Category Archives: Cameras

Cameras, Gear, Mobile, Sound, Still photography, Technical, Techniques

Clever way to program a DSLR – by putting the code outside the camera

Inexpensive dongle interfaces between iPhone and certain Olympus and Panasonic DSLR cameras. A software app on the iPhone adds new features including time lapse, motion detection, high dynamic range controls, and other capabilities.

Does it work? E-M5 iPhone controller… | 43 Rumors.

Which camera company will be first to offer their own software development kit for a camera?

3D, Cameras, Gear, Techniques

“ePhotozine Panasonic 3D lens review. Is the 3D hype over?”

43 Rumors | Blog | ePhotozine Panasonic 3D lens review. Is the 3D hype over?.

I just bought one of these 3D lenses for $50 and so far, I have not quite figured what it might be good for. I thought with the close lens spacing, and a simple trick to use it with video (put tape over the electrical contacts), that it would be useful for close in 3D shots due to the narrow interaxial spacing.

However, since the lens works by creating two side by side images on the 1080p video (a common 3D standard), the video images cannot be correctly stretched in my editor to produce the right aspect ratio.

Normally, we take two full size images 1920×1080, combine those into a single 3D representation, and (for Youtube) output in the side-by-side format. In the side-by-side format, the 3D is represented with a squished left image on the left and a squished right image on the right. These are then stretched to present a full size (albeit, lower resolution) 3D image at 1080 pixels wide.

The problem is that using the Lumix 3D lens, we start with an image of about 960×1080 and that is the correct proportions for the image. My editor can edit proper side-by-side, but it has no idea what to do with the non-squished side-by-side images. For now, it stretches the 960×1080 back to 1920×1080 and yes, this makes everyone look really fat!

For now, I have not yet found a solution to put this lens to work on close in subjects for 3D video. But I will keep trying!

3D, Cameras, Technical, Techniques

Panasonic | 12.5mm f/12 Lumix 3D G Lens for Micro Four Thirds Mount Cameras – $49.99

Panasonic | 12.5mm f/12 Lumix 3D G Lens for Micro Four Thirds Mount Cameras | HFT012.

The $249 lens is currently being sold with a $200 rebate offer, so your cost is $49.99. I just ordered one.

Officially, the little lens does not support video in 3D, but that is supposed to be easy to work around – just put tape over the electrical contacts on the 3D lens and use the feature in the camera (see menus) to use the camera without a lens. The effect of all this is to recorded side by side (left-right) video for the left-right eyes.

The lens is wide at 12.5mm (25mm full frame equivalent) and slow (f/12) but all that is fine for deep depth of field 3D. The main issue is that the lenses are very close together, which is only going to be useful for relatively close in subjects. However, since I currently used paired cameras with a roughly 3″ and 6″ interaxial distance, I figure the narrow interaxial on the 3D lens will be useful for very close in subjects. Looking forward to trying this for 3D video!