Velvet Cartel

The legendary Nikonos was created by Cousteau and Wouters in the 60s. Built for submarine photography, it could stand a Kraken’s bite. Later, Nikon turned it into an SLR. But this US Navy SEAL’s camera wasn’t an ordinary Nikonos.

This Nikonos was a total mystery. A secret that not many people knew about until recently. In fact, its existence was repeatedly denied by the manufacturer, even after the US Navy published this photo, showing a member of SEAL Team One equipped with one and the following caption:

980608-N-3236B-003 NAVAL AIR BASE CORONADO, California (June 8, 1998) —Navy SEALs attached to SEAL Team One, Naval Air Base Coronado, CA, conducts training using the Nikon/Kodak DCS 425 underwater digital camera which can send real time digital images to decision makers, and an LPI LPD tracking device uses brevity codes to send both mission status and precise longitude/latitude. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer Mate 2nd Class Ted Banks. (RELEASED)

A digital Nikonos? Nobody had a digital Nikonos. Digital Nikonos just don’t exist. They didn’t exist in 1998 and they never ever existed. Nikon never manufactured them. In fact, Nikon cancelled the Nikonos in 2001, three years after this photo was taken.

So what the hell is this “digital camera which can send real time digital images to decision makers”? It is a Nikonos, but with different guts, modified by Eastman Kodak Company Commercial & Goverment Systems. The model name was the DCS 425 M, a black and white DSLR made for the military. According to Jarle Aasland—who investigated the origin of the puzzling beast—Kodak officially denies their existence:

I’m sorry but those cameras never existed here at Eastman Kodak. We never made cameras for that specific use. The information you have is incorrect.

Jarle’s information wasn’t incorrect, however. It was later confirmed by Jim McGarvey, Kodak’s lead engineer on the DCS cameras who said that the division would take commercial camera designs to adapt them for special needs in limited runs.

It’s too bad that Nikon cancelled the Nikonos. Not only it is a beautiful camera that requires no casing for diving, but it’s a perfect camera to take into any environment with no protection needed whatsoever. [Nikonos via Nikon Rumors]

Finally got my hands on this puppy!

Here is a short random video just showing off the wideness of this lens.  It’s magnificent.

Hopefully you’ll be seeing many short films to come with this lens….

An extraordinary painting by Robert Hannaford.

This along with many others, is a finalist for the Archibald Prize.

The Archibald Prize is one of Australia’s oldest and most prestigious art awards. JF Archibald’s primary aims were to foster portraiture, support artists and perpetuate the memory of great Australians. Since its inception in 1921 the prize has been awarded to some of Australia’s most important artists, including George Lambert, William Dobell and Brett Whiteley.

Irving Harper has been a long time hero of ours. We were first introduced to this design legend in 2001 from an interview in Metropolis Magazine. It was our first realization that George Nelson was credited for many of the iconic designs that Harper had created. Designs that are still being manufactured today by Herman Miller, Vitra, and Maharam from the Marshmallow sofa to the popular desk and wall clocks. Slowly but surely Harper is being recognized, either for his design contributions or his paper sculptures, a hobby he took on after hours. Michael Maharam is helping to document these sculptures in a monograph to be published by the end of the year. New York Times visited Harper recently at his home in Rye, New York, capturing a portrait of the him in his studio. Interestingly enough, the photo was shot from the same angle as the 2001 photo of his studio in Metropolis Magazine – every bit of the space appears to be the same.

Source: The Scout