Boing Boing » cameras

Novo takes tiny GoPro sports cam to the cinema

Rob Beschizza — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:38:34 +0000

The GoPro Hero 3 is a matchbox-sized, battery-powered HD camera that goes anywhere, capturing everything from adrenaline-fueled sporting escapades to underwater adventures. The Angenieux 15-40mm is a $45,000 cine lens that makes everything look wildly beautiful. Now, assuming you don't mind a 6x crop factor and a $295-a-day rental fee, you may have them together!

Is a $10,000 Leica M9 setup worth it?

Rob Beschizza — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 03:22:50 +0000

Marco Arment rented Leica's well-loved but expensive M9 digital camera, and a similarly top-shelf lens, to see what the fuss is about. The bottom line: great glass, but a frustrating and surprisingly low-end shooting experience. I wonder if Sony's new full-frame compact is going to eat their lunch.

Watch the watchers with this homebrew map of surveillance cams in Tampa at RNC convention

Xeni Jardin — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:43:31 +0000

Tampa, Florida web developer Jon Gales mapped the city's new network of downtown surveillence cameras installed for the Republican convention, to empower fellow citizens to become aware of the encroaching surveillance society. City authorities have not responded to his queries about what will happen to the cameras once the convention ends.

Gales himself lives in downtown Tampa. It was on his daily walks to work in July when he first noticed the cameras being installed by contractors. He says that the city never had to hold hearings about the installation of the cameras because they are being funded through a $50 million federal grant that the city received to prepare for the convention. That left him wondering what would happen after the convention. Would the cameras stay up? What would happen with the footage? What is the range of the cameras? Could they zoom in to spy on him in his apartment?

Gales' project is RNCCTV, and here's a direct link to the dynamically-generated map of cameras. About the city's surveillance project specs, Gales writes:

Aware Digital was awarded a multi-million dollar contract to install about 90 high-def cameras around the downtown area and a wireless network to connect the cameras. 63 of the cameras have pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ in CCTV lingo) capabilities which means that they can be remotely aimed and the zoom is an impressive 20x optical. 31 fixed point cameras have been installed, mostly to watch the Tampa Police Department and its parking garage. We have concentrated on mapping the cameras meant to watch you.

(Tech President via Josh Stearns; image courtesy rncctv.com)

Shots of Nikon's Android camera surface

Rob Beschizza — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 13:54:04 +0000

Nikon Rumors has pictures of Nikon's forthcoming Android camera, the S800. Resembling a standard compact digicam from the front—with a 25-250mm-equivalent lens—the rear's full-size touchscreen serves up access to Google Play apps. But Cult of Mac's Charlie Sorrel says it'll live or die on its connectivity, and it isn't a cellphone: "GPS is great, and putting Instagram on your camera even better, but if you have to wait to find a Wi-Fi hotspot before posting or Tweeting that photo, a major part of mobile photography is lost."

HD video from the RX100

Rob Beschizza — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 14:29:56 +0000

Sorry if you're getting sick of everyone raving about Sony's RX100, but this thing--the size of a deck of cards!--really is the dog's bollocks. With Canon about to hit town with an APS-C mirrorless, I reckon low-end Micro 4/3 models (and Sony's own sub-$1k NEXes) are done.

Canon EOS M mirrorless camera

Rob Beschizza — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:17:11 +0000

Canon's EOS M is finally upon us. $800 will get you the company's first mirrorless, interchangeable-lens camera, with a 22mm prime and a sales pitch centered firmly around its video capabilities.

At heart, the EOS M appears to be very similar to the recently-released Canon T4i/650D, the latest in its lineup of crop-sensor DSLRs: it shares the same 18 megapixel APS-C sensor, 1080p video at 24 frames per second, Digic 5 processor and touchscreen display. Without the mirror and viewfinder, however, much of the bulk is lost: it's just 1.2" thick and weighs less than a pound with the kit lens.

It has a new EF-M lens mount, with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 image-stabilized zoom and a 22mm f/2.0 pancake available at launch—both with Canon's new stepping motor technology, useful for maintaining silent autofocus when shooting video. A mount adapter, to use standard EF and EF-S lenses, will be available at launch for $200.

It enters a battlefield already occupied by Olympus and Panasonic's Micro 4/3 system, Sony's NEX lineup, and a variety of other recent newcomers, such as Nikon's poorly-received Nikon 1.

Canon's given a few writers hands-on time with a prototype, and early reports are positive:

At The Verge, David Pierce reports that Canon plans to pitch the EOS M as a filmmaking gadget first and foremost, "designed to be something of a companion tool for videographers and cinematographers much the same way the G1 X is designed for pro shooters who want something smaller than their DSLR". Piece also created a useful comparison chart vs. other mirrorless models.

Andy Westlake, writing for DPReview, calls it a "well-judged offering" that puts the T4i/650D in an unthreatening compact form: "The really big question is how well the EOS M will fare against established competitors from the likes of Olympus, Panasonic and Sony".

