Busy professionals, parents, and homeowners. Just how much security are you happy with? Some security, you may argue, is better than none at all. Urban settings can be anxiety inducing at the best of times, so having piece-of-mind for your property, family and friends is probably the main driving factor in getting some installed.

A reliable security system doesn’t need expert fitting, nor do you need to commit to a pricey ongoing monthly fees. Luckily, eufyCam S3 Pro – a solar-powered, wireless security system, checks all these boxes.

The eufyCam S3 Pro is an all-in-one solution, requiring no complicated wiring or installations. Setting up the cameras takes just a few minutes, thanks to the user-friendly eufy app. Where would we be without our beloved smartphones. 

A built-in solar panel ensures continuous charging, eliminating the hassle of swapping out batteries or relying on power outlets. With 4K video recording and night vision capabilities, the S3 Pro captures crystal-clear footage day and night.

Users particularly appreciate the integrated AI technology that distinguishes between humans, animals, and moving objects. The intelligent alerts you receive on your smartphone provides  peace of mind, knowing that any potential threats will be caught on camera. The eufyCam S3 Pro stores footage locally on the included HomeBase 3, so no one has to worry about recurring cloud storage fees.

Once installed you can go about your busy life with confidence, knowing that the eufyCam S3 Pro is vigilantly protecting home and family without the burden of a monthly subscription. The eufyCam S3 Pro gives the security and reassurance anyone might need, making your home feel that little bit more looked after.

Key Features overview

Solar-powered, wireless design: No wiring, no batteries, no hassle. 4K video recording and night vision provides crystal-clear footage day and night. 

Built-in AI technology provides accurate identification of humans, animals, and moving objects.

Intelligent alerts means real-time notifications straight to your smartphone, coupled with local storage that means you can securely store footage on the included HomeBase 3, with no need for another monthly outgoing.

The simplicity of installation and amazing usability means anyone will find this home security system a breeze to use.

Make sure to have a look, here.

Researchers have uncovered a backdoor in firmware made by China-based Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology and used in digital video recorder (DVR) and network video recorder (NVR) cameras often used for surveillance. Detailed this week, the issue affects many brands that have licensed the firmware from Xiaongmai. You can find a full list of affected devices here. 

In 2016, Xiaongmai was also hit with a recall order by the U.S. government, due to the Mirai botnet enabling backdoors in its products.

Earlier versions of the firmware relied on access to telnet, a network protocol for remote connections, to be enabled by default. The researchers said it did this through use of "a static root password which can be recovered from firmware image with (relatively) little computation effort." A Russian security researcher found this hardcoded backdoor for the first time in 2013. He also discovered multiple remote code execution bugs in the built-in server.

More recent firmware versions did come with disabled telnet access but also had open port 9530/tcp "listening for special commands." Xiaongmai “upgraded” the remote root access connection by requiring cryptographic authentication. But while these upgrades may have made it more difficult for bot makers or other attackers to gain full access, it doesn’t change the fact that Xiaongmai has maintained its (now slightly more hidden) remote root access to all security camera systems powered by its firmware.

The company still kept a short list of static passwords it could use to login remotely and take over anyone's security camera system, just as any other third-party could, too, once they'd discover the backdoor. The good news is that this sort of poor security hygiene and use of default passwords will soon be illegal at least in the European Union and United Kingdom, as both have recently said that they will ban default passwords on Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Even if the backdoors were not maliciously created by Xiaongmai, these sort of security issues leave the door wide open for other malicious parties to come right in and take over millions of IoT devices at once via bots. These bots can then go on and wreck havoc against online services, while also making the backdoored products dysfunctional.

Updated, 1/18/2018, 10:00am PT: Corrected spelling error of Jim Malcolm’s name.

HumanEyes introduced a new version of its Vuze VR camera called the Vuze+, which includes advanced features for "prosumers." The new camera features improved lenses, better audio capture hardware, and stronger dust and water protection. The Vuze+ is also able to livestream.

The Vuze+ VR camera shares the same basic platform as the standard Vuze camera. Like the original Vuze, the Vuze+ includes four pairs of 4K cameras to capture 360-degree 3D footage in ultra-high-resolution. Both cameras also share the same rounded square shape, which provides equidistant spacing for each pair of cameras. At first glance, its hard to tell the two Vuze models apart.

Most of the differences, such as the improved microphones for better spatial audio capture or the redesigned lenses that improve the image clarity, are internal. HumanEyes said that the new custom lenses are used to provide “better edge to edge sharpness and stronger contrast,” which helps reduce chromatic aberration.

The biggest physical change to the outward appearance of the new camera would be the larger buttons with bright LEDs that you can still see under sunlight. HumanEyes also reinforced the Vuze+ so that it can withstand slightly more rugged terrain. The standard Vuze camera features IP64 certification, which means that it can handle light splashes without any concerns. The Vuze+ features the somewhat higher IP65 certification, which means that dust won’t get into the camera. It should also withstand a blast of pressurized water, like the splash of a puddle while moving at high speed.

The Vuze+ can take a good splash, but it is not safe to fully submerge the device. HumanEyes said that it is building a dive case for the camera, which would enable divers to take the camera to down to 100' below surface level, but that case won’t be cheap. Jim Malcolm, General Manager – North America at HumanEyes, told us that the camera case would cost $2,995 when it becomes available at the end of the month. “Making a case with eight polished glass domes with full field-of-view is not easy to do,” said Malcolm. “It takes a lot of labor to polish the glass.”

HumanEyes doesn’t expect many amateur divers to purchase the water proof case, but it is working on an affordable solution that would enable rentals of the camera, case, and accessories for occasional use.

Malcolm told us that the biggest change with the new generation Vuze camera is the ability to livestream your surroundings. The original Vuze camera featured internal storage to capture the moment, but it wasn’t possible to use the device to broadcast live over the internet. Now, with the Vuze+, you can stream your 360-degre 3D feed through Facebook, YouTube, Periscope, or any other service that supports RTMP streaming.

“The VR camera market has steadily grown, but only few camera options allow users to shoot in true VR with 3D video. Additionally, once a video is shot and produced, many users don’t have a way to easily share their VR stories, which has been the key missing component in helping drive VR adoption,” said Humaneyes Technologies’ CEO, Shahar Bin-Nun. “The Vuze+ VR Camera addresses this issue and expands the VR ecosystem from true VR capture to production to consumption, allowing anyone to create and share truly immersive VR experiences.”

The Vuze+ camera’s livestreaming function has limitations. When you’re capturing full video, the camera doesn’t need to tether to a host device. However, to use the livestream function, it must be connected to a PC.

“It’s still a technology that’s going to require a computer between the camera and the internet because the camera still is capturing 1GB of data for every 1 minute of recording, so we do leverage the computer to do that,” said Malcolm.

The Vuze live stream functionality isn’t just for sharing your experiences on social media. It also serves as a live preview screen to help you calibrate your shot. HumanEyes created a companion application that lets you adjust the contrast, brightness, and tone of each camera sensor individually. The Vuze Camera App can also stabilize the horizon of your video so that it doesn’t make people sick when they watch your content from a VR headset.

The Vuze+ also includes a Bluetooth wireless adapter, which you can use to access the preview screen. The Bluetooth connection will eventually support wireless microphones, too.

Livestreaming is a standard function of the Vuze+ camera, but HumanEyes said that you could buy an upgrade for the standard Vuze camera for $199.

The new Vuze+ isn’t any more powerful than the previous model. It still captures 3D 360-degree video at 30 fps. However, the new model can consolidate its power to four cameras, which eliminates the depth from the scene, but captures the monoscopic 360-degree video at 60 fps.

HumanEyes also introduced a content publishing platform called HumanEyes Zone, which makes it simple to share your video creations with others. The HumanEyes Zone is a WebVR app that enables you to share your content with anyone with an internet connection by sharing a URL.

The HumanEyes Zone is like the Vicarious platform. It enables you to combine images, videos, and text elements to tell a story in VR.

The HumanEyes Zone isn’t a free service, though HumanEyes gives you the first two months to try it before you buy. HumanEyes offers three hosting plans: For $10/month or $99 for the year, you can get the basic plan, which includes 5GB of storage. The Premium plan includes 15GB of storage for $14.95/month or $149 for the year. And the Pro plan gives you 30GB to work with for $19.95/month or $199/year.

The Vuze+ camera is available now for $1,200.

Insta360 opened pre-orders for its new Insta360 Pro camera that allows you to capture 360-degree videos at up to 8K resolution.

Saying that 360-degree videos have become increasingly popular over the last year would be an understatement. Streaming providers like YouTube and Vimeo have added support for 360-degree content; upstarts like Hubblo VR, Orah, and Vuze have released 360-degree (and in some cases stereoscopic) cameras; and tech juggernauts like Facebook and Samsung have embraced the format with their own platforms or cameras. It’s easier than ever to consume or create these immersive videos.

Insta360 has supported the expansion of 360-degree content with various cameras, accessories, and apps. Now its product catalog has expanded with the Insta360 Pro, which the company said in a press release was made to cram “best-in-class 360 and 360 3D imaging, a seamless live-streaming experience, and advanced real-time image stitching technology” into one device. It’s also supposed to go beyond 4K (3840 x 2160) with support for 8K (7680 x 3480) capture.

The Insta360 Pro can still capture at 4K resolutions. In fact, that’s what you’re going to see while you’re shooting or live-streaming. The 8K support is limited to photos and post-processing videos. Insta360 also limits 360-degree 3D videos--which offer depth in addition to letting you change a video’s perspective--to 6K (6400 x 6400) via post-processing stitching. The Insta360 Pro’s support for 8K is its maximum resolution, not its minimum or most common one.

Still, the camera does offer live-streaming, mobile apps, wired and wireless connections, and other features that should make recording high quality 360-degree videos easier. You can pre-order the Insta360 Pro on the company’s website now for $3,499, but Insta360 didn’t say when the product will start to ship. The camera’s full specs can be found on the Insta360 website.

If you’re interested in creating 360-degree content but don’t quite know where to begin, you might want to check out our three-part series on shooting, editing, and publishing these immersive videos. We used the Ricoh Theta S in that series, but most of our advice applies to 360-degree videos in general, so it could prove useful no matter what camera you buy.

FLIR Systems, a company specializing in thermal imaging sensors, announced the Boson thermal imaging core by way of a collaboration with Movidius. This collaboration involves integrating Movidius’ Myriad 2 Vision Processing Unit within the Boson unit. Integrating the Myriad 2 grants the Boson advanced image processing and low power dissipation.

The Myriad 2 contains 12 vision cores that handle super resolution, noise filtering and blending algorithms on top of its advanced image processing. The Myriad 2 is also capable of deep learning, spatial computation and depth extraction.

Movidius' and FLIR's collaboration has produced what should be a versatile and miniscule thermal imaging camera core, but what sort of innovations will this result in? The Boson’s feature set is designed to allow vendors and garage tinkerers alike to create gadgets for home security, drones, law enforcement--the list goes on.

One burgeoning industry Movidius and FLIR expect the Boson to be adopted in is augmented reality. We had the opportunity to speak with Remi El-Ouazzane, the CEO of Movidius, who suggested that the Boson’s capacity to provide users information on the entire visual spectrum will have many practical uses in augmented reality. For example, the Boson’s thermal imaging would be particularly useful for building inspection or fire departments.

Alexander Quejado is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware and Tom’s IT Pro. Follow Alexander Quejado on Twitter. 

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At IDF, our own Seth Colaner spent some time with Razer’s then-unnamed webcam, which was powered by Intel’s RealSense camera technology. At the time it was still considered a product in its beta stages, but now the final version is ready, and the company showed it off at CES under a new name: the Razer Stargazer.

Instead of the RC250 “Falcon Crest” version from IDF, the Stargazer uses the SR300 model of the Intel RealSense camera. For video capture, this means you can stream 720p video at 60 fps. At 1080p, however, you’re still confined to 30 fps. In terms of audio, the Stargazer includes a noise-canceling dual-array mic. Intel’s RealSense camera also works with face and gesture recognition (Razer said the camera can detect up 78 points in the face and 22 points in each hand.). This means that you can use it for the Windows Hello security system in Windows 10, and yet it also ties back to Razer’s push in the VR space with its OSVR program. The webcam also comes with a flexible clip, so you can put it on either a desktop monitor or on your laptop.

For streamers, the main feature of the Stargazer is its Dynamic Background Removal technology, which enables the camera to automatically distinguish between the foreground and background on the feed. This eliminates the need for a green screen background for those who just want to feature their face on Twitch while streaming a game at the same time.

The camera also works as a 3D scanner, so you can scan any object from the real world and bring it to a digital environment. Razer believes that the scanning technology would be most beneficial to game developers, as they could import objects for use in game engines such as Unity, but it could also see some potential in other industries at some point in the future.

The company plans for a release sometime in Q2 2016, with a price tag of $199.99. However, you will need to update your operating system to Windows 10 before you can use it to its full capabilities.

Follow Rexly Peñaflorida II @Heirdeux. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

We recently reported on Orbbec's Astra and Persee cameras and the Indiegogo campaign that the company launched to bring its 3D "computer-camera" to market. With just under two weeks left of the campaign, Orbbec is making the tools needed to create software for the Persee camera available to anyone who wants it. Starting today, Orbbec's open source Astra SDK beta will be available through GitHub, allowing interested developers the chance to begin building experiences and applications for the upcoming 3D camera.

The first version of the software developer kit supports Windows and OS X environments, as well as the creative coding framework known as Processing. Orbbec stated that support for Linux and Android operating systems is coming in the future, along with support for openFrameworks, Unity 3D and Cinder framework.

