Olympus has released its Q2 results for the financial year ending March 2016, showing some positive growth in OM-D and PEN series camera sales in Japan and Europe. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Posts Tagged ‘first’
Sunken Ruins of Alexandria to be World’s First Underwater Museum
04
Nov
[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]
The Ministry of Antiquities in Egypt is planning to turn submerged ruins of ancient Alexandria into an underwater museum, allowing tourists access to 2,500 of subsurface stonework dating back to 365 AD.
Plans or this ambitious intervention, designed by French architect Jacques Rougerie, were put on hold for years during a period of regional turmoil, but are now back on track. Fiberglass tunnels will connect waterfront galleries to underwater viewing areas where visitors can see the ruins in context.
The 270,000 square foot area in Alexandria Bay is protected by the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and includes the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Much of the area was submerged in the Middle Ages due to earthquakes.
Part of the purpose of the project is to further protect the ruins, which are prominent targets for thieves and difficult to police without permanent surrounding infrastructure and round-the-lock eyes on the site. “The museum will reshape the Arab region, as it will be the first of its kind in the world,” said Youssef Khalifa, chair of the Central Administration of Lower Egypt Antiquities. “Undoubtedly it will revive tourism and boost the Egyptian economy after a long recession.”
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Underwater City Ruins: 7 Submerged Wonders of the World
Some of these dramatic and recent finds of whole towns and cities have even caused scientists to question the history of human civilization.
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Submerged Cities: 7 Underwater Wonders of the World
From the remains of Cleopatra’s castle to the lost graves of towns inhabited a mere fifty years ago, these submerged wonders hide ruins under seas and rivers.
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12 of the World’s Most Mysterious Monuments & Ruins
Marvels of engineering, vanishing civilizations and a granite guide to post-apocalyptic survival: these 12 monuments and ruins are mysterious and strange.
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[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]
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Grinding Light: First Glow-in-the-Dark Skateboard Park in UK
09
Oct
[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]
A permanent installation opening as part of the Liverpool Biennial in England, this glowing skate park will be the first of its kind in the UK, enabling skaters of all skill levels to give it a shot by day or night.
Designed by Korean artist Koo Jeong A (photos by Thierry Bal & Gareth Jones), the minimalist structure borrows elements from skateboarding and BMXing traditions. Previous work by A includes another glow-in-the-dark park in France.
The park was developed in conjunction with Wheelscape Skateparks, a company that uses sprayed concrete to sculpt complex shapes that go beyond basic geometries of cast-in-place approaches.
“I devised extremely steep, sharp angles, which would be a challenge to the most courageous and skilled skaters,” says the artist. “It was as if they would be the great mountaineers that the rest of us would admire. And with its glow-in-the-dark surface, I hoped the Wheels Park would offer an experience of contemplation.”
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Photoluminescent Furniture: Filled Wooden Voids Glow in Dark
A pair of crafty carpenters have separately arrived at the same conclusion: glow-in-the-dark resin is a really neat way to fill cracks, gaps, splits and other …
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Ramping Up: World’s First Multi-Story Skateboard Park in UK
Designed to provide 1,000 square meters of recreational space across four floors, this multistory structure bends and curves to accommodate bowls and ramps for …
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Starry Night: Glow-in-the-Dark Bike Path Inspired by Van Gogh
Opening last night in Nuenen, Holland, this illuminated cycling surface is free to the public, storing sunlight during the day to create stellar patterns to …
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[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]
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Adding it up: Sony a7R II First Impressions Review
24
Sep
The Sony Alpha 7R II has been the topic of much discussion and in our office, much testing. We’ve published a number of articles with results of our tests, picking apart Raw files from its 42MP full-frame BSI CMOS sensor and pushing its 399 on-sensor phase detect AF points to their limits. This first impressions review is the culmination of that work to date, including an in-depth analysis of the camera’s image quality and the effects of shutter shock. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Fox Talbot’s historical Mousetrap camera leaves UK for first time, heads to Tokyo
16
Sep
