April 2015 ~ camera news

These stunning photos were all taken on the LG G4, prepare to be dazzled

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 11:20 AM

As part of the launch of the LG G4 a host of photos were taken by a professional photographer using the smartphone.

The G4 camera has had lots of work and the result is seriously impressive. This gallery shows photos taken by photograhper Colby Brown.

The great thing about the f/1.8 16-megapixel camera on the G4 is its ability not only to shoot in raw DNG file format but also to use fully manual controls. Letting a professional photographer loose with it has shown just how great the photos can be.

The new camera isn't just higher megapixels than the G3 it also lets in 80 per cent more light. It's mainly thanks to a larger sensor that's grown from the 1/30.in sensor in competition like the iPhone 6 to a 1/2.6in sensor. Plus there's another axis of stability in the optical image stabilisation. That all means low light photography is better but also high-speed action shots can be captured with less blur.

There is also a new colour spectrum analyser which has never been seen in a smartphone before. The result should be better colour recognition and capture than ever before.

Some of these photos were taken in manual mode and some in auto. There's even a comparison in there to show the difference between a JPEG file and a raw DNG photo.

Check out the shots and let us know your thoughts. If you want to know more, read our LG G4 camera hands-on guide listed below.

TechRadar This high-speed camera can record a trillion frames per second

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 8:11 AM

Researchers have developed a high-speed camera that can capture video a thousand times faster than traditional high-speed cameras.

It's called Sequentially Timed All-optical Mapping Photography, or STAMP for short, and records at one trillion frames per second. That's just fast enough to capture waves of atoms passing through crystal structures, which move at about a sixth of the speed of light.

The device by Keiichi Nakagawa from the University of Tokyo. He saw that the speed of conventional high-speed cameras are limited by their mechanical and electrical components - so used just fast, optical components instead.

It works by splitting ultra-short flashes of light into different colours like a rainbow. These hit the imaged object in quick succession, and can then be analysed to see how the object looked over the duration of the flash. The first version could only take six frames, but that has since been expanded to 25. Nakagawa believes it could be improved to 100 with current technology.

He adds that he thinks the camera "holds great promise for studying a diverse range of previously unexplored complex ultrafast phenomena".

[Image credit: Keiichi Nakagawa/ University of Tokyo]

TechRadar Leica wants a lot of green for its powerful black and white camera

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 8:11 AM

Of all the crazy, backward-looking, self-indulgent ideas you could possibly think of, this surely has to be at the top of the list – you would think.

But the more you learn about the Leica Monochrom (Typ 246), the more you realise is that there's some sound reasoning behind a camera capable of shooting only in black and white. More on this shortly.

This is actually the second Leica Monochrom, not the first. They have the same name, but the new version has the all-important (Typ 246) suffix, and the newer camera has some important enhancements.

The old Monochrom had an 18-megapixel full-frame sensor, but the Typ 246 has a newer and better 24-megapixel sensor. Leica says it has improved performance too, with a faster 'Leica Maestro' processor and an expanded 2GB buffer capacity.

Leica says the new Monochrom (Typ 246) 'by far exceeds the standards of its predecessor. But that doesn't explain why anyone would buy a black and white only camera, so here goes...

In the days of film, you made a stark choice when you popped open the back of the camera to slot in a film cassette – black and white or colour? Once you'd decided, there was no going back until you'd used up the film and it was time to put in another.

If you wanted to shoot colour too, you'd take a second camera loaded with colour film. Even today, many pros use two cameras – though not to change 'films', of course, but so that they don't have to keep taking one lens off to use another.

The fact is, there are some extremely good technical reasons for using a mono-only sensor. Colour sensors have to use a coloured filter array, so that for every four pixels, two are sensitive to green, one to red and one to blue. To get full-colour data for each pixel, the processor has to use interpolation to calculate the 'missing' data and this produces digital artefacts and a small loss in resolution.

Leica's mono-only sensor has no colour filter array and needs no interpolation. Each pixel yields 'proper' data. What's more, because there's no colour filter array, there's no need to use a low-pass filter to prevent moiré effects, so the Monochrom's sensor has better pixel-level detail.

Leica is also going to launch a set of black and white 'contrast' filters for the Monochrom in August 2015, and this highlights a third technical advantage of the mono-only sensor – you get much better results with black and white filters because the each pixel is capturing brightness values alone, not specific colours. You can get the same tonal effects using Channel Mixer tools on the colour images from regular sensors, but this means leaning more heavily on individual colour channels, and this introduces more noise, artefacts and edge effects. If you replicate a 'red' filter with a regular sensor, effectively only one pixel in four is used for creating the image.

Leica M-series cameras use a manual rangefinder focusing system and a direct-vision (not through-the-lens) viewfinder. It's a traditional design that still has many fans. The body is made from high-strength magnesium alloy and top and bottom plates are machined from solid brass. Round the back, the 3-inch 921,600-dot LCD display has a scratch-resistant and 'almost unbreakable' glass cover.

You can focus using the viewfinder/rangefinder mechanism or use Live View. Here, you can zoom in up to 10x magnification to check the focus, but the Leica Monochrom also offers a Focus Peaking display, where object outlines 'snap' into sharp focus with exaggerated outlines.

Continuing the mono theme, the Monochrom comes with a selection of in-camera toning effects including sepia, cold and selenium toning – and it comes with a licence for Adobe Lightroom.

Leica has not yet revealed pricing, but the previous version is currently on sale body-only for around £4500/US$7000.

Sony Posts $1.1 Billion Net Loss, Expects Profit in Current Year

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 7:39 AM

Sony said Thursday it booked a $1.1 billion loss for its latest fiscal year, but the struggling electronics giant expects a profit in the next 12 months as it embarks on an overhaul.

The latest loss for Sony comes as the once world-leading firm continues with a painful restructuring that has included layoffs and asset sales, as it races to rescue its battered balance sheet.

Boss Kazuo Hirai, a company veteran tapped to turn the firm around, has said he would keep splitting the business into self-operating units in a bid to return to profitability.

said its net loss for the year to March was JPY126 billion ($1.1 billion, roughly Rs. 6,990 crores), a slight improvement on the JPY 128.4 billion loss a year ago, as it absorbs big restructuring costs.

It was also much lower than the JPY 170 billion forecast by the company in February, which was itself a reduction from it earlier JPY 230 billion estimated shortfall.

On Thursday, the electronics-entertainment conglomerate posted an operating profit of JPY 68.5 billion, more than double the previous year, on sales of JPY 8.21 trillion, a 5.8 percent increase.

Strong sales of the games console and electronic devices, including image sensors used in cameras, helped drive revenue, while a weaker yen which lifts the value of repatriated overseas income also boosted results, it said.

Sony said a long-suffering television unit was showing signs of improvement.

"This improvement was primarily due to cost reductions and an improvement in product mix reflecting a shift to high value-added models," it said in a statement.

'Recovery path'
Critics have called on Sony to dump televisions altogether but Hirai flatly refused, saying they were an integral part of the company.

Sony has struggled in the consumer electronics business that built its global brand, including losing billions of dollars in televisions over the past decade as it faced fierce competition from lower-cost rivals in South Korea and Taiwan.

However, Hirai did move the firm out of the laptop sector and cut down its smartphone division, turning the focus to a stronger games and entertainment business including its Hollywood movie studio and music label.

The company also has a lesser-known, but profitable financial services division.

