RAWtalk Episode #034 - Multi-Angle Madness

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On this weeks RAWtalk Stephen enters the picture again with a bunch of really cool photo news stories. Each week we are going to try to bring Stephen in with new Photo News showcasing interesting gadgets, gear and stories.

I also sit down solo to answer some of your photo questions in this weeks Flying Solo portion of RAWtalk.

What do you think about the NEW Multi-Angles and photo news?

Stephens Photo News of the WEEK

Apparently The Dude himself, aka Jeff Bridges, isn’t just an actor but he’s actually also a photojournalist. The photographer at heart tends to take behind-the-scenes pictures on set using an old Widelux panoramic film camera that uses a slit that pans to expose a 180-degree picture on 35mm film; pretty cool! Check out some of his black & white photographs below from when he was on set for the original ‘Iron Man’ with Robert Downey Jr. (via PP)

Here’s something that I’d be interesting in doing–a photographer by the name of Alexy Joffre Frangieh decked out his Nikon D4 with a fresh custom paint job. He used a military grade “Desert Mirage Lizard” paint for a sweet looking “Desert Storm”-type coat. He manually airbrushed the gear too without disassembling it–risky move my friend! However, it worked out for him in the end. If you’re interested in something like this but aren’t the best artist–don’t fret–there’s an alternative method out there for you. A site by the name of PimpYourCam.com also does custom paint jobs for cameras. Check out Frangieh’s work below, everything from his body, to his flash, to his lenses are coated, and click the images to view even more: (via NR)

Wow. IBM officially released the World’s smallest movie ever which is a stop motion video that uses 242 photographs and features real atoms. The film, titled ‘A Boy and His Atom’, runs about a minute and “depicts a character named Atom who befriends a single atom and goes on a playful journey that includes dancing, playing catch and bouncing on a trampoline.” The atoms were magnified 100x (1/25-millionth of an inch!) and were moved by a sharp needle which positioned them where they wanted. IBM also posted behind-the-scenes footage showcasing how exactly it was made for a more in-depth look. They used a scanning tunneling microscope to take the stills which weighs a whopping two tons and operates at -268-degrees celcius; woah. Doesn’t seem like something your average Joe can make… (via PP)

Rumors (got to love ’em) have spread that Canon is testing out much-needed replacements for the 45mm and 90mm tilt shift lenses. New lenses are scheduled to hit around early 2014 with a supposed announcement coming around Christmas. (via CR)

The Canon 5d Mark III firmware update 1.2.1  is now officially available. I personally tested it out on my Mark III and upgraded without an issue so it’s safe to say it works–no brick for me!

In the UK, the rights around who can use your images have drastically changed. A new reform act shifts the power away from citizens and it’s being coined as the “Instagram Act”. Now, it’s not official just yet but apparently Parliament hasn’t voted down a bill since 1979 so the assumption is that it’ll pass. Here’s what the bill states:

“The Act contains changes to UK copyright law which permit the commercial exploitation of images where information identifying the owner is missing, so-called “orphan works”, by placing the work into what’s known as “extended collective licensing” schemes. Since most digital images on the internet today are orphans – the metadata is missing or has been stripped by a large organisation – millions of photographs and illustrations are swept into such schemes. For the first time anywhere in the world, the Act will permit the widespread commercial exploitation of unidentified work – the user only needs to perform a “diligent search”. But since this is likely to come up with a blank, they can proceed with impunity. The Act states that a user of a work can act as if they are the owner of the work (which should be you) if they’re given permission to do so by the Secretary of State.The Act also fails to prohibit sub-licensing, meaning that once somebody has your work, they can wholesale it. This gives the green light to a new content-scraping industry, an industry that doesn’t have to pay the originator a penny. Such is the consequence of “rebalancing copyright”, in reality.” (via FS)

If you’re a ‘Star Wars’ fan you’ll love this: Never-before-seen photos from the set of ‘Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back’ have surfaced online. The photos bring you on set where they showcase tricks used to pull off the so-called “special effects” and relays the message that the cast was indeed human, joking around in a more personable way (hence Chewy’s hand below). Check out a couple below and click the images to view even more: (via Imgur)

Toshiba released the World’s fastest Compact Flash card ever made with read speeds of 160 mb/s and write speeds of 150 mb/s; woah. It’s a 1066x card, which comes in capacities of up to 64gb! These will be great for 4k video capture with say the Canon 1D-C. (via Gizmodo)

This cool-looking laser shutter triggering system freezes insects in mid-flight! No really, photographer Linden Gledhill hacked it together which he uses for macro insect photography. Check out his shot of this lady bug looking like it’s preparing to land on a runway: (via Gizmodo)

Nostalgic. That’s what this retro behind-the-scenes video that showcases how NASA filmed their space shuttle launches back in the 80’s is. They used 138 video cameras to capture a typical launch, which all include blast proof camera housing. I wonder what they used for the more recent launches before the program ended… (via Gizmodo)