6Sight

HP returns to the camera business; cameras and camcorders feature touch screens

After leaving the camera market years ago, one of the largest imaging companies returns to the capture business. HP announced 5 compact, colorful point-and-shoot digital cameras and 3 camcorders, with such features as 5x optical zooms and touch screens, and prices ranging from $99 to $199.

HP says its LCD touch screens feature “a new intuitive user interface that makes them a snap to use.” Interface improvements include a high color contrast to help ensure better menu visibility.

Also, the scene mode selection display shows two images: how the photo will look in auto mode, and how it will look in the selected scene mode.

The still cameras all have 12-megapixel sensors. Three base models have 2.7-inch LCDs; the premium models provide touch screens.

Standing out in the new line is the CW450t, with a 2.7-inch touch screen and 4x optical zoom for $109.

It’s worth noting the touch screen adds only $10 to the price of the otherwise similar CW450, which has a 2.7-inch LCD and 4x optical zoom for $99.

The SW450 has a 2.7-inch LCD and 4x optical zoom for $129.

The PW460t adds touch functions for $149.

The PW550z has a 5x zoom for $149.

 

While the pocket cameras capture video, HP also now offers dedicated flash-based digital camcorders, with 3-inch flip-out touch screens, 1080p high-definition recording, and motion detection. The $199 V5560u has a 5x optical zoom; the otherwise similar V5061u is $169. A pocket-sized smaller model that captures 720p video, the V1020h, is $109.

March 1, 2010

Sony debuts new interchangeable lens camera system

Sony started off PMA 2010 with a major introduction: its first new interchangeable lens camera system, delivering a sensor that is larger than that in compact cameras, but in a body much smaller than a standard SLR.

The new Sony model will ship in 2010, the company said at a Feb. 21 PMA press conference, but pricing was not disclosed.

The concept model will employ an Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor, Sony says, about 24-by-16mm in size, and capture full AVCHD video. Few other details were announced. The prototype shown was pocket sized, excepting the lens.

Previous Sony interchangeable lens cameras were built on older SLR designs acquired from Konica Minolta.

Sony also displayed prototypes of upcoming SLRs in the Alpha line, indicating the company is not done with the larger SLRs, despite the newly developed models.

The new model will face off with the Micro Four Thirds offerings of Panasonic and Olympus, which also offer interchangeable lens capabilities without the size requirements of SLR mirror-based photography.

Press and analysts at the PMA event greeted the announcement with enthusiasm, while noting it is also an example of Sony once again refusing to join any industry consortium, and instead going its own way.

As the company makes its own sensors, it was unlikely to join the Four Thirds group, oriented around particular sensor designs that likely come from Panasonic.

March 1, 2010

Trainable toy car transmits spy video

The Spy Video Trakr is a programmable, remote-controlled vehicle that transmits video, audio, and data.

Wild Planet Entertainment says it’s the first to give kids the tools to create and share custom apps that can be downloaded, at no cost, onto a toy. “We’re teaching kids how to write their own applications and program their toys to do exactly what they want them to do.”

The Spy Video Trakr has a color LCD, SD card slot for storage, a speaker, and a microphone. It will sell for $120 in October 2010.

It allows users to create, download, and share custom programs. Once kids create new programs, they have the option of posting them on a designated website for other kids to access.

“We believe kids will fuel the spread of app-sharing in toys,” the company says. “It’s empowering when something kids create becomes of interest to other people. Kids will take pride in having programs they designed downloaded by others. They’ll come up with things toy industry executives would never imagine. The apps downloaded the most will likely be the ones created by kids.”

The toy will come with three apps already installed, and a collection of free apps will be available online when the product launches.

With a night vision app, kids can drive the remote toy in total darkness, yet see everything in the path of the vehicle on the color screen on the remote, the company says. If they’ve installed a motion alarm app, they can park the vehicle in front of a doorway and convert the camera into a sensor that will trigger a siren when someone enters the room. If they’ve created and downloaded a custom app, the vehicle can snap a picture of the person who crosses the threshold; call out: "You’re busted, little brother! I have a picture of you sneaking into my room!”; and then squeal its tires and automatically navigate its way back to the driver.

February 15, 2010

Microsoft searches Bing spatially, improves imagery

“You can expect Photosynth and Streetside to converge in a way that allows us to document the important places in the world, indoors or outdoors,” says Microsoft, “and explore them in a completely natural way.”

Microsoft is integrating 18,000 of its Photosynths [in which multiple photographs are collated into a simulated 3D construct] into its Bing Maps.

The company also demonstrated live webcam feeds overlaying real-time video on street-level imagery, “adding another dimension to the mapping experience.”

Microsoft provided a technology preview of its Streetside Photos application, which uses geo-tagged photos from Flickr, and relates them to its Streetside imagery to show images matched to its original spatial context, providing a more detailed image of an exact location than that captured from the street side camera cars. Microsoft adds that upcoming indoor panorama functions “won’t be limited to places you can take a vehicle.”

Flickr states, with each photo, it provides the name of the photo, when it was uploaded, and the username.

Streetside Photos is currently available in Seattle, Wash.; San Francisco, Calif.; and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

“In the coming year, we think you will be pleasantly surprised with how far Bing takes this new technology,” Microsoft says, as its “spatial search” connects data with a physical context, and includes “high-resolution imagery, from outer space all the way down to the front door of the bakery.”