"Sony is shoring up its TV production business, which has contributed to its overall recovery," said SMBC Nikko Securities analyst Koji Kamichika.

"Its strong sectors imaging sensors and the videogames business have turned out to be profit drivers. Going forward, we think Sony is now on a recovery path and the downside risks are shrinking."

For the current fiscal year to March 2016, Sony expects a net profit of 140 billion yen and an operating profit of JPY 320 billion, although sales would be JPY 7.9 trillion, down 3.8 percent.

That upbeat estimate comes after rival Panasonic said Tuesday that its annual profit soared 49 percent, owing to strong results at its auto parts unit and lower costs linked to a sweeping restructuring.

Aquos-brand maker , which reports its results in mid-May, has struggled to fix its balance sheet and is reportedly in talks with its key lenders for aid, as it eyes the closure of loss-making units.

TomTom Bandit vs Garmin VIRB XE: What’s the difference?

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 9:20 PM

Navigation companies creating action sports cameras is a fairly new prospect but already the two big boys, Garmin and TomTom, are squaring up for a head-to-head.

Garmin recently unveiled its VIRB XE as the follow-up to its original VIRB action camera from last year. But now it's not alone as TomTom has just announced its first action cam in the Bandit.

Where does GoPro fit in with all this? The GoPro Hero4 Black Edition is a serious sports action camera but it doesn't offer what these two do - data. As data collection specialists, both Garmin and TomTom are pioneering a new way to record video, with data like speed or heart rate available in playback.

So out of these two pioneers which camera is best for you?

Both the TomTom Bandit and Garmin VIRB XE are larger than the GoPro competition but then they offer more.

The Garmin VIRB XE has its protective housing built-in meaning it can't be removed. While this protects it and keeps it waterproof at up to 50 metres deep it also allows for charging and data transfer thanks to an external connector. Both the battery and microSD memory are replaceable meaning no upper limits on storage or usage time. There is a screen for controls along with a physical record switch so you can feel if it's on or off even when head mounted.

The TomTom Bandit is totally waterproof as it is but requires an additional lens cap cover to be waterproof all the way to 50 metres. It also features a USB 3.0 connector so it can be plugged directly into a computer for access to its microSD and to charge the battery.

The Bandit is larger than the VIRB XE, a bit like Garmin's first-gen VIRB. But it also features a digital screen and controls similar to TomTom's Cardio GPS sportswatch. The barrel shape might limit the way the camera can be mounted which is why Garmin opted to shape the Virb XE more on GoPro design.

Both the Garmin VIRB XE and the TomTom Bandit are capable of shooting in 1080p at 60 frames per second or 720p at slow-motion 120fps.

The Garmin VIRB XE is able to shoot in 1440p but is limited to 30 frames per second. The VIRB XE can shoot photos at 12-megapixels.

The TomTom Bandit can shoot in 2.7K at 30fps and 4K, but it is limited to 15fps. It is also able to shoot native time lapse in 4K at 30fps. The Bandit can shoot photos at 16-megapixels.

The thing that sets these two cameras apart from the GoPro competition is the sensors. Both companies have a history of creating sports tracking kit as well as navigation gear so sensors are nothing new to them.

The sensors on the Garmin VIRB XE make up a collection of data that the company calls G-Metrix. This is collected using an accelerometer, GPS, gyroscope, G-force sensor and any external sensors like heart rate monitor. The camera can connect to pretty much any Garmin sensor be it a heart rate monitor or a cycle cadence and power meter. This is thanks to ANT+, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.

The TomTom Bandit features motion, pressure and GPS sensors to output metrics like speed, altitude, G-Force, acceleration and heart rate when connected to a monitor. Bluetooth Smart, Wi-Fi and USB 3.0 keep the camera connected.

Since both the Garmin and TomTom are about adding data metrics to the video, they both come with editing software. So if you want to overlay a video of your cycle with heart rate numbers that's an option. This is also where the two are quite different.

The Garmin VIRB XE comes with a dedicated editing suite that allows the user to choose different data icons, like a speedo, to drag and drop easily into videos which can be cut and edited. This will eventually be added to Garmin's Connect software making sharing of the videos, as well as compeititon, possible through the large community.

TomTom's software is aimed at making video editing super easy for anyone. After connecting to a smartphone, the app can automatically edit video after a shake of the phone. It does this using data so it recognises which parts of the video are action packed, using those in the final edit for the best result. This is iOS only at launch but will arrive on Android "soon". Cleverly, during editing, the data is still on the camera, only transferred and compressed for sharing via a phone once you're finished. Again, you can add metrics like g-force or speed to your video.

Both the Garmin VIRB XE and the TomTom Bandit are the only cameras to offer such detailed data metrics along with high quality video capture.

While 4K can be found on the Bandit and not on the VIRB XE, at 15fps it's not of much real use anyway, especially not for action footage.

The Garmin VIRB XE is a little smaller, arguably with a more versatile mounting system and no need to spend more on accessories to make it waterproof to 50m.

The TomTom Bandit has a higher resolution camera at 16-megapixels over the Garmin's 13-megapixels. Both cameras offer dedicated software, but TomTom's is simpler to use and will make quick editing easy for anybody.

In terms of pricing the Garmin VIRB XE is £320 and available in June, whereas the TomTom Bandit is £300 and will arrive in May.

TechRadar Best wideangle prime lens for Canons: we help you choose

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 5:11 PM

To celebrate the 100th issue of PhotoPlus magazine we're running this summary of its latest lens roundup. The test team has taken eight Canon-fit prime lenses and run them through its full sequence of lab tests and real-world workouts to decide which one is best. You can see the full 11-page test in PhotoPlus #100.

All but two of these lenses work on both full-frame Canons and APS-C models. On a full-frame camera they work as wide-angle lenses, whereas on an APS-C model the smaller sensor gives a 1.6x crop factor, so you're effectively getting a longer focal length semi-wide-angle or standard' prime lens.

PhotoPlus magazine is specifically for Canon DSLR owners and it's just had a major redesign and relaunch. You can buy it from newsagents, or find out about subscriptions and digital editions at .

A fast prime lens with brilliant optical quality, though at a price

Surprisingly compact for a full-frame 35mm f/1.4, the Sigma is neat, tidy and very well put together. It's a moderate wide-angle on a full-frame Canon and a great 'standard' lens on an APS-C model. It's not cheap, but you've got to remember this is a very fast lens – it's two stops (3EV) faster than the Canon f/2.8 lenses in this group and 1 stop faster than the Canon 35mm f/2. Bear in mind, though, that there's no image stabilizer. The Sigma produces the best image quality, but you'll need to steady it or use a tripod at slow shutter speeds.

Versatile Canon-brand lens with image stabilization built in

The Canon 24mm f/2.8 runs the Sigma a close second. Its maximum aperture is two stops slower, but it has a much wider angle of view and has an image stabilizer built in. It also acts as a moderate wide-angle on an APS-C Canon body – it's a great lens if you use a camera like the EOS 700D at the moment but think you might upgrade to a full frame Canon in the future. The Sigma 35mm, above, is slightly better optically, but this Canon 24mm is cheaper, and if you want to stick to Canon lenses, this might be the clincher.

