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Panasonic Lumix GF2 vs. GF1... fight!
If yesterday's preview of the GF2 wasn't enough for you, here's a little more eye candy to feast upon. We paired up Panasonic's all-new Micro Four Thirds shooter with the GF1 that preceded it and collected a nice little gallery for your perusal below. The major difference between the two is in their dimensions -- the GF2 feels a lot closer to your typical compact camera -- though there are plenty of smaller modifications as well, such as the refashioned grip on the camera's right side, the replacement of the jog dial up top with a stereo mic array, and the introduction of a luminous iA button for switching on the intelligent auto mode. The back of the GF2 is also quite a bit tidier, which has been achieved mostly by eliminating some buttons in favor of the touchscreen interface. Check it all out below or jump past the break for some video action. %Gallery-106820%
Reserve Power: Steady now
Ross Rubin contributes Reserve Power, a column that presents personal perspectives on personal technology. He also contributes Switched On each week. While image stabilization has come a long way, a good tripod or mount can make all the difference in some photos, particularly shots that demand long exposure. There are scores of options on the market, and tripods models catering to pros can cost thousands of dollars. But for those who are looking for some support, particularly on the go in situations where a traditional tripod or monopod is impractical, there are lots of novel products on the market that can help bridge the gap. Note that several of these products are designed to work only with compact digital cameras and camcorders. With that caveat in mind, here are some of my favorites.
Zoom Q3HD Handy Video Recorder boasts 1080p and stereo microphones
Zoom has just outed a new little camcorder, the Q3HD Handy Video Recorder. This little guy, in addition to boasting 1080p capabilities (at 30 frames per second) and 720p at 60 frames per second, also packs 4x digital zoom, a 2.4-inch color LCD, NTSC/PAL TV and HDMI outputs, and USB 2.0. Most interestingly, of course, the Q3HD Handy has built-in stereo microphones, so the camera should provide much better audio than your standard affair. There's no word on availability or pricing yet.
Nokia N8 vs. iPhone 4: camera showdown
What's the first thing you should do when you get the N8? Considering it packs the biggest image sensor embedded in a phone yet, Carl Zeiss optics, and an eight-digit pixel count, it seemed obvious to us that the answer was to take it on a picture- and video-taking stroll around London. On our way out we saw our iPhone 4 looking all sad and lonely, so we went ahead and brought it along as well. Below you shall find one gallery of pure, unadulterated N8 sample shots, another interspersed with the iPhone's results for comparison's sake, and a final one with side-by-side 100 percent crops from each image taker. Once you've digested all of those, we suggest hopping past the break and tucking into some tasty video comparisons for dessert. Naturally, all the images are entirely unretouched (but for our masterly watermarking) and the iPhone 4's HDR hocus pocus has been left off. We've also provided a zip file containing all the full-res imagery shot with the N8 in a link below. A quick note is also merited about the N8's resolution. The sensor's display ratio is 4:3, which means that full 12 megapixel shots are only available in those dimensions. The camera software, however, defaults to shooting 9 megapixel snaps at the increasingly popular 16:9 ratio -- this is done simply by cropping away the "excess" bars at the top and bottom of the image, meaning that the 9 megapixel images are giving us identical performance as the 12 megapixel ones, they're just chopped down (from 4000 x 3000 to 4000 x 2248) for the sake of convenience. Now, on with the show!%Gallery-103838%%Gallery-103849%%Gallery-103858%
Ricoh outs rather rugged, water-resistant G700 point and shoot
Ricoh's released a new point and shoot, the G700. This little camera's water and dust resistant, it will supposedly withstand a drop of up to 2 meters, and its resistant to chemicals such as ethanol and hypochlorous acid, so shooting pics of the chemically-driven, zombie-infested apocalypse shouldn't be much of a challenge. Other than that, you've got a 12.1 megapixel sensor, a 5x optical wide-angle zoom lens, a 3-inch color LCD, and password protection. You know, so the zombies can check out your shots! This baby will be released on September 10th in Japan, but as of yet, there's no word on pricing or a US release.
