SA ...

The Lens Camera ....

Interesting concept. Create a camera with no body, just a lens and a sensor. Make those two parts a 20.2-megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor and an f/1.8 Carl Zeiss lens with 3.6X optical zoom. Allow it to physically and wirelessly connect to smartphones. Presto, a a DSLR-like quality camera.

Well, that's what SONY's betting on. I think it's a good bet.

First Impressions from The Phoblographer

"The Sony QX10 and QX100 lenses with sensors built in are indeed real–and they totally connect to your mobile device. The QX10 and QX100 have a very specific naming for really good reasons. For the most part, the QX10 is a small sensor unit with a long zoom range while the QX100 is a larger sensor unit that is akin to the company’s RX100 camera. So just imagine it: the excellent photo shooting capabilities of the RX100 and your phone–connected together in true harmony via Wifi or NFC.Your Instagram is about to get a heck of alot better."

Hyperlapse Videos ...

Free Online Tool creates 'Hyperlapse' videos using Google Street View

dpreview

"Online user experience company Teehan + Lax has created a free tool for creating interactive 'hyperlapse' videos using Google Street View. The term 'hyperlapse' describes timelapse videos which incorporate camera movement - something that is typically extremely difficult and time-consuming to perfect. The team at Teehan + Lax began experimenting with Google Street View as a guide for choosing locations, but realised that since Google has already mapped much of the world's surface in 360-degree images, it could be used as source material."

Google Street View Hyperlapse from Teehan+Lax Labs on Vimeo.

Create your own Hyperlapse video >>> here.

Aerial Photography in the Palm of your Hand

Coming soon!

Well, 2014.

Sometime.

Nomad iPhone Photog ...

How Not to Suck on Instagram

Basically, as with any good photography, have an interesting story to tell... and share.

Augmented Reality Photography

App Puts Virtual Images on Physical Walls

by Jessica Lum

LZRTAG is a free Android app that lets you generate QR codes associated with uploaded images — mostly animated .gif images. The codes can be printed out and placed on walls and other surfaces. When scanned with the Android app, the codes call up the associated image and display it in an augmented reality on your phone.

This could also be a novel concept for photographers displaying work in galleries: instead of physical prints on walls, photographers could potentially display digital work in augmented reality.

Potentially any areas where QR codes could be placed can now become virtual photo galleries, accessible to anyone with a smartphone.

Cool.

The display possibilities are endless.

As are the possibilities for augmented reality photo art.

My Hero ...

Chase Jarvis

In a profession where the highest practitioners of the art often try to protect their knowledge like magicians do theirs, Chace Jaris is just the opposite kind of professional photographer.

"There's at least ten amazing pictures where you are right now."

What are you waiting for ?

The Visual Revolution

Five Ways the Cell Phone Camera Has Changed the Way We Live

By Jeff Balke

5. Search by photos.

... Functions like Google Goggles which allow you to point your camera phone at, for example, the Statue of Liberty, and have it return all sorts of information about it as well as Google's "search by photo" function which will seek out any identical or similar photos to one you upload and solving the mystery photo problem for everyone.

4. Sharing our photos with others.

... The dreaded family slide show is a thing of legend as were the litany of children and pet photos filling wallets and purses. Fortunately, with photo sharing websites like Flickr, apps like Instagram and photo galleries on Facebook, your friends can look through your photos at their leisure instead of yours...

CameraPhone from Justin Hackworth on Vimeo.

3. Turning amateurs into pros, pros into amateurs.

I'll be the first to admit that I was always rather queazy about the use of filtered images. First, there were just the dreary self-portraits taken with old school film cameras that seemed to proliferate on Flickr and Polaroids of naked girls covered in chocolate that passed for art. Then, there was Hipstamatic and Instagram, the apps that turn your digital images into dirty-looking shots that appear as if they were birthed from a Holga found in someone's grandmother's attic. But, the filters are used less as the fad has faded and more and more people are using these apps to take really fantastic photos and treat them creatively. And pros are using these toy apps to expand upon their artistic repertoire. In truth, these are the same kind of creative tools pros used to use in darkrooms. They are just more easily accessible and that's a good thing.

2. Documenting our daily lives.

This might be the most fascinating aspect of having a camera in one's possession every day is the ability to document everything that happens. Sometimes, it can be inane and ridiculous, but in the hands of someone with an idea or creative spark, it can turn into something fascinating....

1. Citizen journalism.

The first photos of US Airways flight 1549 that crash landed in the Hudson came from people with cell phones on a passing ferry, not from CNN or Reuters or some local news helicopter. While the beating of Rodney King may have been caught using a digital video camera, dozens of other photos and videos of violence -- some fascinating and poignant, others ridiculous and pointless -- litter the web and inform us of things we wouldn't see otherwise. As badly as the credibility of journalism has been damaged by biased news networks, self-promoting blogs and just plain bad reporting, everyday people are proving that a picture does say a thousand words and giving all of us an opportunity to shed light on the truth.

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DSLR/Smartphone Mashup

Now here's a marriage I think just might work.

Flash Dock, allows you to easily attach a smartphone to whatever digital camera that has a hot shoe.

Bruno Rousseau, founder of pocketDEMO says:

"With the AppStore for iPhones, the Android market for Android devices and the marketplace for Windows-Phones, SmartPhone users have access to thousands of apps. There are a number of apps dedicated to help photographers. Unfortunetely, we tend to use them only once, as it is not pratical to hold a DSLR and a SmartPhone at the same time. Flash-Dock solves that issue by bringing the touch screen of the SmartPhone right next to the DSLR setting screen and buttons ... and the possibilities are endless."