Great performance, specs and usability – just not quite as wide as the Canon 24mm

28mm is the 'classic' wide-angle focal length for full-frame cameras, and it makes a handy 45mm focal length on an APS-C Canon like the 1200D or 70D. This lens is compact, near-silent in operation and one of the smallest and lightest in this group. It's from the same family as the Canon 24mm f/2.8, above, and in fact the only way to tell them apart is the focal length marking on the barrel. This Canon 28mm is a good performer and not particularly expensive, but there's not much of a price saving over the 24mm, even though this lens doesn't go as wide.

Not quite as fast as the Sigma 35mm f/1.4, but this Canon alternative is cheaper

The Canon 35mm f/2 gives you an interesting dilemma. It doesn't offer as wide an angle of view as the Canon 24mm and 28mm lenses, above, but it's a whole f-stop faster, with a maximum aperture of f/2. It's also a strong rival to the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 at the top of our list – it doesn't quite match it for optical quality and it's a whole f-stop slower (f/2 versus f/1.40, but it's a good deal cheaper and it has an image stabilizer. In fact, all four lenses so far are really close in overall desirability.

Samyang's old-school lens lacks autofocus but delivers optical quality and value

The Samyang 35mm f/1.4 is something different. Samyang lenses are both inexpensive and actually rather good, but you need to be aware that these are manual focus lenses only – there's no autofocus. The Samyang is ideal for enthusiasts and experts with time to take things more slowly, but it takes a bit of a mind-shift if you're used to modern cameras and lenses. Optically, the Samyang is very good, if not quite up to the standard of the Sigma 35mm f/1.4. It's also little more than half the price – but this is a big, long and hefty lens.

The widest lens in the group delivers middling quality but good value

The Canon 20mm f/2.8 is a bit of an old-timer compared to other lenses in this group and doesn't quite match the rest for overall optical performance – but it does offer the widest angle of view and it does have image stabilization built in. You can use this lens on an APS-C Canon, where it still delivers a semi-wide effective focal length of 32mm. If you want the widest wide-angle prime lens for your money, then this is the one to get. Sometimes it's more important just to be able to get everything in the frame than it is to chase the best optical quality.

Cheap, but for APS-C Canons only and not to be confused with the Canon EF 24mm f/2.8

Now this is where it gets tricky. So far we've been comparing lenses which work on both full frame Canons and the APS-C models. But it doesn't work both ways. This is an EF-S lens, which means that it works only on the APS-C Canons, from the EOS 1200D to the 7D Mark II. On these cameras it has an effective focal length of 38mm, so its angle of view is only borderline wide-angle. It's a cheap and effective option for Canon's smaller-sensor DSLRs, but don't confuse it with the much better Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM.

Another lens for APS-C Canons only, so it actually equates to a 48mm 'standard' lens

The Sigma 30mm f/1.4 is another lens designed solely for Canon's APS-C format D-SLRs, so although the focal length appears to put it in wide-angle territory, it effectively works out as a 48mm lens on these cameras. It's actually a really good lens – its optical performance is first rate, as are the build and handling, and it's not too expensive either. It's a good buy if you want a 'standard' (non-wide-angle) prime lens for your APS-C format Canon, but it's not actually a wide-angle and it won't fit on a full frame Canon.

GoPro Announces Kolor VR Software Maker Acquisition Alongside Earnings

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 7:38 AM

Wearable camera maker GoPro forecast current-quarter profit and revenue above analysts' expectations, citing strong demand for its flagship Hero4 action cameras.

Shares of the company, which also reported better-than-expected first-quarter profit and revenue, rose 8.6 percent in extended trading on Tuesday.

, whose cameras are used by surfers, skydivers and other action junkies, said it was focussing on Japan, Korea and China markets.

The company said it planned to expand its offerings in China by the end of the second quarter. GoPro gets about half of its total revenue from markets outside the United States.

"It appears that entry in China which happened in January is off to a good start and it feels like they got fairly high expectations for that to continue in (second quarter)," Dougherty & Co analyst Charles Anderson told Reuters.

GoPro, which claims to make the five top-selling camera or camcorders in the United States, has said expansion outside the U.S. market is key to its efforts to boost revenue growth.

GoPro's success has prompted companies such as Garmin Ltd, Panasonic Corp and Polaroid to launch their own action cameras. The market has also attracted the attention of Apple Inc.

GoPro forecast earnings of 24-26 cents per share and revenue of $380 million-$400 million for the second quarter.

Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 16 cents per share and revenue of $333.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

GoPro's net income attributable to shareholders nearly doubled to $16.8 million, or 11 cents per share, in the first quarter.

Excluding items, the company earned 24 cents per share.

Revenue rose 54 percent to $363.1 million.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of 18 cents per share and revenue of $341 million.

GoPro said sales from markets outside the United States, including Europe and Asia Pacific, jumped 66 percent.

Separately, GoPro said it would buy Kolor, a virtual reality software maker.

"It's very clear based on this acquisition they (GoPro) are probably going to develop a camera that can record video 360 degree, the spherical video," Anderson said.

The San Mateo, California-based company's shares were trading at $51.10 after the bell.

© Thomson Reuters 2015

TomTom Bandit action camera offers 4K capture, motion data, smartphone connectivity

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 7:19 AM

TomTom has announced its entry into the action cam market with the TomTom Bandit, a camera with a difference.

TomTom wants to make capturing your action movies as simple as possible, rethinking the action camera from the ground up, solving problems with editing, sharing and connectivity along the way.

At its core, the TomTom Bandit has a 16-megapixel sensor, offering 1080p or 4K footage, but it is also waterproof down to 50m with no need for an extra case.

Offering many of the skills of the new Garmin VIRB XE, the TomTom Bandit is packed with sensors, like GPS, gyro, barometer, and motion, so it knows what you're doing. It also features Bluetooth, so you can connect it to your heart rate monitor so it knows when you're excited.

On the top of the Bandit is the same display that TomTom puts into its Cardio sports watch, so you can control your device.

TomTom says that the Bandit will offer 3 hours of capture from a single charge, but there's some really clever design. The battery block, SD card slot and a full USB are part of the same unit housed inside the Bandit, so if you want to, you can unplug the lot and plug it into your computer.

There's no need, however, as one of the smartest part of the TomTom Bandit is the app that comes with it. TomTom wants to get around the problem of people capturing exciting footage and then never getting round to editing and sharing it.

Instead, with a shake of the smartphone, you'll be able to get the Bandit app to automatically pull together the highlights of your action footage and spin together a movie. Because it has all the sensors onboard, it knows when in your video there's some action, so it can literally pull out the best bits.

Better still, once you've spun together a movie you're happy with, only the parts you need are transferred to your phone and strung together for sharing.

It certainly looks like an innovative solution. The TomTom Bandit will be available from £300 in May. A premium pack will also be available in June including additional accessories for £380.

LG G4 camera explored: The smartphone camera to beat?

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 5:19 PM

The smartphone camera wars continue, with the LG G4 hotting things up in the photography department. But is its latest camera the one to plump for? We've handled the G4 at its London launch to get a taste of what it's all about.

In 2014 the LG G3 made headway in the camera feature set with an impressively fast laser autofocus system - a system that the LG G4 adopts, but builds upon with a larger sensor size and faster aperture lens. The two autofocus systems are identical - achieving focus in a purported 276ms - so there's no detectable speed jump between the two. However, given its speed - and it really is fast - it didn't really need to be any quicker. We're really impressed with how quickly subjects snap into focus.

