Nikon D80 revealed!

It looks like the new Nikon DSLR due out in August 2006 will be called the Nikon D80. Although the sensor size will be the same, the body will be based on an upgrade of the Nikon D70s. Check it out and decide for yourself.

Nikons new DSLR

The DSLR environment has dramatically changed with the introduction of new competitors in the market. They include the Sony Alpha, Panasonic LUMIX DMC-L1, Olympus E-330 and the yet to be announced Fujifilm S4 Pro and the Olympus E-3. In response, Nikon will announce a new DSLR camera on the 9th August 2006.

The new camera has a 10.2 mega pixel sensor and is the successor to the Nikon D70s. It has everyone guessing but it definitely fits in between a D70s and the D200 with the body being based on a consumer grade body, the D70s.

I've searched through the US Trademark and Patent site and could not find any application for the rumored names such as the D20, D80 or even D90. Although the D20 is a commonly rumored name for the replacement, I believe the D20 most likely is reserved for a much lower spec camera as the numbers doesn't make any sense, unless Nikon is totally revamping its naming conventions. Under the current Nikon naming arrangement, a D20 would be a very, VERY low spec camera. If Nikon does come out with such a low spec camera (something below the D50), it definitely won't have a 10 mega pixel sensor. That would totally undercut the Nikon D50, which I don't think Nikon will do. However, while I don't think the new 10.2 mega pixels will be a D20, that doesn't mean Nikon isn't also coming out with a new low end camera. But why D20? All other consumer grade bodies have had odd numbers. So that would suggest a new low spec body would be a D30. Again, this all assumes Nikon isn't totally revamping its naming conventions. This leaves the most logical name to be the either the Nikon D80 or D90. Again both are not registered under the US Trademark and patent site, however this may change.

Interestingly, the D200 name has been updated on the US Trademark and Patent site. Could it be called the Nikon D200L as was rumored a few weeks ago?

Who knows, only time will tell?

Fujifilm Finepix F30 review by Steves-Digicams

The Fujifilm Finepix F30 has been reviewed by Steves digicams and writes:

"Like its predecessor, the F30 relies on its high sensitivity to help you capture images in lighting conditions that other consumer camera's find difficult. While the F10 had a maximum ISO settings of 1600, the F30 raises the bar with a sensitivity of 3200; something only more advanced dSLRs use to offer. The "Picture stabilization" mode, which uses this ability to offer faster shutter speeds in lower lighting conditions, reducing camera shake and motion blur. I was very surprised at how low noise levels were, even at ISO 800. Both ISO 1600 and 3200 are also quite low for a camera in this class, due to the in-camera noise reduction processing. Image detail, however, does suffer a bit, making pictures look a bit "fuzzy" when being viewed at 100%. However, the usefulness of this feature greatly out weighs the negative effects."

He concludes with ".. The FujiFilm Finepix F30 is an awesome digital package. With its unmatched ISO capabilities, great image quality, robust performance, durable metal body, and loads of useful exposure modes, the F30 is tuff to beat in the 6-megapixel category. While its retail price of US$399 is a bit more expensive than many of the other 6-megapxiel models, we feel that its versatility and advanced features allow it to still offer a great value."

I tend to agree that althought it's more expensive than the competition, the high ISO makes up for it and it's surely worth the extra dollars.



Click here for the full review.

New innovative method of making low cost semi-conductors

According to the press release by EurekAlert, researchers at the University of Toronto have created a semiconductor device that outperforms today's conventional chips. This is made it simply by process similar to painting a liquid onto a piece of glass.

The finding, which represents the first time a so-called "wet" semiconductor device has bested traditional, more costly grown-crystal semiconductor devices, is reported in the July 13 issue of the journal Nature.

"Traditional ways of making computer chips, fibre-optic lasers, digital camera image sensors – the building blocks of the information age – are costly in time, money, and energy," says Professor Ted Sargent of the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and leader of the research group. Conventional semiconductors have produced spectacular results such as the personal computer, the Internet, digital photography, however they rely on growing atomically-perfect crystals at 1,000 degrees Celsius and above, he explains.

The Toronto team instead cooked up semiconductor particles in a flask containing extra-pure oleic acid (The main fatty acid in olive oil). The particles are just a few nanometres (one billionth of a metre) across. The team then placed a drop of solution on a glass slide patterned with gold electrodes and forced the drop to spread out into a smooth, continuous semiconductor film using a process called spin-coating. They then gave their film a two-hour bath in methanol to dissolve the fatty acid. Once the solvent evaporated, it left behind an 800 nanometre-thick layer of the light-sensitive nanoparticles.

