The world’s first 39 megapixel digital SLR camera

The world’s first 39 megapixel digital SLR camera

January 22, 2006 Hasselblad is creating a new standard of digital image quality for professional photographers with the announcement of a new camera and three camera backs based on the combination of Hasselblad’s new, true 39 megapixel CCD sensor and its unique Digital APO Correction (DAC) technology. This new line of products features the new Hasselblad Natural Color Solution, which takes digital photographic color reproduction to an entirely new level. The new products also deliver images of unsurpassed sharpness and resolution and at the same time reduce any moiré effect to a minimum – a first in the history of digital photography.

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Based on the Hasselblad H2 camera with its range of high performance, digital central shutter-based lenses, and featuring extended features, such as DAC lens optimization and Instant Approval Architecture, the Hasselblad H2D-39 is the world’s first high-end, 39 megapixel, digital auto-focus camera. Compatible with the entire range of Hasselblad H System lenses, the world finest digital lenses, as well as the Hasselblad V camera lens system, the H2D-39 brings the highest level of integration and flexibility to the professional photographer.

The new Hasselblad 39 megapixel digital back products include the Hasselblad CFH-39, CF-39 and CF-39MS, and have been built to meet the needs of professionals who require the best, for both mobile and studio shooting. The 39 megapixel digital back products match the design and functionality of the Hasselblad H2 camera and the Hasselblad CFH-39 digital back fits onto view cameras using the H-system interface plate for mechanical attachment and flash sync connection to trigger digital capture. The CFH-39 also fully integrates with the power system of the Hasselblad H2, so that both camera and digital back can be powered by the H2’s Li-ion battery.

The Hasselblad CF-39 line of digital backs offers 39 megapixel digital capture with Hasselblad’s interchangeable camera interface, the i-Adapter, and the option of true color multi-shot capture. In a studio environment, the color resolution of captures can be increased by means of a unique multiple-exposure technique controlled by the optional Multi Shot Module (patent pending). The result is unique color resolution and absolutely moiré free images.

Christian Poulsen, CEO of Hasselblad comments: “We are constantly striving to create the optimum photographic tools that will enable our customers to take the best possible pictures. With the new, 39 megapixel-based Hasselblad products, we are confident that the outstanding image quality of the captured files and the subsequent and substantially reduced need for post-processing work will be of significant benefit to our customers. In over 15 years of working with the most advanced digital camera solutions, the combination of the 39 megapixel CCD sensor and the Digital APO Correction delivers a first for me - images files in which any moiré effect is reduced to a minimum, combined with superb sharpness and resolution on a single shot camera.”

Digital APO Correction (DAC) – fine-tuning superb quality images

Based upon the capture of an extended set of metadata, the Hasselblad H2D-39, CFH-39, and CF-39 line perform an automated correction for color aberration effects with every shot. This means that digital captures are, by default, optimized with regards to the finest detail the lens can resolve. This feature is called Digital APO Correction (DAC) to signal ‘digital-capture-APO-chromatic’ correction of the images. Implementation of the feature includes highly detailed mapping of each H system lens, resulting in head-turning image quality.

Hasselblad Natural Color Solution

Color management solutions have in the past imposed limitations on professional digital photographers, because of the forced choice of a specific color profile to suit the job: capturing various skin tones, metals, fabrics, flowers, etc. To combat this, Hasselblad has developed the Hasselblad Natural Color Solution to be used with its FlexColor imaging software. Working with the powerful, new Hasselblad Natural Color Solution enables professional photographers to produce outstanding, reliable out-of-the-box colors, with skin tones, special product gradations, and other difficult colors accurately reproduced.

Christian Poulsen explains: “It has always frustrated me that users have had to choose between different input profiles, i.e., specific portrait and product profiles. Most compositions contain more than one element, so optimizing for one element will always have a negative effect on the colors of all other elements. With the inclusion of the new Hasselblad Natural Color Solution, we have to the best of my knowledge solved this issue.

To implement its unique Hasselblad Natural Color Solution, the company has developed a new Hasselblad raw file format called: 3F RAW (3FR). The new 3F RAW file format is designed to ensure that images captured on Hasselblad digital products are quickly, effectively and safely stored on the available media (CF card, Imagebank, etc). The file format includes lossless image compression, saving 33% of storage space. Combined with the architecture of the Hasselblad digital camera, this allows for capturing up to 35 images per minute.

A 3FR file defines the colors in the Hasselblad RGB color space with its out-of-the-box quality and, used in FlexColor, it removes both the need for experimenting with different color profiles to get optimum colors and the need for selective color corrections.

3FR files can be converted directly into Adobe’s raw image format DNG (‘Digital NeGative’), bringing this new technology standard to the professional photographer for the first time. The DNG file format enables raw, compressed image files to be opened directly in Adobe PhotoShop, allowing photographers to operate quickly and efficiently and reducing the “downtime” taken to process image data. Hasselblad image files carry a full set of metadata, including capture conditions, keywords and copyright, facilitating work with image asset management solutions. For specialist commercial photographers, the full productivity and creative freedom offered by Hasselblad’s FlexColor workflow software is also available via importing the DNG file.

The new Hasselblad products will be rolled out worldwide through Hasselblad’s national subsidiaries and channel partners in Q1 2006.

An extensive upgrade program is available to existing Hasselblad customers to enable them to take advantage of the full benefits of the new products.

Pivothead glasses record what you see in 1080p

Pivothead's entry into the small market of sunglasses with built-in video cameras threatens to knock much of the competition into a cocked hat this April, thanks to its ability to capture 1080p video

Pivothead's entry into the small market of sunglasses with built-in video cameras threatens to knock much of the competition into a cocked hat this April, thanks to its ability to capture 1080p video. The glasses additionally include an 8 MP stills camera, a 44.1 kHz microphone, gyroscopic image stabilization and continuous auto-focus.

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H.264/MPEG-4 video can be shot at 30 fps in either 720p or 1080p, though there is the option of a 720p-only 60 fps mode. The gyroscopic image stabilization and continuous-auto focus kick in when "Active Mode" is selected. It's not precisely clear how they affect the camera's settings, but "Spectator Mode" and "Social Mode" are also among the settings. "Black & White Mode" is also a mystery, though I have my own theories as to what that might entail.

The camera is switched on with a button on the underside of the left temple arm. With the push of a button on the top of the arm, the camera begins shooting in default 30-fps 1080p video. Modes can be changed on the go by holding down buttons, with feedback given by colored LEDs on the inner side of the left temple arm. Getting to grips with changing modes while out on the piste may take a little practice. When connected to a computer USB port, the camera's myriad settings can be set with the Glasses Manager software that comes included.

There's are features here to pique the interest of photographers. The stills camera employs a Sony CMOS sensor, optimized for capturing high speed images at good quality. CMOS sensors are used in both the iPhone 4 and 4S, though Engadget suggests the sensor in the Pivothead glasses may be a more recent 4S-beater. Stills can be captured in 3, 5 or 8 MP resolutions and there are burst modes to take three, five, 10 or 16 stills in rapid succession. A variety of time-lapse options take either individual stills or bursts at 1, 8, 30 and 60-second intervals.

The glasses themselves have lenses that filter out unwanted frequencies at both the infrared and ultraviolet ends of the spectrum, and apparently include anti-scratch, anti-reflection and hydrophobic coatings.

Of the options we've looked at in the past, the Xonix video sunglasses are looking a little decrepit, while neither the ZionEyez nor the LadyGaga-esque Polaroid GL20sunglasses have yet made it to market. Pivothead is recommending that the glasses retail at $349. It sounds as if the company is working deals with retailers at this very moment for an April release.

Source: Pivothead via Engadget

Ubi-Camera uses your fingers as its viewfinder

Ubi-Camera in telephoto mode (Photo: DigInfo)

Framing a shot with one's hands is almost as big a part of photography as having your subject say "cheese," but a camera and its viewfinder have always been a part of the equation, too ... until now, that is. A team at Japan's Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS) in Ogaki are working on an innovative prototype fingertip "Ubi-Camera" (Ubi is Latin for where) that lets the user's fingers set the frame – a development that could literally make composing shots, well, a snap. At the very least, it'll give new meaning to the term "digital" photography when (and if) it hits market.

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“When you draw a picture or take a photo, you sometimes form a rectangle with your hands to decide the composition," IAMAS staffer Yoshimasa Furuyama told DigInfo. "With this camera, you can take a photo using the exact same motion. You attach this device to your index finger, and form a rectangle with your fingers. When you push hard with your thumb, the shutter is pressed.”

To determine whether a shot will be wide angle or telephoto, the Ubi-Camera is equipped with an infrared range finder that estimates the distance between the photographer's hands and face – closer equals wider. They still have a few kinks to work out, especially because bright ambient light can sometimes thwart the infrared sensor, but Furuyama mentioned they'd also like to incorporate facial recognition into the system to make it more accurate.

No word on price or estimated availability, but we hope it'll be soon. Knowing the Japanese, we won't be kept waiting for long. Point and shoot, anyone?

Watch the DigInfo video below to see the Ubi-Camera in action.

Source: Akihabara News via DigInfo

Researchers create living human gut-on-a-chip

Blue and red liquid is pumped through the gut-on-a-chip device to help visualize the upper and lower microchannels

Although it is only around the size of a USB memory stick, the device mimics the complex 3D features of the human intestine. It features a central chamber in which a single layer of human intestinal epithelial cells grows on a flexible, porous membrane that recreates the intestinal barrier. To mimic the wave-like peristaltic motions that move food along the digestive tract, the membrane is attached to the side walls of the chamber that stretch and recoil using an attached vacuum controller.In an effort to provide a more accurate alternative to conventional cell culture and animal models, researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a microdevice that mimics the structure, physiology, and mechanics of the human intestine. The so-called “gut-on-a-chip” could help provide new insights into intestinal disorders and be used to evaluate the safety and efficacy of potential treatments.

The researchers say that the ability to grow and sustain common intestinal microbes on the surface of the device’s cultured intestinal cells allows the device to simulate some of the physiological features important to understanding many diseases. They believe that the device’s combined capabilities give it the potential to become a valuable in vitro diagnostic tool to better understand the cause and progression of a variety of intestinal disorders. It could also be used to test the safety and efficacy of new treatments and to test the metabolism and oral absorption of drugs and nutrients.

"Because the models most often available to us today do not recapitulate human disease, we can't fully understand the mechanisms behind many intestinal disorders, which means that the drugs and therapies we validate in animal models often fail to be effective when tested in humans," said Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., who led the research team. "Having better, more accurate in vitro disease models, such as the gut-on-a-chip, can therefore significantly accelerate our ability to develop effective new drugs that will help people who suffer from these disorders."

The gut-on-a-chip is the latest in a series of engineered organ models developed at the Wyss Institute, which began with the lung-on-a-chip. The institute has also received funding to develop a heart-lung micromachine to test the safety and efficacy of inhaled drugs on the integrated heart and lung function, and a spleen-on-a-chip to treat sepsis.

The team’s gut-on-a-chip is detailed in the journal Lab on a Chip.

Source: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

Grace Digital launches FireDock speaker dock for the Kindle Fire

Grace Digital has announced the FireDock speaker dock specifically designed for Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet

Although Amazon's Kindle Fire includes built-in stereo speakers, there will be occasions when the output could do with a significant boost to fully enjoy content provided by the likes of Netflix, Pandora Internet Radio or even Amazon's own audio books. Grace Digital's new FireDock speaker dock features a 16-watt Class D digital amplifier and 3-inch full-range, base-ported stereo speakers rated at 3W/8 ohms, with a frequency response of between 60Hz and 18KHz and signal-to-noise ratio of 89dB.We've seen our fair share of portable device docks here at Gizmag, from theacoustic to the power-hungry and everything in between. Most of those capable of charging the docked device as well as amplify its audio tend to have been designed for use with an iDevice, which is not much use to the 14 million U.S. Kindle Fireusers. Rallying to the cause, Grace Digital has launched the FireDock - one of the first speaker docks crafted specifically for Amazon's Kindle Fire 7-inch tablet and featuring full-range stereo speakers, a Class D digital amp and an additional auxiliary input for an optional secondary audio source.

The cradle includes a USB port that allows the Kindle Fire to be charged while docked, whether Amazon's tablet is being used or not, and rotates for portrait or landscape viewing. Next door to this sits a strategically-positioned audio jack.

In addition to operating from AC power, Grace Digital is also making an optional 7.4 V /2200 mAh Lithium-ion battery pack available (at an extra cost) to play the device on the road. The FireDock battery pack won't charge the Kindle Fire's own battery but will give mobile playback for up to six hours.

The 13 x 4.3 x 3.75-inch (330.2 x 109.22 x 95.25 mm) Grace Audio FireDock comes supplied with a wireless remote and has been given a shipping date of July 2, 2012 at a suggested retail price of US$129.99.

Using e-waste to create educational toys, with ThinkerToys

Dhairya Dand's prototype ThinkerToys are edutainment modules designed to put functional e-waste such as PS/2 keyboards and mice to good use

Electronic waste is a huge global problem, and its often devastating impact on our environment is not going to lessen any time soon – in fact, it's predicted to get worse. Faced with a panorama of mountainous e-waste when passing an immense landfill site in suburban Phnom Penh, Cambodia and seeing young children working there instead of going to school, a researcher at Keio-NUS CUTE Center and Mixed Reality Lab in Singapore came up with a novel idea to help tackle both issues. His plan involves creating simple and cheap-to-produce edutainment kit modules that could be shipped out to those unfortunate areas of the world where e-waste is transported for disposal, where they would be paired up with discarded but functional tech such as PS/2 keyboards and mice, speakers and old CRT monitors.

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Dhairya Dand has so far created four ThinkerToys prototype kit modules with the ever-versatile Arduino computer as a platform, added custom chips, authored some code, and fitted kit-specific components like a serial LCD screen, speaker, and VS1053B MP3 decoder. He told us that the project is still very much in the early stages of development, with the final goal being "production quality custom hardware that can go out and be used as toys for kids in the developing world, especially starting with kids who work and live near landfills."

The Keyano module features a small speaker, and maps each of the keys of a connected PS/2 computer keyboard to a different sound. RandoMath sports an LED screen that flashes mathematical puzzles which are answered using the keyboard. An old pair of headphones or earphones, or some working speakers are all you need to hear the pre-recorded audiobooks contained on the Storynory module, each of which is read out in the language local to the user. If there's a functional TV or CRT monitor kicking around, the onscreen action of simple educational games offered by the TV++ module can be controlled by a good old-fashioned wired mouse and keyboard.

"One of the major goals is to have modular hardware," said Dand. "This means that any kid could walk down with the box and plug any keyboard - brand immaterial - and boom, it works. With that in mind, I designed the boxes to be centrally (or decentrally through fab-labs) manufactured and then distributed all around, and kids could just walk up to a landfill, pick up e-waste and have fun."

Dand also told us that it was his original intention to use post-upgrade consumer e-waste components in the kit modules as well - earlier versions of RandoMath made use of old calculator screens and Keyano was home to a BIOS speaker - but practicalities got in the way.

"I realized quickly that this approach isn't scalable," he said. "You'd have to hunt hard for components in e-waste, sort them, take them to the factory, disassemble them, have different manufacturing runs customized for each e-waste component, and so on. That wasn't cost and time effective, and would add considerably to the target price of US$5 per toy."

Such issues also halted the development of something called Mousepedia - a mouse-controlled audio encyclopedia. The cost associated with recording and storing the source material proved prohibitive, although Dand hasn't completely abandoned the idea and may revisit the design at a later stage.

ThinkerToys began as a one-man-mission, but Dand is in the process of setting up an openToys community of designers and engineers tasked with coming up with new ways to re-use e-waste. All community designs, circuits and code will be open source. He's currently in the process of documenting the code and the builds for the prototypes, which will shortly be available on his Github page for those interested in building toys for themselves, and intends to add things like video build tutorials in the near future.

Dand also plans to return to Cambodia in May 2012 to start a pilot production run in collaboration with a rural school. He intends to live with the kids while evaluating which kits prove the most popular, and "figure out the power problem - one solution is to have a single solar-based charging station in the village, where kids come charge their toys and play."

Once any problems are identified and dealt with, the project will be scaled up for production - so long as adequate funding can be found, of course. Be sure to check out the ThinkerToys source link for details of how to get involved.

Sources: ThinkerToys, github

Galileo lets you remotely pan and tilt an iPhone

Galileo is a motorized iPhone holder, that allows the user to remotely pan and tilt the phone

With their built-in cameras, microphones and speakers, iPhones can be very handy for video conferencing. Should you be trying to talk to a boardroom full of people through a phone that’s propped up on the table, however, it can be kind of frustrating – you’re stuck with the stationary shot provided by the phone, and can’t see people who are outside of that shot unless you get someone to move the phone for you. Well, that’s where Galileo comes in. It’s a motorized iPhone holder, that allows a remote user to pan or tilt the phone 360 degrees.

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Galileo is the brainchild of Josh Guyot and JoeBen Bevirt, who previously brought us the popular Gorillapod flexible tripod. Guyot came up with the idea for this latest device when he was trying to have video chats with his son, while away from home.

To use Galileo, the person receiving the video call would place their phone in the device. The person making the call could then use their iPhone, iPad or web browser to pan or tilt the device, using a touchscreen interface or their mouse.

Because it provides smooth, motorized 360-degree pans and tilts, however, Galileo could also find use with film-makers. Guyot and Bevirt are currently working on apps that would allow users to program the device to perform complex movements, including ultra-slow ones that could be used for time-lapse videography. A Bluetooth-controlled mount for a GoPro HERO camera is also planned.

Other potential uses include baby monitoring, distance learning, or real estate photography. It includes a software developers kit, so users can incorporate the device into existing apps, or create new apps around it.

Power is provided through a USB cable, or by the onboard rechargeable lithium-ion battery – anywhere between two to eight hours of use per charge is possible, depending on the activity. Like just about everything else that an iPhone can be plugged into, Galileo also serves as a charging dock for the phone.

Guyot and Bevirt are presently raising funds on Kickstarter for the commercial development of their product. They have already exceeded their funding goal, however, so it looks like it should be a go. Pledges can still be made, with a minimum contribution of US$85 getting you a Galileo once they’re shipping. The estimated retail price is $129.95.

The device can be seen in action in the pitch video below.

Source: Kickstarter via Cool Hunting

Apple offers refunds to Australian iPad owners

Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiling the 'new' third generation iPad on March 7 

The problem is that Apple specifically marketed the device as "iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G", which the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said gave Australian customers the impression that the device "can, with a SIM card, connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia, when this is not the case."Australian owners of the "new" iPad are being offered full refunds by Apple after the country's consumer watchdog found Apple had misled customers as to the device's 4G capabilities in the region. Though Telstra offers a 4G network in Australia, the frequencies used by Apple's third-generation device (700 MHz and 2100 MHz) are incompatible with this service.

The ACCC says it wrote to Apple a day before launch to raise its concerns with the marketing of the new iPad, which it now claims contravenes sections 18, 29(1)(a), 29(1)(g) and 33 of the Australian Consumer Law. It is now pressing for stickers to be placed on all packaging - a move resisted by Apple. However, Apple has agreed to email customers offering a full refund, and will clarify 4G capabilities at the point of sale. We'll be interested to see what, precisely, the latter involves.

Source: ACCC, via The Guardian