Blackmagic has trimmed the price of its Cinema Camera range, cutting the 2.5K sensor cameras by a third as it ramps up for shipping the new Blackmagic Production Camera 4K. The $1k saving brings both the EF and Micro Four Thirds versions of the Cinema Camera to $1,995 apiece, while the new Pocket Cinema Camera […]
Motorola has been hyping up the 10.5-megapixel Clear Pixel camera inside the Moto X, but it’s been shy on the sensor’s technical details and origins. We now have both: it’s the OmniVision OV10820, a 1/2.6-inch sensor with a video-friendly 16:9 aspect ratio and large 1.4-micron pixels. Its strong low-light performance comes through a two-chip approach. The sensor captures RAW images using a sensitive RGBC (red / green / blue / clear) color filter, and a companion chip automatically converts the resulting shots into the Bayer format that most imaging processors expect. The result is a high-performance camera that slots inside the Moto X without requiring any special effort. Whether or not we see the OV10820 used outside of Motorola is another matter. OmniVision can’t comment on the sensor’s exclusivity, but it does note that RGBC is an “extremely viable option” for the future.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile, Google
Source: OmniVision
Motorola is counting on three things to make the Moto X a success: Google Now, multiple colors, and its Clear Pixel camera, and now some extra details about the latter have emerged thanks to manufacturer OmniVision. The new OV10820 [pdf link] sensor may not have a snappy name, but it’s a mighty capable chip, in […]
The WB250 Smart camera, Samsung’s $179 WiFi-enabled point-and-shoot, just scored a major sharing boost. The pocketable cam can now boot images directly to Evernote. After downloading a software update, WB250 owners will be able to sync their images with the service seamlessly — shots can then appear on connected smartphones, computers and tablets simultaneously. Users will also be able to tap into a 3-month Evernote Premium trial, bringing a 1GB monthly upload allowance and additional sharing options. Update your software to get started.
Source: Samsung (download link)
Since launch, the GoPro App has primarily served as a remote control; it hasn’t been much good for reviewing the day’s shooting. That won’t be an issue with the newly launched GoPro App 2.0. Both Android and iOS users can now browse their action camera’s memory card, save and play media on a mobile device, and share any saved clips through email, MMS and social networks like Instagram. Windows Phone users aren’t in line for the update right now, but their Android and iOS counterparts can grab both the new app and corresponding camera firmware upgrades at the source links.
Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Tablets
Source: App Store, Google Play, GoPro
It’s been a little while since we’ve heard about the recently-announced Samsung Galaxy NX Android-powered camera, but it is indeed still here and ready to mingle. According to a couple of UK retailers, the camera has made its way to the region and is ready to start selling with a price tag that rivals the Canon 70D that’s coming later this year.
Jessops and Wex Photographic both have the new camera listed on their website. Wex Photographic has the camera in pre-order status, while Jessops actually says that they have it in stock and ready to ship. However, don’t go grab your credit card thinking this is an impulse buy. You’ll be spending a lot of cash on this camera, to the tune of £1,299 (around $2,000).
The Galaxy NX is the first-ever Android-powered interchangeable lens camera, and it comes with a 20.3-megapixel APS-C sensor and an 18-55mm kit lens to get you started, but you’ll be able to snap on other lenses to get that perfect shot you need. The camera also comes with 4G LTE, WiFi, and 16GB of internal storage.
On the inside, there’s a 1.6GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM powering the operation, with a capability of shooting 8.6 frames per second, with a fast shutter speed of 1/6000. It certainly seems like a decent camera for all the hobbyists out there, but it’ll be interesting to see how it caters towards the professional crowd.
There’s no official word on a release date yet, and it could just be a simple mistake on Jessops’ part about the availability of the camera. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that a retailer has made a false start and listed something early. Now we’re just waiting to see when we’ll see the camera arrive in the States.
VIA: ePhotoZine
Samsung Galaxy NX arrives in UK for a hefty figure is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Apple has been granted a new patent related to camera tech by the USPTO today (via AppleInsider), which uses three different sensors and three different lenses to improve color-capture accuracy and image resolution for photos shot with an iPhone or other mobile device. The system is similar to the two-sensor Apple patent around mobile cameras the company applied for recently, but it solves a different kind of imaging problem.
This sensor arrangement would improve upon most mobile camera designs by using two chorminance sensors, each of which is placed to one side of a luminance sensor. The luminance or light sensor would determine light levels of the image, while the chrominance sensors would be responsible for accurately capturing color data. Two chrominance sensors arranged in that manner would be able to compensate for blind spots in each other’s field of view, ensuring accurate color rendering for all scenes.
