FroKnowsPhoto RAWtalk 208: Introducing the DUMBEST Camera Ever, 1780mm Nikkor Lens and the ROCK

Let me touch on the first story in the headline first. This Relonch has taken old Samsung cameras, wrapped them in colorful leather and is renting them for $99 a month. Oh yea, they only have a power button and a shutter button and the LCD screen is covered. To hear the rest of this news story tune to 18:27 of this weeks show.

Photo News is jam packaged with stories about Drone crashes at a wedding, Time Magazines Trump photo, SI cover photo taken with a cell phone and much more. Photo news starts at 17:26

There were some fantastic Flying Solo questions this week and you can see if I answered yours at 51:48

We wrap the show up as always with the Wheel Of Fro, meme’s and the hashtags of the week.

Thank you all for your continued support.

00:00:16 You’ll Paint What For Some Gluten?
00:03:05 FRO SHOW Episode 2
00:17:26 Photo News
00:18:27 1 Button Camera for $1200 Bucks-A-Year
00:23:04 Lost Friends Over Drone Injuries
00:25:58 Nikkor 1780mm Lens With A Truck Tripod
00:28:07 TIME Mags Trump “Devil” Cover
00:29:15 “The Rock” Photo Shoot on a Cell Phone
00:37:19 Capture 1 Pro v10
00:40:07 Lightroom Reference View
00:45:17 Mermaids Hate Plastic Bottles
00:47:10 Canon Lens with Mounts on Both Sides
00:48:17 Gear of the Week
00:51:48 Flying Solo
01:16:00 Wheel of Fro
01:18:19 Memes of the Week
01:24:31 Hashtags of the Week

FroKnowsPhoto Show Episode 002: Adventures In Germany

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

New Subscription Camera Service Wants to Edit Your Photos for You for $99/Month

A new photo service entitled Relonch is aiming to bring photographers the “perfect” photo for the “very low price” of just $99/month. Here’s how the subscription service works: Relonch loans you a camera for $99/month—a leather-wrapped Samsung NX camera in bright vibrant colors—with a 30mm f/2 lens, with only two buttons exposed—shutter and power. Meanwhile, you can’t even see the LCD screen because of the leather cover. Once you take photos, they are sent via a 4G signal to their servers where they will do all the dirty work for you, picking out what they think to be your best images and editing them for you with no hassle. The images are then sent back to your smartphone, but not until the next morning. Users will also get a monthly printed photo book of their favorite images which is included in the price. Is $1200/year asking too much? (via PP)

Groom Crashes Drone Into the Crowd at His Own Wedding, Gets Sued

A groom named Barry Billcliff is being sued by a pair of his now former friends who attended his wedding and were hit in the face by a falling drone at his reception in an enclosed tent. One friend claimed their nose broke, another says they needed more than 20 stitches to their head while both suffered concussions. The event took place at Searles Castle in Windham, New Hampshire. The venue’s VP Scott C. Robb II claims he told the groom not to fly his drone earlier in the day, yet it found itself in the air mid-reception. He claims it wasn’t him piloting it and that he was in the middle of the dance floor at the time, although the DJ says otherwise, noting that he saw him with the controls at the time. Check out some of the footage of the drone in mid-air in the tent below; no footage of the actual incident is online just yet. Would you fly a drone at your own wedding? (via TBH)

Photographer Turns Russian Military Truck Into a Giant Camera

Photographer Kurt Moser turned an old Russian military truck—the Ural 375—into a giant camera for glass plate photos. He funded the truck via his successful Kickstarter that raised over $70K. The truck uses a rare APO Nikkor 1780mm lens (only 10 in existence!) to capture images nearly 5-feet in size on massive glass plates that each weigh almost 90 lbs. Basically the whole back of the truck has been revamped into a giant camera, where it comes detached, similar to that of an 18 wheeler and it’s trailer. New hydraulic support lets it stand alone and act as tripod legs. The giant lens is mounted on the back, paired with daylight projectors for more light. Meanwhile, the glass photo plate inside lives on a dolly track that moves back and forth. It then can be fully developed right inside the truck with all the chemicals needed. Check out a virtual walkthrough of the truck below: (via Shutterbug)

TIME vs People Magazine’s Cover Photo of Trump: Good vs. Evil?

