RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘production’

From field to cup: We join photographer Lauren Kelly as she documents tea production with the Canon EOS RP

30 Oct

Positioned far to the south of the country in the shadow of an active volcano, Kagoshima has a very different feel to most Japanese cities. Warm and humid all year, the area around Kagoshima is ideal growing country for fruit and vegetables, and the rich volcanic soil is perfect for the cultivation of tea.

In this video, we’re joining photographer Lauren Kelly in Japan, on assignment to document the production of matcha – a finely ground type of green tea, prized by connoisseurs for its rich, complex flavor. Along the way, Lauren captured the vivid sights and sounds of the Kagoshima area using the Canon EOS RP, a small, lightweight mirrorless camera ideal for travel and portraiture.

Canon EOS RP in Kagoshima, Japan

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_2404430755″,”galleryId”:”2404430755″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });

This is sponsored content, created with the support of Amazon and Canon. What does this mean?

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on From field to cup: We join photographer Lauren Kelly as she documents tea production with the Canon EOS RP

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Sigma halts production of Pentax K mount lenses to put its focus on mirrorless

10 Sep

Independent lens manufacturer Sigma has announced that it will no longer offer lenses for Pentax K-mount cameras. The announcement was made on the Facebook page of Sigma Czech Republic, stating that because of dwindling numbers of Pentax users and company has decided to stop producing Pentax mount lenses. Instead, the post says, Sigma plans to focus more on developing and supporting mirrorless systems, which it believes are ‘the future.’

The post on the Sigma-foto CZ Facebook page, with Facebook’s translation

The move will be a blow to Pentax users and will leave them with almost no support for AF lenses from third-party manufacturers as Tamron appears to have practically dropped the mount as well. Pentax itself offers about 14 lenses for its full-frame K1 and K1II cameras, but a much wider collection for the APS-C sensor cameras.

One of the lenses Sigma still offers in the Pentax K mount. Most of the company’s newer lenses have not been made available for Pentax users

Sigma’s move away from the Pentax K mount has been confirmed by Sigma Imaging UK. For more information on Sigma see its website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Sigma halts production of Pentax K mount lenses to put its focus on mirrorless

Posted in Uncategorized

 

OPPO has started mass production of 10x zoom smartphone camera module

27 Feb

OPPO has been teasing its periscope-design smartphone tele lens for two years now, but those who expected a product launch at MWC 2019 were disappointed once again. That said, we now at least know when a production device with the company’s 10x zoom system will be commercially available.

OPPO announced it has started mass production of the system and will launch a device with the 10x zoom camera in the second quarter of this year. There’s a slight caveat though: unlike most manufacturers, OPPO bases the zoom factor on the 16mm equivalent super-wide-angle. The tele lens comes with a 160mm equivalent focal length, hence a 10x zoom.

A rendered illustration from the above video showing the construction of the optical elements and sensor inside the periscope-style zoom lens.

Most other manufacturers don’t include the super-wide-angle in the zoom factor and instead use the primary camera, which on the OPPO model comes with a 48MP sensor and likely a 28mm focal length, as a reference.

The periscope design features a prism that reflects incoming light by 90 degrees and makes it possible to include such a ‘long’ lens in a thin smartphone body. The prism is also used for image stabilization. The primary comes with OIS as well and OPPO says the system is 73 percent more efficient than the previous iteration.

In addition the engineers have been able to maintain the dimensions of the older 5x prototype system, despite adding a super-wide-angle and using larger sensors.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on OPPO has started mass production of 10x zoom smartphone camera module

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Samsung starts production of world’s first 1TB eUFS storage module for mobile devices

30 Jan

Samsung announced it has started mass-producing the world’s first 1TB embedded Universal Flash Storage 2.1 (eUFS) module for mobile devices. Given we are now pretty close to the launch of the new Galaxy S10 flagship series, it looks like there is a chance we might see a 1TB option for at least one of the S10 devices.

Samsung says the new module is the same size as the 512GB variant in the Galaxy Note 9. The increase in density has been made possible using V-NAND technology that vertically stacks NAND cells in order to maximize density and efficiency.

According to Samsung the new module offers sequential read speeds of up to 1000MBps and write speeds of 260MBps, enough for the continuous recording of high-speed video at 960fps. In terms of both storage capacity and transfer speeds the new module should also make an interesting combination with Samsung’s new 8K-capable Exynos chipset.

