Consumers need to think about sensor size rather than pixel count, says Aptina’s Sandor Barna, because larger image sensors are likely to appear in all types of devices. Barna, the Vice President and General Manager of sensor maker Aptina’s Consumer Camera Business Unit, spoke to us about the challenges facing compact cameras, the niche that will continue to exist for them, and hints that more large sensor compacts are on their way.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Cosina has announced that its Voigtländer Nokton 42.5mm F0.95 will be available in August, and will be priced at ¥123,900 in Japan. This ultra-fast short telephoto ‘portrait’ lens is for Micro Four Thirds cameras only, and will offer similar photographic characteristics to an 85mm F1.9 lens on full frame in terms of angle of view, depth of field control, and background blur. It has a 10-bladed diaphragm, and features manual focus and aperture operation – the latter can be made clickless for movie recording.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Andy Rubin, co-founder of Android, claims that the popular mobile operating system was originally designed for digital cameras, not phones. In an interview published by PC World, Rubin said that the original concept, as pitched to investors back in 2004, was for ‘a camera platform with a cloud portion for storing images online’. By the time Google acquired Android in 2005, however, the plan had changed and Android was developed for mobile handsets. Click through for more details and a link to the full story at PCWorld.com.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Following the announcement of its 1″ sensor, we spoke to Aptina’s Sandor Barna, who believes these larger sensors could save the compact camera by offering a leap in quality that smartphones can’t compete with. Barna, the Vice President and General Manager of Aptina’s Consumer Camera Business Unit, told us about the unfilled gap in the market that 1″ sensors can address, explained the freedoms that the larger format gives the company’s designers, and why this is currently best exemplified by a product it wasn’t involved in: The Sony RX100.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Are High Dynamic Range photos appropriate for illustrating news? That’s the debate that’s been started by the Washington Post’s use of an HDR image on its front page in January. Sean Elliot, president of the National Press Photographers Association came down firmly against it, saying, ‘HDR is not appropriate for documentary photojournalism.’ John Omvik, Marketing VP with HDR software maker Unified Color understandably disagrees. He’s written us a response arguing that what we see is closer to HDR than, say, a mono photo shot with Tri-X film.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Richard Franiec has announced that his accessory grip for the Olympus E-PL3 will start shipping on September 15th and has confirmed it will fit the PEN Mini (E-PM1). The aluminium grips are available at a cost of $ 34.95 plus shipping.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Nikon USA has announced that its Coolpix S4100 and S6100 models will continue to be available to American customers. This follows a statement from Nikon Japan that the recently-introduced S4100 was being withdrawn as a result of component shortages following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The withdrawal only affects certain markets, says Nikon USA, and confirmed both models will continue to be available in ‘The Americas.’ We have not yet heard about European availability.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)