DIY image stabilizer costs you less than US$1

Even though most point-and-shoots on the market now feature image stabilizer functions, there are still a couple of shooters out there which don't. Older units may not have this feature, too. Chances are, without onboard IS, pictures taken at slow shutter speed will turn out blurry.

Lifehacker has a simple instruction video on how you can make a simple camera stabilizer for less than US$1. Sounds too good to be true? Well, considering that the only materials you'll need are a bolt, length of string and washer, you may even be able to make it for free if you look around your toolbox hard enough.
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The Lebowski Flip Mino: If you will it, dude, it is no dream

The other day I got an e-mail from the folks at Flip Video telling me that on October 14 they'd be launching a new online service that would let consumers design custom versions of the Flip Mino mini camcorder. They were going to send me a Mino with one of the company's new stock "custom" designs on it, but they also said I could take the beta site for a test run and design my own Mino. So, I did.

The process is quite simple. You just upload an image--it helps to have something with ample resolution--and that image is grafted onto a virtual Mino. You can then make some tweaks and position the image to your liking. (Check this all out at theflip.com).

If you don't want to use your own image, you have a few other options. You can choose from several stock designs or use the Design Generator to create a custom pattern. In the coming weeks, Flip Video will also be adding hundreds of user-generated designs to the "design marketplace" on theflip.com and cafepress.com. If you're designer, you can opt to post your Mino design online and Flip Video will pay you a US$10 royalty every time someone buys a Mino with your design.
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Interesting photos make you wonder how they were captured

Trend Hunter has a nice collection of photos that'll make you go "huh" and wonder how they were shot.

The first set of images were captured with a tilt-shift lens which creates an extremely shallow depth of field and makes people in the frame look like miniature figurines walking around. Not only does it focus on just a limited area, it gives an illusion of a world that has shrunk.

The second set of images by photographer Martin Waugh captures the moment a liquid droplet comes into contact with a water body. This kind of photography has to be precise and lighting is of utmost importance to create that special effect.

Hopefully, these images will inspire readers and maybe you can set out to create some unique shots, too. Share your pictures with us if you have something interesting!

Via Trend Hunter

Black silicon promises 500x more sensitivity to light

Previously we reported on a Japanese-developed image sensor which its engineers claim has 100x more sensitivity to light than existing CCD or CMOS sensors. However, a physicist at Harvard has created a new silicon wafer that promises up to 500x more light sensitivity.

Eric Mazur and his graduate students were firing an intense laser light onto a silicon wafer and, by chance, added sulfur hexafluoride to it. This resulted in the creation of black silicon, whose surface is covered with microscopic spikes. We guess this increased the surface area of the chip and made it more sensitive to light. Also noteworthy is that the chip can detect infrared light, too.

New York Times reports that the production method will be compatible with what current silicon manufacturers employ, so its cost shouldn't be any higher than what is available on the market right now.
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How fast is your flash card?

One of the hardest accessory questions to answer is, "Should I spend more for a really fast card for my camera?" Only Rob Galbraith knows for sure, because he has the time to test them all. But he kindly packages the results in a neat database so you can see how well a particular card performs in your camera.

Rob's just added results for the Canon EOS 50D, Nikon D90, and Sony DSLR-A900. Unsurprisingly, in newer models, the SanDisk Extreme III Ducati cards seem to be the fastest CF cards across the board, and the Extreme III 30MB/sec edition takes the SD crown.

Via CNET Crave

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