Orbbec said that it is committed to building an open ecosystem and a culture of innovation to help accelerate the advancement of 3D technologies. By making the SDK open source and available on GitHub, Orbbec believes it is laying the building blocks to help 3D app development take off.

In addition to the Astra SDK release, Orbbec announced an update to the Indiegogo campaign. The company said that if 1,000 or more Persee units are sold during the campaign, every backer will receive a custom-designed Persee battery pack, free of charge.

Orbbec said the Persee battery pack will enable completely wireless use for two to three hours and can be hot-swapped for continuous usage. The batteries are also available to order if you want extras or if the sales goal isn't reached. The cameras will sell for $50 and are expected to ship in the spring of 2016.

Orbbec's Persee Indiegogo campaign has 11 days left to go. The company was seeking $40,000, but the campaign has already raised nearly $100,000 in pledges. Astra cameras purchased through Indiegogo will ship in November. Pursee shipments are expected to start in February 2016.

Follow Kevin Carbotte @pumcypuhoy. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Introduction

If you’re going to rely on your smartphone’s camera to record life’s most meaningful moments, you need to understand how it works and what specifications and features are important for maximizing still image and video quality.

How can you tell if a digital camera will take good pictures? Is the camera in a $700 flagship phone really any better than one in a $200 phone? How does pixel size and focal length affect image quality, and what the heck is an f-stop? Photography has a language all its own, filled with technical jargon. Marketing hype and bold claims of DSLR-quality images only add to the confusion. Fortunately, you do not need an advanced degree in optics or be a professional photographer to select a good camera; you just need a little help from Tom’s Hardware.

This introduction to digital camera technology will define key terms and explain how camera features work. It will also help explain the image capture process, from the lens array to the sensor to software post-processing. Using this knowledge, you can choose a camera that meets your needs, take better pictures, and bore people at parties.

What To Look For

For those of you afraid of information overload or who just want a quick summary to refer back to, the table below lists the important specifications and features you should look for to improve your camera experience.

You’ll also need a good camera app to accompany the hardware. Several OEMs include good camera apps with their devices, but there are numerous third-party choices too. Look for an app with an easy to use interface that places the controls used most often (flash, HDR, timer, etc.) within easy reach. The preview displayed by the electronic viewfinder should match the image captured by the camera—it should not be cropped or have a different aspect ratio. Photography buffs or people who want to express their inner artists should find a camera app that offers a full manual mode and RAW image capture.

MORE: Best SmartphonesMORE: All Smartphone ContentMORE: All Tablet Content

Sensor

There are two main types of digital camera sensors: complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) and charge-coupled device (CCD). Both technologies use a photoactive capacitor array to capture an image, where the charge accumulated in a given capacitor is proportional to the intensity of light at that location. In order to capture color information, the light must be filtered before it reaches the individual pixels. This is generally done with a Bayer color filter mosaic placed over the sensor’s pixel array.

Where CMOS and CCD sensors differ, is in how the charge levels for each pixel are read from the array. A CCD sensor operates like a shift register, using an external control circuit to sequentially shift the charge from one capacitor to its neighbor. The charge from the last capacitor in the array is fed into an amplifier and the resulting voltages are processed and digitized. A CMOS sensor, however, performs these steps on-chip by including the necessary circuitry—usually consisting of at least three transistors and possibly other circuit elements—to process the voltage for each individual pixel and reset the photodiode.

Because CMOS technology allows for all of the circuitry (including advanced electronics such as noise reduction circuitry) to be built into each pixel, it uses less power, allows for smaller packages, and is capable of faster readouts, enabling features like 60fps and slow-motion video. The disadvantage of CMOS over CCD is that the circuitry takes up valuable real estate on the surface of the sensor. This means that for a given sensor size, a CCD will capture more light and offer better low-light performance than a CMOS sensor. CCD sensors also have higher dynamic range (there’s less noise because the circuitry is located off-chip) and better image uniformity (less chance for variation among amplifiers). The lower power consumption and smaller package sizes of CMOS sensors make them the ideal choice for smartphones and tablets. Larger format and professional cameras tend to use CCD sensors for their superior image quality.

As can be seen in the image above, the photoactive area of this CMOS chip is only around 30%, with the majority dedicated to the transistors. In a CCD, the photoactive area would be more than twice as high, resulting in twice the light captured. However, with the ability to add noise reduction circuitry, the CMOS signal-to-noise ratio is good enough for most uses.

This image also shows why sensor size (also referred to as sensor format) is so important. Because the size of the transistors are fixed for a given process node, a larger sensor can either have a higher resolution (more pixels) or a higher percentage of photoactive area (larger pixels or pixel pitch).

A full-frame 35 mm sensor, used in many professional cameras, is defined as 36x24 mm. The APS-C sensor is approximately 22x15 mm, with slight variation by manufacturer, and is found in most high-end DSLRs and mirrorless cameras. The cameras found in mobile devices and point-and-shoots have sensor sizes that are a fraction of the APS-C sensor due to space and cost constraints. For example, the sensors in both the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 are smaller than the green 1/2.3” rectangle shown in the chart below.

[CREDIT: MarcusGR (Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)]

We mentioned that the sensor size and resolution largely determines the pixel size or area. The pixel size, along with the material dopings used in the manufacturing process and the bias voltage, determines the capacitance of the pixel and sets an upper limit on the amount of charge a pixel can hold. This property is referred to as well capacity (think of a pixel as a well filled with electrons), and a typical pixel can hold anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands of electrons. A pixel’s full-well capacity—the total number of electrons it can hold before side effects like blooming, where charge leaks into a neighboring pixel, occur—is important for its dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio.

A pixel’s dynamic range, measured in decibels, is a measure of how well it handles a range of light intensities, from low-light conditions up to the brightest intensity where it reaches its full-well capacity. Higher dynamic range is desirable, since the sensor will be able to handle a larger range of lighting conditions before producing images that appear overexposed. All else being equal, larger pixels, and thus a larger full-well capacity, increase dynamic range.

The pixel’s size also affects its signal-to-noise ratio. Being able to accumulate a greater charge (a result of a larger photoactive area) gives larger pixels a higher output voltage relative to the noise floor and a better signal-to-noise ratio.

It’s clear that larger pixels generally lead to better image quality, but the structure of the sensor affects image quality as well. Conventional chips are built by layering metal and other materials on top of a silicon substrate or wafer. The first CMOS sensors were built this way as well; the circuitry and metal wires were layered on top of the photoactive silicon region. This frontside-illuminated (FSI) structure, where the light first passes through the circuitry and wiring before reaching the photoactive region of the pixel, is easy to manufacture but negatively affects image quality.

A pixel in an FSI CMOS sensor will have a quantum efficiency (QE), a measure of the number of incoming photons converted to electron-hole pairs, of less than 50% with narrowed spectrum coverage, because the layers above the pixel reflect and absorb a portion of the incoming light (QE can be as high as 80% when microlenses and light pipes are employed). In addition to reducing pixel sensitivity, reflected light also causes optical crosstalk, where a photon intended for one pixel gets bounced into an adjacent pixel instead, reducing image sharpness. This also reduces color accuracy, because green light may end up in a red pixel (adjacent pixels use different color filters). Electrical crosstalk, where electrons may leak into an adjacent pixel or get absorbed into the substrate, is another problem for FSI sensors due to their relatively thick silicon layer.

Placing the metal layers above the photoactive layer clearly degrades image quality, but it’s not the only downside. The FSI senor’s upper layers form an optical tunnel that restricts each pixel’s field of view, only admitting light rays below a specific angle of incidence, which gets worse for smaller pixels. This places restrictions on the optical stack, limiting the camera’s aperture diameter and requiring a thicker lens array.

In 2007, OmniVision Technologies helped pioneer a new fabrication process to overcome these limitations. After creating the circuitry and metal interconnect layers, the back of the wafer is ground away until only a thin photoactive layer remains. This thinning process is necessary because visible light penetrates only a short distance into silicon. The chip is then used upside down, with light hitting the exposed photoactive layer on the backside directly. By placing the circuitry and metal below, where it cannot block or interfere with the incoming light, the backside-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor improves QE to over 90%, captures a wider spectrum of light, and reduces optical crosstalk. The BSI sensor can also capture a wider cone of light, which reduces the thickness of the lens array, allows for wider aperture lenses, and more flexibility for zoom lenses.

The BSI sensor’s thinner substrate also helps improve performance by reducing dark leakage current, where electrons leak out of the pixel well and into the substrate. Manufacturers also employ various means to limit electrical crosstalk. Samsung’s ISOCELL technology, for instance, uses a special material to construct a physical barrier between adjacent pixels, reducing electrical crosstalk by approximately 30%, according to Samsung.

Despite their higher cost, a consequence of the more complicated fabrication process, BSI sensors are now widely used in smartphones and tablets. Sony introduced its Exmor R series of BSI sensors in 2009, and Apple’s iPhone 4 and HTC’s EVO 4G, both released in 2010, became two of the first smartphones to use a BSI sensor for their rear camera. Other manufacturers of CMOS image sensors, such as Samsung and Toshiba, have also joined the BSI bandwagon.

Looking to increase resolution and improve imaging performance, manufacturers are now moving to 3D or stacked layer BSI designs. Sony’s Exmor RS sensors were the first to employ this new technique, which moves the transistors from the photoactive layer onto one or more separate layers connected together by through-silicon vias (TSVs). This increases the die space available for photon sensing pixels, while simultaneously allowing for greater on-chip processing capabilities.

Features

Autofocus: Contrast, Phase or Laser

Mobile devices use three main types of autofocus (AF): contrast detect autofocus (CDAF), phase detect autofocus (PDAF), and laser autofocus. Contrast detection is the most common method employed due to its lower cost. Like its name implies, this AF method measures the difference in light intensity or contrast between adjacent pixels. The image is in focus when the contrast is maximized. Because this method has no way of measuring the distance between the camera and subject, the lens needs to sweep through the entire focal range to find the point with maximum contrast and then move back to that position. This motion is obvious when looking at the preview screen and watching the image move from blurry to sharp to blurry and back to sharp. All of this excess lens motion makes contrast AF rather slow. It also does not work well in low-light conditions.

Phase detect AF is widely used in expensive hand-held cameras, and it’s now making its way to mobile devices as well. PDAF is a passive system like CDAF, but it’s capable of actually measuring distance. It works in a manner similar to an optical rangefinder. Incoming light is refracted by microlenses and the resulting images are superimposed on the AF sensor. If the object is too close or too far, the light rays will be out of phase. By measuring the distance between light intensity peaks, along with the known geometry of the camera, the image signal processor (ISP) determines the precise location of the lens to bring the image into focus. Because the lens only makes one small adjustment, rather than sweeping through the full focal range, PDAF is significantly faster than the contrast method and is better suited for tracking moving objects. The downside is PDAF costs more to implement and still has difficulty in low-light conditions.

[CREDIT: Cmglee (Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0) Modified by Tom’s Hardware]

Laser AF, used in LG’s G3 and G4 smartphones, is an active time-of-flight system where an infrared laser beam is projected from the phone, reflects off an object, and is captured by the phone’s sensor. Since the speed of light is known, the distance is calculated based on the time between when the beam is emitted and detected. The speed and accuracy of this method is comparable to PDAF, with the additional benefit of working well in low-light situations. Laser AF has its own pitfalls, however. It cannot see through glass, it gets confused by absorbent or reflective surfaces, and it has trouble outdoors where long distances and high levels of background IR nullify the laser. In these cases, the camera falls back to the contrast AF method.

Hybrid AF systems are also possible, combining two or more different methods to deliver quick and accurate performance in all conditions. Combining a Laser AF system with PDAF is an obvious choice which would deliver quick performance in all lighting conditions, indoors or out. The only limitations on hybrid AF systems are cost and ISP performance.

HDR: High Dynamic Range

The human eye perceives brightness in a nonlinear way according to a gamma or power function; we are more sensitive to changes in dark tones than light ones. This gives our visual system a higher dynamic range and helps keep us from being blinded by bright sunlight outdoors. A CMOS camera sensor, however, records light linearly (one incident photon produces one electron in the well), restricting its total dynamic range (the difference between the darkest and brightest luminance values that produce a change in voltage in the pixel) to the pixel’s full-well capacity. The shutter speed used by the camera also impacts the captured image’s dynamic range. A slow shutter speed allows more light to enter the lens, brightening up dark areas but overexposing lighter areas like a brightly lit sky. Conversely, a fast shutter might get the exposure correct for the sky, but leave the areas in shadow far too dark.

There are several ways to extend a CMOS sensor’s dynamic range, including larger full-well capacities (larger pixels) and decreasing the noise floor. Neither of these solutions are practical, however, since the industry is moving to ever smaller pixels. Instead, cameras are using multiple exposures and post-processing to generate high dynamic range (HDR) images. The simplest approach is exposure bracketing, where two or more separate images are captured, one underexposed to capture the detail of the brighter regions and another overexposed to capture the detail in the shadowed regions. These images are then combined and filtered with software algorithms to create the final HDR image. If the exposure time for each pixel can be controlled individually, then the camera does not need to capture multiple full-frame exposures. This technique increases the speed of HDR capture by monitoring each individual pixel, performing a conditional reset if the pixel is close to saturation. This does increase cost, however, because additional local memory is required to store the exposure time for each pixel.

The benefit of using the exposure bracketing technique is that all of the magic happens in software and does not require any modification at the pixel level, unlike solutions that use a lateral overflow integration capacitor and multiple photodiodes with different sensitivities. One drawback, however, is the need to read and process several exposures quickly, requiring high bandwidth from the image sensor and more processing power from the ISP/DSP. If the HDR process is too slow, image capture time increases which the user perceives as camera lag. Also, motion—either from camera movement or from movement of objects within the scene—can create ghosting artifacts if the time between frame captures is too long.

