Share your best photo with Carl Zeiss AG and win valuable equipment now!

The closing date for sending in your photo is 7 January 2008.Each participant can submit one photo only.
All equipment classes are possible – whether Logitech Webcam, Nokia cell phone, Sony compact camera, Sony bridge camera (e.g. R1), SLR, rangefinder or medium format camera.
What is decisive is that your picture was taken with a lens from Carl Zeiss.

More details: Zeiss.com

On Saturday, the 26th of May 2007 the eleventh WestLicht Photographica Auction was ended with a sensation.
An 1839 daguerreotype camera, ancestor of modern photography, was sold at auction in Vienna Saturday for nearly 600,000 euros making it the world’s oldest and most expensive commercial photographic apparatus.
The daguerreotype, named after the French artist and chemist Louis Daguerre, is an early type of photograph in which the image is exposed directly onto a mirror-polished surface of silver bearing a coating of silver halide particles deposited by iodine vapour.

Numerous bidders from all over the world took part in the camera auction including some from Korea, Japan, USA and various parts of Europe. The most recent auction was able to out-shine the high standards of previous auctions both in total turnover as well as the percentage of sold lots. 90 % of the total of 815 lots were auctioned for a total of more than 1.7 million Euros.
The opening price was 100,000 euros for the wooden box structure, which is in its original state and had been lying forgotten in a loft in Munich since the year 1940 until the present owner of the premises accidentally came across it.
Michel Auer, a Swiss photographer and photographic historian, carried out an expertise on the device and concluded that it was the only remaining known example made by a French firm, the Susse Brothers.
Before it resurfaced, the oldest known and most expensive daguerreotype apparatus in the world had been one also dating from 1839 but made by Alphonse Giroux, brother-in-law of the inventor Daguerre.
Only 12 remaining original Giroux daguerreotype cameras are known to be preserved in various collections around the world.

The point-and-shoot cameras are great, that is, as long as the subject of the photo is not moving very fast.
The compact digital camera can take so long to react after you snap the shutter release button that the moment has passed and the desired image is never captured.
The problem is called shutter lag.
But avoiding it, or minimizing it in the next camera you buy — well, that is a tricky problem.And the problem is, camera makers do not want to tell consumers too much about that.
It is just that shutter lag is too difficult a concept to communicate in ads or marketing materials in stores;it still is much easier to sell consumers on a camera’s price, style, color, image-stabilization abilities, wireless ability or even its many preset shooting modes like fireworks, underwater or dining.
The first problem is that shutter lag is not really shutter lag at all, but processor lag:when the photographer begins to push down the button to snap the picture, sensors in the camera begin to take a series of measurements.Then the image is captured on the processor and sent into memory.
The specifications surrounding lag are not standardized and can be interpreted in various ways. Indeed, there is not even one standard. For instance, one might measure shutter lag in auto focus and another with manual focus, which will be much less.
The shutter-lag problem is not true of all digital cameras. The digital single-lens-reflex (S.L.R.) cameras do not have a problem with shutter lag.
Photographers offer a few tips on capturing action shots with point-and-shoot cameras:
1.If you can anticipate a shot then push the shutter-release button down halfway. Priming the auto-focus gets the process started early. When you push the button down all the way, the camera can process the information more quickly.
2.Another trick is to point the camera to where the action will occur, push halfway, and when the action occurs, push it all the way. That means you do not follow the subject, you follow the event. In other words, if you are tracking a downhill skier slaloming through a series of flags, aim at the flags, not the skier.
3.Camera makers also suggested using the burst mode, which quick-fires a series of photos. Shoot the first one in advance of the event and then you probably will capture the significant moment.

More information: The New York Times

Another Canon PowerShot is on the streets.It’s name: PowerShot SD850 IS/DIGITAL IXUS 950 IS.

