Millennials can now have their Polaroid moment

You maybe grew up with one of your Dad’s lying around. You maybe saw your first one in a Madonna movie (Desperately Seeking Susan), or Christopher Nolan’s Memento, or even Stranger Things 2.

We’re talking about the Polaroid, Edwin Land’s innovative self-developing film and camera that first hit the market in the blow-dried, Star Wars year of 1977. Yes, it went off the market finally in 2008, and decades of digital cameras and effects have seemingly pushed aside its quirky allure. But in our social media age, a gazillion Instagrammers have seemingly developed a crush on its imperfect, insta-photo appeal: that white-cornered photo look that not even a bunch of digital filters can replicate.

And now, the Polaroid is back, thanks to The Impossible Project, a company that purchased all of Polaroid Corporation’s film stock and technology when it went bankrupt in ‘08, and has since rebranded itself as Polaroid Originals. It’s an eerily familiar simulation of the original Polaroid experience. That boxy symbol of all things cool and retro-filmy was launched anew in September 2017 as the Polaroid OneStep 2.

Available in white or graphite i-Type models, the new OneStep looks a lot like the classic Polaroid Land Camera 1000, but there are some changes: no longer a slave to chromium batteries, the OneStep 2 comes with a microUSB charger (boasting a 60-day battery life). There’s also an exposure slider and self-timer, a flash (on or off) and an orange LED showing your charge levels. It’s basically the same Polaroid camera as before: an easy-to-use point-and-shoot with a big red button, high-quality zero-to-infinity lens and powerful flash. Sold exclusively at Bratpack stores for now (retailing about P8,900), the Polaroid OneStep 2 also comes with a variety of film options: color and B&W are available for i-Type and vintage 600 type cameras; SX-70 vintage cameras (the more professional line); and vintage Spectra cameras. (A cool development: in addition to offering film that fits even your old Polaroid cameras, the company also offers a refurbishing service to get them up and running.)

As an experiment, Polaroid Originals handed out new cameras to photographer Patrick Diokno, chef and photographer Nicco Santos and lifestyle blogger Ida Anduyan; the results, exhibited at The Gallery in Greenbelt 5, were as unpredictably artsy as their youthful snappers. The B&W shots remind us of the gritty days of Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, while the color shots have that worn, retro feel we tend to reach for when we hit the “Nashville” filter on Instagram.

Based in the Netherlands and locally in Hong Kong, Polaroid Originals brought its reps James Lao and Cirry Poon to demonstrate some of the functions over lunch at Greenbelt 5’s John & Yoko. Cirry showed how the OneStep spits out a black photo that self-develops in about 10-15 minutes (an improvement over the 30 minutes back in your Dad’s day). Newbies were interested to note that you place the undeveloped photo facedown, so that the chemicals embedded in its reverse side have time to seep into the frame area and — voila! — your image appears. James, formally from the fashion industry, gamely pointed out that with the OneStep 2, you can actually do double exposures: that’s right, by shutting off the camera right after clicking the red button, then turning it back on a few seconds later, you’re ready for a second exposure. But be wary: Polaroid film ain’t cheap, and each shot should be very carefully considered, because there’s no “Delete” button. Just sayin’.

I asked blogger Ida whether she’d tried doing selfies with the OneStep. Not so easy, she admits; there’s no reverse mirror to see what you’re shooting, so it’s best to let a friend take your Polaroid selfie moment. Also, we’re very used to big camera screens showing us what we’re shooting; the OneStep has an old-fashioned eyepiece that you have to look through carefully to frame your shot. (Things in retro land take time, after all.)

For those millennials and Gen-Zs looking for a nostalgia fix, who knows? The unique nature of the Polaroid experience could open up new ways of seeing the world — without filters.

source:  philstar.com

With selfies, the world turns the camera on itself

WASHINGTON - Stuck on a ledge halfway up a 3,000-foot (1,000-meter) cliff in Oman, his climbing rope sliced in two by sharp rocks, Jimmy Chin did what anyone else would have done in his predicament.

He took a selfie.

"I had some time to figure out what I was going to do," said Chin, a National Geographic photographer whose images of extreme climbing by the Straits of Hormuz appear in the magazine's January issue.

"That's when I took the selfie," he told AFP. "It was one of those moments when, 'Well, I'm a Nat Geo photographer'. I had to document (the moment). It was pretty classic."

Self-portraiture has been around for centuries, but the global proliferation of smartphones with built-in digital cameras -- plus the ability to share photos instantly on social media -- has taken the genre to a new level.

With 2013 coming to a close, the publishers of the hallowed Oxford English Dictionary, arguably the final authority in anglophone lexicography, declared selfie to be their "word of the year."

"Selfie: noun, informal. A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website," according to Oxford. "Also: selfy. Plural: selfies."

