Michael Hession

Panasonic FZ1000: A Large-Sensor Super Zoom That Shoots 4K Video

Since Sony released the RX10 last year, there have been exactly zero competitors to rival that camera’s stellar lens quality, zoom reach, and sensor size. It redefined what a “bridge camera” could be. Panasonic is the next company to realize the advantage of bringing large sensor image quality to a fixed long range zoom. The…

Coney Island’s Newest Roller Coaster Is Narrower Than Most Apartments

This week marks the opening of the Thunderbolt, a modern roller coaster looping and corkscrewing through historic Coney Island in Brooklyn. The coaster is a towering orange lasso with 2200 feet of track, squeezed into an unbelievably narrow space. Here’s our up close and personal look at NYC’s latest thrill ride. The Thunderbolt name is…

Reframe Roundup: This Week’s Best Photography Posts

Did you guys know there is a Gizmodo subdomain where you can go for all things photographic? Yep! It’s called Reframe, and it’s where you’ll find additional coverage of gear, techniques, news, and all kinds of great stuff related to the crafts of photography and videography. San Francisco’s Sights Reflected Upside-Down In Perfectly Clear Puddles…

Samsung NX Mini Review: Small, Stylish, And a Little Bit Confused

Samsung’s NX Mini is the latest camera to squeeze a large sensor into a super-small body. It’s stylish and capable, but still suffers from an identity crisis. What Is It? The NX Mini is a tiny, interchangeable lens camera with a one-inch sensor packing 20.5 megapixels. That’s about the same spec as the terrific Sony…

This Fashion Photographer Uses Only One Beat-Up Hand-Me-Down Lens

It’s easy to stress out about lenses. Which ones to buy, which ones to use when—ad nauseum. Fashion photographer Erik Madigan Heck avoids the problem completely by shooting exclusively with one single lens, and you’ll probably never guess which one it is. Heck is no amateur. You might find his work on the cover of…

Colbert Gives Amazon the Finger For Shady Book Selling Tactics

In the wake of Amazon’s questionable tactics in dealing with publishing house Hachette, many Amazon shoppers are questioning their loyalty to the mega-seller. Stephen Colbert, not one to hide his anger, unleashed on Amazon in a less-than-subtle way last night. A big reason for the anger in this case is that Colbert’s own books are…

New GoPro Arm Gives You Some Added Reach and Stability

You can go insane deciding on methods to mount your GoPro. Everyone has their own special devices, but GoPro wants you to buy their own. The latest is the 3-Way, which has a few functions in one, and is definitely not meant as sexual innuendo. The 3-Way’s primary use is as a simple extension arm.…

Abandoned World War II Bunkers Provide a Haunting Look Into the Past

The artifacts of history’s greatest wars are strewn everywhere around Europe, and fewer are more visible than the remains of concrete World War II bunkers. Jonathan Andrew has been photographing these sites since 2009. Visiting various locations in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, Andrews sought out the fortifications dotting the beaches and countryside. Lighting the…

10 of the Best Places to Photograph Around the World

PopPhoto has gathered their new list of the most eye-popping locations to get your photo on around the globe. It’s a collection that will make you yearn for more than a few plane tickets. Here are ten of them to get your adventurous juices flowing. This post is part of a feature by Stephanie Pearson,…

These GIFs Turn Famous Buildings Into Shape-Shifting Toys

Buildings: They are giant and they are unmoving (for the most part). But what if you could play with them as freely as a Lego set? That seems like the kind of fun Axel de Stampa had when creating this series of super-fun GIFs. Some of the most iconic buildings from around the world were…

How the Iconic Photos From the D-Day Invasion Were Almost Lost Forever

It’s amazing that even during events as harrowing as the D-Day invasion, there are photographers willing to enter the fray and make a visual record of what went down. Time brings us the story of how photographs of that historic battle were almost completely lost in an error almost any of us can relate to.…

Reframe Roundup: This Week’s Best Photography Posts

Did you guys know there is a Gizmodo subdomain where you can go for all things photographic? Yep! It’s called Reframe, and it’s where you’ll find additional coverage of gear, techniques, news, and all kinds of great stuff related to the crafts of photography and videography. Lomography’s First Instant Camera Uses Real-Life Filters The retro…

An Ode to the Decaying Playgrounds That Pepper America’s Lawns

Growing up in a city or suburb, the playground was an indispensable part of childhood recreation. But the slides, swings, and see-saws you remember from decades ago barely resemble modern playground equipment. The photography in Brenda Biondo’s Once Upon a Playground captures the faded glory of the 20th century relics. Biondo’s project grew out of…

The Death of Film Is Felt Hardest In the City Built on Kodak’s Reign

Rochester, New York is the city where George Eastman founded the company responsible for making photography an everyday part of American life. Although Kodak is still a household name, the digital age has gutted what was once a thriving industry. Traces of the film giant can be seen echoing throughout Rochester in the photography of…

The Surreal Sight of Skyscrapers Encased in Colored Fabric

Here in the USA, when a building is under construction, we are used to the sight of scaffolding partially encaging the structure. In Hong Kong, the tradition is to completely wrap even the most immense buildings in sheets of fabric. Photographer Peter Steinhauer documents these colorful monoliths in stunning detail. The purpose of the giant…

Looks like the new Star Wars film is really comin’ together!

Zoom H5: The Perfect DSLR Audio Sidekick With a Scaled Back Price

Shooting video with a DSLR can be a pain when it comes to your audio setup. Zoom has been a mainstay of external audio devices targeted at DSLR filmmakers with the H4N and last year’s beefed-up—but expensive—H6. The new H5 presents an in-between solution at an affordable price. https://gizmodo.com/zoom-h6-the-essential-dslr-audio-tool-gets-an-update-5994723 The $270 H5 is similar to…

Photos of Science Experiments are Mysterious and Dazzling

Caleb Charland has been merging science with photography for years, creating images that challenge you to figure out just what the heck is going on. His most recent work is a collection of disparate materials and methods, each one with their own wondrous flavor. https://gizmodo.com/when-apple-orchards-become-personal-power-plants-5873443 The titles of each image give you an idea of…

Tour the Home of the Future in 30 Seconds

If you aren’t in New York to experience our Home of the Future, here is bit of first-person perspective. The space is abuzz with guests experiencing bits and pieces of awesome future-tech and design. We couldn’t resist strapping on a GoPro and gliding in and out of our SoHo cube. Of course, it’s no substitute…

The Science of Removing Graffiti From a Priceless Work of Art

In the fall of 2012, a vandal approached a painting by Mark Rothko hanging in London’s Tate Modern, and scrawled it with graffiti. It took the Tate over nine months of work to successfully restore the painting before it went back on display last week. This video shows the amazing science and craft that went…