UK temporarily giving LTE spectrum to cameras for 2012 Olympics, tells carriers not to worry about it
You might recall that British regulator Ofcom recently got things in order for an auction late next year of Old Blighty's 2.6GHz spectrum for 4G use, but it turns out that spectrum's going to make a quick pit stop before reaching its final destination. Broadcasters at the London Olympics have been given the green light to use the bandwidth -- which will have already been sold by the time the games kick off in mid-2012 -- for wireless cameras, with the government saying it's fairly certain that carriers wouldn't have had an opportunity to deploy LTE in that spectrum by then anyway. Though Ofcom's original spectrum utilization plan from last year didn't call for using 2.6GHz, it apparently got a wake-up call from the Vancouver games, which revealed higher demand for both wireless cameras and 3D broadcasts than the agency had anticipated -- and unlike carriers, which are expected to pay billions of pounds sterling for LTE rights, Ofcom will be extending use of the bandwidth to broadcasters during the Games gratis. Awfully kind of them, isn't it?
Canon's EOS 7D 'Studio Version' features parental controls, barcode mode
Loaning out your precious DSLR to a friend who doesn't know shutter from aperture? Got a classroom full of trainee photographers whose lesson requires they be set to a particular mode? Canon's hoping you'll drop an extra $129 on a version of the critically-acclaimed EOS 7D that lets you control how your lackeys fire off shots. The $1,829 EOS 7D Studio Version adds four tiers of password-protected locking controls, plus an optional barcode and data transfer kit (to organize and commit large photo sessions to databases) using a custom version of the company's WFT-E5A wireless transmitter for just $770 more. We can't say we know anyone who'd use these features, but hey -- if enough corporations spring for the advanced model, perhaps the original will drop in price. PR after the break.
Nikon D3100 SLR, Coolpix S1100pj and S5100 compacts leaked in German magazine
We've definitely seen new Nikon gear leak in the foreign press before, and it looks like the cycle continues: that rumored Nikon D3100 SLR just made an appearance in the pages of Germany's Foto Digital magazine, along with an updated Coolpx S1100pj projector-cam and a new Coolpix S5100. The D3100 is obviously the main attraction -- it has a 14 megapixel sensor with up to ISO 12800 sensitivity, a new 1080p video mode, and an improved processor and autofocus system, for a body-only price of €650 ($831). Not bad -- although we don't know if it has that rumored continuous autofocus mode for video yet. We don't know nearly as much about the new Coolpix S1100pj, except that it'll retain the projector from the S1000pj, come in colors and add a touchscreen and remote control the mix; the Coolpix S5100 is less of a mystery, with a 12 megapixel sensor and a 28-140mm zoom lens pegged in the magazine. Of course, none of this is officially official yet, but we'd imagine we'll be hearing more real soon -- stay tuned.
iPod touch coming in a 'few weeks' with dual cameras and Retina Display, suggests John Gruber
The sun will rise, pigeons will annoy, and Daring Fireball's John Gruber will get inside scoops on Apple product releases. So it goes. This time he's touching on, erm, the iPod touch, making an offhand (though firmly declarative) comment on a post about the Dell Streak: "if you wait a few weeks to buy the Touch, you'll get one with a Retina Display and dual cameras." The man's not one to fool around with such matters, so we tend to believe him here. It also helps that nothing he's saying would be really surprising -- a new iPod in September? With features trickled down from the most recent iPhone? Then again, that camera has proved elusive before.