Internet search provider Yahoo meanwhile estimates that in 2014, about 880 billion photographs will be taken. That's 123 photos for every man, woman and child on Earth. Many will be selfies.

In Britain, a survey for Samsung found that 17 percent of men, and 10 percent of women, take selfies because "they enjoy taking good-looking photos of themselves."

"I think 'selfie' is a term of endearment for the self, in a way," said Sarah Kennel, curator of photography at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, who admits to taking the odd selfie herself.

"It does reflect a kind of narcissism in our culture," she told AFP.

US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron got tongues wagging when they took a selfie with Danish leader Helle Thorning Schmidt at Nelson Mandela's memorial service in South Africa.

"What an incredible sign of the times," children's photographer Sarah Sloboda, author of the e-book "How to Take the Best Selfies," told AFP.

"That's the kind of thing you can put in a time capsule to represent this period."

No one knows if Obama and friends had even heard of Selfies at Funerals, an equally controversial Tumblr compilation of, well, selfies taken at funerals, mainly by young people.

"When a teen tweets out a funeral selfie, their friends don't castigate them," its founder Jason Feifer explained in Britain's Guardian newspaper.

"They understand that their friend, in their own way, is expressing an emotion they may not have words for. It's a visual language that older people -- even those like me, in their 30s -- simply don't speak."

The year also saw Pope Francis in a selfie with teenagers at the Vatican, as well as pop diva Beyonce turning up in a smiling fan's selfie in Australia, to cite a couple of Time magazine's "11 most memorable selfies of 2013."

From Los Angeles, gossip blogger Perez Hilton declared a pink-haired Miley Cyrus posing for herself in a skimpy Lil' Kim Halloween costume his favorite among countless celebrity selfies over the past 12 months.

But there's no need to be famous to become famous for a selfie.

Thanks to Reddit and other social media websites, goofy selfies of a proud twentysomething dad in the Pacific Northwest state of Oregon mimicking the faces of his newborn baby daughter went viral overnight.

"We just watched the camera screen and copied whatever face she was making," explained Eddie Wheeler to his fellow Reddit users.

In Norway, popular fitness blogger Caroline Berg Eriksen snapped herself in a mirror, wearing bra and panties, showing off a firm flat tummy just four days after she gave birth.

Critics branded her selfie a "disservice" to women, but Eriksen struck back, saying she took it -- and shared it -- "because I'm proud of myself and my body for something as tough as a pregnancy/birth."

And then there was the young woman in New York who snapped a selfie with the Brooklyn Bridge -- and an attempted suicide leap -- in the background. That image caused a stir when it made page one of the New York Post.

"A selfie is a sort of perversion (and) a conquest of social virtual terrain," said Paris-based travel photographer Jean-Francois Vibert, who blogs at www.macandphoto.com.

"Happily, perversion is not prohibited," added Vibert, who namechecks the flamboyant pop star Nicki Minaj for selfies "so 'trash,' it's self-mockery. On that level, the selfie is decadence for a totally decadent era."

Kennel said self-portraits are as old as photography itself.

The National Gallery's current exhibition of the work of Charles Marville features selfies of the 19th century French photographer in which he styles himself as a suave Parisian boulevardier -- the hipster of his day.

Meanwhile, in London, the National Portrait Gallery has just put out a call for selfies to be included in a panel discussion on January 16 entitled "The Curated Ego: What Makes a Good Selfie?"

In announcing the event, organizers identified Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia as "one of the first teenagers to take a selfie." That was in 1914, when she was 13. Alas, she had no Facebook or Twitter account to share it on.

source: interaksyon.com

Samsung Galaxy Camera: The first connected camera

MANILA, Philippines - Samsung Electronics Philippines Corp. (SEPCO), a leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, has announced that the Galaxy Camera is now commercially available in the country, and will soon be available in other parts of the world in both white and cobalt black colors.

Unveiled at IFA in August, the Galaxy Camera combines high-performance photography features with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and the freedom of 3G + Wi-Fi connectivity to create the world’s first truly “connected camera.”

The Galaxy Camera ushers in a new era of visual communications, allowing users to shoot, enjoy, edit and share high-quality images and video from anywhere, at any time through a single device.

“Samsung is unique, in that it is the only company that can combine world-class mobile and digital imaging technologies to create such an innovative product. The collaboration between the Mobile and Digital Imaging Business Units allowed Samsung to create the first connected camera, a product I am extremely proud of,” said Coco Domingo, Samsung mobile head for product marketing.

“A connected camera must give users the total freedom to take vivid, high-quality pictures and videos wherever and whenever they wish and share them instantly through their favorite social networking sites or with family and friends without the restrictions of a conventional camera. The Galaxy Camera provides these luxuries and many more in a beautiful design and user interface,” Domingo added.

What sets the Galaxy Camera apart as the first truly connected camera is the 3G + Wi-Fi connectivity, opening users up to a world of near limitless sharing and smartphone-like activities.