February 15, 2010 

Find a celebrity similarity

Animetrics is branching out from biometrics identification systems for use by law enforcement, military, and private security, to a “biometric game” assessing a person’s similarity to popular celebrities and famous people.

FaceR Celebrity Edition matches anyone to a similar-looking celebrity. The iPhone application is available now.

The 3D imaging and facial biometric systems developer says it is its first application for the consumer marketplace connecting mobile devices to Cloud-based photographic stores.

The company says it is in the process of testing and delivering two additional consumer facing products in the next quarter; its MobileID line of products is used by government and law enforcement.

The Animetrics facial recognition architecture supports both iPhone and Windows Mobile platforms.

February 8, 2010

Camera sales to rebound

The Camera & Imaging Products Association says it expects to ship almost 110 million cameras in 2010, up 3.8 percent from the prior year.

Shipments worldwide totaled 106 million in 2009, down 11.6 percent from the 119 million shipped in 2008.

Interchangeable lens cameras rose 2.3 percent to 10 million units shipped in 2009, and will grow 11.1 percent to 11 million units in 2010, CIPA predicts.

February 1, 2010

3D photography made affordable

Preface Media says its MediaSpin360 service delivers affordable 360-degree product photography for manufacturers and online retailers: 3D photography rates start at $88 for a product “spin set.”

With 360-degree photography rapidly gaining acceptance among internet retailers and acclaim among its customers, the company claims online customers can spin, zoom, pan, rotate, and analyze every square inch of the product as if they were at the physical store. “In a recent survey, 95 percent of all retailers who have added 3D photography stated their online sales have increased as a result; and 28 percent of all online store owners have or are leaning toward implementing 3D product views.”

The firm uses robotic equipment to control its 3D photo shoots with electronic precision, resulting in seamless 360-degree views. “We can receive customer products, photograph them, touch up the images and process them for custom product configuration, upload the results to our high-capacity image servers, and integrate the 3D product viewer – which can be customized –into existing online stores within just a few days,” the company says.

January 25, 2010 

Transform photos into 3D

Start3D.com says it’s the first website dedicated to sharing 3D photos online – and it also can transform photographs “into a gentle animation that reveals depth on a 2D screen by exchanging one dimension of space for time.”

Academy Award Technical Achievement Oscar winner Colin Davidson founded Start 3D as an easy way to see 3D on a computer and share with friends and families who don’t have any additional equipment. The site features his “Piku-Piku” viewer [Japanese for “twitching”], which emulates holding and tilting a lenticular print, showing differing depth in stereoscopic images.

Online users can interact with the viewer “to control the point of view as if they were there,” the company says, and see 3D without specialized or two-color glasses.

Anyone can upload shots taken with a normal digital camera, a pair of photographs of the same scene about 3 inches apart. The site will combine the images into a simulated 3D animation.

Davidson also predicts, “By this time next year, a 3D camera will be on everyone’s Christmas wish list.”

January 25, 2010

Kodak sues Apple, RIM

Kodak alleges patent infringement by Apple and Research In Motion, saying camera phones infringe Kodak digital imaging technology.

Kodak filed its complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), claiming Apple iPhones and RIM camera-enabled BlackBerry devices infringe a Kodak patent that covers technology related to a method for previewing images.

Separately, Kodak filed suit against Apple that alleges infringement of two patents generally covering image preview and the processing of images of different resolutions.

Kodak adds it has “had discussions for years with both companies in an attempt to resolve this issue amicably, and we have not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement.”

The company says it has royalty-bearing licenses on its digital imaging technology with approximately 30 companies, including phone makers LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson.

This month, Samsung and Kodak settled their suits with a patent sharing agreement, and a royalty payment to Kodak. Kodak reports, during this disagreement, an ITC administrative law judge issued a ruling declaring the Kodak patent covering color image preview (No. 6,292,218) was valid and enforceable, and the Samsung camera-enabled mobile devices infringed upon that Kodak patent.

Apple is also currently involved in patent suits with Nokia, and last week filed to block import of Nokia phones into the United States.

January 18, 2010

Samsung phone projects TI imagery

Texas Instruments says its pico projection feature “removes the limitations of the mobile phone screen by providing ‘big picture’ viewing experiences for sharing pictures, watching videos, playing games, viewing email attachments, and even giving presentations.”

Samsung Electronics demonstrated the TI pico WVGA chipset in its W9600 Projector Phone that can display images larger than 60 inches, depending on ambient light conditions, with a contrast ratio up to 2,000:1.

 “This new phone transforms the mobile phone experience, giving users the capability to share large, stunning native DVD images from the palm of their hands,” Samsung says.

The phone also has a 5-megapixel camera and touch screen.

January 18, 2008

IMAX making 3D camera

IMAX making 3D camera

High-end movie theater company IMAX  announced it is developing its first 3D digital camera.

“Given the significant amount of 3D content being developed in the past 12 to 18 months,” the company says, “… we believe the timing of this initiative could not be better.”

The company expects its first prototype to be ready by early 2010, with the goal of an official launch in 2011.

IMAX says its 3D camera will increase proprietary, differentiated content for its theatres, its planned joint venture 3D TV network, and lower production costs due to the elimination of expensive film stock.

As of Sept. 30, 2009, there are 403 IMAX theatres (280 commercial, 123 institutional) operating in 44 countries.

January 18, 2010