She Was Arrested In Russia Urban Exploring, DRONE Guns and Hanukkah Harry: FroKnowsPhoto RAWtalk 207

It’s true, this weeks guest Rebecca Bathory was detained by the Russian military while urban exploring. It turns out they thought she was a spy, was she? Find out starting at 37:34 of the show.

Todd brought in his new toy aka Sony Playstation VR for us to try out, catch some bonus footage at the end of this episode.

We have a ton of photo news from Getty, OK Go, Facebook, Kaiman Wong and a NEW Drone gun from Drone Shield.

Be sure to check out the interview, gear of the week from Kino Flo and the memes.

We appreciate your continued support of us and the SHOW!!!

00:00:16 Todd Brought His Toy
00:01:53 Who’s on the Show?
00:02:47 New Fro Factory Item
00:05:45 48 Hours to Haggle
00:07:40 What Does Morgan Want for Xmas?
00:09:16 Hanukkah Harry
00:10:28 Photo News
00:10:35 Homework to Rent Film Gear
00:15:22 Getty Settles for Less Than a Billion
00:18:40 Photographer Sues Facebook
00:20:07 Nikon on Sony!?!? With Auto Focus?!?!
00:21:36 Merediths New DRONEGUN
00:25:32 OK, Go. For 4.2 Second Music Video.
00:28:33 3D Print-A-Lens?
00:30:08 Casey Neistat and CNN Team Up
00:33:37 Kaiman Wong Moves On
00:37:34 Interview with Rebecca Bathory
00:39:07 What Is Rebecca Working On?
00:43:50 Arrested In Russia!
00:47:09 So You Loved Russia?
00:51:33 How Do You Fund Traveling the World?
00:53:31 What Gear Do You Use? $$$
00:59:10 2 Books
01:02:33 Gear of the Week
01:08:54 Memes of the Week
01:15:25 Wheel of Fro
01:19:11 Hash Tags of the Week
01:20:55 I Try VR…Not Porn

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

This New Rental House Wants To Be The BorrowLenses of Film Gear

There’s a new rental house that wants to be the BorrowLenses of film gear. Called Film Objektiv, and founded by FStoppers senior writer Adam Ottke, the very “objective” for this new startup is to simply help film live on and get more film cameras into more people’s hands. Here’s how it works: rentals are on a monthly basis, with a two month maximum. Rental prices range from $16 all the way up to $375 for the Hasselblad 203FE kit. The catch is that you have to lay down a FULL deposit for each camera’s replacement value when you rent it out, so it ranges everywhere from $200 for the Canon A-1 or $5K for the Hassy, which to me renders the point of renting completely useless. Here’s something different however: when someone checks out a film camera from Adam’s mostly personal arsenal, they must share at least 5 images that they took with it after the fact and write up 100 Words about the project(s) completed with the help of this gear. Adam says, “It’s their way to say, “Thank You,” and it’s our way to keep tabs on how we’re affecting the community around us.” They’re offering prints for sale too, and you get 10% off if you pair it with a rental. The new rental house is currently in beta. In the meantime, check out their promo video below:

Carol Highsmith Settles Out of Court for Her $1 Billion Lawsuit with Getty

An update on Carol M Highsmith’s $1 Billion lawsuit against Getty Images—it’s officially come to an end, with Getty basically winning the case, with a small out-of-court settlement. To backtrack, Highsmith was suing Getty over the stock agency giant licensing her public domain images—all 18,000 of them. They even sent her a takedown notice to her own website, saying she didn’t license the images from them. She claimed misuse and infringement, but the courts agreed that she gave up that right when she donated her images into the public domain. No word on how much she earned in the end. (via PDNP)

Photo by Carol M Highsmith

German Photographer Sues Facebook Over Stripping EXIF Data and WINS!

