JVC Kenwood is going to release a new rugged action camera “GC-XA2″ from their ADIXXION series in early August. The models are dustproof, shockproof, 5m waterproof and -10℃ low-temperature resistant.
It has a full HD 1080/60p mode, 8M backside illumination CMOS image sensor, F2.4 lens, and Wi-fi function built-in, and newly features “Hi-Speed REC” mode that allows you to record 120 frames per second in full HD quality.
Price: Open price Size: W74 x H53 x D35mm Weight: 110g Image sensor: 1/3.2inch backside illumination CMOS image sensor, 7.99 million pixels Effective pixels: Moving image 7.5million〜5.9million pixels, Still image 7.5 million pixels Monitor: 1.5 inch Zoom: 5X digital zoom
Nokia’s Lumia 1020 PureView might not need an introduction, but it may need an explanation. Announced with no small amount of fanfare (and hyperbole from Nokia CEO Stephen Elop) the new Windows Phone borrows Nokia’s photography tricks from the notably-niche 808 PureView of 2012, refining it with Microsoft’s OS and a more streamlined form-factor to make an attempt at the mass-market. That mass-market will get the Lumia 1020 on AT&T from July 26, but the 41-megapixel marvel has already been on the SlashGear test bench, so read on for our full review.
Hardware
To call the Lumia 1020 the most legitimately exciting Windows Phone isn’t an exaggeration. Nokia’s big reveal really found its feet when the company showed off how the PureView phone could literally be used to spot a needle in a haystack, the impressive optical zoom promising a degree of flexibility without optical compromise that nothing else on the smartphone market today can rival.
It’s still not a small phone. The camera bulge is reduced from that of the 808 PureView, a circular swelling rather than that Symbian handset’s generally bloated chassis, but it’s noticeable in the hand and in the pocket. There are some things – like a big CMOS and the six-part optics to go with it – that simply can’t be slimmed down entirely. The white of our review unit is a whole lot more discrete than the yellow version Nokia focused on during the unveil, and the familiar Lumia polycarbonate feels sturdy but not too heavy. We might have preferred the more grown-up styling of the Lumia 925, but the 1020 doesn’t embarrass itself.
Face on, and the Lumia 1020 looks like the Lumia 920 before it. Inside, things are much in keeping with that existing handset too. You get a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960 processor paired with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, along with a 4.5-inch 720p Super AMOLED touchscreen that has both impressive viewing angles and good outdoor visibility thanks to Nokia’s ClearBlack Display technology. It’s also one of the company’s Super Sensitive panels, promising to remain usable even if you’re wearing gloves.
LTE is supported on the AT&T review model we’ve been testing, along with HSPA+ and GSM/EDGE. You also get WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, and GPS, plus a 2-megapixel front-facing camera with a wide-angle lens above the display. Physical controls include the dedicated camera key that Microsoft mandates – here with two levels to lock the focus – along with a volume rocker and power/lock key. Ports include microUSB and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Software
Windows Phone 8 is a known quotient by now, already having taken the third spot in the smartphone charts, albeit still trailing Android and iOS considerably. The promise is better integration for those using Windows 8 on their desktop, notebook, or tablet, and Xbox for their gaming, though right now the actual extent of that symbiosis is relatively shallow.
Instead, you’re left with a mobile platform that is cleanly designed, highly approachable for new users, and – if you spend some time experimenting with the resizable Live Tiles of the homescreen – surprisingly flexible, though which continues to lag behind in app availability. The Windows Phone Market is getting bigger all the time, but developers still generally look to Google and Apple first, and that means that, while Microsoft’s platform is gaining in big-name titles, it’s usually with a delay from their appearance elsewhere.
Nokia has been doing its best to fill in the gaps, particularly with its location-based services provisions, and the HERE suite is surprisingly capable. There’s offline navigation, complete with turn-by-turn voice prompts, along with an augmented reality-style search system for points of interest which overlays venue information on top of a real-time view from the 1020′s camera. Like Google Maps, you can see public transportation options, too; Nokia allows you to pin common journeys to the homescreen, the Live Tiles of which show the next departure time.
Our long-standing feelings about Windows Phone still stand, however. It’s approachable but still feels immature, not helped by patchy third-party support. The situation is getting better, but it takes something stand-out to make the OS more appealing; thankfully that’s just what the 1020 PureView offers, in the shape of its camera.
