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Posts Tagged ‘Machines’

Metabones’ Devil’s Speed Booster turns Pentax Q cameras into ‘monster low-light machines’

10 Oct

Metabones—the company known for its lens adapters and focal reducing Speed Boosters—has released a new Speed Booster that ought to have Pentax Q users salivating a bit. It’s called the Q666 0.5x ‘Devils Speed Booster’, because it allows Pentax Q owners to mount Nikon F and G lenses and produce a working aperture of f/0.666 when a lens with an f/1.2 aperture is used wide open.

The booster has a magnification of 0.5x and produces a 2.8x crop factor when used with the Q and Q10, and a 2.3x factor with the Q7 and Q-S1.

Metabones has used six elements in four groups inside this new Speed Booster, and has incorporated what it calls a ‘long-throw clickless aperture ring’ for G lenses that has eight marked positions. The adapter is compatible with all Nikkor and Nikon-mount lenses except the Nikkor 2.1cm f/4 and the 20mm f/2.8 AI-S.

The idea for the adapter was launched in August, but this is the first version to emerge. Metabones promises one in a Pentax K mount as well.

The Metabones Nikon G to Pentax Q Speed Booster Q666 0.50x costs $ 490. For more information, visit the Metabones website.

Press Release

Metabones Devil’s Speed Booster Q666 0.50x

Caldwell Photographic Inc. and Metabones® is pleased to announce the Speed Booster Q666, a.k.a. “The Devil’s Speed Booster”, exclusively for Pentax Q series cameras. With its 0.5x magnification and world-record f/0.666 maximum speed it is crazy wicked fast. So make a deal with the devil today and turn your Pentax Q with its back-illuminated sensor into a monster low-light machine unlike anything ever seen in photography. Attach an f/1.2 lens and stop down a little to see how Stanley Kubrick made do with f/0.7 for filming those famous candle-lit scenes in “Barry Lyndon”. Or open up all the way to f/0.666 and probe the darkness in a way that no photographer has ever been able to do until now.

With an advanced 6-element optical design, the Q666 packs lots of optical horsepower in a small package. Sharpness is excellent even at f/0.666, and is downright superb if you stop down to f/1.0. Distortion is very low, with a maximum value of, naturally, 0.666%. And thanks to the back-illuminated sensor used in Pentax Q cameras, the full f/0.666 maximum aperture can be utilized with minimal pixel vignetting effects commonly seen in other cameras used with high-speed lenses.

Figures 2 through 4 below show MTF at 10, 20, and 40 lp/mm as a function of image height for output apertures of f/0.666, f/1.0, and f/2.01. At f/0.666 (i.e., with an f/1.2 master lens) the MTF is high near the axis, and only falls off gradually toward the corners. As the aperture is reduced to f/1.0 and then f/2.0 the MTF becomes very high and more even across the field. Figure 5 shows that there is less than 1 stop of corner illumination falloff even at f/0.666. And guess what – there is no vignetting at all after the output aperture reaches f/1.82. Figure 6 shows that rectilinear distortion added by the Speed Booster Q666 is negligible at less than 0.666%.

Like all Metabones Speed Boosters, the Speed Booster Q666 is optimized to fully account for the camera’s filter stack located near the sensor surface. This is especially critical at the record-setting f/0.666 aperture now possible with the Q666. As a result, an enormous range of optics, from vintage film lenses to the latest digital designs, will function flawlessly when adapted to any Pentax Q camera. Planned lens mounts for the Speed Booster Q666 include a Pentax-K version and a Nikon F/G version with the most advanced Nikon G aperture adjustment mechanism in the industry.

The Speed Booster Q666 will be available starting in Aug 2017 from the Metabones website (http://www.metabones.com/products/details/MB_SPNFG-Q-BM1) and its worldwide dealer network for US $ 489.00, plus shipping and applicable taxes and duties.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Robot Fails: 12 Times Supposedly Intelligent Machines Screwed Up

26 Jul

[ By SA Rogers in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

If you’re down about the oncoming dystopia in which robots take all of our jobs before we’ve structurally reorganized society to support ourselves, enjoy a few moments of smug comfort in these videos of supposedly advanced machines falling, spilling coffee, arguing with each other like old couples and committing suicide in fountains. They’ll give you a brief sense of satisfaction before you read yet another article about how automation is about to destroy your industry.

