Hasta La Gadget!

Sony’s panoramic sweep feature already works surprisingly well, giving you great panoramas just by hitting the shutter and swooshing the camera across the scene before you. Now, with a firmware update, the brand-new mirrorless NEX cameras will do the same, only in 3D.

The firmware update is available for the NEX3 and NEX5 cameras, and also brings faster startup times in low light, a better 2D pano-sweep and “decreased power drain when the camera is switched off” (which I assume means that a Sony engineer looked up the word “off” in a dictionary).

But the exciting bit is the 3D panorama function, which will let you view the photos in 3D on a 3D Bravia TV, or any other 3D-capable set. How does it work? Sony fails to enlighten us, but it’s pretty easy to work out. Normal stereoscopic photos are taken by combining two images, usually snapped by two lenses and viewed by separate eyes. Sony’s cameras have just one lens, so some digital trickery is required.

When shooting 2D panoramas, the camera fires off a series of frames as you sweep the camera over the scene. To add another dimension, the camera most likely uses the camera’s accelerometer combined with image data taken from different angles (in the frames you have just shot) to work out what the eyes would see from different points. These can then generate a 3D image.

We’ll be interested to see just how good the effect is, but if it is anything like as seamless as the 2D panoramas, then this could prove to be more than just a gimmick. It is also free, if you have the camera (and a 3DTV). Available now.

Sony NEX 3D firmware update [Sony]

3D update for Sony’s NEX-5/NEX-3 cameras Free firmware adds 3D Sweep Panorama shooting [Sony]

See Also:

• Sony's NEX Mirrorless Cameras Are the Smallest in the World …
• Lens Adapters Put Leica, Nikon, Canon Lenses on Sony NEX
• Sony Puts NEX SLR Sensor in Camcorder

Photo: piszkosfreddy/Flickr

The Stampy Digital Camera reminds me of those old “How To Draw Comic-Books” guides. You’d get a step one (stick men), step two (circles and rectangles) and a step three (the amazing, finished artwork). Somewhere there was a missing step 2.5, which was where the actual magic happened.

The Stampy also has this missing step. The camera takes a picture (step 1). You then pull it apart to reveal a rubber-stamp and ink-pad within (step 2) and then you simply slap it down onto a piece of paper to get a monochrome rendition of the photo you took (step 3). The missing step: How on earth does your picture get turned from photons of light into nodules of rubber?

It’s a real shame, as this instant-printing concept is clearly in the spirit of the original Polaroid. I suspect it will never be made until the designer, Jinhee Kim, actually invents a mechanism for then inside instead of relying on an a sprinkling of pixie-dust to make it happen.

In the meantime, I’d like to offer my own invention. It’s a teleportation device which will surely terrify the travel industry with its promise of free, instantaneous transportation. So far I have an almost working prototype made from two phone-booths, one in New York and one in London. Step one: You just walk in and dial the right number. Step 2: Poof! You’re gone. Step 3: a quick bagel for lunch. It’s almost done. I just need to work out step 2.5.

Digital Picture Now Comes Stamped [Yanko]

The lens is the most important part of your camera. It controls everything about the light that hits the sensor short of the length of the shutter speed. It is much better to put a great lens on a cheap camera than the other way around, something which goes frustratingly unheeded: just check a few photo forums to see people sticking crappy kit lenses onto Nikon D700s and Canon 5D MkIIs.

That’s not to say that Samyang’s range of lenses for Samsung’s mirrorless NX-series are bad. Without testing we won’t know for sure, but experience says that own-brand lenses are best, followed by those from top-tier third party makers like Sigma.

Three lenses are being ported to the Samsung mount. An 8mm ƒ3.5, a 14mm ƒ2.8 and an 85mm ƒ1.4. Of these, the 8mm would seem to be the most interesting. It will come in at around 12mm (35mm equivalent) on the NX APS-C sensor, and usually the main point with a fisheye is impact rather than absolute quality. The price has not yet been announced but the lens can be had for as little as $350 in other mounts.

The 85mm, on the other hand, is a flat-out portrait lens and goes for around $400. In this case, quality needs to be high. If Samyang manages this, then the ƒ1.4 lens will be an absolute bargain.

Tempted? Think twice. There is one huge drawback when using the lenses on a modern camera: No autofocus. This will probably be fine for the fisheye, but try that with the insanely shallow depth-of-field that an 85mm ƒ1.4 will give you and you’ll learn a thing or two about manual focussing and just how wobbly your hands really are.

Product page [Samyang via BJP]

See Also:

• Zero to Hero: Five New NX Lenses Put Samsung in the Game
• Do Mirrorless Cameras Spell the Death of DSLRs?
• Sony's NEX Mirrorless Cameras Are the Smallest in the World …

When you think of Polaroid, you probably picture the SX-70 OneStep Land Camera above, once the best selling camera in the US. If you had been awake yesterday, you could have bought one. Not any old reproduction, but a factory original, put together from real Polaroid parts by the folks at the Impossible Project, who got bought up the ruins of the Polaroid empire and resurrected it. Or at least brought it coughing and spluttering into life for long enough to figure out its secrets.

The Impossible Project already makes film for your Polaroid, but this SX-70, originally produced from 1977-1982, was a chance to buy history. It sold out within hours of appearing on Photojojo proving that, even at $210 and despite the attempted destruction of the Polaroid brand by its current owners, many of us still have a soft spot for the iconic camera.

The limited edition consisted of 50 hand-numbered camera complete with two packs of PX 100 First Flush Film. Fortunately for those now desperate to do some instant shooting, this film can be had for $21 per pack of eight exposures: all you need to do is visit your local thrift store and grab an old camera.

Impossible Project [Impossible]

Vintage Polaroid SX-70 OneStep Land Camera [Photojojo via Uncrate]

See Also:

• Impossible Project
• Nostalgia in a Box: Polaroid SX-70 Camera
• Polaroid Fans Plan to Restart Instant Film Production
• Polaroid Lives! New Camera Uses Real Instant Film
• Polaroid Resurrects Instant Film Cameras
• ShakeIt Brings Polaroid Pictures to the iPhone
• Beautiful Polaroid Camera Sculpted in Lego

For this week’s Shooting Challenge, I asked you to capture moments without all the posing and preplanning. And I will say, every one of the results offers an interesting look into the life of another. More »