Brooks Institute Students Royally SCREWED, PETA Still Fighting for Naruto: FroKnowsPhoto RAWtalk 195

This weeks top stories include Brooks Institute closing after 70 years and leaving students high and dry. Peta is still fighting for NARUTO for some unknown reason. Finally, Seagate has announced a 60TB SSD storage drive which is pure insanity.

This weeks show is brought to you by RODE microphones. They just announced two microphones are gaining Rycote Lyre suspensions. If you don’t know what that is you need to check it out right here http://www.rode.com/

Gear of the week brings us some DRONE filters from a company called Polar Pro. I remember seeing this company on Shark Tank a while back and Richie recommends them for our DJI Phantom Drones.

Flying Solo hits hard with a lot of quesitons followed by Wheel Of FRO which may or may not hit the WINNING Spot again this week.

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00:00:16 What are you eating?
00:02:00 I’m back from Vacation
00:06:05 Plug of the Week
00:09:15 Todd’s Weird Science
00:14:00 The power went out!
00:20:05 Photo News
00:33:52 Guess which one is my brother!
00:50:12 Gear of the Week
00:54:20 Flying Solo
01:21:44 Wheel of Fro
01:25:53 Memes of the Week

Here’s all of Stephen’s photo news stories in detail:

Iconic Photo School Officially Closing After 75 Years

Brooks Institute, an iconic photo school, is officially closing its doors after 70 years of operation. Starting in 1945, the for-profit school will permanently close on Oct. 31, 2016. Students that are currently enrolled in Fall classes have been told they are cancelled. There has apparently been a big shakeup in leadership as of late, most likely causing the decision to close: President Edward Clift was dismissed by the school’s new owner, Green Planet, which then prompted four of the board of trustees members—the majority—to resign. It doesn’t help that the school has had a declining enrollment for years, going from 2500 students in 2005 to just 350 this year. Brooks offered four undergraduate majors (Bachelor of Arts in Professional Photography, Film and Video Production, Graphic Design, and Visual Journalism) and two graduate programs (Master of Fine Arts in Photography and Master of Science in Scientific and Technology Imaging). Check out a clip of the initial announcement made to students below: (via VC)

PETA Still Fighting for Naruto, Files Appeal

PETA has officially appealed the court’s decision that Naruto shouldn’t be the rightful copyright owner after taking a selfie with David Slater’s camera. In their appeal papers, PETA claims that, “in every practical sense, he [Naruto] is the ‘author’ of the works.” They go on to add that, “had the monkey selfies been made by a human using Slater’s unattended camera, that human would undisputedly be declared the author and copyright owner of the photographs. Nothing in the Copyright Act limits its application to human authors. Protection under the Copyright Act does not depend on the humanity of the author, but on the originality of the work itself.” The owner of the camera, David Slater, says, ”They are going on the idea he [Naruto] owns the copyright, which is clearly absolutely ridiculous. They put me through the mill in California and that was thrown out, and they are continuing to spend huge amounts of donors’ money on a frivolous suit.” Will Slater win again? (via BBC)

Nikon Patents 4-Lens Camera

Nikon has officially patented a “4-eye” camera that features four lenses, each with their own sensor. They’re not just jumping on the bandwagon either with cameras like Light’s 16-module L16 camera coming to market; they initially filed this patent back in 2013, and it just got published a few weeks back. The patent shows a small compact camera that has 4 lenses lined up in the shape of a square in the center of the camera, with the spare room on the sides being left for each lens’ sensor. Similar to Light’s L16, the lenses are internally placed with mirrors directly behind them to bend the light onto their side sensors. The patent suggests that the images the individual sensors pick up are then combined onto a single larger sensor. Will Light soon be up against Nikon? (via NR)

Nikon Announces D3400–a Repackaged D3300

Nikon did release an actual new camera to the public this past week though with the new Nikon D3400. Succeeding the D3300, not much has changed in the updated model. They added their new bluetooth technology, Snapbridge, the native ISO has been expanded to 25,600—a full stop, and Nikon claims battery life has doubled, now lasting up to 1200 shots. To coincide with the announcement, Nikon added four new lenses to their entry level lineup: two new 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lenses—one with VR, one without, and two new 70-300mm f/4.5-6.3 lenses—again, one with and one without VR. Price wise, you can pick the new camera up starting Sept. 13, bundled with the 18-55mm lens for $646. Check out Jared’s preview of the new camera below for more specs:

Soldiers Suing MoD After Pilot’s Camera Gets Stuck in Controls, Nearly Crashing Plane

