News / Other News

Canon has developed a 35mm full-frame CMOS image sensor designed for low-light video capture. The 16:9 sensor features a 1920x1080 pixel array, meaning each pixel measures a huge 19 microns along each edge - 7.5 times larger than the ones in the EOS-1D X. The large pixels and low readout-noise circuitry allow the sensor to capture light around 10 times less bright than current CCDs used for astronomy. The sensor will first be shown in public at a security show in Japan.

Graphics tablet maker Wacom has announced on Facebook it will launch a mobile multi-touch tablet this summer. While it has not posted any details about this device, Wacom's social media post says it will include a pressure-sensitive pen, multi-touch options, an HD display and 'other valuable features that you haven’t seen in other tablets'.

Freelance photojournalist Sara Naomi Lewkowicz recently recounted the events that led to her presence during an incident of domestic violence. The harrowing images that she captured illustrate, among other things, the extent to which this photographer was able to 'blend' into the lives of her subjects, capturing a scene in which you'd imagine an outsider would be prohibited from documenting. Yet Lewkowicz's account has drawn online detractors who question whether intervention, not documentation was the appropriate response. Read on for more details.

Nikon has announced the launch of its Nikon School in UK. The company's education and training program that has been popular in the US for a decade will start in London from April 2013. It will offer photography courses, from beginner to advanced, to product specific courses and workshops. The company is currently offering £20 discount for online bookings. Click through for more information and links to the School's website.

Toshiba Semiconductors has been demonstrating a sensor module for mobile phones that allows Lytro-style refocusable images. The company promises 2MP images from an 8MP sensor and is already working on a version with higher-resolution output. However, there's reason to believe such cameras would be even more prone to the drawbacks we identified in Lytro's camera. Click through to find out more.

US technology company Rambus has unveiled 'Binary Pixel' sensor technology, promising greatly expanded dynamic range for the small sensors used in devices such as smartphones. Current image sensors are unable to record light above a specific saturation point, which results in clipped highlights. Binary Pixel technology gets around this by recording when a pixel has received a certain amount of light, then resetting it and in effect restarting the exposure. The result is significantly expanded dynamic range from a single exposure. 

A controversy over photojournalistic ethics and integrity has sprung up over the accusation that Magnum photographer Paolo Pellegrin misrepresented both the subject and context of an award-winning image. An image purporting to show a gun-wielding former Marine corps sniper in a rough neighborhood is actually of a former photojournalism student in a safe neighborhood. Was this simply poor record-keeping or a deliberate fabrication? Read on for more details.

Nikon has signed a licensing deal with Microsoft to cover the use of patented technologies in its Android-based cameras. The deal is the latest instance of Microsoft pursuing makers of Android devices, claiming patent infringement. Despite free access being one of the founding ideas of Google's Android operating system, Microsoft has been increasingly successful in convincing manufacturers of Android devices that they need to strike licensing deals for some of its technologies.

A 320-gigapixel image taken from top of London's BT Tower has set the world record of the largest panoramic photo. It breaks the previous record set by a 281-gigapixel electron micrograph of a zebrafish embryo taken in 2012. The London image was shot by panorama specialists 360 Cities and is made up of 48,640 individual frames. To get an idea of just how large this photograph is, BT says if it was printed at 'normal resolution' the photo would measure measure 98 x 24 metres.Click through for pictures and more information on the hardware used to make the image. 

Dozens of two-dimentional aerial photo calibration targets are scattered all across the United States, according to a report by the Center for Land Use Interpretation. Constructed mostly during the 1950s and 1960s, these large outdoor charts were used as 'a platform to test, calibrate, and focus aerial cameras traveling at different speeds and altitudes.' The report points out that although some of these 'charts' are still used for some optical camera testing and calibration, they are primarily relics of the past. Click through for more information, and images.

