August 2017 news and reviews

Photographers Martin J. Romero-Clark and Andrew Lillibridge face three felony charges apiece after illegally climbing the Ben Franklin Bridge to capture some cityscape shots.

The Instagif Camera is a custom creation that looks just like an old Polaroid One Step, except instead of instant photos it instantly 'prints' animated GIFs.

The four-LED lighting system from Spiffy Gear can take multiple shapes to suit different shooting scenarios: from 'ring' light, to strip light, to LED panel.

Meet the Photonicz One: the world's first compact, weather-sealed LED strobe light... assuming it can get funded on Kickstarter.

DJI debuted an updated version of the Mavic Pro at IFA today. It's called the DJI Mavic Pro Platinum, and it boasts 11% better battery and 60% quieter flight than the original Mavic.

The new SanDisk Ultra PLUS microSDXC memory card can store up to 40 hours of video in Full HD resolution.

"While vanity magazines can provide valuable learning experiences for photographers who are set on climbing the ladder, the same skills can be learned by other means and, more often, to better effect."

The new Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III is superficially quite similar to its predecessor, but despite inheriting many of the same features, the feature set has been tweaked to make the new camera easier – and more fun – to use.

Ricoh's new Theta V brings a host of new features to the candybar-shaped 360 camera, from improved performance to live 4K video streaming. Take a tour of the 'V' in our hands-on slideshow.

With today's introduction of the OM-D E-M10 III, we thought it would be nice to jump back in time to 2009, when Olympus announced the PEN E-PL1, its first mirrorless camera.

WD just revealed their newest consumer-facing wireless backup drives called My Cloud Home. The drives come in capacities of up to 16TB and act just like a cloud backup system... except you own the hardware.

Need a cool photo experiment to try this weekend? Why not try a black-and-white film reversal: transform a black-and-white negative into a direct positive transparency at home.

Syrian photographer Hosam Katan shares his experience photographing the ongoing conflict in his home country, getting shot by a sniper, and more.

The latest Instagram update now lets you share portrait, landscape, OR square format photos in their multi-photo posts. The catch: you can't mix formats.

If you own a Canon EF 50mm F1.4 USM, you'll want to check your serial number. Some lenses are experiencing a focusing issue that Canon will fix for free.

This poor cricket reporter is making the rounds online after he tried to pass off his iPhone calculator as a "light meter." Too bad the light was good enough to spot his gaff...

DPReview Exclusive: Nikon Sr Product Manager Lindsay Silverman and Sr Technical Manager Steve Heiner answer 20 of the most popular user questions they've received about the new Nikon D850.

The upcoming GH5 firmware update adds a number of unexpected improvements, such as more responsive autofocus, especially in 24p video shooting.

Portrait photographer Philippe Echaroux tried to capture professional-looking portraits using just an iPhone, flashlight, and Big Mac box from McDonald's... seriously.

Russian company FOQUS has released its very own, 100% Russian-made 35mm black-and-white film with fine grain, strong contrast, and "pretty good tone range."

Photographer Louis DeLuca's photo of Houston SWAT officer Daryl Hudeck carrying Catherine Pham and her 13-month-old son Aidan "offers a bit of hope in the middle of a tough story in the middle of a tough news year."

Lomography has unveiled its latest creation: the foldable, fully-analogue Lomo'Instant Square instant film camera.

This video takes you behind the scenes with Ted Hesser and Andrew Studer, as they plan and ultimately capture some of the most iconic images of last week's total solar eclipse.

"Cleveland, OH – A local shooter recently switched from Canon to Sony and was pleased to discover that he awoke the next morning as a master photographer..."

Watch as the shadow of the moon makes its way across central Oregon in this mind-blowing video captured from a stratospheric balloon.

That didn't take long. Less than a week after Google published some research showing how an AI could automatically remove watermarks from stock images, Shutterstock has already strengthened their system so it's immune to this kind of theft.

NASA has a long-standing relationship with Nikon, and it's not going anywhere. The space agency just spent over $340K on 53 Nikon D5 cameras for the International Space Station and training purposes.

Chinese lens and flash maker Yongnuo, known for their cheap gear options, has released a pair of new flash units: the high-end YN968N for Nikon and the upgraded mid-range TN568EX lll.

The New York Times has published a powerful photo essay that follows the entire 16-year arc of the United States' War in Afghanistan—one photo per year, starting with 2017 and moving backwards to 2001.

