Either the act of a careless Apple employee, or an intentional leak, the new iPhone found at a Bar near the Apple headquarters has the dual cameras that we wished the iPad had. No, not Adobe’s flash, but a LED flash. With iPhone users bringing AT&T’s network to it’s knees, will the videoconferencing that this front facing camera enables deal a fatal blow to their network?
Nokia is on the verge of releasing their flagship cameraphone which sports a whoppingf 12MP sensor and Carl Zeis optics. Also running a new release of their Symbian OS. Supposedly the press event announcing this is Tomorrow, April 13th, so stay tuned Nokia nuts. We’ll update this post then.
The fact that the latest high-end Nikon and Canon DSLR’s can shoot 1080p HD video doesn’t tell the full story about the quality of the video they shoot. Some of the reasons why they suck for Video:
ergonomics
shortcuts in processing that involve tossing out 2/3rds of the lines resulting in diminished light sensitivity and increased color moire and noise.
a wobbling “Jello-world” produced by a top-to-bottom scanning sensor
If you want a $#!^load of megapixels, this is the way to get it: With the $895 Gigapan Epic PRO panoramic camera mount along with a DSLR camera. Or just use their Epic mount with a point-and shoot digital camera. Note: not all cameras are supported, make sure to check that yours is compatible.
Gigapan Systems has been producing mounts for point-and-shoot cameras for a while now, and has a panorama hosting service that integrates very well with Google Earth. Just don’t try to upload anything smaller than 50 megapixels, or you will be denied.
New Quantum Film image sensor technology released by Invisage Incorporated claims to have four times the light sensitivity of ordinary CMOS sensors.
Supposedly the process is more affordable than ordinary CMOS manufacturing. Not because adding an extra layer of patented Quantum Film makes the production process cheaper per silicon platter, but because they could reduce pixel size enabling smaller, cheaper sensors with the same efficiency as larger ones we have now.
Very cool panoramic stitching software from Microsoft. Doesn’t have blending quit as good as hugin/enblend, but MUCH faster. Soon it will enable video panoramas & action summaries. At the end they demonstrate how to combine a large number of similar pictures of a distant object blurred by atmospheric distortion into a single sharpened image.
Yet another example of megapixel insanity: This 99 cent app will not add millions of pixels to your phone, it does nothing but re-size the low-resolution image.
No camera will be included on the iPad. No augmented reality, no videoconferencing, no mashups of augmented reality and videoconferencing. No USB port for attaching an external camera or external drives. No SD card reader. Good news though.. The next iPad will change EVERYTHING! Until then, the Fanboy backed monoculture will likely make a killing on this baby (and its accessories) no mater what it doesn’t do.
The Mac Observer January 13th 2010 (leaked faceplate picture with opening for front facing camera)
Dual Cameras
You heard it first here folks, a Megapixel Myth exclusive! The iSlate will obviously have Dual cameras. It makes sense since nobody has predicted it, and how the heck do you take a picture of something other than yourself without having a preview of what you’re pointing at?