1.4-gigapixel camera prevents doomsday on Earth

Megapixel is a common term in digital imaging, but what about gigapixel? One megapixel is equivalent to 1,000,000 pixels, so 1 gigapixel would amount to 1 billion pixels. But where can we find such a high-resolution shooter?

The Institute for Astronomy in the University of Hawaii has conceived this powerful camera and it is all in the name of saving mankind. This machine will scan the skies and capture shots which can tell researchers whether there are any large objects set on a collision course with our planet.

The digital image will measure 38,000 x 38,000 pixels and generated from 60 orthogonal-transfer CCDs, and claims to be able to detect light sources 10 million times fainter than what the eye can see.

So before you sleep tonight, remember to give thanks to a camera that is protecting Earth.

A digital photo frame that scans

It's fascinating what vendors pack into digital photo frames these days. The LiteOn IT Memoir, from a new brand called Skyla, comes with a built-in scanner within an 8-inch form factor. The onboard scanner is said to support up to 1,200 × 1,800 pixels (2.16 megapixels), allowing photos to be digitized and stored in the photo frame's 1GB internal storage; good for about 2,000 snaps. This is great for those of us predating the advent of the digital camera, when film shooters meant hardcopy prints. Other than this nifty convenience, there's a USB port and 5-in-1 memory card reader for SD/MMC/MS Pro/xD-Picture Card/CF. The Memoir can also playback MP3, Motion JPEG, MPEG-1 and MPEG-4 files, with the usual suspects onboard of clock, calendar, alarm clock and picture slideshows.

The photo frame is retailing in Taiwan at US$219.99, although worldwide availability is slated soon to target the year-end gift-giving crowd.

Via Gearlog

Borderline useless: Bottle cap tripod mount

Lone travelers, vain photographers, or anyone too shy to ask someone to take their picture finally have a convenient way to include themselves in their photographs, thanks to Charles & Marie's bottle cap tripod.

The US$10 "gadget," and I use the term loosely, fits (not screws) onto almost any bottle top and a universal tripod adapter on the opposite end holds your digicam in place while you sneak into the shot.

Captain Obvious says: Depending on the size of your camera, be sure that the bottle you use is at least half full (or empty), or you'll find yourself waving goodbye to both gadgets at the same time.

Via CNET Crave

LIFE images now indexed by Google

Without doubt, LIFE magazine (under Time Inc.) has got to be one of the most photo-centric publications to date. During World War II and the Vietnam War, it published many images that some claimed had helped to stop the conflicts. For photojournalists, it was an affirmation of their skills if their images were showcased in LIFE.

Although it is no longer a physical publication, the company has scanned almost all its negatives and stored them in an online archive. Now, this gallery is being indexed by Google, and LIFE has opened them up to the public for personal use. This means that students and teachers can easily browse, view and retrieve low-res images for education purposes. The firm also isn't too worried about what bloggers may do to the pictures.

This collaboration will help direct online traffic to LIFE's Web site, and small advertisements on the search engine allow viewers to purchase framed prints.

For those who are interested in photojournalism, this is one more avenue to see more pictures and learn some photography tips from them.

A view on EVFs

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 has made history as the first non-SLR digital camera to sport interchangeable lenses. And while it exceeds my expectations with respect to speed and photo quality, it lives down to them, unfortunately, with respect to the shooting experience, thanks to its use of an electronic viewfinder. (For the uninitiated, an EVF is a little LCD display used for eye-level shooting.) While EVFs aren't new--they're a staple on megazoom cameras and camcorders with eye-level viewfinders--I realized I'd never cohesively stated why I dislike them.

Some people have no problem with EVFs, and I daresay there may be people who even like them. They do have a couple of advantages, such as the ability to preview exposure when implemented, which you can't do with an optical viewfinder (though some dSLRs are offering that capability in Live View mode).
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