Polaroid's new LED Macro Flash Flexi light aims to make macro lighting easier without breaking the bank.

Nikon Japan has released full-resolution sample images captured with the D850, our first look at sample shots captured IRL.

Humans of New York creator Brandon Stanton has filmed over 1,200 interviews over the past four years, and he's turning those interviews into a HONY TV series that debuts on Facebook next week.

Think Tank's new Spectral shoulder bags promise 'increased protection from theft and the elements'... plus smartphone, tablet, and laptop pockets.

There's an interesting feature baked into the Nikon D850 that you might not have heard of yet. Using a new digitizing adapter, you can use the camera to scan film and convert negatives to positives in-camera.

World Press Photo has teamed up with FotoEvidence to create a new documentary photography award for 2018. The winner will have their work published in a book and exhibited at the World Press Photo Exhibition.

Medium format manufacturer Hasselblad has added silent electronic shutter and resizable AF points to its X1D mirrorless camera via a new firmware update.

Luna Display allows you to use your Mac directly from the iPad with full support for external keyboards, Apple Pencil and Apple touch interactions including pinching, panning and tapping.

The K-1 Limited Silver Edition features a high-grade silver-color coating on the camera body and battery grip, to match the lineup of silver Pentax FA Limited lenses.

With the release of the Nikon D850, we got to thinking all the way back to 2008, when the company released its first 'compact' full-frame DSLR, the popular and highly capable D700.

The Nikon D850 is here, and it is quite the specimen. Built for speed, resolution and 4K video capture, it appears to be a DSLR powerhouse. Take a closer look at Nikon's newest addition.

The 'pocket powerhouse' Godox Wistro AD200 flash just got a new accessory. Now, you can swap out the speedlight or bare bulb heads for a 3.6-watt LED lamp.

Photographers Andrew Studer and Ted Hesser captured some of the most iconic images of this week's eclipse, showing a climber standing in the middle of the glowing corona. This is the story behind those images.

Intrigued by those ultra-cheap, fast lenses coming out of China? This video review of the $550 Sainsonic Kamlan 55mm F1.2 lens points out some of the performance you sacrifice to save an almighty dollar (or $800).

Canon has expanded its PIXMA TS-series Wireless Inkjet printer lineup with five new models, two of which contain an improved ink system that adds a sixth color ('Photo Blue') to help reduce graininess and improving overall quality.

Nikon has issued a delay and apology regarding their 100th Anniversary D5, D500, and Triple Lens sets. Due to a logo issue, the company is being forced to delay shipments until October.

Yet another reason to always shoot Raw. These two shots are actually the same photo, photographer Dan Plucinski simply pulled up the shadows in post.

Cloud backup service CrashPlan has announced that it will permanently shutter it's "for home" service by the end of October. If you use CrashPlan to back up your photos, you'll want to find an alternative ASAP.

Photo sharing site 500px has just added support for wide-gamut color profiles such as AdobeRGB and ProPhotoRGB, even allowing users to filter their searches by color profile.

DJI just released a mandatory firmware update for the DJI Spark. If you own a Spark and don't update your firmware by September 1st, DJI will remotely ground your drone.

Affordable flash manufacturer Godox has updated its smartphone app so that it can be used to control all of its wireless X flash units, not just the A1 smartphone flash.

Western Digital's new My Book Duo external desktop storage system offers up to 20TB of storage capacity, and comes with RAID-optimized WD Red hard drives.

Version 1.04 of the Sony a6500 firmware can be downloaded from the Sony Support website now.

In these videos, talented photographer and filmmaker Daniel DeArco breaks down several tips that will help flash photography newbies start experimenting with artificial light.

Photographer and master potter Steve Irvine makes incredibly intricate, functional ceramic pinhole cameras that look like robots and monsters.

Chinese gimbal manufacturer Gudsen has released a firmware update for its Moza Air that lets you control the direction and angle of the head remotely just by moving a small handlebar-mounted control unit.

Curious how the Sony a9 performs underwater? Our friends at Backscatter took the camera diving off the Baja California coast, to find out how it handled shooting great white sharks.

While most of the DPReview crew put away our cameras and just watched the celestial event, Rishi decided last-minute to hack together a rig and capture a few shots.

The days where you're more or less locked into premium or first-party flash units has gone. They're less than $50 now, so there's one less excuse not to get one. Here's our case for adding one to your kit, and a few pointers to get you going.

