Go-Go Gadget: Conquer The Battlefield

Dubbed "The Battlefield" due to it's battleship-like shape, this amazing D.I.Y. three-hole, pinhole camera uses three simultaneous rolls of 35mm film! This will be an awesome summer project... Built from cardboard, tape, tin foil, felt pens, nails and bottle-tops (amongst other things you can find in your junk drawer). The three roles of 35mm of film run along the length of the box. Complex but comprehensive, you can find the instructions here, with handy diagrams, supply lists and videos. The photos it takes are super-cool!

via Wired and DIY Photography

Go-Go Gadget: Recession Accessories

Has the recession hit you right where it hurts... your camera bag? Here are some "creative" DIY projects designed to improve your photography, without emptying your wallet.

This top-ten list of improvised accessories include: tripods made out of string, cereal softboxes (I'd go with fruity pebbles) and plywood reflectors amongst others. Best thing about them? Most of them can be done with stuff lying around your humble abode.

via Photojojo and Cnet UK

Go-Go Gadget: Double Your Pleasure

I've always loved the dreamy quality of the photos that have come out of my Holga. Not to mention the fact that I never quite new what would come out of it at all. You don't really want to fix all the imperfections of the camera, because after all, that's part of the charm. Not something to really improve opon right? Unless.. you add a little 3-D to the mix. Check out Lomo's Holga 120 3D Stereo Camera, a medium format camera that takes two side by side shots.

Bonus: it looks cool too! It's like two Holgas united Voltron-style to form one super-Holga. It takes standard 120 roll-film, and captures two slides simultaneously when you snap the pic. If you buy their kit, it also comes with a slide viewer! Add a little novelty with the colored gels included to use with the built-in double flashes. It won't break the bank either, $100 for the just the camera, $150 for the camera, viewer, film and slide mounts. AWESOME!

via Wired

Go-Go Gadget: Stock Tips

Stock photography is on the rise and Alamy's got a few recent developments making the release process a little easier. Fresh on the heel's of their announcement that you can now upload releases to their site, they've alerted users of a handy new iPhone app.

Easy Release lets you create PDF release forms in a snap. Just enter some details, attach an image and digitally give it your signature - all on your iPhone. Then email the PDF to yourself, your models, whatever.

While we're on the topic of stock photography, read an interesting article on The New York Times, illustrating a big shift in the stock industry. Are amateurs in danger of diluting the market and undermining the career path of veteran stock professionals? Interesting read.

via Alamy and The New York Times

Go-Go Gadget: Pick Flickr

Do you love Flickr as much as I do? Are you constantly wondering, "what are my friends doing on Flickr"? Is your busy schedule keeping you from knowing what's the newest, freshest content being snapped and shared by your inner circle? Have you already forgotten what you uploaded last year? Well, thanks to some creative apps in the App Garden, you'll wonder no longer:

Docent - "your helpful Flickr gallery assistant". Find all your contacts' galleries and be notified when they update them.

Flickr for Busy People - displays a list of your Flickr contacts who have uploaded photos in the last 30 minutes, 2 hours, 4 hours and 8 hours.

Flickriver - you can view most interesting photos by user or group, search for photos or just explore and discover the most interesting photos on any specific day.

Photojojo Time Capsule - set up the Time Capsule with your email & Flickr account and you can enjoy a pleasant reminder of the days of yore, with a twice monthly email of photos you snapped last year.

via Flickr & Photojojo

Go-Go Gadget: Quantum Leap...

...for cellphone cameras. Menlo Park, California based company InVisage Technologies, has spent the past several years developing a proprietary film that coats the image sensors used in cellphone cameras enabling them to capture more light. The film utilizes a semiconductor material called a quantum dot.

One of the biggest problems with cellphone cameras now is their performance in low light. Currently, image sensors in cellphone cameras use silicon to capture light, which is then processed to create a picture. Companies making these sensors have run into problems as they keep trying to advance them so that they can absorb more light.

Up until now, advancement in using quantum dots for other applications has been difficult, but InVisage believes they've found a "secret recipe" that will enable them to make cellphone cameras perform four times better within two years.

"With such technology, the current three-megapixel camera found in the Apple iPhone could be turned into a 12-megapixel camera that works better in varying light conditions", a spokesman for the company said.

