DigitalPhotography
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Apple iPhone among most important digital cameras
PopPhoto recently compiled a list detailing the 30 most important digital cameras of all time. Not surprisingly, and quite deservedly, Apple's original iPhone made the cut. Sure, manufacturers like Nokia and Sony Ericsson had long been producing camera phones with better optics and more features when the iPhone launched, but Apple made camera-phone imaging the mainstream medium it is today by combining a simple camera interface, intuitive downloading and sharing tools, and, in 2008, a highly accessible platform for third-party photo apps. While Apple's iPhone has made tremendous strides with respect to picture quality over the years, the original iPhone didn't exactly produce eye-popping photographs at every turn. Nonetheless, the popularity of the iPhone meant that more people than ever before were equipped with cameras at all times, ready to take photos at a moments notice. By the time the iPhone 4 rolled around, the iPhone was already the most popular camera on Flickr. Even today, the iPhone 4, 4s and 5 are the three most popular cameras on Flickr. With respect to cameraphones in particular, iPhone models occupy four of the top five spots. Undeniably, photography on the iPhone has come a long ways, and it all got started with the paltry 2-megapixel camera on the original.
Apple issues RAW compatibility update for OS X 10.8
Do you like it RAW? Fans of the minimally processed image file format should head out to the Mac App Store today for another in a series of RAW compatibility updates for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. Today's update features updates for three new Canon cameras (Canon EOS-1D C, EOS Rebel SL1 and EOS Rebel T5i), the gorgeous Hasselblad Lunar, Nikon's Coolpix A, D7100, Nikon 1 J3, Nikon 1 S1 and the Sony Alpha NEX-3N. Apple invites you to read more about RAW formats on its website.
Apple taking ownership of patents acquired from Kodak
Last year, a group of 12 licensees bid on 1,100 digital photography patents that were being sold by Kodak as part of bankruptcy proceedings. Although the venerable photography company was hopeful that the sale would be enough to help it restructure, the portfolio sold for only US$525 million to the licensees. Those patents are now being transferred from Kodak to licensees including Apple, with the Cupertino company taking ownership of four patents in the last week. The patents being transferred include US Patent Nos. 8,432,479, which deals with range measurement using a zoom camera; 8,432,472, titled "Camera for displaying digital images"; 8,432,456 for a "Digital camera for sharing digital images"; and 8,432,461 for a "Wireless camera with automatic wake-up and transfer capability and transfer status display." In each case, Apple is listed as the assignee of the patent in question. Other companies that will receive patents as part of the sale include Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Samsung, Adobe, Amazon, LG and HTC. Each company receives rights to Kodak's digital imaging patents and other intellectual property, although Kodak also retains rights to use those patents in any future business or subsidiary. Kodak may be edging closer to emerging from bankruptcy; on Monday, the company announced that it will be spinning off the document and personal imaging units to its British pension plan for $650 million.
ITC rules for Kodak in Apple patent infringement complaint
The ITC handed down its final judgment in a patent infringement case Apple filed against Kodak. In a setback for Apple, the panel let the initial decision stand and ruled in favor of Kodak. On May 12, ITC Judge Robert Rogers found one of Apple's patents was invalid and that Kodak did not violate the other two cited in the complaint. The Apple patents in this case focused on image processing in cameras. One described a method for a camera to process two images at the same time, while the other lets users simultaneously adjust multiple settings like balance, color, sharpness and resolution. Apple's legal battle with Kodak is not over. The Cupertino company also faces an ITC complaint filed by Kodak. This complaint was filed against Apple and RIM and accuses the two companies of violating several camera patents held by Kodak.
HP wants your "AirPrint Moments;" photo contest underway
HP currently has the only printers on the market that provide a direct, out-of-the-box printing experience for iOS devices using AirPrint. AirPrint-enabled printers like the HP Photosmart Premium e-All-in-One are great for printing photos that you've taken from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad 2, and now the company wants to give you a chance to win one of four HP printers. Through July 15th, 2011, HP is sponsoring a photo contest for original pictures taken with a mobile device. Titled AirPrint Moments, the contest has relatively few entries at this time, so your chances of winning are relatively good (for now). The judges for the event are iPhonegraphers Colin Vincent, Greg Schmigel, and Sion Fullana, all of whom use iPhones for professional photography. You can also choose to vote for your favorite iPhone photo, and if you get a lot of your friends to vote for your submission I'm sure you can improve your chances to win. Good luck to TUAW readers and let us know if you enter and win.
