The L16 from Light, pictured above, is all over the web this week. You can reserve one at a reduced price by putting $199 down by November 6th. It’s an Android based, slightly-bigger-than-phone sized camera that looks to replace DSLR cameras by utilizing an array of cheaper and smaller cameras carefully orchestrated by software.
I’m a sucker for things like this in the gadget space, but I am having a hard time convincing myself to put down the money now for something I won’t get until Summer 2016. All this without an chance to try the device myself, or even have someone I trust with hands on experience vouch for it. The movie in the Core77 article provides a little additional information, but I think i will be debating this until the November 6th deadline.
I have been debating selling my whole Canon DSLR setup of late. I am not using it nearly as much as I used to. I wonder if I wouldn’t be better off with the smallest nearly equivalent camera.
Source: Game-Changing Product Design: Small L16 Camera Replaces an SLR and a Bag Full of Lenses - Core77
This weekend, I was reading Twitter, minding my own business, when I ran across this tweet by Nick Bilton. It had this picture taken from a drone attached to it.
I saw this picture, and I was intrigued. A longtime lover of photography, I am really interested in the perspectives you could capture with a drone that you wouldn’t normally be able to capture without a helicopter, or even without a helicopter. As I do, I started searching for more information about using drones for photography, and discovered a few sites/posts with some great information. First, this post on the National Geographic web site. Later, I found skypixel.org which seems to be a very actively maintained blog with some really striking drone photography on it. It also features this awesome getting started guide. If you are at all interested in this stuff, this seems like the page to bookmark to get started.
I have gone ahead and ordered a practice drone. Before I spend too much money on this, I want to be sure that it’s something I enjoy doing, and that I can actually fly one of these things. Even the bare bone drones plus a GoPro camera will end up setting you back a thousand dollars. Although it looks like rentals are going to be available soon, keep reading.
A couple of days later, Jason Kottke posted this Drone selfies post and the web exploded with drone photography interest. The drone selfie video, which I have embedded below, was take at the same time as the shot above that Nick Bilton posted to Twitter. It seems like this meme has exploded in the last few days, this led to more drone selfies, or dronies. Personally, I am more interested in taking high quality stills from unique perspectives than the videos, but I probably will reconsider once I have gear.
Amit Gupta, who took the Drone selfie below, has added Drone Photography gear rental to his awesome photography gear site, Photojojo. Go here to check that out and sign up for more information. Looks like they are launching on May 15th. There’s also a great guide to “How to take a perfect Dronie” on that page.
Bernal Hill selfie from Amit Gupta on Vimeo.
Over the last week, first my wife’s parents were here, and then mine. It’s one of the most rewarding thing as a parent getting to see your kids interact with your parents. Unfortunately for us, we live in Georgia, and both sets of grandparents live in New England, so the kids don’t get the amount of time with the grandparents that I would like. I guess the other side of that is that the time they do get to spend with each other is that much more special.
This may not be the best picture I took in 2013, but there’s something about it that has stuck with me. I am using it as the wallpaper on most of my computers, and probably should do a wallpaper post so others can do the same.
I took it in a graveyard in Noank, Connecticut while visiting my parents over the summer.
The previous generation Glif has been a constant part of my iPhone photo setup with a small tripod and the headphones as an off phone shutter release. Of course I ordered the new, adjustable Studio Neat — Glif today when it was released. It’s a nice combination of stand and tripod adaptor, and now it will work with all my phones.
I carry camera gear with me, in my backpack, just about everywhere I go. I’ve almost always had a DSLR, a point and shoot, and some kind of phone camera, and I bring some version of this set of gear with me when I go out of town, or out on the town. Sometimes, it’s a hard decision on which version of this set of gear I should bring. I mainly use my Sony NEX-7, which I absolutely love as my point and shoot now, but it’s too big to fit in my pocket comfortably, meaning that I leave it home when I would sometimes like to bring it. A lot of the time, I am just carrying my phones, and I take about half the photos I take with my iPhone 5.
I’m intrigued by the new Sony QX10 and QX100 smartphone attachments that are compatible with the iPhone. This attachment approach seems a little fiddly to me at first glance, but also seems like the next step that makes sense in the evolution of pocket camera gear. I already carry a small pack of extras for iPhone photography including a Glif, a small tripod, and the stock headphones to use as an off phone shutter trigger. This would be a natural extension of that kit, assuming it fits in my pocket comfortably. I suspect that they should have designed it with the average pocket size in mind, and doubt that they did. I’m going to take a flyer on the cheaper one and see if it fits my gear profile somewhere between just the iPhone 5 and the step up to the Sony NEX-7. As always, Digital Photography Review has a pretty thorough overview post with a lot more detail.
This was my fifth straight WWDC, and was unique for me in a number of ways. I got a couple of opportunities I have not had in previous years, and had a really packed schedule over the four days I was in San Francisco.
I’m impressed by iOS 7. They’ve done so much in seven months. Having said that, they have a lot of ground to cover for release, and I am holding my breath a little for the release on iPad.