Camera
Until you dive into the new Pro Camera app, it’s business as usual. It’s the new camera interface that we’re most impressed by, replacing Microsoft’s mediocre default with something that does a far better job of blending point-and-shoot simplicity with the sort of advanced features photography enthusiasts tempted by the PureView system might want to see.
Nokia overlays the key settings – white balance, ISO (100-3200), exposure, shutter speed, and more – in an array of concentric rings. It’s a system we’ve seen Samsung use on the Galaxy Camera, but where Nokia has diverged is in making each ring transparent, so that you can still frame the shot. Even better, the preview changes in real-time as you adjust each setting, making it abundantly clear how you’re affecting the end-result.
The outcome is an immediacy and clarity of settings that other smartphone cameras can’t compete with: rather than jumping between the settings page and the preview screen, in a trial-and-error manner, you see exactly what will happen with the changes you’re making. Nokia has said the Pro Camera app will appear on its other PureView-branded phones, and it undoubtedly won’t be long before it’s cloned for rival devices, but we can’t bring ourselves to be too upset about that since it’s a system we already wish was ubiquitous.
Although 41-megapixels is the headline number, Nokia actually aims for roughly 5-megapixel shots. By doing so – and keeping file size down, important since the Lumia 1020;s 32GB of internal storage is non-expandable – the Windows Phone can offer a lossless digital zoom, up to 3x in fact. Sliding a finger up and down the display zooms in and out.
However, it’s also possible to do post-photography lossless zooming, as the Lumia 1020 can actually capture both a 34-megapixel and 5-megapixel pair of originals simultaneously. It’s not a perfect metaphor, but in effect the higher-resolution image is the negative, and the lower-res the final print: by working with the “negative” the Lumia can offer the same lossless editing later on, cropping out a different 5-megapixel chunk however you please.
It’s a potential game-changer. Nokia calls this sort of post-shot editing “computational photography” but for most users it’s going to feel more like magic. You can effectively forget about initial framing and instead just snap the scene, and then come back to the image later and pull out the particularly interesting parts at your leisure. The Pro Camera app also supports basic editing tools, including straightening the frame if your aim is lax or the part you subsequently decide is most interesting isn’t at the same orientation as the overall picture.
It actually takes a little time to get out of the habit of laboriously setting up the framing before you fire off a shot. Until now, the most flexibility you’ve had working with digital images has been either tweaking the settings on a RAW file, or perhaps jumping around focus points with a Lytro. Neither can be the most intuitive experience, however, unlike how smoothly Pro Camera works on the Lumia 1020.
Click each image to compare full size versus zoom or cropped
Things aren’t quite perfect, though. It’s not so much the PureView system as the horsepower Nokia brings to run it all: Microsoft’s limitations around hardware means that the Lumia 1020 effectively has an 18 month old processor to power things. The Snapdragon S4 was new in early 2012, but is certainly showing its age now, and while it’s sufficient for keeping the homescreen Live Tiles running smoothly, Pro Camera is asking a lot more from it.
Even with 2GB of RAM, PureView experiences delays. It’s most obvious when you’re saving images, impacting shot-to-shot time. Whereas with rival phones you can keep hitting the shutter button and fire off frame after frame (admittedly at lower resolution), on the Lumia 1020 there’s a roughly 3.5s pause when the handset saves both the 34-megapixel and 5-megapixel pair. During that time, you can’t do anything with the phone, not even start playing with the settings for your next image.
Unfortunately, the lag is even noticeable when you’re shooting in 5-megapixel mode only, though there it’s reduced to around 3s. It stands at complete odds with Nokia’s own Lumia 925 (which also bears PureView branding, though “makes do” with an 8.1-megapixel sensor and optical image stabilization, and lacks the lossless zooming feature) where back-to-back shots are practically instantaneous.
So, the liberation from having to frame images is undermined, somewhat, by the knowledge that if you snap a photo at the wrong time, you’ll have to wait a short while before you can make a second attempt. Three and a half seconds might not sound like much, but if you’re spending it watching your subject do entertaining or interesting things that you simply can’t capture, it starts to get very noticeable.