ITC issues partial ruling against Kodak in patent-infringement case
Today was the day that the ITC was supposed to make a ruling about the patent infringement case it filed against Apple and RIM in early 2010, and sure enough, the word is out. The commission is upholding an earlier ruling by one of its judges which basically threw out the main image preview patent claim made by Kodak. However, two other claims have been restructured by the ITC, siding with Kodak on one claim and not making a determination on a third. The entire case is being sent back to lower courts for further review, giving Eastman Kodak Co. a remote possibility of prevailing with the other claims. Kodak was hoping for up to US$1 billion in damages, a sum that would let the beleaguered former photo giant restructure and develop products that would help it compete in the world of digital photography. With the case going back to the lower courts and the major claim essentially dead in the water, it's unlikely that the company will win much -- if anything -- in this patent infringement battle.
DIY iPad photo booth captures the moments you might be too drunk to remember
Tired of the same old PC-enabled photo booth popping up at every wedding, Bar Mitzvah, and Secretary's Day celebration you attend? Well, you're not alone -- a German photographer named Rocco has tapped his apparent frustration over the conventional photo booth rig to create his very own iPad-connected setup. Rocco's arrangement features a Nikon DSLR, wireless flash trigger, and an iPad, using the ShutterSnitch app, stuffed into a little black box and connected to a foot pedal that allows partiers to hit the switch when they see fit. Once captured, the photos are transferred to the iPad's screen, allowing subjects to browse and email their favorite look-how-wacky-I-am shots. If you're looking to upgrade your photo booth setup for your next Rapture BBQ or World IPV6 Day celebration, follow the source link for instructions. [Thanks, Chris]
Polaroid GL10 instant mobile printer now available for pre-order, Lady Gaga-approved
So you still can't stun 'em in a pair of Haus of Gaga-designed camera glasses, but the Polaroid GL10 instant mobile printer is now officially available for pre-order -- and rumored to be making an early debut in the men's accessories section at Bloomingdale's in NYC. The first of the pop star's Grey Label devices to make it to market, the GL10 connects wirelessly via Bluetooth to smartphones (including Android, Blackberry, and Windows phones) and via USB to computers and digital cameras. The little thing weighs 15 ounces, prints 3 x 4-inch classic Polaroid-style or full bleed prints, and boasts a Li-ion battery apparently capable of spitting out 35 photos per charge. Now you can make a real gallery of all those "this is my lunch" pictures you've been forcing on your Facebook friends for the past few years -- that is, if you're willing to drop $170 for a surprisingly understated celebrity-backed photo printer.
Nikon Image Authentication Software validates Photoshop phonies
It's hard to believe that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Apple man Steve Jobs would get all giggly over a Granny Smith, and that's for good reason: that apple's about as phony as this tiny iPhone. According to a Russian security firm, however, Nikon's Image Authentication Software would tell you otherwise. This rendering is one of a handful used to demonstrate a flaw in the camera maker's image verification system. Programs like Nikon's apply an encrypted signature to image files at the time they are captured, and overwrite those signatures when a file is altered, allowing for verification of a photograph's integrity. According to ElcomSoft, the firm exposed a flaw in the system used by Nikon, as well as a similar program employed by Canon's DSLRs, that allowed them to extract the signature key from a camera and apply it to phonies like the one above. According to the outfit, neither company has responded to its findings. For more funny fakes, including a shot of Mike Tyson rocking an Angry Birds tattoo, check out the source link below.
Adobe demos Photoshop on the iPad
Photography Bay has posted a rather exciting video, taken at Adobe's Photoshop World 2011 keynote, that demonstrates a "concept" Photoshop app for the iPad. Although you can already get Adobe's Photoshop Express app for the iPad, what's demoed in the video simply blows that out of the water. With layers and filters, the video demonstrates manipulating multiple pictures without any lag or delay, and there's a particularly nifty animation that reveals the layers you're working with and how they all fit together. As Engadget points out, there's no way of knowing whether these photos have been pixel-optimized for the demonstration or whether they're straight RAW files, but either way, the demo's got our fingers twitching for a go. While there's no word on a release date or even a title for the app, Adobe's clearly investing some serious time into developing this technology for tablet devices. We look forward to seeing what comes of it! Click here to go the video. [Via Engadget]
World's largest indoor photograph shows off fancy old Czech library
If you think Google's seven-gigapixel renderings of world famous art museums are impressive, get a load of this: a guy named Jeffrey Martin just produced a record breaking panoramic photo of a reading room in Prague's Strahov monastery library, and it's got the internet giant's Art Project beat by more than 30,000 megapixels. Not that Google's pictures are anything to scoff at, but the 40-gigapixel, 360 degree, 283GB image is something of a digital masterwork. According to Wired, the photograph, taken in February on a GigaPanBot-mounted Canon 550D, is comprised of 2,947 unique images that took a computer program more than four days to stitch together. If you're a fan of 18th century European literature, Franz Anton Maulbertsch's trompe l'oeil paintings, or just ridiculously detailed digital photography, you can peep the image in its entirety at the source link.
