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Nature photography — in the Mountains, Canyons, and Space

February 26, 2013 by

 

My primary love of photography is carrying my Sony ILC out and about on a hike. We’re starting our news coverage this week with three stories of capturing nature on camera — and only one of them concerns my neighborhood park, Yosemite.
Also up this week:
A camera aboard the International Space Station can be operated by kids.
Google goes grand — the Grand Canyon in an immersive online image collection, that is.

Photos from space

Aboard the International Space Station, Commander Chris Hadfield has been taking fantastic photos of out planet — and broadcasting them via Twitter on a regular basis, several per day.

Now he’s also helping students take photos from the space station while on Earth. Sponsored by NASA, EarthKAM — “Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students” — is an educational outreach program which allows middle school students to take pictures of our home from a digital camera on board the space station.

The project was initiated in 1995 and called KidSat. The KidSat camera flew on three space shuttle flights, and in 1998 was deemed successful and renamed ISS EarthKAM. The ISS EarthKAM camera flew on two additional space shuttle flights before moving to the space station. What model is used now? A Nikon D2Xs.
More information on EarthKAM is here.
Commander Hadfield’s twitter feed of photos is at ‏@Cmdr_Hadfield

 

Google packs cameras into the Grand Canyon

“No matter where you are, you don’t have to travel far or wait for warmer weather to explore Grand Canyon National Park,” Google says.

The Google team captured the “breathtaking imagery collection” with its Trekker, an Android OS-running, 40-pound backpack system with a 15-lens camera.

Google is displaying new panoramic imagery “of one of the world’s most spectacular national monuments.” the company says. “These beautiful, interactive images cover more than 75 miles of trails and surrounding roads, making our map of this area even more comprehensive, accurate and easy to use than ever before.”

With the browser-based immersive imaging, you can “take a walk down the narrow trails and exposed paths of the Grand Canyon: hike down the famous Bright Angel Trail, gaze out at the mighty Colorado River, and explore scenic overlooks in full 360-degrees.”

More than 9,500 panoramas “of this masterpiece of nature” are now available on Google Maps.

More on the Google cams in the canyon is in this Wired article.

 

Thirty filmmakers in Yosemite

Trying to convey everything that happens on a typical summer day in Yosemite National Park, thirty filmmakers on June 26, 2012 scattered throughout the park, focusing on “the more popular roadside attractions “that the vast majority of Yosemite visitors experience,” says one of the organizers, Steven Bumgardner.

On his yosemitesteve website, he’s presented a 15-minute video: “From thousands of photographs and hours of footage, we created this window into one day in Yosemite.”

The shots include hang glider pilots, climbers atop Cathedral Peak, and a helicopter rescue on Half Dome.

Anyone who’s done a lot of video editing appreciates what a time-intensive task it is. “I spent probably two full months off and on this fall and winter editing the project,” Bumgardner says, and it was only when I gave up the idea of a traditional documentary and started thinking of it as more of an art-doc that things began to fall into place. I was amazed that I was able to whittle it all down to under 15 minutes, keeping it quick and snappy and hopefully leaving the viewer wanting more.”

2-4-2013

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Capture the world in 3D — Tablet camera captures geometry, not just stereoscopic images

February 26, 2013 by

 

Like a lot of other imaging hobbyists, I’ve enjoyed playing around with 3D models of objects, settings, and even figures — but making a scene by hand is skilled, time-consuming task.

No longer.

The Lynx A is a simple-to-use device that yields usable 3D models that work in most modeling, rendering, and animation applications. “ Instead of outputting 2D images, it produces 3D models of whatever you point it at,” says Lynx Laboratories. “It’s the world’s first point-and-shoot 3D camera.”

The basic idea is not new — for example, we’ve covered a free app from Autodesk that will make a model when you just move your iPad around a small object — but the implementation here is. The handheld camera, akin to a tablet PC, can be swept across a room… and then it generates 3D geometry, colors, and textures for everything it takes a picture of. It can also capture motion, generating wide-ranging movements that can be mapped onto animated figures.