Will this be the beginning of the end for stand alone point-and-shoots? Doubtful, but it does seem like there may be a big leap in cellphone camera technology in the near future.

via NYTimes.com

Go-Go Gadget: Harinezumi 2

The Harinezumi 2. That just sounds cool. And it is, it's the new movie camera made by Superheadz in Tokyo. Their new-and-improved version now has audio and shoots at 640x480.

There's a very dreamy quality to the film, like old super-8 and retro plastic cameras.

Yesterday, New Museum in NYC teamed up with Powershovel Ltd for the event "Imperfect as You Are", featuring work done with the Harinezumi 2. Artists included Agnes B, So Yong Kim, Bruce La Bruce, Harmony Korine, Isabel Coixet, Patrice Leconte, Claire Denis, Albert Maysles, Christopher Doyle, Jonas Mekas, Mount Eerie, Erroll Morris, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chan-Wook Park, Kim Gordon amongst others.

via Poketo and New Museum

Go-Go Gadget: Strap Your Cap

I'm currently on my third lens cap for my camera and I can't tell you how many times I've put it down while shooting and then proceeded to look for it for twenty minutes. I finally broke down and found a hand-made camera strap with a lens cap pocket on Etsy. For four bucks extra, this handy crafter will sew in a built-in pocket on your camera strap.

Or if your really crafty and ambitious yourself, check out these step-by-step instructions on how to create your own lens cap holder attachment (cuteness optional).

via Etsy and Benvelo

Go-Go Gadget: Take your photos into the 3rd dimension

courtesy of Start 3d

Start 3D offers a low-tech way of turning your photos 3-D without a special camera - or the need to wear the glasses! All you have to do is take 2 photos, side by side 3 inches apart, upload them to their site and voila!

Super easy, but is it me or are these a little bit creepy? Kind of reminds me of the Museum of Natural History dioramas of cavemen and animals which always made me a little uneasy.

via Photojojo

Go-Go Gadget: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Who doesn't have a ton of obsolete gadgets piling up at home? I've got cameras, cellphones, computers along with other things taking up space. Mostly because it's inconvenient to figure out how to get rid of them in an environmentally safe manner. Wired's Gadget Lab rounds up some good (and simple) ways for you to dispose of unwanted electronics, like turning old cameras into cash by entering a few questions about their condition on Gazelle. You can also find manufacturer's recycling programs from companies like Apple, Canon, Sony and others. So take a look in your junk drawers, here's a chance to free up some space.

Go-Go Gadget: Take Notice

I was walking around my neighborhood recently, thinking about all the little stores and restaurants that have gone out of business, giving way for designer boutiques and restaurants. Over the years, the visual landscape of the neighborhood has really changed. It got me thinking about how things are recorded over time. In people's minds, through photos, online... Here's a game that is played by noticing things around you when you're out and about in a neighborhood.

Noticin.gs is a game where players are awarded points for things like spotting the first thing in a neighborhood, or noticing something every day for a week. You play by snapping a photo and uploading it to Flickr, tagging it with 'noticings' and geotagged with where they were taken.

It's a fun way to start paying more attention to what's around you and documenting someplace that might not be there someday.

via Digital Urban

Go-Go Gadget: Bigger isn't always better

Image courtesy of Gizmodo

Since digital cameras were first introduced to the market, people have focused (no pun intended) on how many mega-pixels a camera has as a measure of how advanced it is. Well, more isn't necessarily better. Nowadays, it's all about the light baby! In this article, Gizmodo gets all scientific-like and explains why a camera's low-light performance is one of the new go-to standards in judging a digital camera. We've reached our mega-pixel saturation point. To make the next big leap in technological advancement, the camera industry needs to look at better sensors, image processors and lenses for the next generation of digital cameras.

Go-Go Gadget: A Camera for the Masses?

courtesy of Engadget

I always love things that are a nod to the nostalgic, but this camera is seriously old-school. The Giroux Daguerreotype was the world's first mass-produced camera, made in 1839! This vintage piece of history is made up of a wooden box and brass lenses. The double box design of the Daguerreotype was focused by moving the smaller inner box away from the front-mounted 15-inch lens and exposures could take up to 1/2 an hour. Not only is it the world's first, it also may soon be the most expensive. Set to go up for auction in vienna later this year, the price will start at upwards of $250,000 and it's predicted that it may go for close to a cool million.

