lens
Latest
How would you change Sony's QX10?
Sony's WiFi lens camera, the QX10, was one of the oddest and most brilliant devices we saw at IFA two years ago. Once the hardware was dropped into Zach Honig's lap, he found that the gear was, in his words, "pretty accomplished." Given that it's both a little better than a point-and-shoot and is a handy add-on to your existing smartphone, we imagine a couple of you picked one up. So then, what did you think of it? Why not hop over onto the forums and tell us your feelings.
Daniel Cooper03.22.2015
Fuji's premium telephoto zoom packs some serious punch
Fujifilm may still be a relatively niche player in the mirrorless camera field, but that's not stopping the company from putting out some serious lenses to go along with its well-regarded X-series cameras. With the $1,600 XF50-140mm zoom, Fuji's hoping to provide a professional-level, weather-sealed telephoto zoom that can compete with the legendary 70-200mm lenses from companies like Nikon and Canon. I spent a month with the lens to see how close the company came.
Philip Palermo02.15.2015
Scientists make an invisibility cloak using off-the-shelf optical lenses
Most invisibility cloaks require fairly exotic technology to work, such as fiber optics or light-altering metamaterials. That's not very practical, especially since the illusion still tends to break when you move. The University of Rochester may have a far more realistic solution, however -- it has developed a cloak that only needs run of the mill optical lenses to hide objects from view. The system really boils down to clever math. By positioning two pairs of lenses in the right order, researchers can bend light in a way that hides almost everything you put in the middle of this arrangement. The approach scales up with the size of the glass, and it works at angles of 15 degrees or more; you don't need to look head-on to see the effect.
Jon Fingas09.29.2014
Sony's SmartEyeglass prototype makes Google Glass look chic
As Sony's smartphone division continues to struggle, the company is working out what it needs to return to profitability. Does it concentrate on the high-end market dominated by Apple and Samsung, or does it try to appeal to customers looking to get their very first smartphone? One thing you might not expect is for the company to push forward with the release its own smart eyewear, a Google Glass clone of sorts, that connects to its devices to superimpose images, videos and text into the wearers view. "SmartEyeglass," as it's known, looks like a bulky pair of 3D glasses that have been modified to include a 3-megapixel camera, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, brightness sensor, a microphone and a pretty large battery pack.
Matt Brian09.19.2014
IRL: Olloclip's 4-in-1 photo lens for Galaxy S4 and S5
We first met Olloclip's tiny pop-on camera lens more than three years ago. The iPhone accessory got its start on Kickstarter, in the crowdfunding site's infancy, and became our very first featured Insert Coin project. Today, it's a staple at the Apple Store and a slew of other retailers -- you can even pick one up at those Best Buy vending machines in the airport. Several more iPhone versions have since debuted, but we've never seen an Olloclip for Android smartphones, until today. The first Android versions are compatible with two recent Samsung flagships, the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5. Because photo effects are created using a physical lens rather than an app, Olloclips are designed for specific devices. If you don't own a Galaxy S4 or S5 (or an iPhone), don't lose hope -- we may see models for other handsets in the near future.
Zach Honig09.04.2014
Windows Phone's Office Lens app wants to replace your scanner
Need a quick and dirty copy of a receipt, document or restaurant menu? Your smartphone's camera can make a rough facsimile -- but Microsoft thinks that it can do better. According to a Windows Phone Store landing page, Office Lens leverages Microsoft OneNote, optical character recognition and your smartphone's camera to put "a scanner in your pocket." The page seems to only be a placeholder for now, but the idea is pretty straightforward: snapshots are synced to the cloud, saved to your device and automatically adjusted for color and readability. Printed documents can be edited and searched, thanks to the aforementioned OCR technology and the app even has glare and shadow removal features to clean up pictures of your office whiteboard. Unfortunately, the demo page reveals very little about how well the program works, featuring only a single screenshot that reveals... the beta tester's tabletop. There's no word on when this app will be available to the public, but feel free to score a quick tease at the adjacent source link.
Sean Buckley02.22.2014
Sony upgrades smartphone-pairing QX10 and QX100 lens cameras with higher ISO and 1080p video capture
Shutterbugs who shunned traditional point-and-shoots in favor of Sony's QX10 and QX100 lens cameras can now take even better images and videos. Thanks to a firmware upgrade, both smartphone lens attachments are now capable of recording clips with a higher resolution (1,920 x 1,080) than before (1,440 x 1,080). It also cranks up the clip-ons' max ISO settings from 1,600 to 3,200 on the QX10 and from 3,200 to 12,800 on the QX100, which is bound to please those especially fond of nighttime photography. Other than these two feature boosts, folks with the more expensive QX100 get an extra shutter speed mode for their devices. Unfortunately, users can't upgrade over their phones and will have to download the firmware on a Windows (XP/Vista/7/8) or a Mac computer.
