Cameras

While some people still regard Instagram as a hipster gimmick bound to eventually wear out its welcome, most people have come around and found it to be much more than just another spoke in the social media wheel. Instagram is perhaps the most simplistic of the social media applications but much like Twitter, it has used that to its advantage rather than let it become a hindrance. Even though it’s often used for sharing your current meal or that cute face your cat always makes, sometimes it gets used to its full potential as a device for unconventional humor or revolutionary marketing. And then sometimes it’s taken even beyond that and used to showcase unique visions and exquisite works by some of today’s greatest artists. These are some of those artists. Dave Yoder (@daveyoder) Dave Yoder is a regular photographer for National Geographic, which means his Instagram feed can feature anything from a raptor trainer in Abu Dhabi to a bounty hunter in Indianapolis. His photos are an excellent study of the beauty, fun, and fear human beings experience in their everyday life around the world. Timothy Mcgurr AKA 13th Witness (@13thwitness) If only we could all see the world around us with the same keen eye for amazing patterns and awe inspiring symmetry as Timmothy McGurr aka 13th Witness. The way he lays out the cityscape and urban sprawl of every day life can have you thinking we live in a perfectly planned utopian metropolis one minute and staring into the dead eyes of urban decay the next. His gift is definitely one to take note of, and if you end up as a fan I strongly urge you to check out his website where he expands upon his Instagram feed with his other equally impressive work. Jussi Ulkuniemi (@skwii) Stark surreal landscapes and haunting portraits make this feed stand out among the rest. Jussi, a young artist out of Finland, creates a semi-lucid experience in his feed that captures playfulness, light, and solitude through the high contrast haze of a dream. There’s a unique and singular vision on display here and if this is what Jussi has to offer at such a young age there’s no doubt his skills will grow exponentially more impressive and eye catching. Sam Horine @samhorine You may already be familiar with Sam Horine but there’s no way I could leave him off the list. The fact that he’s based out of New York, a city with almost as many photographers as cabs, only makes his unique perspective of the city all the more impressive. Sam is a shinning example of an Instagram account taken to the next level. Which is probably why he was asked to take over the Tribeca Instagram account leading up to the Tribeca Film Festival this year. Touring the city and capturing it’s vistas under the Tribeca banner is just one of several projects occupying Sam’s time though. Recently, and perhaps more importantly, he raised $20,000 for Hurricane Sandy relief with a show at The Foley gallery on the Lower East Side. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (@nasagoddard) Boldly taking their smartphone where few, or really no one, has gone before. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center generously share gorgeous shots of natural phenomenon, Hubble captured galaxy-scapes, and even portraits of the alluring “Mohawk Guy” from the Curiosity Rover Landing. Cory Richards (@coryrichards) A climber for North Face and one of the top adventure and expedition photographers in the world, Cory Richards’ Instagram is one that comes highly recommended. His feed features a nice selection of photos displaying everything from the harsh trials of Mother Nature’s mountains to the unique beauty of Indonesian spear fishing. Clearly this is a feed that will stand out between pictures of what your friends are drinking at the local bar on a Friday night. And if his work happens to looks familiar it’s because he’s also been featured by the likes of National Geographic. Theron Humphrey (@thiswildidea) Theron Humphrey is another name you may have heard before and with good reason.

A bit of clever thinking from San Francisco Instructables member Amanda Ghassei has produced some really creative 3D-printed images from nothing but old photographs. Printed using an Objet Connex 500, Ghassei’s creations are still meant to be viewed in 2D, but are textured to create an interesting silhouette effect. In order to properly view them, they must be backlit with a diffuse light. Images used for printing were first converted to black and white, and according to Ghassei, “each individual greyscale pixel value of an image to thickness,” which effectively allows for the printing of any greyscale image. Images 3D-printed include the planet Saturn and moon Titan, snapped by the Cassini probe, Mt. Williamson by Ansel Adams, and of course, a cat. “All of these 3D models were generated algorithmically from Processing using the ModelBuilder library by Marius Watz.  This library allows you to save 3D geometries in the STL file format, STL files that form a watertight mesh can be printed by a 3D printer,” writes Ghassei. Ghassei supplies code which will then generate a sketch from .gif, .jpg, .tga, and .png files (though it should be noted she’s only tested .jpg files), and output it as a .stl file. “You can open the stl file with a variety of CAD software and STL viewers, I like MeshLab for simple viewing (it’s free and open source),” Ghassei notes. It’s off to the printer thereafter, creating a timeless work of art. Get more in-depth information on this project at Instructables. (3D Printed Photograph via Engadget) Image credits: Photographs by Amanda Ghassei

