GoPro Hero camera is simple, yet effective

The GoPro Hero Motorsports Wide is a vehicle-mounted camera system that lets enthusiasts' quickly record video and take still photographs of a vehicle in motion.

We got our first look at the GoPro system at SEMA 2008. The system consists of a camera, a waterproof and shockproof housing, and an assortment of mounting hardware, including a large suction cup.

The GoPro Hero immediately won me over with its simplicity and value. I had an absolute blast finding interesting mounting locations for testing on various vehicles. I even took it on a cross-country road trip where, sadly, the only thing I ended up recording was hours of driving in a straight line.

However, once the shine had worn off, I had to acknowledge the Hero's thirst for batteries as its Achilles' heel.

Via CNET Reviews

Sony patents Surface-like photo printer

At CES last year I was lucky enough to get a chance to spend a good half hour with a prototype of the Microsoft Surface device. Since then, I've been to the campus in Redmond a few times and have seen a few more things it can do. It's promising technology, but Microsoft's going to have to hustle to get it to market if it wants to stay impressive, as other groups, like Sony, look to be rushing their own versions into the world.

Take this patent Sony recently filed for a digital printer. Using a touchscreen UI, the printer wirelessly downloads photos from your (Sony-only, probably) digital camera. Then you can preview them on the screen and decide which ones to print.

It's likely you'll have options like red-eye fixes, cropping, and other basic image adjustments built in. The thing is, the camera download thing is one of the many things the Surface can do. If Sony can beat Microsoft in bringing that technology home, then it's one less exciting thing about the Surface.

That being said, this is still in the patent stage and nobody (that we know of) has seen a prototype yet. Maybe CES next year?

Via CNET Crave

Olympus to launch two Micro Four Thirds cameras?

When Olympus unveiled its Micro Four Thirds concept camera last year, it caused quite a stir with its retro styling which was reminiscent of the company's Pen-series rangefinders.

Now there is word on the Web that Olympus will announce not one, but two Micro Four Thirds cameras at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) tradeshow in Las Vegas this March. The rumor originated from a Russian Web site, which then made its way to dpreview's forums. We used Google Translate to convert the Russian text to English, and this was what we could make out of it.
Read more »

Photographer's multi-identity project

Photographer Mikel Uribetxeberria has a dream to be another person. Which is why his latest project, I Dream About Being You, sees him dressed up and photographed in various persona.

In a black-and-white picture, Uribetxeberria is a priest. The high-contrast shot is reminiscent of an oil painting, and I can almost visualize it being hung on a church wall. In another snap, he takes on two identities--husband and wife--and the kitsch pose reminds me of wedding photographs taken in the 1970s.

I have to admit that Uribetxeberria did a good job in getting the right clothes and makeup. Most importantly, the post-processing was extremely well done, too.

Uribetxeberria's idea is not new, however. Japanese photographer Tomoko Sawada has made dressing up and photographing herself as other people a lifelong project.

If Uribetxeberria and Sawada's works have sparked off your interest, why not attempt something similar yourself and contribute this to our Snapshots gallery?

Recreate your Polaroids for free

Though we have oft lamented the passing of Polaroid into photographic history, a new application called Poladroid allows you to recreate that nostalgic look and feel of the instant film for free.

Once installed, Poladroid places a hovering Polaroid camera over your desktop onto which you can drag and drop any digital photo to convert it into a "poladroid". As the photo emerges from the camera, it continues to develop in front of your eyes, just as Polaroid film does — and if you want to speed up the process even further, you can shake the picture from right to left using your mouse.

The program applies a range of effects such as vignetting and color shifting to the image, and outputs the final picture in a square Polaroid frame. You can also halt development at any stage and save an image of your poladroid in the process; just click and save for that underexposed look.

To stay even more true to the original format, Poladroid only allows you to make 10 photos at a time — the same number of frames in a pack of Polaroid film.

Download Poladroid for free from poladroid.net or view some examples of poladroids on the flickr group page.

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