At room temperature, the paint-on photodetectors were about ten times more sensitive to infrared rays than the sensors that are currently used in military night-vision and biomedical imaging. "These are exquisitely sensitive detectors of light," says Sargent, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology. "It's now clear that solution-processed electronics can combine outstanding performance with low cost."

The U of T development could be of critical importance to both research and industry, according to John D. Joannopoulos, a Professor at MIT. "The ability to realize low-cost, paintable, high-performance designer semiconductors for use as short-wavelength infrared detectors and emitters is of enormous value for a wide range of communications, imaging and monitoring applications," says Joannopoulos, the Francis Wright Davis Professor of Physics and director of the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The key to our success was controlled engineering at the nanometre lengthscale: tailoring colloidal nanocrystal size and surfaces to achieve exceptional device performance," says lead author Gerasimos Konstantatos, a doctoral researcher at UofT. "With this finding, we now know that simple, convenient, low-cost wet chemistry can produce devices with performance that is superior compared to that of conventional grown-crystal devices."

Lets hope digital photography can benefit further in the future with this new technology.



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Will the Sony brand name help push the A100 DSLR ?

Here is an interesting article by Harris Interactive which according to their annual nationwide online poll rates which brands are the best. Interestingly, the electronic section took out 5 of the top 10 brands with Sony being number 1. With such strong brand recognition, will the sales of the Sony A100 DSLR increase? Maybe, however only time will tell.

Here's what they say:

"Sony tops the list in the annual Harris Poll of "best brands" for an impressive seventh consecutive year. Dell retains its No. 2 spot, while Coca-Cola, previously in the fourth position, moves up to No. 3.

These are some of the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,351 U.S. adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive® between June 7 and 13, 2006. Survey responses were unaided and a list of brand names was not presented to respondents. The results from this survey cannot be compared to results of the Harris Interactive 2006 EquiTrend Brand Study results, as the methodologies for the surveys differ.

The other places on the top-10 list of best brands are taken by Ford (No. 5), Honda (No. 6), Hewlett Packard (No. 7), General Electric (No.8), Kraft Foods (No. 9) and Apple (No. 10). Two brands dropped out of this list this year, General Motors and Microsoft.

Other brands that receive a substantial number of mentions but not enough to make the top-10 list include Chevrolet, Panasonic, Pepsi Cola, Nike and Maytag."



Infodigitalcamera

Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd

Fujifilm has announced another addition to the S series called the Fujifilm Finepix S6500fd. The fd stands for "Face Detection" which looks for the face within the frame and then automatically auto focus, meters and tracks the subject tracking within 40 milliseconds.
The great thing about this camera is the high ISO of up to 3200, high resolution 2.5 inch LCD screen and the long zoon lens. Yes it also has spot metering. If this is how Fujifilm is tackling the point and shoot market, I can't wait for the Fujifilm S4 pro.