Award-winning photographer Jeremy Cowart tells the moving story behind this drone photograph, captured in the aftermath of the devastating wildfire in Gatlinburg, TN in 2016.

Ever wonder what the difference is between compressed, uncompressed and lossless compressed Raw files? Photography Life's Nasim Mansurov breaks it down for you in this informative article.

The oldest known portrait of a US president was just discovered after over a century in storage. It's going up for auction in October, where it's expected to fetch between $150,000 and $250,000.

If you're using the popular Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 Art lens with Sigma's MC-11 converter, listen up: you'll want to update your lens and converter firmware ASAP.

If you've heard it once, you've probably heard it a thousand times: never check in your camera gear when flying. This shattered $11,000 lens is what can happen when you do.

Lensrentals just did its first Cine lens comparison, pitting five top-notch 35mm primes against each other: the Zeiss CP.2 35mm T2.1, Canon CN-E 35mm T1.5, Sigma 35mm T1.5 FF, Rokinon Xeen 35mm T1.5 and Schneider Xenon 35mm T2.1.

A team of Google researchers have found that slightly warping watermarks when embedding them into images can help prevent automatic removal.

The company behind popular photo editor Picktorial 3 just released the X-Pack: a preset package that allows you to add Fuji's in-camera film simulation profiles to your RAF files in post.

Photoshop. GoPro. Every once in a while a product emerges that defines a category. And sometimes, it vanishes just as quickly as it arrived on the scene. This week's Throwback Thursday remembers the Flip, the pocket camcorder everyone had – until they didn't.

After a popular Facebook teaser and some studio portrait samples, Godox has finally officially released the Godox A1 smartphone flash and flash trigger. Cheap, versatile and innovative, color us intrigued.

Canon’s EOS 5D Mk IV has won the European Imaging and Sound Association’s Professional DSLR of the Year award, making this the third year in a row that the brand has beaten Nikon to the top spot in the professional camera category.

A photograph and quote tweeted out by former president Barack Obama has officially become the most popular tweet of all time, receiving over 1.3 million retweets and 3.4 million likes.

Edward Weston was one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century, and in this episode of Advancing Your Photography we learn the extreme technique he used to capture one of his most famous still life photos.

Instagram just released a small update that will make a huge difference if you're active on the photo sharing app: threaded comment replies.

Cinnac is a new social network for photographers that will help you separate your good photos from your great ones through a Tinder-like community-based rating system.

The life-logging camera is trying to make a comeback. Say hello to FrontRow, a live-streaming enabled life-logging camera from Ubiquiti that hangs on a necklace like a pendant.

When a prospective client approaches you, don't just say "yes" right away. Here's a useful list of questions you should be asking before you decide to take the job and name your price.

Samsung just revealed a blazing-fast new Solid State Drive capable of data transfer speeds of up to 540MB/s.

DJI has developed a 'Local Data Mode' that lets pilots fly without being connected to the Internet. The mode should calm recent fears over data privacy and security when flying DJI drones.

After 1.7 million downloads on Apple computers since the launch in November 2015, Aurora HDR will be available for Windows PCs for the first time with the 2018 release.

The Minolta MC Rokkor-X 40-80mm F2.8 is unlike any zoom lens you've probably ever seen. Instead of a helicoid, it uses a gearbox, and because of this it's still one of the sharpest zoom lenses out there.

If you're looking to switch to Sony, the company's new limited-time "α trade up" promotion can snag you up to $500 + trade-in value towards a brand new a9, a7 II, a7R II, or a7S II when you hand over your DSLR or mirrorless camera.

49-year-old David Hilos is known by the Singapore photography community as the 'camera whisperer.' When a service center says a camera is beyond repair, Hilos can usually coax it back to life.

Photographer Ryan Kelly captured one of the most viral and graphic images of the horrifying events in Charlottesville, VA this weekend. This is the harrowing story behind that photograph.

Data storage manufacturer Synology has added a new, lower-cost NAS to its DiskStation j line that has a maximum capacity of 40TB, and which is aimed at home users and photography enthusiasts.

We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but here it is: the $500 interchangeable lens camera is about to go the way of the $200 compact.

Curious just how tough Nikon's KeyMission 360 action camera really is? This one got chewed on by a tiger for several minutes and recorded the whole thing.

Sean Tucker tells the story behind these two portraits of the Himba people he captured for a personal project in Namibia.

Renowned photographer Bill Frakes has been let go as a visiting professor at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln after a sexual harassment complaint filed against him was judged by the university to be credible.

