Oh my! It’s been more than a month since I last posted a news-and-articles-recap … ! I’ve been (and still am) rather busy with work and newly enamoured with film, so my love for digital photography has been dampened somewhat recently. Still, I collected a bunch of interesting weblinks to share with you, and as my son is currently peacefully playing by himself, I’m using the opportunity to put together a quick roundup of what’s been published around the interwebs those past weeks!

Photoradar: Earth from space
Photoradar have posted a series of images taken by astronaut Paolo Nespoli. He took these amazing pictures during his stay on the ISS, using Nikon DSLRs.

Not a review of the Sigma SD1
X3magazine, home of everything Foveon, published an article on the Sigma SD1. They don’t want to call it a review because they were testing a pre-production model. Still, the pictures speak for themselves.
(You can find a production-model review over at The Luminous Landscape.)

“Focus Peaking” — great new feature in NEX cameras
According to this thread on rangefinderforum.com, Sony added a new feature to the latest NEX-3/5 (and probably also the upcoming C3 and 7) firmware calle “Focus Peaking”. On using manual focus, the contrast-detection algorithm calculates which part of the image is in focus and highlights it accordingly. It looks very promising, and is definitely something I’d like to see in future Micro Four Thirds cameras (or even better, firmware updates!)

Good stuff from Petapixel
Petapixel, resource of never ending good stuff on just about any photography topic, spoil us with some great articles once more. There’s a video about the film production over at The Impossible Project, a time lapse video of the Milky Way taken with Canon DSLRs, and a feature from CNBC discussing the alleged upcoming demise of Point’n’Shoots.

The Lytro Field Camera
This has been all around the net, so you probably heard of it already. Lytro are developing a so-called “field camera” that takes pictures via a plenoptic lens array. Follow the link to find out what that means — suffice to say it’s awesome
P.S.: This German bussiness seems to already be manufacturing this kind of camera.

The Pentax Q is real!
Remember the rumors about a small-sensor interchangeable-lens Pentax? Well, they were true! Here it is, the Pentax Q, featuring a 1/2.33″ sensor and interchangeable lenses! Sounds crazy? Have a look and judge for yourself!
P.S.: Here’s one more look at the Pentax Q from Quesabesde (in Spanish).

New Olympus Micro Four Thirds stuff reviewed by The Phoblographer
Our friends from The Phoblographer have gotten their hands on the latest Micro Four Thirds cameras and lenses from Olympus, and have reviewed them extensively. Spoiler alert: The new E-P3 focuses blazing fast, and the 12mm f/2 lens is gorgeous!
P.S.: They also compare the new E-P3, E-PL3 and E-PM1 side-by-side.
P.P.S: Another E-P3, E-PL3 and E-PM1 notice and short preview can be found at The Amateur Photographer.
P.P.P.S: Clubsnap has a thread on the new 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens — don’t miss it!

Some Leica Making-Of’s
First up is a Stars and Stripes article from 1979, reporting on the development and manufacturing processes over at the old Leitz facilities in Wetzlar.
The second Making-Of is a video from Leica themselves, documenting their own lens manufacturing process.

“Modern Wonder Cameras See Like Cats In The Dark”
A Popular Science article from 1932, reporting on the latest small-film “cat’s eye” cameras, such as the Leica. A very interesting peek into the world of photography as it was eighty years ago.