Security Robot Drowns Itself

Police and security robots equipped with cameras, sensors and alarms (but thankfully not weapons, yet) – what could go wrong? So far, in the case of the 300-pound, cone-shaped Knightscope robots used to patrol shopping centers and parking lots, problems have mostly involved running over the feet of toddlers. But then, as documented by @bilalforooqui on Twitter, one of them let us know he was very depressed by drowning himself in the fountain of a Washington D.C. office building. “We were promised flying cars, instead we got suicidal robots,” says Farooqui.

Robots Falling at the DARPA Robotics Challenge

Most DARPA creations, funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, are intended to someday replace humans in dangerous scenarios like wars and disasters, but that doesn’t stop them from being utterly terrifying, especially the ones that look like massive dogs and cheetahs. But if this compilation of robots falling down at the DARPA Robotics Challenge is any indication, it’s going to be a while before we should feel too much concern.

Flying Robot Dive-Bomb

Sure, these robots look and behave just like animals, all right – like angry mother birds eager to attack humans who have wandered too close to their nest. Featured in this video is the Festo SmartBird, an ultralight flying robot that’s usually pretty impressive, developed to help research groups studying animals.

Coffee Robot Makes a Mess

Cafe X in San Francisco aims to be an example of why we no longer need human baristas. Built in partnership with WMF, an automatic coffee company, the Cafe X Coffee Robot is supposed to deliver perfect consistent drinks after you order using a touchscreen or app. But as you can see in this video, things don’t always go according to plan.

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Robot Fails 12 Times Supposedly Intelligent Machines Screwed Up

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Time Machines: Langdon Clay’s Gritty Cars Of New York City

12 Dec

[ By Steve in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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Photographer Langdon Clay captured New York‘s bruised & battered road warriors at rest, evoking a dirtier and more dangerous era of the city that never sleeps.

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New York City in the 1970s was a city on the slippery slope to disaster; a major metropolis whose decline into bankruptcy, pervasive corruption and rampant crime portended a grim dystopian future fit for the likes of Snake Plissken. Armed with only his trusty Leica camera and rolls of Kodachrome film, Langdon Clay ventured into the Big Apple’s littered streetscapes, finding a fitting iconography for troubled times amongst the oft-filthy and snow-encrusted parked cars sheltering under the unforgiving glare of sodium-vapor streetlights.

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Langdon Clay, a native of NYC born in 1949, grew up in New Jersey and Vermont before moving back to the city of his birth in 1971. Like many photographers of the era, Clay cut his teeth on black and white composition but once immersed in New York’s unique urban milieu, inspiration struck. “I experienced a conversion of sorts in making a switch from the ‘decisive moment’ of black and white to the marvel of color,” relates Clay, “a world I was waking up to every day. At the time it seemed like an obvious and natural transition. What was less obvious was how to reflect my world of New York City in color… I discovered that night was its own color and I fell for it.”

Checkered Past

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From 1974 through 1976, often in winter and always after dark, Clay roamed the streets of New York and nearby Hoboken, New Jersey seeking out likely land-barge subjects. Most – though not all – of his photos depict used and abused Detroit iron of the Malaise Era with a few stubborn survivors of the Space Age tossed in for good measure. Of course, no expose of New York’s cars would be complete without a Checker or two: the pair above includes one once-ubiquitous New York cab and a rarer, privately-owned Checker Marathon.

Apple Spread

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We’re not sure why it took Clay forty-odd years to publish his collection of mid-seventies car photos… perhaps, like fine wine, a significant passage of time was required to imbue his subjects (and their surroundings) with the flavor of their long-passed era. In the event, “Cars – New York City 1974 – 1976”, published by Steidl, features 96 photographs spread over 132 pages.