If color info is missing from any part of the scene, as can happen with traditional combined sensor arrangements, then overall photo resolution suffers, too, because of a lack of data, so this would improve not only color rendering but overall image quality. And the information drawn from the two chrominance sensors would also be useful in automatically correcting for distortion caused by the camera lens.
Last week, as mentioned, Apple patented dual-sensor imaging for iPhones, that would automatically combine two separate images to correct for flaws in either. Combined with this sensor design, it begins to be apparent that Apple is doing lots of work on the imaging side of its mobile offerings. The iPhone has long been held up as an example of the best camera in smartphones, but competitors are starting to focus innovation on their own camera designs, the Lumia 1020 being probably the most recent memorable example.
Apple probably doesn’t have much to fear from Windows Phone devices, feature rich as they may be, but a significant camera improvement is a good way to attract customers with something new. Don’t expect changes like these to iPhone cameras coming in the next update this fall, but definitely consider this an area to watch over the next few years.
If you’re a photographer, professional or hobbyist, you probably know that you can accumulate gear costs quickly. All those costs can be hard to keep track of, making it imperative that you get your stuff insured and/or protected against theft somehow. New site Lenstag wants to help with that.
The website already has users in more than 80 countries and is free to use. Photographers can get in on it by signing up with a simple email and password combo, and then you just start adding gear. Enter a make and model, and suggestions will appear allowing you to be specific. You also enter in your serial code, which the site requires photographic evidence of to verify. An actual person does the final verification, which is why Lenstag isn’t your average possession database.
Lenstag having this information means you can give eBay buyers more peace of mind, and then actually transfer ownership to other Lenstag members. You can also report stolen gear, which allows people to look it up when they recover or find stolen gear, including police departments and private buyers shopping on Craigslist, for instance. Additionally, every piece of gear gets an auto-generate page designed to float up in search results, so that if someone is checking out a perspective search on a particular model of lens or camera with your serial number, they’ll see a notice that it’s stolen and get a form to submit a report.
The site introduced a new feature that lets you make a temporary verification link for their online sales of used camera goods, which is handy since you don’t want the listing hanging around once the gear is already sold. In general, it’s an amazing service and one that requires nothing more than a small amount of extra effort for a lot of extra peace of mind.
Lenstag founder Trevor Sehrer, whose day job is in mobile engineering with Google, told me that he plans on doing outreach to form official partnerships with police services soon, after first focusing on building out additional user-facing features. The Finnish Police have already endorsed Lenstag without any prompting, he notes, so it should make sense to start with them. When asked about revenue, however Sehrer demurred.
“I’m much more interested in solving the problem of camera and lens theft with Lenstag than making money,” he said. “The site doesn’t cost a lot of time or money to operate since users only need it when their set of gear changes and the verification system can scale quickly to as many verifiers as I need to get through any backlog.”
He is eventually looking at partnering with insurance providers, but the aim would be to pass on discounts to members of up to 20 percent, not necessarily to make revenue for the site itself.
As a photographer, I find this a very welcome resource, especially given its design and human-powered verification. I can imagine a time when asking for a Lenstag verification will be standard practice when buying and selling used gear, and I’m sure other photographers would appreciate the peace of mind that could come along with that.
OPPO will take on Samsung’s Galaxy Camera with the new OPPO N-Lens range, the company has confirmed, with what are expected to be new Android-based smart snappers to challenge traditional point-and-shoots. The N-Lens line-up will be the “most important flagship series for Oppo going forward” the Chinese company told Engadget, as well as confirming there’d be cellular connectivity.
Exactly what OS the OPPO cameras will use is unclear, though the most likely option is Android given the company has some experience using Google’s platform. Beyond that, the only other tidbit is chatter of both a high-resolution sensor and strong low-light performance in a previous Android Authority leak.
So-called smart cameras have taken a number of different approaches in recent months. The Samsung Galaxy Camera, for instance, effectively replaced the in-house OS in one of Samsung’s existing cameras with Android and paired it with an LTE radio for data-only use; however, the more recent Galaxy S4 Zoom – which we reviewed earlier this month – attempted to blur the lines a little more between camera and phone, including both an optical zoom and voice call support.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s Galaxy NX interchangeable lens camera sticks to the original Galaxy Camera pattern, though with more ambitious optics.
Right now, it seems OPPO is viewing the N-Lens range as cameras first, which might indicate connectivity limited to getting photos off the device and shared on social networking services. The company has already experimented with high-resolution sensors on phones, putting a 13-megapixel CMOS into the OPPO Find 5 for instance.
Beyond that, we don’t know pricing or availability for the N-Lens, though it’s possible OPPO could aim for an IFA 2013 launch in a few months time.
OPPO N-Lens smart cameras to take on Samsung’s Android snappers is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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Apple has just 