Principal to the G4's camera is the larger sensor size, opting for a 1/2.6in sensor, rather than the 1/3.0in sensor typical in many competitors such as the iPhone 6.

Thing is, that "inch" description doesn't describe the size literally: a standard compact camera sensor has a 1/2.3in sensor, which is approximately an equally large increase in size again, or the same size as the sensor found in the Sony Xperia Z3. It's not nearly as large as that found in a DSLR camera, which is what LG's marketing wants to make you think.

So does a little bigger mean better? We've taken shots that look great on the G4's screen, but a 5.5-inch panel Quad HD panel isn't going to look the same as a print or a larger monitor display. Saying that, the shots look great from this 16-megapixel sensor. And with Sony's 20.7-megapixel offering, the on-sensor pixel size between the two is approximately the same, which ought to mean similar quality.

What the LG has, however, is a faster aperture. At f/1.8 it's among the fastest lenses going, delivering around sixty per cent more light than the iPhone 6's f/2.2 optic (two thirds of a difference in f-stops). More light means more to play with: faster shutter speeds, less processing to achieve exposure, thus avoiding the worst of image noise and processing.

Above all else, using the camera really shows off its abilities. In the daylight-lit room that we experienced the camera the on-screen image looked great on the 5.5-inch Quad HD panel, delivered in super-smooth real-time with plenty of colour and punch to the image. The autofocus is as good as it gets, the resulting image is gunning for the smartphone camera crown - and, you know what, it might have it within reach.

Three modes are available for shooting: Simple, which shows next to nothing on screen to keep things ultra simple; Auto which adds in touch-to-focus autofocus; and Manual which opens up every available option - from manual focus (if desired), to ISO, shutter speed, aperture value, white balance and exposure lock.

There's even raw file capture in the DNG format to get the utmost from images after shooting - open in an application like Photoshop and full capture information and adjustment is possible, without causing as significant loss to quality as from a standard JPEG file. And there's no reason to not shoot raw if you have a large capacity microSD file slotted into the G4.

In the manual shooting mode, there's a single click-to-scroll virtual slider used to adjust the in-play setting. So whether that's focus or ISO you can see what you're doing and the equivalent exposure shown on screen in front of you. Long exposures are also possible from 1 to 30 seconds, should you have a mount or tripod to keep the G4 steady.

Elsewhere there's an tri-axis optical image stabilisation system. Most sensors work on dual X and Y axes, which works well to counter certain movements, but LG has added in a Z axis to compensate for a third rotational dimension. We've seen five-axis stabilisation in some higher-end dedicated cameras, such as the Olympus OM-D E-M5 II, which are very impressive for steady video and still work.

On the rear is one of LG's big guns: a colour spectrum analyser. Yep, it's not a dual flash, even if it happens to look like one. This is used to recognise objects using infrared light for focus, while exact colour is extracted from the shot using the analyser - the first in a smartphone. It's an interesting idea, matched with a display capable of showing 98 per cent of the DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) standard, so if anything this is LG's way of trying to make even more of a point about the importance of colour. How well does it work? We'd need to take a stack of images before passing judgement. Besides, all imaging sensors have colour filters as a method to extract colour information, so how much better this is will need to be derived from far more use.

When it comes to viewing your images the gallery looks, well, a lot like Apple's as found in the iPhone. The ability to view pictures by year, month and date can be shifted from large thumbnails to small ones with a pinch of the screen. Snaps are even arranged into smart galleries, as judged by the Smart Notice feature of the phone's UX 4.0 user interface.

First impressions of the LG G4 camera are good. LG has grown the G3's already impressive offering by adding a larger sensor, faster aperture and responsive software. Whether you're a point-and-shooter or do-it-all-manual kind of snapper, there's depth here at every juncture. Good job all round.

GoPro is getting into virtual reality, with latest acquisition of French firm Kolor

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 5:19 PM

GoPro has announced it's buying Kolor, signaling it is getting into virtual reality.

Kolor is a French software startup that's all about creating immersive and interactive videos. The company's software takes photos and videos and turns them into 360-degree, panoramic scenes you can watch on mobile, the web, or in a VR environment. GoPro said Kolor would become part of its business next month.

Kolor's software and technology will apparently help GoPro move forward and focus on spherical media, something the action-cam maker said enables a range of "immersive viewing experiences and is an essential building block of virtual reality, a technology poised to transform entertainment, education and other industries".

Adding Kolor’s virtual reality technology is bound to help GoPro become a full-fledged media company. GoPro, which is known for making action cameras and professional mounts, has even created a 4K video to show off what happens when you combine a GoPro mount with Kolor’s software.

If you watch the video below in a Chrome browser, you'll be able to move around in the footage. GoPro's spherical videos will initially work with Google’s Cardboard system, but compatibility is expected to expand to other virtual-reality systems like Facebook’s Oculus Rift, according to .

Canon Reports 29 Percent Drop in Q1 Profit as Compact Camera Sales Slump

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 7:36 AM

Canon Inc on Monday said net profit fell 28.7 percent in its first quarter, falling short of analyst estimates, as the Japanese company faced slumping sales of digital compact cameras.

Profit was JPY 33.93 billion ($285.27 million) in January-March, compared with the JPY 53.64 billion average estimate of 5 analysts according to Thomson Reuters data.

The result comes as the world's biggest camera maker seeks growth opportunities, in part to offset a drop in demand for compacts as consumers increasingly rely on smartphone cameras.

It plans to buy Swedish surveillance firm Axis AB for $2.7 billion - offering 340 crowns ($39.31) a share until the extended deadline of May 5 - and as of Friday owned 84 percent. It does not plan to up its offer even though hedge fund Elliott Management has since raised its ownership to 10 percent.

"Sales volume for low-end (digital camera) models declined due to the ongoing contraction of the market in all regions from the previous year," said Canon in its earnings release. Sales of high-end models increased, it said.

also said it expects to sell 7.0 million compact cameras in 2015, versus a previous forecast of 7.8 million and 22.5 percent less than in 2014. It projects sales of cameras with interchangeable lenses to reach 5.8 million units rather than its previous view of 6.4 million.

The firm, which earns about 80 percent of revenue overseas and is a major beneficiary of a weaker yen, maintained its view of the Japanese currency trading at 120 versus the US dollar in the second to fourth quarters.

Shares of Canon closed 0.7 percent higher ahead of the earnings release, versus a 0.2 percent fall in the broader market.

© Thomson Reuters 2015

Inexpensive 3D Camera Developed That Works Outdoors

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 7:36 AM

motion_contrast_3d_camera_second_gen_comp_photo_lab_nw_university.jpg

Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have developed a 3D camera that is inexpensive, produces high-quality images, and works in all environments -- including outdoors.

"When Microsoft released its 3D camera Kinect in 2010, it transformed the video game industry," said Mohit Gupta, study co-author from the Columbia University.

The most inexpensive camera to date, the Kinect bypassed the need for joysticks and controllers by sensing the user's gestures, leading to a feeling of total immersion into the game.

But users quickly discovered the Kinect's limitations. It does not work outdoors and it produces relatively low-quality images, the study said.

"In order for a 3D camera to be useful, it has to be something you can use in everyday, normal environments," Oliver Cossairt, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Northwestern University.

(Also See:)

"Outdoors is a part of that, and that is something the Kinect cannot do, but our Motion Contrast 3-D scanner can," Cossairt noted.