Yet another lawsuit, except this one resulted in a WIN for the photographer this time. A German photographer named Rainer Steußloff sued Facebook for automatically stripping EXIF data off of his photos that were uploaded to the social network—specifically the IPTC standard. He says it was a violation of German Copyright Law—because the country’s laws protect “information provided by photographers in order to pursue their copyrights,” and therefore Facebook must stop doing it. Well, the court agreed back in February and since it’s officially been 6 months and Facebook hasn’t appealed, the judgement is considered final. However, this ruling is specific to Germany, and Facebook has been ordered to adjust their uploader to allow for metadata or they will face fines of up to €250,000 every time a German photographer decides to sue them over this. Instead of making a special tool just for Germans, it’s more likely that the social network will adjust their uploader for all. Rainer says, “it is clear that such a procedure does not have to be tolerated any further.” Is this a good or bad thing, in terms of privacy? (via PP)

New Adapter Brings Full Control of Your Nikon Lenses on Sony Bodies

There’s a new lens adapter that gives you FULL control of your Nikon glass on Sony E-mount bodies. Fotodiox released their new Nikon to Sony Fusion Smart AF Adapter which now gives Nikon shooters full autofocus, aperture control, VR and EXIF data transfer when using AF-I and AF-S lenses. They note that most adapters are fully electronic, so they simply transfer the lens data to the camera for it to work, and that’s the reason this adapter took so long to make—the fact that Nikon AF-I and AF-S lenses are not fully electronic—the aperture is still mechanical. Their solution is the “fusion drive” which allows the body to physically control the mechanical aperture. Price-wise, these come in at $370 a pop, and you can see their full demo video below: (via NR)

The New DroneGun Looks Like a Futuristic Rifle

Yet another advancement in drone defense: introducing the DroneGun. this futuristic-looking rifle that looks like it’s straight out of a movie, won’t physically destroy the drone like an actual gun. What it will do is immediately cease video transmission back to the drone operator, leaving the drone intact for forensic investigation. It’s not the first drone defense weapon to do this, but it is the first to be able to do it from 1.2 miles away. One caveat though: it’s not FCC approved just yet, so it’s not currently available to the public. It’s not likely that it ever will get approved either… (via Engadget)

OK Go’s Insane New Music Video Was Shot in 4.2 Seconds at 6000 Frames Per Second

OK Go has done it again with another incredible music video that was shot in realtime in just 4.2 seconds. Shot on a Bolt High-Speed Cinebot, with shooting rates at up to 6000FPS, the 4.2 second-shot video was slowed down in variable framerate intervals in post to create the final 4-minute music video. It took months of planning, and a spreadsheet that’s 25 columns wide and 400 rows long which is broken down for each beat and each individual frame. It also took 318 incredibly precise triggers for all the cool slow-mo effects used like balloons popping, guitars exploding, watermelons being shot and more. The video was made for their latest song titled “The One Moment.” Director and singer Damian Kulash, Jr. says “The song ‘The One Moment’ is a celebration of (and a prayer for) those moments in life when we are most alive. For the video, we tried to represent this idea literally — we shot it in a single moment. We constructed a moment of total chaos and confusion, and then unraveled that moment, discovering the beauty, wonder, and structure within.” Check out the full video below along with a BTS video breaking down the insane math:

Photographer 3D Prints His Own Lens and the Results are Amazing

Photographer Mathieu Stern, who’s known for testing weird lenses on YouTube, has done it again, this time creating his own lens, by 3D printing it. The resulting lens is one equal to that of roughly a 135mm f/1.8 lens that uses just a single glass element. He then mounted it on a Sony a7 II, and the resulting images are pretty interesting. He says, “You don’t need to buy ultra expensive lenses to make great images. A $4 plastic lens will make great results; what really matters is your vision, ideas and creativity.” Check out his full video documenting the planning stage all the way to using it in the real world below and the resulting images here:

Casey Neistat’s Beme Acquire by CNN for $25 Million, To Start New Media Brand

Casey Neistat and his Beme app have been acquired by CNN for a reported $25 million. Beme itself will officially be ending it’s short run but Casey and his 11 employees will be launching a new media brand under the CNN name. CNN will be giving him full creative freedom, in hopes of reigning in Casey’s millennial audience. The Cable News Network says, “Casey has tapped into nearly six million really powerful viewers, most of which do not tune in to CNN. To build this audience authentically, we believe we need to build something new.” Neistat notes that this will not affect his YouTube channel and that the new project will officially launch next Summer. (via WSJ)

Kai AND Lok Officially Leave DigitalRev TV

Speaking of YouTube personalities, Kai Wong has officially ended his 7-year streak as the host of DigitalRev. Kai made the announcement on his new YouTube channel, simply called Kaiman Wong, where he says he’ll still be posting videos at a once-a-week pace. He says, “There were no fights. I wish DR well. They gave me a platform for me to perform, to create stuff, and they’ll carry on creating stuff.” The crazy part? He’s already amassed well over 100,000 subscribers in just a week…Oh, and Lok even left. Ouch.