It seems like the numbers might be a little thin, but if anyone is near SF I would like to coordinate a meeting at a bar or restaurant in the city. We could do an upcoming weekend in mid to late July, preferably a Saturday so that people can come and go more freely. We can meet downtown so that it's easy for anyone coming into the city (provided BART is not still striking :/). Anyone's welcome, of course, whether you live here or are just passing by. And I'm a lurker on the site, but I'd still like to meet other personal-viewers. Comment in this thread if you're down to meet and maybe say which day works best for you. Let's work something out!

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ContentPrimary/Community/Events/Bikefest.jsp?utm_source=mec.ca&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=bikefest&bmLocale=en

I know is kind of this week-end and but if u guys are free why not meeting there??? @blackroom i own a gh2 too ! We could team up and have a couple of different angles to make a final edit and post it in here .....

P.S. I am open to any other possible meet ups!

Sony seeks to purchase Renesas Electronics' main chip fabrication facility and use it to make image sensors for smartphone and other devices, a field in which it is the global leader, The Nikkei learned Tuesday.

The two sides are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding as early as the beginning of next week. If negotiations proceed smoothly, Sony will acquire shares in the Renesas unit that operates the Tsuruoka plant in Yamagata Prefecture by March 31. Sony is also expected to take on some of the 900 or so workers at the factory.

Sony hopes to use the plant to fabricate CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) sensors, a key component that determines the quality of images shot on smartphones and digital cameras. It controls roughly 30% of the global market in this field, and its sensors can be found in Apple's iPhone and other smartphones. Sony President Kazuo Hirai has positioned CMOS sensors as one of the pillars of the firm's growth.

Quite a difference from Panasonic who is selling factories like mad.

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Deals/Sony-aims-to-buy-Renesas-chip-fab-convert-it-to-camera-sensors

Panasonic will roll out about five new compact digital cameras next year, half this year's number, in a bid to return a segment besieged by smartphone cameras to profitability by fiscal 2014.

The 2014 crop of new arrivals will center on pricey offerings that cost 30,000 yen ($296) or more, set apart by such features as high-magnification zoom.

The company will focus on mirrorless single-lens models.

Panasonic anticipates a second consecutive year of losses for its digital camera business in fiscal 2013.

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Panasonic-to-halve-digital-camera-releases-in-2014

Panasonic Taiwan has filed a statement indicating it will discontinue production of ALIVH (any layer interstitial via hole) boards in 2014 indicating Panasonic's move to phase out from the PCB market.

Panasonic has two ALIVH production plants in Taiwan with a staff of about 600. The two plants will continue to operate until all orders received have been fulfilled, said Panasonic Taiwan. Later, employees at the two plants will be switched to other associated companies of the Panasonic Group in Taiwan or laid-off with severance pay.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20131129PD214.html

OLD DATA for Now

LOCATION:
We are meeting at the famous / popular Union Square steps across the street from whole foods, getting acquainted, playing with our cameras etc. Then we are moving into whole foods which has seats and tables upstairs and a very nice variety of eats.

Post Meeting:
The meeting went very well, it was great! Nice to meet you guys and hope our group can grow for the next one which at the moment I am open to suggestions about. I would say sometime in late August? Sept?

Video : Due to popular demand here is an edit of the meeting. Sorry it took so long to put something together i have been over worked these last couple weeks. I still plan to do a post on OSGFilms (http://osgfilms.com/personal-view-meeting-new-york-0613/) and add pictures, actually write a proper article / post but i am behind on some projects. Just know we had a great time, more details soon.Thank you for your patience!

We may still be years away from watching the sweet, sweet 33MP resolution video promised by Super Hi-Vision in our own homes, but over in Japan, NHK engineers are slowly working out the various kinks keeping it from us. Their latest development is this camera seen above on the left, capable of recording 8K in a camera head that is smaller and lighter than the previous unit (the new one weighs 4kg, about 1/5th the weight) shown on the right, and is more comparable to the size of a standard HDTV camera. According to the NHK the savings were achieved by developing a new single plate color imaging mechanism and eliminating the need for a prism to separate the colors beforehand, so it's small enough to be used with standard SLR camera lenses. Sure, it's not quite ready to go on your next vacation, but if you're in Japan you can get a peek at it (and that 145-inch 8K Panasonic plasma) at the broadcaster's open house later this month.