TechRadar's Angela Nicholson says that it'll be great for people already invested in Canon glass: "The Canon EOS M impresses. It's a nice, solid-feeling camera that offers plenty of control to the enthusiast, without daunting its more novice target market. We think that Canon has made the right move by using an APS-C sized sensor, and inevitably this means creating a new lens mount if the camera is to reap the size benefits of being mirrorless."

Engadget's Zach Honig reports a "generally positive" experience marred by sluggish fpcusing performance: " it should be abundantly clear that the EOS M isn't going to replace your high-end digital SLR rig".

Gizmodo's Mario Aguilar: "Ooooh! Yes! Please! Thank! You!"

Sony's RX100 gets glowing write-up

Rob Beschizza — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 04:16:06 +0000

Sony's RX100 is no larger than Canon's popular S100, but has a far larger image sensor. What this means is simple: better photos with greater depth of field and superior low-light performance. David Pogue is among the first to review it , and finds himself impressed by a point-and-shoot camera that approaches DSLR image quality: "If you care at all about your photography, you’ll thank Sony for giving the camera industry a good hard shove into the future."

The caveat, of course, is that you will pay $650 for it. Apart from the minimalist looks and 1" Exmor CMOS sensor, that gets you 20.2 megapixels, an F1.8 Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens, 3.6x zoom, RAW image capture, and full HD 1080 video at 60p video with manual control (alas, no 24p).

Sony DSC-RX100 [Amazon referrer link]

Sony RX100: small camera, big sensor

Rob Beschizza — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:26:06 +0000

With the minimally-designed Cyber-shot RX100, Sony puts a large sensor in a pocket camera—and with it, the promise of much higher-quality photographs. It comes with a 28-100mm-equivalent F1.8-4.9 image-stabilized 3x-zoom lens, and that 20MP Exmor CMOS sensor—about a third the size of APS-C—captures raw. On the back, a 3" LCD display and pop-up flash. The catch: it's $650. Imaging Resource has an exhaustive review.

Why your camera's GPS won't work in China (maybe)

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 25 May 2012 03:00:54 +0000

If you've got a major-brand camera with a built-in GPS, don't plan on taking any geotagged photos in China. Chinese law prohibits mapmaking without a license, and most of the large camera manufacturers have complied with this regulation by quietly slipping a censorship function into the GPS -- when you take a picture, the camera checks to see if it's presently in China, and if it is, it throws away its GPS data, rather than embedding it in the photo's metadata. On Ogle Earth, Stefan Geens looks at how several different manufacturers handle this weirdness -- how they phrase it in their manuals, and what their cameras do when they run up against this limitation. It's a fascinating look at the interface between consumer electronics, user interface, and the edicts of totalitarian regimes. In some Nikon cameras, for example, the GPS does work, but all its measurements are shifted about 500m to the west (!).

Why does all this matter? Wherever local laws prohibit the sale or use of a personal electronics device able to perform a certain function, manufacturers have traditionally chosen not to sell the offending device in that particular jurisdiction, or — if the market is tempting enough — to sell a crippled model made especially for that jurisdiction.
For example, Nokia chose not to sell the N95 phone in Egypt when the sale of GPS-enabled devices there was illegal before 2009, whereas Apple opted to make and sell a special GPS-less iPhone 3G for that market. Early models of the Chinese iPhone 3GS lacked wifi, while the Chinese iPhone 4/4S has firmware restrictions on its Google Maps app.
The risk to consumers in freer countries is that personal electronics brands might be tempted to simplify their manufacturing processes by building just one device for the global market, catering to the lowest common denominator of freedom — especially if the more restrictive legal jurisdictions contain some of the most attractive markets, such as mainland China.
Still, in the absence of more information from Panasonic, Leica, FujiFilm, Nikon and Samsung, I can’t decisively say whether this is the business logic behind their decision to cripple the GPS in their cameras. And yet uncrippled GPS cameras from Sony and others are freely available for sale in China, for example on Taobao, China’s eBay...

Why do Panasonic, Leica, FujiFilm, Samsung and Nikon censor their GPS cameras? (Thanks, Jeffrey!)

Fooling facial recognition surveillance cameras with cunning and crocheting

Xeni Jardin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 02:08:54 +0000

[Video Link]

Canadian yarn-lover and privacy-lover Howie Woo has developed an ingenious system for thwarting surveillance cameras that use face recognition technology. His solution involves crochet and LOLs. Here are more photos (via the Boing Boing Flickr Pool). More about Howie's playful creations here.

Canon's EOS 5D Mark III

Rob Beschizza — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:40:49 +0000

After all the fuss about Lytro's 'focus in post' camera—and the bathos of its low-quality results—Canon's EOS 5D Mark III is something of an antidote. It has a 22.3 megapixel full-frame sensor, 61-point autofocus (like the 1D), 6fps burst shooting and an ISO range of 100 to 25,600. Dual memory card slots (Compact Flash and SD) and a 3.2" 1-megapixel LCD screen are standard-issue; in-camera HDR, a faster CPU and 100 percent viewfinder coverage are new.

