After years of seeing their competitors make strides in the world of digital photography, Nikon have finally announced the impending upgrade to their flagship D3. The new flagship Nikon D4 is set for release at some point this month, with an estimated retail price of around £4,800. With such a high price tag, what exactly would you be getting in return?

A newly developed Nikon FX-format CMOS sensor (36.0 x 23.9 mm) with 16.2 effective megapixels. Yes, it’s the same amount of megapixels in the D7000, but these are exploited by the D4’s ISO sensitivity up to 204, 800 and 51-point auto-focus system. Being able to shoot up to 11 fps consecutive shooting in FX-format will give photographers better sequential shots of fast moving objects.

The most notable difference between the D3 range and new D4 is the ability to film. The D4 records full HD (1080p) movies in 30p, 25p and 24p, with 60p, 50p, 30p and 25p options at 720p. Movie clips can be close to 30 minutes long (approx. 29.59 min), something Canon seems to have the immediate upper-hand on. Audio for video recording is covered by high-fidelity audio control. Aside from the external stereo microphone input, an audio out for external headphones lets you fine tune audio in isolation.

Something completely new and unique to Nikon’s camera range? The WT-5A Wireless Transmitter, used for transmitting your photographs to a computer or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) site if you have a Wi-Fi connection. Also, it gives you control of the camera with an iPhone or iPad. Other minor, yet notable improvements include the fact the D4 only has one CF card slot. The second card slot is replaced with a slot for new XQD cards, plus buttons on the camera are now backlit.

For a full spec and more information about this welcomed edition to Nikon’s ever-growing family, click here. In the meantime, check out the videos below, one being a promo and the other showing the D4’s video capabilities.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

When the Canon 5DII was announced four years ago, way back in 2008, it was touted by many as the camera that would “redefine the future of photography”. But few could have predicted the wave of film and music video makers that were inspired by the accessibility and flexibility of a Canon camera geared towards film.

Although Nikon were the first to introduce a DSLR with a HD Movie mode, Canon sparked a mini-revolution with the 5D II and followed it up with the popular EOS 7D. At the end of last year, Canon announced “something big”, something that would once again promise to change the game, that something is the C300. This little beast promises to bridge the gap between the worlds of DSLR film-making and traditional digital cinematography.

Have a look at this hands-on review by the geniuses B&H Photo, in New York:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Go here for detailed specs and more: http://bhpho.to/yXR65K

Nike’s 1948 East London spot held a private view that exhibits the work from their Make It Count campaign. On show are black and white portraits of Nike’s handpicked British athletes, as taken by top photographer Adam Hinton. Each portrait’s accompanied by various images of the sports stars making their pledge to ‘make it count’.

Attendees were able to get their portrait taken in black and white, and make their own personal pledge. Don’t feel left out in the fun, as Nike flagship stores in Oxford Circus and Westfield Stratford are also running this practice, so you can get involved too.

Adam Hinton was at hand to deliver a thoroughly interesting insight into the work he had accomplished with the athletes, having snapped them during their vigorous training regime to capture each individual’s rawness.

We caught up with Adam for a brief chat:

How did Nike approach you for this campaign?

I got approached by Guy of Wieden + Kennedy, who said, “Look, pop in. We’ve got some ideas for a campaign we want to work on and we’d like you to come in and have a chat about it.” So I did and it kind of took of from there.

Who was your favourite subject to shoot and why?

Everyone was great, but my most memorable would probably be Mo [Farah], in terms of having had to travel out to Portland and some of the meetings that took place there as well. When meeting up with him it was cloudy — we wanted it to be sunny, we got to get the right atmosphere and get him to get into that space.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It took a lot of work, but he got there which is good. You look at the shots and they’re not Mo as a person because Mo as a person is very relaxed and chilled out. But him as a professional looked great. He did 10 laps of a 400 metre track which is a 400k — a proper run. For him, that’s a stroll. It was difficult to get him to sweat, but he got into that and gave us that intensity which is good.

What do you feel you’ve gained from this experience?

It’s just been amazing to work on a campaign like this. I’ve got a sense of confidence from this which has been rewarding. Guy’s been good in letting me able to work and do the things he’s required without any interference. It’s been quite pure in terms of focussing on the people and the athletes, without having to introduce a pair of shoes or a Nike top. The fact that so much of the focus is on the athletes has been great and that’s what I like to get out.

You don’t normally photograph sports. Would you do something like this again?

