The prices are a snapshot in time, the snapshot was taken on May-22-2013 in the afternoon. The prices will not be updated in the chart below. It is a snapshot. The prices are the lowest price between Amazon and Adorama and B&H Photo. More details on the data after the chart...

As you can see in the Chart below, we have an ugly anti-free-market price stagnation. The prices don't feel natural or organic, because they are dictated directly by the manufacturers and not by the free market. The only exceptions with market prices are older models, typically two generations or older than the current model. From a "DSLR Evangelist" perspective (if you are a DSLR fan who thinks everyone seriously interested in photography should get a DSLR), this price-control discourages more new people or upgraders to buy more DSLRs. Rant ends - for now :)

Where Did The Prices Come From
The prices are a snapshot in time, the snapshot was taken on May-22-2013 in the afternoon. This particular chart is frozen in time, the prices will NOT be updated.

The prices are the lowest price for each camera between Amazon and Adorama and B&H Photo. The more retailers we check, the longer this exercise would take, so we limited it to three of the most recognizable benchmark retailers. A lot of other well-known retailers sell at Amazon, so in a way, Amazon is a price-search-engine of its own.

The prices are for new condition models, USA warranty models, not imports/gray-market/etc. At Amazon, we only took into consideration the lowest price between Amazon herself and reputable + authorized 3rd-party sellers. Some of the 3rd-party sellers at Amazon are not authorized and some are not reputable - we ignored those! If we were not certain whether a retailer was authorized/reputable and we couldn't easily figure it out, we ignored their prices.

For cameras with multiple body colors, we picked the lowest price among the various body colors.

Free accessories and other promotions are not factored in the chart above - if they were, we would never finish this for a number of reasons (eg figuring out real world value for the free accessories or other bonuses).

If a camera was not available for purchase at any of the three retailers per the requirements above, it is not included in the chart.

We only include manufacturer kits, not kits created by individual retailers on their own or by extracting the body onlies.

In general, we include the body only for the more advanced cameras, and the "with 18-55 kits" for the entry-level cameras. However, in a few cases, the kit prices were very close or better in price, so we included the kits with lenses (eg Sony A57 body was $400 vs $420 with kit lens, Nikon D90). In a few other cases, only one manufacturer-kit was available, so we included the one that was available.

We were tempted to include both "body only" and "with 18-55" kits for most DSLRs, however, as you can see from above, the Chart is already long. Adding another dozen or more kits would have made it less readable and manageable.

The SD1 with the Ridiculous Price was not included for two reasons: 1) the SD1 Merrill is essentially the same camera 2) it would destroy the chart, it would turn it into an "L" :)

Typos/Errors/Confusions Always A Possibility
As always, typos/errors/confusions are always a possibility. If you notice any, please let us know in the comments or using the online contact form.

Expiring most likely at 1am eastern on Thursday May 23 in 2013 is another Woot-OFF. Camera gear are typically offered, but prices and product names are not known before hand, so YMMV...

Expiring on May 24 in 2013 at 9am central time is a Woot Plus Camera Sale that includes new-condition Samsung NX1000 with 20-50mm for $300 and new-condition Pentax K-01 two lens kit (18-55, 50-200) for $400. Shipping is a flat $5 for everything you buy from Woot during a central time zone calendar day.

Expiring May 28 in 2013 is a 20% off coupon discount for REI members that includes the $400 GoPro Hero3 Black edition. If you are not an REI member, a lifetime membership has a $20 one-time fee, so you can still save if you want to get the GoPro Hero3 at a discount. This is an intermediate level deal, see more details. Thanks to one of our readers for the email alert!

Expiring on May 31 in 2013 is a Calumet 25% off sale on most of their house brand products including their lighting products, tripods, monopods, bags and cases, ProSpecs and more. Look for the red sale sign at the Calumet Front Page.

This is an availability alert: if you are interested in the Olympus E-M5 but do not want to get any of the zoom lenses included in the standard kits, a new option has arrived at B&H Photo, a Limited Edition Olympus E-M5 with the 17mm f1.8 non-pancake prime lens going for $1400 with free shipping.

