570-Megapixel Digital Camera Is the Mother and the Father of All Cameras

Dark energy Peeping Toms rejoice, because Fermilab has created the gadget to catch it: A $35 million, car-sized digital camera, with 74 CCD sensors in it. It will take 570-megapixel photos of the Universe.

The resulting sensor is one meter in diameter, covering a 2.2-degree field of view. The images are so big that, even with an ultra-fast data recording system, each photo will take 17 seconds to acquire.

The camera won't photograph the dark energy itself, however. It will just provide with ultra-detailed shots of the cosmos—tracking 300 million galaxies over the course of five years—which may bring evidence about the existence of this veiled intergalactic power.

(Info provided by Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo)

Noelle Grace

Noelle Grace Murphy Born January 5, 7:10pm 8lb 11 oz 20.9 inches.

Samsung NX10 Gets Real, New NX Series Camera Format and All

The compact Samsung NX10 is official this evening, with many if not all of the features we saw leaked in December making the final cut in time for some hands-on time at CES.

If you missed the fanfare in December, here's a recap:

Samsung's goal with the NX series was to introduce a DSLR-sized sensor, in this case APS-C, that's actually a bit larger than the one found in Micro Four Thirds. Then they went and put that sensor in a mirror-less, interchangeable lens body that's smaller than a traditional DSLR, and... If this is giving anyone déjà vu, it's probably because this is the same idea behind the aforementioned Micro Four Thirds camera format.

Also making it into the final body are 720p HD video functionality (H.264 codec) and a 3.0-inch AMOLED viewscreen in the rear:

Samsung, by way of a press release sent to Gizmodo, claimed the AMOLED screen has a response rate that's 10,000 times faster than a conventional LCD. All this with a promised lower power consumption and higher contrast ratio at 10,000:1.

A few more of the specs, provided by Samsung:

View Finder - Electronic viewfinder
Movie - 720p HD (MP4. H.264)
Size & Weight - 4.8" x 3.4" x 1.6" (excluding the projecting parts of the camera) .78 lbs (without battery and card)
ISO - 100 - 3200
Flash - Built-in Pop-up Flash
OIS - Lens Shift
Dust reduction - Supersonic Type
Special Features - APS-C sized image sensor, 3.0" AMOLED, Smart Range, HDMI (Anynet +), Fast &, Decisive Contrast AF, New DRIMe II Pro engine and advanced AF algorithm
Availability - Spring 2010

(Info provided by  Jack Loftus of Gizmodo)

TeCh - Liquid Image outs Summit Series Snow Camera goggles ahead of CES

Liquid Image has just announced new camera-equipped ski masks, swimming goggles and scuba masks, just in time for them to be unveiled at CES 2010. The Summit Series Snow Camera Goggle 335 boasts a 5MP still camera capable of shooting D1 720 x 480 resolution video at 30 frames per second with audio. It's got 16MB of built-in flash memory, expandable to 16GB via its microSD / SDHC slot. Other features include large buttons on the side of the goggles which are easy to press while wearing gloves and and a light inside the goggles which indicates when recording. The goggles are estimated to get about 2,200 still images or over 2 hours of video per charge on their lithium ion battery. Liquid Image expects to ship the Summit Series goggles in the summer of 2010, with a price of $149. Full press release is after the break.


(Info provided by Laura June of Engadget)

TeCh - RED Scarlet 2/3 priced, detailed, and wanted

If you've been waiting for RED to release a product within reach of the prosumer class of shooters then this is it: the Scarlet 2/3. While the price is up from the original $3,750 lens and brain kit announced back in December 2008, an additional ASIC and four additional boards brings plenty of new features to help justify the price bump on this professional-grade camera. Scarlet starts with a 2/3-inch sensor in the $4,750 Scarlet 8X Fixed package (including "brain" and fixed 8x zoom lens, side CF module, REDmote, 2.8-inch touchscreen with "touch focus tracking," REDVOLT battery, and travel charger) or $2,750 for the Scarlet Interchangeable which includes the brain-only with adapters available for electronic RED, Canon, and Nikon glass. The resulting cam shoots 3k REDCODE RAW video at 120fps (150fps burst mode) and scaled 720p or 1080p recording at 60fps. Expect both models to ship in May or June assuming nothing goes wrong with the ASIC or firmware. Until then you can check the gallery for plenty of shots includes a glimpse of RED's mini primes and the 8x side-by-side with the 2/3 interchangeable.