From www.engadget.com/2012/05/11/nhk-smaller-8k-super-hi-vision-camcorder/

Our investigation currently indicates that the attackers accessed Adobe customer IDs and encrypted passwords on our systems. We also believe the attackers removed from our systems certain information relating to 2.9 million Adobe customers, including customer names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and other information relating to customer orders.

This is big. All their customers affected.

We are also investigating the illegal access to source code of numerous Adobe products

They also leaked sources. LOL.

As I understand they can just could make it short - hackers got all and everything that Adobe had. Data on every customer, all sources, etc.

http://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2013/10/important-customer-security-announcement.html

40GB of compressed source codes. Hmm.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/10/adobe-to-announce-source-code-customer-data-breach/

Expanding the color gamut of UHD was hot topic. Much as already been said about the gamut known as Rec.2020, which encompasses a significantly wider range of colors than HDTV's Rec.709 and even the digital-cinema P3 gamut. (Actually, color gamut is only one part of Rec.2020, which is more formally known as ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020 and also includes parameters such as display resolution, frame rate, color bit depth, and color subsampling.)

Some presenters advocated going much farther by using the XYZ color gamut, which extends well beyond the entire range of colors visible to the human eye. By using XYZ, the system would be entirely future-proof, accommodating any display technology that might be developed without having to create a new system all over again.

Frame rate was also debated. Of course, higher frame rates result in sharper motion detail, especially if the camera's shutter aperture—the fraction of the entire frame duration that the shutter is open—is low. (The longer the shutter is open during each frame, the blurrier moving objects appear.) However, a low shutter aperture also increases visible judder, a stuttering in what should be smooth motion. Also, higher frame rates look less like film and more like video, which many cinephiles object to. Still, many presenters said, in effect, "Get over it, this is the future we're talking about!"

Richard Salmon of the BBC brought some demo material comparing standard and high video frame rates—50 vs. 100 frames per second for Europe and 60 vs. 120 fps for the US. In the European clips, the 50 fps material was shot with a 50% shutter aperture, while the 100 fps footage was shot with a 33% aperture; in the American clips, both 60 and 120 fps were shot with a 50% aperture. In all but one case, the objects in motion were much sharper at the higher frame rate, and I did not see any judder. The only exception was a side shot of a woman juggling three bowling pins, and in that case, there was no improvement in the motion sharpness because, we were told, the human visual system cannot resolve rotating motion very well.

HDMI 2.0 was mentioned by Peter Putman, a well-known industry analyst and journalist whose presentation focused on the consumer-display side of the equation. According to his calculations based on using the RGB color space, HDMI 2.0 with 18 Gbps of available bandwidth can convey UHD at 60 fps with 8-bit color but not 10-bit, while DisplayPort 1.2 with 21.6 Gbps of bandwidth can handle 2160p/60 with 10-bit color using RGB coding.

Most of the presenters advocated for UHD to adopt the entire Rec.2020 suite of parameters, including a resolution of 3840x2160, the specified color gamut (if not XYZ), frame rates up to 120 fps, at least 10-bit color (preferably 12-bit), and 4:2:2 subsampling (if not 4:4:4). However, HDMI 2.0 at 18 Gbps can't accommodate all these upgrades, so we face a dilemma—increase HDMI 2.0's data rate, abandon HDMI for DisplayPort, or accept lower standards for UHD.

Check rest at http://www.avsforum.com/t/1496765/smpte-2013-uhd-symposium

Osaka, Japan – Panasonic Corporation today announced that in order to create a business structure that can respond to changes in the business environment and to accelerate the growth strategy of the company, the company will end the production of plasma display panels (PDP) in December 2013, and stop business operations at the Amagasaki P3 Factory (production currently stopped), the Amagasaki P5 Factory (production currently suspended), and the Amagasaki P4 Factory, which is currently operating, by the end of March 2014.