Yes indeed it’s name it’s quiet weird but never the less this one replaces the SD700 IS (Ixus 800 IS) and has an 8-megapixel 1/2.5″ CCD sensor and 4 x optical zoom with a shift-type optical Image Stabilizer (IS) system and 2.5-inch LCD monitor with wide viewing angle. It uses Battery Pack NB-5L to shoot up to approx. 230 images (based on the CIPA standard when the LCD monitor is on), and SD memory cards, SDHC memory cards and MultiMediaCards for the recording media.
And this camera have Face Detection Function.

Digital Camera Basics-Resolution - Exposure - Focus - and Storage
By B Lee

Resolution

The amount of detail that a camera can capture is called the resolution, and it is measured in pixels. The more pixels a camera has, the more detail it can capture and the larger pictures can be without becoming blurry or “grainy.” High-end consumer cameras can capture over 12 million pixels. Some professional cameras support over 16 million pixels (megapixels), or 20 million pixels for large-format cameras. For comparison, it has been estimated that the quality of 35mm film is about 20 million pixels.

Exposure and Focus

Just as with film, a digital camera has to control the amount of light that reaches the sensor. The two components it uses to do this, the aperture and shutter speed, are also present on conventional cameras.

Aperture: The size of the opening in the camera. The aperture is automatic in most digital cameras, but some allow manual adjustment to give professionals and hobbyists more control over the final image.

Shutter speed: The amount of time that light can pass through the aperture. Unlike film, the light sensor in a digital camera can be reset electronically, so digital cameras have a digital shutter rather than a mechanical shutter.
These two aspects work together to capture the amount of light needed to make a good image. In photographic terms, they set the exposure of the sensor.

In addition to controlling the amount of light, the camera has to adju Read the rest of this entry »

Digital Camera Basics-Images
By B Lee

In the past twenty years, most of the major technological breakthroughs in consumer electronics have been built around the same basic process: converting conventional analog information (represented by a fluctuating wave) into digital information (binary information represented by ones and zeros, or bits). This fundamental shift in technology has changed how we handle visual and audio information — it completely redefined what is possible.

The digital camera is one of the most notable examples of this shift because it is so truly different from its predecessor. Conventional film cameras depend entirely on chemical and mechanical processes — you don’t need any electricity whatsoever to operate them, other than for a flash. On the other hand, all digital cameras have a built-in computer, and all of them record images electronically.

The new approach has been enormously successful. Since film usually provides better picture quality, digital cameras have not completely replaced conventional cameras. But, as digital imaging technology has improved, and prices dramatically decreased, digital cameras have rapidly become more popular.

In this article, we’ll find out exactly what’s going on inside these amazing digital-age devices.

Understanding the Basics
Let’s say you want to take a picture and e-mail it to a friend. To do this, you need the image to be represented in the language that computers recognize — bits and bytes, or binary information. Essentially, a digital image is just a long string of 1s and 0s that represent all the tiny colored dots — or pixels — that collectively make up the image. If you want to get a picture into this form, you have two options:

1) You can take a photograph using a conventional film camera, take the film to a developing lab that processes the film chemically, prints it onto photographic paper, and then place the picture on a digital scanner to sample the print (record the pattern of light as a series of pixel values).
Read the rest of this entry »

The designer Matthew Swinton came with an interesting idea:a digital camera that fits vertical in your hand (like a cellphone) and features an lcd projector that can present taken pictures or connect to other media devices to display photos or video.

To use, the protective lens cover slides down. The camera is comfortable to hold on to, with the lens just peeking over the top of your hand. The top buttons can be set as the snap shot and mode or environment lighting selection buttons. These can be flipped for left or right handed use. The ports along the top allow Axis to be charged, instead of having to remove and replace batteries. Switch the mode button over to take, view or display pictures or video taken.

Digital SLR Camera Review - Choosing Between SLR Cameras or Compact Digital Cameras
By Debra Proctor

When purchasing a digital camera, it is often a tough decision to choose between a SLR digital camera and a compact digital camera. With this digital SLR camera review, we will cover the most important aspects in the decision making process.

SLR Cameras are your best choice among digital cameras if you want to do more than take family vacation, holiday, and birthday pictures. Despite the fact that many point-and-shoot compact digitals have increasingly higher megapixels, the SLR is the choice for serious photographers and photography hobbyists. This digital SLR camera review will cover the importance of purchasing a SLR camera if you are serious about your photography.

