Things are looking pretty rosy for Canon these days, though there may be some difficulty on the horizon. Today, the camera maker published a rather strong Q3 earnings report, just a few months after posting relatively ho-hum Q2 results. According to the company, operating profit grew by 17.4 percent to
Tag: camera
You knew Lytro was up to something, but with its infinite focus light-field powered camera out of the bag, how does it actually stack up in real life? In a word: novel — you certainly won’t be tossing your regular camera for this shooter, at least not in its current incarnation. Still the concept of shoot now, ask focus questions later is revolutionary, so hop on past the break for our initial impressions.
Gallery: Lytro camera hands-on
Continue reading Lytro camera hands-on (video)
Lytro camera hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Stick a piece of gaffer tape over the unmistakable X, and Canon’s latest EOS-1D pro-level camera will look virtually identical to every 1D model that came before it. But once you flip up the power slider, this new king of the jungle will hum like no other. Canon’s phenomenally powerful EOS-1D X really sounds like the DSLR to rule them all. Its 18 megapixel full-frame sensor uses oversized pixels to battle noise and is supported by a pair of Digic 5+ imaging processors, which also help drive a 61-point high density reticular AF system, a top ISO setting of 204,000 (51,200 native), a 252-zone metering system, a 14 fps JPEG (or 12 fps RAW) burst mode and a built-in wired gigabit LAN connection, for remote shooting and image transfer. The camera’s curious single-letter name represents a trio of industry milestones: the X is the 10th generation Canon professional SLR (dating back to the F1 in the 1970s), it’s a crossover model, filling in for both the 1D Mark IV and 1Ds Mark III (which has been discontinued), and, well, it sounds to be pretty darn “Xtreme.”
The 1D X is being marketed to every category of professional photographer, from commercial studio shooters to newspaper photogs. It’s familiar, with a similar control layout, yet different, thanks to its completely redesigned system menu — accessed using the 3.2-inch, 1,040,000-dot LCD. There’s also an incredibly sharp intelligent optical viewfinder, with an on-demand grid, AF status indicator, a dual-axis electronic level and a shooting mode readout. Video shooters can choose between 1080p video capture at 24 (23.97), 25 or 30 fps, or 720p at 50 or 60 fps. Canon has also eliminated the 4GB clip limit, though individual clips are limited to 29:59, in order to avoid European tax rates affecting HD cameras that can capture single HD video clips longer than 30 minutes. We’re anxiously awaiting a chance to go hands-on with the EOS-1D X, and you’ll have to wait until March before adding this $6,800 beauty to your gear collection, but jump past the break for the meaty rundown from Canon, and click through the rather thin product gallery below.
Gallery: Canon EOS-1D X
Canon announces EOS-1D X: full-frame 18MP sensor, 14 fps, 204,800 top ISO, $6,800 price tag originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 01:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Look closely. Can you spot it? That gray abyss is actually an infrared image by Chipworks revealing an iPhone 4S‘ Sony-branded, 8 megapixel CMOS sensor. Looks like Howard Stringer wasn’t bluffing to Walt Mossberg back in April, after all. At the time, it was reported that Apple’s usual sensor supplier, OmniVision, was experiencing production delays, prompting speculation that Sony would eventually usurp the position. While the iPhone 4S that Chipworks looked into seems to confirm this, it’s pointed out that Apple does have a habit of “dual sourcing” components (with its contacts saying this should be no different), so Sony may not be the sole supplier this time around. What ever the case, there’s no denying that the iPhone 4S takes some stellar shots. You’ll find more information — including X-rays of the 4S — at the source link below.
Chipworks throws an iPhone 4S under its infrared microscope, finds Sony-sourced image sensor originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Yes, it isn’t the first ball camera we’ve seen, nor is it the first camera to hawk 360-degree panoramas. But, the Throwable Panoramic Ball Camera marries these two concepts together, and packs them into a sturdy-looking sphere made mostly of foam. This shields the 36 fixed-focus phone camera modules, each capable of taking two megapixel snapshots. These are then stitched together to create full panoramic works like the shot above. Somewhere within that squishy core is an accelerometer to measure the apex of its flight, and where the camera array will capture its image. The big question is, can it survive a few rounds of keepie-uppie? You can take a closer look at the ball camera’s 36 x two megapixel images in the video below. Now, do you think there’s any chance of getting one for the next Engadget meet-up?
Panoramic ball camera gives a full 360-view of you nervously throwing it in the air (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The leaves in your yard may be transitioning to the more subdued hues of autumn, but Nokia’s new 603 smartphone certainly isn’t. Available in six different back cover colors, this new Symbian Belle handset is powered by a 1GHz processor and boasts a 3.5-inch, capacitive touchscreen with 640 x 360 resolution. It also comes with 2GB of internal memory, a 32GB microSD slot and five megapixel camera, along with full NFC and Bluetooth 3.0 capabilities. Speaking of which, the folks in Espoo have also taken this opportunity to unveil their new Luna Bluetooth headset — an NFC-enabled, in-ear accessory that delivers up to eight hours of extended talk time, as well as a rainbow of colors (see an image after the break). As far as pricing goes, the 603 will set you back €200 (about $275), with the Luna headset sitting at €70 (around $96). Neither will hit the market until Q4 of this year, but you can find more information in the full PR, looming after the break.