Mariella Moon01.31.2014
Lomography's Petzval lens ships to Kickstarter backers, pre-order it now for $599
If you ordered one of Lomography's Petzval lenses on Kickstarter for as little as $300, you'd be forgiven for feeling a bit smug right now. First off, you may get it soon since the first 500 have now shipped, and secondly, it's put the brassy glass up for pre-order to new buyers for a considerably higher price of $599. The starter package does include extras on top of the lens and cap, though: a Petzval Art Lens book, seven standard aperture plates, four experimental plates and a leather pouch. If you've got a Canon EF or Nikon F camera, that'll let you take artsy shots with whirly bokeh and vignetting like the 1840 original, but with the sharpness of modern optics. Lomography said that pre-orders won't ship until May due to limited Russian production and a backlog of Kickstarter orders. If that and the new price don't dissuade you, however, you can grab one here.
Steve Dent12.13.2013
Olloclip debuts Macro 3-in-1 lens for iPhone and iPod touch (hands-on)
It's been a tremendous two years for Olloclip. The company's premier product, a three-in-one lens that packages macro, wide-angle and fisheye lenses in one nifty iPhone attachment, was our very first Insert Coin project in May of 2011. One successful Kickstarter campaign later, and the lens trio was on its way to production. Now, you can find Olloclips in every Apple Store in the world, along with big-box retailers like Best Buy and Target. Today, there's a very cool addition joining the iPhone and iPod touch-friendly lineup: a three-in-one macro lens that enables 7x, 14x and 21x magnification. We spent a few minutes with the new optic paired with an iPhone 5s (pictured above) -- dare we say, this is the best option for macro photography on a smartphone that we've ever seen. The results were sharp and bright, and the bundled Instafocus diffuser hoods pull double duty as "training wheels," letting you calculate the appropriate focus distance with ease. You can also use the lenses without the hoods, but we definitely preferred the results with the lightweight plastic cones attached. When shooting text on the screen of a Moto X, the iPhone picked up quite a bit of pincushion distortion. Fortunately, the bundled app has an easy fix, and after a few seconds of tapping, each shot was Instagram-ready. The new Olloclip is compatible with iPhone 5/5s and the 5th-generation iPod touch. It's available today for $70 at the source link, along with Apple Stores and other retailers. Check it out in our hands-on shots and sample images in the galleries below.
Zach Honig12.05.2013
IRL: Fujifilm's XF55-200m zoom lens
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. It was nearly nine months ago that our copy editor Philip Palermo wrote about Fujifilm's X-E1 $799 interchangeable lens camera here in "IRL." Three seasons later, you can bet he's saved up money for at least one new lens. Here's how it's working out.
Engadget11.04.2013
Olloclip four-in-one iPhone lens improves on its Kickstarted roots with better optics
Sure, apps can spiff up pictures with filters, but there's nothing like a hardware boost to take casual phone photography to the next level. When it comes to the iPhone, Olloclip makes some of the better-known clip-on hardware out there, and today the company's announced its new 4-in-1 system. Similar to its 3-in-1 predecessor, the add-on captures nearly-180-degree fisheye and wide-angle shots. The two main lenses unscrew to reveal a pair of hidden components: a 15x macro lens with a 12mm focus distance, and a refreshed 10x version with 18mm focus distance. According to the firm, the latter glass takes brighter and more focused images than its older counterpart. Seeing as we were impressed with the first Olloclip's macro lens when we reviewed the accessory, this sounds like a welcome upgrade. The new Olloclip 4-in-1 -- compatible with the iPhone 4, 4s, 5 and 5s, as well as the 4th and 5th gen iPod touch -- will set you back $70. Those who can't wait to Instagram close-ups of their grub can snag one now via the company's online shop, the Apple Store and other retailers.
Mariella Moon10.16.2013
Daily Roundup: Sony's Cyber-shot QX100, Kindle Fire HDX 7 hands-on, Valve's Steam Machines, and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
David Fishman09.25.2013
UCSD engineers develop mini wide-angle lens that's ten times smaller than a regular one
What you see here, dear readers, is the image of a fiber-coupled monocentric lens camera that was recently developed by engineers from the University of California, San Diego. The researchers involved in the project say this particular miniature wide-angle lens is one-tenth of the size of more traditional options, such as the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4L pictured above. Don't let the sheer magnitude (or lack thereof) of this glass fool you, however: UCSD gurus note that the newly developed optics can easily mimic the performance of regular-sized lenses when capturing high-resolution photos. "It can image anything between half a meter and 500 meters away (a 100x range of focus) and boasts the equivalent of 20/10 human vision (0.2-milliradian resolution)," according to engineers. As for us, well, we can't wait to see this technology become widely adopted -- don't you agree?
