Laptop-DRV » Cameras

Five New Lenses Show Samsung Is Serious About Mirrorless

admin — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 19:35:13 +0000

As a first-party Micro Four Thirds makers dilly-dally with their lens lineup, Samsung is pumping out potion for its NX series like the rabbit pumps out, well, some-more rabbits. Here’s a lineup, containing five brand new lenses.

16mm ƒ2.4 (July)
60mm ƒ2.8 Macro (August)
85mm ƒ1.4 (October)
16-80mm ƒ3.5-4.5 OIS (December)
18-200mm ƒ3.5-6.3 OIS (May)

All of those focal lengths should be multiplied by 1.5 interjection to a stand cause of a NEx’s APS-C sensor. The zooms use silent motors and internals to keep them quiet for movie-shooting, as well as all of a lenses work with Samsung’s i-Function underline, which allows you to make use of a lens-surrounding ring upon the physique to carry out things like aperture.

Those zooms look fine, though I would have my eye upon a primes. That 16mm “pancake” looks particularly fun, with the sincerely good maximum aperture and the 35mm-equivalent focal length of 53mm — the “normal” focal length.

The 60mm is the small walking: A the 35mm equivalent of 90mm, it is a perfect mural length lens, but the slightly wider limit orifice would be nice. I pretence this will be a single of a cheeper lenses in the lineup (Samsung hasn’t nonetheless voiced prices). The 85mm ƒ1.4, yet, is very interesting. That equates to almost 130mm, with the ridiculous light-gathering abilities of ƒ1.4 wide open. God knows what you’d make use of it for, though I imagine you’d get a little overwhelming pictures.

The small-body, non-SLR marketplace is removing prohibited. Samsung as well as Sony seems committed to bringing their own lenses, and whilst Panasonic as well as Olympus have been being somewhat tardy with their own glass, a new announcement which Carl Zeiss and Schneider-Kreuznach have been going to have lenses for Micro Four Thirds shows a future there, as well. It seems which some-more and some-more arguments for big-body SLRs have been slipping divided.

Array Camera Tech Turns Cellphones into Futuristic Image Processors

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 13:33:24 +0000

California startup Pelican Imaging wants to put slimmer, higher-quality cameras into cellphones with the new camera-array record. Instead of using a singular lens as well as sensor, a camera uses an array of smaller modules as well as uses computation to combine them into a singular image. The ensuing hardware is skinny, though which is probably a least engaging thing about it.

The Pelican form uses “light-field photography”, as well as aside from only stitching tiny cinema into the large a single, it does a little things a regular camera can’t. For instance, you can diddle with a design after it is taken, blurring a background, contend. And in element during least, you could make use of the kind of 3D “healing brush” to paint out distractions at the back of and in front of your subject.

Pelican’s camera also promises to give high resolution images with low-noise formula in low-light situations, and could enable gesture-controls upon tablets.

The tech is being sold into the industry, not to consumers, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed that Apple will buy this and make use of it to reinstate the crappy camera in the spare iPod Touch.

Pelican Imaging Unveils Revolutionary Approach to Smartphone Cameras [Pelican via GigaOM]

Nikon’s Low-Light, Wide-Lens P300 Forgets a TENDER

admin — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 07:12:43 +0000

Like a pint of tasty spring-water submerged in Nikon’s tainted, eight-camera press tsunami today, the little gem which is the P300 was roughly diluted wholly out of approval. Thanks to some discerning work, the pocket-friendly compact has done it, sodden though still alive, to these pages.

The P300 is best thought of as Nikon’s answer to the Canon S95, a pro-friendly pocket-camera full of primer controls and topped off with the vast sensor, good low-light sensitivity and the quick lans.

ISO runs up to 3200, that is flattering great for a smallish sensor compress. And vocalization of sensors, it’s a small not as big than that in the S95 – 1/2.3-inch vs. 1/1.7-inch – as well as fits 12.3MP onto the backlit CMS plate. The lens offers a 24-100mm (35mm homogeneous zoom, and a super-wide ƒ1.8 limit aperture (the S95 lens only opens to ƒ2).

Manual control is available for all bearing functions, controlled by the thumb-wheel on a top-plate, and you get image stabilization as well as the big three-inch, 921,000-dot LCD panel thrown in, along with 1080p video and a stereo mic.

It looks pretty compelling, as well as even has a weird night-mode which combines separate ambient-light exposures of the credentials with the flash-exposure of a subject. One notice, yet. Nikon might have released itself from a race by leaving out TENDER constraint.

With compacts, you’re not tied to a mark as you have been with SLRs which rely upon lens harmony, so you can emporium around. If Nikon had combined in remote peep carry out for the iTTL scheme, then this would be killer. As it is you’ll need to revisit the store as well as try this out against the Canon S95 as well as a Lumix LX5. They all look really able, so it will really come down to feel (and additionally that lack of RAW sharpened. Available March for $400.

Coolpix P300 press release [Nikon]

USB Knob Adds Remote Focus-Pulling to Canon SLRs

admin — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:01:07 +0000

This $400 doorknob proves that the SLR really is a film camera for today’s indie filmmakers. It’s called the Okii Systems USB Follow Focus, as well as it does what it says, permitting you to control a focus of the Canon SLR around USB. Think of it as focus-by-wire for your SLR.