Posting high-quality images to your favorite social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and the pre-installed Instagram app has never been easier. Simply shoot, edit, share and enjoy with the touch of a button.

The Galaxy Camera also delivers outstanding photography on the go, easily outperforming any smartphone camera available.

Boasting a 21x super long optical zoom lens and a super-bright 16M BSI CMOS sensor, the Galaxy Camera also features Samsung’s Smart Pro Mode technology, a series of 15 default modes and settings that make professional-looking photography easy for anyone to achieve.

No matter what the occasion, the Galaxy Camera’s Smart Pro Mode delivers stunningly detailed images that make photography with the Galaxy Camera effortless and enjoyable.

Once captured, users can enjoy their images on the Galaxy Camera’s 4.8-inch (121.2mm) HD Super Clear Touch Display. However, the Galaxy Camera’s beautiful display can be used for more than just viewing. Users can quickly and easily make professional edits to their photos using the integrated Photo Wizard, a comprehensive set of 35 photo editing tools powered by the Galaxy Camera’s ultra-fast, quad-core processor.

Users can also use Paper Artist, an app that became popular on the Galaxy Note II, for quick and unique photo edits.

The Galaxy Camera ships with Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), giving users access to over 500,000 apps currently available on Google Play Store. The Android OS also provides full browsing support and the ability to customize your camera to suit your creative needs.

“The Galaxy Camera marks the next stage of evolution in the history of the camera and we are extremely excited to make it available to customers in the Philippines today,” said Domingo.

“The Galaxy Camera brings together everything that is wonderful about photography on a dedicated camera, with the functionality and freedom of the leading smartphones. The Galaxy Camera marks a new era of the connected camera,” Domingo added.

source: philstar.com

Smartphones crushing point-and-shoot camera market

TOKYO — The soaring popularity of smartphones is crushing demand for point-and-shoot cameras, threatening the once-vibrant sector as firms scramble to hit back with web-friendly features and boost quality, analysts say.

A sharp drop in sales of digital compact cameras marks them as the latest casualty of smartphones as videogame consoles and portable music players also struggle against the all-in-one features offered by the likes of Apple’s iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy.

Just as digital cameras all but destroyed the market for photographic film, the rapid shift to picture-taking smartphones has torn into a camera sector dominated by Japanese firms including Canon, Olympus, Sony and Nikon.

“We may be seeing the beginning of the collapse of the compact camera market,” said Nobuo Kurahashi, analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities.

Figures from Japan’s Camera and Imaging Products Association echo the analyst’s grim prediction.

Global shipments of digital cameras among Japanese firms tumbled about 42 percent in September from a year ago to 7.58 million units, with compact offerings falling 48 percent, according to the Association.

Higher-end cameras with detachable lenses fell a more modest 7.4 percent in that time, it said.

Part of the decline was due to weakness in debt-hit Europe and a Tokyo-Beijing territorial spat that has sparked a consumer boycott of Japan-brand products in the China market.

But smartphones have proved a mighty rival to point-and-shoot cameras, analysts say, offering an all-in-one phone, computer and camera with comparatively high quality pictures and Internet photo downloading.

Those features have also dug into videogame makers such as Nintendo, which has just released its new Wii U game console, as smartphone owners increasingly download free online games or store music on the devices instead of using standalone MP3 players.

“The market for compact digital cameras shrank at a faster speed and scale than we had imagined as smartphones with camera functions spread around the world,” Olympus president Hiroyuki Sasa told a news briefing this month.

Olympus said its camera business lost money in its fiscal first-half due to the growing popularity of camera-equipped smartphones, and a strong yen which makes Japanese exports less competitive overseas.

Digital camera firms have scaled back their sales targets for the fiscal year to March in a “collapsing” market, said Tetsuya Wadaki, an analyst at Nomura Securities.

“Order volumes at parts suppliers currently appear to be down more than 30 percent year-on-year,” Wadaki said.

Firms are scrambling to keep improving picture quality, offer features such as water-proofing and expand their Internet features, like allowing users to share pictures through social media networks.

Camera makers say growth areas include emerging economies — where many own neither a camera nor a smartphone — along with replacement demand among compact-camera owners.

And the fall-off in demand has not been as stark for the pricier detachable lens cameras favoured by avid photographers and growing ranks of camera-buff retirees, particularly in rapidly ageing Japan, they say.

Another emerging battleground is for mirror-less cameras which can be made nearly as small as compact cameras but with picture quality that rivals their bulkier counterparts.

Canon insists the market has not been abandoned to smartphones.

“Demand for quality snapshots is there, like taking pictures of your friends’ weddings, an overseas vacation, or your children,” a Canon spokesman said.

“We believe there are many people who need compact cameras,” he added.