The project is supported by the Office of Naval Research and the US Department of Energy.

The new camera has many applications for devices in science and industry that rely on capturing the 3-D shapes of scenes "in the wild," such as in robotics, bioinformatics, augmented reality, and manufacturing automation.

It could potentially also be used for navigation purposes, install on anything from a car to a motorised wheelchair, study pointed out.

The findings were presented at the IEEE International Conference on Computational Photography in Houston.

New Pocket-lint Deals Store, and 10% off Storewide Coupon

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 3:14 PM

Pocket-lint has teamed up with the guys and girls over at Stack Commerce a secure payment platform to bring you stacks of exclusive deals on tech, gear and gadgets, and e-learning every week.

You can get to the store by clicking the Deals tab at the top of every page on Pocket-lint or by going straight to in your browser.

To celebrate the exciting news of the new Deals area on Pocket-lint, we are giving every reader a 10 per cent off Coupon Code for the first week on top of the great savings you'll already be able to benefit from.

Just find the deal you want and use the coupon PLDEALS at the checkout stage. But hurry, the 10 per cent off coupon expires on Friday 1 May 2015 at 8am GMT.

That 10 per cent off coupon is going to be really handy when you realise you can get huge savings on things like a pair of , or some for less than half price.

But that's not all, there are other gems to be found as well, like cameras from and speakers from all to be enjoyed if you like a deal.

Let us know what kind of deals you would like to see in the store and we can get our deal hunters on the case.

TechRadar Sony commits to A-mount SLT cameras with two new Zeiss lenses

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 12:06 PM

Sony's lens range is actually very extensive. The main shot, above, shows all the current E-mount and A-mount lenses together, but the E-mount optics are for Sony's compact system cameras, while the A-mount lenses are for its SLT (single lens translucent) cameras, including the budget-priced A58, the advanced A77 II and the full frame A99.

The two new lenses fall under the more prestigious Zeiss brand, and both are designed for full-frame sensors, so they can be used on both the A99 (full frame) and A77 II (APS-C) cameras.

The Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM II (SAL2470Z2) standard zoom is designed as a top-quality kit-lens replacement, and the f2.8 constant maximum aperture should make it ideal for low light shooting and defocused backgrounds.

The Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM II (SAL1635Z2) is a super-wideangle zoom offering a much wider field of view than a standard zoom. Again, it has a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture – perfect for low-light and dimly-lit interiors.

These are new versions of existing lenses, and Sony says they offer better image quality, improved ghost reduction and better autofocus – the SSM (Super Sonic wave Motor) in each lens has been uprated and faster processing increases the AF accuracy. Sony says the tracking speed is four times faster than before. The new lenses also have a new dust and moisture-resistant design.

Both lenses have image-stabilization built in and take 77mm filters.

While they will work on both full frame and APS-C Sony Alpha cameras, these lenses are best suited to full frame models. An APS-C camera won't use the full image area and you'll get an effective focal length increase so that the 24-70mm effectively becomes a 36-105mm, and the 16-35mm becomes a 24-53mm zoom – they both become a bit too 'long' for standard and super-wide zooms on an APS-C camera.

You can also use the new lenses on Sony's A7-series full-frame compact system cameras, but you will need an additional adaptor.

'Vario-Sonnar' is the Zeiss term for 'zoom lens', and 'T*' is the proprietary lens coatings used by Zeiss to reduce internal reflections, ghosting and flare.

We have no word on prices yet, but Sony says the new lenses will be available to 'pre-order' right now.

ZTE Accuses Huawei of Copying Camera Tech as China Patent Battles Heat Up

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 7:32 AM

Chinese telecom gear manufacturer ZTE Corp has published a letter accusing Huawei Technologies Co Ltd of copying its camera technology and threatened legal action, a sign that smartphone patent battles have begun in earnest in China.

ZTE's lawyers at Guangdong Guanghe Law Firm said in a letter dated April 21 that Huawei's recently released Honor X2 and high-end smartphones violated ZTE's camera-focusing patents.

published the letter on the Weibo microblog of its Nubia smartphone brand a day later, adding that "given Huawei's large-scale copying, we feel it's time to come out and use legal means to protect orderly and fair market competition."

denied the allegations in a statement on Thursday.

"Huawei has never used the patent mentioned in our competitor's lawyers' letter and therefore we contest the allegations made against us. We stringently respect others' IPR (intellectual property rights) and protect our own IPR," the statement said.

Patent battles among Chinese smartphone manufacturers are expected to rise in the wake of Inc's record settlement with Chinese antitrust regulators.

The settlement dissolved the cross-licensing agreements that had given Qualcomm customers such as ZTE and Huawei free access to each others' patent portfolios and kept them away from litigation.

ZTE, anticipating the dissolution of the Qualcomm-enforced patent truce, has been quietly seeking patent royalties from its Chinese rivals over the past year, people with knowledge of the situation have previously told Reuters.

Although most industry experts expected the likes of ZTE and Huawei - two leaders in the number of patent filings internationally - to seek royalties from smaller firms, few had anticipated the two Shenzhen-based rivals to go head to head.

Both ZTE and Huawei have been stockpiling patents in the past several years. Huawei was the world's No. 1 applicant for international patents in 2014, according to a United Nations patent agency, while ZTE took third place.

© Thomson Reuters 2015

TechRadar Pentax K-3 II joins the movers and shakers with its own high-resolution sensor shift mode

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 10:06 PM

The Pentax K-3 II is not just another DSLR. Pentax has always produced interesting, quirky cameras just that little bit different to Canon and Nikon DSLRs – for many folk, just a little too different. But the K-3 II is something new.

It's the third new Pentax DSLR since last August. It started with the K-S1, a decent little camera for beginners and fashionistas if you don't mind the flashing lights and offbeat controls. Then came the K-S2, a much more traditional, tough and powerful DSLR for family use, according to Pentax, but with clear appeal for enthusiasts too.

But now Pentax has surprised everyone (well us, anyway) with a new flagship DSLR that uses the same idea as the rather brilliant Olympus OM-D E-M5 II. It combines a series of images shot in close succession with just a one-pixel shift between them to produce high-resolution images of a quality you can't get from a regular single-layer sensor.

Read: , , ,

Once upon a time, camera makers used sensor-shift technologies simply as an alternative to lens-based image stabilizers. The camera has gyroscopic sensors to detect the tiniest camera movement during the exposure and instantly compensate by shifting the sensor to counteract it.

This sensor-shift system is also used to vibrate the sensor at very high frequencies to shake off any dust particles. But then when you've got this fast, precise sensor shifting technology, does it have to stop there?

There are two main limitations to mainstream sensor technology. The first is that the resolution is limited by the number of pixels you've got on the sensor, and the second is that each one is sensitive to only red, green or blue light and the camera has to interpolate (guess at) the full colour data for a pixel by using the data from those around it.

But if you shift the sensor minutely, a pixel at a time, for a series of image captured during a single exposure, you overcome both limitations. You can capture 'in-between' pixels to add resolution – this is what the Olympus OM-D E-M5 II does with half-pixel shifts. And you can shift the sensor a pixel at a time to capture full-colour data (real, not interpolated) for each pixel.

Details are scant at the moment, and it's not yet clear whether the Pentax K-3 II offers a high-resolution mode, or whether it simply records 'better' 24-megapixel images, its sensor's native resolution. What Pentax does say is that this mode produces more detail, better colour and lower noise.