Click each image to compare full size versus zoom or cropped
It’s tough to see the lag, as frustrating as it is, as a deal-breaker when you see the quality of the images the Lumia 1020 produces, though. The post-shot reframing would be pointless if the overall pictures coming out of the camera weren’t high-quality, but they look fantastic. It’s worth remembering that, if you don’t use the zoom to get in close, you get to take advantage of what Nokia calls “oversampling”: data from multiple clustered pixels in the high-res original is combined to get a more accurate final pixel in the 5-megapixel shot. The more clustered pixels the Lumia 1020 has to work with (i.e. the less zooming you’ve done), the better the final shot.
The takeaway, then, is that not all PureView images are created equal. Used with no zooming whatsoever, and in standard 5-megapixel mode, and you get the most oversampling benefit; at maximum zoom, or when you’re working with maximum resolution images, you get no oversampling at all.
As for video, there’s a persistent frustration at not being able to shoot stills while simultaneously recording video, but otherwise the 1020 PureView is capable of some solid 1080p recording. Audio quality is particularly notable, and the noise cancellation is effective.
Phone and Battery
Nokia outfits the Lumia 1020 with a 2,000 mAh battery, though that can be expanded using the optional camera grip which integrates an external power-pack, but which wasn’t available for our review. Alone, longevity depends greatly on what you’re asking the Nokia to do. With push-email turned on, and a typical mixture of calls, messaging, browsing, navigation, some photography, and multimedia playback, the Lumia 1020 lasted a regular day.
Lean on the camera, however, particular the Xenon flash, and you’ll find the power is crunched through more rapidly. Nokia’s “computational” approach to photography takes its toll on the processor, and that has an impact on how long the phone will last. With heavy use of the PureView-related features, we needed a top-up on the battery by late afternoon.
As for calls, we had no problems on AT&T’s voice network, with no dropped calls and good background noise cancellation from the Lumia 1020′s dual microphones.
Wrap-Up
It’s clear that the Lumia 1020 isn’t for everyone. The size of the phone, although considerably improved over the 808, is still more of a pocket-filler than the flagships running iOS and Android, and while the PureView system itself is impressive, not everybody needs the flexibility that it offers.
Yet it’s a legitimate halo product for Nokia, and a fitting device to bear the PureView brand. Where the Lumia 92x series spurred arguments over whether they were “true” PureView, given their more mainstream sensor sizes, the Lumia 1020 has no such crisis of identity. Fire off a frame at the right time, and the phone is capable of simply superlative shots, easily embarrassing just about every other smartphone camera out there on the market today, not to mention many point-and-shoot compacts.
Our reservations are down to the core hardware – and here we blame Microsoft, not so much Nokia – however, and the processing delay introduced as PureView’s computational demands bump against Windows Phone’s chip limits. The lag between shots is the big fly in the Lumia’s ointment, and there’s a sense that Nokia’s rush to get PureView and Windows Phone working together wasn’t quite matched with Microsoft’s own urgency to green-light newer, more capable processors.
It’s that, more than anything, that keeps the Nokia Lumia 1020 in its niche position. Stomach the intermittent pauses and the PureView camera system is incredible, but everyday users convinced by Windows Phone might find the Lumia 925 offers a better balance of optics, usability, and design. Nonetheless, when PureView delivers, it’s hard not to be charmed by Nokia’s photography obsession.
A pen-shaped video camera that is able to shoot 1080p full HD video is now out from Thanko.
Videos or photos you take are saved on a micro SD card inside of the pen-shaped video camera, and by connecting a big-screen LCD TV and miniHDMI terminal located in the upper part of the video camera with a HDMI cable (sold separately), you can watch the videos and photos easily.
The pen-shaped video camera also has a USB terminal built-in so that you can connect it to your PC directly and then you can charge its battery or use it as a card reader.
The pen clip part is used for the lens’s protection cover.
For your information, you can actually use it as a pen.
Thanko just released a telephoto camera called “APOLLO2″ with 30X optical zoom. You can take a good photos or videos of objects that are roughly 40 meters away. Photos and videos you take are saved on a SD card (sold separately).
By using the accompanying tripod stand, you don’t need to worry much about camera shakes.