1080p video at 24, 25 and 30 fps is also to be expected, but DSLR filmmakers should like the headphone jack, audio monitoring and the image processor's anti-moire and anti-artifact capabilities. The Mark III lacks the 60D's flip-up LCD display, however, a feature some forum posters hoped for. Several new accessories were announced alongside the Mark III, including two new flash units, a battery grip, a wireless file transfer unit and a GPS receiver.

As antidotes go, this one will not be covered by your insurance: it's $3,499 for the body alone, significantly pricier than the Mark II. The price tag hits four grand when bundled with a 24-105mm kit lens.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III [Amazon]

Lytro light-field camera reviewed

Rob Beschizza — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:11:04 +0000

At The Verge, David Piece reviews Lytro, the camera that allows photos to be refocused after taking a shot. Explained in-depth at The Economist by Glenn Fleishman, it gathers data for all focal lengths with each snapshot. But as Pierce learned, there are compromises in store.

Rangefinder iPhone case

Rob Beschizza — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:16:37 +0000

Photojojo's iPhone Rangefinder case clips onto your iPhone, making it look like an iPhone inside a case that looks like a bit like a rangefinder. It's compatible with Photojojo's magnetic fisheye, wide-angle/macro and tele lenses: you can get it with a full set for $99. [via This Isn't Happiness]

Kodak bankrupt

Rob Beschizza — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:16:28 +0000

The company that invented the hand-held camera filed for bankruptcy protection. [Reuters]

Unexpected camera art featured in Year of the Glitch

Rob Beschizza — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:09:59 +0000

Phillip Stearns created Year of the Glitch, a gallery of electronic artwork resulting from the shortcomings of digital cameras. There'll be a new image added each day until 2013, at which point the world collapses to a single glowing, phosphorescent point inside the great cathode ray tube of reality. Pictured above is something weird that came out of an Olympus C-840L. [Via Photojojo]

Did digital photography kill Kodak?

Rob Beschizza — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:40:38 +0000

Eastman Kodak, once one of America's most illustrious companies, is nearly out for the count. Trading for a dollar a share, its fortunes now rest on patent lawsuits. Here's Sinead Carew, for Reuters:

Eastman Kodak Co shares lost more than half their value on Friday as the company hired a law firm well-known for bankruptcy cases, triggering speculation that the photography pioneer could file for bankruptcy.
Kodak, which delivered the first consumer camera in 1888, denied it had a bankruptcy plan, saying it was committed to meeting its obligations and is still looking for ways to "monetize" its patent portfolio.

People often suggest that there's an irony in Kodak having invented digital photography. But its real problem was a sales model based on selling cheap cameras and expensive media. So it wasn't killed by the digital camera, really. It was killed by the cheap flash memory that came with it.

Kodak denies bankruptcy plan but shares plummet [Reuters]

808 Car Keys Micro video camera

Rob Beschizza — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:03:14 +0000

Forget the GoPro and its expensive ilk: the real fun is clearly to be had with cheap, nasty, hackable spycams such as the 808 Car Keys Micro. Made to resemble a remote entry fob, the gadget records audio, shoots serviceable (YouTube) video, and costs about as much as a pizza. Aficionados pay close attention to serial numbers and other indicators of origin, as they offer clues as to the hackability and durability of otherwise indistinguishable tat. Chuck Lohr broke one apart for science, and offers hints on how to get the best ones. From way back in 2003, Dan Rutter explains the appeal of the no-nonsense bottom end: "It's cheap, it's cute, it's a camera."

Take your chances at ebay or pay a few bob more at Amazon, where one reviewer assures us that it's "an absolute piece of crap". Sold.

Phantom cam shoots 1 million frames per second

Rob Beschizza — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:24:18 +0000

Vision Research's Phantom v1610 shoots 1m fps, albeit at the rather low resolution of 128x16. At a more modern 1280x800, however, it still packs in 16,000 shots every second. A 10Gb ethernet link and other high-end connections will keep the data flowing; how many seconds of footage its 96GB of internal storage can hold is left as an exercise for the reader.

Phantom v1610 [Vision Research]

DSLR controller app for Android

Rob Beschizza — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:27:51 +0000

DSLR controller is an Android app that allow you to remotely control the functions of your fancy Canon shooter. Wired's Charlie Sorrel writes: "To control a camera with an iPhone, you need to first tether the camera to a computer or use some funky, limited BlueTooth triggering. With Android, you just plug in a USB cable." But is it any good?

Leica gets a splash of color

Rob Beschizza — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:35:46 +0000

If you've ever wanted to pay $750 for a stylish Leica version of a $450 Lumix camera, only to pay another $400 to make it resemble a dollar store water pistol, now's your chance! [Colorware via Gadget Lab and Uncrate]