Back in 2010, Nokia created “the world’s smallest stop-motion video” using its new N8 smartphone and a tiny 9mm-tall figure of a girl. If you think 9mm is tiny, try 1/25,000,000th of a inch!
Today, IBM scientists announced that they have created the world’s smallest movie. Unlike the previous record holder, this one will be extremely difficult to beat. The stop-motion movie was made using individual atoms.
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Barack Obama broke online photo-sharing records this week after winning Tuesday’s presidential election. When his victory became evident, Obama shared the above photograph on his Facebook timeline with the simple caption, “Four more years.” That photograph quickly attracted “likes” faster than any other image shared through the social networking service. When it hit more than 2.1 million likes shortly after midnight Wednesday morning, Facebook announced that it had become the most-liked Facebook photo of all time.
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Indiana university historian Patrick Feaster recently discovered a record featuring the voice of Emile Berliner — inventor of the phonograph. Created in 1889, the record is likely the oldest in the world. What’s interesting, however, is how Feaster managed to obtain it: through a photograph. That’s right, Feaster discovered an image of the disc preserved in an old 1890 German magazine from the same year and then was able to recreate it by scanning and analyzing the photo.
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While we’re on the subject of world records in photography, did you know that the world’s longest photographic negative is 129ft 6.69in (~39.5m) long? It’s a giant panorama of the streets of Buenos Aires, exposed by Argentinian photographer Esteban Pastorino Diaz using a homemade panoramic slit camera that was attached to the top of his car.
(via Guinness World Records)
Albert Kahn was a wealthy French banker who launched a project in the early 1909 that aimed to create a photographic record of the world. The first commercially successful color photography process, Autochrome Lumière, had just arrived two years earlier, and Kahn decided to use the medium to both document human life and to promote peace. He sent out an army of photographers to 50 different countries, amassing 72,000 photos and 100 hours (183,000 meters) of film that became one of the most important collections of images in human history.
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German scientists have been awarded a Guinness World Record for “fastest movie” after successfully capturing two images of an X-ray laser beam 50 femtoseconds apart. One femtosecond is equal to one quadrillionth (or one millionth of one billionth) of a second. Here’s some science talk explaining it:
[...] the scientists split the X-ray laser beam into two flashes and sent one of them via a detour of only 0.015 millimetres, making it arrive 50 femtoseconds later than the first one. Since no detector can be read out so fast, the scientists stored both images as superimposed holograms, allowing the subsequent reconstruction of the single images.
With these experiments, the scientists showed that this record slow motion is achievable. However, they did not only take the world’s fastest but probably also the shortest film – with just two images. Thus, additional development work is necessary for the use of this method in practice. [#]
And we thought one trillion frames per second was impressive…
Image credit: Photograph by Stefan Eisebitt/HZB
After sticking too long to film technology, it looks like Leica is finally getting the digital game figured out. Yesterday it announced a record profit of €248.9 million for the latest fiscal year, a significant increase from the €158.2 million it earned the previous year.
The positive development is mainly due to the continuing strong demand for the Leica M system, the professional S system, the compact cameras and the Leica sport optics products.
They will also be paying dividends to shareholders — the first time the company has done so since 1997!
(via Foto Actualidad via Leica Rumors)
Image credit: Leica M9: Logo by bfishadow
A Leica 0-series camera made in 1923 was sold this past weekend at WestLicht Photographica Auctions for a staggering €1.32 million (~$1.89 million). Only about 25 0-series cameras were manufactured to test the market before Leica began commercially producing the Leica A. It’s the most expensive camera ever sold, but is still only half the price of the most expensive photo that was auctioned earlier this month.
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Cindy Sherman’s “Untitled #96″ from 1981 has become the world’s most valuable photograph after selling for a staggering $3.89 million at a Christie’s auction yesterday (it was estimated to be worth up to $2 million). The winning bidder was Philippe Segalot, a private advisor to some of the world’s wealthiest art collectors. The photo takes the top spot away from “99 Cent II Diptychon” by Andreas Gursky, which enjoyed five years as the world’s most valuable photo after selling for $3.35 million back in 2006.
(via ARTINFO via Popular Photography)
Image credit: Photograph by Cindy Sherman
What you see in this photograph is the most flashes ever used to light a single photograph. Photographer Jason Groupp synced and fired a whopping 300 flashes at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center this past weekend to set the record, which was confirmed and made official by Guinness World Records. Unlike other world records, this one doesn’t seem very difficult to break — all you need is some technical know-how, a lot of time, and extremely deep pockets.
Most Flashes Used to Make a Photograph (via PhotoComment)
Image credit: Photograph by Jason Groupp
