Photography

In academic circles, light-field photography is nothing new. Now, though, a start-up called Pelican Imaging has unveiled a prototype of the technology geared to improve mobile-phone cameras.

Light-field photography--and the related concept of a plenoptic camera--is a complicated concept involving an array of small images rather than one large one. Essential to the process is computational image processing that can extract an actual photograph from the jumble of raw data.

And not just any image, but several images. Light-field photography captures enough data that a person can adjust focus after the shot has been taken and perform actions such … Read more

PicPlz, a photo-sharing start-up, has released a programming interface that lets applications tap into its tools for uploading and applying artistic filters to images.

"We think that allowing developers access to our upload and filter pipeline brings something different to the table than "just another photo-sharing API,'" the company said in a blog post yesterday. "We're pleased to announce that in the past 2 weeks we've had well over 100 developers apply to be part of our API (far exceeding our expectations)."

Opening an API lets programmers tap into the abilities of a … Read more

If you've ever uploaded photos to Facebook or other social networking sites, you know that it has some limitations. Of course, they make it easy for you to upload your photos and share it with your friends, but what if you wanted to do some minor edits to remove red eyes, crop images, add special effects, watermarks and more?

I am one of the worst photo sharer amongst my friends because it's just too tedious and time consuming. I have to go edit the image size (Facebook's maximum file size is 15MB, which is great, but some … Read more

The new ranges of compact digital cameras from Olympus and Panasonic got a shot in the arm with the announcement today of future lenses from two prestigious German lens makers, Carl Zeiss and Schneider Kreuznach lens maker Jos. Schneider Optische Werke, along with Horseman lens maker Komamura from Japan.

Panasonic and Olympus got the camera industry fixated on a new range of compact ILC (interchangeable-lens camera) models that dispense with SLRs bulk by leaving behind the internal reflex mirror and viewfinder. To go with their cameras, the companies came up with a new lens standard, Micro Four Thirds, a cousin … Read more

Canon today disclosed prices for previously announced overhauls of its 500mm and 600mm supertelephoto lenses, but more unusually, announced a new 200-400mm model that will join the company's already large lens family.

Nikon and Canon, locked in fierce competition for professional photographers, often have similar lens models, but Nikon for years has offered a highly regarded and newly refurbished 200-400mm supertele zoom while Canon stuck with its increasingly elderly 100-400mm design. Now Canon is countering with the EF 200-400mm f/4L IS USM Extender l.4x.

Some of the nomenclature should look familiar: f/4L means a continuous maximum … Read more

Flickr accidentally deleted a member's account--comments, favorites, and thousands of photos--but now has given the photographer a 25-year Pro-level subscription and all his photos back.

And more importantly for others who fear the same might happen to them, Flickr is working to update its system to prevent such a mistake from happening again and to make such draconian moves easier to reverse.

Mirco Wilhelm described his dismay yesterday to find that 5 years of activity and about 4,000 photos were wiped out when his account vanished. Perplexed, he realized it might be connected to an abuse report he … Read more

Phase One, the Danish maker of high-end digital camera gear, announced a new top-end product: an image sensor with a whopping 80 megapixels.

The IQ180 is a digital back, which consists of an image sensor, viewing screen, and associated electronics housed in a removable module that fits on the back of a medium-format camera body such those from Phase One-controlled Mamiya. The medium-format market, which consists largely of photographers shooting expensive subjects such as fashion models and jewelry, is a demanding one willing to pay a premium for the very detailed images made possible with medium-format gear. Phase One's … Read more

Those who lived through the days of xD card vs. Memory Stick vs. CompactFlash vs. Secure Digital may think people need a new flash memory card format like we need a hole in our heads. Who, after all, has a burning desire to upgrade the 9-in-1 flash card reader to a 10-in-1 model?

An established industry standards group, JEDEC, has a new format it hopes will catch on, though.

The group already took over standardization of the MultiMediaCard specification that's chiefly relevant today hidden away inaccessibly in its embedded form, EMMC, that's used under the covers of various … Read more

There's a lot to like about how digital photography is evolving. But that doesn't mean every trend is positive. At a minimum, some technologies are taking longer to mature than some of us might wish.

Interchangeable Lens Compacts (ILCs) are a case in point. Significantly smaller than today's dSLRs, they're also referred to as micro-4/3 (after the mirrorless interchangeable lens standard used by many of these cameras) or the somewhat tongue in cheek EVIL which alludes to the Electronic Viewfinder that's an option for most models in this class.

ILCs are certainly an exciting concept. … Read more