These days there are plenty of opportunities to take interesting photographs from unusual angles, including strapping tiny digital cameras to birds. But some early aerial photography was rather more clunky—and used massive cameras strapped to the breasts of pigeons. More »
The nuclear disaster at Fukushima was a horrible tragedy for all involved, and like its precursor Chernobyl, it left behind a hollow husk surrounding it. Photographer Donald Weber, who also documented that most famous nuclear aftermath in Ukraine, traveled to the Fukushima buffer zone, to capture what he could. VICE went with him, and made this haunting little mini-documentary out of the footage. More »
When you’re advertising something called a “retina display,” what better to use than a picture of an eye? You better make sure you’re using the right picture though; a photographer is suing Apple for stealing her’s. More »
Many high-end smartphones are equipped with 8MP to 12MP image sensors, and offer either an illuminated sensor or a flash, or a combination of both. For many, the camera on their smartphone is the only camera they own, or is the primary one they use, while the proliferation of photography apps, such as Instagram, make smartphones a one-stop solution for most consumers’ image-taking needs. How do these camera stack up against digital cameras, though? Pretty good, according to a study by DxOMark Mobile.
The biggest downside to smartphone cameras versus regular digital cameras is image noise, which is the result of the incredibly small sensors used in smartphones. The smaller image size causes less light to reach the sensor, resulting in noisy photographs. Depending on the smartphone, the noise may be reduced using filters that result in slightly blurred or otherwise degraded images. The iPhone 5, which was rated by Consumer Reports as having the best camera on a smartphone, has more artifacts than the Galaxy S III, for example, but the Galaxy S III has overall poorer image quality due to using image filters to reduce noise.
Videos, however, are another story. Many high-end smartphones offer 720p HD video recording, while a select few offer 1080p recording, such as the Galaxy Note II. The Galaxy S III scored very high in video quality at 71, outranking many digital cameras, including the Canon Powershot S1000, which ranked in at 66. The S1000 is only one year old. DxOMark noted that high-end smartphones provide “incredible advantage over quite recent DSCs.”
Ultimately, DxOMark’s study showed two things: one, that mobile cameras have come a long way from the 0.1MP Sharp camera phone of years gone by, and two, that consumer level digital cameras are going to have serious competition in the next few years. For the time being, however, most modern smartphones still offer inferior image quality compared to the equivalent modern consumer digital camera. Consumer camcorders, however, have officially been trumped by mobile devices.
[via DxOMark]
Smartphones beat 5-year-old digital consumer cameras in quality is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
If you’re a photographer who covers extreme athletes like mountain climbers and wants to capture a moment from a unique angle, you’re probably willing to take some risks yourself. Like Corey Rich’s use of an incredibly precarious folding ladder tethered to the near vertical side of a mountain. Here’s to hoping he wasn’t working for free for the experience. More »
There’s a large contingent of photo enthusiasts online who will dismiss a photo straight away if they find out it was taken with a smartphone. The rally cry of “get a real camera” can be heard echoing through the rafters of comment sections for many websites. We think everyone should have a dedicated camera, but a good photo is a good photo, regardless of the gear used to take it. More »
If you’ve been following the SpaceX mission with the Dragon capsule attaching to the International Space Station for a second time – this time with cargo – you’ll be glad to see a lovely collection of in-person photos. These photos show the SpaceX Dragon attaching to the space station with cargo in-tact and Earth making a lovely pose in the background with a giant smile for the camera. This resupply mission has thus far been a complete success and is expected to return to our planet with another payload from the station itself as well.
This mission unloaded 882 pounds of cargo with the help of Expedition 33 Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide. It wasn’t only work and transfers that the two astronauts uncovered in the capsule – ice cream was stashed by NASA and SpaceX before the craft took off from Earth and was also discovered today by the team. It’s a rare treat that the team will partake in, this aside the space food they’re generally set to eat – that being prepackaged food that’s able to be kept for many months at a time at room temperature.
This novelty adds to the great joy that’s been felt at the success of this mission thus far, it being the first successful supply mission ever lead to the International Space Station by a privatized group. SpaceX led a test mission earlier this year with similar results.
It’s Michael Interbartolo who shares this transfer of cargo between the Dragon capsule and the ISS – the process set to take place over the course of 18 days, with both loading and unloading occurring. The capsule will be bringing back 1,673 pounds of cargo back to Earth, quite a bit of this being material that’s taken part in studies done on the space station over the past collection of months. Have a peek at the gallery here and get pumped up about the splashdown on the 28th of October!
SpaceX ISS mission HD photos released from space is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Believe it or not, these photos are real, not fakes. That’s what the authors say. Excluding cropping or tone adjustments, none of these images have been Photoshopped (as in composed from many images or morphed or painted over). I look at them and I can believe them. More »
Watermarks are the annoying result of people stealing pictures—they’re ugly, distracting and cheapen the art of photography. But it’s a necessary evil! Or is it? Kip Praslowicz poked fun at the ugly watermarks ruining pictures these days by plastering them over famous photos. It’s not a good look. More »
Before CGI, when a movie blew up a train, they either had to blow up a train, or build a model, film it at high speed and fill it with firecrackers. For this week’s Shooting Challenge, we’re exploring option 2. More »
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