Cameras

Most stock photography websites and agencies work the same way: photographers upload their work, set prices, and let clients browse for what it is they’re looking for. If the client wants a photo of a family on the beach, they’d better hope someone came through. And on the other end, the photographer has to hope that they’re putting work out there that people will actually want to use. Advertising creatives Cassandra Nguyen and Grazina Snipas’ new website PicoImages does away with that model, replacing it with more of a “stock photography to order” sort of system. PicoImages works by allowing clients to request the photographs they want, describe how they plan on using them, and set prices. Interested photographers can then upload the photo (one per request) they believe best represents that request, and hope that their photo gets picked. PicoImages will make its money at three different junctures along the way. First, clients must pay $10 to post a request. Second, they will pay an additional 9-percent transaction fee on top of the price they originally specified. And third, the photographer will be charged a 9-percent transaction fee out of their payment once their photo has been selected. This opens up the stock photography world to a lot of people who might otherwise never try to sell a photo, and that’s the creators’ intent. Nguyen explains: We had the budget for photography but couldn’t find anything that looked good on the popular stock sites. At the same time, we were seeing all of these great photos pop up on our social networks but didn’t have an easy way to contact the photographers or to license them. PicoImages plans to bridge that gap. It’s an interesting business model that has the potential to help streamline the stock photography process. On the photographer side, no more guessing what might sell well. On the client side, no more scouring stock sites in search of the perfect picture. To check it out for yourself, learn more, and maybe place or fulfill a request of your own, head over to the PicoImages website by clicking here. (via SLR Lounge)

Technology has changed everything we know about the office. Now it is threatening to get rid of the office as we know it. A series of surveys undertaken by Intelligent Office, a virtual office space provider, show just how profound this shift in attitudes toward traditional working environments has become. Chief Operating Officer Tom Camplese sums up the results simply, saying "We believe there is a paradigm shift happening in our culture as it relates to work style. The work culture of today is very different than it was even 10 years ago, and individuals are now aspiring to work differently and create not only their own work style, but their own work rules.” Intelligent OfficeWill you hire employees who think they're entitled to spend an hour or more of their workday visiting social media sites?  Three thousand people, Americans and Canadians aged 18 and up, were surveyed over an 18-month period that ended this April. The results paint an interesting picture of a rapidly evolving modern work force. The desire for unprecedented work flexibility is the key touchstone of the surveys. That flexibility is manifest in just about every facet of the work environment. Workers want to decide where they work (home, office, coffee shop), when they work ("9 to 5" is all but dead), and how they work (preferring to use their own equipment over corporate-issued machines). Already, 70 percent of workers say they work from an alternative location than the office on a regular basis, and 66 percent said they use or want to use a laptop or tablet to allow this kind of flexibility. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Want to make some business cards for your photography business that stand out from among traditional cards? Try making some in the style of 35mm film slides. Last week we shared photographer Lars Swanson’s beautiful slide cards, and this week we have a step-by-step look at how you can make something similar. The cards featured in this post were created by Slovenia-based freelance photographer Jernej Lasi?, who decided last year that he wanted to create a set of DIY business cards that would be simple, inexpensive, and different. Luckily for Lasi?, he had a whole bunch of old 35mm slides sitting around from the days in which schools would use slide projectors to teach students. After pulling them out from his closet and dusting them off, Lasi? decided he would repurpose the slides for his business. The first step was having his contact information printed in the right size on semi-transparent film. He found some suitable sheets and printed onto them using a laser printer: He then cut them out into squares that are the size and shape of 35mm slide film squares: The next step was to simply replace the old 35mm film squares in the slides with his new contact info squares: You’ll need to peel apart the old slides to get to the original film squares, and you can use some superglue to put the slides back together. The glue and the semi-transparent sheets are the main costs in this project, so you should be able to do everything for around $10-$20. The resulting business cards can be viewed in ordinary light, when held up to the sky, and when placed in front of light: You can also store them in old 35mm film slide cases, or stick them into your projector if you’d like (use fully transparent sheets if you’d like for them to project well, of course): Image credits: Photographs by Jernej Lasi? and used with permission

For a limited time, DigitalRev has the Canon PowerShot G15 Digital Camera available for $399.00. Compare at $499.00.

There are quite a few lens mounts these days offering users a choice either of a still camera with video capture capability, or a dedicated video camera body. For Canon's EF-mount, there's the Cinema EOS line of cameras. Sony's mirrorless E-mount offerings include more than a few NEX-branded video cameras. The Micro Four Thirds mount, too, offers up the Panasonic AG-AF100A Digital Cinema Camcorder. There's one very popular mount that's conspicuous for its lack of a first-party video camera offering, however: the Nikon F-mount. That's not to say you... (read more)

Though it won't be available for sale until at least the end of the month, the Panasonic LF1 enthusiast compact digital camera has already been put through its initial paces in the IR Lab. For your pixel-peeping pleasure, we've posted First Shots taken with this younger sibling of the exceptional Panasonic LX7 -- one of our favorite compacts of 2012. On first impression, we think this little camera's images compare favorably against other enthusiasts compacts, but we'll let you take a look and decide for yourself. Not only does... (read more)

Happy Hump Day! We've found a whole bunch of bargains on all sorts of great camera and photographic equipment, including DSLRs from Nikon and Canon, as well as some lenses. Also, if you're in need of large capacity SD memory cards -- or a large capacity camera bag -- we've found savings on those as well. As usual, we post new deals every weekday, so be sure check on IR for new stuff! Refurbished Nikon D7000 - $700 (compare to $897 new) - Free Shipping Adorama has the Refurbished Nikon D7000 body-only available for $700... (read more)

Microsoft will pay security researchers for finding and reporting vulnerabilities in the preview version of its Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) browser, for finding novel techniques to bypass exploit mitigations present in Windows 8.1 or later versions, and for coming up with new ideas to defend against exploits. The monetary rewards will be paid through three bounty programs the company launched Wednesday. The payouts will range between $500 and $11,000 for vulnerabilities found in IE 11 Preview, depending on the type of vulnerability and quality of the report, and up to $100,000 for mitigation bypasses in Windows 8.1 and later versions. There is also a defense bonus of up to $50,000, the BlueHat Bonus for Defense. Participants must submit a technical paper that describes an idea that could be used to block an exploitation technique that bypasses the latest Windows platform mitigations. The reward will depend on the quality and uniqueness of the idea, Microsoft said in the program’s guidelines. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Java continues to be Public Enemy No. 1 when it comes to computer and network security. Oracle released a huge update for the virtually ubiquitous software, but attackers aren’t done exploiting Java as the weakest link in the security chain, and Oracle isn’t securing it fast enough. The update released by Oracle yesterday addresses 40 vulnerabilities in Java. It also enables online certificate revocation in Java by default, to allow Java to verify in real time whether certificates used to sign Java code have been revoked to prevent execution of malware. Java is an attacker's dream; it's virtually ubiquitous and full of holes. The update is impressive in scope and scale, and it’s important for IT admins and users to apply it as soon as possible. Amol Sarwate, director of Qualys Vulnerability Labs, notes in a blog post, “All vulnerabilities except three can be exploited remotely by an attacker, and in most cases, the attacker can take complete control of the system.” Lamar Bailey, director of security research and development for Tripwire, has dubbed 2013 “the year of the Java vulnerability.” Bailey points out that Java is widely used across multiple platforms, and that alone makes it a juicy target for attackers. “Java is squarely in the crosshairs of many hackers and security researchers and that’s not going to change in the short term.” To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Canon has issued a recall for selected EOS-1D X and 1D C cameras due to 'insufficient lubrication'.