Specifications are as follows:
• 1/1.7" Type CCD• 6.3 million pixels total Image sizes• 2848 x 2136• 3024 x 2016 (3:2)• 2048 x 1536• 1600 x 1200• 640 x 480
Movie clips• 640 x 480 @ 30 fps • 320 x 240 @ 30 fps• With monaural sound
File formats• Still: JPEG / RAW• Movie: AVI Motion JPEG Lens• 28 - 300 mm (35 mm equiv)• F2.8 - F4.9 • 10.7x optical zoom• Mechanically linked zoom ring
Digital zoom Up to 2x
Focus • Auto• Continuous• Manual
AF mode• Single• Continuous • Manual (with one-touch AF)
AF area• Center• Multi • Area (selectable)
AF assist lamp Yes
Focus distance• Normal: 40 cm (wide) / 2 m (tele) - Infinity• Macro: 10 cm (wide) / 90 cm (tele)
Metering• Multi 256-zone• Average• Spot
ISO sensitivity• Auto • ISO 100• ISO 200• ISO 400• ISO 800• ISO 1600 • ISO 3200
Exposure compensation• +/- 2EV• 1/3 steps
Shutter speed 30 - 1/4000 th sec
Aperture F2.8 - F11
Exposure modes• Programmed AE (with shift) • Aperture prioritize• Shutter priority AE • Manual exposure
Shooting modes• Auto• Picture Stabilization (auto High ISO) • Scene Position • Macro• Movie • Continuous
White balance• Auto • Fine• Shade • Fluorescent (daylight)• Fluorescent (warm white) • Fluorescent (cool white) • Incandescent• Custom
Self timer 2 or 10 sec
Continuous shooting• 2.2 fps, max 3 images (Top-3 or Final-3)• 0.7 fps, unlimited Flash• Built-in pop-up• Range (Auto ISO): 8.3 m (w), 4.6 m (t) • Modes: Auto, Red-eye reduction, On, Off, Slow Sync, Slow + Red-eye
Viewfinder• 0.33" electronic viewfinder (EVF) • 115,000 pixels
LCD monitor• 2.5" TFT LCD • 235,000 pixels
Connectivity• USB 2.0 High-speed • AV out • DC in
Playback functions• Mode: Single frame, 9 Multi-frame, Sorting by date, Image rotate, Post shot Assist window (3 frames)• Features: Voice Memo, Trimming, Automatic playback Print compliance• PictBridge• DPOF
Storage• 10 MB internal memory • xD-Picture Card
Power• 4 x AA batteries alkaline or NiMH• Charger optional
Dimensions 131 x 98 x 128 mm (5.2 x 3.8 x 5.0 in) Weight (no batt) 600 g (1.3 lb) Supplied accessories 4×AA type Alkaline batteries, Shoulder Strap, USB cable , A / V cable , Lens cap, Lens cap holder, Lens hood, CD-ROM , FinePixViewer RAW File converter included), Image Mixer VCD2 LE for FinePix, RAW FILE CONVERTER LE

Fujifilm FinePix F20

Fujifilm has just announced another camera to the F series, the Fujifilm FinePix F20. The F20 seems more like a minor upgrade of the Fujifilm Finepix F11 rather than a slim down version of the Fujifilm FinePix F30.

As indicated in the comparison chart below, the F20 has a lower ISO range (up to 2000), a lower pixel resolution in the LCD screen and a new battery compared to the F30. The only reason for choosing the F20 over the F30 is if the price is significantly lower.

I still prefer the Fujifilm FinePix F30 as you can’t beat the high ISO range of up to 3200 and the high resolution LCD screen. In comparison, the 2.5 inch LCD screen on the F30 has the same pixel resolution as the Fujifilm S3 Pro which is slightly smaller at 2.0 inch.

Olympus E-3 getting closer

It looks like the Olympus E-1 replacement is getting closer and closer by the moment. As expected, the confirmed named is the Olympus E-3 as indicated through a search in the US Patent and Trademark site for the term E-3. Interestingly an extension to the trademark has been applied for on the 27th June 06.





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Nikon exceeds forecast

According to Reuters, Nikon has exceeded expectation by boosting shipments of Digital SLR cameras by about 35 percent year-on-year in April and May 2006. This puts Nikon on track to beat its annual estimate.

The Nikon's factory in Thailand, which produces the popular Nikon D50, D70s and D200 digital SLR models, is running at full capacity to meet world-wide demand. Unless there are problems with their current supply chain it looks like Nikon is going to have an excellent year as their efficiencies are at its maximum level.

Nikon Senior Managing Director Makoto Kimura says:

"Conditions for all three models are very tight worldwide. We can sell as many as we can produce,"

Kimura said its performance in April and May had put the firm on a pace to exceed its forecast for digital SLR shipments to rise 30.6 percent to 1.75 million units this financial year to March. That forecast was unveiled in May.

"We estimated growth of about 30 percent, but we are now moving at a pace that would allow us to beat that," he said.

Nikon will be facing strong competition from Sony, Pentax, Panasonic and Olympus in the next few months as these newcomers especially Sony has their aim of gaining Nikons No.2 spot. Again Kimura has this to say:

"I consider them both to be a threat. They may not have a big impact in the short-term of one or two years, but from a long-term perspective of three to five years we will have to watch very closely the kind of products they bring to market," he said.

The future trend with DSLR will be a reduction in price with current technology. The end result will be the introduction of new low cost models and may include the rumored EOS 3000D or even the Nikon D30.



Source

The ISO of the human eye

According to Clarkvision the ISO of the human eye adapted to night is 800 whilst that of the human eye in daylight it is 600 times less sensitive which would equate to an ISO of 1.

