Cameras

Everyone knows Nikon's flagship professional digital SLRs are tough cameras, but how tough are they really? In our 2010 review of the D3S, we praised its "rugged construction with magnesium alloy body and full environmental sealing." Half the time, though, most photographers don't get close to pushing these cameras to their limits. The folks at French website Pixelistes certainly do though, and they've proven it with the below "Le crash test" video of the Nikon D3S. In the 15-minute camera torture clip -- yes, it probably... (read more)

Ever since Google introduced its Project Glass project last year, privacy advocates have been up in arms. Some have predicted that the wearable computer -- which features a small built-in camera that can be activated simply by winking -- is the beginning of the end for any hope of privacy we might have beyond our doorstep. A future not unlike that in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is on the way, they suggest, with barely-noticeable cameras tracking and reporting upon your every move and action. The truth revealed in the the head-mounted Google Glass... (read more)

High-end camera manufacturer Leica has started a flurry of rumors by teasing a new camera to be announced next month. Leica uploaded a picture to both its website and Facebook page with a mysterious object labeled the "Mini M" sitting between the Leica M and Leica X2. Set to be unveiled June 11th, there's unfortunately nothing else we know about what this camera might be. Unsurprisingly, this little snippet of information has caused a huge amount of discussion about what this new camera might be. Leica's own compact system... (read more)

Last month 500px announced it was rolling out a new portfolio system for paying users, and over the last week or two, users have been receiving emails letting them know that the service is now up and running.We took 500px's new portfolio system for a spin to see just how easy it is to get a dedicated site for your images looking nice and pretty. Here's what we thought of this new service from 500px, which is a direct competitor to Flickr's recently overhauled system. Set Up Setting up your portfolio begins (unsurprisingly)... (read more)

Here are some top nature and wildlife photos taken with Nikon cameras and lenses.

Here are a few tips on photographing dandelion clocks creatively.

Google I/O brought with it a lot of exciting updates for Google+, not the least of which were a slew of automatic improvements to Google+ Photos including Auto Highlight, Auto Enhance and Auto Awesome. But the updates didn’t stop when I/O ended last Friday. Today, Google’s Search blog announced that the company has started implementing some impressive technology that will allow you to search for your photos based on what they contain visually, even if there’s not a tag in sight. This new ability is apparently based on two types of tech: “computer vision and machine learning.” Together, these will recognize not people, but things in your and your friends’ photos, allowing you to search for those photos visually. For example, you could type in “my photos,” “my photos of cars,” “sunset photos” (above) or even “Aaron Feinberg photos” and get tailored results (assuming you’re friends with photographer Aaron Feinberg on Google+): Basically, Google can now recognize concepts like “sunsets,” “flowers,” and “the beach,” and embed that info into image metadata automatically. That way, you can find the right photo easily, even if it’s buried somewhere deep within your archives and hasn’t been tagged. With the amount of photo uploads increasing daily, and some Google Glass-toting photographers claiming that they’re taking many more photos each day just because of how convenient the headgear is, the ability to dig through photos based on content is here not a moment too soon. To learn more, head over to Google’s Search blog or visit Google and/or Google+ to give the new search functionality a try yourself. (via Engadget)

Intel's upcoming family of Core processors, code-named Haswell, will offer 50 percent more battery life in laptops than did their "Ivy Bridge" predecessors, Intel said on Thursday.Haswell chips were designed with laptops and tablets in mind, and the main focus was on lowering power consumption, said Rani Borkar, corporate vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, in a media briefing.The longer battery life won't come with a cost to performance, according to Borkar. And in idle or standby mode the chips will do even better, extending battery life by up to 20 times, she said.The improvements are vital for Intel and its PC-making partners. PC sales are in one of their worst slumps ever, with users snapping up tablets and smartphones instead for mobile computing. Any improvements Intel can offer will help keep the PC market alive.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

High-end DSLRs by major camera manufacturers are made to be durable. After all, photographers find themselves in all kinds of environments documenting all kinds of subjects, so their cameras need to have serious protection against accidents and the elements. Ruggedness is often a characteristic that’s touted in new camera announcements, but exactly how rugged are flagship DSLRs? French Nikon photographer site Pixelistes recently decided to find out by torture testing a Nikon D3s. By “torture,” we mean subjecting the D3s to the far end of the abuse spectrum. The camera they tested went through all kinds of extreme situations that normal cameras likely never see. First off, they snapped photographs with the camera while standing in a shower: They then tested the camera against mud and shocks, dropping the camera (attached to a tripod) into a muddy puddle and onto a hard dirt path: As if that weren’t enough, they decided to immerse the camera in a container of water and freeze it into a solid chunk of ice… …and then burn the camera in a pile of paper: What’s amazing is that the camera did indeed survive all the durability testing. It emerged unscathed, and appears to be functioning just fine. Here’s the entire 15-minute video showing the various tests. It’s in French, but you’ll get the gist just by watching what happens: (via Pixelistes via Nikon Rumors)

Last month we shared some photo illustrations by science artist Ron Miller that showed what the night sky would look like if other planets in our solar system replaced the moon. Now Miller is back again with an equally interesting concept: what would landscape photos look like if Earth had a ring like Saturn’s? It’s nice having a moon, but “for spectacular skies it might almost be worth trading in our moon for a ring like Saturn’s,” Miller says. His illustrations show a ring that is in the same proportion to our planet as Saturn’s are to it. They show the different views people on the ground would see depending on where they live. From the equator, the rings would pass directly overhead and show up as a thin, bright line in the sky, “arching from horizon to horizon.” Here’s what a photograph of Quito, Ecuador would look like at night: From Guatemala, the rings become much more visible in the sky. The moon may be brighter in the sky due to additional light being reflected onto it from the Earth: In Polynesia, the Earth would cast a shadow on the ring, causing a dark gap in the middle. Each night this gap would sweep across the ring: From Washington, DC, the rings would “dominate” the sky both during the day and at night: At the Arctic Circle, you’d only be able to see the very edges of the rings: If you feel like you’ve seen the title of this article before, you’re not mistaken: we shared a similar post back in 2012 in the form of a video. Be sure to check that post out too if you found these concept illustrations interesting. Thanks for sending in the tip Leonardo! Image credits: Illustrations by Ron Miller and used with permission