Hasta La Gadget!

Yesterday, Sony teased us with one of their new upcoming camcorders that will be able to shoot in 4K, and they’re unveiling it on October 30. The company posted a teaser on their Facebook page that shows us a photo of the new 4K camcorder (albeit dimmed, so you can only see the logo), as well as a little bit of information about what the new camcorder will be able to do.

Come October 30, we should be getting some more information about this new addition to Sony’s CineAlta range of professional camcorders that will be called “TheNewF” according to the teaser. It also gives away some features of the upcoming camcorder like 4K shooting capability, high frame rates, 4:2:2 color space, and a 50Mbps data rate.

4K also goes by “Ultra HD” and boasts a resolution of 4000×3000, which is the typical resolution of photos from most point-and-shoot cameras. The technology is gaining ground, but it still has a long way to go before it becomes practical. The resolution is still way too powerful for general broadcasting, and it requires specialized cameras that are just beginning to find their way into the marketplace.

However, depending on what the final product ends up being, “TheNewF” may just be a camcorder that takes a big step forward with 4K, and hopefully Sony’s commitment to 4K will result in more practical applications for the technology in the not-so-distant future. However, we’ll have to wait and see what the company has in store at the end of the month before jumping to conclusions.

[via Engadget]

Sony teases 4K CineAlta camcorder for October 30 event is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’re one of the more daring (or foolhardy) photographers out there, you’ve tried camera tossing: hurling your camera into the air in the hopes that a timed shot will catch either a unique perspective or an artistic spin. Nikon might not want to stop those shooters from throwing caution to the wind, but its recently published Japanese patent would at least keep those throws to a minimum. Cameras based on the patent could use a built-in accelerometer not just for timing the shot, but to brace for a fall by covering the lens and retracting its barrel on the way down. In theory, the photographer gets a perfect aerial portrait without all the guesswork and a minimum of damage. Call us skeptical that we’ll ever see the patent reach a shipping product, though — even if it was limited to rugged cameras, a mode built almost exclusively around voiding the warranty probably wouldn’t sit well with Nikon’s accountants.

[Image credit: Zoli B, Flickr]

Filed under: Cameras, Nikon

Nikon patent would perfect the art of camera tossing, protect us from our folly originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony has announced roughly 2,000 job losses and the closure of a manufacturing plant in Japan, as the company continues in attempts to streamline production and save cash. The decision – which will impact the Minokama Site currently responsible for producing interchangeable lenses and lens assemblies, as well as bring forward retirement dates for staff in multiple Japanese facilities – will contribute to the 30 billion yen ($378m) cost cutting program Sony hopes to achieve.

The job losses will take place at Sony Corporation, Sony EMCS Corp, and “other major consolidated electronics subsidiaries” in Japan, with Sony estimating around 2,000 people will leave the firm by the end of the 2012 financial year. Half of the losses are expected to be of staff working in “support functions” with around 20-percent from Sony headquarters and around 20-percent from the Home Entertainment and Sound Business Group, including Sony’s struggling TV division.

As for the plant closure, that’s part of Sony’s ongoing consolidation toward focusing on smartphones and phasing out featurephone production. The Minokama Site currently produces both camera lenses and cellphone camera blocks and directly employs 840 people; production of those components will shift to the EMCS Corp Kohda Site, with any camera blocks not intended for smartphones likely being discontinued along the way.

The Minokama Site will close by the end of March 2013, Sony estimates. Overall, the personnel changes are part of a plan to cut 10,000 Sony staff in the run up to the end of March 2013, with 3,000-4,000 of those losses expected to be in Japan.

Sony to shut Japanese camera plant and shed 2,000 jobs is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Canon first announced its new EOS-1D X DSLR camera aimed at the professional photographer in October of 2011. The camera was slated to launch in March of 2012 with a high-end starting price of $6800. The camera offered impressive features right out-of-the-box, including an 18-megapixel sensor and dual DIGIX 5+ processors.

The camera also offered the ability to record full HD resolution video and had a weatherproof design. Canon has announced that it now has a firmware upgrade available for the camera that adds in new features that users have been asking for. Once the new firmware supplied the digital camera is capable of AF point illumination during AI Servo AF and cross-type AF for maximum apertures as small as f/8.

The firmware update is being offered at no cost from the Canon website or the Canon factory service centers. The firmware update also allows the AF points in the viewfinder of the camera to be illuminated in red when the shutter button is pressed halfway during AI Servo AF to support the needs of photographers working in lowlight. Canon says that this feature will improve the photographer’s ability to aim the camera accurately in low light situations.

The firmware also allows an effectively expanded AF detection area size to enhance autofocus formats with subjects that are small in the frame and difficult to track such as animals or birds in flight. That is possible thanks to the four AF points surrounding the center point acting as AF Assist points. Canon says that AF points above and below the center are sensitive to vertical contrast with the points the left and right of center sensitive to horizontal contrast when AF point expansion is selected with compatible settings.

Canon offers updated firmware for EOS-1D X DSLR adding new features is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The explosion of touchscreen devices have not made the mouse obsolete. But what if you could use your finger as a mouse on any surface? That’s the point of Magic Finger, a concept device made by a team from Autodesk Research and the University of Toronto that can sense touch, motion and texture.

The Magic Finger is basically a micro RGB camera, an LED and an optical mouse sensor cobbled together. Talk about ripping off the mouse. Contrary to its name, the magic here seems to be in the software. Aside from letting you point and click on any surface, the camera can also recognize different textures, which the researchers use in a variety of ways, such as reading data, launching applications and controlling other devices. Watch the dorky demo in the video below:

I’m not too sold on the Magic Finger for a couple of reasons. First of all the Magic Finger is intrusive; the finger or hand wearing the device will be of limited use because you don’t want to damage the Magic Finger. Second, I don’t think the data matrix or the Morse code transfer is practical. That said, the shortcuts and its use as a mouse could be very practical. Perhaps those two functions could be integrated in a less intrusive device like Google Glass or Digits.

[via Autodesk Research via MAKE]