Hasta La Gadget!

[CES 2013] Just in case the Olympus SZ-15 wasn’t good enough to meet your photography demands, then perhaps it slightly higher-end sibling the STYLUS SZ-16 iHS might be of interest to you. The STYLUS SZ-16 iHS camera will sport a 16MP CMOS image sensor along with a slightly faster processor to match in the form of the TruePic VI Image Processor. It also features a CMOS sensor which is an upgrade over the CCD one featured on the SZ-15. The STYLUS SZ-16 iHS is also capable of a 24x optical zoom, but takes it one step further by offering 48x super res zoom, allowing photographers to get in even closer than before.
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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nikon D5200 US Availability Announced For Late January 2013, Olympus Stylus SH-50 iHS Point-And-Shoot Camera Announced With 5-Axis Video Stabilization ,

Fujifilm has announced a couple of new compact shooters here at CES, the X20 and the X100S. Camera aficionados have been waiting a while for a successor to the X100, and it’s finally here. Specifically, Fujifilm is claiming that the X100S has the world’s fastest auto-focus of any camera, with a 0.8-second AF.

The X100S also has the new X-Trans APS-C CMOS II 16MP sensor, and it appears to have the same f/2 lens as the X100, which will provide a 35mm equivalent due to the APS-C. As for aperture, the lens won’t give you the depth of field of a 35mm f/2, but rather a 24mm f/2. The sensor of the X100S promises “performance comparable to full-frame output,” as well as a hybrid viewfinder that combines both an optical and EVF. There’s also a new Digital Split Image display that displays dual images on the left and right to help with manual focusing.

The X20 is the successor to the X10, and it packs a 12MP 2/3-inch X-Trans CMOS II sensor, with a non-hybrid “advanced” optical viewfinder, and an f/2.0-2.8 4x manual barrel zoom lens. Plus, it has the ability to shoot 1080p full HD video at 60fps, which is certainly nice to have.

Fujifilm announces new X20 and X100S at CES 2013 is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Lytro, maker of the “world’s first” consumer-level light field camera, has announced that it will release Living Filters and Perspective Shift for the device on December 4. The new features will be available via the Lytro Desktop application, which is free. Using these new features, users will be able to change a picture’s point of view after it has been taken, while the filters will give photographers one of nine options for changing a photo’s appearance.

Perspective Shift allows Lytro camera users to alter a photo’s point of view after it has been taken. Viewers can then move the “living image” around, no special application necessary, meaning photographers can share the interactive images with the general public. In addition, the Perspective Shift feature can be used retroactively on pictures taken with the Lytro light field camera.

Lytro’s founder and Executive Chairman Ren Ng offered this statement. “By capturing the light field, the Lytro camera lets photographers achieve things that were never before possible. The first groundbreaking capability was focusing pictures after they were taken and now we are excited to offer Perspective Shift, which brings living pictures to life in an entirely new way.”

As for the Living Filters, users will have eight options: Carnival, Crayon, Glass, Line Art, Mosaic, Blur+, Pop, Film Noir, and 8-track. The filters change the way the images look, much like standard image filters, with the exception being that they are applied based on the light field depth. Like Perspective Shift, the filters can be applied retroactively to images taken with a Lytro camera.

Lytro announces new Perspective Shift and Living Filters features is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Sometimes, there are moments in life that you just forgot to capture, or failed to be ready in anticipation. Having said that, since mankind is always on the lookout to improve him or herself, here is an idea that might actually take off in the long run. I am referring to the Memoto wearable camera – something that is tiny enough and not obstructive at all, and yet is capable of capturing and letting you relive those more meaningful moments of your life. The Memoto is not just any camera that snaps random photos, it is wearable, sports GPS capability as well as comes with an accelerometer integrated within. Let us read on to know in deeper detail on how it works.

For starters, Memoto is a Swedish company that intends everyone to be able to enjoy a true photographic memory, hence they have decided to come up with this intelligent micro-device which is capable of capturing just about every moment of your life in photo keyframes. The shots are said to be spontaneous, and they can be effortlessly searched, shared and revisited at any time thanks to Memoto’s innovative web service and mobile application.

Martin Källström, CEO of Memoto, said, “Imagine if you could capture and re-live every memorable moment of your life. With Memoto, you can effortlessly travel back in time to that moment when you met the love of your life, the day your daughter took her first step, or that night you laughed the night away with friends.”

Sharing roughly the same dimensions as that of a postage stamp, the Memoto camera will be integrated easily into your daily life. The camera itself hooks up to your clothing thanks to a tiny stainless steel metal clip, where it will get around its work, subtly capturing every special moment of your life as it happens. This works before you are able to have an inkling as to how special it is. The magic behind Memoto lies in its advanced software that organizes the photos so that they function as a photographic memory which can be accessed at any time, even after many years, without you feeling overwhelmed or disorganized.

It will capture a photo automatically every 30 seconds in 5 megapixel resolution images, and will also keep a log of GPS positions and timestamps. The built-in rechargeable battery lasts for up to two days, and comes with an LED battery life indicator.Expect it to cost $279 when it hits the market in a myriad of colors early next year.

Press Release
[ Memoto wearable camera copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

ESO has released a ginormous 9-gigapixel image of 84 million stars taken via the VISTA infrared survey telescope at its Paranal Observatory. Featuring the center of the Milky Way, this huge picture is the by-product of an international team of astronomers, and will be used to help study our galaxy. Just how big is 9-gigapixels? Printed “with the resolution of a typical book,” it would be almost 30 feet long and 23 feet high.

Roberto Saito, the lead author of the study, had this to say: “By observing in detail the myriads of stars surrounding the centre of the Milky Way we can learn a lot more about the formation and evolution of not only our galaxy, but also spiral galaxies in general.” Spiral galaxies feature their oldest stars in the center, something astronomers call the galaxy’s bulge. Seeing the Milky Way’s bulge is difficult because of copious amounts of dust.

According to the study’s co-author Dante Minniti, astronomers have to observe infrared light when dust is an issue. To get this image of our galaxy’s middle, the team used VISTA, which stands for Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy. The team used data from VISTA Variable in the Via Lactea program to assemble the mega image.

This is the first time the Milky Way’s bulge has been cataloged like this, containing ten times the number of stars of previous efforts. Said Minniti: Each star occupies a particular spot in this diagram at any moment during its lifetime. Where it falls depends on how bright it is and how hot it is. Since the new data gives us a snapshot of all the stars in one go, we can now make a census of all the stars in this part of the Milky Way.”

[via ESO]

ESO assembles 9-gigapixel image of 84 million stars is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.