The tablet measures 11.5x8x1 inches, and weighs six pounds. It has its own Intel Core i5 2.6GHz processor, 500GB drive, and a 14-inch LCD. It has a VGA-res imager and a 3D sensor for capturing depth information.

Austin, Texas-based Lynx is raising funding — on Kickstarter of course — by asking for $1,800 as an advanced payment for the basic model. That might seem like a lot, but it’s a fraction of the cost of most professional products on the market yielding similar results. “If you cobbled together all the hardware and software you would need to accomplish these tasks, you’d end up dishing out a couple hundred grand,” the company says. “That’s not accessible at all. The Lynx device sells for about the same price as a full-framed DSLR, making it a serious value for small outfits and innovators trying to break into these technologies.”

It’s also faster, they add: “Capturing models takes minutes, while today’s methods take hours or even days.”
More information, and a cool video, is here.

2-7-2013

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PixelTone audibly edits images

February 26, 2013 by

 

The next time you talk to your computer while fixing a photo, it might not be because you’re losing it…. Instead, you might be directing your image editing app to carry our a command.

A team of Adobe researchers are working with the University of Michigan to develop PixelTone, which they bill as “a multimodal interface for image editing” that combines speech and direct manipulation.

“We observe existing image editing practices and derive a set of principles that guide our design,” they write. “In particular, we use natural language for expressing desired changes to an image, and sketching to localize these changes to specific regions. To support the language commonly used in photo editing we develop a customized natural language interpreter that maps user phrases to specific image processing operations. Finally, we perform a user study that evaluates and demonstrates the effectiveness of our interface.”

A full video demonstration of the software is here.

2-14-2013

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Panasonic sensor design could boost sensitivity

February 26, 2013 by

 

All of us shooters are constantly clamoring for better low-light sensitivity — and Panasonic says its latest development may provide just that. The company developed a new type of imaging sensor that gathers more photons by foregoing conventional Bayer pattern filters that can block more than 50 percent of the light — and so “has doubled the sensitivity of color image sensors.”

The new technique analyzes and separates light wave frequencies faster than previous methods, Panasonic says. “This development makes color filters unnecessary by using the micro color splitters that control the diffraction of light at a microscopic level. Panasonic has achieved approximately double the color sensitivity in comparison with conventional sensors that use color filters.”

The micro color splitters can be fabricated using inorganic materials and existing semiconductor fabrication processes, the company adds.

Panasonic says it already has more than three dozen patents on the system.

Some details from the company:

A unique method of analysis and design based on wave optics that permits fast and precise computation of wave-optics phenomena.

Device optimization technologies for creating micro color splitters that control the phase of the light passing through a transparent and highly-refractive plate-like structure to separate colors at a microscopic scale using diffraction.

Layout technologies and unique algorithms that allow highly sensitive and precise color reproduction by combining the light that falls on detectors separated by the micro color splitters and processing the detected signals.

The development is described in the February issue of Nature Photonics.

 

What could the new sensor yield? As the Imaging Resource news site notes: “With the exception of Fujifilm cameras based around EXR and X-Trans image sensors and the Foveon-based camera lineup from Sigma, almost every digital camera on the market today shares one important feature in common: a Bayer color filter array, named after inventor and Kodak scientist Bryce Bayer. In fact, the overwhelming majority of color cameras made since the very advent of digital photography have been based around Bayer filters.”

 

2-6-2013

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CEA study: print can prosper, and multi-purpose cameras will drive imaging industry

February 26, 2013 by

 

Photographers across the U.S. still enjoy the permanence print photographs offer for memorializing personal occasions, providing an opportunity for consumer adoption (or re-adoption) of point-and-shoot or SLR cameras.

That’s according to a new study released today by the Consumer Electronics Association. However, the report suggests, these cameras must have “multi-purpose options such as in-camera editing, printing, and Wi-Fi connectivity to expedite photo sharing and archiving. Many consumers who use their smartphones or basic point-and-shoots as their main photo capture devices are less satisfied with printing options, signaling a need in the marketplace,” CEA says. “These findings suggest there are untapped opportunities in advanced printing features for these segments of digital photographers.”