I’m not a sports photographer per say, but what I’ve done is brought sports to ordinary people through. What I like about sports is the unifying nature of it – the way that it’s quite a simple thing to do that people enjoy, gets people together and gives people who haven’t got very much a sense of achievement. And

It’s simple to go out and run, it’s simple to go and play football. You do these things yourself [for next to nothing]. You go to Africa — they’re great. They make balls out of plastic bags. They just get a plastic bag, tie it in a knot and get another one and eventually it becomes a ball. They tie more plastic bags around it and that’s what they play football with. Such a simple thing to do. If you get a can, people start kicking it. You want to go running? People go running and you can just run — it’s there. Sports is a simple thing that everyone can do.

The exhibition is open to the public until February 22nd at 1948, so be sure to see it in person, be inspired and make it count.

We’re well under way into 2012. New year, new year’s resolutions. You may have taken up exercise or gone to further yourself in more physical activities. This year also sees the launch of a massive year for London and athletes across the UK. Getting involved in the #makeitcount campaign are like footballers Jack Wilshere and Rio Ferdinand, cyclist Mark Cavendish, runner Paul Radcliffe.
Whatever your goal this year, Nike challenge you to bring your best then better it. Demand the impossible.
In the words of runner Mo Farah, “Don’t dream of winning. Train for it.”

Check the video below and what the sportsmen set to achieve this year.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The tsunami of photoshopped “beauty” is being targeted by this fantastic spoof video by filmmaker Jesse Rosten. This great work by Jesse should tickle every photographer and retouch wizard I know, as it advertises beauty product, Fotoshop by Adobé. The video is accompanied by the statement, “This commercial isn’t real, neither are society’s standards of beauty.” Need we say more? Check it out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Having recently covered news about Canon’s next PowerShot release, the G1 X, it being capable of distinguishing the difference between kids and adults, we finally get a look at the camera itself.

This is to be a revolutionary new compact camera, as it’s loaded with a large CMOS sensor designed to produce DSLR levels of image quality and control in a highly portable metal body. Notably in specification, the G1 X features the same pixel size and structure as its relative the EOS 600D and as it’s to replace its acclaimed predecessor, the PowerShot G12, it also features a surface area approximately 6.3 times larger than the sensor of its elder. On-chip noise reduction ensures images are clear, even at high ISO speeds, while a 4-channel read-out provides high speed image capture —ensuring fast, responsive performance in all conditions. Key features of the Powershot G1 X are below, with more images of the camera too. Expect this to drop in February time, costing approximately £520.

System: Large 14.3 MP CMOS, DIGIC 5, HS System
Zoom: Compact 4x zoom; Intelligent IS
LCD: 7.5 cm (3.0″) vari-angle LCD; OVF
Control: Full Manual, RAW, DPP
HD: Full HD, HDMI

Tucked away on a little side street in East London’s Hoxton locale is a compact two-floor boutique that has remained relevant and consistent in challenging times for physical store fronts, with winning curation, a very impressive brand roster (home to brands such as PAM, Junya Watanabe Man, Wood Wood and Pendleton) and keeping true to their ethos with admirable enthusiasm and success.

Designers, Jo Sindle and Kyle Stewart are the creative duo behind the Goodhood name (established 2007) and in my opinion, have made nothing but substantial moves to guarantee themselves a prolonged future as one of London’s finest.

We had the opportunity to sit with Kyle (our congratulations to you both, as Kyle’s partner, Jo is currently away on maternity leave) to discuss style, influences and the future of the ‘hood.

Who are ya + what do you do?

My name is Kyle Stewart. I’m co-owner of Goodhood store and I run this place.

Tell us a bit about the Goodhood store and brand.

The store was set up in 2007 by me and my partner Jo Sindle. It started out as a bit of an idealistic project to curate brands and products that we’d seen on our travels. It was important for us to try and get a range of goods that, at the time, shared our ideas of independence and what that stood for, along with quality and creativity. The store has been going for 4 years now and has got bigger, with an additional floor for men’s in the basement and a gallery just over the street.

Myself and my partner Jo, we come from a design background and so it was important for us to create an identity around what we were trying to do. I come from a graphics background and Jo comes from clothing design background, that’s why we’ve been able to do collaborations with the people at R.Newbold, ’cause it’s something we’ve been doing for years. The graphics thing is a thing we’ve that we’ve rolled with – there’s myself and other designers involved with in the business, so it’s easy to roll out an indentity and be quite strong on that side of things. Although we are a multi-brand store, people very much see the store as a brand in itself.

You recently released the latest collaboration effort between yourself and R. Newbold, which was consistently strong. How did that team up come about?

Basically, friends of friends worked at Paul Smith and I met them in the pub one night. I knew they had done a collaboration with Oi Polloi, so I just said to them cheekily, “We should do a collaboration”, not thinking anything of it, but funnily enough R. Newbold had based a lot of their collections on London style and so the idea was perfect for them.

When we started the project we wanted to make sure that it had a bit of a life, we didn’t want it to be a hit-and-run thing, collaboration for the sake of it, so we applied a long term approach to it. We’ve just released the 8th season and are in talks about a 9th.