For more specials and alerts, stay tuned to the Camera Deals blog with the easy to remember url noisydeals.com

The Ricoh GR quickly sold out, it is no longer in-stock but if you are chasing it, stay tuned to the Stock Status site.

Details at Tech Crunch (via Techmeme).

As of 3:47pm ET, there are two Ricoh GR cameras in-stock for $800 by Cameta Camera on Amazon. For the big picture, check the

In another hopeful sign for upcoming availability for the Ricoh GR, Pentax-Ricoh's Ned Bunnell posted unboxing pictures on his personal blog.

If you are looking for a basic portable table-top studio set-up or just want to scavenge and re-purpose its body parts for other purposes, the Merax One Shot portable studio is available for $26 with free shipping from a USA warehouse as one of the Meritline latest specials when you enter coupon code MLCB22SN in the shopping cart. You must be logged on to a Meritline account in order to enter coupons. This is both a limited time offer (I don't know the exact expiration date) and a limited redemptions offer (200 coupon uses). It has 113 customer reviews with an average of 4.32 out of 5.

The kit includes (per the product description):
+ 2 high-output (2700K lamps) table top lights
+ nylon diffuser screen
+ reversible, non-reflective background cloth
+ rugged steel-footed stand fits all digital cameras
+ non-slip design keeps camera in a fixed position
+ compact foldable design that turns into a carrying bag
+ ArcSoft PhotoStudio software
+ details and more product pictures further down the Meritline product page

There is a catch, as it is almost always the case, the 1TB is ad-supported. But who else is offering 1TB of free space? Still, the ads may be a deal killer for some.

Coming along with the free 1TB and redesign is a new remodel of the Flickr Android app at the Google Android Market Play. Sign-in is required before you can use the app.

Details at the Flickr blog. Discussion of the new development by Flickr power-user Thomas Hawk.

As Thomas Hawk points out, "Flickr Pro" will not be available for new customers, but existing Flickr Pro members have the option to continue the Pro service in grandfathered status. Hawk also points out that if you want a second terabyte, you can get it for $500 per year. 1TB is roughly 33 full 32GB memory cards.

Those of you frustrated with the pre-Mayer Flickr may resonate with this quote from a Yahoo senior VP, reported at PC Magazine: "According to Adam Cahan, senior vice president of mobile and emerging products at Yahoo, Flickr had become about words, little images, and blue links. "Flickr really was not about the photo anymore," he said."

Tech Crunch was at the event and summarized the happenings. Tech Crunch also points out that Yahoo is moving into the previous New York Times building. A move that perhaps is equal parts symbolic and equal parts practical?

Ms Meyer appears to be a lot smarter and internet savvy than her predecessor. The "free 1TB" is the type of thing that can go viral across different segments of the internet, and already it has made Flickr a trending topic on Twitter, the arbiter of things important and ephemeral.

More coverage via Techmeme.

Discussion in the The Verge comments and more.

We are using Flickr for the Readers Flickr Pool.

The Panasonic GH2 further cemented its place in history. Not just camera history, but also movie history. Used in the film "Upstream Color" by Shane Carruth [of Primer fame], it piggy-backs the film as it breaks new ground by making the film available for purchase or rental very quickly after its theatrical debut.

Today, The Verge, perhaps the most serious of the new generation of "gadget blogs that grew up from the unboxing frat boy era", has a detailed feature on the impact of Upstream Color in the world of digital video and the movie industry in general.

Last week, this film was featured, from a digital cinema convergence and Panasonic GH2 perspective at EOS HD.

And by being available very quickly after the movie theater debut, they are going all the way in. You can buy it at iTunes or get a digital rental at Amazon Instant Video or receive the BluRays and DVDs right away. And if you hate all these DRM schemes with a passion, it's also available for digital purchase DRM-free. Another important consumer-friendly consideration, since existing DRM schemes proved that they cannot stop unauthorized viewing/downloads and but they can stop legitimate buyers from consuming content in their preferred methods.