If that's a little out of your price-range, check out the New York Times' review of 9 of the best small, cheap cameras, all with price tags of $300 or less.

via Engadget & The New York Times

Go-Go Gadget: Shoot Invisible Light

courtesy of PhotoTuts+

Take a look at these super-cool photos that capture a type of light that the naked eye can't see. Infared phtography captures infared light - part of the electromagnetic spectrum (super-cool term) that's not visible to the human eye.

There are a few ways to snap these kinds of photos. One, you can completely convert your camera to shoot only infared - which can cost you up to 500 bucks and is irreversible. The second way is to use an infared filter. For $20+ you can experiment with this technique till your heart's content. Finally, you can use a photoshop filter, but hey, that's cheating.

Go-Go Gadget: Decisions, Decisions...

I've been in this perpetual loop of non-decision making for about 6 months now. I need both a new point and shoot and want (not need, but really want) a DSLR. However, I can't seem to make up my mind on what to get. There's so many choices out there, what's a girl to do? Now, I can't say that this has necessarily helped me to make up my mind yet, but I can say that Snapsort is the first comparison engine that actually gives me some stats I can understand. It's a website started up by some smarties who are also camera-buffs. Snapsort searches the web for information about the latest camera models, and summarizes the differences and similarities between cameras for you. It's not your average compare and contrast. Much like the The Thunderdome, two cameras enter, and one camera leaves.

via Lifehacker

Go-Go Gadget: Is this the future?

I remember when I was young thinking that 2010 sounded sooooo futuristic. The hover-cars, pills that turned into an entire meal when you added water, robot butlers... Well, needless to say, I have no robot, and I don't even have a car that drives with wheels, let alone does any hovering. However, this may be the future of DSLRs:

The Nova DSLR concept has two movable handles allowing for multiple hand-holding positions and buttons conveniently located by your fingertips. Conceptualized by Erica Fong, this seems to be pretty innovative, seeing that up to this point, DSLRs have been mostly similar to their old-school cousins, minus the film of course. Go girl innovation!

via Engadget

Go-Go Gadget: Gorillacam!

courtesy of Joby

I'm surprised an app like this hasn't been created before this (has it?). Joby has debuted yet another useful photo gadget - this time for free! The Gorillacam app for iPhone actually has several useful functions:

#1 - a timer, with settings from 3-90 seconds, so you can scramble into that photo you're about to take.

#2 - time lapse from 3-200 shots between one second and two minutes each.

#3 - a "press anywhere" function, eliminating the need to search for that tiny button when trying to capture that priceless moment.

#4 - a bubble level for straight-shooting

... and a bunch more helpful things like 3-shot burst, easy uploading functions and unlimited rapid-fire.

Now all I have to do is upgrade my ancient 1st gen iPhone to use it... it requires the iPhone 3.1 update.

Go-Go Gadget: Japanese Fun

For those of you who don't know (because I didn't), Bokeh is a photographic term describes the out-of-focus or blurring of an image in as a direct result of the lens on the camera. Sometimes it's used to reduce background prominence allowing more focus on the main subject.

That's the educational portion of this post... and now for the fun portion. How cool is this Bokeh Master's Kit? It attaches to your lense with a rubber band and comes in fun animal, heart, star, icon and other shapes. There's even a kit for making your own designs. It reminds me a little of those Japanese photo booths where you could get your pic snapped with a million hello-kitties or rainbows and unicorns in the background. Super-fun!

via DIYPhotography.net

Go-Go Gadget: Get it straight

Perfectly straight that is. For those of you who find yourselves taking multiple shots in order to eliminate slanted, sloping and tilted photos, the Level Camera Cube can help you get it straight with the first shot. For all you professional photographers, this probably isn't an essential piece of gear to have in your camera bag. However, I can see how it could be useful when using a tripod. It could definitely save some time in figuring out what length each leg needs to be to make a straight photo. If you're not using a tripod, and you're looking through the viewfinder to snap your pic, then I think you're out of luck... unless you have another set of eyes on the top of your head (my mom always insisted that she had a pair on the back of her head, but that wouldn't work in this situation) making sure all the bubbles line up.

via Photojojo

Go-Go Gadget: Built for me

courtesy of Built

I've eternally been on the hunt for the perfect compact (yet sturdy enough to take my klutzy-ness) case for my point and shoot and finally picked one up. It's not new news that Built makes a good one, I just hadn't gotten around to getting one until now. Their Soft Shell Camera Case is awesome. Made from neoprene, it's soft, flexible, chic and it even bounces a bit when you drop it (as I inevitably will).