Photo of the day

(c) Anton Chistoff - Before Storm.
Photo was taken in Torquay, Devon, UK two weeks ago.
Double click to enlarge.

Samsung+SanDisk = ?

Samsung wants to buy SanDisk By Mike Pasini, The Imaging Resource.

The New York Times is writing today that Samsung Electronics has made an hudge $5.85 billion cash offer for SanDisk, the famous memory card manufacturer.

In an earlier Sept the company said, "SanDisk periodically has conversations with multiple parties, including Samsung, regarding a variety of potential business opportunities. We evaluate all of these opportunities, but maintain a policy of not commenting on market rumors or speculation."

But in a letter released Tuesday, Eli Harari, SanDisk founder and chief executive, has not accepted the offer, saying it significantly undervalued the company and characterizing it as "opportunistically timed."

Sony Alpha 900

Almoust 18 months after it first shown as a prototype at trade shows, Sony has announced its superb digital SLR, the Alpha 900 . Featuring the 24.6 MP CMOS sensor announced in January, the Alpha 900 has got a few more enticing features, including sensor-shift image stabilization, a super 100% coverage viewfinder and the same high resolution screen as the Alpha 700 (the new model also has adopted most of the 700's features, menus and external controls)




Key Features

• 24.6 MP 35mm format full-frame CMOS sensor (highest res in class)
• SteadyShot INSIDE full frame image sensor shift stabilization (world first)
• High Speed Dual Bionz processors
• Eye-level glass Penta-prism OVF, 100% coverage, 0.74x magnification
• 9 point AF with 10 assist points, center dual-cross AF w/2.8 sensor
• 5 frames per second burst, newly developed mirror box
• Intelligent Preview Function
• 3 User programmable custom memory modes on mode dial
• Advanced Dynamic Range Optimizer (5 step selectable)
• 40 segment honeycomb metering
• 3.0" 921K pixel Photo Quality (270 dpi) LCD display, 100% coverage
• Direct HDMI output
• ISO 200-3200 (ISO 100-6400 expanded range)
• User interchangeable focusing screens (3 options)
• CF Type I/II and MS slots, LI-ION battery, STAMINA 880 shots
• Weight 850g (without battery, card, accs)
• New Image Data Converter SR software (includes vignetting control)
• New Vertical Grip
• Supplied with wireless remote control
• Magnesium Alloy body and rubber seals for dust and moisture resistance
• AF micro adjustment
• $2999.99 body price; available late October 2008

Stylish one. X7 Portable Photo Viewer.

JOBO announces the X7 Portable Photo Viewer. Very slim, it will have 7-inch screen and 1GB of internal memory for storing up to 10,000 images. The new wallet-like X7 Viewer is perfect thing for when you're on the go. Digital images can be transferred to the device by inserting one of the popular memory cards or via USB connection to a computer. The new JOBO X7 will be available in September for € 189, and comes with a protective handsome leather cover that also functions as a stand. There is a picture browsing plus copy, delete, rotate and zoom functions. X7 displays time as well as a calendar and can be powered on and off automatically by a timer.

Sony gets better...

New Sony 10.1 megapixel Cyber-shot T500 digital camera, will allow you to capture photos or HD movie clips. The new HD movie mode will allow continuous shooting time of up to 10 minutes per clip. In total up to 60 mins of video content may be stored on the supplied 4GB Memory Stick. By the way, movie files will be recorded in MPEG4 AVC/H.264 format. The results may be viewed on the super-large wide 3.5-inch touch screen LCD. The Cyber-shot T500 will be available from October in piano black, silver and red colours.

How is that? 3D photo is coming!

Your camera has saved all those precious baby pictures, soccer games, graduations and weddings. But they're flat and two-dimensional. If your digital camera saw the world through thousands of lenses, you could have saved incredible 3D memories.

Digital Journal -- Researchers at Stanford University are working on a new camera technology that could add a new dimension into your life. Well, at least into your photography.

Modern day cameras take fantastic images, but they're never more than a flat print-out or a two-dimensional image on a computer screen. Many film-makers have dabbled with two cameras, or a camera with two lenses, in order to reproduce a three-dimensional image. But what would that same image look like with thousands of lenses from a miniature camera? That is exactly what a few Stanford researchers are thinking about.

The prototype camera shoots regular 2D images, but it also creates a "depth map" that remembers distances from the camera to every object in your photo.

Lead by electrical engineering Professor Abbas El Gamal, Stanford electronics researchers are developing this super 3D camera built around a "multi-aperture image sensor." This is a story of science meeting art in a geeky, brilliant and beautiful way: They shrunk pixels on the sensors to 0.7 microns (much smaller than a standard digital camera), they've grouped pixels in arrays of 256 pixels each and they will place a lens on top of each array. So what does the highly technical explanation mean for you? Three dimensions.

"It's like having a lot of cameras on a single chip," Keith Fife, a graduate student working with El Gamal, said in a news release. If researchers can get the prototype 3 megapixel chip to work, it would give them 12,616 cameras in one.

As the news release reads: "Point such a camera at someone's face, and it would, in addition to taking a photo, precisely record the distances to the subject's eyes, nose, ears, chin, etc. One obvious potential use of the technology: facial recognition for security purposes."

Researchers also say a depth-information camera would open up new possibilities for 3D modelling of buildings, biological imaging, 3D printing and more. The technology could be big for other industries like robotics, where robots could get better spatial vision than humans to allow them to do jobs unimaginable right now. The cameras could also be made small enough to fit in cellphones.

Read more

Samsung L201 - Ladies dream

A few days ago Samsung has introduced digital camera line up for second half of this year.
One of them is worth mentioning:

The Samsung L201 is a super-slim, compact point-and-shoot digital camera with a resolution of 10.2 megapixels, a 3x zoom lens and superb 2.7-inch intelligent LCD sreen that automatically brightens or dims with the exposure to light.

It is features Face Detection, Self Portrait, and Digital Image Stabilization technology. Face Detection Technology makes it easy taking snapshots of one's family and friends, as it can detect up to nine faces. L201 automatically focuses and exposures for perfect composition and image quality. It has also got the unique Self Portrait mode which makes it easy to take a self portrait: When in Self Portrait mode, the L201 automatically detects the user's face, adjusts focus and exposure, and will only shoot a photo if the subject is centred within a given frame. Nice, isn't it? Samsung's improved Digital Image Stabilization (DIS) further helps the user capture blur-free images.

Came also has got 11 scene modes so it's enables to capture the most superb image.
And have a look on the camera - ladies dream!

Click here for full Samsung's Full Digital Camera Line Up intoduction