Combining multiple images in post-processing can lead to additional artifacts. To better match the dynamic range of the HDR image to the contrast ratio of common displays, a tone-mapping algorithm is used. A linear transformation algorithm reduces the contrast of the image everywhere without regard for objects or already low contrast zones within the scene, resulting in a washed-out image. This technique is commonly used in less expensive devices because of its simplicity and lower processing requirement.

More sophisticated techniques analyze the content of the image and adapt the tone mapping algorithm to better preserve local details. One method uses a low-pass Gaussian filter to blur the image, subtract the result from the original image, and then recombine this with a globally tone mapped version. While this method produces a more natural looking image, it can cause halos or purple fringes to appear along edges in high contrast zones (dark object against a bright background or vice versa). Avoiding edge artifacts requires additional edge detection algorithms to break the scene into different zones to be filtered independently, which requires additional computing power.

EIS & OIS: Image Stabilization

The goal of both electronic image stabilization (EIS) and optical image stabilization (OIS) is to improve the sharpness of an image by reducing blur caused by the motion of the camera. EIS is a software post-processing technique applied to video which shifts individual frames, using the extra pixels beyond the visible border of the video (most image sensors contain more pixels than necessary to record 1080p or 4K video). There are also post-processing techniques, separate from EIS, for reducing blur caused by moving objects (not the camera) which work with both still images and video.

Where EIS is entirely software based, OIS is a hardware feature. Using gyroscopes, the camera senses its movement and uses an actuator in the camera module to adjust either the lens stack or the camera sensor to compensate and keep the light path steady. OIS can be used for video, but its best application is for shooting still images in low light, where longer exposures increase motion blur.

AWB: Automatic White Balance

One of the interesting features of the human visual system, dubbed color constancy, allows the color of objects to remain relatively constant, even when viewed under different light sources. Unfortunately, a camera’s image sensor does not have this ability. In order for the sensor to capture color accurately, the camera needs to adjust its white balance to account for the color temperature of light within a scene. Put another way, the camera needs to know what a white object looks like under a particular light source. For example, a white sheet of paper lit by an incandescent bulb with a color temperature of 2700 K will appear a yellowish orange. The same sheet of white paper lit by an LED bulb will take on a bluish tint. Since color temperatures below 6500 K, the color temperature of sunlight on an overcast day, tend to have more red content, we describe them as being “warm.” Color temperatures above 6500 K skew towards blue, so we describe them as being “cool.” If the camera sets white balance incorrectly, images will have an unnatural color tint which skews the hues of other colors in the image.

Most cameras will have white balance presets, usually labeled with pictograms of a fluorescent light, incandescent light, sun, clouds, etc., which roughly correspond to the color temperature of light under those conditions. Some cameras may allow you to set the white balance manually, providing greater flexibility. Since most of us do not want or need to be bothered by this, cameras also come with an automatic white balance (AWB) adjustment feature.

There are several different AWB algorithms but most fall into two categories: global and local. Global algorithms, such as the gray world and white patch methods, use all of an image’s pixels for color temperature estimation. Local algorithms use only a subset of pixels based on predefined selection rules (like a human face) for this task. Hybrid methods are also used, either selecting the best algorithm based on image content or using one or more methods simultaneously.

We have yet to find an algorithm that works as well as our visual system, however. Global AWB algorithms have trouble with images showing little color variation, a picture of a blue ocean with a blue sky, for example. Local AWB algorithms break down if the image does not contain any objects that meet its selection criteria or that contain a lot of noise. Regardless of which method is employed, having a white or neutral colored object in the scene will help the camera’s AWB select the appropriate value. If all else fails, you can usually correct the white balance with image editing software, especially when using the RAW image format.

Optics

The first cell phones were equipped with sub-megapixel cameras and single lens optics focused to infinity. They produced pixelated, flat photos which were barely suitable for sharing on the Web. While the optics for mobile cameras still use a fixed focal length and a fixed aperture, they have grown in complexity and performance to match the improvements in sensor technology.

The two most common lens materials are glass and plastic. Glass has many advantages, including a high Abbe number (lower chromatic aberration) and a relatively high refractive index (a measure of how much it bends light rays). Because of its excellent optical qualities, glass lenses are used in high-end cameras, microscopes, eyeglasses (depending on prescription), and just about anywhere else lenses are needed.

The limited thickness of smartphones and tablets presents unique challenges to lens system design, however, requiring complex, aspherical shapes and gradient refractive indices. This rules out traditionally made glass lenses that are ground and polished. Instead, lenses for mobile cameras are generally made from injection molded optical grade plastics. A high-temperature compression molding process does exist for making aspherical glass lenses with better optical performance, but molded plastic lenses still hold the advantage in cost, weight, and manufacturing volume. Where plastic comes up short is hardness, which is why the plastic lens elements are capped by a glass or sapphire lens to resist scratches.

In order to meet thickness requirements and reduce optical aberrations, mobile cameras use lens assemblies with as many as six lens elements. Deficiencies in lens design can produce distortion around the perimeter of the captured image or vignetting which causes images to darken in the corners. Another aberration to watch out for is chromatic fringing. Because the refractive index of a lens varies by wavelength, different colors of light will separate (think prism) and either focus at different distances (axial aberration) or at different spots in the sensor plane (transverse aberration). This results in colored fringes (usually purple since the greatest separation is between red and blue light) around the edges of objects.

Color shading is yet another optical issue, although it’s not actually caused by the lenses. Because CMOS sensors are very sensitive to infrared wavelengths, the lens assembly includes an IR filter. These filters are quite effective, but they’re not perfect. For interferential type filters, the cutoff wavelength is dependent upon the angle of the incoming light rays. Mobile cameras, whose lenses are close to the image sensor, are especially susceptible to this aberration because of the larger CRA values (chief ray angle, which is the angle a light ray passing through the center of the lens aperture makes with the lens array centerline) they encounter. Color shading results in anomalous color variation across the image. This issue may be more noticeable using different light sources, particular those that do not have a continuous spectrum such as LED or fluorescent lights.

Generally speaking, the larger the lens aperture and/or the smaller the focal length (both of which lead to larger CRA), the more lenses are needed to compensate for optical aberrations. The simplest case is a pinhole camera, where the aperture is so small that no lenses are needed. In the most extreme case, a camera with a wide aperture and a large zoom range can have over 15 lens elements. As mobile devices continue to get thinner and mobile cameras try to compensate for smaller CMOS pixels by gathering more light with larger apertures, optical aberrations will become increasingly difficult to avoid.

Based on these trends, the image signal processor’s (ISP) role will continue to increase. The ISP already controls the automatic camera functions, including automatic focus, automatic white balance, and automatic selection of exposure and ISO, along with other essential operations such as demosaicing (reconstructing a full color image by interpolating an RGB value for each pixel). It also handles post-processing algorithms for noise reduction and HDR. As if all this is not enough to keep it busy, the ISP also runs algorithms for correcting imperfections in the lens assembly.

The Exposure Triangle: Aperture, ISO & Shutter Speed

Exposure measures how much light makes it to the camera sensor and helps determine how bright the photograph appears. If a photograph isunderexposed, the sensor does not receive enough light and produces an image that’s too dark with a loss of shadow detail. If a photograph is overexposed, the sensor receives too much light and produces an image that’s too bright with a loss of highlight detail. Exposure is affected by three camera settings which form the corners of the exposure triangle: aperture, ISO, and shutter speed.

A good analogy for exposure is collecting rain in a bucket. Unless you’re in a studio, you generally do not have control over illumination, just like you do not have control over the rainfall. What you can control is the diameter of the bucket (aperture), the amount of rain to collect (ISO), and how long the bucket sits in the rain (shutter speed).

Aperture

Aperture is specified as an f-number or f-stop value like f/1.9, and it’s equal to the focal length divided by the diameter of the entrance pupil. This means that for a given focal length, an entrance pupil with a larger diameter will let in more light and have a smaller f-stop number, while a smaller diameter that lets in less light will have a larger f-stop number.

Comparing cameras based on f-stop values alone can be tricky. Generally speaking, lower f-stop values are desirable, because they allow more light to reach the camera sensor. However, you cannot compare f-stop values directly and say that an f/1.9 lens lets in 16% more light than an f/2.2 lens. For one thing, the cameras may have different focal lengths. The f-stop value is also nonlinear: Cutting the f-stop value in half quadruples the entrance pupil area. Therefore, we need to calculate the area of the entrance pupils in order to accurately compare the light gathering capability for two different lenses. For example, assuming that the two cameras compared above have the same 3.78mm focal length, then the f/1.9 lens will let in 34% more light than the f/2.2 lens, significantly more than the 16% figure from comparing the f-stop values directly. It’s also conceivable that an f/2.0 lens would let in more light than an f/1.9 lens given a significant difference in focal length. This is why marketing claims about lower f-stop values should be treated with some skepticism.

So, if lower f-stop values are generally better, why not make an f/1.0 or f/0.2 lens? Because, like other optical parameters, there are tradeoffs. Keeping the focal length constant (which is restricted by the device thickness anyway) and increasing the diameter of the entrance pupil increases the chief ray angle. In our discussion above about camera optics, we saw that large chief ray angles can lead to undesirable optical aberrations. Adding additional lenses to the array can partially compensate for some of these effects, but the thickness constraint prevents this.

Aperture also affects a photograph’s depth of field (DOF), which is the range of distance from the camera where objects appear to be in focus. Technically, a camera can only focus at a single distance, but because image sharpness decreases gradually to either side of the focusing distance, we perceive objects to remain acceptably sharp over a wider span. Higher f-stop values increase DOF, leading to images where a larger portion of the foreground and background remain in focus. Conversely, lower f-stop values decrease DOF, leading to the bokeh effect where the subject of the photograph appears sharp in stark contrast to the heavily blurred background. Handheld cameras allow a photographer to adjust the aperture to achieve the desired effect. Mobile cameras, however, used fixed aperture lenses, so the resulting DOF needs to be appropriate for many different scenarios. Lowering the f-stop too far would result in mostly blurry images.

ISO

A camera’s ISO value determines how sensitive it is to light. Lowering the ISO or sensitivity means the camera requires more light to get the proper exposure. ISO is inversely proportional to exposure, so each time ISO gets doubled (from 100 to 200, for example), the camera needs only half as much light for the same exposure.

Raising the ISO value increases the amplification gain of the sensor, reducing the number of electrons the pixels need to register a certain luminance value. The penalty, however, is a lower signal-to-noise ratio which increases the amount of visible noise artifacts in the image. Some of this noise can be removed by post-processing algorithms, but increasing the exposure using aperture and/or shutter speed produces better results.

Shutter Speed

A shutter controls the amount of light entering the camera and there are two types: mechanical and electronic. A mechanical shutter physically blocks the light from reaching the sensor. When a photo is taken, the shutter moves out of the way for the duration of the exposure time. Because of cost and space constraints, mobile devices use electronic shutters. An electronic shutter has no moving parts and does not actually block any light from reaching the sensor. Instead, it resets the pixels to zero and allows them to collect light for a duration of time equal to the shutter speed. Electronic rolling shutters expose and read the pixels line-by-line, which means that pixels on one side of the sensor are exposed at an earlier time than the pixels on the other side. Depending on the selected shutter speed and the bandwidth of the image sensor, there can be a significant delay during this process, resulting in geometric distortions for moving objects. A global shutter solves this problem by exposing and reading all of the pixels at the same time, capturing a full frame in one chunk. Global shutters require more circuitry, however, increasing the cost of the sensor. Regardless of the type of shutter used, the longer the exposure, the more light will be allowed in.

Completing The Triangle

The combination of aperture, ISO, and shutter speed settings give the photographer control of exposure and allow for some interesting effects. For instance, using a high shutter speed, along with an ISO increase to maintain brightness, can “freeze” a subject in time, a useful effect when photographing a sporting event or energetic kids. Using very slow shutter speeds (usually one second or more) can create motion blur effects and light streaks. When combined with a tripod or OIS, slower shutter speeds capture low-light photos at a lower ISO value, reducing image noise.

Unfortunately, aperture is fixed for mobile cameras, reducing the camera’s flexibility. This is another reason to choose a camera with a lower f-stop that allows in more light. You can decrease the amount of light hitting the sensor with shutter speed and reduce the sensor’s sensitivity to light with ISO, but neither can make up for the loss in pupil diameter that results from a higher f-stop.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot of technology—and artistry—that goes into capturing high-quality photos and videos. A hardware deficiency in the lens assembly, CMOS sensor, or ISP can easily compromise the camera experience. Both hardware and software features such as OIS and HDR are also critical to producing the best quality images.

With all of this discussion about hardware, it’s important not to forget the role software plays in image quality. We’ve seen several examples of smartphones using the same camera sensor produce wildly different results. Failing to compensate for lens deficiencies and overly aggressive noise reduction algorithms can ruin the output of even the best hardware. The role of software and the ISP is becoming increasingly important as pixel size and device thickness shrink, placing greater constraints and compromises on camera design. The table at the beginning of the article showing what specifications and features to look for can help narrow down your choices, but, ultimately, a picture is worth a thousand words.

MORE: Best SmartphonesMORE: All Smartphone ContentMORE: All Tablet Content

Matt Humrick is a Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware, covering Smartphones and Tablets. Follow him on Twitter.

Leonid Yankulin is an Associate Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware, covering Smartphones and Tablets.

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Orbbec, a Seattle-based company that manufactures 3D cameras and sensors, believes that the future of computing is in intelligent computing, and it asserts that computer vision will be necessary. It believes that 3D cameras are an integral component to achieve that goal. The company already sells the Astra 3D camera, and it has now revealed two more products coming to market.

