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Canon New Video Camera to See in Extremely Low-Light Environments

July 30, 2015 By Paul Leave a Comment

Canon’s New Video Camera to See in Extremely Low-Light Environments

Canon, the giant multinational corporation, has hit the spot yet again in the optical products field with its brand new ME20F-SH video shooter, featuring a robust and stylish, box-shaped design.

This model, which is due to be released in December, has an ISO capacity of over 4 million, making it the optimum option for people who want to capture footage in low-light environments.

Most cameras include infrared illumination, having the effect of switching the footage to black and white, but the ME20F-SH captures vivid, full color footage with a lot less noise than other models.

This camera’s impressive sensitivity to light can offer the joys of immortalizing a moonless night sky, for instance, for professionals or amateurs alike. It could be beneficial for astronomers, for night-time wildlife enthusiasts and researchers and even for deep-sea explorers.

Its resolution is of 1080p, whereas a Canon spokesperson said that it had to be done in order to

“achieve the highest possible low-light sensitivity”,

which would have been reduced if they had chosen a higher resolution. So, this isn’t necessarily a disadvantage.

However, it can record in Full HD.

The ME20F-SH is believed to be of real help to video production companies making films, reality TV shows and/or documentaries, the company suggested.

The camera’s 35 mm CMOS sensor, that which converts light into electrons, is what made it special and worth an approximate $30.000 sum (its body), whereas the photosites inside the camera are significantly bigger than those on some of the best interchangeable lens cameras.

The model will elementary be enhanced with 3G/HD-SDI and HDMI (output only), 2.5 and 3.5 mm stereo microphone jacks, plus an 8-pin port, which will allow the user to combine video with audio-monitoring accessories to the camera.

The ME20F-SH will also have an Electro-Focus lens mount, which will preserve its capabilities, rather independently of all-new lenses. Nevertheless, the camera can indeed be enhanced with different lenses, as it uses the same type as Canon’s SLR and EOS lines.

The multi-purpose ME20F-SH allows future video-shooting enthusiasts to discern subjects under even some of the dimmest lighting conditions, such as environments lit by artificial illumination.

Canon also mentioned that the ME20F-SH can be used as a surveillance camera too, as it can be set up in semi-permanent locations. It is able to generate accurate video footage even of subject which cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Photo Credits nofilmschool.com

Instagram launches Hyperlapse, an Exciting Tracking-shot and Time-lapse Video App

August 26, 2014 By Nicholas Anderton Leave a Comment

Instagram’s team just came up with a beautiful invention. Instagram launches Hyperlapse, a separate app that allows you to record smooth time-lapse videos. The idea in itself is so great because it basically turns your smartphone into $15.000 worth of video equipment, Wired claims.

From 10 AM PST, Hyperlapse will be available on Apple AppStore. That is right, Hyperlapse is only available to iPhone users. Besides, it is free! Fortunately, Instagram announced that they are working at an Android version which should be available soon.

So the story is as follow. In 2013, Thomas Dimson was still under the strong impression left by ‘Baraka’, an artsy film shot with steadycams. At the time he was working for Instagram and met once again his former Stanford colleague Alex Karpenko, who designed the first image-stabilization tech for smartphone videos.

Obtaining a clear smooth time-laps is possible with sophisticated and expensive equipment. Primarily, when a software is used to render a shaky video steady, a massive processing power is required, because each frame has to be analyzed. A smartphone does not have the same processing power of a desktop computer with a videocard.

The Toshiba T4KA3 image sensor for smartphones and tablets will be launched in 2015. What sets this sensor apart is its ability to capture HD videos at 240 fps. Well, now just imagine the results of using Hyperlapse combined with this performant Toshiba sensor!

Instagram launches Hyperlapse, an app using the smarthone’s gyroscope to produce steady images

Despite the lack of power, smartphones have a core asset – gyroscopes. So instead of using post-processing software, the gyroscope can help smartphone cameras achieve steady images if the right algorithm is put to work.

After working together, the two Instagram colleagues managed to obtain a beta version of what would later be called Hyperlapse. The beta-version worked surprisingly good, offering the expected results. Before the app was placed on AppStore, it circulated among Instagram employees who were terribly excited, so it’s a miracle that there were no leaks.

The UI is surprisingly simple. The only available option is that changing the speed of your video replays, from 1X up to 12X. The reasons is that different speeds may offer different understandings of video clips. A boring clip may end up exciting if played at a higher speed. Instagram launches Hyperlapse, a high-tech app that will allow regular folks to shot impressive clips with their average smartphones, Wired reports.

Toshiba T4KA3 Image Sensor Will Boost Smartphones Slow Motion Quality

August 6, 2014 By Brandi McCants Leave a Comment

Phone cameras have always been considered to be excellent additions to mobile devices. On the long run, we presume that smartphone cameras will reach such a high quality level that buying a separate compact camera will not make too much sense. This day has not come yet, unfortunately. With all the technological advances made in the last couple of years, most smartphone camera still act as potatoes, as the internet saying goes. Sure, there are a couple of exceptions, among which there are some Sony and Nokia models, but again, nothing terribly impressive.