The survey of online U.S. adult smartphone and point-and-shoot photographers found:
66 percent print at least one photo in a typical month.
40 percent estimate they spend more than 25 dollars each year to print photos.
60 percent are less satisfied with their current capabilities for printing photos.
39 percent were not satisfied with current editing capabilities.
63 percent express interest in built-in editing apps on cameras, indicating an opening for more interactive camera options.
50 percent use smartphones to capture images [28 percent did so in 2009].

“The future of the digital imaging marketplace lies in connectivity and cameras with multiple features such as in-camera editing and printing,” CEA concludes. “Camera manufacturers who create or market multi-purpose cameras that have a quality advantage over smartphones and include more compelling features over basic point-and-shoots will be well positioned to meet the needs of today’s consumer.”

The complete study, “Digital Imaging – Photo Sharing and Printing,” is available free to CEA member companies at members.CE.org.

2-11-2013

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Instagram expands from apps

February 26, 2013 by

 

Did you know you can shop in almost-empty stores on Superbowl Sunday? Costco was a cramped cacophony of crazed consumers Saturday evening, and all-but a ghost town Sunday around noon — so my girlfriend and I enjoyed some quality time there… Meanwhile, Instagram racked up another record day of uploaded images: As San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens fans shared their Super Bowl experiences, more than three million photos that mentioned Super Bowl-themed words in their captions were shared.

At its peak, more than 450 photos about the game were posted every second, the company says.

But this article isn’t about Superbowl shots or even my shopping experiences: instead we’re noting that, with its new Web-based feed of photos, Instagram continues its growth from a mobile-only app to a full cross-platform imaging service.

“We believe that you should be able to access Instagram on a variety of different devices, any of which may be convenient to you at a given moment,” says co-founder Kevin Systrom, “including your desktop computer or tablet.

Users can browse through photos from people they follow, the company says. “Like photos by double clicking on them or pressing the like button. Or, engage in a conversation around a photo with inline commenting… Shrink your browser down to a single column for your feed to look more like your mobile feed. Simply put, we’ve brought a simple, powerful, and beautiful Instagram browsing experience to the web.”

Systrom says Instagram has been “focused on building a simple app that has inspired creativity while capturing everyday moments through the lens of your mobile phone. In fact, our focus on building out a mobile-only experience is a unique path that we’ve chosen for many reasons, the most important of which is that Instagram, at its core, is about seeing and taking photos on-the-go. However, to make Instagram even more accessible to our growing community, at the end of last year we started to expand to the desktop web, giving you the ability to see profiles from instagram.com. To continue that path, as of today, you can now browse your Instagram feed on the web, just like you do on your mobile device.”

However, he adds, “We do not offer the ability to upload from the web as Instagram is about producing photos on the go, in the real world, in real-time.”

Instagram launched in October of 2010.

 

2-6-2013

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Ricoh 360-degree camera to work with smartphone

February 26, 2013 by

 

Can one snap captures everything around you? It can if the camera in question has two fisheye lenses facing in opposite directions.

Ricoh demonstrated a prototype omnidirectional camera that shoots 360-degree panoramas, using a pair of 180-degree lenses. It sends the combined images to a coupled smartphone for viewing.

Tech website DigInfo.tv has a full video showing the camera in action here.

2-6-2013

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Turn your iPhone into a high-tech light meter

February 26, 2013 by

 

While most of us complain smart phones are all-but replacing “real” photography, developer Adam Wilt is instead turning the ubiquitous mobile divide into a full-featured accessory for high-end image capture.

The $5 Cine Meter works on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, using the built-in camera to provide a shutter-priority reflected light meter, an RGB waveform monitor, and a false-color picture mode, he says. “Cine Meter not only gives you exposure information, it shows you at a glance how evenly your green screen is lit, and where high-contrast hotspots and shadows may give you trouble. With Cine Meter, you can walk around, light your set, and solve problems long before your real camera is set up, making pictures, and running down its batteries.” More information is here.

