It is also insightful too see how open these cameras were for 3rd-party software to be installed. Nothing like the barb-wired walled gardens that are consumer electronics today...

2020 will be very fun and productive year for PV team and will change a lot in camera industry also.

I am sure 2020 will be good for you, your family and it'll allow to implement most of your ideas into reality.

Maxon, the developers of professional 3D software solutions and Red Giant creators of unique tools for editors, VFX artists, and motion designers, today cooperatively announced that the two companies have reached a definitive agreement to merge under the media and entertainment division of Nemetschek Group to better serve the post production and content creation industries. The transaction is expected to close in January 2020, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

Maxon and Red Giant are already well known and established in the digital content creation (DCC) industries, and share synergies in philosophy and long-term goals. Both companies have earned a peerless reputation for the quality and accessibility of products, and uncompromising commitment to service and support of the artistic community. Each company's workforce features the industry expertise, organizational maturity, and executive experience needed to fully leverage this unique opportunity.

Maxon, best known for its flagship 3D product Cinema 4D, was formed in 1986 with a passion for providing extremely powerful, though exceptionally accessible 3D software solutions. Artists across the globe rely on Maxon products to create cutting-edge visuals. In April of this year, Maxon acquired Redshift, developer of the GPU-accelerated Redshift render engine.

Since 2002, Red Giant has built its brand through award-winning products such as Trapcode, Magic Bullet, Universe, PluralEyes and its line of innovative visual effects software. Their unique, industry-standard tools are staples in the fields of film, broadcast, and advertising. Red Giant has differentiated itself in the industry through its artist-driven approach to software creation and its popular training and award-winning short films.

The two companies provide tools for a who's who of production companies including ABC, CBS, NBC, HBO, BBC, Sky, Fox Networks, Turner Broadcasting, NFL Network, WWE, Viacom, Netflix, ITV Creative, Discovery Channel, MPC (Moving Picture Company), Digital Domain, VDO, Sony, Universal, The Walt Disney Company, Blizzard Entertainment, BMW, Facebook, Apple, Google, Vitra, Nike and many more.

"This merger is a major milestone, not only for Maxon and Red Giant but also for the design industry as a whole," said David McGavran, CEO of Maxon. "Our combined technology and knowhow have the potential to progressively reshape the content creation landscape for years to come."

"The combination of our companies is an exceptional fit of people, culture and technology," said Chad Bechert, CEO of Red Giant. "We look forward to working together under a shared vision of how to design powerful and approachable software to serve creative artists around the world."

HTC is planning to cut jobs yet again. This information comes from Taiwanese media outlets, which claim that the information has been confirmed by the company.

This will mark the second year in a row as HTC is cutting jobs, the company did something similar last year. According to the Taiwan News website, HTC will cut jobs "as part of its realignment strategy aimed at retaining an innovative edge".

For now only it is free money flow from big investors that keep company afloat (same is true for Sony department that makes smartphones).
In 2020 we can see few of former top brands leaving the market - this will include HTC and Sony for certain.

CMOS Image Sensor(CIS) products need higher voltage device and better analog characteristics than conventional SOC & Logic products. This work presents newly developed 14nm FinFET process with 2.xV high voltage FinFET device characteristics showing excellent analog and low power digital characteristics comparing to 28nm planar process. Gm is improved by 30% and 67% in FinFET process for NMOS and PMOS, respectively. Rout characteristics increased by 40 times and 6 times over 28nm planar process. Interface state density(Nit) improved by more than 40% and flicker noise characteristics also improved by 64% and 42% for NMOS and PMOS, respectively. Digital logic Transistor ion-ioff performance improved by by 32% and by 211% for NMOS and PMOS, respectively compared to 28nm planar device and the chip power consumption of digital logic functional block reduced by 34% in real Si of 12M pixel product. 14nm FinFET process expected to improve power consumption by 42% in 144M pixel density.

Google has told its Turkish business partners it will not be able to work with them on new Android phones to be released in Turkey, after the Turkish competition board ruled that changes Google made to its contracts were not acceptable.

Turkey’s competition authority had fined Google 93 million lira ($17.4 million) in September 2018 for violating competition law with its mobile software sales. The company was given six months to make changes to restore competition.

Turkey’s competition board ruled on Nov. 7 that changes which Google made in its contracts with its business partners in line with the board’s demands were inadequate as they still did not allow changes to the default search engine.

The regulator had asked Google to change all its software distribution agreements to allow consumers to choose different search engines in its Android mobile operating system. The probe was triggered by a filing by Russian competitor Yandex.

