News Roundup (Weeks 32 and 33, 2014)

What’s been hot the past two weeks: MIT researchers recreate sound from minute vibrations caught on video, Panasonic patents a super fast 12mm f/1.2 lens for Micro Four Thirds and what is probably the very first timelapse video of Pyongyang, North Korea.

August 6, 2014

Scientists from the MIT have devised a way to use the minute vibrations of objects captured on video to recreate the sound in a scene – and apparently it works even through soundproof glass.
Read more on io9

Leica is perparing a new Summicron-S 100mm f/2 lens for its S medium format DSLR system, which we can expect to be shown off at photokina in September.
Read more at Leica Rumors

August 8, 2014

Rare pictures of the Ukrainian town of Pripyat before the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Read more at io9

August 10, 2014

Mitakon (or MX Camera or Zhongyi or however the company is called) has presented an updated ‘PRO’ version of its Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 lens for full frame E-mount cameras.
Read more at Mirrorless Rumors

August 11, 2014

The lates financial report from Olympus claims rising mirrorless camera sales despite ever shrinking compact camera sales, plus a new M.Zuiko Pro lens roadmap.
Read more at 43rumors

New York police officers have finally received a lesson about photographers’ rights.
Read more at Imaging Resource

Panasonic patents a super fast 12mm f/1.2 lens for Micro Four Thirds, and Fujifilm patents a new hybrid phase detection AF technology.
Read more at Imaging Resource

The Raspberry Pi has had a 5 megapixel camera module for a while, now comes a DIY digital camera kit based on it, and it even sports interchangeable lenses.
Read more at Imaging Resource

Microsoft researchers have created an algorithm that condenses hour-long first person action cam footage into a coherent hyperlapse video clip.
Read more at Imaging Resource

August 12, 2014

Just what Canon EOS DSLR users have been waiting for: a vacuum cleaner ‘lens’ that sucks the dust out of your camera (and off the mirror and sensor.)
Read more at Digital Trends

This is probably the first-ever timelapse video of North Korea’s capital Pyongyang, created by the same man who brought us the mesmerizing Barcelona GO! video.
Read more at Imaging Resource

Optalysys is developing a computer that works with lasers and optical sensors to process data.
Read more at Image Sensors World

Manchester United bans tablets (as a means of photographing and taking videos) from their matches. I couldn’t agree more.
Read more at PetaPixel

August 13, 2014

Don’t like the weather outside? Just change it in post-production with this clever new algorithm developed at Brown University, R.I.
Read more at Digital Trends

August 14, 2014

ESA has created a disposable space camera whose sole purpose is to photograph its own disintegration upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. This brings “single serving” to new heights.
Read more at DIY Photography

August 15, 2014

Marcus DeSieno takes electron microscope scans of parasites, transfers them onto ferrotype plates and then prints them at a size of four feet. This is the stuff of nightmares. (But also quite awesome.)
Read more at Imaging Resource

And now for something completely different.

This is just for funsies: how to “clean” your Canon 5D Mk II and 24-105mm lens. A word of caution: don’t try this at home.
Read more at Canon Watch

Turorial video: how to load a Contax T with film

Loading the Contax T compact rangefinder camera with film is a bit difficult, and I’ve read many complaints by Contax T users that they didn’t get their camera loaded properly and ended up with a roll of unexposed film.

Since I believe to have found a simple way to make sure that your Contax T is loaded properly, I’ve made this little video to demonstrate how it is done. (This is the first video of this kind that I EVER made, so I want to apologize beforehand if it lacks somewhat in contemporary qualiy standards :-))