6Sight

Kids can learn cameras by building one

The Computer Vision Lab at Columbia University is developing a camera kit with which kids can learn photography.

The BigShot will expose children to fundamental concepts in optics, mechanics, electromagnetism, electronics, image processing, and the physiology of the human eye, the researchers say, to draw them toward further learning in math and science.

The camera kit contains parts ready to be assembled. The finished camera is powered by a battery or by spinning a crank.

Optics options will include normal, anamorphic, and stereo prism.

The lab is now testing prototypes of the kits.

More information is here.

November 23, 2009

Kodak Tweets Photos

Kodak aims to “leverage the viral nature of the real-time web and social eco-systems,” with a collaborative agreement with TweetPhoto, a new service Kodak says “has quickly become a leader in real-time photography." 

The two companies will focus on real-time photo sharing, which “is currently used across social networking sites to start a conversation or give context to a tweet,” TweetPhoto says. “Photo sharing on the real-time web is only going to continue to grow. We are striving to create innovative photocentric products and services to help our partners and customers succeed in the social media realm.”

November 23, 2009

YouTube adds 1080p HD

Google's leading online video service is increasing its display resolution from 720p to 1080p HD video.

“As the resolution of consumer cameras increases, we want to make sure YouTube is the best home on the web to showcase your content,” the company says. “For viewers with big monitors and a fast computer, try switching to 1080p to get the most from the full-screen experience.”

The company is also re-encoding videos already uploaded at 1080p to stream at that resolution.

November 16, 2009

Ricoh redesigns interchangeable system

Ricoh says its new system camera design “is a revolutionary camera system that pioneers a new realm of photography,” one that yields “the smallest and lightest digital camera in the world with the ability to change lenses.”

The magnesium alloy body does not contain an image sensor: Those are integrated into the interchangeable lens modules, as are image processors. The body contains the LCD, flash, microphone, and speaker, battery, and card slots. It will sell for around $550 without a module. 

One module pairs a 10-megapixel CCD with a 24-72mm lens — for a reported $440. 

A 12-megapixel sensor with a 50mm lens is $830.

November 16, 2009

Google cuts Picasa picture storage cost

“You can now save all your memories online for a year for the cost of a triple mocha,” according to Google. 

The charge for storing images online has dropped significantly: On its Picasa photo editing and sharing site, Google cut the online storage costs from $20 a year for 10GB to $5 for 20GB.

Google adds 20GB is “enough space for more than 10,000 full-resolution pictures taken with a 5-megapixel camera.”

Picasa is otherwise a free software tool and web service.

“Digital photo technology is making it easier and cheaper than ever to take lots of pictures, and client software like Picasa 3.5 makes it easier than ever to move photos from your camera to the cloud,” the company says. “While the cost of hard drive storage has continued to drop in these 2 years, we've also been working hard to improve our infrastructure to reduce your costs even further. Today we’re dramatically lowering our prices to make extra storage even more affordable.”

November 16, 2009

6Sight reports new photo enthusiast insights

PMA and Future Image released a new research report, “Rise of the Amateur,” at the 6Sight Future of Imaging Conference.

6Sight attendees were the first to hear the findings of this groundbreaking survey, conducted in partnership with the DP Review photo site. The report is a comprehensive overview of the enthusiast photographer market, generated from more than 15,000 responses from DP Review members.

PMA estimates the photo enthusiast market has doubled in the past decade, driven by high-quality, relatively low-cost digital technology.

“Our recent research demonstrates explosive growth in the segment, and reveals the experience of the digital photo enthusiast today is much richer and multifaceted than generally believed: It involves not only SLRs, but also multiple cameras, large-screen televisions, photo book production, and intense online community involvement.”

Among the most striking findings are:

33 percent have 20,000 or more digital images saved in their archives.

16 percent use 4 or more cameras.

 Until Dec. 1, 6Sight attendees will be able to purchase this report for $199; the regular price will be $495. 

November 9, 2009

CCD inventors receive Nobel Prize

The two inventors of the Charge-Coupled Device were award the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith developed the CCD image sensor in 1969 while at Bell Laboratories, based on the photoelectric effect that transforms light into electric signals.

The CCD became the electronic eye for digital photography, and, with flash storage, replacing film. 

The two jointly share one-half of the prize awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences with the inventor of fiber optics.

October 12, 2009

Directly digital sensors may yield improved resolution, sensitivity

A new technique builds on the light reactivity of digital memory chips to yield a sensor that is perhaps 100 times smaller than current CCD and CMOS images, and better able to reproduce a high dynamic range.

Dubbed the Gigavision Camera due to the number of pixels in a proposed prototype, the system is the work of researchers at the Technical University of Delft, in the Netherlands.

The primary distinction is memory chips create digital data from the light directly – whereas standard sensors today store brightness information as an analog signal, requiring an analog-to-digital converter.

That means the new chip readings are on-off, a digital 0 or 1, for either light or dark. To estimate shades of gray, a software algorithm looks at an array of 100 pixels.

Each pixel is 100 times smaller than those in the latest CMOS sensors, and so a chip made with the new technology that is the size of a standard 10-megapixel sensor will have a gigapixel resolution.

The scientists hope to have a working chip early next year, New Scientist reports.

October 12, 2009

Instant automatic images

With PhotoSketch, you can just draw and label stick figures — and photographic objects matching the label and sketches are combined into an original image montage.