Orbbecs latest effort, Persee, has just been revealed, and the company launched a crowdfunding campaign to bring it to the masses. Persee is a unique device that combines a 3D, depth perceiving camera, with an integrated ARM computer allowing it to run local applications without an external processing source.

The CPU in Persee is a quad-core ARM Cortex A17 that runs at up to 1.8 GHz, and it is paired with a 600 MHz Mali-T7 GPU that has support for OpenCL. Persee features 2 GB of DDR3 memory, and internal storage is handled by a 16 GB eMMC flash chip. It is expandable by up to 64 GB with a MicroSD card.

Orbbec included plenty of communication options in the Persee. It includes a built-in Ethernet jack for wired network connectivity. It also includes dual-band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz Wi-Fi and a built-in Bluetooth antenna. There is a single USB 2.0 port, which Orbbec said can be used for input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, or extra storage through a USB hard drive. Persee also has a single HDMI 2.0 output to make use of a display.

Orbbec sees many potential uses for the Persee cameras, including 3D film creation, robotics, gesture-controlled TVs, and even reactive digital signage. But mostly, the company is excited to see what people create with the technology. To make it accessible, and compelling for the widest possible audience, Orbbec is shipping the Persee with two operating systems in a dual-boot configuration.

Persee will run Android and Ubuntu (Linux). Orbbec chose this path because Android is so widely used, and there are many developers for the platform, though it is limited in its capabilities. Ubuntu can offer lower level access to the hardware, thus allowing for more complex applications to be created. Orbbec feels this will cater to the widest audience possible.

Orbbec will be releasing an SDK for Persee that will include cross-platform drivers and tools that are compatible with Windows, OSX, Linux and Android devices, allowing developers to write code for Persee from whichever platform they have access to (or prefer). The company is also embracing the hacker mindset and welcomes tinkering and taking the camera apart. Orbbec even said that there is additional functionality that is not accessible while the hardware is in the enclosure, though it would not comment on what the extra functions are.

Astra Pro

In addition to Persee, Orbbec has also launched the Astra Pro camera. Astra Pro is designed to be plugged into a PC through USB 2.0 and used as a connected device. It does not have any computational power and requires a computer to process the data the Astra Pro perceives. This device is a higher resolution version of the already-available Astra 3D camera, and it shares the same optics as the Persee camera.

Orbbec said the Astra can be used as a test platform for developers creating applications for Persee, or it can be used for its own purposes. An example that Orbbec described would be full body scanning from multiple cameras at once. The ARM processor in the Persee is not robust enough to handle the data from multiple sources at once, but a PC with multiple Astra Pro cameras could do instant 3D scans of objects or bodies.

The Astra Pro camera records 3D point cloud data in VGA 640 x 480 resolution at 30 frames per second, and records color images in 720p at 30 frames per second. The Persee camera shares the same optics as the Astra Pro. Both cameras are capable of perceiving depth as near as 0.4m and as far an 8m, and it measures in millimeter increments. Orbbec said that depth measurements are accurate within 0.5 centimeters from distances of 2m. 

Orbbec has launched an Indiegogo campaign to bring the cameras to market and is offering deep discounts for backers. The company is offering the full line of Astra cameras, Astra, Astra S and the new Astra Pro for $99 to the first 500 backers. Orbbec said the Astra cameras are already in production and will ship to backers immediately after the campaign closes at the end of the month.

Most of the funding project is for the Persee camera. Orbbec is offering several pricing tiers for the Persee, with the biggest discounts available to the earliest backers. The first 250 backers will receive a Persee for $179, after which time the price will scale up to $199 for the next 500 backers, and $209 after the first 750 are sold. Orbbec expects to ship the first batch of Persee cameras in February of next year.

update 10/1/15 3:10pm PT: The article was originally published with Purcee as the name, though the product name is actually Pursee.

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Way back at the beginning of the year, Asus announced two new smartphones at CES. The first was the ZenFone 2, which we recently reviewed and liked a lot, giving it our "Editor Recommended" award. The other phone was the ZenFone Zoom. Unfortunately, at CES this phone was only on display under glass and was clearly not ready for prime time.

All we knew back then was that it was also going to be an Intel Atom-powered smartphone equipped with an impressive-sounding 3x optical zoom camera. Now, eight months later at IFA, Asus has taken the wraps off the finished product and announced the full specifications of its Galaxy Camera killer. Unfortunately, although Asus is happy to share the Zoom's specs with the world, no information on pricing or availability was released, though at CES we were told it would be $400.

Specifications

Of course, the raison d'être for this phone is its camera, so let's go over it in a bit more detail. Back at CES we were given most of the information about it, including that it has a 10-element 3x optical zoom lens, OIS, and laser AF, but we weren't told anything about the sensor choice. Unlike the regular ZenFone 2, Asus has tapped Panasonic instead of Toshiba for the Zoom's sensor using, according to the press release, a 13 MP Panasonic SmartFSI sensor.

Although we can't be sure that this phone isn't using a new as-yet unreleased Panasonic sensor instead, but if it isn't, then this is likely the sensor model. This would mean that the Zoom's sensor was released in 2013 and is fairly small at 1/3.06". However, size isn't everything, and Panasonic does make excellent camera sensors, so its raw specs probably don't tell the whole story. Asus claimed that the ZenFone Zoom "captures more light and more color" than other phones.

This sensor is coupled with a 10-element 3x optical zoom lens from Hoya. Impressively, unlike the Galaxy Camera, the zoom lens does not protrude from the phone when in use, which allows Asus to claim that the Zoom is "the world's thinnest optical zoom smartphone." The Zoom also has optical image stabilization (OIS) and laser AF. Asus claimed a focus time of 0.2 seconds. The company did not include any information about the lens's aperture, so the specs we list above are what we were provided at CES.

As you can see in the picture above, the Zoom has a dedicated camera shutter button, a smaller one to activate video recording, and physical controls for the zoom lens (the volume rocker). Also, unlike the all-plastic ZenFone 2, the Zoom has an aluminum unibody that forms the sides and area surrounding the lens. The rest of the back of the phone is plastic and is removable to access the SIM and microSD slots. We assume that the Zoom is a dual-SIM device like the ZenFone 2, but we can't be sure. We also assume that the ZenFone's 3,000 mAh battery isn't removable.

Rounding out the camera component of the Zoom are the features enabled by the ZenUI Camera app. The Zoom can take macro photos as near as 5 cm (2 in), and the software can also combine four 13MP images into one 52MP "Super Resolution" image. The Zoom also has full manual camera control, including adjustment of the shutter speed, exposure, white balance and ISO.

As for the rest of the Zoom's specs, they are, unsurprisingly, very similar to the ZenFone 2. The Zoom also utilizes a quad-core Intel Atom SoC, but Asus has equipped it with the new Z3590. This chip has a higher clock speed (2.5 GHz vs. 2.3 GHz) and faster GPU speed (640 MHz vs. 533 MHz) than the Z3580 found in the older ZenFone. This should make the Zoom the most powerful Asus phone yet.

All the other features are basically the same, including the 5.5-inch IPS 1080p display and 4 GB of RAM. The Zoom will be available with up to 128 GB of internal storage. The last specification we are not clear on is if the Zoom will still be running Android 5.0 with Asus's ZenUI, or will be updated to 5.1.

As we mentioned at the top of this post, Asus didn't release any information about pricing and availability of the ZenFone Zoom at IFA, though we can assume it will arrive sooner than later. As for pricing, we were told $400 at CES, but that was some time ago, so that may have changed -- and of course there is no word on whether this phone will even come to North America.

It really does feel like every day we hear about a new device that is being built with virtual reality in mind. Smartphone attachments, full head mounted displays, hand tracking technology, and cameras are popping up all the time. Sphericam 2, as you can likely guess from the name, is one of those intriguing cameras.  

Sphericam 2 is a portable 360-degree camera that can record video at up to 60 fps. Sphericam claimed that the camera can film in full 360-degrees without any blind spots, and without any visible stitching.

Sphericam 2 makes use of six individual cameras that are positioned around a small spherical housing that is roughly the size of a tennis ball. These six cameras are fully synchronized to maintain constant contrast and color settings. Sphericam claimed the small size allows for the lowest possible distance between sensors, which minimizes parallax and provides an artifact-free 360-degree view.

Despite the small size, the Sphericam 2 has eight tri-pod mounts, an on/off switch, a micro USB port, four microphones, six microSD card slots, and the six image sensors. It also has a 2800 mAh battery inside.

Sphericam 2 will record in three different file formats, each with a resolution of 4096 x 2048. Pro Quality will record 30/60 fps at 2.4 Gbps in12-bit color, Cinema DNG. High Quality records at up to 600 Mbps with 10-bit color in H.264 compression. Realtime Stitching mode records at 30 fps, in 10-bit color and also H.264 compression.

Sphericam 2 will have a number of accessories as well, such as the removable legs that the company said are invisible to the camera, or a backpack with a pole mount to record where you go on foot.

Currently, Sphericam 2 is in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign, and the company has surpassed its initial goal of $150,000. There are still 23 days left to achieve further funding and backers, but at this time the company does not have any stretch goals listed.

The Sphericam 2 will come in green, black and silver, and it's priced at $1,699.99, with a limited number of green and black ones available for $1,499.99 for early backers.

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If you've ever tried to make a timelapse, you know how tricky it can be. The easiest thing to do is to stick a camera on a tripod, in a static location, and take a picture every few seconds, but the moment you try to make a timelapse of you actually doing something -- especially first person action -- things suddenly get a lot trickier. Microsoft aims to solve this problem with some new software called Microsoft Hyperlapse.

Microsoft Hyperlapse is a multi-platform software package that you can use to turn action videos into stabilized timelapses. The idea that this software is needed comes from a simple problem. In the past, the only real way to make a stable first person action timelapse is by using heaps of expensive camera gear in order to stabilize the original shot, and then turn that into a timelapse.

If you've ever tried to make a timelapse before, you may know that most timelapsing software simply takes a frame every 10 frames or so, and then stitches those together. The end result is indeed a sped-up video, but if you've been holding the camera, it won't be stable. Heck, it may even simply be unwatchable.

By contrast, Microsoft Hyperlapse takes the original video and tries to figure out the 3D landscape in which it is filmed, along with the dominant path taken throughout the moving scene. Once Hyperlapse has this figured out, it uses bits and pieces from various frames in the video to create a stable, sped-up video.

The mobile version of the software works a little differently. Instead of figuring out the most dominant path and stitching together parts of frames, it finds frames that have the most overlap and uses those, instead of simply grabbing every 10th frame. This won't give the same quality videos as through the desktop version of the software, but does enable it to work on performance and power-limited mobile platforms

You certainly won't get cinema-quality timelapses from this software, but this is a very inexpensive way to show off a bike ride to your friends, or your commute to work, or what have you. Microsoft Hyperlapse works on Android, Windows Phone, Windows, and Microsoft Azure. All you need to provide is the camera in your phone, or if you want slightly better results, an action camera such as a GoPro.

In order to create a Hyperlapse, you simply capture the video on one of the devices and then import it into the Hyperlapse app or program. On your mobile phone, you simply use your standard camera app. Indirectly, this also makes it compatible with iPhones, because all you will need to do is import the captured video to your PC and use the public preview version of Microsoft Hyperlapse Pro.

You can start playing with Hyperlapse on all the aforementioned platforms immediately (with the caveat that the list of officially supported mobile devices is relatively small). The landing page is available here, which contains additional information and download links.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

LG Innotek, LG's component manufacturing arm, announced the development of a new 16 MP camera module that has an f/1.8 aperture, making it the widest smartphone aperture on the market right now. (The Galaxy S6's camera comes close with an f/1.9 aperture). The new camera module began mass production this week, and it will appear for the first time on the market inside the LG G4, LG's upcoming flagship smartphone.

The previous LG flagships already did quite well in low-light environments thanks to the addition of Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), but the LG G4 is bound to be even better. The new camera will be able to capture 80 percent more light than the LG G3 camera, according to LG Innotek.

This means several things. The camera will of course take better pictures in dim conditions, but it should also be able to take fast pictures in well-lit environments, such as the outdoors in day time. It also means fewer blurry pictures, because the camera will capture the light that it needs much faster, leaving less time for camera shakes. Pictures of moving objects will also be less blurry for the same reason.

LG Innotek said that large apertures have been difficult to develop for smartphones because of the complexity of the task and the size of the camera modules that have to fit in the limited space of a smartphone.

We've recently started seeing more smartphones come with an 8 MP front camera due to the explosive growth of "selfies" and the high demand for a quality camera in the front of the device. With so many people taking selfies these days, the front-camera has become almost as important as the rear camera.

LG's 8 MP front-facing camera comes with an ultra-thin IR filter that's half the thickness (0.11 mm) of other IR filters on the market. The IR filter is useful to block infrared light from entering the camera lens, which gives pictures more natural and accurate colors.

"At LG Innotek, we are constantly working to ensure that the cameras we develop allow users to capture and preserve the moments that are most special to them," said Ung-beom Lee, CEO of LG Innotek. "We are extremely excited to see our technology in LG's next flagship smartphone because we believe that the power, precision and operability of our camera module will clearly make an impression on consumers."

The LG G4 smartphone that will have the new 16 MP camera with an f/1.8 aperture will likely be unveiled on April 28 and April 29 (depending on the time zone) when LG will be holding some events in New York, London, Paris, Seoul, Singapore and Istanbul. The device is also expected to have a Snapdragon 810 SoC, 5.5" QHD (2560 x 1440) screen and 3 GB of RAM.