2-7-2013

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Casio speeds up cams

February 26, 2013 by

 

When it comes to offering high-speed capture in consumer cameras, Casio was one of the early entrants in the market. Now that faster photography and video is becoming a more widely available feature, the company has broadened the capability with high-speed burst shooting such as a new Triple Shot function that captures three successive images, “and capture intervals of a fraction of a second.”

Two new 16-megapixel compact cameras announced in Europe and Japan “enable people to capture fleeting moments with beautiful images,” the company says. The latest high-speed engine has a reconfigurable processor that delivers functional and performance flexibility plus high-speed processing, and a vector graphics core that “smoothly produces two-dimensional images” Casio says.

The Exilim EX-ZR700’s lens zooms 18x from 25-450mm lens, and it has a 3-inch LCD. It starts up in 1.4 seconds, focuses in 0.18 seconds, and has a shutter response of 0.016 seconds, and a capture interval as short as 0.26 seconds.

The Exilim EX-ZR400’s lens zooms from 24-300mm lens, and the company says its extra-long battery life enables it to capture about 515 photos on a single full charge. Pricing was not announced. More information is here.

2-8-2013

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Preview best Pics: World Photography Awards

February 26, 2013 by

 

Want to take a gander at some of the best photos of the year? Then point your browser over here for the World Photography Organization’s 2013 shortlists for the Professional, Open and Youth categories.

“In a year that saw over 122,000 entries from 170 countries – the highest number of submissions to date – the judges have selected a shortlist of photographs that stood out beyond all others for their impressive high quality, originality and modern appeal,” the organization says. “Topics ranged from haunting shots of the Syrian conflict to the Obama presidential campaign; an intimate study of cinema-goers in Kabul to quirky and witty shots of the animal kingdom.”

This years awards, sponsored by Sony, will be announced in March and April.

2-11-2013

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Resurgence of Flickr photo sharing site?

February 26, 2013 by

 

How many of you are still enjoying photos on the Flickr sharing site? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

While its best days are past, the service isn’t dead yet — and may on the road to recovery.

“When Marissa Mayer took over as Yahoo’s new CEO, she was instantly beset with widespread calls to save Flickr,” reports the Wired news site. “It had fallen so far from its glory days as the web’s premier photo service that many feared Yahoo might shut it down entirely. It would be a mercy killing, to be sure.”

Instead, Flickr launched a new mobile app, and traffic went up in December.

The full article on social imaging compares the site’s improvements to recent troubles at Facebook and Instagram.

2-11-2013

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Nikon’s stock “Tumbles Most Since 1985”

February 26, 2013 by

While the overall quarter wasn’t that bad for Nikon, the stock took a beating, falling more than it had since 1985, reports BusinessWeek.

After cutting its profit forecast because of slowing demand in Europe and falling prices, the stock dropped 19 percent to 2,139 yen at the close, the news service reports.

Nikon says its net income in the year ending March will be about probably be 38 billion yen ($407 million), compared with a previous forecast of 60 billion yen. The sales target for SLR cameras for the year was trimmed to 7 million units from 7.1, while that for compact cameras was unchanged at 17 million units.

The full article is here.

Also: consultant Thom Hogan has interesting analysis of the camera market here and here.

2-11-2013

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New projectors from Epson, Sony

February 26, 2013 by

 

Hey, maybe these things are getting to a low enough cost that more of us will want to try one out for home picture- and movie-viewing…

While not aimed at home use — Epson says its latest projectors are designed to provide small businesses with high-brightness at low costs — the VS220 is only $359, with SVGA resolution, while the VS320 is $429 for XGA. Both portable models have 2,700 lumens brightness, HDMI and USB connectivity, and automatic vertical keystone correction for easy image alignment and fast setup. Epson says all its projectors feature its latest technology to deliver “amazing, true-to-life color and detail.” The 3LCD system provides an energy-efficient and reliable light engine which uses available lamp light to create stunning images: in contrast to 1-chip DLP technology, 3LCD requires, on average, 25 percent less electricity per lumen of brightness. “High color brightness enables an even better image for larger screen sizes and on a larger variety of screen materials,’ the company adds.