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Time Machines Langdon Clays Gritty Cars Of New York City

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Brain Food: Vending Machines Offer Books Instead of Snacks

23 Jun

[ By SA Rogers in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

book vending machine 1

You can buy all kinds of weird things from vending machines these days – from live crabs to blue jeans to gold bars – but this new iteration is more entertaining than most, and it’ll certainly keep you busy longer than a bag of Skittles. Peruse the covers of a curated selection of books through the glass of these BooksActually vending machines in Singapore for a new distraction on demand. If only this idea caught on everywhere, maybe we’d spend a bit less time standing around staring at our phones.

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Two of the machines are now ready for reading enthusiasts in high-traffic areas, including the National Museum of Singapore and the Singapore Visitor Center. Fittingly for these locations, the selections appear to be Singapore-centric, including books by local authors as well as helpful guides for tourists. Each machine contains about 150 books with up to 22 titles, and the outsides of the machines are painted by local artists to indicate what’s inside.

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“The whole idea is about accessibility and eyeballs,” says Kenny Leck, owner of BooksActually. “There are not enough bookstores in Singapore… these vending machines could be a visual touchpoint. You may not buy [a book] but we’ll let you know these exist. And from there, there could be more possibilities. We start with visual awareness: books where you see a local author’s name. The ultimate place we want to put them are at train stations.”

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Of course, book vending machines aren’t entirely new, though they’re far more popular in Asia than they are stateside. The first book-dispensing machine, called the Penguincubator, was installed in London way back in 1937. An Irish company called ‘A Novel Idea’ installed a machine at London’s Heathrow airport, but went out of business. It’s kind of hard to pick out a book when you can’t even read the back cover, but the concept could work with highly recognizable beach-read-type titles that are about the equivalent of junk food for your brain, anyway.

 

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Fast machines: Shooting motocross with the Nikon D5 and Canon 1D X II

18 May

Introduction

Big cameras. Big performance.

The Nikon D5 and Canon EOS-1D X Mark II are purpose-built machines. Firing at 12 and 14 frames per second respectively, they are designed for speed and durability to help you make sure you get the shot no matter what conditions you find yourself in. Conditions like those at the Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington recently, where DPR staffers Dan Bracaglia and Carey Rose went to get some preliminary findings on the cameras’ AF systems.

Bear in mind we’re camera reviewers, and not pro sports photographers – we’re actively working to get the Nikon and Canon cameras into the hands of working pros to get some real-world opinions on them. But for now, we thought there was some value in sending Dan out to get some early findings from the 1D X Mark II, which had arrived only recently into our offices, and Carey out with the D5, the review of which is fully under way. Since these cameras are likely to be shot alongside each other at many a major sporting event, we figured we’d try our best to do the same and compare our results.

The Nikon D5

by Carey Rose

Flyin’ high. Photographed in Auto Area AF. Nikon 24-70 F2.8E VR @ 38mm | F11 | 1/250 sec | ISO 100

For someone as interested in motorcycles as I am, it’s almost embarrassing to admit that this was my first time watching motocross in person, much less photographing it. And even though we were shooting a Sunday ‘practice’ session, it proved a good test for Nikon’s flagship sports shooting machine. As riders brapped and blipped their engines, rocketing around the track at over 40 mph, I snapped and clacked the D5 away at 12 fps nearly the whole time. You just don’t realize how nice all those frames per second are until you really – truly – need them.

But before we get to the burst rate and the photos, let’s dig into the D5’s autofocus system a bit. The continuous autofocus modes I chose to try out were 3D Tracking, single-point, Group Area AF and Auto Area AF. Here’s what all those modes mean, how they behave and some common use cases.