Portland, OR – May 21, 2013 – onOne Software, Inc., the leading developer and provider of photo effects for everyone, has announced onOne Labs, a blog that lists new technologies and products being considered for development in the effort to gauge interest and solicit customer feedback. onOne Labs will allow visitors to learn about development projects, note their interest level, and offer constructive comments. onOne Labs will allow visitors to directly engage with onOne Software in a collaborative development process and voice what’s important for their digital photography and image editing needs. Projects discussed will range from those early in the concept stage to those in the very beginning of development to those that are near completion. Projects will also be updated throughout their development to elicit additional feedback. “Customer input has always been a key factor in the development of our product offerings” said Craig Keudell, president of onOne Software. “In the past, we have gained tremendous insight from our customers about their wants and needs through occasional phone calls, emails, surveys, and conversations at conferences. Going forward, we’d like to have an ongoing and direct conversation with our customers to make sure we are meeting their expectations and building the best products for their photography needs. We already have a number of exciting things in the works, which we believe will become great additions to our line up especially after getting customer feedback via these Labs.” The onOne Labs currently includes discussions about features now in development for the next version of Perfect Photo Suite —including a Quick View Browser and a new Perfect Enhance module—and new product offerings, such as one currently referred to as Lightpad. These projects are listed with descriptions and may include visual mock-ups or videos to further describe them. Each of these are now listed in the onOne Labs awaiting feedback. Availability The onOne Labs blog may be found at labs.ononesoftware.com. Inquiries and suggestions related to onOne Labs development projects but not listed there may be emailed to labs@ononesoftware.com. About onOne Software onOne Software, Inc., is a leading developer of photo effects software and apps for anyone who enjoys making their pictures look great. onOne Software products include effects and presets that enhance and stylize images with sought-after photographic looks of yesterday and today, and powerful photo editing tools that allow users to fine tune effects to create personalized and unique looks of their own. Our apps are designed to help users create amazing images wherever and whenever they are taking pictures, on any device. onOne Software solutions include a range of easy-to-use desktop standalone applications; plug-in software for Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Lightroom, and Apple Aperture; apps for the iPhone and iPad; and presets for Lightroom. Founded in 2005, onOne Software is a privately held company located in Portland, Oregon. For additional information, visit www.ononesoftware.com. ImagingInsider.com #ononelabs #ononesoftware #imaginginsider

If you like to live life a little dangerously, the folks over at DIY Photography have just published an article that might be of interest to you and your digital camera. If, on the other hand, you find yourself altering your path to avoid walking under ladders and crossing paths with black cats, you may just want to don your peril-sensitive sunglasses and sit this one out. Today, we're talking firmware -- and not the kind you nonchalantly download from your camera manufacturer's website. These are firmware hacks, and while that word is often bandied... (read more)

Yesterday, Flickr announced new changes that included a free, ad-supported terabyte of storage for all Flickr users. When I heard the news, I believed that Flickr Pro account users would be given an opportunity to stay Pro going forward. I thought this because this, in fact, was my understanding of what was told to me by a Flickr Senior Manager in a briefing earlier in the morning before the announcement. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way yesterday that this is not the case. In actuality, only some of Flickr’s Pro accounts are eligible to retain Pro status. More specifically, users had to be paid Pro accounts in January of 2013 and be set up for auto renewal at that time. If you were not specifically a paid, recurring Pro account user in January of 2013, set up on renewal, you will now be screwed out of your Flickr Pro account. In my case, in August of 2011, I complained to Flickr about an error in their stats reporting. I had to send in several complaints about the same problem, but finally Flickr customer service acknowledged the error in their stats reporting. They said that they’d fix this error and that to make up for my inconvenience they would “gift” me 6 months of Flickr Pro. My Pro account was set to expire in 2012 but I used another “gift” certificate from Flickr. This time it was a gift certificate that they handed out to all photowalkers on a big Flickr San Francisco photowalk. The April 2012 Flickr photo walk I attended Because I applied this 6 months of free pro that Flickr gave to every photowalker at the SF photowalk, my account was not set up to recurring Pro in January of 2013. So, after paying consistently for two years at a time of Pro on Flickr for years, my Flickr Pro account is now not eligible for renewal, and I’m not grandfathered into the Pro Flickr service. This blows. I wish I’d never accepted the Flickr trojan horse “gift” of 6 months of free Pro at the San Francisco Photowalk. If I’d not accepted it then, I could be grandfathered as a paid Pro account along with everyone else. As it stands now, my Pro account will expire in July of this year with no way to renew it. Now I’ll be forced to pay Flickr twice as much ($49.99 instead of $24.99) to remove my ads — and since I probably use more than a terabyte of storage, my Flickr fees will probably increase from $24.95/year to $499.99/year. Yesterday, I thought Flickr was doing a very fair thing by allowing Pro accounts to continue on as Pros by paying $24.95 per year. I’ve invested thousands of hours uploading over 80,000 photos to Flickr with the understanding that I was purchasing unlimited photo storage. Now, today, I’ve been screwed out of my deal because I made the mistake of attending Flickr’s San Francisco photowalk and redeeming a 6 months certificate for free Pro that they handed out. This is just wrong and also contrary to what I was told earlier today. Flickr should allow all Pro account users the ability to keep their Pro status, and not discriminate against those of us who happened to attend their San Francisco Photowalk last year. There is a post on Flickr’s help forum about this here, where a Flickr staffer confirms that only some of Flickr Pro accounts are eligible for renewal. I’m assuming that Flickr will sort some of this out before my Pro account expires in July, but I’m certainly concerned that Flickr would so easily take away Pro accounts from long time members who have supported the site with paid Pro accounts over the years. To offer someone unlimited uploads only to renege on that promise later for attending one of their photowalks feels wrong to me. I’m still a big fan of today’s design changes and the 1 terabyte free account that Flickr unveiled today, but disappointed that long time Pro account users may now lose their Pro account status. You can check to see if you are eligible to renew your Flickr Pro account here. If it doesn’t specifically say your Flickr Pro account will renew automatically on this page, you ma