Sony is also offering a 3LCD system — but this one is laser-based, and likely priced much higher [though not announced yet] for a different use-case. The installation-grade Laser Light Source Projector puts out 4,000 lumens of brightness, with a 1,920 x 1,200 WUXGA resolution.
Sony says its laser light source is “free from the worry of lamp change with its increased durability and low total cost of ownership.” The projector has up to 20,000 hours maintenance free time.

2-14-2013

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Canon tops patents, moves to “state-of-the-art” HQ

February 26, 2013 by

 

One Canon Park in Melville, New York is the new headquarters for Canon U.S.A. The “brand new, state-of-the-art headquarters” is a 700,000 square-foot facility and is located approximately 16 miles east of the previous headquarters in Lake Success, New York. Remaining on Long Island was always a top priority for the company to help retain the highly skilled and dedicated workforce, Canon says.

The company says it will consolidate nearly 1,400 employees into the central location: already nearly half of all Canon U.S.A. employees have relocated to the Melville headquarters; the rest will do so in March.

The headquarters serve all North and South American countries. Canon’s other HQs are in London and Japan.

Canon also announced parent company Canon Inc., ranked among the top five United States patent holders.

The company obtained 3,174 patents in 2012, up from 2011’s 2,813 patents. Canon says it ranked first among Japanese companies and third overall in the United States for patents granted. “The patents registered today will help lead to the innovations of tomorrow.”

2-19-2013

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Photographer’s Optimistic Outlook on 2013

February 26, 2013 by

 

Online service Photoshelter polled more than 5,000 photographers from its community in late 2012, to find their marketing and business goals for 2013.

Among the findings:
73 percent of photographers make more money than 2013.
93 percent of photographers will invest to improve their business in 2013; 63% of those will be buying new lenses.
74 percent CE biggest challenge for the year remains finding new clients.
39 percent expect to hire full-time assistant.

You can get the full report here.

And, check out this infographic summarizing key findings of the survey:

 

 

2-1-2013

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Continued growth in social photo sharing

February 26, 2013 by


Social network users upload photos to social networks using mobile phones or smartphones 22 percent of the time, up from 16% in 2011.

That’s one of the findings from a new study from InfoTrends, which shows that although usage rates of social networking sites increased considerably between 2010 and 2011, behaviors began to stabilize in 2012.

Individuals of all ages are increasingly relying on social networking sites to stay in touch with friends and family member, and photo and video sharing are an important parts of their activities there.

Consumers are accessing a greater number of social networking sites such as Pinterest and Instagram, which have enjoyed a significant increase in year-over-year popularity. However, the newfound popularity of these sites has not affected use of top sites, Facebook and Twitter.

InfoTrends recommends that operators of social networking and photo sharing sites offer more options for users to create photo prints/photo merchandise on these sites. “The number of available options is increasing, but most are from outside services that pull images from social networks instead of allowing the consumer to begin the process from the social network itself.”

InfoTrends’ 2012 U.S. Social Network and Photo/Video Sharing Survey evaluates how regular users of social networking sites differ from non-users, explores how consumers are leveraging social networks, and discusses the general photography activities that are being performed in these sites.

2-13-2013

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Android bestselling photo apps cost more than iPhone

February 26, 2013 by

 

All right, so I did pay a pretty penny for my latest iPhone… but the top-of-the-line Android models cost exactly the same on a carrier contract, so I can’t understand the crazy “conventional wisdom” that pegs iPhones as the most expensive smart phones.

And now our colleague Hans Hartman at Suite 48 Analytics has the numbers to show that the inverse is true when it comes to an issue near and dear to any imaging enthusiast’s heart: the cost of photography apps.

