We all know pointing your DSLR directly at the sun for extended periods of time isn’t too healthy for your sensor, but what about laser lights like the ones used at concerts? Turns out those can be even more lethal for your camera, even with very brief exposures.

Here are two videos shot with DSLR cameras that show a laser briefly passing over the camera and damaging the sensor permanently. Both were shot with Canon 5D Mark II cameras:

See the white line that appears immediately after the laser sweeps across?
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Canon and Nikon broke ground when they launched DSLRs that have HD video capabilities. Now Sony’s taking a different approach by offering a comparatively affordable HD video camera with all the attractiveness of interchangeable lenses, plus the ability to take high resolution stills.

Sony revealed its plans to release a camcorder with the same interchangeable lens system as their NEX series cameras this past May, but announced today that the NEX-VG10 will be available in September for around $2000.

Not only will the camcorder share the same Sony E-mount as the NEX series (it comes standard with a kit 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 lens), Sony DSLR owners will be pleased to know that with a separate adapter, the camcorder can be mounted with any A-mount lenses — including Sony G and Carl Zeiss lenses.

The camcorder also has the same Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor as the NEX-3 and NEX-5. The DSLR sized sensor alone gives the camera a lot of extra real estate to work with; Sony boasts the sensor to be approximately 19.5 times larger than the standard sensor of conventional camcorders.

The NEX-VG10 can shoot 1920×1080 high def video at 60 fps, which Sony says is ideal for Blu-Ray recording. And for stills shooting, it can capture 14 megapixel images with a continuous burst of up to 7 fps.

Some benefits of using the NEX-VG10 over a video DSLR is that the camcorder has the right ergonomics and image stabilization for shooting video, and doesn’t have the same limited clip time that plagues DSLR video shooters — it can shoot up to 315 continuous minutes. Also, Sony says the NEX-VG10 has a silent auto-focus system that could cut down on noise typical on video DSLRs.

Stills shooters may appreciate the camera’s Auto HDR mode, but the fact that it doesn’t shoot RAW images could be a dealbreaker.

You can pre-order the NEX-VG10 from Sony Style.

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The freshly announced Canon CanoScan 9000F is designed with film-faithful photographers in mind.

Canon boasts that the new scanner has the highest resolution yet in its line, putting out film scans of 9600×9600 dpi in 48-bit color with its CCD sensor. The scanner can process mounted 35mm slides, 35mm filmstrips, and 120 formats.

In addition to improvements to standard scanner capabilities, the scanner comes loaded with FARE 3 technology, which Canon says provides automatic dust and scratch removal, as well as correction for fading, grain and backlight.

The CanoScan 9000F comes at a fairly reasonable price too, $250.

There’s an interesting discussion going on over at the DPReview forums regarding how the human eye compares to the technology we have in digital cameras.

Here are some of the findings that were compiled from various sources on the web:

• Sensor size: 22mm in diameter
• Resolution: 576 megapixels
• Sensitivity: 1 – 800 ISO
• Focal length: 22mm – 35mm
• Aperture: f/2.1 – f/8.3

Another interesting idea that came up was the possibility of using the human eye as the lens and sensor for future imaging devices:

Maybe future “cameras” will actually link to your eyes – since the eyeball is such a great lens, who knows? Getting signal from the eye is the trick – would require a surgical implant or a means of reading brainwaves. Maybe that’s 200 years out – similar time [frame] the Mayo clinic is talking about for correcting double/triple vision.

Perhaps in the future we’ll all be documenting our lives at 576 megapixels through our eyes and ears, and storing the photos and videos on petabyte external hard drives at home.

What do you think of this discussion? Is there anything that jumps out at you as being wrong, or do you agree with the comparison for the most part?

Image credit: Eye (please add some funny TAGs) by Michele Catania

InVisage, a California-based start up company, has announced a new image sensor technology that it claims is up to four times more sensitive than traditional sensor technologies.

Their product, QuantumFilm, is a layer of semiconductor material added on top of the traditional silicon that uses quantum dots to gather light.

According to InVisage CEO Jess Lee, quantum dots have a 90% efficiency in gathering light, compared to the 50% of traditional silicon.