  • 3D Tracking utilizes the D5’s phase-detection autofocus module for distance information and combines that with color readings from the RGB metering sensor to effectively track subjects around the frame with a single point. Put another way, place your chosen AF point over your subject, initiate autofocus, and the point should stick to that subject whether you or your subject move. Frankly, it’s worked so well in my experience that I default to this mode almost all the time for general shooting.
  • Single-point AF utilizes depth tracking from the phase-detection module to effectively track an object that is moving towards or away from the camera, so long as you keep the point over that subject. Despite how good 3D Tracking performs, it can still sometimes be fooled. If you know your subject’s trajectory and can comfortably follow that subject with the AF point over it, this mode also comes with a high degree of precision.
  • Group Area AF works very similarly to the single-point method, but uses a tight group of 5 AF points instead of one. With a larger ‘zone’ of focus coverage, it should be easier to follow unpredictable subjects in this mode, and it’s commonly used for photographing birds in flight.
  • Auto Area AF works basically by letting the camera take over entirely. Like 3D Tracking, this mode uses the camera’s PDAF module and metering sensor in tandem to intelligently discern what it should be focusing on. It will usually bias to objects closer to the camera, so watch your foregrounds, but it should also intelligently be able to read colors, and in Nikon’s newest models, faces and eyes. This is a good mode for photographing people at events, or if you don’t have time to react and just need to get a photograph, there’s a chance Auto Area AF will get you what you need.

It goes without saying that all of these modes, despite how computationally intensive they may be for the D5, work perfectly well at its full burst rate (not mirror lock-up mode).  And as someone who is used to 5fps bodies, the higher frame rate is something to behold. 

12 fps

After some quick and informal testing, I soon started to take 12 fps for granted. Slowing down the D5 in ‘Continuous Low’ mode to 6 fps to simulate a less sports-oriented body was torturous. Predictably, instead of getting a solid six-to-eight shots of a rider flying past me with wide-ish framing, I’d get maybe two or three. I was often left wanting an additional shot in-between the few that I managed to get, and because of this, I ended up trying to get just a single shot at the right moment and hoping that my timing worked out. It often didn’t. Back to 12 fps mode for me.

A high frame rate gives you more compositional options in situations such as this, where two riders are constantly changing their positions relative to each other. Nikon 70-200 F2.8G VR II @ 200mm | F5.6 | 1/1250 sec | ISO 400

Following and focusing with single-point AF

But of course, 12 fps is useless if you can’t see what you’re shooting. The good news is that the viewfinder blackout is so short on the D5 even at 12 fps that I was able to pan and follow a fast-moving rider at a very close distance with ease. Nikon’s 3D Tracking worked well (more on that later), but because I could see so clearly in ‘real time’, using single-point continuous autofocus and just keeping a point over my subject was a completely viable option when panning and this approach netted a high number of ‘keepers.’ What’s more, the frame coverage of the D5’s autofocus array is so generous that I rarely felt compositionally constrained by picking a single point to keep over my subject.

Of course, for the sake of some variety, sometimes it’s best not to follow the action and just let it pass you by. Nikon 300m F4 PF | F5.6 | 1/500 sec | ISO 100

Group AF

Group AF on the D5 works similarly to single-point, but with the idea that a tight group of points will give you greater precision than just one point alone. The idea is great in principle and it usually worked well, but there were a handful of times where I let a part of the group stray off the rider, and the camera quickly readjusted to focus on the background. Part of this is probably due to to the fact that I had the AF system set up for ‘erratic’ subjects since 3D tracking and single-point worked so well in this mode, but in any case I tended to avoid Group AF for the rest of this shoot. 

Motorcycles in flight. Nikon AF-S 300mm F4 PF | F4 | 1/1600 sec | ISO 100

3D Tracking

One of the most exciting autofocus developments for DSLRs in recent years, Nikon’s 3D Tracking, worked as well as I have come to expect with only a single exception. When at wider focal lengths and attempting to initiate tracking on a rider at a distance, the D5 would usually just not be able to find my subject. The user manual reflects this though, saying that the camera collects color information from focus points surrounding the one you’ve chosen, storing that information and using it to initiate tracking.

So with a distant rider, the D5 was seeing mostly the dirt color, despite the bright colored clothing of my intended subject. In any case, if I let the subject get a little closer, or if I used longer lenses that produce inherently shallower depth-of-field, 3D Tracking proved itself to be pretty magical, constantly re-focusing and re-positioning the autofocus point in the viewfinder even when I was shooting at 12fps.  