Here's what he says:

"At low light levels, the human eye integrates up to about 15 seconds (Blackwell, J. Opt. Society America, v 36, p624-643, 1946). The ISO changes with light level by increasing rhodopsin in the retina. This process takes a half hour our so to complete, and that assumes you haven't been exposed to bright sunlight during the day. Assuming you wear sunglasses and dark adapt well, You can see pretty faint stars away from a city. Based on that a reasonable estimate of the dark adapted eye can be done.

In a test exposure I did with a Canon 10D and 5-inch aperture lens, the DSLR can record magnitude 14 stars in 12 seconds at ISO 400. You can see magnitude 14 stars in a few seconds with the same aperture lens. (Clark, R.N., Visual Astronomy of the Deep Sky, Cambridge U. Press and Sky Publishing, 355 pages, Cambridge, 1990.)

So I would estimate the dark adapted eye to be about ISO 800.

Note that at ISO 800 on a 10D, the gain is 2.7 electrons/pixel (reference: http://clarkvision.com/imagedetail/digital.signal.to.noise) which would be similar to the eye being able to see a couple of photons for a detection.

During the day, the eye is much less sensitive, over 600 times less (Middleton, Vision Through the Atmosphere, U. Toronto Press, Toronto, 1958), which would put the ISO equivalent at about 1. "



Source

Samsung NV3

Samsung has announced the release of three new stylist compact digital cameras to the market with the NV series. The NV series was developed following a two year consumer market research study to gain insight into the lifestyle and needs of consumers and their picture-taking interests. As a result Samsung has incorporated an attractive design and new user interface concepts to create a premium product group. In addition it also offers practical technology and easy usability with an identifiable black color and new blue ring design to distinguish itself from its competitors.

According to Managing Director of Samsung UK, Jake Kim says “The NV cameras present a unique offering to users with new and additional features not currently available on the market,”

“We are proud to use this range as the cornerstone of our compact camera vision and believe it will benchmark the quality and innovation that photographers of all levels can expect from Samsung.”

The is one of the three cameras and here's what they say:

"Functioning as a high resolution 7.2 mega-pixel digital camera, the NV3 is both a luxurious and practical multimedia device sure to attract the next generation of digital photographers. Encased in a thin 17.5mm case, it also acts as an MP3 player using a special audio processing chip delivering 3D, Jazz, Rock, and other sound effects. The NV3 includes a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP) for realistic movie sounds. The NV3 also doubles as a digital camcorder with MPEG-4 TVD (720 x 480) 20fps &; VGA (640 x 480) 30fps with Auto Gain Control (AGC) technology to minimise zoom noise during video recording. A text viewer allows the user to read text on the LCD, or to use as an e-book, whilst the multi-tasking ability enables you to listen to music while taking pictures."

Samsung NV10

Samsung has announced the release of three new stylist compact digital cameras to the market with the NV series. The NV series was developed following a two year consumer market research study to gain insight into the lifestyle and needs of consumers and their picture-taking interests. As a result Samsung has incorporated an attractive design and new user interface concepts to create a premium product group. In addition it also offers practical technology and easy usability with an identifiable black color and new blue ring design to distinguish itself from its competitors.

The NV Series introduces the innovative UI using Smart Touch buttons for the first time in a digital camera, offering easy and convenient control for the NV10, a gentle touch is all it takes to navigate menu items, manipulate the settings, or view your pictures.

According to Managing Director of Samsung UK, Jake Kim says “The NV cameras present a unique offering to users with new and additional features not currently available on the market,”

“We are proud to use this range as the cornerstone of our compact camera vision and believe it will benchmark the quality and innovation that photographers of all levels can expect from Samsung.”

The Samsung NV10 is one of the three cameras and here's what they say:

"With 10.1 mega pixels and a 2.5" wide-view LCD, the NV10 provides brighter, sharper, more detailed images. Coupled with Samsung's unique Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) system, the NV10 enables you to take clearer pictures indoors or in lower light conditions. The NV10 also features TV quality MPEG-4 VGA (640 x 480) 30fps video recording (zoom and pause). A virtual dial mode is also offered for added convenience in controlling the camera. The NV10 comes complete with a rechargeable battery and can also be charged via USB on a PC or Mac, or via the optional high capacity SBP-4442 battery kit."