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Hands-On With Intel's RealSense Snapshot Camera

I do not care all that much about Dell’s Venue 8 7000 tablet.

That’s not because the tablet itself is uninteresting, by any means. It’s a beautiful device. The 2500x1600 display is crystalline and begs you to touch it. The chassis is incredibly slender at just 6mm thick, with classy, squared-off edges that evoke the design language of the iPhone 5. The dark gray metal frame feels solid, and the “infinity” bezel is wonderfully thin, measuring what appears to be about 1mm thick. I’m also glad to see a front-facing speaker, and I actually quite like the resulting slightly asymmetrical look, even in a horizontal orientation.

And of course, there are some fine specs, to boot:

Those are some promising specs, but they're not what we’re looking at today. What I am far more interested in at present is the Intel RealSense Snapshot camera(s) mounted on the back of the Venue 8 7000.

We’ve seen enough implementations of RealSense at this point (predominantly at CES 2015) to know that the hardware should be taken seriously. But we also know enough to be wary. RealSense’s limitations, from what we gathered sniffing around at CES, are mostly in the software that various OEMs are using as they bake these camera(s) onto devices.

For example, we found the use of RealSense 3D cameras on the HP Zvr display to be downright impressive, but we also saw a few implementations that were, to be generous, not particularly functional.

There are actually three RealSense cameras that we’re aware of, two of which are more powerful RealSense 3D cameras. The one baked into the Dell Venue 8 7000, the RealSense Snapshot camera, is the littlest brother of the trio. HP’s Zvr display uses four of the bigger versions to achieve its immersive workstation environment. Can the little guy, all by itself on a tablet, produce results that are anywhere near as interesting?

What It Is

The RealSense Snapshot camera is actually three cameras: an 8MP “normal” camera flanked by two 720p HD cameras. All three are mounted on the back of the Venue 8 7000 tablet, spaced about 80mm apart. When you use the Snapshot, you’re using all three cameras to capture a “depth” image. Not unlike a Lytro camera, this allows you to selectively focus and edit an image after you’ve snapped a picture, right there on the device itself.

You can also simply take normal photos with the 8MP camera using the “Single” shooting mode. To use the three-in-one power of the RealSense Snapshot, you use the “Depth Snapshot” mode.

A key feature of the RealSense Snapshot camera is a tool that allows you to measure distances and objects within photos you’ve taken.

The Measurement Tool

The measurement tool is a compelling feature on paper. You aim your RealSense Snapshot at an object, snap a photo and use the tool to determine distances between objects, measure objects and even calculate the area of something.

However, to be blunt, you should manage your expectations of what this tool can actually do.

Dell was clear in its various guides that the measurement tool really only works under certain conditions. We were advised to be within 3-15 feet of the subject, make sure to shoot straight on (not at an angle) and ensure that there’s plenty of light. But not bright, direct sunlight. Oh, and we were to also avoid reflective or see-through surfaces, such as glass.

We were further advised to be sure that there were no smudges on the camera lenses; they can cause inaccuracies.

Dell recently pushed out an update that includes a new Dynamic Calibration tool to help ensure better accuracy in depth shots. Apparently, the Snapshot camera calibration can slip over time as you use the device, or even just during shipping. According to a Dell document, the calibration is automatic and occurs while a depth shot is being processed; if there's an issue, you'll see a pop-up notification informing you of the problem (and offering the automatic solution). 

When you snap a photo, you enter the edit mode and tap the measurement tool. Simply tap two points on the image to create a measurement. You can fine-tune the measurements using a (rather nifty) feature: when you tap and hold one of the corners of your lines, you get a little magnified look at what you’re doing. It’s delicate, but it works well.

We dutifully obeyed these instructions, but our results were mixed, to say the least. We shot a variety of objects in different lighting conditions -- all more or less optimal -- and found that the tool was frequently off.

For example, note the measurements on this bridge. According to the RealSense Snapshot camera, it’s 15’6” across. That’s not completely far off; it’s actually 15’1”.

However, note the three measurements of the rails, bottom to top. The camera thinks they’re 2’2”, 4’1” or 7’4”. In reality, each of those distances is actually a hair under 2’5”. Also, the 3’9” span across the two posts is actually 3’1.75”.

We showed this parade of inaccuracy to Dell, and a representative noted that there were mitigating factors to consider. “The bridge shot has areas where the background is very similar in color to the foreground, and this is likely causing the software to calculate an incorrect depth for some of those points,” he said. He also noted that in terms of the bridge's span, a 5-inch error over that distance is still 97.5-percent accurate.

That’s fair enough, we suppose. Let’s agree that the lighting and contrast between subject and background was not optimal in the bridge image.

Here’s another example:

We shot these bricks in mid-afternoon light, safely away from the sun’s direct glare, but thoroughly well-lit, from just over 3 feet away. The bricks are 8.25” across. The RealSense camera guessed some of them fairly accurately at 8”, but the one is more than an inch off at 7”, and the tool was unable to even venture a guess for one of the bricks.

Could we have shot more straight-on here? Possibly, yes. But it's extremely difficult to do so without a tripod, and in real-life situations, this is about as good as you can do.

Here’s another example:

Determining couch size has been Dell’s go-to example of the measurement tool’s usefulness. You’re in a store, and you need to know if that funky divan will fit in your living room. You whip out your Dell Venue 8 7000 tablet, snap a pic and measure away.

We tried this specific use case and found that it was slightly off, too. The span of our test image is 6’2”, and the tool had it at 5’11”. That’s close -- probably close enough to determine if you can fit it in your living room -- but not precise.

In some cases, though, the measurement tool was more accurate. Take for example this picture frame:

The sides of the frame are actually 16.25”, so the tool was accurate within a quarter-inch (it doesn’t offer measurements less than an inch, so being within an inch is as accurate as the tool can possibly be).

With the measurement tool, you can also check for the area of a plane. You simply tap for points, click to drag the points to exact spots, and poof, you get the area.

Or not. In this image, we shot a simple, rectangular box as close to straight on as possible. Again, we're holding a tablet and shooting without a tripod. The tool wasn’t able to measure all the sides and thus produced an “unknown” result. Oddly, the line measurement in the image on the left is actually correct.

Using that snapshot of the picture frame (above), we were able to get a reasonably accurate result, though. One of the sides registered an inch off, and therefore the area was slightly incorrect, but all things considered this particular area calculation was quite good.

We should note that we got more accurate results when shooting close to an object and measuring something small, or shooting farther away and measuring a larger distance. For instance, if you want to know the width of a brick, you should be within about 3 feet, not 15.

What Are We To Conclude?

It’s probably unfair at this point in its development to expect a camera like this one to be especially accurate. A Dell representative was clear with us that, “The measurements work on a stereo vision system, and the system can only estimate depth -- not get exact, true values. While this can be quite accurate when conditions are correct, it is not a reference system and Dell does not make any claims to that effect.”

“The measurement tool allows a user to get a good idea of the size of objects,” he added. “It’s unrealistic to expect scientific results from this system and Dell does not make claims about absolute accuracy. To expect better is to misunderstand the purpose and capabilities of the system.”

There's value in a camera that could reasonably tell us the width of, say, a couch we were shopping for (“Will it fit in the living room, dear?”) or the span of a footbridge you were constructing (“Do we have enough lumber, dude?”), but even these modest tasks produced somewhat modest results with the RealSense Snapshot camera.

That is, at least with the software running on the Dell Venue 8 7000. We’ll have to withhold total judgment until we get a chance, at some point, to test out the RealSense Snapshot camera with other software.

Unfortunately, at this point that’s not really possible. We asked Dell if there were apps in the works that we could test the camera with (the on-stage demo we saw at IDF, where they used the camera to size someone’s feet, comes to mind), but representatives told us that there were none available.

“As we just introduced Intel RealSense Snapshot to the market, we are now working with software developers on apps that will take advantage of the technology. So at this time there’s no Andorid apps yet that are specifically designed for the RealSense camera,” we were told.

As we mentioned earlier, Dell did say that it has some work to do on the measurement tool before it’s fully ready for prime time (and will continue to work on improvements). Thus, we’ll give the company a bit of a mulligan here. The measurement tool must improve dramatically for it to be of much use, though.

Take, for example, this doorway. As it happens, it is indeed 6’7”. But the measurement tool had one side correct and the other side off by 6 inches. Unless you measured the door yourself, how would you know which measurement was correct?

Further, the tool is finicky, at best. Everything -- lighting, distance, background, angle -- has to be just right in order to achieve any reasonable results at all.

Even so, to be fair to Dell (and Intel), the marketing teams may have done the product management folks a disservice by allowing consumers to believe that the measurement tool would be more accurate and powerful than it actually is, because now there are engineers stuck fielding critical questions from pesky journalists.

As it stands now, the RealSense Snapshot camera on the Venue 8 7000 is more of a gimmick, or a parlor trick, than a tool. It’s possible that the accuracy will improve with software enhancements, but unless and until that happens, don’t drop $1000 on that couch unless you measure it and your living room with a tape measure first.

Editing Capabilities

The fact that the RealSense Snapshot camera on the Venue 8 7000 tablet struggles with accuracy and consistency does not negate the fact that the camera has other virtues that consumers might enjoy.

For example, when you take a photo, you can adjust the focus after the fact. From the Gallery (a feature of the Venue 8 7000’s feature set that Dell has been keen to highlight), you tap a photo to edit it and then tap the focus icon. After the tablet’s processor thinks it over for a moment, you’ll enter the focus mode. Tap anywhere on the image, and it will focus on that specific person, place or thing. Using the slider at the bottom of the screen, you can adjust the intensity of the focus and blur.

From Left to Right: Fire Hydrant unedited. Fire Hydrant at 50%, Fire Hydrant at 100%, Dog Post in focus.

In the example above, we focused on the fire hydrant at about 50% intensity. It makes for a neat little snapshot (if you’re into fire hydrants). You must be judicious about the intensity, though; note that when we slid all the way to 100% intensity, the edges around the fire hydrant became noticeably blocky.     

As you can see, you can also focus on other objects in the picture. It’s literally as easy as tapping that object in the image. Then you can use the slider to adjust the intensity.

In another example, you can see that the focus feature works beautifully on these newspaper boxes. When focused on the closest one, there are some ugly edges, but with a little adjusting of the slider, all of the samples look nice and clean. Side note: am I the only one who thinks this looks ever-so-slightly like tilt/shift photography?

From Left to Right: Newspapers boxes 50%, Newspapers boxes 100%, New Focus Newspaper boxes 50%, New Focus Newspaper boxes 100%

But wait, there’s more.

You can also selectively edit these images. Tap the edit icon within the editing window, and you’re presented with several preset editing options. You can adjust brightness, contrast and saturation, and you can also apply filters like Vintage, B/W, Punch and Bleach.

Some of these parameters are adjustable with sliders. For example, when you tap Brightness, you can slide around to get your preferred setting. Filters offer some mixed results; note that the Vintage filter works well for the whole image, but the selective B/W filter produces a rather odd result.

From Right to Left: Brightness tool 1, Brightness tool 2, B/W Filter, B/W Filter Slider, Vintage Filter

However, using the depth fine-tuner, you can tweak your images to get a nicer effect. Note how we fixed the awkward-looking B/W filter above just by sliding the depth around until it looked a bit better.

The long and short of using that selective editing is that it’s not a magic pill. It won’t necessarily work ideally on every photo. But that’s not a criticism of the camera and software; that just means you (the photographer) need to do more than just absent-mindedly click the shutter and assume you can do anything you want in the editing process.

Selective, layered editing is by no means the only option for adjusting your photos, though. You can apply many of those aforementioned filters to the entire image; crop, rotate, straighten, frame or touch up the image; create a mirror image; draw on the image; and fine-tune the white balance, exposure, shadows, highlights, curves, color and much more.

We’ll have deeper coverage of all the various editing options in our full review of the Venue 8 7000 tablet later on down the road. For now, suffice it to say that you’ll be hard-pressed to find more extensive editing capabilities on any mobile device; hats off to Dell for that.

Getting a Real Sense Of The RealSense SnapShot Camera

We were hoping that Intel’s RealSense Snapshot camera would be a relatively powerful tool, perhaps even marking the beginning of an era wherein cameras on mobile devices evolved from the point-and-shoot replacements they are into something even more compelling.

Unfortunately, the camera fell somewhat short of those lofty dreams, and in fact it’s perhaps our own fault for not adjusting our expectations low enough. The measurement tool doesn’t work very well, but it is pretty cool to see that such a capability is possible, and the ability to selectively focus and edit after you shoot a photo is something that most users will surely love to play with.

The RealSense Snapshot camera does mark something of an evolution for mobile devices cameras, but it’s not fully evolved just yet. It’s walking on two legs all right, but it’s still kind of a knuckle-dragger.

It’s really neat -- cool, even -- but a power user’s tool it is not.

Smartphone cameras have been steadily improving, and while many are good enough for taking casual pictures in good lighting, their small sensors and depth-constrained optics keep photo quality well below what's achievable with a dedicated point-and-shoot camera.

Samsung tried to solve this discrepancy by putting a smartphone inside a camera with its Galaxy Camera series. It was an interesting idea, but Samsung's Galaxy Camera and Galaxy Camera 2 both failed in one crucial area: Their cameras just weren't very good. Using small (1/2.3'') image sensors produced mediocre pictures that couldn't match the image quality of point-and-shoot cameras in the same price range.

Panasonic's new LUMIX Smart Camera CM1 looks to finally bridge the gap by combining up-to-date, powerful Android hardware with a camera using a 1-inch image sensor, the largest ever seen on a smartphone. While the CM1 has been out in a few select European markets since December, at CES this year it was announced that it will be coming to North America.