According to Cheol Choi, Samsung’s executive vice president of Memory Sales & Marketing, “the 1TB eUFS is expected to play a critical role in bringing a more notebook-like user experience to the next generation of mobile devices.”

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Samsung starts production of world’s first 1TB eUFS storage module for mobile devices

Posted in Uncategorized

 

GoPro moving production of U.S.-bound action cameras out of China, cites concerns over tariffs

11 Dec

GoPro announced today it will be moving camera production out of China for cameras destined for the U.S. market.

In a press release shared this morning, GoPro stated that while its cameras bound for the international market will continue to be made in China, gear destined for the United States will be moved elsewhere by summer 2019, citing concern over the recent tariffs put in place as a part of the trade war that’s been brewing between the U.S. and China.

‘Today’s geopolitical business environment requires agility, and we’re proactively addressing tariff concerns by moving most of our US-bound camera production out of China,’ says Brian McGee, executive vice president and CFO of GoPro in the press release. ‘We believe this diversified approach to production can benefit our business regardless of tariff implications.’

McGee assured consumers and investors alike the move will have little impact on GoPro’s financials, saying ‘It’s important to note that we own our own production equipment while our manufacturing partner provides the facilities, so we expect to make this move at a relatively low cost.’

As of writing this article at 10:10am on Monday, December 10th, 2018, GoPro is priced at $ 4.82 USD per share, down 2.82% on the day on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on GoPro moving production of U.S.-bound action cameras out of China, cites concerns over tariffs

Posted in Uncategorized

 

‘I’m Back’ digital back for analog SLRs is now in production

25 Sep

After an initial unsuccessful crowdfunding campaign the team behind the ‘I’m Back’ digital back for old film SLRs returned to Kickstarter in March 2018 with a refined product. In the second attempt the funding goal was reached and now the the digital back has entered production in Hong Kong.

The ‘I’m Back’ is available for a range of old film-SLRs, such as Nikon’s F-Series, the Olympus OM10 or the Canon AE-1, and works by capturing the image projected onto a focus screen using a 1/2.33″-type 16MP Panasonic image sensor. The back is connected to the camera by detaching the rear plate from the latter, adjusting the aperture for the digital module, connecting the Flash Sync cable and setting exposure mode to Bulb.

The back can record JPEG and Raw files and comes with a 2″ touchscreen for live view focusing, a maximum of 64GB of storage, a USB Type-C connector and Wi-Fi connectivity. Don’t expect DSLR-level image quality, however. The back has been designed with cost in mind and ‘I’m Back” founder Samuel Mello Medeiros says:

“I’m Back was created with the intention of reusing the old analog in a digital way, but maintaining a ‘retro’ aspect in the photos thanks to the focusing screen. It is not intended to have the quality of a digital camera of last generation, therefore, it is not an accessory to be at par with a digital or even an analog.”

With the first units being sent out to Kickstarter backers, the back should be available to retail customers in the coming months. No retail pricing has been announced yet but initial backers were able to secure a device starting at €175 (approximately $ 205), so expect a slightly higher price in the shops.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on ‘I’m Back’ digital back for analog SLRs is now in production

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Fujifilm plans to increase interchangeable lens production capacity as demand grows

26 Jul

Increased mirrorless digital camera demand has prompted Fujifilm to ramp up its interchangeable lens production capacity, the company has announced. New facilities at its existing Taiwa Factory in Miyagi prefecture, Japan will start in September, the ultimate goal being a 70% production capacity increase by 2020, the year when Fujifilm expects all of the new facilities to be fully operational.

Fujifilm reports that its annual interchangeable lens sales are growing by more than 20% per year. The company currently offers 36 interchangeable lenses for its X and G mounts, including its newly announced XF 8-16mm F2.8 ultra-wide zoom scheduled to launch in November.

Fujifilm reports that its annual interchangeable lens sales are growing by more than
20% per year

The company revealed plans to install a large-scale cleanroom facility with a “cutting-edge” analyzer, as well as other facilities that will include AI-based optical adjustment technologies. The launch of these facilities, says Fujifilm, will increase lens production efficiency while maintaining a high level of quality. Fujifilm says the Taiwa Factory’s “Made in Japan” interchangeable lenses will be distributed globally.