Canon Rebel T3 DSLR reviewed: a safe bet for first-time shooters
Are you a true contrarian looking for a camera that befits your nonconformist lifestyle? Well, Canon's latest entry-level DSLR may not be the most unruly camera out, but at least it sports a moniker that fits the bill. The Canon T3 Rebel, also known as the EOS 1100D, is a 12.2-megapixel affair designed with the DSLR newbie in mind, and according to a review over at PhotographyBlog, it doesn't sacrifice image quality for ease of use. Touted as a successor to the Rebel XS, the T3 actually carries over some useful features from its more sophisticated sibling, the T3i, including a user-friendly control layout, but lacks the camera's Scene Intelligent auto mode and extensive list of creative filters. Aside from that, the reviewer found T3's grips too slick and its diminutive LCD screen a minor setback, but was quick to point out that none of these is a deal-breaker. In fact, aside from a bit of noise encountered at the highest ISO setting, the camera delivers high quality photographs even in low light. All things considered, it looks like the Rebel T3 is a "responsive and intuitive DSLR" for the novice photog, and at $600, it's got at least some of the competition beat. Now, we won't tell you what to do, but if we were you, we'd click the source link to see how the T3 stacks up.
iPad, iPad 2 get unofficial CF card compatibility (video)
Given the impressive knockoffs and official camera kits we've seen, we'd say the iPad's definitely got the stuff to help out most shutterbugs, but up until now, uploading content from a CF card wasn't exactly easy. Well, our friends over at MIC Gadget recently showed off an iPad / iPad 2-compatible card reader that fixes that on the cheap. Simply called the CF card reader for iPad and iPad 2, the thing slips right into the slate's dock connector port and, as you can see from the video below, it transfers HD video and high-res images in a snap -- it also sports USB connectivity. Like its predecessor, the reader's available from MIC for $29.90, but you'll have to wait at least a month to get your hands on one. Oh, and a word of warning, you might want to make sure the iPad supports your camera's video format before shelling out the dough, as MIC found the slab couldn't playback video from a Canon EOS 5D Mark II.
Photoshop Express for iOS enhances camera features
Adobe updated its Photoshop Express application for iOS to version 2.0. Photoshop Express is a basic photo editing and sharing application for Apple's suite of iOS 4.2-compatible devices. The updated application now includes support for the Retina Display of the iPhone 4 and the iPod touch as well as the multi-tasking features of the latest version of iOS. For budding photographers, Photoshop Express 2.0 includes a new "Camera Pack" feature. Available as a $3.99 in-app purchase, the camera workflow add-in lets you take pictures from within the application and preview these photos before you press the shutter button. You can also set up a self-timer and apply a noise reduction filter to the image before it is saved. The new Photoshop Express 2.0 is available from the App Store for free and is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad running iOS 4.2. [Via CNET and The Loop]
Flare from The Iconfactory: Awesome photo editing app for Mac
One of the joys of photography with the iPhone is that there are a huge number of apps for the platform that let you work with your photos to apply cropping, add filters and effects, and then share those photos with others. Sure, we have apps like iPhoto and Photoshop Elements, but to me they're not really in the same ballpark as the iPhone apps when it comes to quickly editing a photo. Flare is a new Mac app (US$19.95, now on sale for $9.99) from The Iconfactory and ARTIS Software that brings drag, drop and click editing to photos much in the manner that the current iPhone photo apps do. Available in the Mac App Store, Flare is easy enough for photo newbies to use, yet powerful enough that professional photographers will want to have it in their kit of goodies. After launching the app for the first time, you're greeted with a simple startup screen with three choices: "Drag a photo here to get started with Flare," "Read the User's Guide" or "View a Tutorial." I think most people will do what I did -- I just dragged a photo to the box in the startup screen and started playing with the app to see what it could do. After that, I clicked the User's Guide button to get more details, which took me to a very complete online explanation of what each and every effect, filter and process does to your photograph. %Gallery-119002%
Dear Aunt TUAW: Do I need to upgrade to Aperture?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I have a ~100 GB iPhoto '11 library. I currently have it on an external FireWire drive because I didn't originally have space on my internal drive. All that has changed, and I am now looking for tips on how best to manage this library and be able to back it up regularly. iPhoto '11 seems to be working fine right now (takes a little bit of time to start the app, but nothing really excessive). However, I really want to start backing it up on a regular schedule -- would splitting it up make sense (only the latest library would need to be backed up, which would take much less time). It sucks that you can only access one library at a time in iPhoto. Would moving to Aperture seem a natural at this point? Any and all help including backup/sync progs would be helpful. Thanks in advance, Your nephew, Matt "iPhoto challenged" C.