The most obvious reason for choosing a SLR camera is that you have the capacity to produce photography that is much more artistic. With SLR cameras, you have manual options that you don’t have with point-and-shoot cameras and this is what makes the biggest difference in how you can use your SLR camera artistically.

When trying to get that perfect shot, your camera must be ready in an instant. SLR cameras have instant start up and minimal shutter lag. Most point-and-shoot compacts have a 2 to 3 second shutter lag which means you are going to miss that shot. The shutter lag in SLR cameras is a fraction of a second so you get the shot you want.

Another plus in SLR cameras in that they can take interchangeable lenses. This is very important for those nature and sports photos when you often can’t get close to your subject. With a SLR camera, you can change to a zoom lens and get those close-ups. Great battery life, large image sensor, fast continuous shooting, and the ability to store RAW images are other pluses of SLR cameras.

Some of the not so good qualities I would like to point out in this SLR digital camera review is that these cameras are large. So, if you want to be able to fit them in your purse or bag, they’re not going to fit – not so good on vacations. They are also much heavier than subcompact digital cameras and compact digital cameras weighing in at about ½ pound and of course, they are more expensive.

In this digital SLR camera review, we covered manual options, interchangeable lens, shutter lag time, and size. These are all factors that you need to take into consideration when making a decision as to purchase a SLR digital camera as opposed to a compact digital cameras.

For SLR digital camera reviews of all major brands, go to http://www.squidoo.com/digital-slr-camera-reviews

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Debra_Proctor
http://EzineArticles.com/?Digital-SLR-Camera-Review—Choosing-Between-SLR-Cameras-or-Compact-Digital-Cameras&id=548563

Vision Research Introduces Miro 3 Compact High-Speed Digital Camera

Vision Research is unveiling the first member in a new line of Phantom high-speed digital cameras. The Phantom® Miro line is a compact, light-weight, rugged family of cameras targeted at industrial applications ranging from biometric research to automotive.

The Miro 3 camera measures 4.3 x 2.6 x 3.2 inches and weighs roughly 2 pounds, according to the release. The Vision Research camera has a frame rate of 2200 fps at 512×512 resolution or 9500 fps at 32×32 pixel resolution. The metal bodied Miro 3 can survive an impact of 100g, that is, 100x the force of gravity, making it apt for harsh environments with vibrations of explosions, according to Robinson (Director of Marketing).

With an ISO rating of 4800 (monochrome, saturation-based ISO 12232), the camera has the light sensitivity for the most demanding applications. With shutter speeds as low as 2 microseconds, the user can freeze objects in motion, eliminate blur, and bring out the image detail needed for successful motion analysis. The camera accepts any standard 1″ C-mount lens.

The Miro 3 has a number of external control signals allowing for external triggering, camera synchronization, and time-stamping. The camera has both dynamic RAM and internal flash memory for non-volatile storage. Internal battery power allows the camera to be used in an un-tethered mode and ensures data survivability in case of loss of power.

An informational video about Vision Research and the Phantom product line is available at:

http://www.visionresearch.com/movie/

BetterLight, has created a new monster in the digital photography world ! A 416 MP digital camera, Super10K-HS™ !

For our needs this is about 410 megapixels too many. But for companies who create wall sized prints for ads, the incredible detail could carry a new era in  advertising. It has the ability to create a direct digital image at a native resolution of 10,200 x 13,600 pixels. This high resolution allows scanning of originals up to 34 x 45 inches in size at 300 pixels per inch without stitching or interpolation, and generates a 794 MB 48-bit RGB file size.

The new Super10K-HS offers an ISO range from 64 to 1000, line times from 1/8th to 1/120th of a second, and a 40 GB (or optional 80 GB) internal hard drive for image storage. The unit provides 11 resolution settings that can be used to capture the perfect file size for each imaging project, independent of the selected ISO sensitivity. The camera is also ICC profile-compatible. The Super10K-HS is priced at $22,995 and will ship at the end of March.