Oct 28
Forget about the Montauk monster. This extraordinary photo—taken by Dorit Hockman, from the University of Cambridge’s More »
Oct 28
Yes, everyone hates traffic cameras. They catch you rushing through the intersection when the light changes from yellow to red, and if you make a right turn on red when you aren’t supposed to. The worst part is not even realizing you triggered a traffic camera, and just getting that damned ticket in the mail with a photo of your car. People are always trying to come up with ways to defeat traffic cameras, but most of the methods are straight-up snake oil – or straight-up illegal.
The guys over at noPhoto aim to defeat traffic cameras by developing a portable xenon strobe circuit that goes off the instant the traffic camera triggers, blinding it with a light source mounted on your vehicle. According to its developers, the noPhoto doesn’t violate any laws that prevent you from obscuring or obstructing your license plate – instead just overwhelming the camera’s sensor, and creating a useless, overexposed image.
Sure, the whole idea is borderline illegal, but it’s still kind of cool to know that it can be done – and doesn’t everyone want to stick it to those damned traffic cameras? If you’re interested in exercising your right (or not) to have a flashing strobe mounted on your license plate frame, head on over to IndieGogo and show your support for the noPhoto project. A pledge of at least $285(USD) will get you in on the action.
[via r/gadgets]
Oct 26
Watch This Mind Melting Time Lapse That Combines Night and Day in the Same Frame
Posted in: Today's Chili
Here’s a wonderful tweak on the always reliable time lapse: splicing night shots and day shots into one single frame. Meaning, you’ll sometimes see the buildings at night and the people in the day time or cars at night while the buildings are lit by the sun. It’s a visual mind melter. More »
Oct 25
If You Ever Wondered How People Take a Picture of a Cheetah Running at Full Speed
Posted in: Today's Chili
Cheetahs are super fast and to capture them running at full speed is damn near impossible. Well, almost impossible. National Geographic shows how they captured a running cheetah and it’s pretty impressive: over 400 foot of perfectly level dolly track, a bevy of cameras, an able and willing cheetah and really fast instincts. [YouTube via PetaPixel] More »
Oct 25
3D render? The latest submission to deviantART? No, that’s a microscopic photo of the blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo taken by Dr. Jennifer Peters and Dr. Michael Taylor at 20X magnification, and it’s the latest winner of Nikon’s annual Small World Photomicrography Competition. Not surprisingly, the runners-up in the contest (drawn from some 2,000 submissions) are just as impressive — hit the links below for a look at all of them. Those interested in having themselves featured next year (and taking home up to $3,000 in Nikon gear) have until April 30th to get their submissions in for the next competition.
Visualized: Nikon’s Small World microscope photography contest winners originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Wired Science | 
Nikon Small World | Email this | Comments
Oct 25
What you’re looking at is a droplet of water, frozen in time by powder after a single bounce, captured in super slow motion for your gape-mouthed wonder. It’s the work of researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia who specialize in high-speed fluid imaging, which sounds like a pretty awesome job. More »
Oct 25
Besides spending some time with the Canon EOS M, I also got to test out the Canon 6D, a new full-frame offering from the camera-maker that’s set to arrive later this year. The $2,099 DSLR lowers the barrier to Canon full-frame ownership, and actually has a few tricks up its sleeve that the more expensive and extremely capable 5D Mk III doesn’t even offer.
The big one is Wi-Fi built-in, which is only possible with the 5D3 via an add-0n transmitter that costs nearly $800. Using the 6D’s Wi-Fi, you can transmit images to an Android app, which Canon’s Chuck Westfall demoed at the event, in order to browse through your pictures, transfer photos to your device and even change camera settings. An iOS app is coming soon, which, like the Android app, will be a free download. Eventually, the plan is also to make it so that the 6D can communicate directly with Canon’s Wi-Fi-enabled printers, too, meaning you’ll be able to print from camera without using any intermediary.
