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Panasonic and Red hope to replace photos with frames of video
If you're worried about missing a once-in-a-lifetime photo op, Panasonic and Red have a proposition: Why not shoot ultra high-res video and just grab still images? Both companies had the same idea at Photokina 2014 (though Red had it long before that), albeit with wildly different thoughts about price and quality. Panasonic's system is called "4K Photo," and allows you to extract a still from its 4K, 30 fps, 100 Mbps video stream, for as little as $900 on the new LX100 compact camera. Red, on the other hand, has got a more extreme plan: Capture up to 100 fps, 19-megapixel RAW stills starting at $17,000 for its Red Scarlet Dragon cinema camera.
HTC may not have PureView, but it does have ImageSense
Not to be outdone by the Nokia 808's appearance at MWC, HTC has released sample shots taken using the ImageSense camera module that comes in its One X and One S phones. In many ways they're normal-looking stills, with nothing like PureView's 41-megapixel oversampling (which is claimed to result in a superior still), and certainly no massive 1/1.2-inch sensor. However, if you look closely, you can see the benefits of some of HTC's improvements. Top among those is the faster f/2.0 lens, which will allow for shorter exposures and clearer moving subjects -- like the skateboarders above. Such images will also likely benefit from the 0.7-second time window for capturing an image and the 0.2-second auto-focus when shooting continuously. Whatever you make of the sample shots in the gallery below, HTC can also claim one key advantage over PureView -- at least for the time being: camera technology that still fits into a regular-sized smartphone.%Gallery-149381%
Polaroid cameras back from the dead (again) after deal with Vivitar-owner Sakar
Polaroid's heart stopped beating a long time ago, but its brand has marched on in a number of zombified licensing agreements and celebrity hook-ups. The latest of those deals, however, might just have a glimmer of soul in its bugged-out eyes: Sakar International, the long-time owner of Vivitar, has acquired the rights to develop a "line of Polaroid-branded digital still cameras and digital video products" for sale in North America and parts of Latin America. The press release after the break gives no clue as to what might make these new Polaroids different or special, but hopefully someone is about to give that some thought.
Photographer goes digital, blows half a million dollars on a 10MP sensor
Ever spent way too much on a luxury watch or handbag? We hear ya -- the Engadget closet is bulging with Balenciaga clutches we hardly ever take out any more. But do you know who we blame for these inexplicable lapses of consumer judgment? A professional photographer by the name of Mitchell Feinberg, who happens to own the world's largest digital sensor. He uses the $500,000 custom-built 8x10-inch camera back to help capture mouthwatering advertising stills for couture clients like Bulgari and Vogue. What's really loco, though, is that the sensor is only 10MP, which isn't remotely sufficient for printable art. Instead, Feinberg puts it to work as a replacement for Polaroid; grabbing full-size test snaps during a shoot before reverting to an old-fashioned sheet of 8x10 film for the final money-shot. Whereas he previously spent $50k per year on Polaroid stock, now he spends nothing. So, unlike those silly blue-tinted Ray-Bans we bought for our vacation, this block of light-receptive love should eventually pay for itself. (Oh, and speaking of summer breaks, Feinberg says he's currently away on his, but he promises to post some sample pics on his site when he returns.)
Red Faction production stills look very, very surly
The SyFy press site recently added a handful of production stills for its upcoming original film adaptation of the Red Faction franchise, posted in the gallery below. Did you know that, in addition to being composed of red rocks, Mars is also made out of frowns?
Lair off-screen trailer looked good at GDC
Stills and screenshots can only do so much to convey how good a game looks. Here's an off-screen video presentation of Lair recorded from GDC, showing off the Factor 5 game in action (or, should we say, motion).You might recognize some of the animation from videos seen elsewhere, but it was nice to catch the newer footage of a dragon wireframe model meticulously rendered with layers of musculature and skin, too.If that's not enough for ya, you can always just listen in to the audio, which features a young lady from Washington asking questions of a developer with the hope of getting hired. Consider this a lesson in networking.[Via GameBrink]
