You would probably have to be the ruler of Dubai to be able to afford one of these but it’s impressive either way. That tiny little spec to the right of the gigantic sensor is the embarrassingly small ‘full frame’ sensor found in a camera like the 5D Mark II, Nikon D3 or Sony A900. Canon makes no mention of the resolution of this beastly sensor but it certainly doesn’t sound like it’s that high considering the improvements in sensitivity. [...]
Continue reading Canon demonstrates the largest CMOS sensor ever
If you thought the resolution jumps were over you might want to brace yourself because Canon clearly doesn’t agree with that train of thought. Their latest and greatest exhibition of pixel packing shoves 120mp in to a sensor. You might be thinking that with such resolution it must be a “full frame” sensor, but no, it’s APS-H sized. If it were full frame you’d be talking over 200 megapixels. For comparison Canon’s current best full frame sensor rocks 21.1 megapixels and their 1D mark IV runs an 18mp APS-H sensor. [...]
Continue reading Canon says “the more the merrier” and trots out 120mp sensor
Pellicle mirrors are back, but this time it’s not just to allow higher FPS in continuous shooting [drive] mode. Sony has brought back semi-transparent mirrors to take a portion of the light and direct it towards phase detection AF sensors for use while shooting video. Compared to contrast detection based AF using the image sensor, phase detection is faster and more accurate. This should definitely help address many of the AF concerns found in DSLRs (which use contrast detection AF) when shooting in video mode. Sony’s three new cameras sporting this design are the A33, A55 and A55v (has GPS built in). [...]
Continue reading Sony brings pellicle mirrors back with the SLT-A33 and SLT-A55
This isn’t the first time a product like this has come to market. I remember seeing something similar from Horseman a couple years ago at PDN PhotoPlus. Accessories like this are pretty neat and I do like the way this opens up some flexibility when using DSLRs that even tilt-shift lenses can’t provide. Unfortunately I just can’t personally see justifying the cost and they’re too bulky which would make systems like this a poor replacement for my tilt-shifts. [...]
Continue reading Sinar p-slr lets your DSLR act like a view camera
I had wondered when someone might take advantage of the proliferation of cheap and small inertial measurement sensors like this. These senors are already in everything from Wiimotes to cellphones and using them to improve the deconvolution techniques that help to reduce the appearance of blur in images makes sense. In the battle against camera shake every little bit helps and some cameras already ship with accelerometers (like Sony’s fancy panorama sweep stitching cameras) so it seems something like this might be closer to mass market reality than not. Hooray! Until then, lay off the coffee and maybe the jitters will subside. [...]
Continue reading Microsoft merges motion sensors with cameras to help with your shaky hands
It seems like every couple years some new standard has to come out to fix some shortcoming with SD cards and the result is more gobbledygook being added to the card names. As you can see in the image at the right (shamelessly borrowed from the SD Association site) in addition to the three size formats they’ve had (miniSD is effectively dead thankfully) there are three classes according to the capacity you desire. [...]
Continue reading SD cards are becoming more discombobulated: UHS-I and WORM
I’ve criticized Flickr for its awful white background for a while now and feedback on my Twitter & Facebook page both proved I’m not alone. Others agreed, the white background is just plain bad for viewing graphical content like the photos that so many upload there every day and the consensus was that “dark” is a better option. Fortunately there are some changes to Flickr on the way and most of the changes are quite good. [...]
Continue reading Flickr’s new photo page is a step in the right direction
Although I don’t say much about it, I’ve never hidden the fact that Sony hasn’t generally been my favorite camera manufacturer (or electronics manufacturer). Their P&S cameras have never greatly appealed to me but I respect their efforts to provide some advanced capabilities in unique form factors (like the DSC-F828). I also appreciate their cost reduction efforts with the A850 (at the expense of the sanity of A900 owners) and most of all I’m glad to see they are keeping the Minolta system going. I certainly wish the Minolta name was still around but at least the flame is kept alive. [...]
Continue reading Sony’s NEX throws caution, mirrors and traditional design to the wind
Of all the special edition cameras that I’ve covered here, this might be one of my favorites. For nearly $1500, if you’re in China, you can get one of 2010 Jackie Chan Eye of the Dragon limited edition 550Ds (that’s a Rebel T2i if you were wondering). The kit comes with specially imprinted camera bodies, an upgraded kit lens (18-135 IS) and a fancy matching album, camera case and strap. [...]
Continue reading Limited edition Jackie Chan Eye of the Dragon Canon 550D unveiled
A Rochester “Crime Prevention Officer” has put the kibosh on the subway walk that Rochester Subway had been planning. It’s a good thing too, because otherwise we would have had a careful, respectful and organized group of people touring the subway’s length while it was still possible. Now there will just be more small groups exploring it, being reckless and causing mayhem. That’s definitely better. [...]
Continue reading Upcoming Rochester Subway excursion shut down