While Wi-Fi makes post processing a much easier task, the 6D really shines when you’re shooting, too. The silent shutter mode is absolutely whisper quiet, and while still audible in a silent room, nature and street photographers, and those hoping to be less auspicious in a crowd will definitely appreciate the significant difference between it and the standard shutter sound on any DSLR.
The 6D also feels incredibly solid, even though it isn’t quite as rugged and weather-resistant as the 5D3, and with the attached Canon EF 24mm f/1.4L II lens it wasn’t overly heavy, but definitely has a premium, weighty feel compared to the 60D and 7D. The control layout is slightly tweaked from the 5D3, and should make it much easier for those stepping up to a full-frame DSLR from entry-level devices like the Rebel line.
When this camera was initially announced, my only qualms about putting down a pre-order were around the AF system. Now, based on my experience, those qualms are gone. The 6D may only have one center cross-type AF point, compared to the 41 cross-type points on the 5D3′s AF system, but Westfall actually said that AF speed on the 6D could potentially outperform the 5D3 in low-light situations using that single cross-type. With image quality, too, Westfall said that the 6D should be on par with the 5D3 at lower ISOs, but should outperform at higher ISOs, thanks to larger pixels on the full-frame sensor.
I didn’t get much chance to check out the 6D’s video-shooting capabilities, but it seems to perform well enough there, too. I’m a still shooter at heart, however, and the 6D seems to be an amazing camera for photography in every respect, especially for those graduating to full-frame after lots of experience on more affordable APS-C entry-level DSLRs.
The Canon 6D is scheduled to hit retail shelves by December, though I’m told Canon is pushing to maybe bring it out even earlier. This would definitely make a great stocking stuffer for the prosumer crowd, so hopefully we’ll see it sooner rather than later.
Oct 24
Google Trekker goes to the Grand Canyon, takes Street View souvenirs back home
Posted in: Today's Chili 
You might remember Google’s unveiling this spring of the Street View Trekker, a seeming cross between a backpack and Van de Graaff generator that lets the mapping team produce 360-degree imagery where even trikes dare not tread. The portable camera ball is just going on its first trip, and Google has chosen the most natural destination for a novice tourist — the Grand Canyon, of course. Staffers with Trekkers are currently walking trails along the South Rim of the canyon to provide both eye-level points of reference for wayward hikers as well as some breathtaking, controllable panoramas for those who can’t (or won’t) make it to Arizona. Once the photos make it to Street View sometime in the undefined near future, it’ll be that much easier to turn down Aunt Matilda’s 3-hour vacation slideshow.
Filed under: GPS, Internet, Google
Google Trekker goes to the Grand Canyon, takes Street View souvenirs back home originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 20:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Oct 24
Shooting Challenge: Solarization
Posted in: Today's Chili
It looks simultaneously familiar and strange. Solarization reverses the shadows and highlights of an image, creating a sort of opposite world. And for this week’s Shooting Challenge, you’re going to try it out. More »
Oct 23
If you followed the launch of Nikon’s J2 interchangeable-lens compact recently, then waking up to today’s announcement of a higher-specced V2 probably won’t come as a huge surprise. Nevertheless, whereas the J2 was frustratingly incremental compared to the J1, the V2 will likely represent a more significant upgrade when it lands on shelves at the end of November. For a start, the magnesium alloy camera has been bestowed with a sizable grip, which makes a vast difference to its ergonomics — it feels much more secure and manageable in the hand, without hurting the small and lightweight appeal of this form factor. Nikon has found room for a pop-up flash too, which is certainly nice to have. The mode dial has moved to the top of the camera and now includes the four main shooting modes (P/S/A/M) — a change which, in one fell swoop, helps the entire remainder of the control system to become more intuitive and accessible. A new processing engine allows the camera to shoot 15 fps with continuous focus (versus 10 fps with the V1), with Nikon claiming that AF speed has been improved as well. And as for the bad news? It’s waiting for you after the break.
Gallery: Nikon 1 V2 hands-on
Continue reading Nikon 1 V2 mirrorless camera hands-on! (video)
Filed under: Cameras
Nikon 1 V2 mirrorless camera hands-on! (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.