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I’m sure that I don’t use my brain that much when I take pictures. I’m also sure there is always something going through my head, however insignificant. I don’t think the pictures I take would be included under the umbrella that Lomo are creating when they made this book “Don’t think, Just Shoot.” If you haven’t visited their website in a while you should, if only to see the variety of cameras that they now carry.  (See Minox GT-S photo below - retails for $575.00)

I keep getting emails that begin “If you thought you couldn’t afford a Hasselblad, then think again…” The basic premise is that if I thought that the H3D was out of my budget, then I was wrong. It is now ONLY $17,999.00. Does the marketing department at Hasselblad think that this is a good sales pitch. Do they really think that $18,000 is affordable? They have just announced a new upgrade to the H3D camera that now gives it a 50 Megapixel sensor, available in October. The sensor is made by Kodak which I think is excellent as it means Kodak could seriously be making the transition from film a little better than Polaroid. Images shot at full resolution will be 6132×8176 which is enormous. I would love to play with this camera for a few days, owning it would be impossible and an investment that is sure to depreciate so quickly. I imagine renting it would be the way to go. I found the 39 megapixel one for $500 a day or $2000 a week here.

Hasselblad actually have a really good and interesting website (if you are a camera nerd like myself). One of my favorite parts is the Hasselblad in space section where they show all of the cameras that have traveled into space and more importantly to the surface of the moon. Below is one that was used on 20 July 1969 by Neil Armstrong to take the first lunar landing pictures. Annoyingly, the cameras never returned to earth as they were left on the surface of the moon and only the film backs were taken back.

This may explain why you can spend thousands of dollars on one lens. (Optical glass can cost $1000 a Kg!)

Being a Canon user, here are some Canon videos that show how the glass is made too (using a ‘temperature gradient type continuous slow cooling furnace’ - try saying that too quickly)

Part 2 and 3 of Lens video after the break and a Canon 30 fps set up for a baseball game

Pages: 1 2

And here is an advertisement for a more modern polaroid camera with Hugh Laurie in. Over here you will know him from the TV medical drama “House,” but back home in the UK he is well known from things like “Blackadder” and “A Bit of Fry and Laurie.”

There are a few variations of this pinhole camera on the web. The black one takes 120 film and has building instructions here, and the colorful one takes 35mm. Either way they are awesome, and something I wish I thought of doing when we had that assignment in Photo 1 during my freshman year at SUNY Purchase. The last image is an actual digital camera built by lego which can be used for taking both still images and live video and connects via a standard USB. It can be built into a LEGO robot as seen here.

I would insist on world peace and then buy one of these. While in San Francisco this spring, we walked into a camera shop and the clerk saw my fascination in all of their old medium format camera’s. I am sure partly to annoy the hell out of me, and partly to show off, he handed me one of these. I was quite amazed at how nice it felt and also how great everything looked through the viewfinder. If you have ever shot 4×5, you know that ground glass will trick you into taking many pictures that looked beautiful at the time, but don’t translate to film. This camera at least makes that mistake a less permanent one. Although the $36,000 price tag is a hefty start for any small business to invest. You could always lease one from Calumet for $1,047 a month for 48 months, or rent one here for $500 a day. I’m sure if you had the client base, it would pay for itself quick enough. Unfortunately I can just dream.

Features
• Adjustable control grip allows you to enjoy ergonomically correct
shooting positions
• Grip display lets you view the camera settings from any
shooting position
• Direct-drive mirror with little or no vibration ensures no
camera interference
• Large, built-in 6 x 7cm LCD touch screen, offers a variety of
functions and pre-defined settings - just a tap away
• Digital back can be used with all leading large format cameras
Superior Handling and Control - and comfortable
• Combined analog and digital interface for quick access to camera settings
• Keep your tripod setup, switch from portrait to landscape by only
turning the camera back, not the camera
• Full remote control from the computer
• Screen interface available in seven languages
• Easily upgradeable firmware

Available Schneider AFD lenses:
• AFD Xenotar 2.8/80 PQS
• AFD Super-Angulon 2.8/50 HFT PQS
• AFD Tele-Xenar 4/150 HFT-PQS
• AFD Tele-Xenar 2.8/180 PQ
• AFD Variogon 4.6/60-140 PQS

The 80mm F 2.8 Lens is $3,100 and they go up to about $6,500.

There was a story about this in the New York Times, just before I left for India. This is the first digital camera and is over 30 years old. It was invented by Steven J. Sasson, an electrical engineer at Eastman Kodak. Who would have known that they were creating their downfall. It is about 12″ x 12″ and records the images to cassette tapes!

It took 23 seconds to record the digitized image to the cassette. The image was viewed by removing the cassette from the camera and placing it in a custom playback device. This playback device incorporated a cassette reader and a specially built frame store. This custom frame store received the data from the tape, interpolated the 100 captured lines to 400 lines, and generated a standard NTSC video signal, which was then sent to a television set.