On July 17th, NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover pointed its Navcam up at the sky to capture a rare sight: wispy, cirrus-like clouds floating across the Martian horizon.

Compared to the standard Phantom 3, the SE model offers a vision positioning system, 4K video and an improved video transmission range of up to 2.5 miles.

If you use Sigma lenses and you own the Canon 6D Mark II, 77D, Rebel SL2 or the Rebel T7i, listen up. Your Sigma lenses might malfunction if you have "Lens aberration correction" turned on.

Starting January 1st, 2018, the NPPA will raise its membership dues for the first time in 11 years. You have until the end of the year to re-up or join at the current rates.

Consumer Reports has removed its coveted 'Recommended' label from Microsoft's Surface devices after a survey of over 90,000 Surface owners showed 25% ran into reliability issues like freezing and touchscreen issues.

The new Edelkrone SurfaceONE is controlled via a mobile app and allows for different types of movements and timelapse shooting.

Manfrotto has launched a new range of bases, booms, heads and dollys aimed at Virtual Reality content creators. The company claims to be the first to produce "dedicated products designed to support [VR] professionals and enthusiasts."

If you've been dying to try out drone photography or VR but can't justify buying the gear yet, there's good news. Lensrentals is expanding their repertoire to include drones, VR and 360° photo and video gear.

Believe it or not, there is a piece of Iceland you probably haven't seen photographed ad nauseam. It's called the "Cape": a geological gem the likes of which I've never seen before or since.

Arlene Gottfried, the New York street photographer whose strange and beautiful portraits made her a household name, passed away this week at 66. Her work is perhaps best described in this obituary: "superb, simple, intimate and funny."

Citi Research predicts that Snapchat and Instagram are going to bring in huge revenues by 2019. They believe Instagram will hit the $10 billion mark, with smaller Snapchat earning a not-insignificant $3 billion.

Travel guide publisher Lonely Planet just released a new Instagram-like app called Trips. The app lets you share photos from your adventures and, if you're interested, create travel guides of your own.

If you've ever felt down, defeated, unmotivated, uncertain and unsure whether you should go on being a photographer, then this video is for you. In other words: this video is for all of us.

Corel's PaintShop Pro 2018 comes with an expanded feature set and is available as a bundle with the company's video editing package.

Registering your photos with the US Copyright Office can be a huge pain... or it used to be. A new service offered by the website Binded lets you do it in one click without charging any additional fees!

The overhauled Cascable app features support for Fujifilm and Panasonic cameras, new or improved features, and switches to a new pricing model.

If you're looking for a super-affordable entry into artificial light photography, Amazon sells its own AmazonBasics speedlight for Canon and Nikon DSLRs that only cost 28 bucks.

PBS sat down with photographer Shealah Craighead to talk about what it's like as the Official White House Photographer for the 45th President of the United States.

A years-long legal battle between PETA and UK photographer David Slater over a famous (and infamous) monkey selfie may finally be coming to a close.

Illegal drone pilots beware: the Pentagon has given military bases permission to "disable, destroy and track" any wayward drone that wanders into unauthorized airspace.

Vintage lens enthusiast Mathieu Stern takes three of his favorite old lenses out for a shootout: 1 model, 3 lenses, 4 locations.

Tanja Alexia Hollander has been traveling around the world since 2011 in an effort to meet and photograph all 626 of her Facebook friends in their homes.

The next version of PlayStation’s Gran Turismo Sport will comes with a 'Scapes' photo mode that lets you capture professional looking photographs of exotic cars, with a surprising amount of ‘photographic’ control over the way the images look.

Godox just released a set of studio portraits captured with an iPhone 7 Plus and the company's upcoming Godox A1 smartphone flash and flash trigger. Intrigued?

National Geographic and Airbnb have teamed up to give two people the eclipse experience of a lifetime: viewing the whole thing from a private jet.

Photography icon W Eugene Smith didn't just capture the world in photos. A new book explores Smith's penchant for recording his interactions in audio, including conversations with Henri Cartier-Bresson, Diane Arbus and Robert Frank.

It turns out the "read" and "write" speed written on your memory card is a bit idealistic. In a real-world shootout, YouTuber Tom David Frey shows how real-world performance falls short of the marketing.

PhotoShelter's Allen Murabayashi responds to Mikael Cho's controversial defense of his company Unsplash in an unflinching look at why Unsplash is [still] bad for photography and photographers.

