Hasta La Gadget!

Magic Lantern’s brought some miraculous features to Canon EOS DSLRs lately, including RAW video recording on the 5D Mark III, and video recording, period, to the 50D. Its latest feat is no less amazing, even for jaded DSLR shooters. By exploiting unused dual ISO amplifiers on a sensor chip in the Canon 5D Mark III and 7D, new firmware allows you to record lighter parts of a scene at ISO 100 and darker portions at ISO 1600. It works with RAW video and stills on the 5D III and RAW stills only on the 7D, with both requiring post-processing after capture. That bit of creative coding increases the dynamic range of both cameras to around 14, though not without some drawbacks. Namely, the 7D implementation is buggy for now, you’ll lose some resolution while gaining aliasing in shadows and highlights, and won’t be able to check critical focus by zooming in. Still, the organization has a track record of quickly improving new features — so, if you’ve got the guts to risk voiding your warranty, hit the source.

Filed under: Cameras

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Via: planet5D

Source: Magic Lantern

If you are intrigued by the Nokia Lumia 1020’s wild camera, you no doubt wonder what lies underneath the circular 41-megapixel bulge. Zeiss, the maker of the Lumia 1020’s lens, did us all the kindness of slicing the teeny camera right down the middle so we could all see inside!

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SD cards are a dime a dozen, so any new entrants need a pretty juicy hook to get our ears pricked. Toshiba’s Exceria Pro cards mightn’t have any wireless or special transfer features, but they do claim to take the “world’s fastest” title for one basic spec: write speeds. Intended for top-level cameras, the Pro SDHC cards will come in 16GB and 32GB configurations and tout the UHS-II high-speed standard for achieving write speeds of 240MB per second. Launching alongside the Pro options will be a couple of Exceria SDXC cards with capacities of 32GB or 64GB. Also UHS-II compliant, these have maximum write speeds of 120MB per second; data read speeds of all Exceria cards top out at 260MB per second. They’ll be available in “major markets worldwide,” but will arrive in Japan first, with the Pro cards launching in October before the regular Exceria models in November. Pricing info isn’t available right now, but we imagine they’ll be a little more expensive than the standard cards tucked away in your point-and-shoot.

Filed under: Cameras, Storage

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Source: Toshiba

Assuming you haven’t given up on the idea, you’ll soon be able to buy a Lytro light field camera in the UK — even though it’s been on US shelves since early last year. To remind you, it works by combining a fixed f/2.0, 8x optical zoom lens with an 11-“megaray” sensor to create a layered 1,080 x 1,080 “living picture,” in which the focus can be changed later by viewers. For those who waited all this time, there is a consolation: Lytro recently enabled the camera’s WiFi chip, allowing you to see images on any iOS device via a companion app. The 8GB model in graphite, electric blue, seaglass or moxie pink will run £399, while a 16GB offering in “red hot” will be priced at £469. You can grab one after July 22nd at Dixons Travel, Harrods or John Lewis — to see how it works, check a sample image after the break.

Filed under: Cameras

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Via: Lytro

The problem with most compact tripods is that while highly portable, they’re really only useful for supporting lighter cameras like point-and-shoots or smartphones. But most people who’d actually need and use a tripod are probably shooting with heavier DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. So Manfrotto created the Pixi: a decent compromise between a full-sized tripod and a compact set of sticks that doesn’t sacrifice usefulness for size.

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