What inspires you for each collection?

Listening to what people want, people we meet, talking to customers, taking in what we see here and on our travels. This current season we wanted get away from all the heritage stuff to do something that was more “streetwear”, that’s why we did the Way Back tee, sort of having a laugh with ourselves. We’re obviously very interested in heritage and it does influence our designs, but really the collection is what we’re feeling at that particular moment in time.

On your website you host your Store Styles to exhibit outfits of visitors to the store. What’s your take on blogging’s effect upon men and women’s style?

I think blogging is massively important right now — it’s bigger than magazines, which I feel have become stagnant. They started out being quite cool and about something real and cool or whatever. Now it’s about selling ad space to perfume and sunglass brands. I’d like to see blogs become more significant. Guys, particularly, want to obsess over products and girls are into what people are wearing and doing. East London, hate it or love it, is a global focal point and it is nice to know that someone in Australia can know what’s going on over here instantly via the blogs, news sites and online niche communities at the click of a mouse, and vice versa.

Following on from that, do you have any favourite print publications at the moment?

Monocle is the only magazine I really bother reading. It’s intelligible and an actual interesting read. Stylistically it’s not my cup of tea, but I like their content. Some of the mags we have in the store at the moment like Travel Almanac, Apartmento, Gentry Magazine and Champfest are all really good too. I even like getting in all the brand books, they’re usually quite interesting.

All these new publications are quite open and one thing we learnt when first starting out is that the established media is closed off, it’s quite often about their mate’s mate. It’s quite boring. It’s nice to see people have an open attitude to content and deciding for themselves.

What are your favourite brands at the moment?

Difficult to say. From what we stock there’s Norse [Projects] — they have great product and a great attitude, it’s easy to wear their stuff. Phenom, Yuketen, [Junya] Watanabe are all doing great things at the moment. I personally really like Unrivaled, I’ll buy something every season.

Favourite spots in London?

We’re very local, we pretty much never leave Shoreditch as everything is very convenient here. From the all pubs to places like Laxeiro, Brawn and my local grocers S. Jones on Columbia Road — a little old school grocery joint that hasn’t changed since the 30’s or something, where I pick up lovely bread.

What do you love and hate about London?

I like the people of East London, the diversity, the style and I love the architecture around here, it has a really unique look and feel.

I hate all the crackheads who rob bikes and threaten people with syringes.

Do you collect or hoard anything?

Yes, clothes. I have a massive archive. We come from a denim background, so I have a lot of special stuff that I can’t get rid of and will hopefully become relevant again. A lot of classic streetwear stuff. I used to collect trainers, but I’ve sold them all. I’m trying to get into a more transient lifestyle, where I wear something out and then get rid of it, replace it and not sit on it because my son might wear it in 25 years. He might love my sh*t, but he probably won’t.

Briefly describe your own style.

I’ve just been to the gym this morning and I forgot my jeans, this isn’t my usual look. My style is influenced by Japanese takes on our style, metal and rock, street. I used to dress like a bum, my thing was bum chic, but I stopped that. Grunge is massive influence for me, I grew up in the 90’s and I was into skateboarding. I skated for years and that’s affected the way that I dress and as I got older there were brands like Silas.

You’ve mentioned metal and skateboarding; people tend to forget that it’s had a quite an influential affect on streetwear e.g. brands like FUCT. Kids these days seem to think it comes from a more hip-hop aesthetic…

I think when streetwear became associated with hip-hop, New Era and matching Nike sneakers, it became a really cliched look and a bit of a joke. For me, when we talk about streetwear, it’s nothing to do with that — it’s about i-D magazine 15 years ago; Japanese takes on mixing stuff up with running shoes, fur coats, business shirts and tweed — mixing up styles. I think the hardest thing for us is to challenge people’s perception of what streetwear is. People hear the word ’streetwear’ and they instantly think that it’s like dressing like a baby wearing a blue t-shirt, blue sneakers and a New Era cap, and that’s not what it is.

What’s next for the Goodhood brand?

We’re starting our own label off the back of the store and we’re talking about opening another space, which should be happening in 2012. We’ve got a 4 month old kid who we need to see to/get to a certain age before we can get our heads down on all of that.

The Goodhood Store
41 Coronet Street
London
N1 6HD

The Goodhood Store
@goodhoodstore
GoodHood on FB

Words: Mister Ollie
Interview: Mister Ollie and Denis Yong
Photography: Mister Ollie

In what promises to be a stunning year for camera technology, Canon have announced a new flagship compact with some pretty awesome specs, including the ability to identify the faces of children and adults separately.