Canon’s cameras can be tranquil by hooking them up to computers,
too, though a Okii knob is arguably some-more practical on-set, generally as one large indicate of regulating an SLR to shoot video is the tiny size.

What’s that? You at the behind there. Speak up. You’re wondering because you shouldn’t just use a auto or manual focus built-in to the camera? Well, pay attention, boy. Autofocus is never used in movies, as it tends to float around, and if the theme walks divided from his focus-point, the camera will refocus on a credentials. And primer focus, especially a quick accurate kind you need to pull focus in between, contend, dual actors during dissimilar distances, is roughly unfit with the complicated AF lens.

Not usually can the Okii knob save and flip between 4 pre-set focus points, you can also turn its large aluminum collar to focus using a lens’s built-in motor. Buttons around a edgers can also control digital wizz (to assist focussing), start/stop shooting, regulate ISO, aperture, shiver speed and bearing compensation, as well as focussing=zone positioning. In reduced, if you put this on a long (tested up to ten meters) USB wire you have a full remote setup. Plug an HDMI-cable into a camera as well as hook-up a monitor as well as you’re done.

The knob costs $400, as well as is accessible for pre-order right away.

Okii Systems USB Follow Focus doorknob [Okii via Oh Gizmo]

Hot Fujifilm X100 Gets U.S Price, Full Specs

admin — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:00:48 +0000

Fujifilm’s prohibited, retro-tastic X100 has eventually gotten the U.S launch date, a cost, and a proper spec sheet. The 12.3MP camera will be available in March for $1,200.

We already know about a fancy new hybrid viewfinder, which functions as a large, splendid visual finder as well as can additionally be flipped into electronic mode, or used to conceal information onto the visual view. Also informed is a fixed, non-changeable 23mm (25mm-equivalent) ƒ2 lens as well as a big APS-C sensor. So lets get on to a beef of this proclamation – the numbers:

ISO runs from ISO 200 to ISO 6400, with lengthened (read: loud settings of ISO 100 and ISO 12,800. The viewfinder sports the massive 1,440,000-dots, as well as a TENDER constraint can be tweaked in-camera to impersonate Fujifilm’s usually film-stocks, together with Velvia, PROVIA and ASTIA, as well as multiform color “filters” for make use of when sharpened in black & white.

The X100 has up to 49 focussing points (or reduction, depending on a settings you select, movie-mode gives 720p footage, allows sharpened in orifice priority as well as can send video out via an HDMI pier.

Finally, you get assorted sorts of bracketing, including ISO and even film-simulation bracketing, and a panorama mode, and accessories: the leather case, lens-hood as well as adapter ring and flashes (two models, with beam numbers of 20 as well as 42).

The mix of features looks to be about right, offset in between consumer-friendly gimmicks and full-on-manual controls. We’ll usually know for certain how good it works when we get the hands on one. Sadly, even a press will have to wait until March to get reason of one.

X100 press recover [Fujifilm]

Canon’s New EOS 1100D Is Cheap But Capable

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:19:55 +0000

Amidst a slew of new announcements from Canon comes a new entry-level T3 (EOS 1100D) SLR, the replacement for the Rebel XS or EOS 1000D. Like a two-and-a-half year old camera it replaces, the T3 is built down to the price, though foe is so extreme in a low-end of the SLR marketplace which you still get a full-featured camera.

The sensor is the 12MP CMOS representation, and comes with old-school sensitivity using from only ISO 100-6400. That might tune great, but the top limit of these things is regularly poking into the realms of noise. The LCD shade is a small 230,000 dots, compared to a now-standard 900,000+ and video is 720p-only.

But you do get the 9 focus-points, color-sensitive light-metering and Canon’s ultimate DIGIC 4 image processor. And beginners will be gratified with a Basic+ interface which lets you regulate settings formed on vigilant rather than by tweaking the numbers. Think of it as Instagram, usually with genuine camera settings instead of filters.

Along with Eye-Fi compatibility as well as the tweaked blueprint for a buttons as well as dials, that’s about it: the plain camera for anybody stepping up from the compact. You will be means to pick a single up in March for $600, with an updated 18-55mm pack lens.

Canon EOS 1100D press recover [DP Review]

Canon EOS 600D Adds Flip-Out LCD, Video-Clips

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 20:28:11 +0000

>View all

The second of Canon’s SLR announcements currently comes in a figure of a T3i, or a 600D. This comes in on top of a super-successful 550D, and at the core is the same camera, with a same 18MP APS-C sensor with ISO 100-6400 (extendable to ISO 12,800), 3.9-fps detonate sharpened, 9-point autofocus as well as 63-zone light-metering.

But a extra facilities have a large disproportion. The most noticeable is a swingin’ as well as twistin’ LCD row upon the back, the three-incher with over 1,000,000 dots. And whilst a brand new EOS gains a Basic+ mode, which makes it easy for beginners to tweak settings, it additionally has a lot of pro-features. For example, there are manual sound-level controls for video, the wireless trigger for off-camera-flash and shooting in multiple aspect ratios.

