Everywhere you look in the tech scene at the moment ‘blockchain’ and ‘ICO’ are the hot topics. Investors are throwing millions of dollars to anyone that posts a quick website and publishes a vague white paper related to the topic. Blockchain copyright protection may seem like a bulletproof solution for creative professionals to secure the use of their work online – but is blockchain really the answer to the current state of rampant global copyright infringement and abuse of intellectual property law?...

It is extremely rare to see a camera that is not black. And square. I think that, except for kids’ cameras and a few experiments in the early ages of digital photography, it’s quite a boring landscape. What if, though… what if… We asked famous film directors to create cameras based on their visual film vision. I thought that it was an experiment worth having, and I asked MidJourney to create some cameras for me based on famous movies....

A few days ago I’ve heard about a browser-based Photoshop clone. Of course, I had to test it – not only because I love these crazy projects, but also because of my background as web developer some years ago. So I visited photopea.com and enjoyed what I saw: An in-browser Photoshop clone. A bit simplified but still very impressive. I quickly tested some of my main tools: the brush, curves, masks, and various healing tools....

In a recent interview for Nikkei Asian Review, Canon Chairman and CEO Fujio Mitarai admitted that the company is lagging behind others when it comes to innovation. They talked about the company’s medium-term plan, but also their biggest challenges and issues. After summing up the results of 2017 and the plans for the following few years, Mitarai argued that “it’s time to think outside the camera box.” Mitarai tells Nikkei that 2017 was “a strong year for cameras, office equipment and other existing businesses....

Well, Kolari Vision might’ve been the first to tear apart the Canon EOS R6 and get a good look at the chip that seems to keep time for “overheating” issues, but it looks like Roger and the gang at Lensrentals has beaten them to the punch on cracking open the Canon EOS R5. They’ve published a complete EOS R5 teardown which offers some good insights into its weather sealing, which looks very impressive....

Canon has published their Q3 2018 financial report, and although things seem to have taken a little dip with a decline in overall interchangeable lens camera sales, their future still looks bright. So, essentially, they’ve been focusing on entry level cameras, but fewer people are now buying entry level cameras, so sales are down. Well, there has to be a point of saturation where everybody has entry-level cameras, or they’re buying older, higher end used models as their entry into photography (it’s not like there’s a shortage of those these days)....

The coronavirus pandemic has turned our world upside down. But other than all the bad things it has brought upon us, there are some good ones too. One of them is new photography genres, and we’ll surely remember 2020 and 2021 for remote photoshoots and gaming photography. So, it’s no wonder that someone came up with an idea to create an app that lets you shoot from the comfort of your home....

A couple posted a selfie of themselves still covered in firefighting foam moments after their plane crashed. The couple had been on board the LATAM Airlines plane when it crashed on the runway in Lima, Peru. The plane’s wing collided with a fire truck during take-off. No passengers or crew on board were injured, but sadly two firefighters were killed. The couple has been condemned for poor taste after posting the image to Twitter....

Using gels to correct your flashes to match the ambient, or as creative effects is common. It’s something many of us do from time to time. Sometimes we use creative gels want that cool colour contrast. At other times we just have to deal with really horrible lighting and need to compensate with corrective gels. But, corrective gels can also be used creatively. Japan based Photographer, Ilko Alexandroff regularly brings orange CTO gels along with him to his night shoots....

If you are a long time reader of the blog, you know that we are very interested in power solutions. This is why I wanted to share this IndiPRO deal with you. It has the Universal Power Grip (video review above), a half-cage and a DTAP charger. I think it is well worth the $475.00 list price, but at $249.95 it’s an absolute steal. This top handle has become one of my favorite power solutions....

Rumours of a collaboration between Oppo and Kodak on a smart phone have been batted around for a while now. It’s not exactly a new concept, with many phone manufacturers teaming up with big camera names: Huawei and Leica, OnePlus and Hasselblad, Vivo and Zeiss to name but a few. Now it looks as though Oppo and Kodak have finally joined the camera-phone club, but is it exactly a new product or is it a rehash of an existing one?...

Getting good quality audio is often the biggest challenge faced by DSLR & mirrorless video shooters. The microphones built into most cameras are notoriously bad. They hear all kinds of background noise and echo, they hiss, and pick up a lot of unwanted sound from the camera itself, like autofocus (or even manual focus adjustments). The easiest solution, of course, is to use an external microphone. You can then plug this either straight into your camera or a separate portable field recorder....

I’ve been a big fan of Wacom tablets for years. Whenever anybody asks me what tablet to buy, my response is usually “Whatever’s within your budget that has Wacom written on it”. So, when Wacom announced their new entry-level Intuos tablets earlier this year, I was intrigued. It’s seen a few updates over previous generations. And now I’ve spent the last few weeks getting to know one. I have to admit that I tend to not use a graphics tablet these days quite as often as I used to....

I’m at a Starbucks in Hanoi, typically it’s a peaceful location where I can write and think, but today it’s overrun with young people smoking cigarettes, occasionally smiling and laughing, but mostly consumed with their phones browsing Instagram and taking selfies to reload their feed with an annoyed older man in their background typing away. This social media narcissism isn’t a scene unique to Vietnam by any means, it’s everywhere in the world....

How many of you use a 50mm f/1.8 lens? Its popularity across the board has given this lens the nickname of the ‘nifty-fifty’. So-called because of its small size and correspondingly small price tag, but great value. It’s often the first prime lens that photographers buy and is still a firm favourite for many. But are you getting the most out of your lens? Joshua Peg asks this question as although he believes that the 50 mm f/1....

An ISIS sniper is reported to have fatally shot Dutch photojournalist, Jeroen Oerlemans. The Guardian reports that the shooting took place in Sirte, a city over which ISIS have been fighting to control for a year. Oerlemans had been there covering the ongoing conflict in Libya for Belgian publication, Knack. Eike den Hertog of the Beeldunie photo agency said of Oerlemans, “He wasn’t a cowboy. He was prudent, and very smart”....

Some major changes have happened inside DxO Labs. The company has recently announced that DxOMark Image Labs has split from DxO Labs, and they are now a privately-owned, independent company. According to their announcement, DxOMark will go on with the “development and commercialization of image quality solutions and services.” As DPReview reports, the change happened back in September. Here’s the full note from DxOMark: As for DxO Labs, they reportedly keep working on their photo editing software DxO PhotoLab....

Next in our ongoing Photographer Spotlight series it’s Jessica Tabarelli. Jessica is an alpine adventure photographer and rock climber based in Trentino, Italy. Jessica is a relatively new photographer with obvious talent – creating stunning images while working with modest gear that is accessible to anyone. Jessica’s Instagram feed is fascinating, because if you scroll through, you can see her progression as a photographer. In her interview, Jessica is pretty modest regarding her work (I particularly love her answer to question #3)....

There have been plenty of analog-digital blends in the market. From I’m Back digital back for SLR cameras, to Yashica Y35 with faux film roll, which raised over $1 million on Kickstarter. Now there’s another Kickstarter campaign promising to breathe a new life into your old analog camera. Check out Film35, the latest invention that turns your film camera into a digital one and even gives it a “vintage feel....

Announced at the beginning of March, the Elinchrom ELB 500 is the most powerful battery powered TTL strobe in Elinchrom’s lineup. That in itself is cause for celebration amongst Elinchrom fans. But that’s not the headline feature. The biggest deal with Elinchrom’s new strobe is the fact that you no longer need multiple different heads for different purposes. The one head satisfies all the needs of the different Action, Pro and HS heads you’d require on the ELB400....