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Tag Archives: Photography

Look Lock Makes It Easier To Get Those Tricky Kid Shots

By David Ponce on 12/05/12 • 1 Comment

Taking a professional photograph of an infant is about as easy as getting half a dozen cats to sit still for 5 minutes. If you manage to get them to look into the lens (the kids, that is), they’ll be crying because they’re in an unfamiliar environment. And if they’re not crying, they’re being distracted by the butterfly on the window, or some such. A possible solution is something like the Look Lock above, which is an articulated arm attachment that lets you dangle a smartphone from just above your camera’s lens, hopefully capturing the child’s attention while directing his gaze in the right direction. You can play a fun video, put up pictures of cats or whatever it is that passes for acceptable child entertainment these days. It comes in a 7 or 11-inch version and both of them attach to the hot shoe of the camera or to an extension rail. The former costs $75, while the slightly longer version is just $5 more.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

Stow-Away Lens Cap Holder Is Convenient

By David Ponce on 10/24/12 • Leave a comment!

Being out taking pictures is fun, but there’s always the pesky problem of the lens cap. What do you do with it? Let it dangle from a string? Gets in your way. Put it in a pocket? That’ll be fun when you sit. Forget to bring it? Scrat-ahoy, matey! No, what you need is the Stow-Away Lens Cap Holder. This plastic accessory attaches to the underside of a dSLR and accommodates lenses in 52mm, 55mm, 58mm, 62mm, 67mm, and 72mm sizes. Its graduated design means you just have to push the lens in, and it’ll click in place right where it belongs, without you even having to look. It’s simple, and convenient and at $14 on pre-order, a no-brainer. This is a project on Kickstarter, but they’re almost fully funded, so if you pledge now, you’re promised a December ship date.

[ Project Page ] VIA [ GearHungry ]

CSI’s Stupid “Enhance” Feature For Photos Now A Possibility

By David Ponce on 10/23/12 • Leave a comment!

How many times have you face palmed while watching a show like CSI because of technicians magically “enhancing” an image, somehow finding digital information where there clearly isn’t any? Well it turns out that if software designed by one Vladimir Yuzhikov works as advertised, we might have been wrong to laugh. It’s called SmartDeblur and it uses some pretty advanced mathematical algorithms to try and minimize blur that comes from three sources: shots that are out of focus, shots that were taken while moving and something called gaussian blur, which Wikipedia assures us is different than the other two. But as they say, the proof is in the pudding and the image you see above was restored using this very application. Color us impressed.

Matter of fact, it gets better. Not only are there quite a few more such shots for you to look at after the break, there’s also a link to download Vladimir’s software! Yes, it’s free and as long as you have a PC, you can go ahead and try and save all those shots that you thought were ruined forever. It won’t produce images that are as sharp as a proper picture, but hey, this is some cool tech right here. Also after the jump, a link to a detailed explanation of what’s actually going on here. Math-phobes might want to abstain.

… Continue Reading

This Gadget Can Save You From A Traffic Ticket

By David Ponce on 10/19/12 • 4 Comments

You might have seen the Mythbusters episode where they try several methods to foil traffic cameras. If you didn’t, here’s a spoiler: they don’t work. However we think the above product, the NoPhoto, would be an exception… as long as the infraction occurs at night or the traffic cam uses flash during the day as well. The device is installed around your license plate, and detects when a flash is triggered, presumably from a traffic cam. It then triggers a precisely timed xenon bulb of its own which has the effect of overexposing the shot, ruining the picture and making your car unidentifiable. In principle, this should work. And in practice it does too. As a matter of fact, we’ve written about a product that uses the same principle before.

Jonathan Dandrow, the creator of the NoPhoto claims that

Traffic cameras are unconstitutional, because “if you do commit a traffic violation, you should have your constitutionally guaranteed right to face your accuser – and that your accuser should not win by default just because it happens to be a camera that can’t talk in court.”

His device is made in the USA, and (he says) it is legal to use in the US.

The NoPhoto’s basis for legality is that nothing is physically covering the plate. Yeah… we suspect that particular loophole might work for a while, at least until lawmakers re-write the bills to adjust for this technology. Still, until then, if you want yours, you can pledge to the Indiegogo project and get a NoPhoto for $200. This is $150 less than expected retail pricing.

[ NoPhoto Project ] VIA [ BoingBoing ]

Autographer Chronicles Your Day By Taking Snaps Automatically and Randomly

By Hazel Chua on 09/28/12 • Leave a comment!

Autographer

Journals are hard to maintain, and you can’t exactly get a sense of what happened during your day outside of the office with just your planner. People often say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case, you can capture enough snapshots worth several hundred thousand with the Autographer.