As this is a “pro-sumer” representation, there have been a couple of gimmicks to play with, nonetheless for the change they essentially look similar to fun. There is post-processing for stills to give faux tilt-shift goods, along with toy-camera as well as fisheye “filters”. Clearly the success of iPhone apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic hasn’t been mislaid upon Canon.

Video gets a brand new turn, as well. Called “Video Snapshot”, it lets you squeeze shots in dual, 4, or 8 second clips as well as stitches them together in-camera. If you ever saw a family upon vacation where Dad was sharpened minute-long clips of unmoving buildings (and worse, if you had to watch his “movies” when he got back home) afterwards you’ll see because this is the great underline.

There’s probably no reason for owners of the year-old 550D to get sceptical, though a new facilities certain are constrained for brand new users. The 600D will be accessible in March for $800 (body only) as well as for $900 in a kit with the brand new EF-S 18-55mm ƒ3.5-5.6 IS II lens.

T3i press recover [Canon]

Ricoh Adds Leica Lens-Friendly Sensor to GXR

admin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 02:49:07 +0000

Ricoh GXR graphic with a 24-72mm ƒ2.5-4.4 10MP "lens"

Ricoh’s GXR system is about to get a Leica M lens-mount. This will let you take flattering most any of the legendary lenses as well as put them in font of the tailor-made sensor.

The GXR scheme, you may recollect, is Ricoh’s rather than weird take on cameras. The “body” is just the bombard with the shade as well as some buttons. The “lenses” are where a action is, as well as each lens unit features the own sensor. These sensors change in distance and attraction depending on a lens they are paired with.

The new lens section is essentially lensless, with an M-mount for your bequest lenses. The sensor will be an APS-C sized 12.9MP CMOS model, as well as have its own focal-plane shiver.

While being able to use Leica lenses on any camera is fascinating, the non full-frame sensor is less than ideal. Except for a handful of lenses done in the early days of Leica digital, all M-mount glass is done for 35mm movie. Thus a 35mm focal length, a most popular upon the rangefinder, becomes around 50mm. Fine, unless you similar to wide-angles, in that case you’ll be paying more as well as suffering from (typically) slower maximum apertures.

Ricoh has yet to announce the price, and a specs you see on top of have been a assemblage of a sparse press recover. We do, yet, have a vague launch date: Fall 2011.

Ricoh Speeds Up AF With Old-School Tech

admin — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:13:07 +0000

Ricoh’s new CX5 compact is virtually matching to the CX4 it replaces. There is one brand new underline, yet, which alone creates the camera worth referring to: “hybrid” autofocus.

First, the things which have stayed a same. The CX5 keeps the 10MP backlit sensor, the 28-300mm (35mm equivalent) sensor, a 3-inch, 920,000-dot screen and of course the same slim physique.

Hybrid AF works by adding in a stretch sensor to a AF mix, This assists the contrast-detection AF found in all compacts and – according to Ricoh – shrinks a minimum focus time down to 0.2 sec, whether you’re shooting zoomed out, or all a approach in to 300mm. That’s pretty fast.

Back when movie compacts first gained AF, they all worked this approach, as there was no sensor with that to acknowledge contrast. An infra-red lamp was shot out at the theme as well as the lapse time was totalled to establish stretch. Think sonar, only with light. This, as you can suppose, was reduction than completely accurate – it could be fooled by including a object in the support, or by shooting by glass. It could, however, focus in a dim.

The CX5 has an additional “feature”: Super-resolution. This is software-based picture estimate which claims to enable “amazing photographs with tall resolution” though which is small more than smart heightening. Seeing as you can usually fire JPEG as well as not TENDER files, this may essentially prove useful.

Price and availability are nonetheless to be announced, though as a guide, a street-price of a CX4 is around $300.

Ricoh CX5 press recover [DP Review]

Tiny DSLR-Style Camera is Smaller Than the Charger

admin — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 04:41:58 +0000

If you’re looking for a camera which it tiny enough to fit in a nostril but that still lets you barter out a lenses similar to an SLR? Or perhaps you’re in a marketplace for the toy that can fire photos during 1600 x 1200 pixels (almost 2MP) as well as take video so bad, as well as with such a distinguished rolling shiver effect which it would make a Navy Seal seasick? Then you’re in fitness!

The CHOBi CAM ONE is such a square of junk. Barely big enough to fit in a SD-cards upon to that it records, a CAM A SINGLE shoots its 30fps 640 × 480 video in each film pirate’s favorite format: XVID, in an AVI wrapper.

Lens “changing” is finished by slipping the converter onto a front of the categorical lens, and you can select from a 0/5x wide-angle, the 2x teleconverter (both $30) and the fisheye ($60). The horse that it ships with is amusingly twice a size of a camera, and the simple kit will cost you ¥9,800, or around $120.

This camera is pristine novelty with one probable saving underline. It is keychain-small, as well as therefore expected to be with you regularly.

CHOBi CAM ONE product page [JTT around PetaPixel]