Facebook will no longer scan uploaded images for users’ faces by default, according to The Verge. The change will apply to new users who receive the Face Recognition setting as Facebook rolls it out globally over the next several weeks. The Face Recognition feature, which was first introduced in late 2017, will not be turned on unless the user chooses to enable it.
The facial recognition feature works by scanning images for users’ faces and alerting them about these images even if they’re not tagged in them. Users who receive one of these alerts can choose to tag themselves in the image, ignore it, or report the image when applicable.
In an update on the technology following the outcome of its federal appeal in August, Facebook has revealed that the facial recognition feature is rolling out to all users, but that they’ll need to manually enable it if they want the platform to scan other users’ images for their face. A notice in the user’s News Feed will alert that user when the feature becomes available on their account.
Users will be able to find the Face Recognition feature in their account’s Settings menu. Facebook users who currently have Face Recognition on their accounts can find instructions on disabling it here.
A company called Negative Supply has launched a crowdfunding campaign for a 35mm film holder for camera scanning called MK1. The product exists in two components, the Film Carrier MK1 and the Pro Mount MK1, the latter of which is an optional weighted base with adjustable feet. According to the team behind the device, Film Carrier MK1 can be used to scan an entire roll of 35mm film in around 5 minutes.
Film Carrier MK1 boasts full 35mm frame scanning, meaning each scan includes the border of the image area. Each frame is ‘forced flat’ via the product’s ‘unique channel technology,’ according to Negative Supply, the result being ’near zero distortion.’
The film carrier has a simple mechanical design that requires the user to load the roll into the device, then manually advance it frame-by-frame by turning an advance wheel. The film emulsion doesn’t come into contact with the film carrier, which only touches the edges of the film where the sprocket holes are located. The design is rounded out with a ‘light shroud’ that protects against ambient light intrusion.
According to Negative Supply, it spent months testing the MK1 design and is ready to bring it to market. The Kickstarter campaign is offering backers a single Film Carrier MK1 35mm scanner for pledges of at least $ 249 USD and the Film Carrier MK1 with Pro Mount MK1 for $ 399 USD or more. Both options are expected to start shipping to backers in September.
Disclaimer: Remember to do your research with any crowdfunding project. DPReview does its best to share only the projects that look legitimate and come from reliable creators, but as with any crowdfunded campaign, there’s always the risk of the product or service never coming to fruition.
When you are setting out to digitize your collection of old photos and film, scanning resolution is an important attribute to consider. This number is crucial when you are thinking of printing your scanned images rather than just viewing them on a screen. Since most people, at some point or the other, will want to create memorable keepsakes – framed Continue Reading
The post A Quick Primer On Resolution and Photo Scanning appeared first on Photodoto.
The Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the FilmLab negative scanning smartphone app that we recently wrote about has ended successfully, with more than 2000 backers funding the project almost 200%. After screening the reader feedback on our original article, FilmLab founder Abe Fettig has also decided to change the pricing model for his app. Instead of a subscription model FilmLab will now be available as a one-off purchase.
The app will be a free install with a limited number of free scans for testing. Once they have run out of free scans users can decide between buying additional scans or upgrading to the FilmLab Pro version which will offer unlimited scans and a range of additional power user features. FilmLab Pro will cost $ 4.99 for Kickstarter backers and $ 29.99 for everybody else.
In the video below Abe explains the new pricing model in more detail and also provides more information about the current state of the app and its image output. In addition he has written a blog post with side-by-side comparisons between FilmLab captures made with a smartphone camera, and professional film scanners.
Thanks to cheap secondhand cameras and a general ‘retro trend’ film photography is experiencing a true revival. However, most photographers who shoot film still need digital versions of their images to show them off online or send to friends and family, which is why film-scanning hardware and software is a necessary part of the equipment.
Software developer Abe Fettig has found current solutions too expensive and slow and has therefore used his spare time to start working on the FilmLab app as a side-project. FilmLab now exists as a prototype and is impressively simple. Negatives or slides of any size have to be placed on a light table and can then be scanned using your smartphone.
Pointing the app at the roll of film automatically identifies the images, corrects for distortion and converts negatives into positives. A tap on the shutter then records several Raw files which are merged for optimal image quality. Alternatively, if you want better image quality and/or higher resolution, you can also load images taken with a DSLR or other camera into the app for conversion into digital positives.
Abe is now hoping to work full-time on the app for a while to iron out the bugs and make it work with more types of film stock and phones. You can support this project by donating $ 3 to the app’s development and getting access to ongoing updates, or by donating $ 18 for access to the first Beta builds that will let you be among the first users to try out new features.
The plan is to offer the app as a $ 2/month subscription service once it is finished, with a one month free trial period. This would make it inexpensive, or even free, for those users who do a short-term project digitizing film. You can find out more about the project and see some scanning samples on the FilmLab Kickstarter page.
