For some of us, photography is a hobby. For others, it’s a way to make a living. For Forrest Sargent, a 22-year-old with autism who is unable to speak, it’s a veritable lifeline. His communication is limited to spelling out words using a letter board, a method which allowed him a much-needed way to express himself. Beyond that, he communicates with a gift from his parents bought for his 19th birthday: a camera. Click through to see some of his work.
Billed as a way to bring back the romance of the darkroom in the smartphone era, Enfojer is an indiegogo project which promises to make your smartphone into an enlarger to create real prints. Part app and part hardware, Enfojer enlarges the image displayed on a smartphone’s LCD, projecting it onto real photo paper to create genuine darkroom chemical prints. Click through to connect.dpreview.com for more on Enfojer’s efforts to bring smartphone photography into the darkroom.
Another day, another controversial change to Facebook’s terms of service. The American Association of Media Photographers has warned its members to ‘beware’ Facebook’s proposed new terms of service, which – the A.S.M.P claims – would allow the social media giant to ‘exploit your name, likeness, content, images, private information, and personal brand by using it in advertising and in commercial and sponsored content – without any compensation to you’. Click through for more details.
Photographer Stéphanie Godot’s food photos aren’t the stylized, sexy kind you’d see on the cover of magazines like Bon Appetit. Images in her ‘Fad Diets’ series are frightening visual documents of some of the weirder diets out there, while also being striking experiments in color and texture. Gonot’s work may not make your mouth water, but it’s a lot of fun, and might just make you reconsider that crash diet…
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.
Leaked details of a possible inexpensive Fujifilm X-series cameras have hit the web today. The camera pictured in the leaked images is apparently named the X-A1, and appears to be built around a 16MP APS-C CMOS sensor instead of X-Trans, but otherwise it looks pretty similar to the recently released X-M1. Other leaked details mention a 3-inch tilting LCD, Wi-Fi, and 5.6 fps burst mode. Click through to see what it (might) look like.
The Fujinon XF 55-200mm F3.5-4.8 R LM OIS is the first telephoto zoom for Fujifilm’s X system cameras, and offers an 83-300mm equivalent angle of view. It has built-in optical image stabilization with 4.5 stops claimed benefit, and uses linear stepper motors for silent autofocus. The lens features an (unmarked) aperture control ring, and offers high quality all-metal barrel construction. Click through for a link to our gallery of real-world samples taken in a range of different environments.
Cokin has announced a complete overhaul of the branding and packaging of its square filters. The existing different-sized ranges ( ‘A’, ‘P’, ‘Z-Pro’ and ‘X-Pro’) have been rebranded into a single ‘Creative Filter System’, with the four sizes relabelled ‘S’, ‘M’, ‘L’ and ‘XL’. Gone are the old bulky plastic storage boxes too, replaced by a slimmer ‘SlidePack’ design which takes up half the space, and uses a microfibre-lined sleeve to help keep your filters clean. Photographers nostalgic for the good old days can breathe a sigh of relief though – old classics such as Tobacco Grads and Sunset filters are still in the catalogue.
Ricoh has unveiled their new Theta digital camera, which can take 360-degree panoramas with its two ultra-wide-angle lenses. The stylish and thin Theta can be controlled via your iOS device after you’ve downloaded the appropriate app. There’s no live preview of the photo you’re about to take, so you have to cross your fingers and hope for the best. If you’re using your smartphone to capture the image, the photo will be automatically downloaded to your mobile device. Click through for more details – and samples – on connect.dpreview.com.
Lexar has introduced a new 64GB MicroSDXC UHS-I card and a reader hub capable of copying data from four memory cards simultaneously. The new 600x MicroSDXC card is capable of 90MB per second transfer speeds, and will be sold bundled with a USB 3.0 reader. The card reader hub, called the ‘Professional Workflow Reader Solution,’ uses one USB 3.0 port to transfer data from four (separately sold) memory card readers. SDHC/SDXC UHS-I, UDMA 7 CompactFlash, and XQD card readers are available for the hub’s four bays. Click through for more detail about the new card and reader hub.