cameras

Kodak Bantam Special

Just saw this on Gizmodo, and had to re-post it:

This is the Kodak Bantam Special, a limited-edition camera designed by Teague and released in 1936. It’s totally art deco and totally beautiful.

Why don’t they make cameras that look this awesome anymore! All cameras look the same these days, they should really consider bringing some style back to the design.

via Gizmodo via Monoscope via Kottke

dslrs replaced by evil?

Don’t be frightened, I’ll explain: Awhile back I came across this article, 5 Reasons To Ditch Your Digital SLR on Wired, and of course I had to read it. I love my DSLR, what could they possibly say to convince  me otherwise! Basically, there’s a new category of camera on the scene, and it’s EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens). First of all, the acronym is badass. Second of all, I was skeptical, but the more I learn about these cameras, the more appealing they seem to me, and more importantly, the more I can see how they fill the gap between crappy point and shoots and more advanced pro DSLR’s.

The article lays out a few good reasons why these cameras are probably going to be the next big thing, and I’m going to have to agree with them, these seem pretty appealing. They’re small and not bulky (with my crazy zoom lens my DSLR weighs a billion pounds), they don’t draw huge amounts of attention (when I carry my DSLR around people inevitably stare at me and wonder what I’m doing, so it’s hard to get really good candid shots at times), you can change lenses (which works for the more advanced users, I can’t imagine not being able to pick the right lens, I think that’s what stresses me out most about point and shoots) and they take great photos (on par with some DSLR’s!).

Sounds convincing, right? I mean obviously, you’re not going to take this out on a job or anything like that, but this is a great alternative to dragging your DSLR around with you for non-job related photography.

The only downside at this moment is that they are pretty expensive. But that will definitely change as they become more popular, and I assume fit into a price range somewhere between point and shoots and DSLR’s. And most likely see some of the bigger camera manufacturers like Canon and Nikon get in on the action as well.

Wanna know more? Check out the Wired article from which I pulled all this information. Also, check out the links to the EVIL cameras below to get more feature specific info. I’ve linked you to the dpreview.com page because it’s a great starting point and has tons of info:

Olympus Pen E-PL1
Lumix GF1
Samsung NX10

new polaroid cameras

Oooo look at this. Now that Polaroid is back, they’re releasing some fancy new cameras, called the PIC 1000 ($100 or less). The wood one… I wants it.

via PhotographyBay

lomo supersampler

I was just thinking about the Supersampler from lomo and thinking I should use mine more and go out and take some photos. I checked out lomography.com to get inspired, here are some good ones I found, doesn’t it make you wanna go out and take photos with this cool camera?

diana f+ slr adaptors

Discovered this just in time for Christmas, and I’ll add it to my huge list of camera gear that I am pining over, these Diana F+ SLR Adaptors make it so you can shoot attach super cool Diana lenses to your digital camera.

I do miss shooting film, but I’m generally too lazy to do it. This lets me still get some of the cool Diana effects from a digital! It’s just another fun gadget to add to your photo bag so you can have more options when shooting. Add it to your list!

*zephyrance dont wake me up.

…is the name of the flickr user who has convinced me I need a Fuji Instax camera. I was doing some research to figure out if I should buy and I saw this photo set and I no longer had doubts. Check it out:

chase jarvis: the best camera

Photographer Chase Jarvis has release a new iPhone photo app called The Best Camera, as well as a new book to go along with it called The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You. You can find out all the info on thebestcamera.com.

The app looks pretty good, I haven’t tried it yet but it has a bunch of cool filters with cute names (jewel, paris, slate, candy, light, dark, fade, contrast, warm, cool, desaturate, vignette, square, frame) that make me want to try them. It gets even better though because the app lets you easily share your photos online, which I think is what a lot of photo app’s are lacking. So you can upload to Facebook, Twitter, email, or even to thebestcamera.com which is probably the most interesting option because then it will post the combination of filters you used, and in what order you used them so other people can get the same look.

I love the idea behind the app and the book, because I also believe everyone should take more photo, and why not use your phone? Also, the images from Chase’s book are pretty amazing considering they were taken on an iPhone. I love anything that reinforces the idea that it’s not the camera, but the photographer that makes a good image.

Check out this video and get inspired to start taking more mobile photos:

Here are some images from the book, The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You. Makes me want to make my own iPhone photo book!

camera line drawings

I’m in love with these camera line drawings and solid line drawings by illustrator Rod Hunting, on T26. The only thing that would make it better is if there was a Pentax K1000, aka My Favourite Camera Ever.

holga: multiple exposure

I love my Holga, even though I haven’t used it in ages. I miss film. Sigh.

I often look at this great Holga gallery, and if you’ve ever been wondering what you can do with a Holga and why you should even care about using film again, check out the different categories in the gallery and you’ll see why people are so addicted to this plastic camera.

One thing a Holga does wonderfully, that is often sadly lacking with digital photography these days, is multiple exposures. I chose some of my favourites, check them out below.

If you were thinking about getting into toy/plastic cameras, or even if you’ve never heard of them before, this might inspire you to learn a bit more.