Amazon has officially announced its much-rumored smartphone, the Fire. Packing in six cameras in total, four of them are dedicated to enabling a new ‘Dynamic Perspective’ 3D-user interface possible, whereby the device can track a user’s face and change how content is displayed. The main 13MP rear-facing camera has an F2 aperture and optical image stabilization. As well as being used for capturing photographs is also enables a new feature called Firefly, which can scan and identify millions of items. Read more
Seene is a free app for iOS that lets you capture and share interactive and three dimensional images, just like Instagram and Vine do for 2D-images and videos respectively. The makers of the app, Obvious Engineering, are now showing off a preview of a forthcoming feature. Soon Seene will be capable of capturing a full 360-degree model of an object and export it for printing on a 3D-printer. Learn more
You’re gonna need a bigger scanner. These 10 larger than life Universal Product Barcode emblazoned buildings epitomize the digitization of modern society.
Middelburg, Netherlands, by Hercuton
(images via: Bouwgroep Peters BV)
The plainly-named Barcode Building is one of the newest (completed 2011) large structures in the very old city of Middelburg, the Netherlands. Architects of the Dutch design & build organization Hercuton were charged by their client with creating a building that not only looked modern, but both the layout and infrastructure had to reflect today’s environmentally-friendly aesthetic.
(image via: Henk Kosters)
The white walls of the Barcode Building are broken up by vertical strips of tinted window glass that extend from the top of the four-story structure down to the open parking garage beneath the building at street level. The use of random six-digit numbers beneath each stack of three windows reinforces the illusion of a giant barcode while adding visual interest to the structure as a whole.
Shtrikh Kod Building, St. Petersburg, Russia
(images via: Eikongraphia)
Shtrikh Kod means “Barcode Building” in Russian, which is appropriate since there’s really no other way to describe it. The edifice, located in historic St. Petersburg, was designed by Vitruvius & Sons Studio and it was completed in 2007.
(image via: Eikongraphia)
Kudos to photographer Alexey Naroditsky for capturing the stark yet striking exterior of the Barcode Building. It should be noted that one of the commenters at the Eikongraphia website where Naroditsky’s images are on display opined that “The facade’s hue is close to that of the red 633nm laser light commonly used in bar code scanners.” Coincidence?
Melbourne Theosophical Society, Melbourne, Australia
(images via: Jodi and Bo Virkelyst Jensen)
The Melbourne Theosophical Society Bookshop & Library at 126 Russell Street appears much like any other mid-century yellow brick building except for one thing… an odd inset space on the facade that holds a barcode! The roughly two-story tall barcode encompasses a pair of windows and would seem to be a later addition to the building. Why is it there and what does it mean? That’s a rather theosophical question best left for others to wrestle with.
Recall Information Centre, Greystanes, New South Wales, Australia
(images via: Lysaght, Blue Scope Steel and Specifier)
Staying in the antipodes for the moment, we present an uncharacteristically lively warehouse designed by Thierry Lacoste from Lacoste + Stevenson Architects. Built for the Recall company to store nearly four and a half million archive boxes of corporate records, the building’s exterior is made from 21,000 square meters od steel cladding sourced from BlueScope Lysaght.
(image via: Specifier)
“Barcodes are at the center of everything which Recall does,” explains Thierry Lacoste. “That was the first consideration, then there was the challenge of how to handle a very big wall area. We decided on the barcode theme to break up its visual impact then worked on a couple of ideas before we finally specified a pattern which is actually Recall’s Australian Business Number as a barcode.” Recall operates 250 state-of-the-art information centers around the world but only one sports the Greystanes center’s wild barcode exterior graphics.
Next Page: Scanning The Skyline 10 Bizarre Barcode Buildings
iPhones, and internets, and ion implanters! Oh my!
In this tech-savvy world we can return to 100%-analog-photog-goodness and transform them to digital with some simple scanner-wizardry.
This handy guide will show you how to scan your film, merging all of the sweetest parts of analog with the ease and shareability of digital.
The best part? You don’t have to know a thing about rocket science to follow along.
Learn How to Scan Film!
p.s. Our buddies at Printstagram make some of the bestest Instagram prints we’ve seen! You can make it happen right from your phone.
Why it’s Cool:
We all know the benefits of analog photography: slower pace, limited number of frames, and those old cameras are just plain fun to use.
The only downside? Your inner tech maven is crying out for all of those lost shares on Facegram, instabook, and PinTube! Or something like that.
This guide will equip you with the tools to get started on making film grains best friends with digital pixels.
Ingredients:
Film Scanner (We used a flatbed Epson V600.)
A computer
Developed 35mm film
Dust Blower, Microfiber Cloth, or Anti-Static Brush
Flatbed Scanners vs. Dedicated Film Scanners
There are a few brands of scanners, but they mostly fit into two categories for consumers: flatbed scanners and dedicated film scanners.
This article will be dealing specifically with an Epson V600 flatbed scanner, but many of the techniques will still apply, especially to other flatbeds!
