November 03, 2006, 4:19 PM PST
Staking out common spaces
Posted by: Elsa Wenzel

Most weekday lunch hours, the lobby at 101 Second Street is one of the calmer spots to eat a bag lunch and watch people in downtown San Francisco. But a secret surveillance operation there two weeks ago upset the usual stillness. Armed with digital cameras, several dozen artists circulated through the atrium for a few hours snapping pictures of each other, of strangers, and of the building's hidden cameras and bewildered security guards. This covert action aimed to test the boundaries of public surveillance.

"The camera breeds an atmosphere of fear and intolerance, and reinforces the idea that there's something to be afraid of," said John Bela, cofounder of the Rebar Group art collective that planned the action. Cameras are planted at nearly every corporate lobby, checkout corner, and subway stop, but is Big Brother less menacing when anyone with a cell phone camera can watch the watchers? Bela and fellow Rebar founder Matt Passmore are presenting their results today at a privacy symposium at the University of California at Berkeley.

The effects of last month's action seemed subtle to this undercover observer. It wasn't as if masses of Weegee wannabes suddenly descended upon the unwitting public like paparazzi on Pitt. Strangers posed for the Rebar infiltrators' cameras without question. Building security eventually discouraged the Rebar posse, whose members later said that the lack of immediate opposition nevertheless made them feel empowered.

Rebar chose the Second Street address because it's one of San Francisco's 14 privately owned public spaces, formed when city officials and real estate developers open part of a building to the public in exchange for perks, such as bonus square footage. "Part of our goal is to broaden the sense of behaviors that people find in these places," Passmore said.

The people behind Rebar aren't just merry privacy pranksters; they've also brought guerrilla yoga classes, rooftop kite flying, and other playful activities to various privately owned public spaces (including the lobby of CNETs headquarters). And on their PARK(ing) day, Rebar players roll out sod and benches at metered parking spots to chill out as long as the quarters last.

So what does this have to do with CNET? Rebar's whimsical infiltrations can make you think twice about a life gone digital. We might pass dozens of hidden cameras in a day without blinking. And we easily get immersed in binary worlds of social networking, Webcam-enabled instant messaging, and online role-playing, where we invite strangers into inner realms and suffer if security threats invade our hard drives. But unlike the all-seeing eye of Orwell's Big Brother, our society's surveilled, shared spaces--virtual and real-world ones--might be more like the Panopticon, a prison whose captives are watched without even knowing it. Still, we can reclaim these spaces, bit by bit, with a little wit--and "little brother" digital recording devices are one way to start.

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November 01, 2006, 7:05 AM PST
Adobe adds raw support for more cameras
Posted by: Will Greenwald

It's a great day for Adobe-using photographers. The imaging software company has just released a large update to Adobe Camera RAW, the system that handles raw image processing for programs like Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop Elements 5. Raw files are the unprocessed data recorded by digital cameras' sensors. Because they're uncompressed, they're free of any JPEG compression artifacts and produce the clearest, most accurate pictures. However, every camera sensor records images slightly differently, so support for each camera must be coded separately into raw-processing programs. Adobe's update includes support for 13 new cameras, including the Canon EOS Rebel XTi and the Nikon D80, two of the most popular new cameras on the market today.

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October 12, 2006, 2:56 PM PDT
A public service announcement: avoid miracle cameras
Posted by: Will Greenwald

We review a lot of cameras at CNET, but we don't review all of them. Odds are good that, at some point during your travels on the Internet, you'll come across a camera that's too good to be true. It'll make outrageous claims such as 12 megapixels! Video! Webcam! MP3 player! And it'll have a temptingly low price tag of around $300. At such a low price, a high-resolution camera that can do almost anything sounds great!

Unfortunately, that little gadget that sounds too good to be true almost certainly is. When an unfamiliar company claims that their magical camera is more than 10 megapixels, that's because they're probably using a 3- or 4-megapixel sensor and interpolating the image. Interpolation is a fancy technical term for "making it bigger and uglier." The image you eventually get might technically be 12 megapixels, but it will look like absolute garbage.

Similarly, don't expect your video to look very pretty, either. At most you're going to get a 30fps VGA video, about the same as you'll find on almost any digital camera.

Finally, when they say their product is an MP3 player, they want you to think you're getting an iPod. In reality, you're getting a memory card reader with a headphone jack. Once again, it's a device that would otherwise cost maybe $100.

If you haven't heard of it, if we haven't reviewed it, and if it promises amazing features at a discount price, you're buying digital snake oil. Steer clear, and remember to do your research with us before you drop the cash.