Panasonic Lumix LX5 outed by tech support page, improvements are black and white
Panasonic may be pushing Micro Four Thirds tech these days, but that doesn't mean it's forgotten about the pocketable high-end -- in fact, full spec sheets and pictures have just leaked from the company's technical support website, detailing the unannounced latest in the Lumix LX lineup. The 10.1 megapixel DMC-LX5 doesn't have any revolutionary new features, sadly, but it certainly brings the 2008 LX3 predecessor up to spec in nearly every way, with a longer 3.8x optical zoom lens by Leica, 12,800 ISO mixed-pixel sensitivity and a familiar-sounding AVCHD Lite 720p video recording mode. Slightly heavier due to a larger 1250mAh battery, the camera supports SDXC memory cards this time round, has an anti-glare coating on the 3-inch LCD and thankfully replaces those bulky breakout component cables with a mini-HDMI out. There's also an optional electronic viewfinder and a jog dial on the back, but we don't want to ruin all your fun unearthing these gems; peruse the specs yourself at our source link.
Switched On: Photography is dead, long live photos
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Portraying the digital still camera as an endangered species has been a popular pastime for years in the cellphone industry, and with the high-resolution stills and high-definition video capabilities of the latest round of smartphones, the argument is more convincing than ever when applied to the casual snapshot. But this week at the World Expo in Shanghai, Canon -- a name synonymous with high-quality photography -- offered a vision of a device that not only supersedes the digital still camera, but will likely eliminate photography as we know it. With an estimated arrival date two decades in the future, the Canon Wonder Camera concept device has an incredible focal length from macro to 500mm with a single, integrated lens. It boasts massive (unspecified) storage, ultra-high (also unspecified) resolution, multiple facial recognition capabilities beyond that available today, and the ability to keep everything viewable in focus at the same time. But perhaps the most radical thing about this camera is that it's really a camcorder. Rather than take individual stills, Wonder Camera owners would simply have their pick of perfectly crisp photos as frames grabbed from video.
Holga.D concept is the modernized toy camera of your joyful youth
If your childhood memories contain moments of playing with a cheap point-and-shoot camera that produced odd vignetting, chances are you had a Holga camera -- even if you didn't know it. Designer Saikat Biswas has brightened up our Friday with this concept, a modernized Holga.D digital camera. It's got all the bells and whistles of its muse, and by that we mean it's missing all those bells and whistles of traditional cameras that give the Holga a sense of fun. Expect a previous-gen full frame or 1.5x crop sensor, an aspect ratio changer (3:2 or square -- for romantics, of course), ISO selector, and a snappy E-Ink display. Viewfinder? Flash? All fluff -- but there's an accessory port if you need such superfluous nonsense. Actually, if you want a viewfinder, you can slot in the suggested piece of clear, crosshair-laden plastic... this isn't about accuracy, this is about pleasant surprises! As a bonus for lefties, the top panel can be rotated around to put the shutter button in a more southpaw-friendly position. Requires two AA batteries and a whole lot of imagination. Plenty of awesome, phantasmgorical renders via the source link.
Sony NEX-5 and NEX-3 can shoot 3D panoramas with new firmware
Think Sony ain't serious about 3D? Think again. The Japanese giant has just outed a promised firmware update for its ultra-slinky NEX series of shooters that will allow users to shoot 3D panoramas. Panorama stitching was already one of the touted features on these cameras, but with a little extra software magic they'll now be able to collect "depth information" as well. We don't know how strong a 3D effect you're going to get, but since this is a free upgrade and a new way to play with your toy, we suggest grabbing the firmware first and asking questions later. Hit the source link for the download.
Solar camera strap concept really charges us up
Forget to charge your camera when you're on the go? Well, this solar camera strap concept could help you out -- it would require just a few of the sun's rays to give your cam the juice it needs -- and it's a pretty attractive design to boot. So far (like we said), it's just a concept, but it shouldn't be too hard to make this one a reality, so let's get on it!
Olympus cranks out two point and shoots: X560 WP and T100
Olympus has two new cams in the pipeline according to Let's Go Digital. The waterproof Olympus X560 WP boasts a 10 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, face detection, a high ISO sensitivity, 18 shooting modes and digital image stabilization. The T100, meanwhile, is a starter camera that's apparently aimed at teens, and it's got a 12 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, and face detection. It also shoots VGA video. There's no word on pricing or availability for either yet.