Russell Kirsch helped create square pixels, now he wants to kill them off
Did you know that we're only 53 years removed from the very first digital image? I know, with everyone on your street having a good 2GB of Facebook-uploaded, privacy-be-damned photos, it all seems so pedestrian, so typical. But back in the monochromatic 1950s, when Marlon Brando and Elvis were still young whippersnappers and the UK was busy crowning a new Queen, Russell Kirsch became the first man to create a digital picture, by scanning in a photo of his baby son. Now, half a century wiser, Russell is back to apologize for introducing that cursed square pixel into our lives, and to try to remedy all the jagged little edges we've been seeing on our screens ever since. According to old Rus, squares were just the logical solution at the time, but now that we can splash bits and bytes around with reckless abandon, he's come up with a new algorithm to smooth images beyond what's possible with simple squares. His new idea inserts 6 x 6 masks where there once was just one pixel, with adaptive calculations making for a more realistic representation of the underlying optical data. The sample above shows what improvements this new technique can deliver, with Russell's son doing the posing once more -- you'll find his decidedly younger visage in the 176 x 176 proto-pic after the break.
Digicam hack simultaneously captures stills and high speed video on the cheap
When researchers at the University of Oxford needed to precisely sync high-speed video with high resolution stills, they had a hell of a time finding an off-the-shelf solution that worked with any degree of accuracy. Instead, the crazy kids hacked together a home cinema projector and a consumer-level digicam to split every frame of video captured by the camera into sixteen frames (albeit with lower resolution). Once that goes down, the frames can either be played in succession for up to 400 fps video, or assembled into one high-res still image. Although originally designed for research purposes -- to capture images of cells or the human heart in action, for instance -- the team is betting that the tech has applications ranging from CCTV to sports photography. For more info, check out the video after the break. [Warning: source link requires subscription]
Win a copy of Zoom Lens for your iPhone
I checked out Zoom Lens [iTunes link] over the weekend, and I'll say that as far as zoom tools go, this one is great. A simple interface, simple use and the images look pretty good. Of course, you'll be less impressed when you view them on your Mac, because Zoom Lens, like all iPhone apps of the same nature, just crops the image, really. It's what you find on consumer cameras as "digital zoom" -- not much more than a zoom & crop in Photoshop or iPhoto, really. But Zoom Lens does give you an interface that looks as though Apple made it themselves. Who knows? Maybe some day the iPhone will have a true zoom lens, although the optics would be tricky... Anyway, the best part is you have a chance to win Zoom Lens for yourself! It only works on the iPhone, of course, and we can only give codes for the US (no Canada, sorry!). But read the rules below and enter by leaving a comment before October 1. Glimpse a before/after shot of the app in action on the next page. Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older. To enter leave a comment on this article (below). The comment must be left before Thursday, October 1, 2009, 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. Ten winners will be selected in a random drawing. Prize: Promo code for iPhone app "Zoom Lens" (Value: US$.99 ) Click Here for complete Official Rules.
CameraBag makes it to the desktop
We took a look at CameraBag for the iPhone in June. It's a nifty little app that applies several pre-set filters to your photos. Now, the developers have released an almost identical app for the desktop. Users got hooked on the ease of adding filters and altering photos, and they wanted it on their desktops and laptops too, so now it's a reality.CameraBag Desktop for the Mac gives you 9 basic filters, 7 vary the color to match various films, and 2 filters provide gray scale filters. The filters can be layered one on top of the other if you desire, and with the 'reprocess' command. Every time you press it you get a variation on the original filter.As on the iPhone app, you can choose a border for your picture, and then output the picture at the original size or you can scale it down.The filters mimic the look of old instant camera films, and a host of other camera, film and lens combinations. CameraBag is not for the advanced digital photographer, but if you want to take an image and quickly apply a filter and a border this is a welcome tool. I'd like to see some more things added, like saturation controls and sliders for color temperature and sharpness. Adding those features combined with the filters would give a user almost unlimited control of the look of the images. As it is, your starting point is always what the designer of the filter had in mind. While you can reprocess, you have no control, and the parameters change at random. In the gallery I've included some variations on a single photo to show you some of the possibilities. You can also visit a web page to see how customers have used the CameraBag technology.CameraBag is US$19.00 and can be ordered direct from the developer. %Gallery-73929%