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October 10, 2006, 10:49 AM PDT
Canon Elph turns 10
Posted by: Philip Ryan

It's always fun to watch your children grow up--even if your initial expectations for what they might become changes along the way. Canon took just such a trip down memory lane today in celebration of the 10th anniversary of its Elph brand of tiny, stylish cameras. What began as a simple concept (which designer Yasushi Shiotani refers to as a box and a circle) for a film camera that used Advanced Photo System (APS) film, later morphed into the pocket-size digital cameras we see in stores today.

In commemoration of the event, Canon has created a special PowerShot SD900 Digital Elph Coach Edition gift set which will include the camera, along with a leather and fabric custom camera case and neck strap, packaged in a gift box complete with red ribbon, which will start selling in October for about $550.

In collaboration with NYC Peach, Canon is offering bejeweled SD900 cameras as part of the prize packages for a sweepstakes in which 10 winners will win a trip to New York City to see Z100's Jingle Ball 2006 at Madison Square Garden on December 15, 2006. Information about the contest will be available at powershot.com later this month.

Five more of the bejeweled cameras, will also be auctioned on January 9, in Las Vegas, to benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), with which Canon has worked in the past as part of its Canon4Kids campaign. The program urges parents to have up-to-date photos of their children to aid police, should they ever need to search for their child.

For those of you trying to keep track, there have been more than 50 different Canon Elphs over the course of the past decade, during which over 33 million of the small snappers have been sold. Since the Elph went digital in May 2000 with the PowerShot S100, 22 million digital Elphs have been sold, and with Canon's plan to raise its research and development spending from its current 8 percent of the company's spending to 10 percent, by 2010, there seems to be no end in sight for the sprightly sales figures of the Canon Elph.

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October 04, 2006, 8:53 AM PDT
Eye-Fi's SD Wi-Fi to go (beta)
Posted by: Philip Ryan

When Wi-Fi for cameras first emerged, it didn't work well, sometimes entailing awkwardly long SD adapters, and wasn't all that we'd hoped it would be. Now, as camera makers are refining their Wi-Fi offerings and putting it into more cameras, such as Nikon's new Coolpix S7c, a company called Eye-Fi has made a 1GB SD card called Eye-Film with built-in 802.11g connectivity. It isn't available yet, the company doesn't explain exactly how it's really going to work, and there's no hint of pricing, but the blogging world is still abuzz. About the only thing the company has said is that it has no plans to offer the cards for PDAs or any devices other than cameras, though I'd imagine that would come eventually if they are successful in cameras. Plus an image in the solution portion of the company's site certainly hints that it has bigger plans.

Of course, since most cameras with built-in Wi-Fi include a fair amount of control through their menus, it's hard to imagine just how well a card like this will work, especially with existing cameras. And even if it does work well, without the level of control offered by something like the Nikon S7c, which is made to work with T-Mobile hot spots so that you can e-mail photos straight from the camera, it's hard to see how a simple card like this will be able to compete. The company says that the card doesn't require any upgrade to your camera and that "if your camera has been qualified by Eye-Fi, the card will just work." This leads me to think that the company is trying to work with camera makers to build support for Eye-Fi into future products, though the company hasn't said that explicitly. If so, there's a chance that this horse won't even get out of the starting gate, since a lot of camera makers seem content to do Wi-Fi on their own.

According to a post on Engadget, a beta test is expected to start this month, and details and sign-up procedures should be available within days. The Engadget post says that the SD card will come with a CompactFlash adapter, but a FAQ on the Eye-Fi site just says that a CompactFlash version of the product will follow after the SD version. If you want to be among the first to know about the beta test, the company has a mailing list you can join. As usual, as we find out any more deets, we will share them with you.

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October 02, 2006, 8:14 AM PDT
The biggest lens you'll never see
Posted by: Will Greenwald

The Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* was designed by Carl Zeiss to be the world's largest nonmilitary camera lens. The 1,700mm lens weighs more than 550 pounds, is larger than a refrigerator, and gives a medium-format camera a telephoto factor of almost 29X. Don't expect to actually see it in the wild anytime soon, though; the Apo Sonnar T* is a special project from Carl Zeiss and costs as much as a small house.

Source: DP Review via Gizmodo

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September 27, 2006, 12:06 PM PDT
Inside the Leica M8
Posted by: Will Greenwald

Camcorderinfo.com has a video tour of Leica's new, obscenely expensive, digital-range-finder camera, the M8. If you ever wondered what could make a digital camera cost $5,000, or even just want to know what exactly a range finder is, this video might be very helpful to you.

