The upcoming Olympus E-PL7 is a selfie-friendly micro four thirds camera, with its 180° flip screen, touchscreen shutter release, and 3-axis in-body image stabilization. Of course, it also has other awesome stuff you'd expect from a modern Olympus shooter: 16-megapixel sensor Wi-Fi (e.g. you can send photos to your iPhone for editing in VSCO Cam) TruPic 7 image processor Manual control dial…
After an unfortunate patent kerfuffle a few years ago, photographer Duncan Davidson recently announced the return of the popular Luma Loop camera sling. Now in its third form, the Luma Loop sports a machined aluminum mount that screws into your camera's tripod socket like so: It's designed to keep the camera hanging snugly by your side rather than bobbing about as you…
In case the name didn't already give it away, the SpiderHolster Black Widow is an easy-access holster...for your camera. More specifically, a lightweight point-and-shoot or micro four thirds camera. It attaches directly to your own belt or to the more specialized Black Widow Belt (pictured above, sold separately). From there, it's a simple matter of screwing the included mounting pin into your…
Hong Kong-based company Barton 1972 makes a lot of cool camera straps. The braided leather models are particularly stylish, and they have a sort of soft stretchiness with lots of surface area, so they're also quite comfortable to wear. Perfect for micro 4/3 cameras. There are several braided straps to choose from: Braided Style ($79) — Depending on how tall you are,…
Okay, owners of Olympus mirrorless cameras. You've got the 25mm f/1.8 lens. Maybe you've got the 40-150mm f/4-5.6 too. Now you're ready for another addition to the lineup, maybe something for portrait work. How about the 75mm f/1.8 lens? This lens -- equivalent to a 150mm focal length when used with a micro four thirds sensor -- sports an all-metal construction with…
One of the best reasons to pick up a micro 4/3 camera like the Olympus E-M10 is portability. Olympus' 25mm f/1.8 lens complements this idea nicely, but maybe you need something with a little more versatility. We recommend the Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R zoom. This entry-level zoom lens gives you the extra oomph you need to capture subjects somewhat far away…
Sony has announced their upcoming mirrorless camera, the a5100. The tl;dr is that it's basically the a6000 in a more compact package. The a5100 has no electronic viewfinder or any physical control dials to speak of, but it does contain the same 24.3-megapixel CMOS APS-C sensor and BIONZ X image processing engine as the a6000. In other words, it still focuses on…
The features that set the Panasonic LUMIX GH4 apart from its much cheaper competition aren't the 16MP micro four-thirds sensor, WiFi connectivity, weather-sealed body, fully-articulated rear LCD, or even its excellent battery life. It's the fact that Panasonic managed to squeeze 4K video recording (!) into such a compact package. The non-video specs are still perfectly respectable, but I wouldn't pick it…
For photographers who treat their cameras like the delicate equipment they often are, our current recommendation is the Olympus E-M10 mirrorless camera. But if you need a shooter that can better withstand the elements and still capture amazing shots, you should check out the surprisingly affordable Olympus TG-3. This 16MP all-weather point-and-shoot is tough enough to handle being dropped from 7 feet…
After a very successful Kickstarter campaign back in January, Canadian bag makers VENQUE (pronounced Venk) have returned to Kickstarter to launch the newest item in their collection: the Campro DSLR Bag. Made from a durable, water-resistant fabric blend of their own creation—dubbed Quanta Fabric—the Campro is capable of carrying just about everything a photographer might need for a pro shoot: a camera…
If you liked the Olympus E-PL5 camera, you'll love the new(ish) Olympus E-M10. Despite its slim profile, the E-M10 produces quality images on par with entry-level DSLRs. Compared to the E-PL5, the E-M10 has better manual dials, better image stabilization, and the addition of an electronic viewfinder, all without adding much more bulk. It also has the added benefit of Wi-Fi connectivity,…
Hard Graft has just added two more straps to its camera accessory collection, something I wrote about a while back. The Instant Camera Strap ($127) is for the photographer who needs no bells or whistles. It's a simple, non-adjustable leather strap lined with a strip of non-slip wool where it rests around your neck or shoulder. The Re-Process Camera Strap ($166), on…
Yesterday I stumbled across Shoko Miyamoto's Etsy shop, where she sells a bunch of handmade camera straps. Her shop lists about 80 straps of varying fabrics, colors, and sizes (all of which are $33 + $3 worldwide shipping). These are my favorites: Glen Check Dark Blue (DSLR | Mirrorless) Green Mix Tweed (DSLR | Mirrorless) Brown Chidori Wool (DSLR | Mirrorless) She…
Ride North is a Kickstarter project by photographers Sebastiaan de With and Stuart Philkill. They will soon be embarking on a motorcycle road trip from San Francisco to Alaska, and documenting the entire journey. The Kickstarter is not intended to fund the trip itself—they've already saved up for that accordingly—but rather a set of high-quality physical prints and a photo book with…
Cinescope is an iPhone app that does one thing well: it lets you compose and shoot photos in any aspect ratio before saving them to your camera roll. It comes with several presets (2.39, 1.85, 16:9, 4:3, 1:1) but you can also create your own custom ratio—for example, 2:1. If you intend to post the photo on Instagram, Cinescope lets you embed…
A lot of iOS photo-editing apps offer only the most heavy-handed filters and presets, which can easily turn your beautiful shots into tacky monstrosities. Not so with the new Litely app for iPhone and iPad. Designed and developed by Cole Rise—the guy who made the Litely photo presets pack for Lightroom, Photoshop, etc—Litely for iOS lets you add beautiful, subtle color tones…
The KamPro Handle Kit is a handheld mount for GoPro HERO cameras that gives you tons of video-shooting flexibility. Here's what you get in the box: 1 Handle 3 thumb screws 2 threaded pivot arms 1 pivot arm 1 phone mount 1 threaded mount 1 cold shoe mount You can mix-and-match these pieces to create entirely different rigs. For example, the phone…
Hard Graft, makers of fine bags and other accessories, today unveiled their "Ocean" collection. Like their other products, these items are crafted from vegetable-tanned, hand-stained Italian leather and heavy-duty wool felt, but what sets the Ocean collection apart is that each piece is shaded a deep, gorgeous blue. They're really quite striking, but the wool felt's muted gray tones keep everything nicely…
To develop their new T-series camera, Leica teamed up with the design team at Audi, and boy is it a beaut. Each camera body is milled from a single block of aluminum and hand-polished for 45 minutes—no seriously, you can watch the entire process—resulting in the most Apple-like camera I've ever seen. Almost all of the Leica T's functions are controlled via…
These days, who wants to plug their iOS device into a computer to back up photos anymore? All of mine end up on Dropbox anyway, so why not cut out the middle man and upload the photos directly? This is where CameraSync comes in handy. Once you've set it up with your Dropbox account (other options include Flickr, Amazon S3, Google Drive,…