ViewSonic's Pro8200 projector offers full 1080p resolution, dual HDMI 1.3 inputs, and 2,000 lumens of brightness for $999.

View Sonic has been competing fiercely in flat screen TVs for some years now, but the company hasn’t quite forgotten other components of the home theater market: the company today announced its new Pro8200 HD projector, offering 2,000 lumens of brightness, a 7-segment color wheel, and dual HDMI inputs for a suggested retail price of $999. View Sonic hopes the Pro8200 appeals to both do-it-yourselfer home theater fans as well as professional installers and folks looking for an HD projection solution in halls and other facilities.

“It is of paramount importance that we offer our customers an assortment of quality display solutions with extensive flexibility to meet a range of projection needs,” said View Sonic projector product manager Roger Chien, in a statement. “Our Pro8200 is no exception, in that it is ideal for both home entertainment viewing purposes such as HDTV, movies and gaming, as well as for commercial A/V installers.”

The Pro8200 supports full 1,920 by 1,080-pixel (1080p) high-definition resolution via two HDMI 1.3 inputs (and those support HDCP content protection). The Pro8200 offers 2,000 lumens of brightness, and while ViewSonic isn’t consistent about the 8200Pro’s contrast ratio (some specs say 3,000:1 while other specs and press materials claim 4,000:1), the unit can handle 70 percent of the NTSC color space. The Pro8200 also packs composite and S-Video inputs, a USB port for firmware updates, two 10 watt speakers (and 3.5mm and RCA audio output for pushing audio to a bigger speaker setup), along with RS-232 for use with automation systems. The Pro8200 can handle projected sizes of 30 to 300 inches—that’s a display over 7 feet across—and throw distances from 3 to 32.8 feet, plus the the system sports a 5-segment color wheel (RGBWY) with BrilliantColor technology, and Pixelworks PW820 video processing to image quality. ViewSonic says users can expect about 4,000 hours of lamp life, and that can extend to 6,000 using an Eco mode (which also lets the unit run a bit more quietly).

ViewSonic says the Pro8200 is available now for a suggested price of $999.

Canon Recognized for Product Quality and Customer Service

Canon has had a good year, chock full of awards and commendations for not only the products they make, but for the way the company operates.

They received a PCMag.com award for Service and Reliability, distinctions from Time, American Photo, Computer Shopper, DigitalTrends and even an Outstanding Achievement Award from Buyer's Laboratory.

"Canon prides itself on bringing to market a wide array of reliable and practical imaging solutions that not only improve the end-user's experience, but also remain on the forefront of cutting-edge technologies," says the company's Bunji Yano. "These awards and distinctions reaffirm Canon's position as an innovative industry leader."

in addition to the more general awards listed above, Canon has earned distinctions for their individual products, such as the PIXMA MG8120 printer and SELPHY CP790 compact photo printer. 

LensPen Releases the SensorKlear Loupe Kit

You've been there. You go out for a day of shooting, confident that you've captured some of your best work. You get home and bam - there was a fleck of dust right on the camera's sensor, ruining your shots. 

Normally that would mean sending the camera out for cleaning, leading to a long wait until you can resume shooting. With the SensorKlear Loupe kit you can do it yourself.

The Loupe attaches just like a lens would. Four LEDs within the Loupe help to pinpoint and reveal dust, which can then be blown away by the Hurricane blower. If dust is sticker, you can use the SensorKlear II pen to remove it.

New World's Largest Photo is 80 Gigapixels of London

The new world record holder for the largest panoramic photo was taken by a group called 360 Cities that dwarfs at the 75 gigapixel photo of Budapest, scoffs at the 45 gigapixel picture of Dubai and laughs at the now minuscule 26 gigapixel panorama of Paris.

At 80 gigapixels, this panorama of London is now the biggest in the world, and it's got an impressive view to boot. Unlike previous record holders, the London picture goes 360 degrees around, so you can check out different parts of the city.

To add to the fun of the exploration, 360 Cities is giving away a few prizes for those that complete a treasure hunt, finding different things in the pictures.

Sony’s Handycam® NEX-VG10E adds AF support with A-mount lenses

Free firmware upgrade for interchangeable lens Full HD camcorder

Handycam® NEX-VG10E owners can now enjoy autofocus operation when using their camcorder with a wide range of optional A-mount interchangeable lenses.

Available now for download, a free firmware upgrade adds autofocus support with 14 A-mount SAM and SSM lens models. AF compatibility of the NEX-VG10E with A-mount lenses requires the optional LA-EA1 Mount Adaptor, plus a separate firmware upgrade for the LA-EA1.

The upgrade lets videographers enjoy smooth, accurate AF operation with the family of A-mount optics that includes telephotos, primes and zooms by Sony and Carl Zeiss.

Brand new Tilt Shift Filter, enhanced support for Canon DSLR and HDV cameras and easier export to iMovie round out Boinx's new iStopMotion 2.5 release

Brand new Tilt Shift Filter, enhanced support for Canon DSLR and HDV cameras and easier export to iMovie round out Boinx's new iStopMotion 2.5 release

Puchheim, Germany - November 18, 2010 - Boinx Software, a multi-award winning developer of cool software for the Mac platform, today announced the availability of iStopMotion 2.5, the company's popular stop motion animation application. Headlining the new update is the innovative combination of a brand new Tilt Shift Filter with stop motion animation and time-lapse recording. A popular effect among photographers aiming to capture a "miniature-scale model" effect, Tilt Shift is perfect for stop motion animation's small movements and individually photographed frames. This unique pairing of Tilt Shift with stop motion and time-lapse recording software allows animators to expand creative expression, manipulating the depth of field of their images so that life-sized locations or subjects appear miniature in size. "By adding the new Tilt Shift effect to stop motion and time-lapse movies, an animator's creative expression can take a giant leap forward," comments Oliver Breidenbach, CEO, Boinx Software.

A camera that can shoot around corners has been developed by US scientists.

A camera that can shoot around corners has been developed by US scientists.

The prototype uses an ultra-short high-intensity burst of laser light to illuminate a scene.

The device constructs a basic image of its surroundings - including objects hidden around the corner - by collecting the tiny amounts of light that bounce around the scene.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology team believe it has uses in search and rescue and robot vision.

"It's like having x-ray vision without the x-rays," said Professor Ramesh Raskar, head of the Camera Culture group at the MIT Media Lab and one of the team behind the system.

"But we're going around the problem rather than going through it."

Professor Shree Nayar of Columbia University, an expert in light scattering and computer vision, was very complimentary about the work and said it was a new and "very interesting research direction".

"What is not entirely clear is what complexities of invisible scenes are computable at this point," he told BBC News.

"They have not yet shown recovery of an entire [real-world] scene, for instance."

Flash trick

Professor Raskar said that when he started research on the camera three years ago, senior people told him it was "impossible".

However, working with several students, the idea is becoming a reality.

The heart of the room-sized camera is a femtosecond laser, a high-intensity light source which can fire ultra-short bursts of laser light that last just one quadrillionth of a second (that's 0.000000000000001 seconds).

The light sources are more commonly used by chemists to image reactions at the atomic or molecular scale.

For the femtosecond transient imaging system, as the camera is known, the laser is used to fire a pulse of light onto a scene.

The light particles scatter and reflect off all surfaces including the walls and the floor.