Classic shots immortalized again with Lego

Avid shutterbugs will be familiar with pictures like Robert Capa's famous Normandy beach landing shots or Bresson's interpretation of the decisive moment with a boy in mid-air, jumping over a puddle of water.

Mike Stimpson clearly adores these shots as well and he has recreated some of the most beloved photos using Lego figures. However, the smiling faces on the blocks can somewhat misinterpret the actual scenario, like the excecution scene of a Viet Cong snapped by Eddie Adams.

But what was impressive was how much effort Stimpson put into each of the imitated shot--each figurine was repositioned to match the exact pose and the background blurred to mimic that of the actual photograph.

View more of Stimpson's work on his Flickr profile.

Picture credit: Mike Stimpson

Magnifying loupe for your shooter's LCD

We'd seen our share of weird camera accessories, but this one just blew us away in the wrong sense.

The Un-ltd PRO-MC (UNX-8507) is a magnifying glass designed for cameras with a 3-inch display. According to Fareastgizmo, the loupe will help to enlarge the view for a "better judgment of photos taken". But for those in the know, LCDs on different shooters have different resolution and also show only limited colors. Therefore, the view though the glasses wouldn’t be an accurate representation.

In Playback mode on your snapper, you can zoom in to check if the shot is sharp. For most dSLRs with Live View, you should be able to digitally magnify the scene for more precise focusing.

If you ask me, I'll say that this "innovation" is as good as wearing spectacle frames without the optics. But for a more "professional" look, you can ask your friend in Japan to get it for US$47.

Via: Fareastgizmos

This shooter's no quack

Besides kimchi and tear-jerking dramas, Koreans are exporting creatively hacked cameras, too. While on vacation, Taeyoon Choi had a flash of brilliance when he saw that his shots looked no different from the other tourists'. With some tinkering, he fitted a point-and-shoot into the Magical Image Digesting Duck named Charlie.

Like any good inventions, there is more to Charlie than meets the eye. Hooked up to the shooter is a vacuum cleaner, printer and MP3 player. All the devices are linked to a central controller which handles the automated operations of the duck.

Charlie follows Choi around New York and, whenever someone takes a photo of it, it senses the flash and automatically snaps a picture of the person. The mechanical bird then prints out the picture (which comes out from its rear end) or posts it online when a wireless hotspot is available.

Choi's rationale for building this was that he wanted to "liberate cameras from human operation". With face detection and all the other smart functions that shooters ship with these days, it's only a matter of time before they communicate with Skynet and try to take over our lives.

Picture credit: Camerautomata

Olympus unveils 360-degree CCD

According to Aram Pan, our Snapshot contributor, it may require more than 56 snaps to form a 360- by 360-degree photograph. Not to mention the time spent in front of the computer fixing exposures and aligning the shots. Sounds like hard work? We think so.

Things are looking to be easier with Olympus showcasing its new CCD capable of capturing an all-round view with just one press of the shutter. Last year, it revealed a prototype of a similar idea and now this seems ready to hit shelves. However, this technology is not new--Japanese company Vstone has already commercialized its omni-directional sensor and incorporated it into robot sports (read: Machines playing soccer).

For Olympus, this new sensor seems set on being a surveillance tool, as reported by Akihabara news which translated the press release from the company. Will other camera manufacturers pick up this technology and produce some funky shooter? We hope so.

Via: Akihabara News

Nikon announces new dSLR and flashgun

Nikon fanboys are having a field day celebrating the announcement of the D700 midrange full-frame dSLR and the Speedlight SB-900. Leaked images of the shooter are nothing compared with getting a good feel of the real deal, and that is what we got. Read our in-depth hands-on here.

The SB-900 succeeds the SB-800. Improvements include extended zoom range from 17-200mm and automatic optimization for best coverage on both the DX and FX models. Like its predecessor, the SB-800, the SB-900's output can be manually tuned to compensate for tricky situations or controlled wirelessly to work off hotshoe. The flash head can be tilted or swiveled for creative lighting controls and its firmware can be updated by just attaching it onto the dSLR, which is a first for flashguns.

The pricing and availability of these two units for Asia have yet to be confirmed, but Nikon told us we can expect them by August, or even earlier.

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