One of the first cameras to make a permanent photographic image has left the UK for the first time to be part of an exhibition hosted by the Japan Camera Museum in Tokyo. The so-called Mousetrap camera, used by William Henry Fox Talbot in his early experiments in creating the negative process in the 1830s, is the centre-piece of an exhibition entitled Kingdom of Elegance, Mahogany and Brass which shows off early cameras from the UK’s photographic industry. Sponsored by The British Embassy, the exhibition displays cameras owned by the Royal Photographic Society, the National Media Museum of the UK and a private collector called Kobayashi Yas.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium features first 4K screen on a production smartphone
03
Sep
Sony announced the Xperia Z5 Premium today, boasting a 5.5″ 4K display. It was unveiled alongside the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact, and each offers a new 23MP 1/2.3-inch Exmor RS BSI CMOS sensor with an F2.0 lens. A new hybrid AF system claims to acquire focus in 0.03, which would make it the fastest AF system on any current smartphone camera. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Samsung introduces PM1633a, world’s first 2.5″ 16TB SSD
18
Aug
This month at the 2015 Flash Memory Summit, Samsung introduced an SSD with the highest capacity ever: 16TB. The new drive has a total usable storage space of 15.36TB, exceeding all other similar high-capacity SSDs. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Killer 4K? Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 IV first impressions updated with video samples
17
Jul
Our Sony Cyber-shot RX100 IV first impressions continues to grow as we’ve added a variety of video samples to the preview. The RX100 IV is Sony’s latest enthusiast compact, and its 20MP 1″-type stacked CMOS sensor is capable of 4K video and slow-motion clips ranging from 120-960 fps, all with virtually no rolling shutter. We put a number of these modes to the test. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Open Swim in MN: Nation’s First Naturally Filtered Public Pool
15
Jul
[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]
After years of design and development, the first naturally filtered public swimming pool in the United States is set to open later this month in Minneapolis, the largest city in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Located close to the Mississippi River in Webber Park, the project draws on European precedents but Minnesota law had to be changed to allow for this novel, chemical-free approach.
A series of filtration strategies including appropriate plants, bacteria and microorganisms serve to keep the pool organically free of harmful bacteria and nutrient build-ups. Some city swimmers will still need to accustom themselves to the unusual look of the water, appearing more like that of a lake than a chemically-cleaned pool, but for most Minnesotans this should not prove too difficult.
The main 500,000-gallon swimming area has space for up to 500 people in the water at once and a 13-foot deep end for diving, while an adjacent bioengineered pond helps to cycle and clean water from (then return it to) the human-occupied side. Over 2.5 miles of underground and underwater pipes push and pull water through this complex but effective system.
The project has not been without problems, including delays and additional costs, but as the first of its kind in the country there were bound to be some setbacks along the way. Migrating ducks and toads, for instance, attempted to settle the pool while it was under construction and had to be scared away and moved along, respectively. Poorly-chosen fill had to be replaced, weather pushed back elements of construction and various other surprises found on-site contributed to slower execution. Still, this ground-breaking approach represents a solid test case for other states interested in pursuing similarly sustainable organic pools as well as a legislative precedent for other areas with similar laws currently prohibiting naturally filtered designs (lead image via CBS MN).
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Swim the Thames: Pair of Pools for London’s Polluted River
Inspired by planned Super Sewer that will reduce pollution in London’s central waterway by 96%, this audacious design aims to take advantage of a future …
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Shop in a Swimming Pool: Neglected Space Turned into a Store
Until recently, this indoor swimming pool on the vacant ground floor of a 1970s apartment building in Tokyo was just an empty space, dry and disused for years. …
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No Mirage: Unlock a Secret Pool Hidden in the Mojave Desert
An art installation with a side of rugged adventure, the Social Pool is a project open to the public but locked and with a location only revealed via …
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[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]
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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 IV first impressions review posted
13
Jul
The fourth iteration of Sony’s Cyber-shot RX100 series brings a host of high-speed features from super slow-mo movies to 4K video with virtually no rolling shutter. It all stems from the RX100 IV’s 20MP stacked CMOS sensor and the additional room for high speed circuitry that the design allows. Our full review is well under way; for now take a look at the first installment. Read more
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
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