Tech Specs

* with camera -- phone body alone is 15.2 mm

As a phone, the Panasonic CM1 has decent specifications, with a Snapdragon 801 SoC, 4.7-inch 1080p display, 2,600 mAh battery, and Cat 4 LTE connectivity. As a premium-level product, it's constructed mostly from metal, and its build-quality is top-notch. However, it certainly looks and feels more like a camera than a phone, with that boxy retro look that so many cameras are using today.

Still, for what it is, this phone/camera combo is reasonably compact and can be used as a phone fairly comfortably, which can't be said of Samsung's Galaxy Cameras. What the CM1 isn't is a smartphone that just happens to have a decent camera, like the Lumia 1020 or the upcoming Asus ZenFone Zoom.

The camera uses a 1-inch Sony 20.1 MP sensor, the same one found in cameras such as the Sony RX100 or Panasonic FZ1000 (which is the camera I used for the stills and video in this article). This sensor is approximately seven times larger than the average sensor found in other smartphones and is capable of producing substantially better-looking images.

Panasonic has combined this sensor with an f/2.8 Leica lens with a 28 mm focal length. However, despite the fact that the lens extends (as can be seen in the picture above) when you use the camera, the CM1 does NOT have any optical zoom. Even so, the large sensor and high MP count should still allow you to use a limited amount of digital zoom without impacting the image quality severely. The CM1 also does not have optical image stabilization (OIS).

Along with the class-leading camera hardware, the CM1 also has the most advanced camera software we've seen on a phone. The ridged ring around the camera on the front of the phone is a dial that can be used to manually adjust everything, including focus, aperture, shutter speed and white balance. The options menu allows you to adjust every aspect of the camera, just as you can on a fully-featured high-end point-and-shoot camera. However, the CM1 still has a full automatic mode and a selection of scene settings to choose from, providing a more smartphone-like experience if desired. The CM1 can also shoot in RAW mode.

We didn't get to take any pictures with the CM1 at CES, but the sample images shown to us were phenomenal and by far the best we've seen produced by a phone. We did get to play around with the CM1 for a few minutes, which you can watch in the video below:

While we can't really pass a verdict on the Panasonic CM1 after our limited amount of time with it, there are a couple of issues that we do think are worth mentioning. First, there doesn't seem to be a lens cover, so you'll want to keep it in a case when not in use to prevent scratching. Second, the lack of OIS and any optical zoom are omissions that we think Panasonic should incorporate in the CM1's successor, even if it means a thicker device.

Another issue is that the CM1 cannot shoot proper 4K video. It is limited to a 15 fps mode that is designed so users can pull 4K stills. The fact that it can't shoot 4K 30 fps video when other Snapdragon 801-powered smartphones can is odd. Perhaps it's using a different ISP than what's provided in the Snapdragon SoC.

The Panasonic LUMIX Smart Camera CM1 is already available in Germany and France for €899 Euros and the UK for £799. That translates to approximately $1,050 USD, but we're not sure if this is the price it will sell for when it's released in North America later this year.

You can learn more about the CM1 on Panasonic's UK site.

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The Los Angeles Times reported that the city of L.A. plans to outfit 700 to 800 police officers with on-body cameras. Mayor Eric Garcetti made the announcement during a news conference on Wednesday, stating that they're "a great step forward" while acknowledging that the cameras aren't the ideal answer to becoming more transparent.

"The trust between a community and its police department can be eroded in a single moment," Garcetti told the LA Times. "Trust is built on transparency."

News of the cameras arrives after conflicting reports were provided to law officials during the shooting incident of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown in August 2014. The shooting took place in Ferguson, Missouri, and forced law agencies across the nation to take a better look at how incidents such as the Brown shooting can be avoided.

Since the shooting, the president of the Police Commission, Steve Soboroff, has been collecting private donations to purchase the first batch of on-body cameras. More than 24 individuals – including Steven Spielberg and Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick – have contributed $1.35 million. The nonprofit Police Foundation also contributed an additional $250,000.

According to reports, the first 700 to 800 Axon Flex cameras will cost the city around $1.6 million. These will be provided by Taser International Inc. and will be worn by officers sometime in Q1 2015. However, they must first be approved by the LAPD's civilian oversight board. Los Angeles plans to purchase 6,300 additional cameras by July 2016, which is expected to cost a whopping $10 million. To help cut that cost down to half, the city will apply for federal funds.

Once installed, will these cameras be on all the time? During the press conference, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck indicated they wouldn't be on throughout the officer's shift. Beck provided a few examples, saying that officers would use a camera when a suspect is in custody. In sexual abuse situations, the camera would be off. The city plans to determine proper use of these devices sometime in Q1 2015.

"No big city department has done this," Beck said. "Officers will have tremendously powerful evidence and the ability to collect it. We are starting a journey that will go on for decades."

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Toshiba announced today its new 8MP CMOS BSI sensor, codenamed T4KA3, that can record video at up to 240fps, currently the highest frame rate in the industry. The new sensor, which can be used for both smartphones and tablets, is now being sampled to manufacturers.

Shooting video at such a high frame rate in 720p HD (eight times the regular 30fps, but many smartphone sensors are already offering 60fps 720p recording) puts a toll on the power consumption and on how much light the sensor can capture in each frame, resulting in underexposed videos.

To solve these two issues, Toshiba has reduced power consumption by 85 percent compared to its previous T4K35 sensor and has increased how much light can be captured in each frame by four times, using a technology Toshiba calls "Bright Mode." The comparisons are for 30fps recording, but these significant improvements should put the new T4KA3 sensor more in line with previous generations in terms of power consumption and exposure when recording at much higher frame rates.

The reason Toshiba has gone for such a high frame rate sensor is because ever since the iPhone 5S came out with slow-motion video recording, there has been increased demand for such sensors. The T4KA3 offers twice the frame rate of the iPhone 5S while shooting in 720p HD, which means the videos can be played back twice as slowly. The sensor should allow for a high degree of flexibility, and it will be up to the device manufacturers to implement its various features in software. High-speed 30fps burst photo shooting is also possible for action scenes, as well as 1080p at 60fps smooth video recording and 4k recording at 30fps.

At ¼" in size, the T4KA3 is one of the smallest 8MP sensors that supports HDR for scenes with high contrast. It also supports 8Kbit OTP (One Time Programmable read-only memory) that can store two conditions of lens shading correction data.

This new Toshiba sensor should be available for mass production by April of next year, and Toshiba is prepared to sell up to 8 million of them per month. Since it has a relatively low resolution by today's flagship standards, the sensor will most likely target higher-volume mid-range devices.

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Oppo today announced its newest flagship phone, the Find 7. With a quad-core Snapdragon 801, 3 GB of RAM and the first QHD smartphone display, the Find 7's hardware has given us plenty to talk about. Still, despite the impressive spec sheet, the Find 7's camera is one of the main topics of conversation this morning. Aside from being able to shoot 4K video and 720p slow motion at 120fps, the Find 7's 13-megpixel F/2.0 lens is capable of taking 50-megapixel photos.

So, how does that work? Well, Oppo has worked in some neat software to help the sensor capture these pictures. Dubbed Super Zoom, the technology actually takes ten photos in quick succession. The phone then automatically selects the best four of these 10 and then stitches them together. The end result is a single 50-megapixel photo measuring 8160 x 6120. This will allow for more zooming and cropping than in regular photos captured with the phone's camera.

Of course, the downside is that these photos are a lot bigger than photos captured without Super Zoom. According to Engadget, each one weighs in at about 10 MB. The premium version of the Find 7 comes with 32 GB of storage, while the Find 7 Lite comes with just 16 GB of storage. Users looking to make regular use of the Super Zoom feature will likely make use of the expandable MicroSD storage before too long. They also take a bit longer to capture than a regular photo (given the phone has to capture 10 photos, this is not at all surprising). While it's not excessively long, it's not suitable for those times when you want to snap and go, especially if you already find yourself a bit frustrated by longer-capture features like HDR.

Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Samsung has introduced a new pixel technology for CMOS image sensors called ISOCELL. The company claims this new tech can produce higher color fidelity in poor lighting conditions by increasing light sensitivity and controlling the absorption of electrons. The first image sensor to adopt this tech will be the S5K4H5YB 8MP imager going into mass production by the end of the year.

Naturally, the quality of an image sensor is determined by the amount of light that is accurately captured by the individual pixels within the sensor array. However, smartphones need to stay within a specific form factor size, so they can't have physically large image sensors. Thus in order to increase the resolution and image quality, camera sensor providers have been locked into shrinking pixels instead of making sensors bigger while improving performance at the same time.

"To meet this challenge, previous sensor technology developments focused on improving the light absorption of each pixel, and have progressed pixel technology from FSI (Front Side Illumination) to BSI (Back Side Illumination) which places photodiode at the top to maximize photoelectric efficiency," Samsung explains. "While being very effective at the time, this BSI technology also faced limitations in improving image quality as pixel sizes continued to decrease."

Enter Samsung's next-generation pixel technology, the patent-pending ISOCELL. This tech actually forms a physical barrier around each pixel so that more photons can be collected from the micro-lens and absorbed into the correct pixel's photodiode. This pixel isolation will minimize electrical crosstalk between the pixels and allow expanded full well capacity (FWC), or the amount of charge an individual pixel can hold before saturating.

Samsung claims that when compared to conventional BSI pixels, ISOCELL pixels decrease the crosstalk by around 30 percent for a higher color fidelity, and increases the FWC by 30 percent, leading to a greater dynamic range. Even more, an image sensor using the tech can feature a 20 percent wider chief ray angle, thus reducing the actual camera module's height. This is ideal for form factors with "challenging" low z-height requirements.

"Through advances in pixel and process technology, smartphone and tablet cameras have made it easier than ever for consumers to capture and share beautiful, clear images with the world," said Taehoon Kim, vice president of System LSI marketing, Samsung Electronics. "ISOCELL technology is yet another innovation that significantly raises the bar in image quality, and demonstrates Samsung's technology leadership in image sensors for mobile devices."

Samsung's S5K4H5YB 8MP imager is currently being sampled to customers, and will go into mass production in 4Q 2013. This imager utilizes a 1.12um ISOCELL pixel, and has a 1/4 inch optical format.

The iPhone 5S isn't out yet, but Burberry already has one. Actually, Burberry already has 14 iPhone 5S units. But what good is getting the latest technology early if you're not going to show it off? With London Fashion Week under way this week, Burberry decided to use the new iPhone 5S to film its newest collection.

Apple last week announced that it had partnered with Burberry and that the fashion label would use the iPhone 5S to capture photos and video before, during and after the Burberry runway show in London. That show took place on Monday and Burberry today released a reel of iPhone 5S footage from the show. As you can see, the label made use of the iPhone 5S's new slow-motion feature. Check it out for yourself below (fair warning, it is 15 minutes long):

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Though you probably have no reason to worry about what happens at your home when you're not around, peace of mind is a wonderful thing. Whether you're going on vacation or just want to check in on your dog, the Tom's Guide team has put together a list of tools that will help you keep an eye on your home. Check out '8 Tools to Watch Your Home Remotely' for the full list.

As surveillance technologies like remote control systems and cameras become smaller, cheaper and more sophisticated, people have grown understandably wary, but the evolution of these technologies has its positive sides, too. With cheap, high-quality cameras and software comes the ability to set up your own camera systems to keep track of your home and keep an eye out for your children and loved ones. Whether you're setting up a surveillance system as a deterrent or to provide evidence against burglars, petty thieves and other criminals, the following apps will help you do it. 8 Tools to Watch Your Home Remotely

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Before the advent of digital cameras, it wasn't unusual for people to have boxes of photographs just waiting to be sorted and filed away or put into albums. These days, with digital cameras available for relatively little money, a similar problem exists: Folders of images dumped from your memory card or phone onto your your hard drive and promptly forgotten about. Indeed, organizing photos can be a massive pain in the neck. Luckily, there are applications to help you with this mundane task. Check out Tom's Guide's 'Best Free Apps for Managing Pictures.'

The advent of digital photography has made capturing images of the world around us easier than ever. It's also resulted in a massive increase in the amount of pictures we have to manage. It's not unusual to have hundreds or even thousands of photos scattered across poorly labeled folders and a half-dozen different devices. Organizing them all can be a Sisyphean task, with new photos coming in even as you file your current collection of images into a systematic whole. Here are a few free apps and trial tools for organizing, editing, and browsing. We hope they will help you on your way to a neat and well organized photo collection.Best Free Apps for Managing Pictures

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Sony has recently been spending their time focusing on creating the ultimate phone accessory: a detachable camera lens that can turn any iOS or Android device into a pseudo DSLR camera. Not only will this give ordinary smartphones a photographic edge over specially designed camera smartphones (such as the Nokia Lumia 1020), but will also give the Japanese manufacturer an edge over other companies that have developed similar, but less targeted hardware. 

The two lens models (seen above) have been subject to a curious leak prior to the expected launch date at IFA 2013. The labeled schematic and descriptions from the manual show that both models will come with power (1) and reset buttons (11), as well as a built-in microphone (2), shutter (9) and ring control (6), display panel (3), zoom lever (8), multinational jack (10), and status indicator (7). A belt clip (4) and tripod attachment (5) are also present. The rechargeable lenses come in a larger, heavier version (DSC-QX100 weighing in at 179g) and a smaller and lighter version (DSC-QX10 at 105g). While nothing is confirmed yet, this latest glance at an easier way to improve smartphone photography has already sparked our interest, and we will keep you up to date on more developments from Sony.

Now here's an interesting way to share photos and files on the fly: the new Genius Cam Mouse. As the name indicates, it's a 1200 DPI desktop mouse combined with a 2MP camera, allowing students to quickly share notes or business professionals to scan and transmit documents without having to get out of their seat. It's available now for a mere $34.99 at participating retailers.

