Hasta La Gadget!

There are two sides to every story, but photos only contain a single image. The dual-imaged diptychs from this week’s Shooting Challenge show us perspectives otherwise lost…along with a very strange trend/phenomenon. Can you spot it in the results? More »

Camera fans and retro photography enthusiasts get ready!

This autumn Fujifilm is releasing its new Cheki camera. Following on from the Instax Mini 7S and even the Hello Kitty version (yes, really!), this new piano black mini50S has all the hallmarks of its predecessors: funky Polaroid-style images, a fun chunky shape, and simple cool functions like a double timer. Why take boring photos with a regular digital camera when you have options like the Cheki?

Previously we have speculated whether digital toy cameras are the next boom product. However, Fujifilm is demonstrating that unconventional film cameras with good design can also be a hit.

We also like how Fujifilm has enlisted the help of photographer Yasumasa Yonehara to promote the camera. He took the Cheki and shot some — by his standards, very tame — photos for use with their advertising and packaging.

On sale in Japan from September, the Instax mini50S is now available for pre-order from JapanTrendShop.

Trying to snap a shot of your cherry red Mazda, but can’t keep your hands still? You’ll find all the tech you need to smooth things out in an iPhone 4 or (MotionPlus-equipped) Nintendo Wiimote. Experimenting with 6DOF inertial measurement sensor packages, scientists at Microsoft Research have developed a software algorithm that literally records your exposure-destroying shake via accelerometer and gyroscope, then magically removes the blur by canceling it out. While the technique still isn’t perfect — spot ghostly line above some of those background cars — the Microsoft researchers compared their results to other in-progress algorithms, and we think you’ll agree this new solution presents the best results by far. It’s a shame Microsoft doesn’t say when we’ll see the tech in a spiffy DSLR attachment, or better yet a cameraphone. See before and after animated GIFs after the break, and find high-res comparison images and much more at our source link.

Continue reading Microsoft algorithm uses six-axis motion sensors to fix blurry snapshots, inadvertently pimping your ride

Microsoft algorithm uses six-axis motion sensors to fix blurry snapshots, inadvertently pimping your ride originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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On Monday we took a look at computational rephotography, a technique for making a new photo exactly match the point-of-view of an old photo. Today we take a look at a gallery of photos showing rephotography in action.

The pictures have been put together by Russian whizz Sergey Larenkov and posted on his Livejournal (yes, Livejournal is still around). Larenkov’s trick is to place old wartime pictures into modern settings, feathering the images to make them sit in the middle of modern life. Thus we see troops moving through a modern Vienna street, past stores and cars an tanks on the streets of Prague.

Some of Larenkov’s works are fascinating. The picture above shows Russian Red Army Marshall Georgy Zhukov on the steps of the Reichstag in Berlin. Zhukov conquered the city in the second World War, and now he stands amongst tourists. It’s pretty spooky.

Go grab a coffee and click the link. Not all of the pictures are as well executed as this one, but they are all interesting, and show that war is something that happens on our own streets, and not just in far-away places.

Sergey Larenkov’s rephotography [Livejournal via the Giz]

See Also:

• Camera Software Lets You See Into the Past

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Computational rephotography is a fancy name for photos taken from the exact same viewpoint as an old photograph. Actually, that’s just rephotography. The “computational” part is when software helps out.

I’m a sucker for photos of old street scenes. Seeing familiar parts of your city as they were many decades ago is fascinating, and if people are good enough to snap a new version, you can enjoy the differences of places you have never seen. At Flickr and a site called Historypin, you can see the old shots lined up over the new, like a window into the past.

Researchers at MIT have found a way to automate the process. Currently, they use a laptop to do the heavy lifting, but the software could just as easily sit inside a camera. In fact, that’s the plan. The system compares the scene in front of the camera with a historical photograph. It then works out the difference between the two and gives the photographer instructions along the lines of “up a bit, left a bit more.”

According to an abstract on rephotography, it is a lot more complicated than it seems. In lining up the images you must consider “six degrees of freedom of 3-D translation and rotation, and the confounding similarity between the effects of camera zoom and dolly.”

Gimmick? Sure, but then so are all manner of the features in the modern digicam, from smile-detection to facial-recognition to fancy sepia modes. Today’s camera is essentially a computer with a sensor and a lens, so why not pack in everything you can? And if it means getting to see more old-time streets scenes, I’m totally in.

Camera app puts you in the footsteps of history [New Scientist via Alex Madrigal]

Computational rephotography [ACM]

Photo: Nomad Tales/Flickr

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.