Price: ¥19,800 Camera body size: W100 x D28 x H60 mm, 145 g Lens size: 31(diameter) x L110 mm, 118 g Power source: AAA battery x 3 Interface: YSB2.0 Still image resolution: 4032×3024 / 3472×2604 / 2560×1920 / 2048×1536 / 1280×960 / 640×480 Moving image resolution: 640×480 / 320×240, 30fps Screen: 2.4inch TFT LCD Lens: 10X – 30X Optical zoom, F3.0
Canon hasn’t been at the center of rumors lately, but it’s said that the company is working on an extremely impressive camera that’s almost too good to be true. Canon is reportedly testing a new DSLR with a pro-sized body similar to that of the 1D X, but what’s most impressive is that the camera boasts a 75MP sensor.
According to Photography Bay, sources are saying that testing of the new camera is underway right now, and while the camera will be similar to the 1D X, this unnamed DSLR will have a higher frame rate than the 1D X, and it’s rear display will be “shockingly high resolution”.
It’s also said that the camera may be announced later this year, with a 2014 release time window planned. However, it’s important to note that just because Canon is testing a camera, doesn’t mean that it’ll actually make it to the market, but we have no reason to believe that Canon wouldn’t release an extremely-high megapixel camera at some point.
Of course, we’ve heard rumblings in the past about the Canon EOS 1S, which is said to pack a 47MP sensor, so we’re guessing that Canon’s next-generation camera will most likely be just that. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if a 75MP camera eventually was released at some point in the future.
Megapixels aren’t everything, though, as we’ve seen with smartphone cameras, but a 75MP sensor would make for some high-resolution shots. We’re taking this rumor with a grain of salt, but also with a sense that one day we’ll see a camera with that kind of performance hit the market at some point.
Hasselblad’s strategy of sprucing up Sony cameras must be paying off — that would explain Photo Rumors‘ apparent leak of the Stellar, a Hasselblad take on the RX100. The already high-end compact cam will reportedly switch to a tan metallic body and offer several choices of exotic grip material, including carbon fiber and padouk wood. There’s no mention of functional upgrades over the Sony original, though. As with the Lunar, we’re more likely to see a price hike instead — Photo Rumors claims the Stellar should launch on July 26th for between $1,600 to $3,200, which would limit it to particularly well-heeled photographers.
With the latest deliverable in NAS technology we’ve got the LenovoEMC PX2-300d with Milestone Arcus Network Video Recorder software embedded, complete with hardware you might recognize as a rather close relative of the Iomega PX2-300d in both looks and function – to a point. This is because both PX2-300d units are essentially made of the same basics on the outside, working now with the company’s upgraded brand name (LenovoEMC) and taking on the mantel of big-power small-footprint NAS for SMB. Here we’ve also got the very first NVR (network video recorder) to feature Milestone Arcus; video management software that makes the whole process as quick and easy as possible.
Hardware
While we’re not going to do a full-on comparison of this model to the PX2-300d we reviewed in the past, we can say this – even here seven months after we had that look, this NAS performs as good as ever. And for a machine that’ll be spending most of its time hidden away from the everyday eyes of the public, it certainly isn’t a half-bad looking unit to look at, either.
Inside the PX2-300d you’ll be working with an Intel D525 Atom dual-core 1.8GHz paired with 2GB of RAM. This architecture is paired with two enterprise-glass drives able to be configured at either RAID 0 or 1, both behind a lock-able door with an array of round holes for regular airflow.
With this door open you’ll be able to access two pop-out trays that are rather easy to work with while they lock in tight when you’re not making a switch. These trays support both 2.5- and 3.5-inch drives.
Also up front you’ll find an LCD display which shows off the basics – time and date when you don’t need the rest – network IP address or used/available capacity when your getting ready to connect or check your space. Display access is served by a single standard VGA out on this machine’s back working with MindTree software interface.
Also at this hardware’s back are two USB 2.0 ports, two ethernet ports (so you can connect two separate internet sources in case one fails, for example), and a power port. There’s also a teeny-tiny reset button there as well. The backside also features a rather silent-running fan that’ll blow air through the whole construct real slick – especially given the straight-shot openness from the back to the front. The front also features a single USB 3.0 port for good measure.