And this brings up another point, are we getting closer and closer to the point where new cameras cannot have the type of "impact" new-cameras previously had? In a very saturated market, with waves and waves of new overlapping models, the window is starting to close on "breakout" success stories - unless the camera manufacturers are willing to disrupt themselves. They are not exactly the high-risk types. Already, one of the holy grails/grains in the market is getting satisfied with a handful of new Big Sensor Primes, including one with a 35mm full frame sensor. We may have another excitement burst if/when Pentax releases its 35mm full frame DSLR, and there's a few more holes to fill (monochrome DSLR/mirrorless? full frame mirrorless? square sensor fantasies?), but the window is closing.

Among existing general-purpose products, Apple is leading the buzz wars with their 13.3-inch Retina 2560 x 1600 Macbook Pros, so apparently in the new never-ending-war between Apple and Samsung, Samsung felt the need to jump over Apple instead of cut-and-paste it this time :)

Details at Engadget and Sammyhub and /Gear and The Verge et al.

With that as a preface, the Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC lens has received a six page review at dpreview. If you are in a hurry, or running out of battery or out of signal range, you can jump to the conclusions before jumping to conclusions. Did it receive an Olympic medal or was it referred to the Alchemists? We won't leak the light here!

The review was just posted but discussion will pick up after a bit in the dpreview comments.

For more opinions on this lens, check its previous (and future) reviews in the Tamron Lens Reviews list.

As of the time of writing, the 24-70 VC goes for $1300 in the Canon and Nikon and Sony Alpha (new arrival!) SLR mounts at Amazon and Adorama and B&H Photo. Pentax K-mount photographers are sadly without this option :( CORRECTION: the Alpha version of this lens is now in-stock and shipping at B&H Photo!

The GR (APS-C) is available for pre-order for $800 at Amazon et al - see more options at the Stock Status site.

As with everything Dxomark, please keep in mind, that unless you are mainly shooting resolution and test charts in a lab test environment, the Dxomark test results should not be your only/main source in deciding which gear to buy/avoid/sell/trade.

For more opinions on the gear mentioned, check the list of Nikon D600 reviews. You can find reviews of the various lenses mentioned at the Lens Reviews stream. You can find the Nikon-mount ones under the Nikon F-mount category, and the lenses made by other manufacturers under their respective categories such as Sigma and Samyang and Zeiss and Tamron et al.

Like the Opinion Soup round-ups? Want them to continue? It takes a lot of time to prepare them and they actually hurt the blog because every time Google sees a new episode with a hundred links, it barfs at this blog. If you would like to see more, you can help fund them by making some of your purchases through our affiliate links at Amazon.com and Adorama and B&H Photo and more at the NoisyMall.

Camera Gear
+ dumping Nikon DSLRs for Sony NEX by Stuck In Customs (via VSL)
+ what will smartphone cameras of the future look like? at dpreview connect (two pages)
+ eight things that can help save compact digital cameras (at least for now) at Pop Photo
+ eight reasons why I am a big believer in 35mm photography at Peta Pixel
+ camera manufacturer fiscal year analysis at Sans Mirror
+ toasters, Olympus E-M5, buying advice and more at The Online Photographer
+ on the mirrorless market share chart presented by Olympus at Sans Mirror
+ opinion on Hogan's mirrorless value opinion at SLR Lounge
+ the "limitations of DOF" at Sound Image Plus
+ how good a lens? at The Online Photographer
+ on inkjet photo papers at Luminous Landscape
+ the story of a disappearing negative review about an online retailer at Photocritic

Imaging Software: Creative Cloud Edition and more
+ top six Linux imaging editors according to Tech Radar
+ why the new Google Server Farm could displace Adobe Lightroom by Stuck in Customs
+ is Lightroom a gateway drug to the Creative Cloud? SLR Lounge (note: "gateway drug" is another horrid gift of the "war on drugs")
+ the Creative Cloud conundrum by Thomas Fitzgerald Photography
+ on the Adobe creative cloud by at Ming Thein (first half of post)
+ are we slaves to technology and software post-Creative-Cloud? at DPhotographer UK
+ Dear Apple, Let's Talk Photos at PetaPixel