Apple has officially joined Instagram. If you're a fan of great iPhone photography, you'll definitely want to follow the tech company's new account for inspiration and the chance to have your own #ShotoniPhone photos featured.

GoPro's financial fortunes have finally made a turn for the better. After multiple rounds of layoffs, cuts and restructuring work, the company's Q2 2017 financial results showed strong growth.

Anti-bullying organization Ditch the Label covers some of the most common, funniest, and also saddest 'Insta Lies' people share through the popular photo sharing service. Any of these look familiar to you?

Erez Marom tells the story behind this magical snow-laden scene, captured in Myvatn, northern Iceland under the light of a full moon.

The Dell Canvas, Dell's 27-inch 'world's first horizontal smart workspace', is finally available to buy... and a little bit cheaper than initially expected if you act fast.

Version 1.02 of the firmware fixes problems with the optical image stabilization when the lens is attached to Sigma's Sony E-mount converter MC-11 EF-E.

In a leaked memo, the US Army, the largest branch of the United States armed forces, called for all units to "discontinue use of DJI equipment," citing "cyber vulnerabilities."

Unsplash founder Mikael Cho responds to the criticism that his creation devalues photography, and shares his thoughts on the future of photography and the true value of a photograph that's given away for free.

A host of adapters have been launched that allow owners of the Fujifilm GFX to attach new and historic lenses from other brands to their mirrorless medium format camera.

Renowned photo editor John G. Morris, whose incredible career saw him at LIFE, The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic and Magnum, passed away last week at age 100.

MIT has developed a new machine learning technology that can retouch an image before you even snap the photo... and it's lightweight enough that it can work on an ordinary smartphone.

Bowens employees are reportedly furious at how the lighting company's liquidation is being handled, claiming they were not paid for July and are required to continue working, without pay, for the duration of the process.

If you're looking to learn Photoshop, or pick up a few nifty new tips, Adobe's got you covered with a brand new YouTube tutorial series called '3, 2, 1 ... Photoshop!'

Miggo is back, and they're crowdfunding an interesting new 'Agua' line of waterproof bags designed to carry DSLRs as well as the DJI Mavic and Spark drones.

Researchers with the University of California, Santa Barbara and NVIDIA have developed a new type of 'computational zoom' tech that will let you change a photo's perspective and focal length in post.

Huge news out of the photo industry today. It seems Blackstone is considering selling their 45% stake in Leica Camera, and Zeiss is one of the potential buyers... but only if they can buy a majority stake.

YouTuber Marques Brownlee got an exclusive first-look at the RED Hydrogen One: the modular smartphone from RED that features a holographic display and can be turned into a full-fledged cinema camera as you attach more and more modules.

At the age of 22, a still-unknown Elliott Erwitt was asked to go document Pittsburg's transformation from industrial center to cultural hub. Looking back, he calls it "he most important thing that happened to me with regard to starting my career."

Light.co, the company behind the 16-module 52+ megapixel Light L16 camera that takes photos using up to 10 camera modules at a time, just released three full-res image samples for you to pixel peep.

Nikon shooters looking for some budget glass will have something to celebrate very soon. Yongnuo will reportedly release two new lenses for Nikon F-mount very soon: a 40mm F2.8 pancake and a 100mm F2.

Photographer Scott Miller shares the story behind his photo of a woman handing a police officer a flower on the border of West Germany in 1989, as the country (and the Berlin wall) crumbled.

According to a new court ruling, if your copyright registration is still 'pending' with the US Copyright Office, you won't able to file a copyright infringement lawsuit if someone steals one of your photos.

The fortunes of Sony’s camera division have taken a turn for the better with a rise in first quarter sales and operating income thanks to 'high-value' cameras and booming smartphone sensor business.

A group of photographers are working together to take gigapixel photography to the next level under a collective called VAST. They seek to create "exceptionally

A bride and groom who set out to destroy their wedding photographer's career will now have to pay $1.08 million in damages for the "defamatory, disparaging and malicious statements" they made.

A lot of vintage lenses contain a Thorium coating, which is radioactive. So you should probably stay far away from these lenses, right? No... not really.

The Nikon 1 AW and 1 V3 mirrorless cameras are no longer available to order, and the Nikon 1 J5 is only available while supplies last. Is this the end of the Nikon 1 line?

Photographer Jesus Emmanuel returned to his deserted high school in Puerto Rico earlier this year, 4x5 view camera in tow, to pay tribute to the vandalized, abandoned, and destroyed school.