What this means is that we can expect cell phone cameras to improve at a much faster pace than what we’ve been seeing, since improving the performance of traditional silicon has proved difficult. Lee predicts that in two years, mobile phones will contain cameras that are superior than current digital cameras in both megapixels and light sensitivity.

If this turns out to be true, we will likely see a dramatic decrease in the number of point-and-shoot cameras sold, as more and more consumers rely solely on their camera phones.

(via CNET)

In other news, Wired is reporting that this technology will lead to wedding photography from phone cameras. Really?

Image credit: Photograph by InVisage

Last Friday an anonymous poster on the photography board of 4chan sparked a discussion that rippled into the blogosphere after freezing their camera to see whether ISO performance improves at lower temperatures.

They stuck their Sony A350 into the freezer for 15 minutes, and posted the following before and after comparison of noise at ISO 3200:

Regardless of whether or not these results were fabricated, it has long been (though perhaps not widely) known among photographers that digital cameras have better ISO performance (i.e. less noise) at lower temperatures, which is why sensors are often cooled for astro-photography. Other photographers also report improved ISO performance when shooting in very cold environments.

Zodiac Light did an interesting experiment in which a Canon 350D was cooled, and the amount of noise measured. They found that cooling the sensor resulted in a 40% drop in the amount of noise.

Obviously you shouldn’t freeze your nice camera to test this out yourself, but it’s an interesting fact to know, and could be useful if you’re interested in long exposure photography.

(via The Phoblographer)

Thanks to Nathan Yan for briefing us on thermal noise.

Image credit: Don’t drop your camera! by Island-Life and used with permission.

Camera phones may soon offer more megapixels than some DSLR cameras. Imaging company OmniVision announced today that they have developed a 14.6-megapixel image sensor that will fit in cell phones. These sensors are capable of both high-resolution still photography and 1080p high-definition video recording.

I wonder how long it will be before camera phone imaging quality rivals the quality of the best point-and-shoot cameras.

(via Photography Bay)

The technology behind DSLRs, video cameras, web cams, and even astrophotography and medical imaging would not be where it is today without the combined ingenuity of Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics today in Stockholm.

In 1969, Boyle and Smith invented the first digital imaging sensor, the charge-coupled device, or the CCD sensor. The two scientists developed CCD technology from 1921 Nobel Prize predecessor Albert Einstein’s theory of the photoelectric effect, through which light is converted into electrons. In short, CCD sensors capture the electron signals in the form of image points, or pixels.

The invention of the CCD sensor ushered in the digital age of photography, facilitating distribution of photographs and broadening the use of digital imaging into the fields of medicine and astronomy.

Currently, CCD sensors are still employed in a variety of cameras such as the Hasselblad digital H series (which costs as much as a high-end economy car), the entry-level Nikon D40, and the average phone camera and webcam, including the Apple iSight.

CCD sensors, which are generally recognized as more mature since they were developed earlier, tend to be preferred when high sensitivity, accurate color, and more pixels are needed. Thus, CCD sensors are also used in the Hubble Space Telescope and medical imaging. Also, smaller cameras, like webcams and compact digital cameras, have smaller sensors, so the CCD sensor can compensate for the reduced sensor area, which usually results in lower light sensitivity and higher noise.

Most modern DSLRs use complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor sensors, or CMOS — you’ll usually see this listed next to most camera specs. CMOS sensors have lineage from CCD sensors, capturing light in the same way.

CMOS sensors took over the camera industry over the last decade, mostly because they are cheaper to manufacture, as they’re made like a computer microchip. Additionally, they require less energy to capture an image, and thus require a smaller battery, which is more friendly and practical for the average consumer. Most modern CMOS sensors are also have a built-in image processor, unlike CCD sensors, which is solely devoted to capturing light, and has a separate unit to process image data.

CMOS and CCD sensors have a complementary relationship; neither is considered particularly superior to the other, especially as technology continues to improve for both.

And as technology advances, so does mankind. The Nobel Prize for inventing the CCD celebrates not only the innovation of Boyle and Smith, but the far-reaching impact of photography on humanity through technology, communication, aesthetics, and science.

For more information about the Nobel Prize winners, visit the Nobel Prize site.

Image Credit: Boyle and Smith mugshots by the National Academy of Engineering, CCD by GEEZETH