It's also not clear whether it will have the same limitations as Olympus's system – the need for a static subject and a tripod.

More on this just as soon as we have it.

This is by no means the only interesting feature in the K-3 II, though in most respects it's identical to its predecessor, the K-3. It's a tough, hardy camera with a stainless steel chassis and magnesium alloy body, and it's weatherproof and dustproof – with no fewer than 92 seals – and coldproof down to -10 degrees centigrade.

Like its predecessor, it has a 24-megapixel APS-C sensor with no anti-aliasing filter, and this is done to provide maximum sharpness. The even more clever part is that it has an anti-aliasing simulator which uses tiny sensor movements (that sensor-shift system again!) to prevent moiré effects with fine patterns or textures.

The continuous shooting speed stays the same as the K-3's, at 8.3 frames per second, and it's maintained for 23 raw files or 60 JPEGs. Both cameras have twin SD card slots, the same body-only weight of 700g (25.2oz), 720-shot battery life and 27-point SAFOX 11 autofocus system.

But the K-3 II adds in-built GPS, which can record location, latitude, longitude, altitude, UTC (universal time corrected) and direction, using an electronic compass.

Pentax says it has improved the SR (shake reduction) system too, and it now offers up to 4.5 stops of compensation.

We were impressed with the Pentax K-3, and we can't wait to try out the K-3 II's high-resolution mode to see how effective it really is. If this technology takes off, it could spell the end for the current megapixel/sensor size race and see sensor technology heading off in new and unexpected directions.

The Pentax K-3 II goes on sale on May 22 2015. It will cost £769.99 body only (about US$1150/AU$1490), £849.99 (about US$1270/AU$1640) with the Pentax 18-55mm WR kit lens or £1,149 (about US$1720/AU$2220) with the new Pentax 16-85mm WR lens.

Ricoh's new Pentax K-3 II is a DSLR flagship with GPS and 1080p video

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 9:13 PM

Ricoh made another DLSR camera. It's called the Pentax K-3 II.

The new camera is described as a "flagship model" of the Pentax K-series. It notably features a Pixel Shift Resolution System, a shake reduction mechanism, an APS-C-size CMOS image sensor (with 24.35 megapixels), and a SAFOX 11 sensor module with a 27-point AF system.

The camera further features an AA-filter-free design as well as a compact body with a dustproof and weather-resistant construction. It also has a GPS module. With the GPS receiver and electronic compass now in-camera, you'll be able to record shooting locations and track celestial bodies. Other features include an optical viewfinder with nearly 100-per cent field of view and a 3.2-inch LCD monitor.

The Pentax K-3 II of course also has full HD movie recording capabilities and dual SD card slots for memory card flexibility, along with the latest version of Digital Camera Utility 5 software included. If any of that interests you, Ricoh is offering the K-3 II body for £769.99. You can also get the body with your choice of five different lenses, with total pricing ranging from £849.99 to £1,149.99.

The Pentax K-3 II will launch on 22 May.

Garmin VIRB XE: Extreme video and data in one package (hands-on)

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 7:12 AM

Garmin has unveiled its latest action camera in the VIRB X and top-end VIRB XE. It's a world apart from its first VIRB and aims to take on GoPro for the top spot in the action cameras market.

But how can Garmin top GoPro? It's all about sensors. Data is the pull these days and the VIRB XE wants to offer every metric right on the screen along with the video. Recording a cycle route? Watch the video back with real-time speed, g-force, cadence, altitude and more all overlaid on the footage.

Garmin has already got its VIRB XE cameras in the cockpits of the Red Bull Air Race planes and we were invited to take a ride and see just how good the cameras and data recording are.

The VIRB XE looks far different to its first VIRB. The VIRB XE is smaller and lighter as it now comes with the protective housing built around the camera - a housing that can't be removed. Only the battery and microSD card can be replaced, so it's less fiddly than having a separate housing.

The VIRB XE is light enough to mount on a helmet without it giving you neck ache, but reassuringly solid enough to live up to its claim of surviving up to 50m underwater.

Can it survive a fall from a plane as GoPros have been seen to do on YouTube? We weren't going to open the canopy to test that one, but the casing feels strong enough, in theory at least.

The side of the camera features a clip-on connector that means charging and transferring data is possible at all times. No more drilling holes in the side of GoPro cases to keep them connected to power for all day running.

Another nice addition is a physical switch to activate the camera so at a touch you can feel if it's on or off, even when mounted on your head, which is a win for convenience.

The VIRB XE is clearly aimed at the more extreme sports. Since these are the best sports worth filming, this makes sense. It also makes sense to use a g-force sensor to show just how extreme the experience was and we can see this being popular with motorsports fans. Garmin calls all this, along with conventional sensors like GPS, its G-Metrix system.

It's one thing to see a barrel roll in a video but another to see just how many times the force of gravity is being exerted on the passenger and pilot and it's all built into the same package.

People already love watching other people game or share extreme sports, imagine a combination of the two. The same ski route can be recorded but it's not just about time, as the VIRB XE is going to be measuring everything from your speed to how extreme the turns are, a bit like Strava for extreme sports. You'll be able to see what the real differences are between your run and someone else's.

One area that the Garmin VIRB XE can't compete with the GoPro Hero4 Black is on quality, in resolution at least. While it is able to offer Full HD 1080p footage at 60 frames per second, if you bump up to the max 1440p it'll top out at 30fps. The GoPro Hero4 can manage 4K video at 30fps.

For most people this level of quality won't be an issue for some years, until 4K televisions become more affordable at least. Plus, capturing action sports is more about frames per second than resolution anyway. So 1080p video at a speedy 60fps refresh rate should be more than enough to capture even the most extremely fast-paced action.

Garmin says the decision to leave out 4K and focus on frame rate was conscious as it's aiming at giving perfect footage for action sports. It won't add 4K until it's able to be recorded at 60fps, it says.

Baring in mind this is the first VIRB XE from Garmin we wouldn't be surprised to see the resolution in the next generation take that jump up to 4K.

The VIRB XE also shoots 12-megapixel photos at 30 frames per second and can shoot in 120fps slow motion, but we didn't get a chance to try these.

Garmin is all about connectivity with ANT+, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on most of its devices. The VIRB XE is no different as it's able to connect to most other Garmin devices, even in-car systems. That means you can pull in any data you want, be it what gear your car is in, or cadence from you bike, and it'll all be up on screen in the video.

The VIRB XE will also connect to your smartphone to allow for remote control as well as live streaming to the handset display so you can frame your shot. Plus it'll play nice with your Garmin smartwatch if you want control right from your wrist.

At launch Garmin says it should have live stream options that will allow you to stream directly online, via your phone, for others to watch. So once the Garmin Connect software works with the VIRB Edit software everyone should be able to share videos and data directly into their current Connect platform.

As you can see from the video in a Red Bull Air Race place, the VIRB XE performed admirably. Despite being a bright day outside the shot from inside the dark cockpit still manages to show the landscape and inside clearly, with defined colour. Admittedly outside could have better white balance but under the circumstances it's still impressive. And the rate at which the camera adapts to changes in light is also impressive.

Shot at 1080p and 60 frame per second it's clear why this camera is made for action. Not a frame was dropped even when we were being flung about at over 5G. Also the camera was directly mounted to the plane and yet shows no signs of vibration of shaking thanks to the electronic image stabilisation working well.