Nikon’s 3D Tracking did a great job of tracking this rider with a single AF point pegged to his riding suit. Nikon AF-S 300mm F4 PF | F4 | 1/1000 sec | ISO 100

Auto Area AF

The last mode I experimented with was Auto Area AF, which is usually a mode that I tell people to avoid using. The D5 might just change my mind on that one. The camera was able to find a moving subject and hit it with anywhere from one to nine AF points almost every single time.

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In the above series of (unedited) images, Auto Area actually directed the camera to focus on the background first. But then in the middle of that 12 fps burst, focus snapped to the rider flying through the air in front of me within two frames. I generally prefer a higher degree of control than Auto offers, but I can see this mode being genuinely helpful if you have milliseconds to get a shot and you don’t have time to place an autofocus point manually.

All those buttons

One of the best parts of the new D5 (and its sister model, the D500) is the level of button customization regarding autofocus modes. I am a back-button AF shooter, as I do sometimes like to pre-focus and wait for a subject to enter the frame without having to switch into manual focus. But even with the shutter button decoupled from any autofocus functionality whatsoever, I can assign AF-ON to be 3D Tracking, then assign the FN1 button on the front of the camera (under my ring finger) to switch to single-point continuous autofocus, and then also assign a full press of the AF joystick to switch into Auto Area mode.

So without even shifting my grip, I’ve got three different autofocus modes at my fingertips. This is incredibly handy as I often found myself changing AF modes depending on my lens, my position and the riders’ movement.

Having watched this rider come around this corner a number of times, I wanted to focus on just how much dirt he kicked up as he plowed through the scene. Having de-coupled autofocus and my shutter button, I pre-focused just behind where his rear tire is, shot a burst as he entered and exited the viewfinder with the tight framing I wanted and I didn’t have to worry about the focus shifting or missing (an admittedly minor concern with the D5). Nikon 300mm F4 PF | F4 | 1/2000 sec | ISO 200

So, now that we’ve seen how the Nikon D5 performed, let’s move on to Canon’s EOS-1D X Mark II.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Weekly Photography Challenge – Machines

22 Aug

Earlier today I rounded up a collection of images of powerful machines here. Unless you live in a remote village far from civilization – chances are that machines are part of daily life in your area.

Photograph One more cup of coffee by Yahav  on 500px

One more cup of coffee by Yahav on 500px

It could be a coffee machine in your kitchen or favorite barista shop, or a tractor in a field. Maybe there are cranes at a construction site on your way to work.

Photograph Fordson Major - Overstrand by Simon Wrigglesworth on 500px

Fordson Major – Overstrand by Simon Wrigglesworth on 500px

Weekly photography challenge – machines

Look around they’re everywhere, and it’s your job to find them and photography them this week.

Photograph Harley davidson by ???????  ??????? on 500px

Harley davidson by ??????? ??????? on 500px

Photograph Foggy Sunrise by Richard Gottardo on 500px

Foggy Sunrise by Richard Gottardo on 500px

Photograph sewing machine by Ritam Paul Chowdhury on 500px

sewing machine by Ritam Paul Chowdhury on 500px

Photograph Retired sewing machine by JongYoung Kim on 500px

Retired sewing machine by JongYoung Kim on 500px

Share your images below:

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer upload them to your favourite photo sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

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Drawing Machines: 13 Rivetingly Creative Art-Making Robots

09 Jun

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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Is it the human element that’s crucial in calling a creation ‘art,’ or does it still count even if it was made by a robot? Adding to the age-old debate attempting to define a fairly abstract concept, robotic art mimics human movements or transcends them altogether using all sorts of computer programs, magnets, pendulums and CNC machines. One even draws blood and uses it as ink to create a portrait of the artist in his own bodily fluids.

Robot Draws Artist’s Portrait in His Own Blood

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Artist Ted Lawson’s blood was fed intravenously straight to a CNC machine to paint his own portrait for ‘Ghost in the Machine.’ The project uses a robot arm to trace a programmed illustration in squiggly red lines. For Lawson, the experience was… draining. “I want to show the connection between our existential humanity and the ever-expanding technology that we use, are addicted to and rely on, as something deeply personal and very real. I’m trying to repeal the underlying code that is present in all things.”