Google hope to keep being total search monopoly on Android phones, but it is slowly coming to an end.

Actual reason for such move is that Alphabet investors are also Apple investors and they want to hurt Android sales as much as possible in areas where Apple is feeling bad especially, as it is more important and brings more profits.

The South Korean company on Wednesday announced a 437 billion won ($372 million) operating loss for the July-September period. Sales shrank 4.6% from a year earlier to 5.82 trillion won.

A week earlier, new CEO Jeong Ho-young warned in his first message to employees that the "company's survival is at risk."

Ramped-up Chinese production of liquid crystal display panels for TVs has put downward pressure on LCD prices, driving Taiwanese and Japanese suppliers out of the race to add capacity. The average price per TV panel has fallen by 20% to 30% from a year ago.

Demand for LCDs is expected to rise 5% this year, but supplies are expected to grow 10%

BOE Technology Group, China Star Optoelectronics Technology and other Chinese panel makers have built new factories with government backing. In about four years, China has outstripped Japan, Taiwan and South Korea in terms of LCD production capacity.

Japan Display, the world's largest smartphone LCD maker (it is mix of factories of ALL major Japanese brands merged together to survive) that is struggling to secure a bailout, and Taiwan's AU Optronics, a major supplier of TV panels, have already bowed out of the race to increase production.

Based on LG Display's cash flow, it is unclear whether the company can keep up with Samsung and Chinese competitors in terms of investment.

LG Display makes LCD and OLED displays for both smartphones and TVs. The multipronged approach has stretched research and development funding and capital spending thin.

The company "should suspend domestic LCD plants" now that it is losing money, said an analyst in South Korea.

New (in reality old in development and just updated) lenses

• 12-45mm f/4.0 PRO
• 100-400mm f/5.0-6.3 IS

We are pleased to announce three lens model updates to the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital Lens roadmap, including the addition of the ultra-compact M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-45mm F4.0 PRO and super-telephoto M.Zuiko Digital ED 100-400mm F5.0-6.3 IS lenses. We have also added a PRO series telephoto zoom lens. All lens models are compatible with the Micro Four Thirds® System standard.

These lenses are in addition to the previously-announced M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO super telephoto zoom lens. It features a 1.25x built-in teleconverter and covers a focal length range of 300 – 1000mm (35mm equivalent). The combination of this lens with the MC-20 2.0x teleconverter makes handheld super telephoto shooting possible at 2000mm (35mm equivalent).

With these new products Olympus will further expand its telephoto lens lineup, maximizing the advantages of the Micro Four Thirds® System, including excellent image quality, compact lightweight systems, and superior image stabilization performance.

Development is under way for the M.Zuiko Digital ED 150-400mm F4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO, a super telephoto zoom lens in the M.Zuiko PRO series, designed for exceptional optical performance in a compact, lightweight form, along with dustproof, splashproof, and freezeproof (-10°C) performance and superb mobility. This is the first Olympus interchangeable lens with a built-in 1.25x teleconverter, which easily extends the lens to the maximum focal length of 1000mm1 (35mm equivalent). It also offers in-lens image stabilization (IS), supporting 5-axis Sync IS[1] when operating in concert with the image stabilization of Olympus OM-D cameras. The compact system delivers remarkable portability, and the built-in teleconverter provides convenience, making it the optimal super telephoto zoom lens for sports and bird photography. This lens has an expected availability of 2020.

WACP II wide angle conversion wet lens for full frame 140° on a Nikon Z7 housing WWL-II wide angle conversion wet lens for M43 and its adapter for Olympus most popular uw housing UW Housing for Sony A7-IV UW housing for Atomos Ninja V UW housing for new Z Cam (really a technical jewel) UW housing for BMPCC 6K

At CP++ we can see few lenses and more prototypes.

As L mount sales are very bad (we even can see more of issues due to chain reaction after Olympus demise), Sigma now are using plan B.

• Duration - 2019/11/13〜2019/11/15
• Location - Makuhari Messe
• Exhibitors list - https://www.inter-bee.com/en/forvisitors/exhibitor_info/
• Floor map - https://www.inter-bee.com/assets/dl/pdf/en/BEE19_map_web_e.pdf
• Link - https://www.inter-bee.com/en/

Photo from the top

This interview was conducted at the OM-D E-M1X touch and try event in Tokyo.

The image processing engine is an IC chip that handles all processing operations- including color conversion, noise reduction and autofocusing. The engine was not developed for a single model; instead, a single engine was designed for all cameras in the current generation. Because of the long development period, a new engine is basically required to provide at least twice the performance of its predecessor. To make this possible, we use the latest IC chip for a new engine.