The Photo/Video Apps Market Analysis January Report finds the more popular photo and video apps on iPhone cost on average 38 percent less than their Android equivalents. A majority of the 50 top ranking photo and video apps on iPhone are priced at the minimum allowed in the iTunes store, $0.99, compared to only 34 percent of Android apps priced so low.

Does this indicate that iPhone photo app users are more price-sensitive than generally thought? “The finding is more revealing of competitive dynamics among suppliers than of differences in price sensitivity among users,” Hartman says. “The photo app market is more competitive and more mature on iPhone than on Android. There are roughly three times more photo or video apps in the iPhone store (approximately 20,000) than in Google Play (7,500). Also, whereas only 32 percent of Android apps have been on the market for over a year, the majority of the top ranking iPhone photo and video apps are that old.”

Hartman adds it’s no surprise iPhone apps compete on price, while some boost their revenues from customers who are willing to pay extra for additional features through in-app purchasing functionality. According to the study, 49 percent of iPhone apps older than one year have in-app purchasing functionality, versus only 29 percent of those released in the last six months.

Other noteworthy findings:

Top ranking iPhone photo and video apps have higher user ratings than their Android counterparts.

Only 10 percent of the top ranking photo and video apps are video apps (another 13 percent are apps that can be used both for photos and videos), indicating that still photography continues to dominate the market.

Only 1 percent of the top ranking photo and video apps are primarily print product ordering apps such as greeting card or photo book apps; and only 5 percent even have ordering print products as one of their features.

The full 89-page Photo/Video App Market Analysis January Report is here. 

2-4-2013

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Photographing “Beautiful Beasties,” on the AIE podcast

February 26, 2013 by

 

Do you want to take better pictures of your pets? Certainly some of your customers, colleagues, or clients want to…

A new book delivers the secrets to capturing improved images of cats, dogs, and other critters. On the latest Imaging Executive podcast, Jamie Pflughoeft of Cowbelly Pet Photography talks about her new book, Beautiful Beasties.

The full interview is here.

2-6-2013

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Twitter shares video

February 21, 2013 by

I already look at more photos on Twitter than anywhere else online — and now the social messaging service is adding video clips. There goes what little productivity I had…

Wait, maybe not: the clips are limited to 6 seconds or less.

Twitter’s Vine mobile service “lets you create and share beautiful, short looping videos, Twitter says. With Vine, capturing life in motion is fun and easy.”

Why so short? “Like Tweets, the brevity of videos on Vine inspires creativity,” the company adds. “Now that you can easily capture motion and sound, we look forward to seeing what you create.”

Twitter acquired the Vine startup recently. “Our companies share similar values and goals; like Twitter, we want to make it easier for people to come together to share and discover what’s happening in the world. We also believe constraint inspires creativity, whether it’s through a 140-character Tweet or a six-second video,” the Vine developers say. “Posts on Vine are about abbreviation — the shortened form of something larger. They’re little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life. They’re quirky, and we think that’s part of what makes them so special.”

Vine is available on the iPhone and iPod touch. “We’re working now to bring it to other platforms,” Twitter adds, “so stay tuned for that.

1-25-2013

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Google finds photos faster

February 21, 2013 by

 

Have you worked with Google’s Image Search? I found many a photo execs pic there when I couldn’t track it down anywhere else. (It’s amazing how many companies in the photo industry have websites without pictures of their latest products or important personnel.) Now that task may get even easier, as the Web search leader has once again tweaked it photo finding features.

“People looking for images on Google often want to browse through many images, looking both at the images and their metadata,” the company says. “Based on feedback from both users and webmasters, we redesigned Google Images to provide a better search experience. In the next few days, you’ll see image results displayed in an inline panel so it’s faster, more beautiful, and more reliable. You will be able to quickly flip through a set of images by using the keyboard. If you want to go back to browsing other search results, just scroll down and pick up right where you left off.”

Also:

• Metadata will now appear underneath the image in the search results, instead of redirecting users to a separate landing page.

• Key information will be featured much more prominently next to the image: the title of the page hosting the image, the domain name it comes from, and the image size.