The G1X will replace the former compact titan, the Powershot G12. We’re yet to see any official pictures or sample photos but several details have leaked about the purported 14.3 megapixel compact, including a 1.5-inch CMOS sensor and a 4X optical zoom lens. An impressive aperture range of f/2.5-16 and a new DIGIC 5 image processor means the G1X will handle low-light well and give shooters the option of utilising a shallow depth of field.

As with all of its predecessors, the G1X has the option to shoot 14-bit RAW to give you extra detail to work with in post production. The intriguing “child-weighted face detection system” will supposedly prioritise kids faces when shooting in auto-modes, but we’re looking forward to hearing the technical details when Canon decide to share.

For the speed demons, the G1X will be capable of high-speed burst HQ shooting of up to 6fps/4.5 fps at full resolution. Night owls can expect a handheld night scene mode and an HDR mode for the creative landscape shooters. Movie making fanatics haven’t been forgotten and will be pleased to hear that it will shoot up to FullHD 1080 video and includes a 720p Movie Digest mode to automatically compile a video log of all still shots.

We’re expecting the Canon Powershot G1X to be released sometime in February and retail anywhere between £500-800. Let’s hope it’s closer to the £500 mark.

Image: Shutterstock/Zurijeta

American photographer Eve Arnold, whose love of photography stretches back over seventy year’s passed away in London this week, leaving behind a legacy of iconic imagery and pioneering spirit. The Guardian’s Art and Design have a put out a fetching tribute to the legendary photojournalist:

“The longevity of Eve Arnold’s career as a photographer matched the heterogeneity of her work. Despite the success of her portraits of the rich and famous, Arnold, who has died aged 99, was equally well known for photographing “the poor, the old and the underdog”. She said: “It’s the hardest thing in the world to take the mundane and try to show how special it is.

In fact she achieved the reverse, showing us the often pathetic and banal in the lives of the glitterati she always shot without the benefit of artificial lights, as well as how ordinary daily lives, from Afghanistan to Zululand, were never mundane. As the war photographer and Magnum co-founder Robert Capa put it: “[Arnold's work] falls metaphorically between Marlene Dietrich’s legs and the bitter lives of migratory potato pickers.”

Arnold was the first woman to join the Magnum photographic agency, and much of her work fell within its tradition of in-depth editorial photography. She held characteristically trenchant views on the minority — and at times marginalised — status of female photojournalists, while being acutely aware of the role played by female stars as well as by unrecorded women the world over. The whole of the Magnum agency went on location to shoot John Huston’s filming of The Misfits (1961), but it was Arnold’s intimate portraits of Marilyn Monroe, fragile and poised…”

Read the rest of this colourful and pioneering tale, celebrating the life of the late great image-maker Eve Arnold at The Guardian, written by Amanda Hopkinson.

Last year was pretty epic and eventful in terms of news. Riots kicked off nation-wide, protests happened on both sides of the pond, media mogul scandals were taken to court and notorious warlords taken down. These news highlights from the past twelve months have cleverly been given the awesome LEGO treatment, photographed and uploaded onto Flickr. The Guardian on Flickr have curated 2011’s most defining moments in LEGO, month-by-month.

Here we start with the Royal Wedding back in April 2011, as well-wishers and media gather to watch the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge aka Kate and Wills’ ‘first’ kiss on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. Check out the rest of the year below.

The Guardian on Flickr says: March 2011 – troubled star Charlie Sheen was fired from American sitcom Two and a Half Men after he rejected requests by its broadcast network to enter rehabilitation

The Guardian on Flickr says: May 2011 – US president Barack Obama and his national security team were picture in a now famous photo watching the mission to kill Osama bin Laden unfold in real time

The Guardian on Flickr says: June 2011 – Barack Obama, appears with Angela Merkel, played down the prospect of a double-dip recession

The Guardian on Flickr says: July 2011 – Rupert Murdoch’s wife Wendi Deng blocked him from getting cream-pied during a hearing of a government select committee hearing on phone hacking

The Guardian on Flickr says: August 2011 – rioters clash with police in London, Birmingham and Manchester, as local businesses and buildings are looted and damaged

The Guardian on Flickr says: September 2011 – protesters camped out in Zuccotti Park as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, sparking copycat demonstrations across the globe

The Guardian on Flickr says: October 2011 – fighting continues in Libya between anti-Gaddafi forces and loyalists as the rebels mount a massive attack on Gaddafi’s forces in Sirte

The Guardian on Flickr says: October 2011 – hosts New Zealand beat France in the final of the Rugby World Cup

The Guardian on Flickr says: October 2011 – tributes were paid across the web to Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, who died aged 56

The Guardian on Flickr says: November 2011 – 11/11/11 remembered

The Guardian on Flickr says: November 2011 – the image of the pepper spraying cop at a protest in California sparked a series of online memes, as Xeni Jardin explains