TIME magazine’s latest cover photo features president-elect Donald Trump as Person of the Year. The issue comes with the placement of the photo: his head is positioned directly under the “M” in TIME which appears to form devil horns on his head—the red lettering doesn’t exactly help. They also failed to touch up his hair, there’s a bald spot, a harsh monster-like shadow—an overall straight-faced monster look. On the flip side, People magazine featured a smiling Trump on their cover, with the “O” and “P” of People creating almost an angelic-like halo behind him. TIME has simply responded saying “Given the shape of the letter “M” in the magazine’s name and its location on the cover, many other subjects in the past have also appeared to sprout extra features. Any resemblance to cats, bats or devil horns is entirely coincidental.” Coincidence? Or clever Photoshop placement? Hmm… (via PP)

So siblings @time & @people gave us devil-horns & angelic-halo Trump, respectively. Journalism in 2016.@Alyssa_Milano @LATimesTVLloyd pic.twitter.com/Nr6gQcCB1h

— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) December 7, 2016

The Latest Cover Photo of SI Photographed with a Smartphone

Speaking of cover photos, this month’s Sports Illustrated cover photo featuring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was shot with a smartphone. Photographed with a Moto Z phone with a Hasselblad True Zoom Moto Mod attachment by photographer Michael J Lebrecht II, he tells Petapixel that he familiarized himself with the camera controls on the phone right away. He adds that he “first shot with available light, and then used continuous lighting and found the images to be very good. Knowing I would produce much more power on set, I had confidence going in the image quality would hold up.” He says the only issue he had was due to where the lens is on the phone, he had to mount the phone holder backwards, partially covering his screen. Check out a full behind-the-scenes video of the whole shoot below along with some BTS photos that he shot with his Canon 5DS (his usual camera of choice) here. (via PP)

Phase One Unveils Capture One Pro 10

Phase One has unveiled their latest version of Capture One Pro with version 10. Key improvements include the integration of a video grading workflow, a brand new sharpening engine, a new default workspace and more under-the-hood tuning. The new sharpening process is now broken down into 3 steps: there’s a lens correction tool that corrects for diffraction, a new Halo Suppression slider and a new blending algorithm. And finally, a tool that lets you control output sharpening. Phase One is also integrating support for a Tangent panel system to work natively inside the program with your images. The updated program is available now for $299 or $99 for an upgrade from version 8 or 9.

Lightroom Adds “Reference View” in CC Version 2015.8

Lightroom has also gotten an update with CC version 2015.8 (where’s 2017?!). Besides your usual performance improvements, and updated camera and lens support, one big new feature is the introduction of the “Reference View.” Reference View simply lets you compare two different photos side-by-side in the Develop module in order to make sure the colors, exposure and everything else is consistent, this helps out especially if the photos will all be used in a photo story, or the same gallery. Adobe says, “This is helpful when making a group of images from a single event look similar or setting the white balance appropriately in mixed lighting conditions.” Here’s how it works, you simply click on Reference View in the tool bar, and drag any photo into the left pane as you adjust and scroll through your images on the right. The main difference between this and the “Compare Mode” is the fact that it will stay activated in the Develop module and let you continue to edit, and not just in the Library module. (via PP)

Von Wong’s Latest Epic Photoshoot Features 10,000 Plastic Bottles and a Mermaid

Von Wong is at it again doing another “epic” photoshoot, this time raising awareness about plastic pollution. His latest shoot was tough to pull off: how to make something like plastic pollution that’s “ordinary, ugly and boring” look “extravagant, unique and different.” He took 10,000 recycled plastic bottles and created a “sea of plastic” with a model that was done up as a mermaid. Dozens of volunteers helped him clean and de-label the bottles, and a friend let him use his giant warehouse to house the whole project. He then mounted his Sony camera in the air, remotely connecting to it via an iPad and using a huge TV as the monitor, he would trigger it from below and reposition the model for the look he wanted. To help fight his cause, he’s asking people to visit MermaidsHatePlastic.com and sign his Change.org petition to reuse bottles. Check out the full BTS video on the shoot below along with the photos here.

Canon Files Patent for New Lens System That Can Be Mounted on Both Ends

Canon has filed a patent for a new lens system that feature mounts on both ends of the lens, allowing for macro photography. The recently published patent suggests that the new lens system would still give you full control of all your settings, whether you mount your lens forwards or backwards. Mounting it backwards would enable the look of a macro lens, similar to the reverse lensing technique, except now you have full control of your settings—no more manual aperture. (via CW)