1-25-2013

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Stipple adds E-Commerce to Facebook news feed photos

February 21, 2013 by

 

When you’re looking at your friend’s photos on Facebook, do you want to buy what their wearing or showing? No? Howabout those images you see on those corporate pages you’ve “favorited”?

“Interactive photos unlock massive revenue opportunities for brands on Facebook,” says imaging developer Stipple. Now the San Francisco firm is working with the leading social service “to drive e-commerce directly from within the Facebook news feed.”

The news feed is where Facebook’s more than one billion users consume the majority of their content, Stipple says. This “creates a massive new opportunity for brands to efficiently drive revenue from their followers. This is the most promising evolution to-date in unlocking the full potential of the global social platform.”

Stipple tags photos and connects the images from third-party sites back to their original owners, enabling real-time distribution of media and commerce through photos. The technology enables interactive content such as “shop” buttons with pricing and product information.

Want to see how it looks in action? Here is a Nike Shoe example.

1-31-2013

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New crop of cameras

February 21, 2013 by

It seems like it was only early January that the big camera companies announced new models at PMA and CES… oh wait, that because it WAS only early last month — but then, there they went again! (This time it was for the CP+ Camera and Imaging show in Japan.)

New models were announced from Fujifilm, Nikon, Pentax, and probably someone else we haven’t heard about yet… mostly, we’re looking at a lot of 16-megapixel cameras with long zooms — some extremely so! Also, most of the new models connect to smartphones and tablets over WiFi for easier image sharing. All the better to upsell customers from their phones…

Fujifilm speeds and zooms

For its S-Series all-in-one bridge cameras, Fujifilm has added two models that both have 30x lenses that zoom from 24-720mm. “You can feel confident about capturing fast-action shots,” the company says, as the S6800 is a 16-megapixel camera with an autofocus speed of 0.3 second, start-up in 1 second, 0.5 second between shots, and a continuous shooting speed of 8 frames per second for 10 frames at full resolution. It’ll also take 60fps at 1280 × 960, and 120fps at 640 × 480 to capture slow-motion, as well as 1080i HD video. It’s $250. The S4800 has a 16MP CCD for 720p video, for $230.

The premium compact F900EXR features an intelligent hybrid AF system, letting it capture 11 frames per second continuous shooting for five full-resolution frames from its 16 megapixel CMOS sensor. The 20x lens zooms from 25-500mm. It has a 3-inch LCD, manual controls, and takes 1080p video, for $400. The similar FinePix F850EXR lacks WiFi and a few other features, and is $300.

And the FinePix JX680 slim camera has a 5x zoom, 16MP CCD, 3-inch LCD, and 720p video for $100.

More information is here.

 

Three ultrazooms from Nikon

Nikon debuted three superzoom cams, as well as a pair of compacts.

The Coolpix P520 has a long 42x lens that zooms from 24-1000mm. It has an 18-megapixel sensor, 3.2-inch articulated LCD, and built-in GPS, for $450 — but WiFi is an added option.

The Coolpix L820’s 30x lens zooms from 22.5-675mm. It has a 16-megapixel sensor and runs on AA batteries, for $280.

The Coolpix S9500 us compact ultrazoom: its 22x lens zooms from 25-550mm, but fits in a 1.3-inch thick body. The $350 cam has an 18-megapixel sensor, built-in WiFi and GPS, and an OLED touchscreen.

Also: The S5200 is $180 for 16MP, 5x lens and WiFi.
The L28 is $120 for 20MP, 5x zoom, and runs on AA batteries.
Finally, the Coolpix AW110 goes underwater down to 33 feet. It has WiFi, and is $350; the S31 is a rugged entry-level camera for $120.

 

Waterproof Pentax model provides microscope mode

The Optio WG-3 from Pentax features a digital microscope mode using six LED lights surrounding the lens barrel to focus as close as one centimeter from the subject, producing bright, shadow-free macro images, the company says.

The camera has a 16-megapixel sensor, 3-inch LCD, 4x lens, 1080 video capture, and is waterproof down 46 feet, for $300.

