News / Other News

With newspapers laying off photographers and picture editors, and the rise of 'citizen journalism', can traditional photojournalism survive? Nonprofit news organization Mother Jones has published an interesting interview with photographer Fred Richin, whose new book 'Bending the Frame: Photojournalism, Documentary and the Citizen' aims to explore the current state of the profession, and answer some of the questions about its future. Click through for extracts from the interview, and a link to the full article. 

Our friends and collaborators over at DxOMark have been investigating lenses for the Canon EOS 6D, and have tested no fewer than 95 lenses from Canon, Samyang, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina and Zeiss to see which score highest. The results are presented in a multipart article, that also compares the EOS 6D results to those from the EOS 5D Mark III and the Nikon D600. Meanwhile for APS-C SLR users, this week DxOMark also reviewed two fast lenses from Sigma, the 30mm F1.4 DC HSM and (in case you missed it earlier this week) the 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM. Click through for the links.  

A good summer photo project doesn't necessarily require a lot of expensive equipment, just a camera, an idea and the persistence to see it through. Chances are you've already got everything you need to kick off a photo series of your own. At DPReview we're always looking for new and interesting photos on the web and lately we've noticed a lot of inspired projects. Some are fairly laborious, while others take a simple idea and run with it. Check out these projects and why not get started on your own?

The 2013 UK Picture Editors Guild Awards are now open for entries. Amateur photographers can show off their skills by entering the 'BT Citizen Photographer of the Year' category; images must have been taken between July 17th, 2012 and July 16, 2013, and the final date for submission of entries is September 1, 2013. Meanwhile professionals can enter images into a range of categories, for a £20 fee. Click through for full details and entry links. 

Sensor maker Aptina has given more details of its Clarity+ technology that it claims will offer a 1EV improvement in sensitivity over conventional sensors. The company believes it has found a way to use clear pixels to capture more light while retaining the image quality of a standard Bayer sensor. Although initially intended for smartphone sized sensors, the company says it could have applications in larger formats. Find out more over at connect.dpreview.com

Florida-based photographer and blogger Olivier Duong has concluded his examination of so-called 'gear acquisition syndrome' with an article that explains how he broke free from his addiction. Starting with the mantra 'there is more to photography than gear', Duong describes how he make a conscious effort to appreciate the equipment he already owns, and to concentrate on using it to improve his photography. Click through for more details.

Engineers at Tokyo University's Ishikawa Oku Laboratory have come up with new technology to track extremely fast motion. Their new system - which uses 'Saccade Mirrors' for pitch and tilt, a 'pupil shift system', and very fast image processing - is able to keep even the quickest subject in the center of the frame at all times. According to engineers, the initial application for this system could be to capture video at sporting events. They expect it to be market-ready in about two years. Follow the link for a video demonstration of this intriguing new technology.

Online product reviews are a huge part of our lives these days, and often, they're the nearest thing we get to a 'hands on experience' before we buy something. But how do we know they're honest? Dishonest reviews are a serious problem for retailers (and indeed for content websites like dpreview.com) and a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been investigating why people are driven to leave reviews of products that they haven't actually used. Their findings might just surprise you. Click through to read more. 

With summer finals out of the way, 17-year-old photographer Ian Komac has devoted his newfound free time to a photo project. Called 60 Days of Summer, the Belgian teen's manipulated photos give landscapes and everyday objects a whimsical twist. Click to see more of his photos and gain a little inspiration for your own summer photo project.

Our friends and collaborators over at DxOMark have been investigating Samsung's NX system, and have recently published reviews of the NX210 and NX300 cameras, alongside an article covering how the company's lenses measure up in comparison to those from the Sony NEX system. Other reviews on the site this week include lens tests on Nikon super-telephoto primes, an assessment of the Sony RX100 II's new back-illuminated CMOS sensor, and the first installment of a multi-part article looking into which lenses score best on the Canon EOS 6D. Click through for the links.

