For the spillover
February 18th, 2010 — gear
GorillaPod, the bendy tripods you know and love, just announced its newest version: GorillaPod Magnetic. This guy has magnets on each of its feet, allowing you to stick it to pretty much any magnetic surface.
Of course, it’ll still work without sticking to a surface, as it’s still a normal GorillaPod above the feet. But if you feel the need to have your camera attached to the side of your car door, well, now you’ve got the ability to. It’ll be available in April.
January 14th, 2010 — gear, iPhone
By day, the Airstash is a common, ordinary USB card reader. But by night, it dons the mantle of wireless connectivity, taking to the streets and sharing pictures an images in an ad-hoc, daredevil manner.
The Airstash looks much like a regular card reader, with a USB plug on one end and an SD card-shaped hole in the other. In between you can find a tiny, battery powered 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi router. Slot in a card and it can be reached wirelessly through the web browser of any Wi-Fi enabled computer or phone.
The design is simple, but the uses are manifold. You could use this to wirelessly copy photos from card to computer, but that, apart from saving you a USB port, is a little boring. What about carrying an extra 32GB of movies and music that can be streamed from the built-in server direct to your iPhone? Or creating a fully functional wireless network for sharing, well, anything? Because it uses vanilla Wi-Fi, it works with anything. And because it uses USB, it charges when you plug it into a spare port.
The product was shown last week at CES, and right now has neither a price or a shipping date (â€available soon†is the only hint on the product page). If it is cheap, and if the battery in such a tiny case can last long enough to be useful, then this could be a very useful toy. And if it is given away at next
year’s CES in the same fashion as pen drives were at this year’s show, we’ll be very happy indeed.
Airstash product page [Airstash via Oh Gizmo!]
December 8th, 2009 — gear
If you are a photographer, amateur or pro, you’ll be familiar with the two constants of the field: You can never have enough bags, and you can never find the right strap. James Duncan Davidson, photographer and podcaster, decided to do something about the strap.
You will know Davidson’s work through that iPhone photo, the one which shows staring, glassy-eyed devotees bathed in the light of the glass-caged iPhone demo unit. Unhappy with any available straps, most of which are either plain tiring to wear or just gimmicky, Davidson teamed up with industrial designer to make the LumaLoop, an across-the-shoulder strap with a quick-release lanyard.
The LumaLoop’s main selling point is comfort, quickly followed by flexibility. The shoulder pad is curved to remove the weight “hot-spot†that makes cameras feel so heavy, the bandolier-style design adds comfort and security, and the leather, buckles and webbing are all high-spec materials.
What we really like, though, is that you can either use the camera whilst still slung over your shoulder, or quickly squeeze the buckle to release it. A lanyard loops into either the strap-brackets, or a tripod-mount D-ring, or anything else designed to take a loop — even a mount on the a lens collar. When not in use, the camera dangles at your waist, and sits there comfortable enough to carry “all day longâ€.
The LumaLoop is $60 and comes in three sizes. Each strap comes with a lanyard, and extras will cost $10 a pop.
LumaLoop [LumaLabs]
See Also:
November 24th, 2009 — tech
It’s called ProFORMA, or Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition, but it is way cooler than it sounds. The software, written by a team headed by Qui Pan, a student at the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University in England, turns a regular, cheap webcam into a 3D scanner.
Normally, scanning in 3D requires purpose-made gear and time. ProFORMA lets you rotate any object in front of the camera and it scans it in real time, building a fully 3D texture mapped model as fast as you can turn an object. Even more impressive is what happens after the scan: The camera continues to track the objsct in space and matches it’s movement instantly with the on-screen model. Here’s a video of it in action:
It works by generating a 3D point cloud from the image coming through the camera and then uses some clever math to both ignore the occasional occlusion of the model by a hand and to work out where the surfaces are. Then things go over my head, involving a process called Delaunay tetrahedralisation to turn the 2D surfaces into a 3D model.
Like I said: clever math. But imagine, for a second, the uses. Forget Nintendo’s Mii avatars, for instance. Instead you could make a 3D version of yourself, or add your favorite household items into a game of Mario Kart. You could quite possibly hook this rig up to a 3D printer and make fast facsimiles of almost anything. And remember, this is all done using a single camera, just like the one that’s probably staring from the top of your laptop screen as you read this. I want to play with this right now.