The $350 version adds GPS and wireless charging — along with a second LCD showing time, barometric pressure, compass, altitude, and depth.

…What’d we say about someone else? That’s right, the next day:

Olympus shows Stylus XZ-10

The Stylus XZ-10 enthusiast compact is about 40 percent smaller by volume than the XZ-2, Olympus says, “but still offers all the advantages of a super-bright, large-aperture i.Zuiko lens that retains its brightness right across the zoom range.”

The 5x lens zooms from 26-130mm. The 12 megapixel 1/2.3-” sensor captures 1080p video, at 120fps. The camera has a 3-inch touchscreen, and manual controls on a lens ring. It’ll be about $550.

1-30-2013

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Wearable, flyable $50 video cameras

February 21, 2013 by

 

“Life’s best moments don’t wait for you to grab a camera to capture them,” says the developer of a button-sized clip=on camera, with which “people can now capture life as they enjoy it.”

Pinned to your shirt or worn as a necklace, MeCam “catches every instant from a first-person point of view, recording each moment the way you see it,” the eponymous company says.

The $50 wearable video camera is less than two inches in diameter and weighs less than two ounces. It records 720p HD video at 30 frames per second. Its LED infrared lighting operates effectively in low light conditions and captures audio within a 10 foot radius. It can also take 5 megapixel still photos. It’s Lithium-ion battery powers 80 minutes of continuous run time. Only downside: It’s not wireless: You later upload the video via USB cable.

But wait, there’s more! Another company is also offering a $50 “mecam” — but this one doesn’t clip to your shirt. Instead it hovers about, getting you in the shot. That’s right, it’s on a helicopter.

While the MeCam wearable model in available now, the MeCam helicopter is still being developed by Always Innovating, which says its video nano copter lets you “point-and-shoot yourself.”

The MeCam launches from the palm of a hand and hovers instantly, the company says. And it doesn’t even need a remote control, the developer claims: you just shout out directions, or engage its “follow-me” feature.

The San Francisco company says it does not intend to produce the MeCam but is offering it for licensing and hopes to have it on the shelves by 2014.

The copter has 14 sensors including side object detectors that are “queried for perfect and safe hovering” the company says, and uses 3 stabilization algorithms. It captures 480 SD video.

1-29-2013

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Historic video found: Edwin Land talking pocket instant cameras in 1970

February 21, 2013 by

 

Polaroid founder Edwin Land was known for innovation, and presentation. Now you can see a bit of both: “The Long Walk,” a short film Edwin Land made for Polaroid’s shareholders in 1970, has been unearthed and can be seen at Polaroidland.net.

In the 15-minute film, Land “uses a helicopter and a giant blueprint as presentation aids as he talks about Polaroid’s plans for its next-generation instant camera,” as Time’s Harry McCracken says puts it. (“But mostly, he stands in a trenchcoat in an unfinished factory and talks about the future of photography.”)

What’s most interesting is when he envisions a pocketable instant camera, using his wallet as a prop, “almost as if he’s somehow gotten his hands on an iPhone 5 a few decades ahead of time.” McCracken says the upcoming camera Land discusses was the SX-70, unveiled it in 1972, was “more compact than any Polaroid before it, but wasn’t remotely wallet-sized.”

1-29-2013

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Kodak to market memories

February 21, 2013 by

 

Our ol’ pal Gary Pageau spoke with executives from Kodak at PMA@CES last month, and reported on those talks over at Kiosk Marketplace.

Kodak says its been meeting with potential buyers for its photography business, “and there’s been a handful who have come forward that are very interested in the business.” An auction is set for March.

By June of 2013, the personalized imaging component of Kodak would be separate from Kodak, as an ongoing organization with new owners. That business includes 106,000 kiosk units installed.

Kodak went into bankruptcy last year and is selling off its personal imaging business; it’s sold its digital imaging patent portfolio for $527 million, and recently won approval for a financing deal worth $843.7 million.

Read more on Kodak’s plans for future print products here.

1-28-2013

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