"In a split second, the Cam Mouse transforms from a regular mouse to a camera that takes pictures and videos," the company said. "The ability to have a camera ready when needed is great for situations when you have a teacher who is about to erase some valuable notes off the board, or if a presenter in a meeting switches slides too quickly."

Genius said that users can switch into camera mode by merely opening the lens cover on the bottom of the mouse. The Smart Capture button is located on the top left corner of the device when it's laid flat, thus when the user picks it up to take a picture, the button is correctly placed on the right as if it were mounted on a standard camera. The only thing missing, it seems, is a small LCD display and viewfinder.

The mouse features the Genius BlueEye sensor, allowing it to be used on virtually any surface including dusted glass, marble, thick carpet or the top of your thigh (you've been there, admit it). The scroll wheel can be pressed down for free-scrolling or can be used to easily navigate long webpages or documents. It also has a QR code scanning function that allows users to navigate to websites on the fly.

"The Cam Mouse software lets users easily upload to Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and YouTube," the company said. "The combination to instantly upload pictures and videos to the computer and its social media integration means that users can share their world around them — in an instant."

The device is compatible with all voice and video chat applications such as Skype and Google Hangouts, and records video in 720p. There are a total of four physical buttons including left, right, and middle/scroll buttons, and the Smart Capture button.

For more information about this new mouse-camera hybrid, head here.

Newegg said on Monday that its very first pop-up store will be opened for three days on August 16 – 18 in The Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks, California. A "pop-up store" is typically what you see briefly operating during Halloween which provides all your decorative and costume needs for only a short period. Newegg's version will sell exclusive hardware instead of costumes and candy.

According to the company, Newegg will be "showrooming" Intel-inspired Ultrabooks, 4th generation Intel Core i7 laptops, VAIO laptops, tablets, digital cameras and wireless speakers from Sony, tablets and solid-state drives from Samsung, hard drives and personal cloud storage devices from WD, and many more. Newegg will also offer limited-time in-store deals and promotions for all customers that attend the inaugural pop-up store event, the company said.

"Showrooming is a reality today, so this back-to-school season, we wanted to give our customers a chance to interact with some of our most popular products in person in a traditional in-store environment," said Soren Mills, chief marketing officer at Newegg. "Newegg has already built an outstanding reputation for being a trusted online retailer of computers and electronics. We’re thrilled to open Newegg’s first ever pop-up store and hope our customers enjoy this special opportunity."

For early bird shoppers, the first 100 customers to come by the store on each day will receive a free gift, the company said. All purchases made during the store event will be delivered via free next-day shipping by Newegg’s regional shipping partner, OnTrac.

Newegg was founded by Fred Chang in 2001, and chose that name to symbolize a new birth during the aftermath of the dot-com crash in 2000 to 2001. The company just recently launched a new "flash sale" site offering daily bargains in a variety of product categories. It also launched its “Back-to-School: Gear to Rule” promotion which ends on September 16, offering "stellar" deals on the latest back-to-school technology products.

As for the new pop-up store, it will be open on August 16 and August 17 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. PDT, and on August 18 from 11a.m. to 7 p.m. PDT. "This pop-up store is sort of an experiment," a Newegg rep told Tom's. "Depending on how it goes, we’re open to a wide range of options beyond this initial pop-up store."

For the actual address and a preview of what's to come, head here.

We first heard about Autographer back in September of 2012. Created by London-based Oxford Metrics Group, Autographer is a hands-free digital camera capable of automatically capturing thousands of photographs throughout the day using its custom wide-angle lens. The device uses a custom 136° eye view 5-megapixel lens, a small GPS unit and five on-board sensors to identify the perfect times to snap photos based on changes in light, color, motion, direction or temperature. While we were intrigued by the concept when we heard about it last year, there was no mention of a price or a release date.

Almost a year on, we have both. According to Engadget, the device will go on sale in the United Kingdom tomorrow, though it won't be cheap. Priced at £400, it's not exactly a small purchase, but if the idea of wearing a camera that 'knows' the best times to take a photo really gets you going, that's what it's going to cost you. The Autographer packs a small OLED display, 8 GB of storage, and Bluetooth and weighs just under 60g.

Oxford Metrics Group (also known as OMG) hasn't offered much in the way of information on international pricing or launch dates. We'll keep you posted, though!

Nokia finally unveiled the Lumia 1020 last Thursday at a special event in New York City. The company revealed that the device would be available in the United States on July 26. However, the Finnish company neglected to mention anything about UK availability. On Monday, it emerged that the UK would be getting the phone, but it may not be for a while.

According to Crave, Nokia has confirmed that the UK will be getting the Lumia 1020 sometime in the third quarter, which means no later than September. Retailer Carphone Warehouse currently has the phone listed on its 'coming soon' page but has not yet offered a specific release date. 

The Lumia 1020 features a 1.5 GHz dual core Snapdragon S4, which is backed up with 32 GB of internal storage (non-expandable) and 7GB of SkyDrive storage courtesy of Microsoft, as well as 4G LTE support. Of course, it's got that all important 41 MP camera as well as a 1.2 MP front-facing camera. The phone sports a 4.5-inch AMOLED Puremotion display with a resolution of 1,280x768 pixels.

After months of rumors and leaked pictures, Nokia finally took the wraps off its Lumia 1020 camera phone. Though the device packs a pretty impressive camera with a 41-megapixel lens, it's also got a brand new camera application called Nokia Pro Photo to help users take better photos. Luckily, this app won't be exclusive to the Lumia 1020.

Nokia has confirmed that it will be releasing the Nokia Pro Photo application for other Lumia devices, namely the Lumia 920, the Lumia 925, and the Lumia 928 (basically any Lumia device bearing the PureView brand). Those that want the application will need an upgrade to the latest Amber software, though.

Nokia's Pro Camera app is stuffed to the brim with settings and functions that go a long way to satisfy the photography enthusiast. Manual exposure, complicated HUDs and even tutorials for newbies are all included and people who have had an opportunity to try the native camera app have described it as "intuitive," "responsive," and "functional." Nokia has apparently done what very few can by creating a "clutter-free augmented reality" for the app. We're glad it's going to be on more than the Lumia 1020 in that case!

After weeks of wild speculations and very promising teasers, Nokia finally reveals the Lumia 1020, the next big Windows Phone with enough camera tech to have any photographer bouncing with glee. Very similar to the Lumia 920, this new 41 MPx camera phone sets itself apart from the world of mobile photography in such a way that it redefines the label itself.

It all starts and ends with the camera. This phone is defined by its 41 megapixel sensor that incorporates PureView image processing right down to its core. Nokia is well aware that more megapixels does not mean better image quality, so along with the sensor comes a six-lens Carl Zeiss optics kit, similar to the one in the Lumia 925. The reasoning for the large image capture is a 3x digital zoom that enables a lossless zoom that still provides brilliant 5 MP cropped photos. This feature is available via the 30 fps video recording as well.

The camera (naturally) comes with auto focus as well (and even a manual focus for those who prefer twiddling the dials themselves), and for the first time, a dual-flash setup. With a primary LED flash, the phone delivers some extraordinary illumination with a backup Xenon flash (similar to the Lumia 928). Low light photos are always difficult, and for those sneaky shots in art galleries where a flash is frowned upon, the Lumia 1020 has some remarkable improvements. 

Anyone who has tried using a zoom lens and auto focus while moving around will appreciate the improvements Nokia has made to the image stabilization, replacing the previous springs with ball bearings, and allowing for a shallow mount with some spectacular results. CEO Stephen Elop showed some pictures he took with the phone on a rocking boat, and they do not disappoint. Now, the hardware side of the phone seems brilliant, but without equivalent software, you might as well not bother in the first place, right? Nokia has thought of that, too.

The company's Pro Camera app is stuffed to the brim with settings and functions that go a long way to satisfy the photography enthusiast. Manual exposure, complicated HUDs and even tutorials for newbies are all included and everything the app misses is bound to be covered by others available on Windows Phone (although Nokia is confusing folks further by calling these additional apps "lenses"). Those that have had an opportunity to try the native camera app have described it as "intuitive," "responsive," and "functional," and Nokia has apparently done what very few can by creating a "clutter-free augmented reality" for the app. We can barely wait.

Of course, the Lumia 1020 isn't just camera, and there is still some essence of an actual smartphone present. The device has a 4.5-inch AMOLED Puremotion display with a resolution of 1,280x768 pixels. The touchscreen can apparently be operated with a mere fingernail or even a gloved hand (winter photographers rejoice!), and boasts the new Gorilla Glass 3 treatment. Above this impressive screen sits a sad little 1.2 MP front-facing camera.

In the belly of the beast sits a 1.5 GHz dual core Snapdragon S4, which is backed up with 32 GB of internal storage (non-expandable) and 7GB of SkyDrive storage courtesy of Microsoft, as well as 4G LTE support. While the camera will not allow sharing of full 41 MP pictures, it will take a second 5 MP version for sharing (captured simultaneously) so don't worry about ridiculously large photos on social media sites just yet.

The phone boasts the same design as the Lumia 920 series (square corners and comfortable rounded edges), and impresses with some premium build quality comprised of solid-feeling polycarbonate. It's available in matte black, white and yellow and will be globally available for preorder from July 16 for a July 26 release date. However, U.S. customers will be stuck with AT&T-only contracts. Prices start at $300 for a two-year contract.

At one point, Nikon was at the top of the point-and-shoot camera market. But like many of its competitors, Nikon has taken a hit in the wallet thanks to the rise in smartphone use. Customers no longer need to carry a bulky camera around their neck, but instead can whip out a smartphone packing high-resolution camera sensors. And it's only going to get worse for the traditional camera maker.

In a July 4 interview at Nikon’s Tokyo headquarters, President Makoto Kimura told Bloomberg that point-and-shoot camera sales across the industry have dropped about a quarter in April and May from a year earlier. Meanwhile, smartphone shipments jumped up 46 percent last year to 722 million units. Obviously Nikon needs to change its direction in the general consumer market at the very least.

"The number of people taking snapshots is exploding by use of smartphones that sold 750 million or so last year and are still growing," Kimura said. "We’ve centralized our ideas around cameras but can change our approach to offer products to that bigger market."

The company's high-end camera portfolio with exchangeable lenses, like the D4-SLR costing $6,000, is expected to gain 9 percent in the current financial year. However it's the company's consumer-focused compact point-and-shoot business that's taking a hit, and this portion of the market is expected to shrink 12 percent in the same financial year. Kimura said sales of the higher end models will help compensate for the lack of sales in the point-and-shoot division for a few more years.

Meanwhile, Nikon's imaging division and a new business team are developing new products that should become available in less than five years. Kimura said Nikon is looking to create a product line that will change the concept of cameras, and could even be a non-camera consumer product. Naturally he wouldn't elaborate any further.

Does that mean Nikon may be developing a smartphone? The president declined to say, only stating that a rapid expansion of mobile devices is a change in business environment given to Nikon. "Our task going forward is to find an answer to that change," he said.

The company may also expand into production of medical devices, following Canon Inc. and Sony Corp. Rival camera maker Olympus Corp. is already the world's largest maker of endoscopes, a device with a light attached that's used to look inside a body cavity or organ. Ouch.

Though Nokia hasn't actually confirmed its upcoming PureView handset, there's been enough talk of the device over the last few weeks to render it a sure thing. That said, it sure is nice when someone in the know can confirm the existence of such devices, isn't it?

The Verge reports that two photos posted on the personal Flickr page of Microsoft's head of Windows Phone, Joe Belfiore, were captured using a camera called the Lumia 1020. This matches up nicely with recent reports that said the phone would carry Nokia's 'Lumia' branding alongside the model number '1020.'

The resolution of these two photographs (2947 x 1658 and 2352 x 1568) suggest that users will be able to switch up their shooting resolution to suit their needs. Sadly, because the photos have been switched to private, we don't know much else. Still, there's just a few days to go until Nokia's big event, so stay tuned!

You've probably noticed that a substantial number of photos being shared through the likes of Facebook and Twitter have been treated with filters, cropped, or otherwise edited with specialized applications. The Tom's Guide team has put together a list of applications to help you tweak or edit photos captured on your smartphone. Check out '14 Apps for Playing with Photos' for the full list.

With just about every smartphone and mobile computing device packing a camera these days, it's little wonder that there's also been a rise in little apps and services that let you play around with your images on the go. Services like Instagram let you enhance your images with artistic filters and share them online, while more whimsical apps let you add cartoon-like features, distort images, or even swap faces! Here are 14 apps you can use to mess around with photographs on your mobile device!14 Apps for Playing with Photos

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Every time a new smartphone gets launched, a photographer (or two) somewhere always has something to say about the quality (or lack thereof) of the images. At least they appear to have an ally, as the company, GEAK, has now released a duo of smartphones with both casual and avid photographers in mind.

The duo is comprised of the 5-inch "Eye" and the 5.8-inch "Mars," which both incorporate a 13 megapixel backside illuminated rear camera. The Eye also features an 8 megapixel forward camera (for astounding selfies), while the Mars brings it down to a mere 2 megapixels. Both handsets come with 16 GB of internal storage and HSPA+ data capabilities, but the Eye features a 720p IPS display with a quad-core Mediatek MT6589 and 1 GB of RAM, while the larger Mars comes with a Full HD 1080p display and a Snapdragon 600 with 2 GB of RAM.

The prices differ between the two products, but only a little, as the Eye sells for $326 and the Mars for $490, both off contract. While the phones are still only being sold in China beginning June 25, 2013, we have had no word for expected release dates in the USA.