Software
Configuration of this system is extremely easy, especially when you’ve got a set of eyes as simple as the M1011 Axis Network Camera unit we’ve been provided. This system is able to work with a total of 20 surveillance cameras at once, the system attaching to them each with Milestone’s Arcus system with a simple icon for each camera.
NOTE: This setup supports a wide variety of cameras from several major brands – Axis, Bosch, ACTi, Canon, Panasonic, & others, and several different connections work as well. IP cameras (both Fixed & PTZ), USB, and analog cameras (connected via IP encoder) are all set to work right out of the box.
Each camera appears (if connected to your personal network) automatically. You can also do a simple search for any “missing” cameras found by their IP address as well, while a single configuration button appears for each of them offering up a collection of controls for Video like Codec (H.264 or MPEG-4, for example), Frames per second, and Resolution.
Each camera is attached to its unique given name and also has options for Recording and Motion Detection where applicable. You can set a single camera’s retention time for a certain period of time for a week and another for a period of minutes, and each camera’s disk usage is made plain from the front.
In addition to Arcus working on the base beast here, there’s both Android and iPhone/iPad apps made to access your camera network on the go. NOTE: At the moment the Android app doesn’t appear to be active, but we’ll let you know when it’s back up and running – it works essentially the same as the iOS app, in the end.
As it was when we first reviewed the PX2-300d, complete with its software build back then, this configuration affords you the ability to access data in your personal cloud with Amazon S3, Mozy Pro, and EMC Atmos. Axis Video Hosting is also available while OS X users may want to opt for an Apple Time Machine backup solution – every test we’ve performed with each of these connections has worked just as well as the last so far – including massive files from one location to another inside our own personal network.
In testing this drive for raw speed on a gigabit ethernet connection, this LenovoEMC PX2-300d unit kicked out 80 MB/s write speeds and 75 MB/s read speeds on average. That should be plenty fast for your standard SMB or home network needs on a regular basis.
Wrap-up
You’ll find this particular solution – complete with Milestone Arcus software – ringing in at $1,000 USD with four camera licenses attached. The majority of this cost kicked in with the drives and the Milestone Arcus software above the case on its own, but it’s the final amalgamation of software and hardware here that makes the case for a solid small network surveillance solution – you’ll want it all in the end.
This configuration includes a full year of Milestone Arcus software updates for free, and as the case is made to allow a variety of drives flipped in-and-out with ease, you can rest easy knowing you’ll be ready for any hardware upgrades you need in the future as well. While LenovoEMC lets it be known that several solutions are available for those with larger needs, this most “basic” package is exactly the place we’d be sarting. Unless of course you need a four-drive PX4-300d with 8TB and 16 camera licenses, of course – they’ve got that configuration available immediately if not soon, as well.
A new technology that could make its way to production cars is being tested in a handful of Ford police interceptors. The new tech is called “Surveillance Mode,” and it essentially gives police officers eyes in the back of their heads when they’re in their cars to prevent sudden sneak-ups coming from the rear.
It’s a fairly simple technology and it uses current rear cameras used for backing up to detect movement going on behind the car. When it detects a person moving in the camera’s view, the inside of the car makes a beeping noise and all the doors automatically lock and the windows automatically roll up to prevent any possibly sudden attacks.
The technology is obviously designed to keep police officers safer while they’re out on patrol, especially when they’re alone. Interestingly enough, the idea for this was thought up by Ford engineer Randy Freiburger who went on a ride-along with a police office in Los Angeles. The officer had to get out of the car to chase down a suspect on foot, leaving Freiburger alone in the car.
A screen in the rear-view mirror shows the video footage of the rear camera, and unlike in production cars when the camera is only enabled in reverse gear, this camera can stay on at all times and remain activated until the driver chooses to disable the feature when it isn’t needed.
The technology will come standard in all 2014 Ford police cars, and older models can have the system retrofitted for just a few hundred dollars. No word on whether or not this technology will make it to production cars at some point, but everyday drivers could certainly benefit from such a feature to prevent robberies and carjackings.
It hasn’t exactly been a runaway hit with consumers, but on a technical level the Lytro camera introduced some brilliant innovation to the world of digital photography. Its revolutionary optics capture an almost infinite depth of field letting you adjust focus to whatever’s in the frame when you’re post-processing. But as researchers from Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany, have demonstrated with a new camera accessory, the Lytro is just the tip of the iceberg.
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