The wide angle lens captured everything even though we were sure it wouldn't as it felt so close to us in the cockpit. Despite this the image appears clear with minimal distortion around the edges.

Garmin is in a very tough market where GoPro has almost completely perfected the action camera offering and dominates the market. By delivering data and smart sharing options with good software, along with Garmin's history of smart tracking devices, the VIRB XE offers something new.

For those that demand 4K video the GoPro is the obvious choice, but since most will be more focused on frame rate, both the VIRB XE and Hero4 offer 1080p at 60fps.

Garmin also offers smart data recording that could gamify its video, making videos more directly competitive. Could this start a new community of extreme sports videos that compete across the world without actually being in the same place at the same time? That's what Garmin's done with its Connect platform and GPS sports watches, so why not with a camera?

The Garmin VIRB XE will be available in June for £320. The Garmin VIRB X, which tops out at 720p60fps, will be £280.

TechRadar Adobe unveils Lightroom CC as a cornerstone of its subscription-based Photography Plan

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 6:05 PM

Adobe is describing Lightroom CC as all new, with 'lightning fast' performance and new tools for editing, enhancing and displaying pictures. Mobile, 'connected' imaging is an increasingly large part of Adobe's plans, and while users will still be able to get Lightroom CC as a standalone package ('Lightroom 6'), it will miss out on Creative Cloud features, such as the ability to synchronise images with mobile devices and create and share online galleries. Lightroom 6 will sell separately for around £100/US$150

It's been almost two years since Adobe pulled the plug on the regular desktop version of Photoshop and migrated to its new subscription plan, but fears that Lightroom would meet the same fate have yet to be realised.

In fact, although Adobe's subscription plan caused controversy and upset at the time, it's actually worked pretty well – and now, for just £8.57/US9.99 per month (based on an annual subscription) you get both Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC. Even for sceptics, it's got to look like a pretty good deal now, especially since updates are automatic – and included in the fee.

Adobe says Creative Cloud now has around 4-million paid members worldwide, so it looks like it guessed it right after all.

HDR Merge: It's now possible to create HDR composites directly within Lightroom by merging a series of separate exposures into single high-dynamic-range image. What's more, this is saved not as a JPEG or a TIFF, but as a raw file.

Panorama merge: Another job that used to need a separate editor will now be possible in Lightroom. You will be able to take a series of overlapping frames and stitch them together into a single panoramic image.

Performance improvements: Adobe says Lightroom CC is up to 10 times faster, making use of hardware GPU (graphics processing units).

Face recognition: It's long been available in low-cost 'amateur' image-editing tools, but now face-recognition comes to Lightroom. You can use it to quickly find family and friends or, in a professional environment, you could use it to find shots of specific models or subjects.

Advanced video slideshows: These can be created using still images, music and video, and finished off with pan zoom effects.

We've also been told that Lightroom CC will include CMYK soft-proofing, for checking how colours will appear in commercial printing processes, 'pet eye' correction and new metadata filtering tools, plus HTML5-based web galleries. It will also have a Filter Brush for the Radial and Graduated Filter tools, to mask out areas that you want left unaffected.

Lightroom CC will come as part of the Photography Plan at no extra charge – this stays at £8.57/US9.99 per month (based on an annual subscription) – and should be available straight away. And if you're still not sure about the Photography Plan yet, you can download a 30-day trial version instead.

TechRadar You can film forever on this self-powered camera

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 4:00 PM

A prototype camera that powers itself from the light coming in through the lens has been built by researchers at Columbia University.

Normal cameras work using - semiconductors that convert light into current. Photovoltaic cells used in solar panels work in a very similar way, but instead of using the current as information to build a picture, it's collected up and then sent onward. The two processes are similar enough that the Columbia team were able to build a sensor that can alternate between both tasks, and they claim it's the first of its kind.

"A few different designs for image sensors that can harvest energy have been proposed in the past," Shree K. Nayar, the professor who led the team, said about the project. "However, our prototype is the first demonstration of a fully self-powered video camera."

Here's a sample of the output:

used off-the-shelf components to build an image sensor measuring 30 x 40 pixels (a paltry 0.0012 megapixels), which they housed in a 3D printed body. When the shutter is pressed, the pixels are first used to record the image in front of them then switched to a mode that harvests energy to charge the sensor's power supply - a small capacity.

That power supply could also theoretically be used to charge a rechargeable battery for a phone or smartwatch.

While the resulting video from the camera isn't too impressive (in fact it's more scary than anything), if the technology is further developed them the applications are huge. CCTV, industrial monitoring, agriculture, wearable technology and other connected devices could all benefit - not to mention the camera industry themselves.

One day, your DSLR might never run out of batteries again.

TechRadar Is your DSLR a fake? Nikon issues a fresh counterfeit warning

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 1:59 PM

This is not the first time Nikon Europe has sent out a notice about fakes. We reported a in December 2014, but it looks like crafty forgers have now extended the practice to other models in the Nikon range.

We're not talking about the silly plastic toy cameras with only vaguely convincing names you see in junk shops. This is a much more sophisticated operation where external body panels containing models names are swapped over. If you inadvertently buy one of these counterfeits, you're still getting a perfectly good Nikon DSLR – but a lesser model than the one you thought you were buying. The profit, for the forgers, lies in the price difference between the cheaper camera and the one it's pretending to be.

It all started with the D800 and D800E. The D800E variant had the anti-aliasing effect removed and this added a modest but useful amount to the price – and the margin was enough to make it worthwhile for rogue traders to quickly swap a D800's body panel with one from the D800E.

But now Nikon has issued a fresh reporting fake D610s too. They're actually APS-C D7100 bodies – outwardly very similar – disguised as the full-frame D610.

More worryingly for pros, it seems forgers are pulling the same trick with the old Nikon D4, disguising it to look like the much newer and more desirable Nikon D4s.

There is a very simple way to check a Nikon DSLR is what it says it is. All you have to do is display a saved image in playback mode and select the 'overview' mode – the model name will be displayed in the top right corner. The camera body can be modified, but the firmware can't lie.

This won't help if you're buying a camera unseen, of course.

World's First Self-Powered Video Camera Invented by Indian-Origin Scientist

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 7:25 AM

Computer scientist Shree K. Nayar, the T.C Chang Professor of Computer Science at Columbia Engineering, has invented the world's first fully self-powered video camera that can produce an image each second, indefinitely, of a well-lit indoor scene.

Nayar designed a pixel that not only can measure incident light (a ray of light that strikes a surface) but also convert the incident light into electric power.

"We are in the middle of a digital imaging revolution. A camera that can function as an untethered device forever without any external power supply would be incredibly useful," Nayar, who heads the computer vision laboratory at the Columbia Engineering.

At the heart of any digital camera is an image sensor, a chip with millions of pixels.

The key enabling device in a pixel is the photodiode which produces an electric current when exposed to light.

The photodiode in a camera pixel is used in the photoconductive mode while in a solar cell it is used in the photovoltaic model.

This mechanism enables each pixel to measure the intensity of light falling on it.

Nayar, working with research engineer Daniel Sims, and consultant Mikhail Fridberg of the consultancy firm ADSP Consulting used off-the-shelf components to fabricate an image sensor with 30x40 pixels.

In Nayar's prototype camera, which is housed in a 3D printed body, each pixel's photodiode is always operated in the photovoltaic mode.

