So why the hell did I buy it?
Two reasons. The retro-design means I can carry it around and most people will think I have an old film-camera slung over my shoulder. Even if it were slow to get to the camera and take a shot, it would still be quicker than digging in a bigger bag.
Second, it is actually pretty fast to get in.
The case is hand-stitched and made to snugly fit the GF-1 and the 20mm pancake lens. Any other lens won’t fit, although you can just use the bottom half-case. This part joins to the camera by screwing into the tripod socket. You do have to remove it every time you change the SD card, but this is better than the olden days, where you had to swap films every 36 exposures. Some other designs also hook over the strap-joints, but that just adds more things to undo.
The top section is joined by two press-studs at the sides, and a magnetic clasp joined underneath. The case pivots on the studs and swings back, over and down underneath the camera when shooting.
How does it perform? Pretty well. The lower case is snug, and the soft, plush lining cossets the body. The extra thickness and the small finger-grip on the front make it a lot more comfortable in my big hands.
The top case needs to age a little, though. Right now, the new leather is rather springy. While the magnet clasp makes opening and closing quick and easy, the stiffness makes the case stand out straight towards you when open. This is less of a problem when using the LCD screen to compose than it would be with the viewfinder. A few months of use should make things a little more floppy, though, and you can always just pop the whole top section off for longer shoots.
The other glitch is that, when you open and close the case, it rubs against the bottom edge of the lens-barrel and sometimes knocks off the lens-cap. Again, this should ease up as the leather softens.
Should you buy it? That depends. The price is high, but you get what you pay for. The stitching and leather are top-notch, and the details are well thought through (the tripod screw has another female thread in the base so you can still mount it while in the case). It is also perfect for carrying the camera everywhere, and if you care about looks, you’ll love it (you can also choose white, black and dark brown versions).
But it does only work with one lens, the 20mm, and there is no space for storing extra SD cards or batteries. In the end, you’ll have to decide: it’s a specialty item with a price to match. The good news is that, if you need such a thing, then you certainly won’t be disappointed. The worst part? Now I need to find a matching leather strap.
Dr. Carl Koch was sick of fiddling with his tripod to get his camera level, so he spent the next four years inventing and designing the Acadalus, a self-leveling tripod head. Instead of adjusting knobs and levers until the little spirit-level bubble sits obediently between its lines, you just pop the camera onto the Acadalus and wait a couple seconds.
Modeled on an airplane flight-simulator, an inclinometer measures just where the head is and then uses stepper-motors to acquire a level-plane. Further adjustment can be made manually by using the D-pad like buttons on the side.
The Acadalus can be used in the studio, plugged into the mains, or you can hook up the 2800 mAH 18.5 V lithium ion battery which should last you for a day of shooting (or two hours of continual use if you are, we suppose, on a ship yawing and rolling in a stormy sea).
So how much is this five-pound, Swiss-made behemoth? A whopping $5,000 for the studio kit, plus another $500 if you want the battery and charger. If you need both the power cable and the battery option, you’re looking at yet another $100, nickel-and-diming you up to $5,600. No wonder the PDN article which led us to the Acadalus shows it supporting the Leica S2, a camera that costs $26,000 body-only.
I don’t know about you, but I’d be willing to spend a lot of hours in Lightroom using the crop tool to level my drunken, off-kilter snaps before I’d drop this cash, but I imagine that there may be somebody out there who really, really needs a level camera. Good luck if your subject is wonky, though.
Like a phoenix rising from the flames and gently fading back into view as you pointlessly flap it in the air, Polaroid has returned. And this time, with real instant film, not that awful camera/printer — the Pogo — we saw last year.
The PIC-300 has the familiar snap-and-wait action, spitting a photo from a slot in its top whereupon the internal chemical pack goes to work to develop the image. The camera itself has four exposure settings and an automatic flash built into its ugly, bulbous and toylike exterior, and runs on four AA batteries or a rechargeable li-ion (all included).
The crying shame is that the photos are smaller than the originals, although they do have that classic shape with the fat (chemical-containing) bottom-border. Similar in size to a business card, the print is 2.1 x 3.4 inches (with a 1.8 x 2.4-inch image) versus the old 3.5 x 4.25 (3 x 3.1 image size).
That isn’t a big problem if the colors and feel of the photos is right: The Polaroid print is more of an object in itself than any other kind of photo. The trouble might be the price. The camera is just $90, but the film costs $10 for a 10-exposure pack (ISO 800). A dollar a print was standard for old Polaroids, but this “fun” design camera is clearly aimed at cellphone-toting kids, who get their pictures free. Still, I’m in. I love Polaroid, and I’m sure that the cost-per-print will keep me from wasting too many frames like I do with digital.
Welcome back, Polaroid! Good to see you again, old friend.
Laptopogram. An old-new name for a marriage of ancient and modern technology. It works like this: take a piece of photo-sensitive paper (if you can find a darkroom supply store that is still trading), press it to the screen of your computer and switch that screen on for an appropriate interval (probably less than ten seconds depending on brightness). Splosh the paper through developer, stop and fixer baths, turn on the lights (you did turn out the lights, right?) and you’re done.
This wonderful practice was named by nerd-tographer* Aditya Mandayam, who presses the paper to the screen of his IBM R51 Thinkpad and runs a (Linux) command-line script to blip the screen on and off.
All prints were developed on Ilford Ilfospeeed RC Deluxe 5 Glossy paper using Tetenal Neofin Blau with water as a stop bath and a fixer of unknown provenance.
Photo paper registers a negative of the image projected upon it: more light darkens the paper. Normally you would project a negative film frame down on to the photo-paper, but fortunately modern computers are adept at image processing and can invert a picture easily. You can also “dodge and burn” parts of the image before printing.
These photos are more like contact prints or photograms, but the results are something else entirely. This is probably helped by the Tetenal Neofin, which is a B&W film developer, not meant for paper. Perhaps by keeping the screen as dim as possible (to minimize light from the shadows) and by using a proper paper developer, the whites would stay a little whiter. Still, I’m pretty tempted to get back into the darkroom, although I’m almost certain the chemicals under the sink are out of date by now.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Contrary to popular belief, some people still shoot on film. But even these old-fashioned types might see the benefits of modern technology. They may want to post-process their pictures using a computer, or send their masterpieces off the Flickr. For those folks, Canon has released a new scanner, the CanoScan 9000F, which will digitize both prints and film into more than usable files.
