Urban Biodiversity in Copenhagen, Denmark : June 2008
I had opportunity to visit Copenhagen in June 2008. June was a really good time to travel because the weather was really pleasant. I could walk a lot on the streets. To help me even more the days were really long, almost 20-21 hours.
I am trying to give a glimpse of whatever biodiversity I came across while I was there.
These Pigeons were happily moving on the ground feeding. I felt at home because this is very familiar site back in India too.
This Magpie was commonly seen scavenging on the trash cans. I found them commoner than the crows there.
The swans were present in the lakes. Some of them were very active in the afternoon.
And some of them were taking a nap.
The swans were bold and friendly and would let me go near to take photographs.
The gulls were feeding along with Swans.
And look at this Gull sitting on the statue.
And the familiar Coots were also seen.
The ducks were present, but were not looking as bright as we see them in India.
The crows were present, though in lesser number.
There another type of Pigeons which I need to identify yet.
I also saw a lot of sparrows, though I could not photograph any.
The were lot of flowers around. I could hardly photograph them, but took some snaps on the way, which are mostly planted garden flowers. Here are few of the photographs.
Labels: Birds, Copenhagen, Denmark, photography, travel, Urban Wildlife, wildlife
Nikon's D60 is world's first Eye-Fi enhanced camera
It may be a low-end DSLR contender, but Nikon's D60 can still surprise. Seems Nikon and
Eye-Fi are in cahoots as the D60 was just announced as the first shooter crowned "Eye-Fi Connected." The D60 recognizes the Eye-Fi wireless 2GB SD card when inserted then automatically adjusts its "power timer settings" so that picture transfers aren't interrupted. Kind of important when uploading
hundreds dozens of 10.2 megapixel photos over WiFi. In return for the powerful industry nod, Eye-Fi will offer on-line integration with Nikon's "my Picturetown" this Spring. We'll be sure to go hands-on with the combo at PMA just as soon as we get the chance.
What is eye-fi ?Story
Labels: Nikon, photography
EYE-FI UNVEILS WORLD’S FIRST WIRELESS MEMORY CARD
Eye-Fi Card Uses Wi-Fi to Automatically Upload Photos to Computers and
Online Photo Sharing and Social Networking Sites
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., October 30, 2007 – Eye-Fi Inc., a company dedicated to helping people navigate, nurture and share their digital memories, today unveiled the Eye-Fi Card – the world's first wireless SD memory card for digital cameras. The Eye-Fi Card uses home Wi-Fi networks to create an effortless and convenient way for users to send photographs from digital cameras to PCs, Macs and online photo and social networking sites. See release entitled “Eye-Fi Announces Support from Seventeen Online Photo Destinations.” Priced at $99.99 with 2GB of storage, the Eye-Fi Card is available now from major online retailers.
“Digital cameras have made it extremely easy to take pictures, but the rest of the process is a hassle,” said Jef Holove, chief executive officer of Eye-Fi. “The Eye-Fi Card removes the barriers and lets users get to the fun part of sharing and printing their memories. We’re putting the magic back into photography.”
Eye-Fi uses home wireless networks to eliminate the time-consuming chore of dealing with cables, card readers or software plug-ins associated with uploading photos. Users simply turn on their digital camera and their pictures are wirelessly uploaded. The Eye-Fi Card works with existing and new SD-compatible digital cameras and stores photos like a conventional SD memory card.
“We know that a large percent of digital images captured each day are never printed or shared. That adds up to significant lost revenues for photo sharing and printing sites,” said IDC analyst Ron Glaz. “We anticipate wireless cameras will fundamentally change the way people manage their digital photographs in the future and believe that Eye-Fi Card will help drive these changes.”
How the Eye-Fi Card worksDuring a simple set-up process, users can select from among 17 popular online photo sharing, printing, social networking or blogging sites to share their photographs, and select where on their PC or Mac they want to archive their images. Once the set-up is complete, users can focus on taking pictures and sharing memories – and not on the process of uploading photos from their camera.
Eye-Fi’s free upload service allows users to transfer an unlimited number of photos. It handles full-resolution JPEG pictures and intelligently resizes the images if required by the selected online destination.
“We’re thrilled to be among the first to sell the Eye-Fi Card and we expect it to be a big hit for the holidays,” said Aaron Maguire of Buy.com. “Eye-Fi understands how time-starved our customers are, and this solution matches their needs.”
The 2GB wireless SD memory card, which holds approximately 1,000 images, is available now at major online retailers including Amazon.com, Buy.com and Walmart.com for $99.99 USD. For more information, please visit
www.eye.fi.
Review of this cardStoryLabels: photography
Sony GPS tracker for photography
Sony has today announced a very interesting little device for recording the position where photographs are taken. The GPS-CS1 is a small (9 cm / 3.5 in) cylindrical device which you simply attach to a backback or belt loop and carry with you while you shoot, it records your GPS location and this information can later be synchronized with your digital images to provide a map of where your photos were taken. We assume it does this using date and time information stored in the image header (which obviously requires your camera's clock to be synchronized). Interestingly the mapping solution is an online website with maps provided by Google Maps (it appears that the synchronization software will write the GPS location into JPEG EXIF headers).
