More than 50 years after the satellites that captured the first high-res images of the moon plunged to the surface and were destroyed, a Wired article tells the story of a group of people that found the tapes after they ended up in storage in California. Re-engineering the old drives capable of reading the tapes, they’ve recovered these historically significant images. Learn more
Color photography has been around in one form or another for a very long time, but has only been the norm for around forty years. Their relative rarity makes the discovery of older color images perennially fascinating. After all, early color offers us a view of the past in the colors and tones of our own experience and memories. Which brings us to a box that editor Barnaby Britton found recently in his Grandmother’s attic. See photos and read more of the story
You don’t have to be a New Yorker to appreciate the 900,000 plus images available online through the NYC Department of Records archives. Some are photographs of well-known icons like the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge, while others are Wee Gee-esque in their grit or as mundane as photos documenting local school buildings. Many of the images date back to the late 1800s. Learn more
Leica has announced the T-System, a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera system with autofocus. The first camera in the system, the Leica T, features a 16MP APS-C sensor. Two lenses – an 18-56mm F3.5-5.6 and a 23mm F2 prime have been announced alongside the camera, with the promise of an 11-23mm F3.5-4.5 wide-angle zoom and 55-135mm F3.5-4.5 telezoom to follow. The camera is milled from a solid billet of aluminum and features a touchscreen that the company says uses a user-friendly operating concept. An optional electronic viewfinder provides an alternative to the 3.7″ LCD.
No one will deny that Leica cameras are expensive. But there’s more to the cost than just that red dot on the front. Each of the company’s new ‘T’ mirrorless cameras are built by hand in Germany with incredible precision. View the transformation from aluminum brick to finished product. We’ve just updated this slideshow with some insights from Leica’s head of product management, Stefan Daniel. Click through to see (and read) more.
Leica’s new T (Typ 701) is the company’s first mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with autofocus. While its ‘guts’ aren’t much different than other cameras in its class, the hand-built body is all Leica. We’ve been able to spend some quality time with the German manufacturer’s latest baby, and have put together our first impressions of it. Find out what we think of it thus far.
OnePlus is a new smartphone maker based in China founded by a former Oppo executive. Today the company has released its first high-end smartphone, which is simply called the One. With its 2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC, 5.5-inch 1080p screen, 3GB of RAM and a 13MP camera, the One’s specifications are on a similar level as other flagship devices released this year. Learn more
The Sony a6000 features a 24MP APS-C sensor that includes phase detection AF points across 92% of the frame and 11 fps continuous shooting with subject-tracking. It’s the first E-mount camera of its style not to be branded ‘NEX’. As we work toward a full review, read our shooting experience report and check out our real-world samples gallery to find out if the a6000 is more than a refreshed NEX-6 by another name. Learn more and see gallery
When Lensbaby launched the Kickstarter project for its ‘Sweet Spot’ selective focus lens at the beginning of April it was initially iPhone only. Now the company has added a pledge level for Android users, too. For $ 50 you can pre-order the Sweet Spot lens and the Android application for your device. Delivery is expected in October. Learn more
About a week prior to Monday’s running of the Boston Marathon, and a year after the bombing at the 2013 marathon, photographer Gregory Heisler addressed a crowd of thousands gathered at the finish line. The group included runners, first responders and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, all ready to pose for Sports Illustrated’s ‘Boston Strong’ cover photo. Directing the crowd through a megaphone and standing on a raised platform, Heisler captured a portrait of 3,000 proud, resilient Bostonians. Take a peek behind the scenes of this large scale photo shoot. Learn more