Tilt-shift photography has been a buzzy little internet thing for quite a while—but it always requires a mobile app filter, some Photoshop muckery, or an extremely expensive lens. Not anymore! This tiny cam instantly creates the real thing. More »
Film noir. The sharp, stoic imagery is almost self-parody, this overly masculine compensation for maudlin emotion. It’s also just really creepy when someone photographs a baby this way. More »
Sony announcing three NEX lenses on August 24th? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hey Sony, you hear that? Sounds like you might have another leak on your hands. We got our fourth unofficial look at Sony’s Alpha A77 this morning, and now it’s time for a little accessorizing. What you see above is reportedly a shot of a new lens adapter called the LA-EA2, which would apparently bring the outfit’s translucent mirror technology to its range of little NEX shooters. As you might recall, that mini-mirror brings with it continuous phase-detect autofocus. Of course, this is just a rumor, but it does lines up with previous reports of a forthcoming NEX-7. You know we enjoy a leak as much as the next guy, but we like hard facts even more. So what’s it going to be Sony?
Sony LA-EA2 lens adapter gets ready for its close-up in ‘leaked’ render originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 10:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sony’s lens adapter adds a mirror to mirrorless cameras
Yet another leaked new product from Sony, and yet another new lens adapter, only this time one with a twist. Or rather, one with a mirror.
The LA-EA2 lets you put Sony’s big Alpha SLR lenses onto smaller NEX cameras. This usually entails little more than making a tube with the correct fittings for lans and body. Sony’s smart take is to put a translucent mirror in there to skim a little bit of light from the image traveling to the camera. This is then sent to a phase-detection autofocus sensor in the base.
Thus, you get fast, SLR-speed focussing with a tiny, mirrorless camera. Usually the contrast-detection AF used in mirrorless cameras is pretty slow in comparison, especially when using lenses not designed with it in mind. And sure, technically the camera isn’t “mirrorless” anymore, but that’s just being picky.
This kind of mirror, called a “pellicle” mirror and used in cameras from the 1960s, is the same kind as Sony already uses in its A33 and A55 bodies, so it has been tried and tested. It’s certainly a very smart idea to put this into a lens adapter. It seems so obvious now we’ve seen it.
Sony will release also a NEX adapter LA-EA2 for A-mount lenses [Photo Rumors via Photography Bay]
At just under $40,000 for an eight camera setup, we’re hardly in hobbyist territory here, but Organic Motion’s new OpenStage 2.0 motion capture system could certainly make do in the average basement. Unlike a few competing solutions shown here at SIGGRAPH, this one actually has no backdrop mandate, and better still, doesn’t require you to latch a single sensor onto your subject. The magic lies within the cameras hung above — kits are sold that contain between eight and 24 cameras, and even the latter can be handled with a single workstation. Multi-person tracking ain’t no thang, and while you aren’t capturing HD footage here, the high-speed VGA capability enables up to 200 frames per second to be logged. Not surprisingly, the company’s aiming this squarely at the animation and medical realms, and should start shipping bundles as early as next month. Looking to take down Pixar? You’ll need a lot more than 40 large, but perhaps the video after the break will give you a bit of inspiration.
Organic Motion’s OpenStage motion capture system grabs 200FPS, no backdrop required (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The Leica aperture ring ring. Possibly the most romantic thing ever
If the Leica Guy (Matthew B. Harrison) had any doubt as to the marrying potential of his wife-to-be, it surely evaporated when he saw the wedding gift she got for him: a custom made Leica ring, modeled on a lens aperture ring.
The detail is astonishing, from the Leica typeface through to lens model (50mm Noctilux-M ƒ0.95) to the depth-of-field markings on the ring’s “barrel.”
The ring was commissioned and made by jeweler Gaelen in British Columbia, Canada, who makes custom engagement rings for people of taste. And what did the Leica Guy buy for his lovely bride? Like, some watch or whatever.
I’m totally jealous of this ring, although I’m even more jealous of the cameras the couple packed when they flew off to Italy for their honeymoon. What did they take? A pair of M9-Ps, of course.
The Leica Guy got married [The Leica Guy via PetaPixel and Leica Rumors]
When we heard about the new Phantom v1610, which shoots at a preposterous 1,000,000 fps and is probably the most powerful slow motion camera ever, we were pretty excited. Here are some of our favorite slo-mo videos ever.
Fire. It’s what separates Man from the animals, warming our hearts, fueling our engines, propelling our species to fates greater than our mammalian brethren. It’s also just really neat to look at, as proven by these 79 Shooting Challenge entries. More »
If I had a dollar for every frame the Phantom v1610 can shoot in a second, I’d be…
To call Vision Research’s new Phantom v1610 a high-speed video camera is like calling a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport “nippy.” When ordered with the equally redundantly-named FAST option, the camera will shoot video at 1 million frames per second.
To do this you’ll have to lower the resolution to a pixel-tastic 128 x 16, but even at a full HD resolution of 1280 x 800 you can capture 16,000 fps, which will be plenty for most motion-slowing tasks.
Ironically, you’ll have to control the thing with a fast finger. The maximum internal memory you can specify is 96GB. Shooting at full resolution and full speed, this will fill up in 4.19 seconds, although if you hook it up to Phantom’s Cinemag box for greater capacity.
There are plenty of other pro-level specs, with bewilderment of video formats, triggering and processing options. The biggest questions go unanswered, though. The first is the cost (you’ll most likely be renting it). The second is, what the hell could you shoot that would need 1,000,000 fps to capture?
Phantom v1610 product page [Vision Research via Twitter]
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