Flash! Here's What's New in Photo Gear

The photos had a sort of poetry about them

(NEWSER) - The last frames of Kodachrome film have largely been developed, yet another milestone in the transition from analog to digital, but this is no cause for celebration for Matt Zoller Seitz. Kodachrome photos had "something truly special" about them, he writes at Salon . "The dyes and emulsions produced an effect comparable to Technicolor motion picture film." The resulting photos were "luminous and warm but not garish; in some inexpressible way, they seemed to capture the sensation of remembering the past, fixing nostalgia along with people and places." More»

Bands give up trying to control images

(NEWSER) - As camera phones held aloft become as common as lighters in the air used to be at rock-and-roll concerts, the music industry is starting to give in to reality and drop camera bans. Most bands are allowed to choose their own photo policy, and a growing number are letting fans capture gigs with any kind of camera they want. Others, including U2, allow point-and-shoot cameras only, and reserve digital SLRs for the professionals, reports CNET News. More»

'Project Icarus' sends camera to the stratosphere for under $150

(NEWSER) - A trio of MIT students managed to take photographs from the edge of space for less than $150, the Guardian reports. The students sent a digital camera and a GPS-equipped mobile phone in a coolbox into the stratosphere by attaching the kit to a helium balloon. They retrieved the photos and equipment when the balloon popped and they returned to earth via parachute. The photos from the highest point of the camera's journey show the blackness of space and the earth's curvature. More»

(NEWSER) - Kodak is discontinuing its storied Kodachrome film line, the company announced today. Introduced in 1935, Kodachrome was the first commercially successful color film, and was immortalized in a Paul Simon song in 1973. But these days it represents less than 1% of Kodak’s film sales, and only one lab in the world—Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas, processes it, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports. More»

Group buys equipment from shuttered plant, seeks to reinvent recipe

(NEWSER) - A determined band of entrepreneurs, scientists, and lovers of retro photography is doing its best to bring Polaroid film back from the dead, the New York Times reports. The group managed to buy the company’s old equipment just before it was dumped and is now attempting to reinvent the chemicals Polaroid once produced in plants dismantled after production ceased last year. More»