It was originally meant for people with dementia so that they could remember their day in pictures. But upon the suggestion of a lot of people, its maker OMG decided to release it for general consumers, too. The concept is simple: the Autographer, which is meant to be worn, will automatically take pictures throughout your day automatically, so you can just put it on and forget all about it–until it’s time to check out the pictures, that is. It’s equipped with five different sensors–a magnetometer, color sensor, infrared detector, accelerometer, and temperature sensor–so that the camera can detect any changes in the environment and take pictures when it does.

The Autographer will launch in the UK sometime this November for £399 (about $649), with succeeding launches planned in the United States and Japan afterward.

VIA [ Dvice ]

Everything Old Is New Again: The Impossible Instant Lab Brings Polaroids Back

By David Ponce on 09/12/12 • Leave a comment!

Polaroids used to be the bees knees, tech wise. Think about it: they would let you immediately see, as well as print the picture you just took. In a world where you had to wait a week to have your shots developed, that was awesome. But then, digital cameras came around, and things changed. But fashion can go in cycles and what is now old often ends up being rediscovered by younger generations and brought back from the dustbin with a shiny new coating. The Impossible Instant Lab seeks to combine the best from smartphone photography (portability, immediacy, versatility) with not only the nostalgia of Polaroid cameras, but also the fact that they do give you a physical sample to carry along with you. The Lab features a collapsible tower atop of which you cradle your iPhone and which positions it perfectly so that a picture of the screen may be taken. That picture is then developed into an actual, chemical-reaction, darkroom-in-the-paper, analog photograph. No Instagram filter will ever be that hipster-y. It even uses actual film for Polaroid 600 and SX 70 cameras.

Once folded up the Impossible Instant Lab is 5.8″ long x 4.3″ wide x 2.4″ tall, which is fairly portable itself and a full charge can give you up to 150 prints.

There’s still some time to get in at the $189 price point, once again as a pledge on Kickstarter. Delivery expected in February 2013.

[ Project Page ] VIA [ NoPuedoCreer ]

Giant Tripod Takes Your Photography To New Heights

By David Ponce on 09/10/12 • 2 Comments

There may be times when you start feeling that the perfect shot has to be taken from 11 feet in the air, but there is no tree for you to climb, no railing to hang from or innocent bystander to stand atop. All the way back at a concert, for example. So… what’s there to do? If you’re toting the Tree-pod pictured above, there may yet be hope for you. Collapsing into a fairly portable 90 cm (36inches) and weighing in at 13kg (28lbs), the towering tripod almost touches 11ft when extended. And yeah, it’s kind of hard to control and setup your camera when it’s up there and you’re down there, so the Tree-pod can be transformed into a ladder to make climbing easy.

It’s aimed at professionals, and with a $6,000 price tag, there may be few other people in a position to justify its purchase. The thrifty shopper may like to think of it as a fancy tripod AND an expensive ladder in one.

Availability isn’t known.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Petapixel ]

3D Cone Is An iPhone Attachment That Allows For Stereoscopic Photography

By David Ponce on 08/08/12 • 1 Comment

In a few years from now, when your baby grows up, he’ll ask you why all his baby pictures have these awful filters applied to them (please direct hate mail to our legal department). 3D pictures on the other hand? We’re not sure about that one. For one, these aren’t nearly as common, seeing as the iPhone lacks the hardware required for true stereoscopic photography. But the 3D cone pictured above wants to change that, letting you take two quick pictures in succession from slightly different angles through the use of a specially positioned mirror. Current applications that do the same thing require you to take one pic, move to a new location and take another pic, which isn’t so great with moving subjects. All you have to do here is launch the app, take the pic, and you’re done.

Like many projects these days, the 3D Cone is trying to raise funds on Kickstarter. A $39 pledge will get you yours, although successful funding at this point is not guaranteed: they’re at $3,700 of the $55,000 they need. If you choose to help them out, you’ll get your case in March 2013.

[ Project Page ]

Trygger iPhone Case Give You Elegant Polarizing Filter Add-On

By David Ponce on 06/04/12 • Leave a comment!


By David Ponce

Yet one more entrant to the overcrowded iDevice accessory market, albeit one that stands out for ingenious and elegant design. It’s a case that helps you take pictures with your iPhone by providing you a polarizing filter. Seen below is what such a filter can do. The thing about them is they need to be rotated depending on the angle that the sun’s rays are hitting your subject, so the Trygger features a way to adjust the angle so that you get that shot just right. Also, you might not always want to use a filter since it does diminish the amount of light that goes through somewhat, so the filter only covers your camera when you slide the panel in which it’s embedded and cover the camera with it. And yes, that panel is felt lined so you don’t have to worry about scratches. The rest of the case is made from 1.8mm of high-strength polycarbonate so your phone should be safe. And like so many of the things we talk about these days, this too is on Kickstarter for $35 for a limited time. After the early-bird pre-orders are sold out, you’re looking at just $40.

[ Project Page ]

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