Here’s a quick rundown of the pros and cons of a flatbed scanner.
Cost: For the most part, a flatbed is a very reasonable option in terms of price and quality.
Uses: In addition to being affordable, many flatbeds are able to do both 120 and 35mm, something usually reserved for very expensive dedicated scanners.
Ability: Flatbed scanners are certainly capable of great results, but a dedicated scanner is always better. After all, that’s what it’s built for!
Step 1: Prepping The Film
Here’s what we need to do to the film in order to ensure the best scan.
Dust bunnies sound cute, but for scanning, they are not your friend! Use a dust blower, a clean microfiber cloth (Extra emphasis on clean! There’s nothing worse than scratched film), or an anti-static brush to get rid of any dust that may have settled on the negative.
Tips for preventing dust:
Break Out The White Glove: make sure your working environment is as clean as possible. If there’s no dust in the are to begin with, there won’t be any to go on your film.
Pre and Post-Scan Storage: Store your negatives in sleeves or binders to keep exposure to open air as infrequent as possible.
Dust During Drying: If you develop your own film, try to limit either the air flow around your film as it dries or the dust in the environment. Wet film and dust stick better than glue!
Step 2:Insert Film Into The Negative Holder
One of the greatest challenges with scanning is film flatness.
The scanner works a bit like your camera; it focuses on the film to take a “picture” of it. If your film isn’t flat, it’s harder for everything to be in focus. A little curl is manageable.
Place film under a book to flatten unruly negatives, but make sure they’re in a sleeve so they don’t get dusty or scratched.
Each negative holder is a bit different, but here’s how it’s inserted into ours.
Step 3: Place Negative Carrier Onto Scanner
This one’s as easy as it sounds! Each scanner has a specific orientation for the negative carrier depending on the film type.
On the Epson V600, there’s an “A” on the negative carrier that should line up with the “A” on the side scanner bed.
If your scanner doesn’t have markings, make sure to place the negative carrier under the slot of glass in the top of the scanner.
Step 4: Scanning Software
This step will also be specific to your scanner. We’re using the included Epson Scan software in Professional Mode.
Here are the main points:
Make sure to choose the “Film” setting and then the appropriate type: black and white, color negative, or positive
Choose the resolution: for files that are easy to work with and great for web use, we set ours to 1200 DPI. If you have plenty of space on your harddrive or want to print above an 8×10, scan at a higher resolution to get a larger image
Don’t forget to switch on Dust Removal to get any spots you missed earlier
First, hit the preview button and let the scanner generate a preview. At this point you can rotate the photo and mirror the image if the film isn’t oriented correctly.
Lastly, choose the file format for the scan and you’re good to go! We usually scan ours as jpeg. A TIFF can provide more information, but at the cost of much larger files. If you need to make corrections to a scan it’s a better option, but for many sharing purposes a jpeg is sufficient!
There are a few third party software options for scanning as well, and our favorites are VueScan and Silverfast.
The advantage to these programs is that they offer more customizability and control over the scanning process. Plus, they have some neat tricks such as setting the film stock to try to get the most faithful result. They’re both friends with PC’s and Macs!
Step 5: Final Touches
Once the scan is completed, you have a few choices of where to go next. You can take the scan “as is” and go from there, or import into Photoshop, Lightroom, and other editing programs to make some slight changes.
Sometimes a few tweaks are needed after the fact so that the imagined picture lines up with the actual picture!
Some post-scan adjustments
Contrast: This is a big one for black and white. Adjust the contrast so that it’s more faithful to the look of the negative
Color: Sometimes a scan will have a shift in colors or have an overall color cast that’s undesirable. The curves adjustment will be your BFF. Utilize the separate color channels to get the look right.
Sharpness: Sharpness can be detrimentally affected by the scan. Apply a little unsharp mask or boost the sharpening slider in Lightroom to taste.
Dust and Scratch Removal: Despite our best efforts, dust can still remain on the negative and sometimes they get scratched as well. An easy way to fix this is to use the healing brush or clone brush in Photoshop.
This isn’t to change the look of the film, but sometimes this information gets skewed in the scan and needs to be returned to the appropriate value.
Taking it Further
Try it with medium format!
Try using your DSLR and a macro lens to scan!
Ditch the film. Use your scanner as a Camera!
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We all know the benefits of analog photography: slower pace, limited number of frames, and those old cameras are just plain fun to use.
There are a few brands of scanners, but they mostly fit into two categories for consumers: flatbed scanners and dedicated film scanners.
Here’s what we need to do to the film in order to ensure the best scan.
One of the greatest challenges with scanning is film flatness.
This one’s as easy as it sounds! Each scanner has a specific orientation for the negative carrier depending on the film type.
This step will also be specific to your scanner. We’re using the included Epson Scan software in Professional Mode.
Once the scan is completed, you have a few choices of where to go next. You can take the scan “as is” and go from there, or import into Photoshop, Lightroom, and other editing programs to make some slight changes.
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