Via: http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/2013/10/en131031-8/en131031-8.pdf

As usual, cuts and outsource will follow.

http://panasonic.net/ir/vision/pdf/20130918_vision_note_e.pdf

It's a 'GH4K, won't be out 'till next year. But I know some people who know some people that rob some people!(Cit.)

I know they are out there lurking on us speak loud!

This is the official Panasonic Lumix GH4 whist list.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7436/nvidias-gsync-attempting-to-revolutionize-gaming-via-smoothness

Basically, at any time, the monitor can have it's scan rate modified. This is aimed to eleviate tearing, stutters and lag for videogames, but for cinema this could be great too. Imagine native 24, 25, 48, 50, 60 framerate options for various video sources, or for movies that want to try to do a variable framerate based on content/intent, that could be supported too.

Currently, this is going to be limited to Nvidia kepler hardware, and specific monitors that have the Nvidia scaler in it (but apparently some already existing monitors can have the hardware integrated DIY). I could see this being a big deal, and hopefully supported, or being a new standard for displays.

Apparently it seems like a wise thing to do for anyone else whose card information has been given to adobe.

Sorry @Vitaliy_Kiselev I know there was a alredy a topic about Adobe CC hack incident but I thougth it would serve forum memebers well to give this it own to attract attention. Please feel free to move this it if thats a better option.

Ikonoskop has temporarily stopped the production of the A-Cam dll cameras due to a strained financial situation. We are working hard to find a solution to this and hope to start up production as soon as possible.

http://www.ikonoskop.com/

Japan's Panasonic Corp has decided to pull out of the plasma television panel business by the end of the current financial year in March 2014, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday.

Panasonic had been expected to exit the struggling business, although the move was sooner than some analysts had predicted. Several hundred employees in the plasma operation are expected to be deployed to other parts of the company, the sources said.

With the closure of its sole plasma panel factory in western Japan, Panasonic will book an impairment loss of more than 40 billion yen ($413 million) on its last remaining factory building in operation, the sources added

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/09/us-panasonic-plasmatv-idUSBRE99801720131009?feedType=RSS&feedName=technologyNews

This 20 min promo features narration which is not in the feature length version.

Website: http://www.desertrunnersmovie.com/

Now we are looking for authors, from our members, who can add interesting content and their knowledge.

Especially in color grading, lighting, interviews parts. But any other ideas are welcome.

Leave here note or PM me.

Outdoor footage GH1 and 14-140 kit lens, Indoor footage GH2 and 14-140 kit lens, Audio was record on a Zoom H4n and Sennheiser K6 shotgun.

The 2012 US Surfski Championships - NBC Universal Sports Network - 30 min duration

9/8: 3 PM

9/23: 6:30 PM

9/25: 11:30 AM

9/27: 3:30 AM

How cool is that, don't let the lack of expensive gear hold you back.

R

Panasonic Corporation will be presented with a Technology and Engineering Emmy® Award for 2013 by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The honor is being conferred upon Panasonic in recognition of the company’s development of In-Camera Electronic Compensation for Lateral Chromatic Aberrations in External Lenses. The Emmy Award will be presented on Thursday, January 9, 2014 as part of the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

“This technology has helped us maintain high-quality imaging while making improvements in size, weight and affordability, and now combined with master-quality AVC-ULTRA recording and native 1920 x 1080 imagers, CAC has contributed to new benchmarks for HD acquisition, getting around inherent limitations of optics.”