Via: Fujifilm

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Fujifilm plans to increase interchangeable lens production capacity as demand grows

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Slow start to year as camera production and shipping plunge

03 Mar
Photo by Arno Body

According to the latest data released by CIPA, the number of cameras made and shipped in the first month of 2018 barely reached 70% of the volume for the same period last year and the year before that. Not a great start to the year…

As usual, cameras with lenses built in—compacts and bridge cameras—continue to show the worst decline, with only half as many of these models shipped to the USA and Asia in January 2018 as there were in January 2017. But while production and shipments were quite dramatically down by volume, measurements by value are not quite so bad, indicating that a more high priced cameras are selling… or that camera prices are rising.

The value of interchangeable lens system mirrorless cameras produced actually rose by 8% even though the volume produced was only 80% of production last January—just fractionally ahead of DSLRs. Interestingly, DSLR shipments to Japan in that period were up on the previous year by volume and by value, but it was the only region that didn’t see a decline in this category.

Further figures released by CIPA demonstrate the market’s decline since 2016, and show that while January 2017 was almost level with January 2016, this year has started very differently. The decline of cameras with built-in lenses has dropped to only 60% of the number shipped in 2016, and more worryingly, graphs show that January 2018 shipment figures are well below almost every other month in the last two years.

Hopefully this is just a blip, and we’ll see the numbers jump back into the black (or closer to it) in February. For more information, visit the CIPA website, or check out the full report here.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Slow start to year as camera production and shipping plunge

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Panono’s new owner offers camera to original backers at production cost

23 Dec

Despite raising about $ 1.25 million in a crowdfunding campaign, now-defunct company Panono GmbH went bankrupt after failing to deliver its 360-degree camera to many of the people who had backed the product. The company was bought by the Swiss-based private equity investor Bryanston Group, which acquired most of its assets but none of its obligation to Indiegogo backers.

Bryanston Group AG has brought back the Panono camera under a new holding company called Professional GmbH. Despite stressing that it doesn’t have any “liability or obligation” resulting from its assets acquisition, the company has said that it feels it has “a moral obligation to compensate the project’s early supporters.” For that reason, the company is offering the project’s original backers the opportunity to purchase the resurrected Panono camera at production cost.

The production cost is about half-off
the camera’s retail price

About 2,000 Indiegogo backers who received neither refund or camera have been sent this offer, according to the company, which says the production cost is about half-off the camera’s retail price. In addition, these former backers are also offered unrestricted access to Panono’s cloud features, which is said to have about a $ 600 value.

According to the Verge, this discounted rate means backers who take up the offer will pay around $ 1,120 to $ 1,240 for the production-cost camera bundles available. This is on top of the $ 500 or more these backers already spent on the camera (they never received) as a pledge during the original Indiegogo campaign.

Professional GmbH is limiting discounted Panono camera sales to 50 units per month; customers are limited to one discounted camera each. The Panono website lists the Panono camera set, which includes a case, stick, tripod adapter, and messenger bag, at 1899€ / $ 2,250. Cheaper alternatives exist, though not necessarily with comparable specs, such as the Ricoh Theta V.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Panono’s new owner offers camera to original backers at production cost

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Lytro Immerge 2.0 is a HUGE light-field camera rig for high-end VR production

30 Nov

Lytro has unveiled the Immerge 2.0, a massive light-field camera rig that looks improves upon the similarly-massive Immerge camera Lytro first introduced in November of 2015.

As with the original Immerge, Lytro’s new Immerge 2.0 is designed for high-end VR production, but it utilizes “a few smart tweaks” to boost quality and increase production efficiency. But lets you think “a few small tweaks” is nothing major, Lytro is describing the Immerge 2.0 as “a major update” to the original… so there’s that.

Unlike with the original Immerge camera, Immerge 2.0 is designed with alternating rows of cameras that are pointed in the opposite directions (yes, those are all cameras, not lights). The design enables Immerge 2.0 to capture 120-degrees of content rather than the previous 90-degrees, reducing the number of camera rotations from five to three when capturing 360-degree content. And operators of the original Immerge will be thrilled to know that the calibration process is now automated.

In addition to its hardware update, Lytro has also been working on improving its software, enabling it to extract higher quality images from the light-field content.

According to Road to VR, which was given an exclusive look at the Immerge 2.0, Lytro has remastered its previously released video Hallelujah with a higher resolution of 5K per eye (when viewed with a VR headset)—a significant increase over the previous 3.5K. But they didn’t stop there…

In fact, with this new hardware and software update, Lytro is ready to offer a 10K-per-eye resolution once VR headsets that can handle that kind of resolution are developed.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Lytro Immerge 2.0 is a HUGE light-field camera rig for high-end VR production

Posted in Uncategorized

 
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »