This picture appeared in National Geographic and according to the snippet, it was captured with Samsung NX10 and 18-55mm f/2.8 lens. Samsung currently has only a 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 lens in their lineup. Samsung NX10 roadmap for 2011 mentions only a new 16mm /f2.8 and a 60mm f/2.8 lenses. Maybe a typo?
Via dpreview
US patent 7725016 from Samsung is for a liquid zoom lens. The idea behind this patent is to reduce the size and power consumption of a conventional lens. This technology could potentially be used in mobile devices:
“Consequently, the zoom camera of the disclosure has a disadvantage in that it requires a large space for the zoom operation within the camera.”
“In addition, since the motor of the camera is inevitably operated in such a way so as to push the inner and outer barrels having the plural lenses received therein to an outside of the zoom camera, loss of power during driving of the motor causes an increase in power consumption of a battery.”
“In order to solve the problems as mentioned above, a liquid lens has been developed, which occupies a small space within the mobile terminal and does not suffer from power consumption. The liquid lens comprises a electrolyte and an insulating liquid in a single lens barrel to form an interface there between, of which curvature is changed by application of voltage to the electrolyte through the lens barrel, in order to embody the zoom function.”
cross-sectional view of a liquid lens
It seems that all issues with the new server have been resolved. This is what you may have missed in the last few days:
If you can read this post, you have reached the new dedicated PhotoRumors.com server. I do not expect any interruptions during the transfer, since I will leave the old server online for few days until all ISP propagate the DNS changes and update their routers. I have prepared several new posts and will publish them online soon.
Few days ago Sony released a new firmware for their NEX line of products. Initially, I did not pay attention to any of the details, until I saw this post on PetaPixel: with the LA-EA1 adapter, Sony NEX cameras can now autofocus with A-mount lenses and the AF process can take anywhere from 2 to 7 seconds:
“With an A-mount lens attached to NEX-5/NEX-3, autofocus takes approximately 2 to 7 seconds based on Sony measurement standards. Actual AF time with A-mount lens may vary depending on the subject and shooting conditions.”
I think it is great that Sony provides an adapter with AF support, but this is just a reminder to always read the fine print at the bottom of the page (in this case, the press release).
Patent Application 20100259666 from Sony is about a transmissive liquid crystal panel that could be implemented in the optical finder and can provide superimposed indication of various parameters, such as AF area:
The patent includes also diagrams of what appears to be a Sony camera body:
With the growing interest of filmmakers for DSLR based equipment, Zunow announced a new adapter that will allow you to use a Canon camera with PL (Arri) mount lenses. The company is planing to create also adapters for Zeiss, Red and Leica in the future. Some more details from the manufacturer:
Canon displayed their Cross Media Station prototype on the Canon Expo in Paris today – this gadget will let you wirelessly transfer images and video by just placing your camera on top of it and will also inductively charge your battery at the same time:
Update: AP posted a clarification that Canon does not have plans to produce this camera.
AP made a statement today that “Canon plans to launch a camera capable of shooting still images at a frame rate exceeding 60 shots per second”. They were talking about the Canon 4k camera, that was shown as a concept at the CanonExpo in New York over a month ago. The initial word from Canon (as you can see from the video above) was that this camera is just a prototype that will not be mass-produced.
DSLR magazine published an interview with executives from Panasonic and they confirmed that the replacement of the Panasonic GF1 will not have the new 16.05MP sensor from the latest Panasonic GH2 camera.
About the GH2 16.05MP sensor (from Panasonic’s website):
“The newly developed 16.05-megapixel multi-aspect Live MOS sensor adopts the high speed digital νMaicovicon. In addition to the high speed, which is an advantage of the CMOS sensor, Panasonic adds its original pixel mix technology. A dedicated process exclusively for νMaicovicon of the DMC-GH2 is newly developed by applying the top-class high performance transistor and its interconnection process needed for the high speed operation of digital circuit to make low-noise photodiode and transistor with reduced wiring to achieve both high resolution and high aperture-ratio as the DMC-GH1. The result is both high resolution and excellent S/N are realized with more than 3dB improvement of noise and 200% high sensitivity in the DMC-GH2.”