Swedish photographer Paul Hansen has won the World Press Photo 2013 award for his picture of a Palestinian family carrying two children who were killed in an Israeli missile strike to their funeral. The contest also awarded prizes in eight other categories ranging from Sports to Portraits. Some of these images may be familiar from news coverage throughout the year, but they make a compelling and inspiring reminder of the exceptional level of photojournalism across the world. Click through to check out some of the winning photographs.

Panasonic UK has announced a 'Try Before You Buy' service for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH3 Micro Four Thirds camera allowing customers to borrow it as a kit along with the 12-35mm for 48 hours. This offer is available across a number of UK retailers with no obligation to purchase. The company says the scheme lets customers 'road test' the camera before committing to such a big purchase. Click through for the list of 28 participating retailers.

A new BBC documentary uses tiny disguised cameras to take an intimate look at the lives of penguins. Wildlife producer John Downer and his team shot 'Penguins: Spy in the Huddle' with fifty 'spy cameras' disguised as rocks, eggs and even penguins themselves. The team shot footage of Emperor penguins in Antarctica, Rockhopper penguins on the Falkland Islands and Humboldt penguins in the Atacama Desert near the Peru-Chile border. Click through for photos, video and more information about the cameras.

A German artist is planning on creating a mobile version of IMAGO1:1 - the only camera in the world capable of true 1:1 reproduction for full-length self-portraits. Originally built in 1970, the camera works like a photo booth, projecting a true-to-life 1:1 portrait onto 60cm x 200cm sheets of black-and-white direct positive paper. Artist Susanna Kraus, daughter of original IMAGO1:1 co-inventor Werner Kraus is seeking £95,000 (~$150,000, €112,000) to fund the development of a mobile version of this famous camera to tour around the world. Click through for more information on the camera and the Kickstarter-funding link.

Award-winning photographer Steve McCurry has published the photos taken with the last roll of Kodakchrome to come off the production line on his Wordpress blog. McCurry has shot more than 800,000 photos including his iconic 'Afghan Girl' portrait, with the film. In an article posted by NPR in 2009 McCurry equated 'losing the medium to losing a dear friend.' Click through for the link the gallery and a video exploring the story behind the gallery.

The World Photography Organisation has announced the shortlists for the professional, open and youth categories of the 2013 Sony World Photography awards. This year's competition saw the highest number of submissions to date with more than 122,000 entries from 170 countries. The shortlist offers an insight into an impressive gallery of images. Winners are scheduled to be announced in March and April. Click through for more information and a look at some of the photographs.

The makers of Raspberry Pi - the popular low-cost computer - have announced the development of a new camera module, expected to cost $25. Since the first version of Raspberry Pi was released early last year, more than half a million of the inexpensive boards have been sold to eager enthusiasts all over the world, and put to use doing everything from running games to powering a voice-activated coffee machine (yes, really). Details on the forthcoming camera module are vague, but it is expected to offer at least 5MP resolution and the ability to capture HD video. Click through for more details. 

Panasonic has devised a method to increase the sensitivity of image sensors, by replacing the near-universal colour filter array with prism-like 'Micro Color Splitters' to generate colour information. The key advantage is that all of the incoming light is directed to the sensor, instead of half or more being absorbed by the colour filter dyes. This promises to deliver images with less noise in low light. The development is published in the journal Nature Photonics, and outlined in a press release on Panasonic's website.   

LensRentals' Roger Cicala has published an interesting article comparing 24-70mm F2.8 lenses from Canon, Nikon and Tamron, using both an optical test bench and Imatest results from Canon EOS 5D Mark III and Nikon D800E bodies. This provides some insights about the interaction between the sharpness of the lens and resolution of the camera's sensor, and under what practical circumstances you might see any difference. It's worth reading for anyone interested in the long-running question: what provides more detail, a higher resolution sensor with a good lens, or a lower resolution sensor with a great lens?   

Google has rolled out an updated version of its Image Search feature with faster browsing speeds and a redesigned UI. Users can now view larger versions of images in a preview window with an option to flip through images using arrow keys, and limited metadata, including the pixel dimensions of the original file, is displayed alongside the thumbnail. Click through for more information and a link to Google's blog post.