(Info provided by Thomas Ricker of Engadget)

Nova DSLR concept reminds us that cameras need not be boring

Despite the distant memory that is film for most people, most DSLRs have plenty in common with their film-based ancestors, at least when it comes to form factor. Not this Nova DSLR concept. Conceived by Erin Fong, the idea is to allow for all sorts of hand holds thanks to the dual movable arms, and the controls at the fingertips seems surprisingly convenient. We're sure there are all sorts of technical limitations holding something like this back, but after suffering severe kitted-out DSLR fatigue on multiple occasions, we could really get into something that makes a bit better use of how we regularly hold our non-imaging devices. Now if someone would just clean that lens already! 


(Info provided by Paul Miller of Engadget)

Mr. Fishy

Mr Fishy, originally uploaded by kermit.photography©.

I have 3 beta fish now. Mr Fishy is my first one, that my girlfriend Bre got me for my birthday in November. Mr. Fishy is a hungry, spectacle of colors japanese fighting fish. He lives in a cylinder tube in my living room. He eats 3 small pebbles twice a week, even though some people think he's starving, he seems happy and healthy to me.

My 2 newer beta fish I got on New Years day, and they are in a smaller tank together, with a small divider between them. The one is very colorful, and other is a blue one as well. We named them Bert & Ernie from Sesame Street. Its fun to watch the two of them play with each other as they look at each other through their divider wall. You can see their faces and fins flare up. Makes you wonder how long they'd last if the wall was removed.

Bert and Ernie pictures will come some other time.

I'm also going to be getting an aquarium from Bre's parents in the coming weeks, and adding more fish to my home. We also want to get some small turtles for it. I'll post pictures of those as well.

Today on ebay I found 2 new lenses for my camera that I like, one that has macro on it so I can get much better pictures of the fishies. Hopefully I can purchase those eventually.

Nutcrackers

Today I went and got some new nutcrackers to add to my collection, took advantage of the great after Christmas sales. I bought 9 new nutcrackers for my collection. I've been collecting since I was a kid when my family saw how fascinated by my grandmothers collection. A few of mine are authentic German nutcrackers that are valuable collectibles. They are my favorite Christmas decorations. I nearly doubled my collection this year. A few of the new ones didn't make it into the photo as they are already sleeping away in their boxes for next year.

Had my parents, Seth, and Bre over for dinner tonight. We played Wii fit. It was a lot of fun. Tamar and Kevin couldn't make it. Actually got a little bit of a workout on the Wii Fit surprisingly.

Christmas has came and gone, and now we are in the New Year. The Nutcrackers must be packed away in their homes for the next year until Christmas comes again and they protect us with their presence.

Happy New Year 2009

2008 was a great year for me. I did a lot, met new people, moved, met my girlfriend Briana, and got a dog with her named Zoe. We've been dating for almost a year now. They both make me very happy, and I look forward to the new year with them. I also started going back to school at Henry Ford Community College for Nursing.

For New Years we went to Webers Inn in Ann Arbor for a great New Years Eve party that went well into the night. We had a very nice room. The buffet dinner was very elegant, there were 2 live bands and a DJ to keep everyone entertained all night. We're thinking about going back next year, but inviting others to join us.

I hope 2008 was great for you, and that you learned a lot to take you in to the New Year. I wish all of you well in the 2009 and hope you will follow my blog and enjoy my photography.