For a limited time, DigitalRev has the Nikon D7000 DSLR Camera available for $779.00. Compare at $896.95.

Adorama has announced a new portable monolight kit under its in-house Flashpoint brand. The Flashpoint 180 monolight and battery kit includes a 180w/s monolight and two readily available NP-F960 batteries to power the light for up to 700 pops at full power. To keep the light from draining the batteries, the Flashpoint 180 is equipped with an efficient LED daylight balanced modeling light. Additionally, the kit includes a reflector for the monolight, a detachable handle, a battery charger and a small umbrella, as well as a carry bag designed to hold the entire kit. The Flashpoint 180 monolight and battery kit retails for $249.95; however, it is available for $199.95 at launch with free shipping. Check it out here at Adorama. Related posts: Adorama Unveils Flashpoint DG600 300w/s AC/DC Blue Monolight with LED Modeling Lamp Flashpoint DG600 300w/s Monolight Review Flashpoint II Model 320M w/ DC Battery Pack Review

Thoughts from a long-time Flickr user: I [Sean] have been a Flickr user since December 2007. For most of that time I have had a Pro membership. I believed the Pro membership was a valuable tool for backing up my best images. If I wanted to keep an image safe, as well as show it off to the world, I uploaded it to Flickr. It's been great for that purpose. I was on Flickr a couple of times yesterday. I uploaded several images from recent photography sessions in the morning. At that time, Flickr was normal. When I went to the site to check the recent activity later that day, the "new and improved" Flickr hit me over the head like an iron skillet. The changes were anything but subtle. Instead of the clean-looking interface of the past, my Flickr photostream page had a larger profile picture, a banner, and a new photostream layout. At first glance, it's actually kind of eye-pleasing. But now a lot of the information I wanted to be presented to people visiting my page has been buried. Things I'm not fond of:Titles and captions of your images do not show up on your photostream; the title only presents itself if you hover over an image in the new layout. One you click on an image, the title is placed at the far left underneath the image, and only a line or two of the captions visible. I spent a significant amount of time on the captions of many of my images - I want the caption (and title) to have a more prominent position on the image page.Sets are no longer visible on your photostream page unless the viewer clicks "Sets." In order for a viewer to see a subset of my photostream (Portraits, Bridal, Senior, etc.), they have to know to click on "Sets." Before, the sets were displayed on the right-hand side allowing the categories to be much more obvious to the user.You have to change your profile picture because the previous version was saved at a lower resolution. As the image I used for my profile picture is still in my photostream, why didn't Flickr simply use the same area of the image I had already chosen to automate the process of updating the profile picture? Instead, I had to wade through my images and create the profile picture all over again.The process for creating a banner is less than ideal.First, you either have to use an existing image from your photostream or you have to upload an image to your stream if you want to use it for the banner (or be stuck with whatever default banner Flickr gives you). But what if I don't want my custom-made banner to be on my photostream? To do that, I'd have to upload an image and change its property to "Private." At that point, I can still make it my banner, but it won't show up to other people viewing my profile. That said, the image is still viewable to me and it clutters up my own personal view of the photostream.Second, if I did want to create an image specifically for my banner, where is the information on sizing requirements?Third, apparently, you can only select one of your "Recent" photos to serve as your banner. I originally tried to create a banner using an image I had uploaded in 2009 – no can do. In order for me to use that image, I would have to upload the image to Flickr again (placing it in my photostream), set it as the banner, and then delete the duplicate image. Why can I not navigate to an image in my stream and set it as the profile or banner picture from within the image's page?If you were logged into Flickr, the home page used to display recent activity. Now, the homepage shows you huge images uploaded by your contacts. To get to the recent activities page, you have to go to different link (http://www.flickr.com/activity). Can Flickr give me the option to bring up the "Recent Activities" page when I go to flickr.com?Flickr has changed its pricing structure and the benefits of each level. I liked the older, simpler structure better - Free or Pro.Things I like:Flickr released an updated Android app at the same time it rolled out major changes t

Nikon has announced a firmware update for three of its DSLRs with added support for the 800mm lens.

Adorama has the Sony 64GB UHS1 Class 10 High Speed SDHC/SDXC Memory Card available for $36.95 with free shipping. Compare at $49.99.