Creativity, Inspiration, Essays, Etc
+ Digital Hangover at The Online Darkroom
+ why your pictures suck at ThePhoblographer (endorsed by Kirk Tuck)
+ 38 quotes on abstraction assembled by John Paul Caponigro
+ how one photographer rediscovered his passion after going legally blind via PetaPixel
+ three reasons to donate your time to non-profits at SLR Lounge
+ my experience photographing the Boston Marathon bombing at Petapixel
+ on hobbies and photographers at Ming Thein
+ how I found my niche at Blackstar Rising
+ fearlessly rejecting rejection at PentaXForums
+ help others grow through constructive critiques at SLR Lounge
+ first be a photographer at Lighting Essentials
+ the photographer as a philosopher part #1 at Ming Thein
+ the nice shot comment myth at DIY Photography
+ colorless squares at Robin Wong
+ Fukuoka without people at Ming Thein
+ 80 headshots in a single day at DIY Photography and Peta Pixel

Tips, Tutorials, Learnings
+ tips for wedding photographers from a weddings DJ at PetaPixel
+ going from exclusive RAW to mixing in some JPEGs at PetaPixel
+ 10 things a photographer should never do while shooting a wedding at Peta Pixel
+ introduction to restaurant food photography at F/Stoppers
+ the perverted photographer: things NOT to say at a photoshoot at SLR Lounge

Interviews
+ Thomas Campbell at Peta Pixel
+ Carlos Hernandez at ePhotozine
+ Liu Bolin (video) via F/Stoppers
+ Belt Galton at Imaging Resource
+ Bruce Davidson (video) via ThePhoblographer
+ RED co-founder via Cinescopophilia
+ Platton via Duck Rabbit Info
+ Jamie Rose (audio) at Rosh Sillars
+ Teresa Franco (iPhoneography) at Photojojo
+ Joe McNally at Burn Magazine (via APE)
+ Brooke Shaden at SLR Lounge
+ Jenni Hogan (audio) at Chase Jarvis

Professional
+ traps that aspiring photographers can get caught in Part #1 and Part #2 at ThePhoblographer
+ saying no to jobs and getting paid at DIY Photography
+ how to sell your food photography at F/Stoppers
+ being busy is not a badge of honor at Tofurious
+ skills needed to thrive as a wedding photographer at Cameradojo
+ to Photoshop or not? the hard part of being a good photographer at PetaPixel

Business and Legal
+ Photo Theft and What You Can Do About It? at Photodoto
+ is Facebook the new breeding ground for infringement? at F/Stoppers
+ on orphan works laws in UK at Ming Thein (second half of post)
+ myth busting UK Orphan Works Law PDF file via ePhotozine
+ PMA explains why it is endorsing the national internet tax ("fair tax" is the euphemism) at PMA News Line
+ on children photo books at British Journal Of Photography
+ impact on new Google Images page on photographers website traffic via ThePhoblographer
+ anti-piracy website caught using photographs without permission via Peta Pixel

Digital Video
+ why you must have 4K RAW and why you absolutely don't need it by Philip Bloom
+ why I don't care about Canon 5D RAW video at Wide Open Camera
+ Philip Bloom at Need Creative podcast (audio)

On The Categories Above
A number of the opinions/posts could easily fit in multiple categories. Since this is not a library cataloging process, we pick one category. It may not always be the perfect category, but we can't create 100 different categories for 100 different posts :)

If you want to quickly get to the reviews streams, we have two easy to type and easy to remember urls, noisyreviews.com (for cameras) and noisylenses.com (for lenses).

Other things equal, a new Opinion Soup will be posted late tonight or early tomorrow. In the meantime, you can check the 69 previous editions. If you wrote or read any interesting camera and photography related opinions, let us know using the online contact form. We are trying to include a variety of wide-ranging opinions of photographers of different styles, philosophies and experience levels - not just the famous-online photographers. But it's harder to find non-famous-photographer opinions, so let us know!

ORIGINAL POST
Yahoo and new leader Marissa Meyer will be revealing new updates to the Flickr photo sharing services on May 20 at a big Yahoo event in New York City. Yahoo is making a lot of moves in the Mayer era, they are also rumored to be buying Tumblr for $1+ billion among other things. Via Bloomberg and Techmeme.