However, it is not enough to create a high-performance image processing engine. What is truly important when developing an engine is the power to anticipate what will come next. It is essential to be able to conceive and visualize the camera of the future by observing current trends and then developing the technology needed to make that camera a reality.

While the algorithm development team at Olympus indicates what needs to be implemented into the next model, the engine development team looks yet one step beyond that and works to provide the engine with flexibility. This extra margin determines the destiny of the camera systems for a generation. For example, the E-M1X, which was released in January of 2019, employs two TruePic VIII image processing engines, each of which is identical to the engine incorporated in the E-M1 Mark II. We were able to incorporate two engines into the new model because we had previously embedded in each engine a mechanism to facilitate synchronization.

With two engines, an exciting new array of capabilities have been unleashed such as Handheld High Res Shot. Technically, the new Handheld High Res Shot’s framework is completely different from the previous Tripod High Res Shot. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the TruePic VIII actually incorporates the functionality for the Handheld High Res Shot function. All we did was to predict the kind of processing that would be required by analyzing trends and incorporating the parts required in advance. We later succeeded in implementing the Handheld High Res Shot with the E-M1X by combining those parts.

We are confident in our ability to anticipate the future. As the leader in mirrorless cameras, we were the first to launch development of a dedicated engine, the first to get feedback from our customers, and the first to translate that feedback into hardware.

One of our other strong points is that we send our engine developers out in the field with professional photographers. This gives our engineers a chance to observe professionals in action, to see how they use their equipment, what they need, what they like, and what will help them to achieve their shooting objectives. This data forms the basis for conceptualizing the next-gen engine, which will appear on the scene in a few years.

Realtek Semiconductor Corp. (Taiwan Stock Exchange: 2379.TW), one of the world’s leading network and multimedia IC providers, announced today that the Realtek RTD2893 won the Best Choice of the Year award at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2019.

The Realtek RTD2893 can upgrade a 4K TV platform to a fully functional 8K TV. Support for 8K AV1/HEVC/VP9 video decoding, HDMI 2.1 8K input and output, secure video bit stream transmission over USB/PCIe, and 8K video processing including all HDR formats allows the RTD2893 to dramatically reduce 8K TV development time for all TV brands. The RTD2893 presents a very cost competitive 8K TV solution with all DDR memory inside.

The 8K TV or set top box penetration rate will depend on the maturity of the 8K solution. Using only the RTD2893 IC, an existing 4K TV or set top box platform can be easily upgraded to a stable, high performance, 8K platform. This simple upgrade can reduce customer’s development resource costs and significantly speed up time-to-market.

“We are honored to receive the Best Choice of the Year award at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2019”, said Realtek’s Vice President and Spokesman, Yee-Wei Huang. “Our RTD2893 allows a 4K TV or STB to be easily upgraded to a fully functional 8K device. We expect this breakthrough will lead to faster expansion of the 8K market and allow viewers to enjoy the richness of 8K content at a lower hardware cost point”.

>

Although there are no specific updates info, the latest firmware will be provided on November 19 for the following seven models.

DC-GF10 / DC-GF90 / DC-GF9 / DMC-GX7MK2 / DC-TX2 / DC-TZ90 / DMC-LX9

Must be something minor or may be another update to prevent third party batteries usage.

• Professional box camera for sports broadcasts. Supports FHD 240fps high-speed shooting and 4K video.
• By adopting a global shutter, it is possible to accurately reproduce intense movements like sports.
• Cost performance is very high, and it matches the demand for sports broadcasts where multi-way broadcasts are increasing.
• When producing multi-viewpoint images using multiple cameras, the function that synchronizes the exposure timing between cameras enables smooth video expression.
• It is a product that is ideal for next-generation sports broadcasting in terms of functionality and cost performance.
• A demonstration will be displayed along with Avid FastServe | LiveEdit.

Presentation Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Via https://www.atomos-japan.com/archives/1097

Today, we’re announcing that Google has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Fitbit, a leading wearables brand.

We believe technology is at its best when it can fade into the background, assisting you throughout your day whenever you need it. Wearable devices, like smartwatches and fitness trackers, do just that—you can easily see where your next meeting is with just a glance of an eye or monitor your daily activity right from your wrist.

Fitbit to be acquired by Google in an all-cash deal worth around $2.1 billion.

Alphabet now wants to save Fitbit as situation is really bad, without major support, even with total statistics falsification, they can't stand against major Chinese brands and their latest offerings.