Continue reading Nokia outs colorful 603 handset, coupled with NFC-equipped Luna Bluetooth headset
Nokia outs colorful 603 handset, coupled with NFC-equipped Luna Bluetooth headset originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Well, here it is. After months of beta tests, Motorola’s ET1 tablet was finally unveiled today, bringing a taste of Android 2.3 to the enterprise market. Powered by a 1GHz dual-core CPU, this rugged slate packs 8GB of internal storage, along with a 32GB microSD card slot, and features a seven-inch, Gorilla Glass capacitive touchscreen with 1024 x 600 resolution. Weighing in at 1.4 pounds, the ET1 also boasts an eight megapixel rear camera, a front-facing shooter designed for videoconferencing and 720p video capabilities. Plus, retailers can choose to outfit the tablet with a host of accessories, including a barcode reader, magnetic stripe reader, handstrap and holster. At this point, the ET1 boasts only WiFi connectivity, though Motorola Solutions’ Sheldon Safir says a Wide Area Network version is in the works. The manufacturer didn’t offer a specific price, but Safir tells Computer World that bulk purchases should cost less than $1,000 by the time the slab hits the market, later this year. Head past the break for a full platter of PR, along with a demo video.
Continue reading Motorola unveils rugged ET1 Android tablet for enterprise types (video)
Motorola unveils rugged ET1 Android tablet for enterprise types (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
We can’t say that we were too keen on Sony’s DEV-5 Digital Recording Binoculars at first look — it really is hard to get past that $2,000 price tag. But after Sony finally allowed us to shoot photos and video (albeit for a mere three minutes) at the company’s CEATEC booth, we were pleasantly surprised at the image quality, at least some of the time. The images we shot were in 16:9 format, and were roughly 5.3 megapixels in size (the camera’s maximum resolution is 7.1 megapixels). With only a few minutes to play around, we didn’t have time to switch the menu from Japanese to English (CEATEC is held just outside Tokyo), so we had no choice but to use the default settings.
Still, images shot at f/1.8 appeared crisp, even with moderate shake (it’s difficult to keep a heavy pair of binoculars steady when holding them at eye level), with accurate exposure and white balance. When zooming to 10x, however, still photos appeared very noisy, as you’ll see in the gallery below. So are they worth the sky-high price tag? Well, it’s safe to say that we’re not ready to whip out the credit card, though they did perform better than we expected, based only on what we had initially seen through those dual high-res viewfinders. Jump past the break for an HD sample clip, or click the more coverage link below for the untouched samples.
Continue reading Sony DEV-5 Digital Recording Binoculars sample photos and video
Sony DEV-5 Digital Recording Binoculars sample photos and video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
This curiously shaped fellow, with its long-barreled lens attached to a svelte body, might look familiar. It’s JVC‘s GC-PX10, the camcorder that’s also a camera. Or the camera that’s also a camcorder. We’re not quite sure, but here’s what we do know: it’ll shoot 1080p video at 60 fps, writing to SDXC or 32GB of internal memory. And it can also capture 8.3-megapixel stills at 60 fps without dropping out of video mode. If you’ve got the time and the inclination, you can switch into still-shooting mode, giving you full 12-megapixel pictures at 30 fps for two seconds. Exhausted by the possibilities yet? But wait, there’s more. If slow motion’s your game, you can fire away in 640 x 360 resolution — at 300 fps — for up to 2 hours. Now how much would you pay for such a plethora of pictorial options? Well, JVC’s asking $900 when this ships later in October, so you’ve got some time to think about it.
Camera or camcorder? JVC’s hybrid GC-PX10 wants to be both originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Oct 2011 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Once you’ve cleared the $25k or so in your budget that it will take to snag one of Sony’s 4K VPL-VW1000ES your next problem will be finding some 4096×2160 res content to view on it. While showing off the new beamer for its Japanese audience at CEATEC today, Sony announced the PS3 will get a firmware update around the beginning of 2012 that will allow it to natively output 4K stills. There’s a PlayView “visual magazine” already available on the PlayStation store in Japan that supports 4K and 3D, but this update will bring super high res viewing of your vacation pics, or any other high res image files you can snag, to the living room. While your friends will no doubt be impressed by the museum-quality art gala you’re now capable of hosting, we’re starting the timer for 4K video sources — if we don’t hear anything concrete at CES then we’ll be incredibly disappointed.
Gallery: Sony VPL-VW1000ES 4K projector
PS3 will support 4K stills after a future update, moving pictures remain out of reach originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.