Previously, we had started hearing rumors concerning Nokia's upcoming smartphone, the EOS PureView. So what's so special about this phone? It will probably come out with a massive 41 megapixel camera. While the number of megapixels in a camera is not the only factor to be considered in respect to total image quality, leaked photos and rumors have suggested that this device is more like a phone stuck on the back of a super lens, and will most certainly give you the picture quality for which you paid.

The latest news says that Nokia will announce this phone at its "zoom reinvented" event, scheduled for July 11, 2013 in New York. Rumors of the phone point to a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, a 4.5 inch 720p display, and 32 GB of internal storage. As this phone is primarily focused on photography, a Xenon Flash is also expected. The phone is expected to come equipped with Windows Phone 8 operating system as well as coming in both a white and black version.

So, do you think that a phone (or just this phone) could ever be used as a professional camera, or should companies stop trying to add unnecessary features to phones and instead focus on improving the actual quality of them? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Samsung's Galaxy series is a range of mobile computers that all run on Google's Android mobile operating system. One branch of the series is not smartphones, though, but rather Samsung's stab at point-and-shoot style cameras. The company has apparently decided that the camera business suits it, and subsequently introduced the logical next step in image capturing: the Galaxy NX Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera (or simply DSLR).

According to Samsung, despite the incorporation of Android 4.2.2, the camera does not lose the focus of providing the quality and flexibility of a professional DSLR. The camera aspect of the device comes with a 20.3 megapixel APS-C sensor, 25,600 ISO sensitivity, as well as compatibility with standard NX lenses from Samsung (adapters available). It comes standard with an 18 to 55 mm OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) lens with an aperture range of between 3.5 and 5.6 f-stop. The camera can also record full HD 1080p video at 60fps.

The not-so-standard aspects of the camera include a 4.3 inch qHD (960 x 540 pixels) multi-touch screen, which runs a combination of the previously mentioned Android 4.2.2 and TouchWiz interface. At the core sits Samsung's Exynos 5410 (an octa-core ARM cortex A15 also used in some Galaxy S4 phones) utilizing 2 GB of RAM, WiFi, HSPA+ and, on select models, 4G LTE. As with standard DSLRs, the image processing is done by an external chip.

The Galaxy NX really seems to have the best of both worlds, but we can't help but think that some people wouldn't want an open source operating system that can access all your holiday pictures, your real time location (and geo-tagging), and a high-speed mobile Internet connection. Another good point is how well the battery holds up in comparison to standard DSLRs, as we can easily imagine someone playing a game on the camera while waiting in line, only to find a dead camera battery on the other side of the queue.

We've already seen four iterations of the Galaxy S4, including the mini, a model running stock Android set to be released this month, and the ruggedized Galaxy S4 Active. However, it seems Samsung has yet another Galaxy S4 up its sleeve. This past weekend, photos surfaced of a Galaxy S4 with a large zoom lens attached to the back of the device. Word on the street was that this phone was the Galaxy S4 Zoom. Today, Sony confirmed the device's existence and revealed a little more about the S4 Zoom.

Think of it as a cross between the S4 and Samsung's Android-powered Galaxy Camera. The S4 Zoom looks to be thinner than the Galaxy Camera and sports a 16MP camera with 10x optical zoom and a 1.9MP front-facing camera. As with the Galaxy S4 mini and S4 Active, the device doesn't actually have the same specs as the original S4, just the same S4 branding. The S4 Zoom packs a 4.3-inch qHD display and a dual-core 1.5 GHz CPU coupled with 1.5 GB RAM. There's also 8 GB of onboard storage.

The Galaxy S4 Zoom is due out in the UK this summer, and will arrive in the United States in the third quarter of this year. Samsung didn't offer any info on pricing but it's definitely not a budget smartphone. If you're keen, best to prepare your wallet for the average price of a smartphone these days. Either that, or be prepared to sign a contract.

When rumors of the device initially cropped up last week and this past weekend, we assumed Samsung was saving the announcement for its June 20 event in London, but it looks like Sammy has something else up its sleeve for that event. The company has it billed as an Ativ and Galaxy event so we'll be seeing both Android and Windows devices next week. Stay tuned!

Ever since 2012's 41-megapixel 808 PureView, there's been talk of Nokia putting a similarly powerful lens on a Windows Phone device. January brought talk of a device codenamed EOS and packing a camera similar to the one in the 808 PureView and now it seems we're getting a peek at what we can expect that device to look like.

Leaked images showing a Nokia phone with a massive camera around the back have cropped up in at least three places online. Crave points to photos appeared on Chinese-language site WPDang, that show the cover for a Nokia device with a huge hole for the device's camera (above). GSM Arena has its own set of images (one directly below) that show a similarly monstrous camera on the backside of a smartphone as well as several other photos of the device itself. WindowsPhone Central has reposted photos from a Twitter user going by the name of ViziLinks (below, second). These photos show the back of the device and its camera but the megapixel-count for the lens is censored with an 'XX.'

Nokia's 808 PureView (below) was the first to carry the PureView brand and featured a 41-megapixel camera. However, it didn't run on Windows Phone. Subsequent Windows Phone handsets carry the PureView branding but none have as powerful a lens as the 808. Could this be the Windows Phone with a whopper lens that we've been waiting for? Stay tuned

Further Reading

WPDang

GSM Arena

ViziLeaks (via WPCentral)

The Google Glass team updated its Google Plus status with an announcement that, for now, facial recognition apps will not be allowed of the company's wearable tech. This is certainly good news for privacy advocates who have already grown weary over the thought that wearers could possibly take anyone's picture with just a blink of an eye.

"We've been listening closely to you, and many have expressed both interest and concern around the possibilities of facial recognition in Glass," the team states. "As Google has said for several years, we won’t add facial recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place. With that in mind, we won’t be approving any facial recognition Glassware at this time."

"We’ve learned a lot from you in just a few weeks and we’ll continue to learn more as we update the software and evolve our policies in the weeks and months ahead,' Google adds.

The Glass policies now state that app developers can't use the camera or microphone to "cross-reference and immediately present personal information identifying anyone other than the user, including use cases such as facial recognition and voice print." Applications that do this will not be approved "at this time."

App developers are also prevented from turning off the little light above the eye (AKA the display) when the camera is in use. Thus, it must remain active or become active when taking a picture and stay active during a video recording so that non-Glass wearers are more aware that the specs are in use.

"We take security very seriously: we can suspend your application without notice if it appears to have a security or stability issue that could affect Google or its users," the company states.

Google's Glass update in regards to facial recognition arrives after Congress submitted a number of questions to Larry Page over privacy concerns related to Glass and its embedded camera. One of those focused on facial recognition which could possibly unveil personal information about anyone the Glass user is viewing. Would a user be able to request such information? Can a non-user or human subject opt out of this collection of personal data?

"As members of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, we are curious whether this new technology could infringe on the privacy of the average American," the letter states. "Because Google Glass has not yet been released and we are uncertain of Google's plans to incorporate privacy protections into the device, there are still a number of unanswered questions that we share."

For now, it seems that Google has addressed that concern.

Pretty much every single smart phone around comes equipped with a camera or two. However, there are very good reasons why these portable wonders haven't replaced DSLR cameras quite yet. While phone companies globally are working hard to get phone cameras with variable shutter speeds, adjustable aperture settings, and even replaceable lenses, Apple has now taken steps to try to improve the camera's infamous reputation of taking horrible low light pictures. Their solution: synchronized flashes.

Apple has filed yet another patent, this time focusing on getting multiple devices to synchronize their flashes while a master unit takes the actual photo. The main device would first snap a preliminary shot and, after analyzing the photo, configure all the remote 'slave' devices for their flash duration and intensity, followed by a melodramatic blinding flash from all the connected devices to produce the final result. 

Note that we have used the word "devices" instead of "mobile phones" in the previous paragraph, meaning that this patent could eventually lead to your phone using everything from house lamps to tablets to professional camera photography equipment. However, knowing Apple, the technology would most likely link iOS devices together at first, and maybe even try to incorporate cross platform devices in the future. While this idea has been hanging around the photography industry for years now, this is the first time the idea has actually been applied to a patent. We hope to see other companies experiment with this kind of set-up in the future and come to an agreement with Apple concerning cross platform support.

Networking expert TRENDnet released two new products Tuesday night: the TV-IP762IC, which is a Wireless HD Day / Night Cloud Camera, and the TEW-713RE, which is a Wireless N network extender that plugs directly into an electrical outlet. The first device will be available this fall for $149 whereas the network extender will be available May 20 for $44.99.

For starters, TRENDnet says its new cloud camera takes the work out of viewing security video over the Internet. It installs on a wireless network in less than five minutes, and allows the user to access the device from any Internet connection thanks to a web-based interface via TRENDnet Cloud. Free apps for iOS and Android even allow the user to stream live video to their smartphone or tablet.

According to the company, this model expands on the company's line of cloud cameras by offering an expanded viewing field and 720p HD image clarity. Additional features include the ability to view up to 16 feet in complete darkness, set up motion detection recording and email alerts, hear sounds from the camera's environment, and record video to a microSD card. Complimentary pro-grade software to manage up to 32 TRENDnet cameras is also included.

"The TV-IP762IC offers an expanded viewing field and 720p HD image clarity," stated Zak Wood, director of global marketing. "Free apps and free pro-grade management software provide compelling value."

As for the upcoming Nano Wireless Extender, this device is great for expanding your Wireless N network into portions of the house or office that were previously out-of-reach. Simply plug it into an electrical outlet where there are still two bars of connectivity to the network router, and press a button. The TEW-713RE automatically adopts the router's wireless network name, encryption, and password. Device owners then connect to the extender instead of trying to access the out-of-reach router.

According to the specs, the compact "nano" extender features an Ethernet port for a wired connection to the Internet. It also measures 3.2 x 2.0 x 1.95 inches with the plug intact, and weighs a mere 2.8 ounces. There are LED indicators to give a visual status of the device (green, orange, red), a power switch, a reset button for restoring it to factory settings, and a WPS button.

"The TEW-713RE is small, affordable, and offers solid performance," stated Sonny Su, technology director for TRENDnet. "It's also easy for the average user to install."

For more information on how TRENDnet Cloud Cameras work, the free apps, and how to install one on your network, head here. A video tour of the new wireless extender can be seen here.

Modern cameras have a number of flaws, but one of them is something that the human eye also suffers from: a limited field of view. A new camera technology is being developed which is inspired by insects. An insect's eyes are actually more like spheres with countless small eyes. This system gives them a massive field of view and depth of field. "Nature has developed and refined these concepts over the course of billions of years of evolution," said lead researcher John Rogers.

The researchers at the University of Illinois are exploiting nature's advantage and developing cameras based on the same principle. Basically, they are building an array of lenses and detectors around a hemisphere.

"Full 180 degree fields of view with zero aberrations can only be accomplished with image sensors that adopt hemispherical layouts – much different than the planar CCD chips found in commercial cameras. When implemented with large arrays of microlenses, each of which couples to an individual photodiode, this type of hemispherical design provides unmatched field of view and other powerful capabilities in imaging," said John Rogers.

It has only been recently that these developments have been made possible, largely due to new developments in elastic optics that are needed to create a hemispherical camera. Sadly though, no indication was given as to when this kind of technology would actually be put into practice.

On Wednesday during Nvidia's GTC 2013 show in San Jose, I dropped by their booth in the exhibit hall to see what they were showing developers and the press. Consuming most of the space was Tegra 4 including Project Shield, which I've already written about, and a demonstration of the quad-core chip's very cool always-on HDR feature via Chimera.

If you're unfamiliar with HDR, it means High Dynamic Range and allows for a greater dynamic range between the lightest and darkest areas of an image. Once the user takes a snapshot, it essentially takes two pictures and picks the best data out of each, producing a brilliant image.

My iPhone features HDR; I typically keep this setting on because I hate how the flash can wash out a scene. Unfortunately, the process isn't instantaneous as it takes roughly two to three seconds to complete a shot after I press the virtual button. The Tegra 4's Chimera architecture, dubbed as the world's first computational photography architecture, nukes that time restraint, providing real-time, instantaneous HDR even when viewing the scene through the touchscreen.

Nvidia's hands-on demo consisted of a model village built within a lighted, enclosed scene, and a Tegra 4 tablet mounted on the front. Unfortunately, I didn't think to actually take a picture until after the showroom floor was closed and the bouncers prevented me from re-entering to take a quick shot. But Intomobile was there and provides an image and video, as shown here.

Regardless, the point of the demo was to show the end-user the difference between your standard shot, and an image taken with HDR. You can literally move your finger across the screen to enable and disable HDR in real time. Want to compare the two? Leave the slider directly in the middle. Ultimately you aren't required to wait two to three seconds for the chip to process the HDR information, and that's a good thing.

Nvidia's Chimera demo also showed the cool tap-to-track feature in action. This allows the Tegra 4 smartphone or tablet to track a defined object and not only keep it in focus in real-time, but retain the proper exposure even when the object or device moves in real-time as well.

As an example, say your son is out in the field playing soccer and you want a shot. Simply draw a virtual box around his jersey numbers on-screen, and Chimera does the rest. So not only do you have high-quality still images in a smartphone or tablet, but the capability of capturing objects that are in motion while retaining the same high-quality output.

If anything, Tegra 4 and Chimera will start improving the moments we capture in our daily lives without requiring us to sink tons of money on a high-end DSLR camera. While there are HDR-compatible mobile devices like the iPhone 4S and later on the market, Tegra 4 should help push the high-def format into the mainstream market even more. That said, devices sporting the lovely quad-core ship will start shipping in 2Q13.

Click here for our technical analysis of Tegra 4.

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