Story
Labels: photography
Canon WWF Photo Contest 2006
Canon and WWF join hands to save the splash for the future!
Canon and WWF highlight the issue of depleting freshwater resourcs through a unique photo contest. If you have an interesting picture that captures WATER send it to us and win exiciting prizes.
Theme: Water
Contest closes on 31st July 2006
Number of entries per participant : Two
Eligibility Criterion :18 years and above
Contest Home PageLabels: photography
Nikon Photo Contest International 2006-2007
Nikon has announced its "Nikon Photo Contest International 2006-2007". The theme of the photography contest is "At the heart of the image". There is no entry fee and some very attractive prizes to win! Entries are accepted from September 1 to November 30, 2006.
This year's theme: "At the heart of the image"For more information, visit...
Contest Page
Labels: photography
Photographer urges no-photo day
A photographer from Brighton in southern England is urging the people of the world to take a day out and stop taking pictures.Becca Bland has launched "non-photography day" - planned for 17 July - through a website together with a sticker and flyposter campaign in various cities in England.
Ms Bland told BBC World Service's Culture Shock programme that the idea has "gone global" with interest in Manchester, Leeds, London and Brighton, and even further afield in Australia and Japan.
She explained that she wanted people to "put your camera down and appreciate the moment you are in".
"Experience life in an unmediated fashion, without anything in front of your eyes. Live in the moment," she added.
'Celebrate, don't document'Ms Bland got the idea for the day after reading various works about far-eastern Zen Buddhism.
She explained that she believes that in taking a photograph, people are trying to take possession of a place - but that photographs cannot give an "essence" of that particular place.
The sticker campaign for the day has the message "celebrate the moment, don't document it".
"When you simply take photos of something, without fully engaging with it, you're assuming that all you can have and take is the actual appearance of a place - rather than other creative factors that exist in the place," Ms Bland said.
She added that a lot of people think that photographers concentrate on a small part of a place, in the belief that this can allow the detail to be better understood
"For my beliefs - and for Zen beliefs - it is the essence, the whole that is more important," she added.
"I think that's perhaps where photography does fall down - they've got that frame around it, and it's got this inability to capture the whole.
"Those things become signs and represent things, but they can never really be what the place is."
Camera cultureShe added that people really committed to the idea could join the "non-photography police" - a group who are telling people about the day when they see them taking pictures on the street.
However, David Rowan, of the Trendsurfing column in British newspaper The Times, said he believes Ms Bland is "fighting a losing battle."
"There is also a 'buy-nothing' day, organised by anti-consumer lobbyists, and I still see shops pretty full the rest of the time," he said.
"There's an organisation called White Dot which tries to get us to switch off our TV for a day a year, and I still see the TV companies in business."
He added that while he thought it right to question the "culture of ubiquitous cameras," it is simply the way that technological developments have led to.
He pointed out that Microsoft is currently developing a project called My Life Bits, based on the idea of infinite storage space. By wearing goggles with a camera and microphone attached, the wearer can record and document everything they see and hear.
"If Becca wanted to be really popular in Britain, she would get closed circuit TV cameras switched off for a day, so they wouldn't be recording your car registration and they wouldn't be following you round the streets," he added.
Story
Labels: photography
How Digital Cameras Work
From light to bits, here's how digital cameras do the conversion.
http://www.bythom.com/ccds.htm
Labels: photography
100+ megapixel CCD
DALSA develops 100+ megapixel CCDDALSA Semiconductor has today announced that it has developed the worlds first sensor with a total resolution of over 100 million pixels. To be more specific this single sensor, developed for astronomy, has 10,560 x 10,560 pixels, 111 million in total. The active area of the sensor measures approximately four by four inches and has a 9 µm pixel pitch. This sensor has been developed in conjunction with Semiconductor Technology Associates for the US Naval Observatory.
ALSA Semiconductor, a division of DALSA Corporation (TSX:DSA), an international high performance semiconductor and electronics company, announced today that it has successfully fabricated and delivered the world’s highest resolution image sensor chip to its customer, Semiconductor Technology Associates (“STA”) of San Juan Capistrano, California. The CCD device, which measures approximately four inches by four inches, has a total resolution of over 111 million pixels (10,560 pixels x 10,560 pixels at 9µm). It is the world’s first imager to break the 100 million pixel barrier.
STA developed the record-breaking chip for the Astrometry Department of the U.S. Naval Observatory (“USNO”), funded by the Navy’s Small Business Innovation Research Program. The device will assist USNO in the determination of the positions and motions of stars, solar system objects and the establishment of celestial reference frames. DALSA Semiconductor manufactured the device for STA at its wafer fabrication facility in Bromont, Quebec.
"As with past custom image sensor projects, I'm very satisfied with the versatility and capability of DALSA Semiconductor's foundry to collaborate on new process enhancements and to manufacture challenging custom CCD image sensor products such as this," commented STA President, Richard Bredthauer.
"I'm very pleased that we were able to deliver, ahead of schedule, this custom CCD image sensor to our long time DALSA foundry customer, STA," added Ralf Brooks, President of DALSA Semiconductor. "Completing this challenging, yet successful, project once again illustrates our strong process technology portfolio and our ability to work closely with our customers to create truly unique products."
StoryLabels: photography
Vijay Barve