Kinetic Sand Drawing Machines by Bruce Shapiro

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The Sisyphus machine by Bruce Shapiro automatically creates incredibly intricate drawings in sand using magnets, steel marbles and a computerized motion control system. It’s mesmerizing to watch, the patterns seemingly appearing out of nowhere, the steel balls moving all on their own. Shapiro is planning a tabletop consumer version. As Shapiro explains the name, “For the crime of cheating death, Sisyphus must push his boulder up the mountain only to have it roll back down each day. For all eternity.”

Lounge in a Hot Tub and Watch a Robot Build with Salt

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Watch from a hot tub as a robot plays in twelve tons of salt poured onto the entire floor of a gallery space, pushing and extruding it into abstract shapes resembling city skylines. Artist Jonathan Schipper’s installation ‘Detritus’ makes the viewers a destructive element in the scene, as their movement to and from the water destroys what the robot has created. “Objects are continuously being formed but, due to the fragility of the salt crystals used to make them, they deteriorate at nearly the same rate new ones are being built. This installation is an attempt to create a vantage point that is impossible in the real world. A vantage point that both condenses and speeds up time and provides an objective view of the things we value which, at times, we recognize as merely detritus.”

Pinball Prints: Art from Chaos

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The movement of an ink-colored sphere is captured on a piece of paper, set within the guts of an old pinball machine. STYN by Sam van Doorn creates prints that get more complex depending on how good you are at the game. “In a time of digitization of the work process, you can easily forget the freedom and fun of play,” says the artist. “By creating new tools, you give yourself the opportunity to break free from standards in design.”

3D Drawing Machine Splits Your Vision to Help You Trace

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Not so confident in your artistic skills? While it’s not entirely autonomous, this machine will help you produce strikingly accurate drawings by screwing with your brain a little bit. ‘Vision’ splits your ocular system to create two images of your subject, so that you can trace one directly onto the curved surface before you.

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Evil Espresso: 13 Amazing Artistic & Unusual Coffee Machines

19 Nov

[ By Steph in Drawing & Digital. ]

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Your countertop coffee maker will suddenly look inadequate compared to a monster of a sculptural espresso machine, an elegant steampunk orb and a piston-powered copper coffee maker fit for a villain’s lair. These 13 artistic, high-end and highly unusual coffee and espresso machine designs take the process of brewing your essential daily caffeine intake to the next level and then some.

Sculptural Steampunk Coffee Machine by Dutch Lab

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Would you ever guess, seeing it across a room, that this thing is a coffee maker? Dutch Lab created this Gothic-themed steampunk ‘monster’ intending for it to look a bit evil. The AKMA is named for the Korean word for ‘devil,’ and like all of Dutch Lab’s coffee machines, it uses a cold-brew technique relying on the force of gravity and a very particular grind of coffee beans – finer than those used for drip coffee, but coarser than those used for espresso.

Coffee Alarm Clock

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Coffee could literally be your alarm clock with the Barisieur, which brews up a single cup of fresh coffee at a designated time. It doesn’t just wake you up with smell, but also with gentle sounds as the process begins and the water starts to boil. It does require a bit of preparation at night, but as the designer notes, it “encourages a ritual before going to sleep, signaling to the body and mind that it is time to unwind and relax.”

Steampunk Glass Balloon Coffee Maker

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Another steampunk design looks like something straight out of a scientist’s laboratory. Café Balão by Davide Mateus consists of a pair of hand-blown glass vessels, one of which contains a wand-style heating element to boil the water. This siphoning coffee maker uses vapor pressure and vacuum to produce coffee, with vapor from boiling water in the lower chamber forcing water into the upper chamber containing the coffee grinds. When the heat turns off, gravity pulls the brewed coffee into the lower vessel.