When the camera is not used to capture images, it can be used to generate power for other devices, such as a phone or a watch.

According to Nayar, the image sensor could use a rechargeable battery and charge it via its harvesting capability.

"But we took an extreme approach to demonstrate that the sensor is indeed truly self-powered and used just a capacitor to store the harvested energy," he noted.

"We believe our results are a significant step forward in developing an entirely new generation of cameras that can function for a very long duration ideally, forever without being externally powered," the authors wrote.

The team is set to present its work at the international conference on computational photography at the Rice University in Houston April 24-26.

TechRadar Fuji goes fast and wide with its new 16mm f/1.4 prime lens

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 12:59 AM

Ever since it launched the retro-styled X-Pro1, Fuji's been treading a different path with its compact system cameras, aiming deliberately up-market with a range of top-quality fixed focal length lenses for its X-mount cameras, the , , , and .

The Fujinon XF16mm F1.4 R WR is the fifth in Fuji's line-up of fast, prime lenses. The 16mm focal length is equivalent to a 24mm lens on a full-frame DSLR, and the f/1.4 maximum aperture is 2 stops faster than a regular 24mm f/2.8 lens, making this lens ideal for low light street photography, for example.

This high maximum aperture comes at a price – £730, to be exact (about US$1,080/AU$1,410), but this is about what you'd expect to pay for a premium own-brand lens with these specifications.

The XF16mm F1.4 has other interesting features besides its maximum aperture. It has an aperture control ring on the lens itself, which is rare today but is the traditional means of controlling the lens aperture (as opposed to turning a dial on the camera body). It's easy to see what the setting is even when the camera is switched off, and you can find the control ring by touch alone with the camera held to your eye.

That's not all. The manual focus ring at the front of the lens has a focus distance scale, which isn't unusual in itself, but alongside it are depth of field index markings for every aperture setting from f/1.4 to f/16.

At one time all lenses had these, and they provided a clear and simple way to estimate and control the depth of field (near-to-far sharpness) in your pictures, and it's an option that's not possible with zoom lenses because of the way depth of field changes with the zoom setting.

The Fuji lens has a minimum focus distance of just 15cm, almost half that of a regular DSLR or CSC kit lens, and a sophisticated two-group Floating Focus System driven by a built-in high-torque coreless DC motor – Fuji claims AF speeds as fast as 0.11sec.

The new lens is weather, freeze and dust-resistant, and weighs just 375g, or 13.2oz. It completes Fuji's 'quintet' of fast prime lenses, which already includes the XF23mm F1.4 R, XF35mm F1.4R, XF56mm F1.2 R, and XF56mm F1.2 R APD lenses, and it goes on sale in mid-May.

TechRadar Google Snapseed 2.0 is here, but you could easily have missed it

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 12:59 AM

Snapseed was launched by Nik Software as a low-cost desktop photo effects/editing tool, but when Nik was bought out by Google, the search giant ditched the desktop version (NOOO!), moved its tools online for editing images via Google+ but – crucially – kept the free iOS and Android versions.

If you own a mobile device and you take and edit photos, then Snapseed is practically a must-have – or at the very least, it's worth a long, hard look – because of the way it combines simple one-tap effects with surprisingly deep but accessible editing tools.

It's really easy to use. You pick a Filter – Lens Blur – for example and use a touch-and-drag on-screen gadget to move it around and control the size and strength. Other filters use touch-and-drag menus displayed directly over the image and a sideways drag to change the strength of that parameter.

The effects are so good, and so quick to apply, that you do really wish you could do that same things in high-powered pro tools like Photoshop and Lightroom.

In Snapseed 2.0, the options are split into Tools (mainstream image editing adjustments like image tuning, cropping, rotating and spot repair) and Effects (Lens Blur, Glamour Glow, Vintage and more).

But the way you can combine and rework these effects has been transformed.

Previously, you could apply multiple effects in sequence, but with no way of retracing your steps later, or re-adjusting individual effects. Now, though, Snapseed 2.0 saves your adjustments as re-editable layers (or 'Stacks' in Snapseed-speak) – it's like the power of Photoshop's non-destructive adjustment layers and smart objects, but in a free mobile app.

The control goes even deeper – you can now use Brush tools to apply effects to selected areas of an image rather than the whole thing.

It's also possible now to copy a set of adjustments from on image to another (always a limitation in the previous version) and there are five new filters, plus a Transform tool that can adjust perspective across vertical and horizontal axes and can even fill in empty areas around the edges of the image afterwards.

Not everyone is happy. Snapseed's Grunge filter is gone and some don't like the new UI and Google's design choices. On balance, though, Snapseed 2.0 has had a major power boost, particularly in 'reversible' editing.

Snapseed 2.0 is out now. If you've got the old version you've probably got the update already, so just check your apps. Or, if you've not used Snapseed before, you really should try it because the effects and in-depth control are amazing in a free mobile app.

TechRadar Garmin Virb X and XE action cams bring GPS, G-Metrix and a whole new look

Posted by Dien Nguyen on 11:59 AM

Garmin has announced two new action cameras, the X and XE. These are an evolution in design over the first generation with enhanced features and a complete redesign in both looks and control.

The X and XE look identical and have a very similar feature set, but the XE (Elite) version has a higher maximum resolution, frame rate and price. Both new models feature Wi-Fi, GPS, an accelerometer and Full ANT+ sensor capabilities – ANT+ is a wireless standard that enables the cameras to gather data from other devices such as heart monitors.

The new design is completely different to the previous generation, and while the 'Virb' name continues many of the design elements such as the screen, sliding on/off switch and the need for a waterproof housing if used in water have all gone. In addition, the original bullet-style body has been replaced with a more rectangular design.

Garmin's unique selling point is GPS and this feature will appeal to anyone involved in outdoor activities and already familiar with GPS devices. But these cameras go further. There's now a gyroscope as standard, and Garmin's G-Metrix technology uses this built in sensor to show speed and G-Force in animated overlays when viewing data back through software.

GPS and ease of use were major selling points for the Virb and Virb Elite, but for those who wanted a camera that could withstand the elements, the first generation was just a little too refined, especially the Elite version with its white case. However the X and XE have been built from the ground up to be smaller, lighter and waterproof without an additional case. In fact they can be used down to an impressive 50m depth, which compares well against the GoPro Standard housing (40m).

The new design also sees a new mounting system, which uses a tight quick release mechanism – we'll bring you more details on how this works and it's compatibility with other systems once we get a review sample. At the moment it looks that it will retain full compatibility with the GoPro mounting system.

Resolution and frame rates are key specs for an action camera – you need a good high resolution to capture the fine detail and high frame rate so that it's possible to play back footage in smooth slow motion.

The X and XE can both shot 1080p full HD at 25/30fps, but the XE offers a wider choice of frame rates, going up to 50/60p. It can also go beyond full HD to record 1440p footage at 30fps. And where the X model can shoot 720p video at 60fps for half-speed slow motion playback, the XE can go up to 120fps

Pro video options are starting to become important for action cams and Garmin follows the trend enabling a 'Pro' mode for adjusting white balance, ISO, sharpness, exposure, and colour profile. Garmin has also added a multi-camera sync feature that uses a GPS timestamp and works within the Virb Edit software.

The Garmin X goes on sale at US$299.99/£239, while the XE will cost US$399.99/£TBC.

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