Photo news - W/E 4th August

[Kym]

Not strictly photo, but it will have impact in time...

http://www.paritynews.com/2013/07/27/samsung-announces-worlds-fastest-memory-with-emmc-5-0-support/


Samsung has announced world’s fastest NAND memory that supports the eMMC 5.0 standard, the successor to its eMMC 4.5 chips developed about eight months ago.
The new memory chips are based on 10nm class NAND flash technology and will come in three variants based on the size – 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. According to the South Korean consumer electronics giant, the chip would feature an interface speed of 400MB/s. Further going into specifics, the company has said that the chips with 32GB and 64GB densities have a random read and write speeds of 7,000 IOPS (inputs/outputs per second) while the sequential read and write speeds stand at 250MB/s and 90MB/s respectively.
These numbers may not make sense to everyone and if we translate them to ‘English’, Samsung means that these chips will provide better multitasking, browsing, HD video recording, gaming, file transfers – all in all a performance boost as compared to today’s chips.
Samsung has already announced its next-gen Exynos 5 Octa 5420 System-on-Chip and we are eagerly waiting to see what the performance is like when eMMC 5.0 chips wor

[Kym]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-29/administrator-appointed-to-family2c-baby-photo-company-pixifoto/4850092


Administrator appointed to family, baby photo company PixiFoto

Photography studio PixieFoto, which trades as Photo Corporation Australia (PCA), has gone into administration.

The company has been operating since 1971 and specialises in child and family photography.
There are 36 outlets in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania which operate out of kiosks in Kmart, Target and Myer stores.
Administrator John Morgan says a preliminary review of the operation suggests a downturn in sales has impacted on the company's ability to operate as a going concern.
As a result all businesses operating in the chain stores will be closed immediately.
The sale of a related photography school will go ahead.
Mr Morgan says he will put in place "steps to maximise the value of the company's assets for the benefit of stakeholders."
Up to 300 jobs are believed to be at risk.

[Kym]

More on new technology...

http://www.electronicsnews.com.au/news/speed-limit-set-for-ultrafast-electrical-switch-1


Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (http://www6.slac.stanford.edu) have clocked the fastest-possible electrical switching in magnetite, a naturally magnetic mineral.
Their results could drive innovations in the tiny transistors that control the flow of electricity across silicon chips, enabling faster, more powerful computing devices.
Scientists using SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser found that it takes only 1 trillionth of a second to flip the on-off electrical switch in samples of magnetite, which is thousands of times faster than in transistors now in use. The results were published in Nature Materials.
"This breakthrough research reveals for the first time the 'speed limit' for electrical switching in this material," said Roopali Kukreja, a materials science researcher at SLAC and Stanford University who is a lead author of the study.
The LCLS experiment also showed researchers how the electronic structure of the sample rearranged into non-conducting "islands" surrounded by electrically conducting regions, which began to form just hundreds of quadrillionths of a second after a laser pulse struck the sample.

[livio]

Wow there is a good / bad article in the SMH http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/pixifoto-succumbs-to-too-many-snaps-20130729-hv16z.html
Photo Corporation Australia (PCA) was last week placed into administration. 300 staff to lose their jobs. Changing habits, having pics posted to instagram, facebook and snapchat translates to people being less prepared to go into a studio and pay to have their photos taken.

Like anything, business has to be able to reinvent itself and there is no doubt that some business are doing it tough right now. The ones which are prospering are the ones which can stand out and provide good value. There is no doubt there is pressure on the photography market but the good thing is people are still getting married, there are more corporate occasions who want photographers and videographers so we have to change with the times

Kind Regards
Livio

[ricktas]

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?122984-Photo-news-W-E-4th-August&p=1165739&viewfull=1#post1165739

posted in our weekly news thread earlier today

[livio]

Hi Rick, Thanks I missed that link sad to see them go really feel for the folk directly impacted by this. However it also may provide some opportunities.
Time will tel.

Kind Regards
Livio

(Edit: Threads merged)

[Kym]

NASA is 55... here are 55 images...

http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/07/gallery-55-images-for-nasas-55th-anniversary/

[Kym]

http://whattheduck.net/sites/default/files/WTD1421.gif (http://www.whattheduck.net/strip/1421)

[Kym]

So you want to take ROYAL baby pics..

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/photo-news/539863/baby-photo-top-tips-from-a-royal-photographer

[Kym]

Sigma lens conversion service - swap from Canon to Nikon mount etc.

http://www.canonwatch.com/sigma-is-going-to-change-your-mind/
http://www.canonwatch.com/more-on-sigmas-mount-switch-service/


Yesterday I reported that Sigma announced something revolutionary (http://www.canonwatch.com/sigma-is-going-to-change-your-mind/), they touted it as “change your mind? – change your [?]“. It turned out that Sigma will start a service to change the mount type of your Sigma lens so you can easily switch system (brand) of your camera without having to sell your old Sigma lenses and buy new ones. Good move by Sigma. They are making outstanding lenses since some time and it makes sense offering such a service to customers. The service is said to be free. The video above shows that it isn’t a too difficult operation to change the mount type of the lens. Today there are new information about the lens conversion service. The information comes from a slrclub user (http://www.slrclub.com/bbs/vx2.php?id=newproduct&no=39602). All Sigma lenses with 10 contacts can be easily modified to get another mount type, except for Nikon/Pentax version of Sigma lenses. For Nikon/Pentax versions, the aperture will be controlled mechanically after the conversion. There shouldn’t be such issues with Canon/Sony/Other versions of Sigma lenses. Tomorrow we will know more, since Sigma will officially announce the service on August 1st. The service will start from 9/2.

[danny]

Found this today...

http://www.sigma-imaging-uk.com/index.php?route=information%2Fnews&news_id=38

Who would use?

Someone who swaps systems?
Someone who buys lens and wants to change over mount?

interesting!!

Danny

[Kym]

Threads merged :D

[danny]

Thanks Kym