Here is a list of the most useful apps that can be used with your DSLR:

- Sharing pictures: Imagine a DSLR with a 3G/4G connection!: Bruno Rousseau says: "What if we could share a High Quality picture by E-mail, SMS or via cloud services like iCloud or DropBox? That is something users have done for years with their camera phone but never did with their DSLR. How does the Flash-Dock help doing that? Well, have you heard about the EyeFi SD Cards? EyeFi cards are SD Cards that store pictures and send them to the SmartPhone through their built-in WIFI chip. Again, it is possible to use EyeFi cards without the Flash-Dock, but it is not that easy. The SmartPhone being next to the DSLR, everything works seemlessly and without the user paying any special attention to it. Once the photo-shoot is finished, the photographer only has to share his photos with the world through the 3G/4G networks... they are all on his SmartPhone."

- Geotagging with .GPX files: SmartPhones have a built-in GPS and most DSLR don't. SmartPhones can record tracks into a file called a "GPX file". That file is then read by iPhoto, Aperture, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Picasa and most photo library softwares. What these softwares do is, merge this GPS data with the metadata of pictures taken during the photo-shoot. It is simple and free.

- Geotagging with bluetooth: Some add-on devices like the BlueSLR are plugged into the DSLR GPS connector. Since SmartPhones also have a bluetooth connection, they can send in real-time location information to the camera that in turn will geotag pictures. It works the same way as if there was a GPS receiver plugged into the DSLR, only cheaper.

- LightMeter: SmartPhones have cameras and light sensors. Both combined, some smart developers have managed to create Light Meters that perform very well. They do require a calibration with a real light meter, but passed this stage, all the fotographer needs is a SmartPhone.

- Depth Of Field calculator: These apps let the DSLR user calculate precisely the sharp area before and after the subject. These calculators take into account the lens type, the camera model and aperture to give a very precise value.

- Level: Photographers have used levels for years on their tripods and now some DSLR feature an electronic horizontal line. However, some cameras do not have this feature and people can now monitor a level even without a tripod. Typical accelerometers inside the SmartPhones have an accuracy of 0.1°, more than enough for a level functionality.

- Microphone: The latest DSLRs all have video functionalities. However, the sound is often not in par with the video quality. SmartPhones on the other hand are made to deliver good sound quality with ambient noise cancellation and remote recording. Another good exemple of combining DSLR and SmartPhones.

The very cool thing about the marriage of these two devises is that more apps are being developed out there daily, that I think will lead to an increasingly blissful union.

Remote Tele/Photo Presence

Cool New Tech Start-up...

A New Camera Phone Champ ?

Nokia introduces it's N8, a cool 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and Xenon flash, HD-quality video recording, film editing software, Dolby surround sound and full internet connectivity, to the ever evolving and highly competitive camera/video phone market.


"It's not the technology, it's what you do with it."

Well, the McHenry Brothers, Ed and Rory, two upcoming young British directors are attempting to prove that you can shoot a professional movie with the N8.

Can you film a movie using just a camera phone?

The eventual film - which, after a super-quick shoot and edit, should be coming out at some point in October - will be shown at cinema size, giving the camera quality its ultimate test. But the brother’s are confident that it’ll look good. Rory says: ‘We thought when we gave one of these to the director of photography that he’d have a fit, but he looked at it, and after he’d had a play with it he said “it’s actually pretty good...”’

Either way, with other manufacturers from Apple to HTC to Sony Ericsson all offering HD video capabilities in their newest phones, it’ll be interesting to see if Nokia can convince consumers that they’re ahead of the pack - or how long they can stay there. But, at the very least, we should get a fun little film out of it.

The following behind the scenes look at "the Commuter" was entirely shot on Nokia's new N8 Camera Phone.



I think we have a new camera/video phone contender on the scene, that will legitimately give the iPhone and the Droids out there real competition in this important market.

Time will tell.

Flickr camera ?

There's been some speculation floating around about Facebook designing a mobile phone. I'd be much more interested in a souped-up web based camera devise. Like say a...

Flickr Camera ?

The problem with so many of these new ventures is that they just seem a step too far away from the original platform. We don't use Facebook to talk to each other. We use it to see how ugly our ex-boyfriends' new girlfriends are. Stick with what you know, folks. Flickr could make a simple transition from software to hardware: cull its massive records to determine what type of camera, lens and settings its users opt for the most often. It has all its market research entered in already. I could see the camera automatically upload photos to your Flickr feed the same instant they're taken. The 5 billionth Flickr photo was just uploaded to the photo sharing site. With this new camera, I bet it could easily double that within a year.

I don't know about Flickr, but someone will step up and try and revolutionize the networked masses of photo enthusiasts. I wish them much success and look forward to their efforts.

Demand for Networked Cameras Growing

Unless photographic manufactures make their cameras more internet connected they may face the danger of being supplanted by smartphones and the networking versatility they provide in this digital age.

Analyst: Cameras need networking--pronto

Fundamentally, mobile phones and social networking sites such as Facebook have transformed the practice and purpose of photography so it's less about preserving memories and more about sharing what's happening.

"Smartphones allow people to capture an image and share it with an online site or a social network. You're allowing your friends and family to be in the moment with you as the event is still going on," Lee said.

Indeed, smartphones are advancing rapidly. Apple's iPhone, a standout product when it comes to Internet connectivity, rapidly ascended the Flickr ranks of most-used cameras because it makes sharing images easy. With Android and other operating systems, such smartphones are spreading rapidly. At the same time, their cameras' quality is steadily improving with higher resolution, built-in flashes, and in the case of the iPhone 4, a new HDR mode for high-dynamic range shots.

Some cameras today have network abilities, but it's not enough, he said.

"Wireless connectivity has been around since 2005, most of it's been one-way," Lee said. "In the future we have to make bidirectional communication where you can pull information back down to the camera as well as upload it."

It's a brave new socially networked photo world, welcome to it.