Speaking of Nikon, an update on the story of the military plane that nearly lost control after the pilot’s Nikon camera got stuck in the plane’s controls last year. Nine soldiers and one civilian employee are now suing The UK’s Ministry of Defense, claiming they’re suffering PTSD after thinking the plane was shot down when it plunged nearly 5000 feet near Afghanistan. A Military Aviation Authority report about the event said the pilot had taken 28 photos of the flight deck between eight and three minutes before the nosedive, placing his camera between the armrest and the controls when he was done. When he moved his chair up, the camera got jammed. The jet was in a nosedive for about 27 seconds before the pilot got the aircraft under control. Rhicha Kapila, who represents the soldiers, says, “Personal items were being propelled to the back of the plane, passengers were screaming, lots of them were crying, they could hear people saying, ‘Please don’t let me die.’ It was a state of chaos and very frightening.” She notes that some of her clients suffer flashbacks, nightmares, mood swings and stutters which have hampered their careers and personal relationships. The Ministry of Defense says, “We cannot comment on individual cases, but when compensation claims are submitted, we will carefully consider whether there is a legal liability to pay compensation. Where there is, we will.” The pilot will appear before a court martial in February on perjury, making a false record, and negligently performing a duty. Quick tip: don’t bring your camera with you into the cockpit… (via DM)

Giant Suspended TV Camera Falls 65 Feet at the Olympics, Injuring 7

Something that actually did fall from the sky: a giant suspended TV camera at the olympics broke loose and came crashing down to the ground. Injuring seven people, the camera—which was housed outside the Olympic baseball venue—snapped, falling 65 feet to the ground. After noticing the camera’s pulling rope came down, officials requested a cherry picker to realign and regain access to the camera. minutes after the request, both guide ropes that hold the full weight of the camera suddenly snapped simultaneously. The Olympic Broadcasting Services have since launched a full investigation into the matter, calling it a freak accident. Fortunately, the injuries were minor, but could have certainly been fatal had they been just a few inches over. Check out the full 45-second clip of the camera coming down along with the aftermath below: (via NBC)

VSCO Opens Up Free-To-Use Photo Studio in NYC

VSCO has opened up a new huge photo studio which is FREE to use. Simply called Open Studio, the free-to-use space is located at VSCO’s office space in NYC’s NoMad district. VSCO says, “Open Studio was born out of our desire to support the creative endeavors of our community — not only on the VSCO platform, but also in real life. We designed our office in NYC’s NoMad district to be both a work space and a blank canvas, enabling any project to be brought to life.” Included in the space is various lighting equipment and a permanent cyclorama wall. They go on to add that is there’s “a project that excites you, that drags you out of bed at the crack of dawn and keeps you up late at night, we want to give you the opportunity to create it.” A max time of two hours can be booked at a time, free of charge, with also a max capacity of six people allowed in the studio at a time. Those interested just need to submit a request via their online form where they’ll be asked to describe the project they want to shoot. However, due to the high volume of requests, VSCO has already fully booked their Fall session and are no longer accepting submissions until further notice. VSCO says they plan on opening additional Open Studio locations in the future.

Seagate Announces World’s Largest SSD

Seagate has announced another “world’s first” harddrive: this time being the world’s largest SSD. The SSD can hold an insane 60TB of data, which they say equates to 400 million photos or 12,000 DVD movies. They add that you can reach 1PB of storage with “just” 17 of these bad boys. Expected to launch to the public sometime next year, there’s no word just yet on how much price will be, but just know that you probably cant afford it. (via Engadget)

Visit us @flashmem and see the world’s largest #SSD at 60TB! pic.twitter.com/a2vcDrgfk7

— Seagate (@Seagate) August 10, 2016

Photographer Robbed of $40K Worth of Camera Gear at the Olympics

A News Corp photographer Brett Costello was robbed of his gear at the Olympics. Totaling up to $40,000 in gear stolen, his ThinkTank bag full of gear was taken in broad daylight, in a crowded cafe. It was a team effort too, apparently a woman distracted him asking a question, while another perp snatched the bag. He then ran to a getaway car which sped off before Costello could catch up to them. Costello told the Courier Mail: “I’m gutted and I feel stupid that I wasn’t wise to their plan, I know that I’ll probably never see my bag or gear again.” He adds that “It only took 10-seconds, but even that is enough to remind the thousands of tourists and media here in Rio for the games to never let down your guard.” Luckily, Canon CPS covered Costello with loaner gear, allowing him to continue his assignment. The story continues though, as Costello spotted the thief impersonating him, trying to gain access into the Olympics just days later. Costello spotted an official Olympic photo vest on the thief, which wasn’t just any photo vest, it was Costello’s personal vest with his number on it that was stolen with his gear. The man said he “bought the vest” off somebody on the street. He was then quickly arrested and taken away for questioning by police; no word on whether Costello ever got back his gear though. Check out a video interview where he recounts his story of exactly what happened below along with the actual security camera footage of the incident: (via CM)