Lateral chromatic aberrations are inherent to all optics and must be compensated for in the optical design. The trend to smaller imager formats and less-expensive optics had meant compromises in image performance without an alternative solution to this problem. The concept of modeling the aberrations of a lens and applying real-time electronic correction provides a very significant increase in image quality and permits lower cost-cameras and optics to create better images

Via: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131001005537/en/Panasonic%E2%80%99s-Development-In-Camera-Chromatic-Aberration-Compensation-Honored

Samsung Electronics announced its new advanced pixel technology for CMOS image sensors, ISOCELL. This new technology substantially increases light sensitivity and effectively controls the absorption of electrons, resulting in higher color fidelity even in poor lighting conditions. - See more at: http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/?p=28442#sthash.h9Spe5Hl.dpuf

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. With the market pressure to increase camera resolution and image quality, without growing the camera size, the pixels have had to shrink, while improving their performance at the same time – a challenging task.

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. While being very effective at the time, this BSI technology also faced limitations in improving image quality as pixel sizes continued to decrease.

ISOCELL technology forms a physical barrier between neighboring pixels – isolating the pixel. This isolation enables more photons to be collected from the micro-lens and absorbed into the correct pixel’s photodiode minimizing undesired electrical crosstalk between pixels and allowing expanded full well capacity (FWC).

Compared to conventional BSI pixels, the ISOCELL pixels decrease the crosstalk by approximately 30 percent which results in higher color fidelity to reproduce the original color with sharpness and richness, and increase the full well capacity (FWC) by 30 percent which leads to greater dynamic range.

Additionally, an imager designed with ISOCELL can feature a 20 percent wider chief ray angle (CRA), reducing the height of the camera module. This makes it suitable for slim and small form factor mobile devices with challenging low z-height requirements.

http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/?p=28442

Superpix® SP8AC08 is APS-C, 12 mega pixel color image sensor chip with high dynamic range intended for SLR Camera. The SP8AC08 has low power consumption. Each pixel size is 6 um. High Sensitivity, High SNR, and Low dark current.

http://www.superpix.com.cn/en/Photo_Show.asp?InfoId=170&ClassId=38&Topid=0

Plant is responsibe for about 15% of worldwide DRAM supply.

Reports are controversal. Some state that price hike will happen in retail. Hynix, of course, is optimistic. :-)

Hynix representatives told PCWorld that the fire raged a mere 90 minutes and didn’t materially damage the factory’s clean-room fabrication equipment. The smoke appeared worse than it was because as the fire mainly occurred in air-purification area, Hynix said.

"Currently, there is no material damage to the fab equipment in the clean room, thus we expect to resume operations in a short time period so that overall production and supply volume would not be materially affected," company representative Seongae Park said in a statement.

"In addition, we expect that the majority of damage will be covered through insurance."

http://www.i-bidder.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/techbid/catalogue-id-3382

(Edited title to indicate it's TV gear...)

Japan, September 12, 2013—Canon Inc. has successfully captured video footage of Yaeyama-hime fireflies flying in darkness, a feat made possible by the high-sensitivity 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor developed by Canon for video capture that was announced in March 2013.

The high-sensitivity, low-noise video-shooting capabilities of the dedicated 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor1 for Full HD video capture were made possible not only through the integration of the high-performance sensor technologies employed in Canon's digital SLR cameras, but also through the incorporation of new pixel and readout circuitry technologies that reduce noise.

Using a camera prototype equipped with the CMOS sensor, Canon, in cooperation with ZERO CORPORATION, succeeded in capturing video of the Yaeyama-hime fireflies that inhabit Japan's Ishigaki Island, located off the northeastern coast of Taiwan. No artificial lighting was used during shooting, which took place after sunset amid the island's mountains. Despite an exceptionally dark shooting environment4 of less than 0.01 lux, a level in which the naked eye would have difficulty discerning surrounding objects, the CMOS sensor was able to capture not only the color of the light emitted by the fireflies, each of which measures only a few millimeters in length, and their movements, but also the surrounding vegetation in which the species lives. Plans call for the footage to be used to benefit future research into the Yaeyama-hime firefly.

In addition to astronomical and natural observation, Canon is looking into applying this CMOS sensor to medical research purposes as well as surveillance and crime-prevention equipment. Through the further development of innovative CMOS sensors, Canon aims to expand the realm of photographic possibilities while cultivating the world of visual expression.

Via: http://www.canon.com/news/2013/sep12e.html