Piston-Powered Espresso Machine

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You’ll feel like you’re doing something diabolical when you pull the lever on the Streitman ES3 Espresso Machine, except instead of blowing something up or revealing a secret lair, you’ll be starting the piston-powered process of making a cup of espresso. The sleek wood and copper design forces hot water through ground coffee with a piston, and is available with a dual spout for making more than one cup at a time. It doesn’t come cheap, retailing at $ 1,700.

Minimalist Single-Serving Brewing Device

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Is this the world’s most minimalist coffee maker? The Canadiano is a single-serving brewing device made of wood, which you simply place on top of a mug. Add coffee grounds, pour in some hot water and wait for your brewed coffee to seep through the metal filter. It’s available in three different wood varieties which ‘remember’ your choice of coffee, building up the oils of your specific beans and roast over time.

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Live Crabs, Gold Bars & iPods: 18 Weird Vending Machines

28 Jan

[ By Steph in Culture & Cuisine & Global. ]

Weird Unusual Vending Machines

Forget crackers and candy bars – you could be buying live lobsters, bike parts, whole heads of lettuce and even freshly baked baguettes with the push of a button from vending machines across the world. In fact, if you’re willing to blow into a breathalyzer and show your ID to a camera, you can even get a bottle of wine. These 18 vending machines take instant gratification to surprising extremes.

Anger Release: Break a Plate

 Weird Vending Machines Anger Release

Few things are more satisfying when you’re feeling livid than smashing a fragile object to smithereens. This vending machine caters to anyone who needs to release some anger , offering your choice of statues, vases, plates and glasses in highly breakable materials – though you won’t get to break it yourself. The satisfaction comes from watching the item fall into the bottom of the machine.

Live Crabs & Lobster

Weird Vending Machines Live Lobster

Weird Vending Machines Live Crabs

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Vending machines aren’t exactly the most humane places for live animals to live, but that doesn’t stop people from offering both lobsters and crabs that you can either take home and kill yourself or have cooked at a restaurant. ‘Lobster Zone’ is actually an arcade game where you have to manipulate a mechanical claw to pluck a live lobster from the bottom of the tank. The slogan is ‘You catch ‘em, we cook ‘em!’ In China, vending machines offer Shanghai Hairy Crabs in a range of sizes for $ 1.50 to $ 7.50

Bikes & Bike Parts

 Weird Vending Machines Bikes

Weird Vending Machines Bike Parts

The Bike Dispenser will spit out a dorky looking bicycle in exchange for your cash. While it’s just a concept, the idea is that you can either bring the bike back to the original vending machine location when you’re done, or ride it one-way to another machine. The bikes are fitted with RFID chips to keep track of them.  In New York, cyclists can find another bike-related vending machine that’s actually pretty handy: Bikestock offers bike parts, tools and locks as well as food and a quick tire fill-up.

Blue Jeans & Socks

Weird Vending Machines Socks

Weird Vending Machines Jeans

Let’s say you’ve landed at the airport in a strange city after a red-eye flight only to find that the airline lost your luggage. You might be happy to see vending machines filled with blue jeans and socks. The brand ‘Closed Jeans’ has installed vending machines in train stations across Europe. Sock vending machines offer everything from colorful, stylish options to the most basic white athletic socks. The latter can sometimes be found in bowling alleys.

Hot Pizza, Mashed Potatoes & Chicken

Weird Vending Machines Pizza 

If you’ve ever stared at the sad, cold offerings in a vending machine, wishing you could have some hot pizza instead, you might be in luck (if you can actually find one of these.) Pizza vending machines have been common in Asia for a while, and are now popping up in the U.S. thanks to Wonder Pizza USA, which offers steaming nine-inch whole pizzas in two minutes. If you prefer to mainline your refined carbs, hoover up some instant mashed potatoes and gravy at your local 7-Eleven courtesy of Maggi’s gross mashed potato machines. Other hot foods that can be procured disturbingly quickly with the push of a button include french fries, hot dogs, fried chicken and even squid.

