New super-camera, Canon 5D mk III announced (updated)

Canon 5D mk III announced. 22MP, up to 25,000 ISO (and that's the non-extended range!).

What makes this full-frame* camera (and its predecessors) interesting is that it gives pros and advanced amateurs more picture quality and more camera than almost anybody needs, and does it in a non-back-breaking package and at a (relatively) non-bank-breaking price, compared to the flagship models.

I am pleased that Canon seems to have broken their heavy megapixel addiction, and kept this model at the same fully sufficient MP count of 22, so that the low-light capabilities could be built up instead. Based on trends and numbers, I am sure these are second to none in this camera, or close enough for anybody.
Canon says this model generally has a two-stop advantage in image quality over the Mark II model, which was no slouch. ISO 3200 looks like ISO800 used to! Dang. We've seen such before, but it's still amazing. With film or with lenses, a two-stop difference in sensitivity is followed by major downsides in quality (film) or weight/size/price (lenses). This two-stop advantage though, apart from a three-year wait, is essentially free and downside-free.

Imaging-Resource has a few interesting videos (well down on this page) of Canon's Chuck Westfall showing some of the many new features of the camera, for example this nice Quiet Mode:


... An interesting aspect is that sensors have now gotten so good that many are beginning to doubt who really needs a full-frame camera these days. In the early days, observers like Mike Reichman said that he considered smaller sensors (APS-C) a temporary format which would go away when full-frame sensor became affordable. But they have not become a lot more affordable for the last couple of years, and instead we are now seeing exchangable-lens cameras with really small sensors, like the Pentax Q and the Nikon 1, both of which have sensors much smaller than the M4/3 format, which is smaller than APS-C, which is smaller than full-frame. And we see a camera like the Fujifilm X10 which also has such a smallish sensor (smaller than M4/3, but bigger than that in pocket-cameras), yet is nearly a pocket-camera, and yet takes good quality images at ISO 3200, something which could only be approached by full-frame cameras just 4-5 years ago.


*Full-frame means that the sensor is large, the same size as traditional 35mm negatives, 24mm x 36mm, which is true of only a few and expensive cameras. The bigger the sensor, everything else being equal, the better quality, dynamic range, and sensitivity. (It also means that lenses need to be much bigger and expensive, though, especially if you want to really take advantage of the sharpness of modern digital imaging, which is higher than film.) 

More Squidbillies

I'm just enjoying another dosage of Squidbillies.
I like the hat.

Squidbillies is so completely amoral, nay immoral, that, er, that... I dunno.

Calling all unscrupulous people...

Hah, this is funny. I doubt even the ads for slave traders in the olden days used the word "exploit"...

Nokia camphone explained (Update)

That 41MP phone camera explained on video.

Update: Ars Technica examines the Nokia 808 phone. There are some interesting data there.

"Matter" journal

Here's a fresh attempt at bringing back long-form in-depth journalism, Matter.
MATTER will focus on doing one thing, and doing it exceptionally well. Every week, we will publish a single piece of top-tier long-form journalism about big issues in technology and science. That means no cheap reviews, no snarky opinion pieces, no top ten lists. Just one unmissable story.

Judging by the funding pouring into their Kickstarter project, there is interest for such a thing.
They'll aim at 99 cents per long-form article. I can see that working, if the stories are compelling and unique.

If the articles are over 15-20,000 words, I might call them "ebooks" and sell them for two or three bucks each (perhaps include some photos and video in them), and a new scheduled every week. Not only will the word "ebooks" give an impression of better value, it will even be more true if my impression of what they want to do is right. They want to do long pieces of writing which stand on their own instead of being sold in bundles, and which will have at least semi-lasting value and perhaps more, unlike most articles which are quite temporary. So "books" may not be over-selling it, as long, of course, as they are upfront about the actual length of the things.
They'll just need a good mechanism of subscription to them.

Pentax K-01

Pentax has gone in the opposite of the very traditional-looking new Olympus OMD camera, and made a new system camera which looks... well, different.
Unlike the also new Pentax Q camera, which achieves super-compactness via a very small sensor though, the Pentax K-01 has a big, APS-C sized one. Interesting, didn't see this coming right now.

Here's another surprise: it's not a new lens mount!
The decision to retain the same lens mount is a bold one, and makes the Pentax K-01 truly unique, as of this writing. Every other compact system camera on the market has a new mount, and a relatively limited selection of optics from which photographers can choose. Most have provided adapters to allow use of historic glass from their earlier SLR cameras, but sometimes with limitations in terms of focusing and exposure that may make their use less attractive. The K-01, by contrast, can be used out-of-the-box with a vast selection of Pentax glass produced over a period of decades, as well as third-party glass for the Pentax K-mount.

So that means that for instance my compact, high-quality portrait Pentax lenses will work with it. Kudos to Pentax for that.

This will surely limit how compact Pentax can make new lenses though, as they haven't shortened the lens-to-sensor distance like everybody else who took out the mirror. We'll see how this goes in practice.
Of course, the camera also is as thick and heavy as the DSLR predecessors, unlike other mirror-free cameras (Micro Four Thirds for example). So apart from eliminating some moving parts and a little noise and vibration, I wonder what is really supposed to be the advantage of this model over Pentax's DSLR models, like the excellent K-r and K-5.
The K-01 also does not have an electronic viewfinder, only the screen on the back.

Lytro review

Remember that camera, where you can focus in the pictures after the fact? Here's a nice and clear video and text review of it. The quality is not so hot yet, but it could be the beginning of something interesting.

Here is a longer NYT article about Lytro.