iPhone as an SLR?!

There's brilliant, there's crazy, and there's Photojojo. They created a mount to attach your Canon or Nikon lenses to your iPhone in order to take network-connected SLR-quality photos. The problem, of course, is two-fold. (1) This turns your ultra-portable pocket camera into a bulky and awkward camera. (2) The sensor on even the best iPhone is still FAR below that of a low-end digital SLR. And if you want the ability to be able to quickly share SLR-quality photos on your iPhone, there is Apple's camera connection kit or EyeFi wireless cards + iPhone app

But you still have to admire their moxy. Or shamelessness. Can't decide which it is.

Time for the Megapixel Wars to End?

I have owned a large number of digital cameras, all the way from when 640 x 480 was state of the art to a new 12 megapixel Canon camera that I picked up to shoot a wedding in the Spring. And something has become obvious as megapixels have multiplied like rabbits - the number of megapixels in a camera has very little to do with the quality of pictures you get. It is not just that we've exceeded the human eye, but rather that after a point the expanding number of megapixels simply shows up the flaws in the lens. Consumer Reports has noticed the same thing and is finally calling for an end to the magapixel race.

The problem isn't the sensor. It's the glass. Writer Ray Maxwell points out that lenses will at some point reach a limit and that simply adding more pixels to a sensor will not result in more detail or better images. So, while and laptop and desktop computers may continue to follow Moore's Law, cameras with glass lenses will not. And that limitation is why the writer ends the article with "If someone produces a 35mm full frame camera with 100 Megapixels, beware. Given the limitations of the wavelength of light, no lens can live up to that resolution."

We're already seeing this transformation in the computer industry, which used to focus on CPU speed. Now, they are shifting to multiple threads, power efficiency, and other measures of excellence.

Polaroid: R.I.P. Instant Camera

Long before the first digital camera had an integrated LCD, Polaroid pioneered taking instant pictures at parties and family events. Their invention was so game-changing that it took the world by storm, and it is likely not many of us born before 1980 did NOT own a Polaroid at some point. But now, facing the Perfect Storm of the digital revolution Polaroid has announced the end of the instant camera along with over 450 jobs.

Global sales of traditional camera film have been dropping about 25 percent to 30 percent per year, "and I've got to believe instant film has been falling as fast if not faster," said Ed Lee, a digital photography analyst at the research firm InfoTrends Inc.

"At some point in time, it had to reach the point where it was going to be uneconomical to keep producing instant film," Lee said.

Privately held Polaroid doesn't disclose financial details about its instant film business.

Polaroid instant film will be available in stores through next year, the company said - after which, Lee said, Japan's Fujifilm will be the only major maker of instant film.

I will miss the simplicity and utility of the Polaroid cameras, but with LCD previews and portable printers, it definitely is time to say goodbye.

Mastering your DSLR

A few of us here at Mod-Blog are amateur photographers (technically one of us is a pro, since he got paid at least one time I am aware of) and owners of digital SLR cameras. If you don't know what an SLR camera is, this article probably is not for you. If you DO, then you might be interested in this posting from LifeHacker where they do a great job of explaining the basics of using the Manual Modes on a digital SLR camera. These modes allow you to directly control shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, and the article explains how to compensate each for best effect.

Actually, many "normal" digital cameras these days also have manual modes. So click on through anyway, if you want a chance to take better pictures.

Intelligence Can Be TOO Artificial

"Real Virtuality" Goggles

Ever wanted to see what the world would look like in ASCII art or with a digital filter? Artists from Russia have developed goggles that will allow just that.

Viewing Changes to a Digital Image

At DefCon, a conference for computer hackers that takes place in Las Vegas, Neal Krawetz presented a tool that allows the user to see what parts of an image have been edited in later. With this tool, he was able to show that some of the Al-Qaeda videos have been doctored. Not surprising, but interesting.

Please note that despite what the media and pop-culture says, the word "hacker" is not a negative word. A hacker is merely one who tinkers with things. As with similar skills, they can be used for good or bad. A good example would be lock-picking. A locksmith can help you get into your car when you've locked yourself out the same way a thief can break into your car.

PhotoRescue Saved My Bacon!

I have a photographer friend who gave me some sage advice. "Don't invest in high volume memory cards for your digital cameras," he said. "Instead, but a lot of smaller cards which add up to the number of gigabytes you need. That way, if one goes bad, you haven't lost a full day of shooting." I noted the wisdom, but thought there was no reason for ME to follow it. After all, I thought, when have I *EVER* had a memory card become corrupted?

Well, last night, it happened! This weekend has been the Districts Quiz for the Bible Quiz Team I coach. I am sort of the unofficial photographer for the whole event, taking team pictures of all of the other teams as well as candids all the day long. I took over 600 pictures with my Digital Rebel XT, and was looking forward to getting them into iPhoto in preparation for uploading to Flickr overnight. Well, I got back to the hotel and had some problems with an old memory card reader (which is now bound for the trash). In a few easy steps, it managed to COMPLETELY corrupt the memory card - my single 4 gigabyte memory card. Suddenly, the whole weekend was lost!

In panic, I went to Google and typed in "rescue photos from a compact flash card" and prayed that there would be something other than the $200/hour data recover services. There was! I found Photo Rescue, which is a piece of software for both MacOS X and Windows which can pull the data off of damaged cards for $29 (one-time registration fee). I was desperate, so I gave it a try. It took HOURS to reconstruct the data on the card, but once it did... IT WAS A COMPLETE SUCCESS!!! It not only recovered the 600+ photos from yesterday, but another 300+ photos previously deleted from the card by my purposeful action! At this point, I highly recommend this piece of software if you wind up with a similar disaster.