In related news, Adobe's free Photoshop Express app is now available in the Windows 8 store for 8 and RT devices, joining their iOS and Android apps. Via Engadget and official Windows blog.

In one of their daily specials, NewEgg is offering Adobe Lightroom 4 (full version) [updated with new link] as a software box to be delivered by mail for $70 with free shipping. This comes as a "combo deal", you buy it together with Malwarebytes Anti-malware software. No coupon is needed, just add to cart and both software titles will be added to your shopping cart with a total price of $70. This is a limited time offer that will end by 3am ET on Sunday at the latest.

The Lightroom 4 software box is good for either Mac or Windows, but the Malware software is for Windows. If you are a Mac user, you can either sell/trade/gift the Malware software, or better yet, use it as an ironic gift to a Windows user, "you need this a lot more than I do" ;-) If you buy Lightroom 4 on its own, you pay regular prices. This may perhaps be a co-promotion (perhaps partially funded by Malwarebytes?) that gets the Malwarebytes software in front of more computer users. Pure speculation.

Today's deal theme is storage (external hard drives and SSDs), so if interested, check the Camera Deals blog for the latest specials or check its Storage category more specifically.

The review is discussed in the dpreview comments and dpreview Nikon DX forum.

For more opinions on the camera, check the list of completed Nikon D5200 reviews (16 as of the time of writing).

Per the WSJ article estimate above, Olympus is estimating it will sell about half the number of digital cameras this fiscal year (compared to the previous fiscal year). On the plus side, this may turn them into a Leica-for-the-rest-of-us of sorts :)

This is a long post with 16 different podcasts included...

+ This Week In Photography talking Adobe Cloud and more - iTunes - Twitter - RSS feed

+ Shuttertime with Sid and Mac talking Adobe Cloud and more - iTunes - Stitcher - Twitter - RSS feed

+ Digital Photo Experience with Rick Sammon and Juan Pons talking about light and LR5, interviewing Adobe - iTunes - Twitter - RSS feed

+ Photo Kibitz - what makes a photograph art with National Gallery of Canada photography curator Ann Thomas - iTunes - Twitter

+ Improve Photography featuring the Ultimate Photography FAQ - Previous episode was "Tools or Toys? M43rds vs DSLRs" - iTunes - Twitter - RSS feed

+ On Taking Pictures talking Steven Soderbergh and more - iTunes - 5by5 - RSS feed

+ The Digital Story talking Canon Powershot N, Sigma 17-70mm and more - iTunes - Twitter - RSS feed

+ Scott Kelby Media's The Grid (video podcast) talking new technology and ideas - iTunes

+ Photofocus featuring Skip Cohen talking Fuji X100S, Canon SL1, Pentax WG-3 - iTunes - Libsyn - RSS feed

+ Photography Tips from the Top Floor talking macro ratios on crop sensors and interview with youngest fan - iTunes - more ways to listen

+ The Two Hosers Photo Show talking Gels and more - iTunes - Twitter - Podbean

+ Photography 101 talking Lomography and Fuji Instax and more - iTunes - Twitter - also available as $2 app at Amazon App Store and iTunes

+ Camera World with John Ricard talking MET Gala, Instagram models, and more - iTunes - Twitter - RSS feed

+ The Lonely Photographers talk Canada Photo Convention and more - iTunes - Twitter - RSS feed

+ Photo Walkthrough (video podcast) - Marillion Concert Panorama - Kayleigh? - iTunes - Twitter - RSS feed

+ ISO 5571 (Disney photography podcast, not a typo!) answering Twitter questions - iTunes - Twitter - RSS feed

The above is a sampling of some of the most recent photography podcasts. Inclusion in the list does not necessarily mean endorsement. Not-inclusion does not necessarily mean not-endorsement. We have not (and cannot) listen to every podcast episode before posting time-sensitive round-ups of this kind, so YMMV depending on what you are interested in.

If you have any favorite podcasts you listen or participate in and you would like to see featured in future round-ups, please let us know using the online contact form. We can't find everything! Because Google Translate doesn't work with audio (yet?), we can only include in-english podcasts.