Source: Camcorderinfo.com via Gizmodo

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September 26, 2006, 10:01 AM PDT
Lock in the blur with Lensbaby 3G
Posted by: Philip Ryan

If you've never heard of a Lensbaby, then the company's latest product, the Lensbaby 3G, might just seem strange. The original Lensbaby was just a simple two-element (one front, one back) lens with a plastic bellows between the two elements, so you could move the front element to throw part of an image out of focus, while another part remained focused. That first version, and the one that followed it, also relied on the bellows action for focus, and since you couldn't lock the front element in place, shooting sharp images became something of a game. Those first two versions were a major hit among photographers, even pros, since the images have a kitschy quality that's reminiscent of artsy Holga photos.

The newest Lensbaby has added a locking mechanism, so you can easily replicate a specific effect, as well as a focusing ring, so you can fine-tune your focus after you've tilted the front element to your liking. Plus, since three screws lock the tilt, you can also turn them after you've locked it to fine-tune the tilt. Like the 2G Lensbaby, the 3G version comes with interchangeable aperture discs that can be placed in front of the front element to manually change the Lensbaby's aperture. The 3G comes with six aperture discs to allow seven possible apertures ranging from f/2 to f/22. Lensbabies also offer wide-angle (0.6X) and telephoto (1.6X) adapter lenses, as well as a wide-angle/macro accessory lens for close-up shooting. The Lensbaby 3G is available in Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony Alpha/Minolta Maxxum, Pentax K, Four Thirds (Olympus and Panasonic), and Leica R mounts for $270. You can order the Lensbaby 3G now directly from Lensbabies or look for it to hit stores in October.

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September 26, 2006, 9:56 AM PDT
SanDisk CompactFlash hits 16GB
Posted by: Philip Ryan

Continuing the march toward ever-larger-capacity memory cards, SanDisk announced three new cards at the Photokina trade show in Germany. Two of the new cards, 12GB and 16GB CompactFlash cards, carry the company's Extreme III moniker, while the third, a 4GB SDHC card bears the Ultra II name. SanDisk says Extreme III cards can withstand temperatures from minus 13 degrees to plus 185 degrees Fahrenheit and rates them with sustained minimum read and write speeds of 20MB per second. SanDisk rates the new 4GB SDHC card at a write-speed of 9MB per second and a read speed of 10MB per second and will sell the card as a bundle with a MicroMate SDHC card reader, since SDHC cards require special SDHC-compatible readers and cameras. That means you should check to make sure your camera is SDHC-compliant before purchasing an SDHC card.

SanDisk has a nifty PDF on its site that explains what SDHC is and also has a page to help you find SDHC-compatible SanDisk products, but you'll have to check your camera's specs to see if it is compatible with the new standard. It would be really nice if the SD Card Association, which manages the various SD card standards, would publish a complete list of SDHC-compatible devices, but they don't yet.

Look for SanDisk's new CompactFlash cards to hit stores in December, while the SDHC card should be available in October. SanDisks expects the 4GB SDHC with MicroMate USB 2.0 reader bundle to sell for about $220, while the 12GB and 16GB versions should carry price tags of $780 and $1,050, respectively.

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September 26, 2006, 7:56 AM PDT
Foveon and Sigma, back for more
Posted by: Lori Grunin

Just when I'd almost forgotten about them, Foveon and Sigma are back for a third try at the digital camera market. Foveon's X3 sensor--a still-innovative design that stacks RGB filters on each pixel rather than scattering them across the pixels in a Bayer pattern--is now up to 14 megapixels, and is integrated into the new Sigma SD14. Previous Sigma dSLRs, the SD10 and SD9, have served well as proofs-of-concept for the low-noise, high-fidelity capabilities of the chip, but they were pretty much disappointments as cameras. Despite the ingenuously overstated claims for the SD14--five-point autofocus, 3fps continuous shooting for 6 frames at max resolution, a physical dust protector over the sensor, mirror lock-up capability, and so on--this model will have to have really amazing photo quality to make a dent in the market. I have to say, though, Sigma has a beautiful Flash site for the SD14.

Furthermore, Sigma's jumping in with both feet this time. Despite the dubious fate of the Foveon-based Polaroid X530 consumer camera, Sigma will be releasing a compact camera with the 14-megapixel X3, dubbed the DP1. There's little word on either pricing or availability for either camera, though.

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