We've been fans of Aaron Johnson's comic strip 'What the Duck' for years. 'WTD' is one of the best satirical comic strips in the world, and it's published here every week, as well as being included in our weekly newsletter. Barbed, topical and always amusing, we hope you enjoy WTD as much as we do. Click through for this week's strip.

Ever since Harold Edgerton photographed a bullet tearing through an apple, it seems the urge to document these split seconds of destruction has not flagged. In photographer Jon Smith’s case, his victims are lightbulbs filled with colorful objects. He creates the images using a DSLR, a pellet gun and a relatively inexpensive lighting setup all in his garage. Click through for more details. 

Florida-based photographer Olivier Duong has expanded his ongoing examination of so-called 'Gear Acquisition Syndrome' with a description of how he overcame his own personal addiction to buying photographic equipment. Categorizing G.A.S. as a 'habit', Duong identifies three components - trigger, routine, and reward, and describes how he went about overcoming his addition by 'changing the routine [but] keeping the trigger, and the reward'. Click through for more details. 

Florida-based Olivier Duong has been blogging about a common addiction among enthusiast and professional photographers  - G.A.S., or 'Gear Acquisition Syndrome'. Among its symptoms are 'hoarding gear that you don’t really need and getting stuff for the sake of getting it'. Does this sound painfully familiar? In his blog post, entitled 'How buying cameras and lenses made me miserable and lose thousands', self-confessed former 'gear addict' Duong explains how his gear acquisition got out of control. Click through for a link to the full article.

In the aftermath of Andy Murray's historic victory at Wimbledon 2013, Nikon UK has been explaining how its cameras were used in a robotics setup to capture images from unique angles during the championship. The system was developed in partnership with Mark Roberts Motion Control, and operated by photographer Bob Martin. It used a Nikon D4 mounted on the roof above Centre Court, with 200-400mm and 80-400mm lenses. Click through to see some of the resultant images.

So-called 'blimp' cases are designed to greatly reduce the sound of a camera's shutter, making it safe to take record shots during filming for TV and movies. Typically, commercial blimp cases cost upwards of $1000, but pro photographer Dan Tabár made his own using a Pelican case, some ABS pipe fittings, a wireless shutter release, and other simple parts sourced at a hardware store, for around $80. Click through to see how well it works for both sound suppression and underwater shooting.

We normally don't cover film cameras on DPReview, but this one's too cool to pass up. Twenty-four year old Léo Marius has created a 35mm film SLR using a 3D printer, complete with a viewfinder and compatibility for any lens mount (once the appropriate mount is created and attached, of course). The camera isn't available for sale, but Marius provides instructions for creating your own. Click through for more details, and pictures of the homemade camera. 

We've been fans of Aaron Johnson's comic strip 'What the Duck' for years. 'WTD' is one of the best satirical comic strips in the world, and it's published here every week, as well as being included in our weekly newsletter. Barbed, topical and always amusing, we hope you enjoy WTD as much as we do. Click through for this week's strip.

More than a year after their arrest in February 2012 for hiding massive corporate losses dating back to the 1990s, three former Olympus executives received suspended jail terms for crimes they admitted committing. In a story marked as one of the largest frauds in Japanese history, the executives conspired to cover up approximately $1.5 billion in investment losses. Olympus itself was fined ¥700 million (about $7 million) for the actions of Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, former chairman, Hideo Yamada, former auditor, and Hisashi Mori, former executive vice president.

Sigma has posted an informative article on its blog by photographer Jack Howard, sharing tips on how to photograph fireworks. The article comes just in time for the 4th of July celebrations in the USA, but is equally relevant to various festivals, year-wide, all over the world. Tips include obvious pointers like making sure you have a good, sturdy tripod, but also more detailed advice about how to set up your camera's exposure and focus modes, as well as how to trigger exposures. Click through for a link to the article at blog.sigmaphoto.com.