MIT-based Grassroots Mapping mapping the oil spill with digital camera, kites
Grassroots Mapping, a project born out of MIT fellow Jeffrey Yoo Warren, is seeking to photograph and "map" the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Their project seeks to come up with cheap and easy to find tools for aerial photography. Their newest project is using cameras attached to kites to photograph the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in order to assess the damage and help along the response to it. The Gulf mapping project got under way on May 5th, and the project is now accepting donations to help fund its research. The results (which you can see above) are incredibly striking. A video is below -- hit up the source link for more images.
iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4 hints at LED flash, camera for iPad, iPod, iPhone
We've yet to see concrete proof that Apple's portable media players will ship with a camera, but the new iPhone OS 4.0 beta shows Cupertino's at least considering the notion for the iPod touch and even the iPad. It seems AT&T tethering wasn't the only thing hidden in iPhone OS 4.0 beta 4 -- 9to5Mac found a variety of telltale references to an a flash when pouring through the update's source code. Does that mean that the iDevices will actually get cameras, let alone supporting light fixtures? It's too early to tell... but we did spot an LED flash on that early iPhone HD, and a recent Vietnamese leak proves that Apple at least prototyped an iPod touch with a camera -- though no flash, sadly -- as well. Is Apple simply updating their error messages, or is there something to this? You make the call.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki thinks cameraphones are about to make SLRs obsolete
From what we know of Anssi Vanjoki, he's a great guy and one that isn't afraid of admitting his company's mistakes. Alas, now we can also add to that dossier the ignominious fact that the fella doesn't seem to know how professional cameras work. Talking about the rapid improvement in cameraphone technology during a speech in Helsinki yesterday, Vanjoki said that very soon "there will be no need to carry around those heavy lenses." He's really enthusiastic about HD video coming to phones, which he predicts will be here within 12 months (if you ask Sony Ericsson, it's here already), but we just can't let that spectacular line about lenses slide. The glass you shoot through is, for a lot of people, the most important piece of photographic equipment and there are genuine reasons why said lenses are heavy, elongated, and typically unfriendly to pockets. Then again, this dude also thought the N-Gage was gonna be a success, so don't start selling off that glass stockpile just yet.
Impossible Project's Polaroid film gets tested, looking pretty old-timey
The Impossible Project's new Polaroid-licensed film is going on sale in the UK this week, and the folks over at 1854 just got a nice little press packet in the mail which included some of the surely sought after film. The black and white only (color's been promised for a later date) film, coupled with a Polaroid camera should obviously lead to some seriously ancient looking snapshots and... surprise, surprise -- it does! Now, there are only a very few test shots (taken with a Polaroid SX-70) included for review here, so it's hard to gauge overall quality of the output, but we have to say the snaps we're seeing look so antiquey that it's actually hard to tell what we're even looking at in the photo -- is it the ghost of John Wayne? Is that Charlotte Bronte or Lady Gaga hanging tough in the foreground? Still, we have to say we're intrigued with the whole idea of producing photos this sepia-toned and grainy, especially at our next in-house competitive rave off. Hit the source link for more test shots.
DARPA sets sights on cameras that understand
DARPA wants to let you all know that its plans for the robot apocalypse are still going strong. The agency's got IBM working on the brains, has an RFI out on the skin, and is handling propulsion and motor control in-house. Next up? Eyeballs. In order to give its robots the same sort of "visual intelligence" currently limited to animals, DARPA is kicking off a new program called The Mind's Eye with a one-day scientific conference this April. The goal is a "smart camera" that can not only recognize objects, but also be able to describe what they're doing and why, allowing unmanned bots and surveillance systems to report back, or -- we're extrapolating here -- make tactical decisions of their own. To be clear, there's no funding or formal proposal requests for this project quite yet. But if the code does come to fruition, DARPA, please: make sure autoexec.bat includes a few Prime Directives.