A ray of hope comes from Toshiba, who announced on Wednesday the shipment of a brand new camera sensor. The T4KA3 image sensor will take 8 MP photos and will be available for smartphones and tablets. The sensor is in the smallest class for 8 MP sensors and supports HDR. But the most impressive feature is the ability to take videos at an ultrahigh frame rate. While most smartphone camera sensors record videos at 30 fps, T4KA3 is able to record HD videos at 240 fps.

If you are not satisfied with that, we can get even more fps, but you will have to settle for a resolution of only 800 X 480 (WVGA). Full HD videos can be shoot at 60 fps with T4KA3 image sensor.

Another impressive camera comes as an accessory specifically designed for iPhone 5/5s. Flir One comes as an external accessory and records infrared images.

T4KA3 image sensor comes with ‘Bright mode’ supporting technology

So how did Toshiba manage to achieve such an impressive performance? The 240 fps and 400 fps are available in the ‘Bright mode’. Toshiba explains that the main challenge in designing a high rate fps image sensor lies in how light is captured. The company managed to conceive an image sensor which can capture light four times faster than its regular counterparts.

Moreover, the T4KA3 image sensor is a low-power device. Compared to another Toshiba mass produced image sensor, the T4K35, the T4KA3 image sensor uses up to 85 percent less power.

Right now the new image sensor is available as a sample for a price of 1.200 Yen. Mass production is scheduled to start only in April 2015, which seems like forever. Toshiba has an 8 million units production target per month for the T4KA3 image sensor.

Samsung working on 20MP rear camera for next generation Note 4

December 2, 2013 By David Leave a Comment

Rumors on Samsung’s cameras have been unimpressive so far, with news that the company will not be adding OIS to their next generation devices, despite competitors like LG already implementing them into the new flagships.

To dampen the idea of no OIS, Samsung may go for a larger sensor to try an entice next generation buyers, sick of 8MP and not feeling like 13MP is enough of an upgrade. 20MP cameras are already available on Nokia devices, but this will be the first mainstream Android device available with this large camera.

The 20MP camera may only be for premium units, our guessing the Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 will get the larger sensor. The difference may be minimal but we expect Samsung to work on software to maximize the usability and performance on the camera.

Android cameras have been mocked by iOS users and even from Nokia users, but Samsung and HTC have shown some appeal to the cameras. Samsung’s current UI is a little cluttered and ugly, but it offers a lot of functionality and different ways to take a photo.

Optical image stabilisation may have been removed from the feature set on Samsung’s 2014 flagships due to demand for the smartphones. The Galaxy S5 should be grabbing around 50 million units in the opening quarter and the Galaxy Note 4 should grab around 30 million.

The 20MP news goes against a recent announcement saying Samsung will make 16MP cameras for 90 million smartphones next year. We will have to wait and see what size Samsung manufacturers and how they plan to implement features.

Google adding RAW imaging and burst mode onto Android

November 27, 2013 By David Leave a Comment

In many ways, stock Android is the perfect mobile OS at the moment, but Google has yet to master the art of photography. The software company failed to turn any heads with the Nexus 5, their newest stock Android experience on a smartphone.

The stock Android camera experience could become a little better in the near future, with Google announcing two new features coming to Android in the upcoming months: RAW imaging and burst mode.

RAW imaging will give those who want to edit their Android images the full scale image, before compression and processing is done on the camera. Since Google likes to make their photos small JPEGs, this will come as one of the most sought after features for users who like edit on their computer.

Burst mode is a more well known feature, since Samsung and other OEM partners like to package this on their smartphone experience. For stock Android users, it is still on their wish-list and Google has answered their Android-related prayers.

Google also said they are working on a fix for the Nexus 5 camera responsiveness. The camera is not capable of taking quick images and users normally have to wait a second or two before the lens shuts and the camera processes the image onto the screen.

It is good to see Google starting to implement more features onto stock Android, even though burst mode can be found on different applications and launchers. There is no timeframe on when this update will be delivered, but if Google are giving announcements, it should be quite soon.

Apple patents new Lytro-camera technology for iPhone

November 26, 2013 By David Leave a Comment

Apple has become well known for patenting ideas they never bring to their products, but this new camera patent may actually be added onto the next iPhones in the coming years and could really vamp up the power and performance of the iPhone camera for the average user.

The iPhone camera is already one of the best in the industry, scaling past most Android devices and only getting hit hard by the Lumia 1020 and other high-end Nokia devices with incredibly high megapixel cameras. Even still, Apple’s camera is seen as the best camera for just taking a photo and making sure it look great, without having to add one hundred settings and get the right exposure levels.

This new patent essentially offers a way to refocus the image after the user has taken the photo, we have seen this feature on the odd Lytro camera. This means a photo can have multiple focuses and allows the user to change the focus if they picked the wrong face or image.

Apple has just updated their camera on the iPhone 5S, offering a dual-LED flash and a longer-range lens to capture more in the photo. Putting chunky Lytro refocus technology into the very slim iPhone may take a while to actually finesse and we doubt the iPhone 6 will have this feature.

The patent has been worked on by Steve Jobs before his death and it looks like the ex-CEO tried his hardest to “revolutionise photography” amongst many of his other big moves in the world before he died, most of which Apple has not worked on since, especially the TV project Jobs had apparently cracked.

As always with Apple patents, we wouldn’t get your hopes up on having the Lytro camera feature anytime soon – in fact, we may never see the camera be able to do this, it may be so far out of reach alongside Apple’s current efforts of getting the iPhone even thinner.