CameraLuv | Camera-Inspired Prints, Hand-Painted Art, Inspirations on all things Camera and Photography

This week, Lytro finally unveiled to the world their light field camera, a revolutionary camera/software system that captures the entire light field, not just a single plane of light like your SLR. The revolutionary thing about this camera is their “living pictures” capability which allows the photographer and the viewer the ability to change the focus of the photo after the fact. Since you’re capturing all the light, there isn’t the shutter delay or auto-focus problems so you can instantly capture the picture you want and worry about the focus later. This is something I’d definitely like to play with.

Here’s a video explaining a little bit about how you interact with the photo experience:

Here’s a cross-section of the technology (slightly larger than true size). Alot of people have wondered what resolution this camera is capable of and it’s a little vague, (measured in millions of light rays), but Petapixel has estimated the size of the sensor to be similar to that of the fujifilm X10 camera.

There are two basic models of the camera the 16GB version (red) $499 and the 8GB version (blue, grey) $399. While this is a consumer version of the camera, features like this may be something we see in all kinds of cameras in the future. The Lytro is set to ship in early 2012.

Here’s a hands on look:

Via @laughingsquid and @petapixel

Over the last month I’ve had some hands on time with the fun little red 35mm El Capitán camera, my favorite from the newly released La Sardina Series by Lomography. This camera has been a lot of fun and has turned a lot of heads wondering if it was actually made from a sardine can from which it was inspired.

The El Capitán and its sister cam the blue Fischer’s Fritze were the first to boast Lomo’s new adjustable Fritz the Blitz flash which I had to get my hands on. I loved the ability finally adjust the power of the flash. The power control is based on the distance of the subject you are shooting. It worked pretty well and the new colored flash caps (red, yellow, blue, white) are much easier to use than the previous little gel slips. I liked the results of the yellow and the white diffuser caps much more than the blue caps. It was cool to have some really nice and warm colored snaps of my son that look a lot like the old summer pics of me as a child.

Lomography is known for their fun cameras, but also their packaging. The La Sardina series is no exception with the marine influenced packaging consisting of nets and ship’s wheels and other nautical symbols. This package also comes with cool fold-out poster manual and creative little La Sardina book that has exposed threaded edges. The book features their 10 Golden Rules of Lomography along with tons of shots from the La Sardina cameras of boats, old men, ropes and all-things-sea. Some people I’ve talked to wish they could get the cameras without all the excessive packaging, but as a designer I appreciate the little fun details of the experience they provide.

When I had the camera with me I didn’t take myself to seriously and just had fun snapping away with family and friends. One drawback of the adjustable focusing lens onboard was that I sometimes forgot to switch it in the moment. I’d be upclose shooting to infinity or vice-versa. I like the feature, but I need to pay more attention to what I have it set on. I was happy with the images I shot both on 100 and 800 speed films. The 800 was a bit grainy, but there’s no denying it’s actually film and not some instagram filter. All-in-all I had a lot of fun with the camera and I smiled every time I took it out with me to shoot and pretty much everyone who saw me with it smiled as well.

Some La Sardina Tech Facts:

Film type: 35mm
Lens Focal length: 21mm
Aperture: Fixed f/8
Shutter speed: Bulb(B), 1/100 (N)
Focusing steps: Two Step 0.6m, 1m-infinity
Film Counting: Auto Film Counting
Multiple exposures: Yes
Flash contact: For Fritz the Blitz flash only
Price: El Capitán $99, Frischer Fritze $99, Marathon $59, Sea Pride $59

Get yours at Lomography.com or your local lomography dealer.

LifeFinder, the instructional DVD released last year by world-reknown entertainment photographer Jeremy Cowart is the perfect blend of vision, insight, inspiration and instruction.

The Lifefinder package is actually broken down into 2 DVDs. Disk 1 features things like Jeremy’s Vision Toolkit, insight into his RAW workflow, an in-depth interview of Jeremy by photographer Zack Arias, information about locations and libraries, and projects with a purpose (like the amazing Help-Portrait project). Disk 2 is where Jeremy gives you a narrated behind the scenes look at shoots of all kinds, featuring musicians like The Civil Wars and Imogen Heap and other models, performers and actresses both on location and in the studio.

With over 4 hours of awesome content, Lifefinder at $249, is a great investment into your photography business. It’s rare to get this kind of insight from a guy with Jeremy’s talent level, but what’s really cool is how humble and willing to teach he is. It makes you want to get out and shoot more, which is really how the learning is done.

The team at the Barcelona-based design studio Woouf! have come up with a pretty cool bean bag chair shaped like a vintage camera. At around $250 it’s a little pricey, but would be a cool addition to any photographers studio.

Via petapixel and photojoto

Leica makes some of the world’s most renown hand-crafted lenses and cameras, here’s a look at how the magic lenses are made.

Via TheDonutProject

While taking inspiration from the great Braun Nizo Super-8 cameras of old, the cool kids at Image Mechanics in Australia are cooking up what seems to be a cool new Super-8 inspired Nizo App for iPhone. While there isn’t really any info on their Teaser site, there are a lot of fun components that you can drag around and play with.

The wait is over and the new mystery camera, the LC-Wide from Lomography’s LC-A legacy has just been revealed. The LC-Wide features a 17mm Minigon glass lens with three shooting formats: full (36 x 24mm), square (24 x 24mm), or half-frame (17 x 24mm). In half-frame mode you’ll be able to get up to 72 shots on a standard 36 shot 35mm roll. While the LC-A has been with us analogue lovers for 27 years, they’ve never updated the in-camera lens until now.

The LC-Wide box ($389) comes loaded with several classic Lomo books, a shutter release cable, 2-rolls of film and more. For and extra $24.99, you can pick-up a instant back and skip the trip to the photolab. This is a great update to Lomography’s classic LC-A family and you can’t go wrong with a little splash of red on the front. Get yours today.

Here’s a cool camera-inspired, Limited edition screen-printed poster for the band The Hidden Cameras by Stéphane Monnet and Agnes Wong of Monnet Design.

Found via HOW

Today’s Must-Have camera is the Recesky TLR (once known at the famous Gakken Flex). The camera is available as a cool kit where you can build your own for $40 or buy it pre-assembled for $50 at the Four Corner Store.

Here’s another one of those “We should have made this” products: The Camera Love Silhouette Necklace in silver by a fun little jewelry shop called An Original Jewelry on Etsy. Wearing your Cameraluv is always a good idea. This is a great gift idea at $55 for photographers of all walks of life. The camera measures 1″ across and comes with a 16″ chain. Check out their other camera-inspired necklaces and earrings at their shop.