ProFORMA product page [Cambridge University via Core77 via BoingBoing]
May 15th, 2009 — camera
Sofortbild is the second cheap alternative to a Nikon product we have seen this week. It is a piece of software with which to tether your Nikon DSLR, and it’s free. Why shoot tethered? There are lots of reasons, including the ability to remote control the camera and to almost instantly display your pictures on the big screen as you take them.
Sofortbild (which translates roughly as Instant Picture) doesn’t offer all the features of Nikon’s Camera Control software, but it adds a few things you won’t find in Nikon’s version, such as shooting a bracketed range of pictures and generating an HDR (high dynamic range) image from them. There is also GPS support and a rather nice HUD-style panel to show the metadata. In fact, the entire application wins in terms of interface — Nikon’s software products seem to be designed with a real hatred for the user.
You don’t get to use live view, which is a shame — it’s nice to see a live, full screen feed from the camera, and you can’t control as much as you can with the Nikon software, but it’s free, and Nikon Capture Control cost $180. That alone makes it worth a download.
Product page [Sofortbild]
November 13th, 2008 — camera
Maybe we can finally believe the hype. Jim Jannard is formally announcing his customizable digital video and still camera RED system today that aims to take on DSLRs and further push the boundaries of video quality.
But the hypemaster couldn’t help himself with only one announcement. Oh no. He had to go out and give us a prototype of a RED 3D camera (see pic below), giving the 3D movement another boost of juice (albeit a vaporware-ish one) that suggests that technology will be legitimate and mainstream within a few years.
After taking a quick look at the specs of RED’s DSMC, we can say that the system is, above all, ridiculously ambitious. You have to build up the camera from the ‘brain’ of the system (named ‘Scarlet’ and the super high-end ‘EPIC’), built with camera sensors that range from 2/3 of an inch to a huge 6×17-cm. That sensor’s bigger than my apartment.
But probably the most interesting idea about this system is its easily customizable design. If a bigger sensor is released in the future (or if the prices come down), you don’t need to trash your video camera — you just upgrade it with a new sensor. That’s not a bad way to sell a system that could set as many records for its price as for its number of pixels in a sensor.
The Scarlet will come with several lens mount options and will be able
to shoot 3K @120fps (with still pictures at 4.9 megapixels) all the way
up to 6K @30fps (at 9.4 megapixels). They’ll be priced as low as $2,500
but most likely will go over ten big ones for the better rigs.
The EPIC sensors will shoot from 5K @100fps (with still pictures at
13.8 megapixels) to 9K @50fps (at 65 megapixels), and the price range
will range from $28,000 to over $45,000 when they are released in the Spring next year.
Jannard is also promising an unfathomable 261-megapixel sensor for the rig within two years. We’ll believe that one until we see it, or until Guillermo Del Toro comes out of his cave and says he’ll use that camera to shoot The Hobbit.
RED isn’t the only company to integrate HD video and digital pictures
into one rig. One of the true innovations of the year so far came up
when the Canon 5D Mark II built-in the ability to shoot 1080p HD video. Other companies are obviously looking into integrating video into their DSLRs to not fall behind and to take advantage of the improved optics.
So far, the early word on all RED cameras has been that they are
slightly unstable and quite a bit unfinished. But the video quality is
really the key, and most early examples have been special and (almost)
worthy of that hype.
See also:
November 13th, 2008 — gear
Rumors of a RED DSLR had been confirmed a long time ago, but what of the Scarlet and EPIC übercamcorders? On the REDUser forums, RED CEO Jim Jannard has explained it all: Scarlet and EPIC are the DSLR — all cameras are "part of the same DSMC system", so each and every camera will be part of a modular, build-your-own, still and video product line based on the Scarlet and EPIC 'Brains'. To do this, RED has furnished an insanely diverse new collection of components, with sensors ranging from the $2500 3k Scarlet to the $55,000, 28k EPIC 617 Mysterium Monstro.