 

Eggs & Fresh Lettuce

Weird Vending Machines Lettuce

 

Weird Vending Machines Eggs

Lettuce doesn’t seem like an ideal item for a vending machine, considering its tendency to wilt pretty quickly. But this particular machine takes care of that problem by actually growing the lettuce on sponges under fluorescent lighting. Chef’s Farm, found in Japan, can produce 60 heads of lettuce per day. In rural Japan, where convenience stores are hard to come by, it’s not uncommon to find vending machines offering cartons of eggs.

 

Fresh Bread in Paris

Need a freshly-baked baguette at three in the morning? If you’re in Paris, you’re in luck (for a number of reasons). A baker decided to take advantage of the August holiday season, when most bakeries close up shop, by offering a 24-hour baguette vending machine filled with partially cooked loaves that are finished off just when you need them. The baker, who lives above his shop, came up with the idea after being repeatedly disturbed by potential customers knocking on his door after hours.

Gold Bars

Weird Vending Machines Gold Bars

Isn’t it annoying when you need some gold bars fast, but all the banks are closed? Gold to Go has got you covered with blast-proof, camera-guarded vending machines that will dispense small wafers of gold in exchange for your cash. The prices are updated automatically every two minutes to keep up with constantly fluctuating gold prices. The machines can be found in airports and shopping malls in Abu Dhabi, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain and a few U.S. locations.

Beer & Wine with a Side of CCTV

 Weird Vending Machines Beer and Wine

 

Show your ID to a real live person watching you via CCTV from a call center, blow into a breathalyzer to prove you’re not already drunk, and you can get a bottle of wine from a vending machine in Pennsylvania. The kiosks, introduced in response to the state’s archaic liquor laws, can be found in grocery stores. In Japan, some vending machines will pour you a pint of draught beer, while others offer a range of cans. For a promotion, Amstel offered free beer to any customer who could stand completely still in front of a vending machine for three minutes.

 

iPods & Other Gadgets

Weird Vending Machines Best Buy

 

Weird Vending Machines iPod

Best Buy’s airport kiosks are an increasingly common sight, offering last-minute, travel-oriented gadgets like digital cameras, phone batteries, headphones and pre-paid international cell phones. Better hope you press the right button, because if you need to return something, you’ll have to call an 800 number and wait for a prepaid label to come in the mail. Vending machines offering virtually every iteration of the iPod have also been spotted, and it’s almost guaranteed that they aren’t endorsed by Apple. 

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[ By Steph in Culture & Cuisine & Global. ]

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Captive Imagination: Terrifying DIY Prison Tattoo Machines

28 Jun

[ By Steph in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

Prison Tattoo Machines

When famed tattoo artist Scott Campbell visited a prison in Mexico to ink people held inside, he didn’t bring a tattoo machine – he made his own, the same way the inmates would, using the materials that can be found within the prison walls. The artist then immortalized these DIY creations in a series of realistic black-and-white watercolor paintings called ‘Things Get Better.’

Prison Tattoo Machines 3

The title refers to the ‘things’ that the guns are made of: hair picks, plastic utensils, telephone cords, batteries and ballpoint pens. Campbell spent two months visiting the prison, where he worked with the inmates and tattooed them. Since he wasn’t allowed to bring tattoo equipment inside, he had to use what was available. He donated “a few VCRs and a beaten old guitar” to the prison rec room to help the process along. The motors from the VCRs and the guitar strings, which were then used as needles, proved extremely useful for his creations. The needles were sharpened on the grout between tiles.

Prison Tattoo Machines 2

Prison Tattoo Machines 5

“I like the idea that inspiration can come from limitations,” Campbell told Life and Times. “There’s a general notion that inspiration is a sort of expansion of awareness or broadening of creative range. This work is inspired by parameters. The openness of a blank canvas and the infiniteness of the possibilities that canvas may contain can be paralyzing.”

Prison Tattoo Machines 4

“When I have limitations –a confined range of materials –and a specific task to fulfill, it creates a little world that I can get lost in and walls to push against. These paintings are created within parameters that we can imagine ourselves in and, in that way, are relatable. The watercolors are humble and sweet in their simplicity.”

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