Designed by five Chinese students at Tsinghua University and the National University of Singapore, the software searches the web for photos that match simple freehand sketched objects – simple shapes are all that is required — annotated with text labels. 

“Our system is able to automatically select suitable photographs to generate a high-quality composition, using a filtering scheme to exclude undesirable images,” they say in published reports. It then uses an “image blending algorithm for seamless image composition.”

October 12, 2009

TI boasts more than 7,000 3D theaters

Texas Instruments claims there are now more than 7,000 theatre installations with its DLP Cinema 3D projection technology. 

TI says the industry is “hailing 3D as one of the most important technical innovations since the advent of color.”

DLP chips have arrays of up to 2.2 million microscopic mirrors that quickly switch to create high-resolution, full-color images.

November 2, 2009

Canon aims pro SLR at multimedia makers

Canon says its latest top-end SLR “will deliver the ultimate in imaging quality to professionals working in all areas of multimedia imaging, whether it’s action photography, photojournalism, or HD video and cinematography.” 

The EOS-1D Mark IV has 16-megapixel resolution, 1080p high-definition video capture at selectable frame rates, 10 frames per second continuous shooting, and a 45-point autofocus system.

It is made to appeal “not only to professional still photographers, but also to a diverse market of professional videographers and filmmakers looking for exceptional Full HD video quality, amazing low-light performance, outstanding portability, and a level of durability unheard of in most HD video cameras in this price range,” the company says. 

SLRs with HD video have “opened new doors for multimedia journalists and Hollywood cinematographers alike,” Canon adds, “with full manual exposure control, selectable frame rates in 3 video recording resolutions – 1080p and 720p HD, and standard definition – and interchangeable lenses on some of the largest and most sensitive image sensors on the market.”

The Mark IV has a new APS-H-sized image sensor similar in size to a Super 35mm motion picture film frame, the company says. “The large sensor allows filmmakers to achieve shallow depth of field, just as cinematographers have traditionally done using much higher-cost motion picture equipment.”

Also, in-camera video editing removes the start or end of a video clip directly in the camera to eliminate unwanted footage.

The SLR has the widest ISO range and highest performance ever from Canon, from 100 to 12,800, or up to 102,400 in specific operation modes.

It has a 3-inch LCD; and its body, chassis, and lens mount are weather-resistant, with 76 gaskets and seals surrounding all buttons and seams. 

The Mark IV is priced at $5,000, body-only.

October 26, 2009

Adobe patchmatch makes photo fixing magic

Adobe researchers demonstrated a technique called PatchMatch that recognizes objects and patterns in an image to make it easier to instantly replace selected areas or elements.

“Removing unwanted items from an image is one of the most common uses of Photoshop,” says Adobe Labs, “and we’d like to make it as easy as possible.”

Commercial availability of the tool was not announced.

October 26, 2009

Brother further shrinks eye-sized display

Brother Industries claims its retinal scanning display is the first in the world to use green laser diodes, has finished the development of the basic technologies, and will commercialize the display in 2010.

The glasses cast light on the retinas, scanning at high speed to create an apparent residual image that is superimposed atop normal eyesight — like projectors using retinas as a screen.

Nikkei Electronics reports the new Brother battery-driven module measures approximately 95-by-170-by-30mm and weighs about 350 grams. That volume is 1/20 of the previous prototype.

October 26, 2009

Simultaneous still and video capture

Fast Pixel Shutter Imaging is a new technique developed by Oxford University researchers to capture high-speed video and high-resolution still images simultaneously.

The process selectively controls exposure times of individual pixels with fast optical switches, rather than a standard global shutter over an entire sensor.

While it’s now a prototype made with micro-mirrors, plans call for demonstrating the technique with a CMOS sensor in a pocket-sized camera within six months, reports The Engineer, a British engineering magazine.

October 19, 2009

Camera captures complete life

A camera worn as a pendant records every moment and may help people with severe memory problems. The camera automatically takes pictures at adjustable intervals, when its accelerometer and light sensor tell it the environment has changed, or when the infrared sensor detects another person. The camera can fit 30,000 images in its 1GB storage.

Microsoft Research in Cambridge, United Kingdom, first developed the “SenseCam” in 1999 and made 500 for other researchers, primarily. Now Vicon, a division of Oxford Metrics Group in the United Kingdom has licensed the technology from Microsoft and is putting it into mass production.

A consumer version will sell for approximately $800 in 2010, New Scientist reports.

October 19, 2009

Bigger, brighter 3D

Los Gatos, Calif.-based startup HDI demonstrated a prototype 100-inch, rear-projection display using red, green, and blue lasers in an energy-efficient design to project a big, bright, 3D image.

The screen refreshes at 360 fields per second, faster than most any other 3D display. The 3D effect does require the viewer to wear polarized glasses, however.

The final display should be about 10 inches deep and sell for $10,000-$15,000 in about two years, reports Daily Variety.

October 19, 2009

Smaller holographic head-up display

New projection technology using holographic techniques and liquid crystal on silicon results in head-up displays one-tenth the size of those made with liquid crystal displays (LCDs).

Light Blue Optics of Cambridge, United Kingdom, says its holographic projection projects an image through a two-way mirror and will come to market in a compact projection device that fits inside a car’s rearview mirror.

A head-up display is a transparent display precluding the need to look away from the primary view, and so it keeps the driver’s head up rather than down looking at an instrument panel.

The new displays are at least four years from market, reports MIT Technology Review.

October 19, 2009