Samsung NV7 OPS

Samsung has announced the release of three new stylist compact digital cameras to the market with the NV series. The NV series was developed following a two year consumer market research study to gain insight into the lifestyle and needs of consumers and their picture-taking interests. As a result Samsung has incorporated an attractive design and new user interface concepts to create a premium product group. In addition it also offers practical technology and easy usability with an identifiable black color and new blue ring design to distinguish itself from its competitors.

The NV Series introduces the innovative UI using Smart Touch buttons for the first time in a digital camera, offering easy and convenient control for the NV7 OPS, a gentle touch is all it takes to navigate menu items, manipulate the settings, or view your pictures.

According to Managing Director of Samsung UK, Jake Kim says “The NV cameras present a unique offering to users with new and additional features not currently available on the market,”

“We are proud to use this range as the cornerstone of our compact camera vision and believe it will benchmark the quality and innovation that photographers of all levels can expect from Samsung.”

The Samsung NV7 OPS is one of the three cameras and here's what they say:

"Delivering a more advanced photographic experience for taking scenery, sports or even more challenging shots, the 7 megapixel NV7 OPS has a 7x optical zoom and offers both the Optical Picture Stabilization (OPS) and the Advanced Shake Reduction (ASR) processing function to deliver optimum image quality. These combined technologies enable you to take clear and natural pictures anywhere and in lower light conditions without using a flash. Additional functionality provides TV quality MPEG-4 VGA (640 x 480) 30 fps video recording (including zoom and pause) and a photo gallery function for convenient picture viewing with the Smart Touch interface. The NV7 OPS comes with a rechargeable battery and has a multi-charging system including USB and optional high capacity SBP-4442 battery kit."

The Human eye has 576 megapixels !

According to Clarkvision photography, he uses a theoretical and mathematical calculation to conservatively estimate the resolution of the human eye.

This is what he says

"The eye is not a single frame snapshot camera. It is more like a video stream. The eye moves rapidly in small angular amounts and continually updates the image in one's brain to "paint" the detail. We also have two eyes, and our brains combine the signals to increase the resolution further. We also typically move our eyes around the scene to gather more information. Because of these factors, the eye plus brain assembles a higher resolution image than possible with the number of photoreceptors in the retina. So the megapixel equivalent numbers below refer to the spatial detail in an image that would be required to show what the human eye could see when you view a scene.

Based on the above data for the resolution of the human eye, let's try a "small" example first. Consider a view in front of you that is 90 degrees by 90 degrees, like looking through an open window at a scene. The number of pixels would be:

90 degrees * 60 arc-minutes/degree * 1/0.3 * 90 * 60 * 1/0.3 = 324,000,000 pixels (324 megapixels)

At any one moment, you actually do not perceive that many pixels, but your eye moves around the scene to see all the detail you want. But the human eye really sees a larger field of view, close to 180 degrees. Let's be conservative and use 120 degrees for the field of view. Then we would see

120 * 120 * 60 * 60 / (0.3 * 0.3) = 576 megapixels

The full angle of human vision would require even more megapixels. This kind of image detail requires A large format camera to record."

Considering the middle of the range DSLR has a resolution of 10 megapixels, the camera manufacturers still have a long way to go.



Source: Clarkvision


www.infodigitalcamera.com

The Smallest Camera Sensor in the World

OmniVision has introduced the world's smallest NTSC camera with a sensor size of only 1/18 inch. The new sensor is called the OV6920 and will be use in disposable cameras for medical applications such as intubation and diagnostic systems.

Measuring 2.1 mm by 2.3 mm, the CSP packaged chip will enable a 3.2 mm diameter microscopic camera module making many medical procedures even less invasive for the patient. It addition, it allows certain medical devices such as intubation systems and endoscopes to be made even smaller to allow for use on infants and small children.

Hasan Gadjali, OmniVision’s Vice President for Advanced Products says “We consider it a major accomplishment by our excellent engineering team to enable such a significant reduction in size over our previous smallest 1/7-inch camera chip. The closest thing in the market today is a 1/12-inch CCD,”.

“We are encouraged by the initial response to the OV6920. Several customers are already evaluating samples and are very excited about the possibilities this small camera can offer.”

The OV6920 is also an ideal solution for low-cost applications requiring both excellent color video performance and a very small footprint.

The ultra small OV6920 is a single-chip OmniPixel2 CameraChip system, which only needs clock and power to get the NTSC composite signal out for direct interface with a VCR/TV/monitor. The OV6920 is designed for very low power consumption,requiring only a single 3.3-volt DC supply.



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