The core of the new line is made up of the new ‘Mysterium’ brains, pictured in the gallery above and detailed in the gallery below. These boxy sensors can be built up into 5D-esque DSLRs, compact prosumer camcoders, full-fledged professional video cameras or even a 3D unit with a new line of lenses, flash storage, frames, mounts and other add-ons, outlined with the new sensors below. In addition to their own lenses, the new cameras mercifully support gear built for Nikon and Canon standards with mount adapters, so you don’t have to re-buy all of your optics. In spring, when the first of the new units are intended to ship, RED One users won't be left out in the cold — they'll get purchase credit towards new cameras, or if they'd just like to throw one of the new sensors into their existing rig, credit towards that. I guess this is what Jannard meant when he said RED had a 'new vision'.
For the full release, click here. Warning — comically giant JPEG. [RED]
October 10th, 2008 — camera
Ron Henry is a man who has clearly spent too much time in front of the mirror, muttering to himself “You talkin’ to me?”. Check out his kick-ass, quick-draw camera technique:
What’s Ron so excited about? The R-Strap, a fast-access camera support. Instead of wearing your camera like a big nerd-necklace, the R-Strap lets you sling it across your shoulder. Because the strap hooks onto the tripod mount on the bottom, the camera is right-side-up when you get it to your eye.
There’s more. Ron’s company, Black Rapid, also sells a screw-in clip for the tripod bush on your camera or lens — if you have a quick-release mounting plate for your tripod which has a D-ring, you won’t need this. The basic models is adjustable and has the plastic stopper which ensures the camera stays on your hip when you’re done, and there are two more: The RS-2 – with extra pockets – and the RS-3 Camo, which is patterned to contrast with regular, everyday clothes.
The straps start at around $50. But we came to this post by way of Lifehacker, which points to a DIY version made from an old laptop-bag shoulder strap, a luggage tag and a screw. I liked the idea, but I already have a strap from an old camera bag, and my camera is already sporting the requisite D-ring from my tripod. Why not make my own?
The hardest part was rummaging through the junk drawer. I dug out the strap which has two plastic clips, one on each end. The real R-Strap has two, but it makes no difference other than that the R-Strap hook is on a swivel mount. As you can see below, the D-ring on the tripod mount is easily big enough to cope.
That’s it. The strap holds the camera on my hip, ready to go. I like how it seems to stick out less than slinging the camera over a shoulder with a regular two-point strap. Another advantage is that, if you get the length right, you can use the strap to steady the camera — pull the camera against the strap and it will tighten as you look at the LCD screen, stopping the wobbles. If you’re using a non live-view DSLR, hooking your right elbow into the strap will push it down and shorten it enough to tighten it as you bring the camera up to your eye.
I’ll certainly be making a v 2.0 version — my camera bag needs its strap back and I’d prefer a thinner one anyway. See how well it works in this quick video, complete with cheesy camera-shutter sound effects found as found in the original, and authentic De Niro-style gunplay.
Product page [Black Rapid via Lifehacker]
DIY R-Strap [Instructables]
October 7th, 2008 — cool
Tilt-shift lenses sit off-center of the film (or sensor) plane of your camera to produce photos with extremely limited depth of field, giving the effect of a macro shot of a tiny scene. When the effect is matched with the surreal speed boost of many stills strung together into a time-lapse movie (here by Keith Loutit), we get the other-worldly privilege of seeing real Australian beach goers as an elaborate Playmobil scape. Or Sydney Harbor in a bath tub…
The folks at Bent Image Lab also used a similar effect in parts of the video for Thom Yorke’s “Harrowdown Hill”:
And there’s even more in this recent Metafilter roundup. Can’t get enough of this right now. [Keith Loutit on Vimeo via Kottke, Metafilter, Bent Image Lab]
September 30th, 2008 — camera
When you hear about a camera that’s the size of a trailer, you figure it’s a novelty used by a struggling artist looking to make a name. But watching this clip that explores the giant photography of John Chiara, you realize he’s not just a salesman exhibiting a clown camera. He’s an artist who painstakingly sets up a shot that’s balanced with car lifts, controls the exposure by placing his hand over parts of the lens and then develops the film in a sewage pipe. And the results are pretty extraordinary. This clip documents Chiara’s complete process and it runs about 7 worthwhile minutes. Load it up when you’ve got the time. [via Neatorama]
