The Chroma 4×5 large format technical camera has intrigued me since it was announced last February. When I found out its creator, Steve Lloyd, was UK based, I got in touch to find out if he’d planned to visit The Photography Show this year. It turned out that he had, so I asked if he could bring along one of his Chroma cameras so I could see it for myself....

Chinese drone company DJI has been under scrutiny recently for its drone tracking system after Ukraine’s Vice Prime minister accused it of helping Russia to kill civilians. DJI initially assured users that the system was encrypted, however, evidence has come to light that this is not true, and the information is in fact, free for all to grab. The system, called DJI AeroScope, allows users to pinpoint the exact location of a drone pilot....

DJI has announced an update to its AeroScope drone tracking and identification system. The update allows drone operators who choose to do so the ability to opt-in to broadcast their information. The AeroScope system essentially functions as an “electronic license plate” for drones. They say that the new feature allows pilots to cooperate with authorities while still protecting their privacy. The AeroScope system provides remote identification and tracking of airborne drones for the purposes of law enforcement and aviation safety....

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) issued a safety notice, warning that some DJI Matrice 200 drones have randomly fallen out of the sky. DJI confirmed the issue, saying that they’re working to resolve it – but no one is sure why exactly this is happening. CAA writes that a “small number of incidents” has been reported regarding the issue. Apparently, the drones complete lost power during flight, even though there was sufficient battery time still remaining....

Before the rise of social media and the ubiquity of apps like Instagram, photographers established and flexed their brands through their personal website and blog. The photographer website supplanted the printed portfolio, for the most part, offering photographers a way to showcase their work with a remote audience of photo editors, customers, and fans. As Facebook took over our lives in the early 2010s, we encouraged photographers to set up business pages....

I remembered when I was sitting in my cubicle, dreaming and lusting after a digital Leica M9. I imagined after buying it, all of my life’s problems would be solved. I imagined the camera would inspire me to be more creative, brave, and inspired in my photography. I imagined how cool I would look in the streets with a Leica over my shoulder. I also imagined how much more people would “respect” or admire me, simply because I had a Leica....

There are more than a few online courses that you can take for free right now, and DxO is joining the party. To help you come with self-isolation and stay creative, the company has announced a series of free online webinars throughout April. They’re hosted by renowned photographers, cover different topics, and they’re equally great for amateur and professional photographers. DxO will host five seminars, all free of charge. They will be hosted by DxO Ambassador Fabio Antenore, popular YouTuber and photographer PhotoJoseph, and instructor at the Rochester Institute of Technology Dan Hughes....

Elinchrom has just announced ONE, a tiny, but powerful strobe. The 131 Ws off-camera flash is the company’s first battery-powered moonlight, and it’s the size of a 70-200 mm lens. Thanks to its small size, the Elinchrom ONE is super-portable. It’s similar in size, weight (1.5kg / 3.3 lbs) and even shape to a 70-200mm lens. It packs an internal Li-ion battery, and you can charge it from any USB-C source without proprietary spare batteries or chargers....

Minimalist Photography Awards has just announced the winners of its 2022 contest. For the fourth year in a row, the competition celebrates the beauty of simplicity. And this year, the overall winner is Daniel Dencescu from Germany with his mesmerizing series showing murmurations of starlings. If you’ve ever watched murmurations, you know that it’s an absolutely magical experience. Watching a huge flock of starlings change its shape and form as if the birds are dancing simply makes you stop and stare in awe....

Several weeks ago, you may remember a post about Eye-Fi’s decision to “End of life” a bunch of their products. It’s not uncommon for companies to drop support for their older products, no matter how popular they may be. The problem with their decision, though, was that it would’ve basically bricked all of those products from September 16th, making them completely useless. Ok, so you could still use them as regular SD cards....

I’m a bit disappointed by this one. I’ve been a huge fan of Eye-Fi cards for several years and own and use several cards. Now, they’re taking planned obsolescence to a whole new level by effectively making most of their past products useless in one fell swoop. According to an email I received from Eye-Fi today as an existing customer, as of today, Eye-Fi will no longer be offering support for its “legacy product lines”, which includes the very popular Pro X2 range and basically every other product they’ve made except for the current post-2013 Mobi Pro....

A patent recently approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office details how Facebook wants to read your emotions. And it wants to do it using your on-screen keyboard. It’ll look at what and how you type to try to determine how you feel about a piece of content. The goal is to be able to bring you more suitable content that you might like to see. Still pending, though, is another patent application, also dealing with “reading emotions”....

Facebook has shared a lot of updates at the F8 keynote on 1 May, and it looks like the plan to experiment with AI and VR in some interesting ways. While 360-degree photos and videos have been around on Facebook for a while, they now plan to turn 2D photos into 3D. In other words, they want to give regular, flat photos a feeling of 3D space and create a more immersive experience for the viewers....

In the early 2000s, the world of photography changed forever. Though digital cameras had been widespread since the mid-1990s, the technology did not produce sufficiently high-quality results for professional and serious amateur photographers. Around 2003, however, this changed, and vast swathes of professionals made the jump from analogue to digital, decimating an entire industry in the process. “Companies went from processing in the region of 5,000 rolls of film per day to 20 percent of that in a six-month period; as you can imagine, there were many casualties”, said Professor Steve Macleod, Director of Metro Imaging, a professional photography lab....

Recently, Fujifilm released its newest camera in the X-Pro lineup, the Fujifilm X-Pro 3. It offers a number of improvements over previous models, and also comes with a complete redesign that hasn’t been accepted entirely positively by everybody. But as part of Fuji’s X-Pro lineup, it’s a formidable camera. We took time to speak to Fujifilm at PhotoPlus 2019 to find out more about it. The X-Pro 3 draws a lot of attention from the days of film, including a display on the back which shows you which film simulation you’re running which is very reminiscent of the slots found on the back of old 35mm SLRs to let you slide a piece of the film box into, so you know what was loaded....

In my post on essential gadgets for travel photography, I mentioned that I always pack five specific lens filters with me. So in this post I thought I would elaborate on what I consider to be my five essential photography filters – in no particular order… #1 Polarizing Filter I pretty much shoot with a polarizing filter on my lens most of the time – as long as I’m using a lens that is 20mm or tighter....

More often than not, it can be difficult to recognize and acknowledge one’s personal improvement as a photographer. You may feel like you’re stagnating, but you should take a closer look at your work and you’ll see that you’re wrong. In this fantastic video, Mark Denney discusses five reasons that will prove to you that you have progressed over the years. If you recognize yourself in at least one of these, then you’re moving in the right direction!...

That title is a mouthful, but I didn’t know how to better describe the style. Over the years, I’ve been refining and perfecting my newborn photo technique to get the specific light and airy high-key look I want. It’s important to know that I specialize in in-home lifestyle newborn photography, so my technique below is specific to that. While every home I visit is different, and some are more challenging than others, these strategies below have given me the best and most consistent results....

Master manual mode If you own a DSLR and have a passion for photography, you have landed in the right place. A lot of people are under the common misconception that buying a new DSLR camera will instantly improve their photography. They place an order, and a few days later, their new, shiny toy arrives on their doorstep. Then things usually get tricky. Once the camera is out of its packaging it becomes quickly apparent that working the damn thing is much harder than it looks....

If you’re like me, you largely prefer matte prints over glossy ones. And if you use an instant camera, you’ll get the super-shiny prints that you wish were matte. Dave Knop a.k.a. knoptop will help you to make your wish come true. He suggests three methods for mattifying your shiny polaroid prints, with one of them being pretty unordinary. And as a bonus, and I’ll also suggest one of my own ideas....