Edgar Alvarez09.25.2013
Oppo teases plug-in mobile camera lenses with stabilization and up to 15X zoom
The extent of Oppo's mobile photography efforts is quickly becoming clear: the company just used Sina Weibo to tease a new series of plug-in camera lenses for its smartphones. The initial range will use 16-megapixel Sony CMOS sensors with optical image stabilization, and they will also have a degree of support for NFC, SD cards and WiFi. Buyers will only have to choose between a thin lens with 10X zoom and a thicker, 15X variant. While Oppo isn't yet ready to disclose launch details for the add-ons, we won't be surprised if we hear more about them at the company's N1 smartphone event on September 23rd.
Jon Fingas08.29.2013
Lomography reinvents Petzval lens for analog and digital SLRs
When it was invented in 1840, the Petzval lens revolutionized photography thanks to its f/3.6 aperture. It's legendary for producing images with super sharp centers and unique backgrounds with a whirly bokeh -- as such it's particularly well suited for shooting portraits. Most Petzval lenses today are defective because of age and not optimized for modern cameras, so Lomography set out to reinvent the lens for the 21st century. The company just launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring the Petzval lens back for $300 -- it's teaming up with Zenit to manufacture high-quality lenses for analog and digital SLRs with Nikon F and Canon EF mounts. Lomography's Petzval lens is made of brass, features a gear rack focusing mechanism and comes with a Waterhouse aperture set (f/2.2, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11 and f/16). Are you as intrigued as we are? Follow the source link below for the full campaign details.
Myriam Joire07.25.2013
GlassKap project brings 3D-printed crosshairs, macro lens to Google Glass (video)
Todd Blatt wants to have more fun with Google Glass than just the occasional game of Battleship, and he has been crowdfunding 3D-printed GlassKap add-ons to spice things up. His newest additions to the line have us especially intrigued, though: he just unveiled a set of crosshairs (pictured above) and a macro lens (after the break). Both function as you'd expect, letting Glass wearers either live out their future soldier fantasies or snap up-close photos that they'd normally miss. The September launches for both accessories are contingent on Blatt reaching his $1,500 funding goal, although that should happen soon when it takes a $30 pledge to set aside a GlassKap. The real challenge is obtaining Glass in the first place.
Jon Fingas07.12.2013
Olloclip announces 2x telephoto lens for iPhone 5, we go hands-on
Remember the Olloclip lens for the iPhone 4? That model's done mighty well in Apple retail stores, so it's only fitting that there's a follow-up. Today at the CE Week line show in New York, we got a look at the company's upcoming telephoto lens, which complements the original clip-on by adding 2X magnification. Priced at $100 versus $70 for its predecessor, the accessory offers a circular polarizing lens on the other side, keeping in line with the company's existing two-in-one design. You can get the standalone clip-on lens for the aforementioned price when the gadget debuts in July -- it's compatible with Olloclip's previously announced $49 iPhone 5 case as well.%Gallery-192393% Zach Honig contributed to this report.
Sarah Silbert06.26.2013
Olloclip brings distortion-correcting camera app to its three-in-one iPhone lens
As our debut Insert Coin project, the Olloclip will always be near and dear to our hearts, but the handy three-in-one iPhone lens is not without its niggles -- like significant distortion produced by the the wide-angle and fish-eye attachments, for one. Luckily, Olloclip now has a remedy for that in the form of an iPhone camera app that'll correct or enhance such aberrations, depending on which way you want to take your artistry. You'll also get video and macro modes, spot focus and exposure adjustments and a photo library -- all the better to stay footloose and DSLR-free on the road. You can grab it for free at the source.
Steve Dent05.28.2013
Nikon unveils 1 Nikkor 32mm lens with extra-fast f/1.2 aperture, manual focus
Mirrorless camera fans who've gone the Nikon 1 route have had a fair selection of official lenses to choose from, but not the Holy Grail of a truly fast telephoto lens. Nikon may have just produced that ideal glass today in its new 1 Nikkor 32mm lens. It shoots at a reasonable 86mm equivalent distance, but with an extremely bright and quick f/1.2 aperture -- theoretically, making it one of the better 1 Nikkor lenses for low-light shooting, action and portraits with soft backgrounds. The 32mm could also be the perfect fit for control junkies, as it's the first Nikon-made mirrorless lens with a manual focus ring. While this premium photography will carry a suitably elevated $900 price when the 32mm lens ships in June, the cost might be worthwhile for those who want speedy optics in a very small size.
Jon Fingas05.14.2013
Photojojo's telephoto lens brings up to 12x of optical zoom to your iPad
After creating the Photorito lens wrap that makes your zoom like a burrito, Photojojo has pulled off another feat: making iPad photographers look even wackier than normal. But the company's iPad telephoto lens is pretty useful if you're willing to hold a slab to your face to grab images. It brings a useful 10x zoom to the iPad 3 and 4, and 12x to the iPad Mini, giving you un-pixelated closeups along with "slight vignetting, a lo-fi look and all around interest to your photos." You're not going to make your iPad any less conspicuous as a camera than it already is, so you can grab the wee lens for $25 at the source.
Steve Dent04.22.2013