Mizuho analyst Kurahashi acknowledged that compact cameras “will not disappear”.

“But we see the current trend continuing as image quality in smartphone cameras steadily improves,” he said.

“The compact camera market is going to keep shrinking and it’s difficult to forecast any immediate comeback, or have any optimism.”

source: interaksyon.com

Nikon's latest camera runs Android

(CNN) -- The gulf between smartphones and cameras is getting smaller, thanks to a new point-and-shoot camera from Nikon that's powered by the Android operating system.

The 16-megapixel Coolpix S800c camera, announced Wednesday, will be the first camera running Android on the market when it hits shelves in September.

The addition of Android brings a few much-needed features to the point-and-shoot. Users can download mobile apps from the Google Play store and share images over cellular networks by tethering to a nearby smartphone or tablet.

When phone makers first started adding tiny, low-resolution cameras to their devices, the camera industry was not terribly threatened. They had glorious digital SLR cameras with interchangeable lenses, sleek pocket cameras with large sensors and manual controls, and features like high-ISO for low-light shooting, megazoom, and rugged bodies for the outdoors.

Anyone who loved photos would certainly prefer the high-quality shots captured on "real" cameras, right?

But the camera companies underestimated just how important convenience was to consumers, and the public's appetite for sharing photos of moments right when they happened. The resulting cellphone images were low-quality, but nothing a little sepia-filter couldn't fix.

The iPhone was not the first phone to have a camera, but it made sharing images online, over its cellular connection, a snap. In 2011, more than a quarter of photos and videos were captured using a smartphone, according to a study from research company NPD Group. That number is only getting larger.

The $350 Coolpix S800c is bringing some of what has made those smartphones so popular to a camera. It doesn't have a cellular connection, but it does have Wi-Fi. Wireless connections have been around for a while on cameras, but the addition of Android means the camera can tether to a smartphone or tablet running Android when there's no Wi-Fi network handy.

The 3.5-inch touchscreen display gives users access to the Google Play store, where photogs can go to download more apps for their camera, including editing tools and social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and, of course, Instagram. The camera can also run all the regular smartphone apps, allowing users to send e-mail, browse the Internet, listen to music and play games.

Like Apple's iPod Touch, it draws the line at making phone calls, however.

The camera has 10X zoom, can shoot 1080p video, and includes GPS and maps for tagging images with locations. There are no manual controls. The S800c is running Android 2.3, known as Gingerbread, which is not the most recent version of the operating system.

That Nikon is the first to bring an Android camera to market is a surprise, since competitors Sony and Samsung already make Android devices and were in a better position to combine the two products. Polaroid showed off a demo camera running Android at the Consumer Electronics show in January, the SC1630, but it isn't yet available.

Nikon's Android camera may be a first in the camera industry, but it's still playing catch-up to the real competitors: smartphones with increasingly higher-quality cameras.

source: CNN

Free digital camera at Abenson with Citibank PayLite

MANILA, Philippines - Citibank is offering cardholders who shop at Abenson a host of exclusive treats starting with a free digital camera. Shop at any participating Abenson branch until Aug. 14, and receive a free Olympus VG-150 Digital Camera when you pay a minimum single-receipt purchase of P50,000 via Citibank’s 0% PayLite installment plan.

On top of this, you can even pay for your purchases in installment at 0% interest, three months later.

The Citibank PayLite installment plan offers 0% interest or affordable monthly add-on rates at participating establishments nationwide, which allows Citibank Cardholders to pay in light and easy installments.

Other free items in the promotion are Hanabishi E-Kettles and Union Stand Fans for a minimum of P20,000 or P30,000 PayLite purchase, respectively.

To claim your free premium item, present your purchase slip and Citibank Credit Card at the customer counter of the participating Abenson branch where the purchase was made. You can redeem your free gift item on the same day of the transaction.

For more information, call 995-9999 or visit www.citibank.com.ph.

article source: philstar.com

Canon enters post-DSLR era with mirrorless camera

TOKYO — Canon Inc said on Monday it would sell its first mirrorless camera from mid-September in a bid to tap a growing market for small, interchangeable-lens cameras that rival Nikon Corp entered last year.

Canon will manufacture 100,000 of the cameras a month, the company said in a statement.

Mirrorless models have large sensors, providing good picture quality, but no optical viewfinders. That enables manufacturers to keep the camera body smaller and lighter.

In Japan, where consumers tend to value easily portable products, mirrorless cameras account for around a third of all interchangeable lens models. In the United States, their market share is closer to a tenth.

Canon’s move will ratchet up competition with Nikon, its main rival for hefty single-lens reflex cameras used by professional photographers and enthusiasts.

Shares of Canon were down 3 percent and Nikon was 2.6 percent lower on Monday afternoon, underperforming Tokyo’s broad Topix index, which lost 0.9 percent.

source: interaksyon.com