GlobalFoundries (GF) today announced that it filed lawsuits against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in the U.S. and Germany over the alleged infringement of 16 patents. The company said that it's looking to halt the import of processors made with the technologies and is seeking "significant damages from TSMC based on TSMC’s unlawful use of GF’s proprietary technology in its tens of billions of dollars of sales." Impacted companies include Nvidia and Apple.

It is clearly AMD behind the court things (as GF already dropped out of the race and will be all sold soon), as they want to further reduce profits of TSMC and increase their own.
Now on each Ryzen 3 chip this distribution is around 85%/15% and AMD investors want to make it closer to 95%/5%.
Another point of negotiation is exchange of lawsuit drop to the full blockage of Huawei, as TSMC makes 90% of company main chips, including network ones.

The database containing the sensitive user info, discovered by security researcher Bob Diachenko and Comparitech, was accessible to anyone through a web browser.

The exposed user data for the nearly 7.5 million accounts included email addresses, the Adobe products they subscribed to, account creation date, subscription and payment status, local timezone, member ID, time of last login, and whether they were an Adobe employee.

Diachenko notified Adobe of the exposed data on October 19, 2019 and within the day Adobe had secured the database. It’s unknown how long the database was vulnerable and whether or not anyone gained access to it, but Diachenko believes it was ‘exposed for about a week.’

Bad behavior by security expert, as such database being widely available to anyone could significantly help the industry to become more healthy - read, make Adobe customers think where it all going and choose alternatives.

Aputure working on their booth.

Canon 1 Inch 12MP CMOS 4K Sensor

Color CMOS solid-state image sensor, 12 million effective pixels in a square pixel array. Supports read speeds of 24 fps when reading all pixels.

• Filter Type - RGB
• Sensitivity - 22,000 e/lx/sec @Analog gain x1 (TBD)
• Sensor Size - 1 inch
• Number of Effective Pixels - 4000x 3000 (Horizontal x Vertical)
• Pixel Size - 3.2 um x 3.2 um
• Shutter - Rolling shutter 12 bit, 24 fps (All Pixels)
• Maximum Frame Rate - 10 bit, 60 fps (4K2K)
• Saturation 22,000 e (TBD) @ Analog gain x 1
• Dark Random Noise - 2.8 e rms @Analog gain x16 (TBD)
• Dark Current - 17 e/sec (TBD) @package reverse side 60℃
• Drive Frequency - 27 MHz (recommended)
• Output Channels - Data: 12 lanes, Clock: 2 lanes
• Output Format - LVDS output maximum 648 Mbps @12 bit
• Power Consumption - 540 mW(Typ.) @All pixels readout 24fps (12bit)
• Power Supply Voltages 3.3V, 1.8 V
• Package Type - 150 pin ceramic LGA
• Package Size - 25.10 mm x 22.20 mm x 2.99 mm

Canon 1/1.7 Inch 12MP CMOS Sensor

Color CMOS solid-state image sensor, 9.3mm measured diagonally, 12 million effective pixels in a square pixel array. Supports 4K/2K video at 30 fps and 12MP still images.

• Filter Type - RGB
• Sensitivity - 8,900 e/lx/sec @Analog gain x1 (TBD)
• Sensor Size - 1 / 1.7 inch
• Number of Effective Pixels 4000x 3000 (Horizontal x Vertical)
• Pixel Size - 1.86 um x 1.86 um
• Shutter - Rolling shutter 12 bit, 15 fps (All Pixels)
• Maximum Frame Rate - 11 bit, 30 fps (4K2K)
• Saturation - 12,000 e (TBD) @Analog gain x1
• Dark Random Noise - 1.3 e rms @Analog gain x16 (TBD)
• Dark Current - 7 e/sec (TBD) @package reverse side 60℃
• Drive Frequency - 27 MHz (recommended)
• Output Channels - Data: 12 lanes, Clock: 4 lanes
• Output Format - LVDS output maximum 648 Mbps @12bit
• Power Consumption - 0.52 W (Typ.) @All pixels readout 15 fps (12bit)
• Power Supply Voltages 3.5V, 3.4V, 3.3 V, 1.8 V
• Package Type - 129 pin ceramic LGA
• Package Size - 15.80 mm x 14.90 mm x 2.10 mm

Canon 1/2.32 Inch 2.8MP High Dynamic Range CMOS Sensor

CMOS type of solid-state image sensor (3U3MRXSAA), 1/2.32" pixel array of 2.81M. Rolling electronic shutter for video to control the charge storage period. Can output effective 1936 x 1456 pixels video at 60 fps and 12bit via 4 channels of digital signal output. Includes HDR ( High Dynamic Range)  drive features. 3U3MRXSAAC has an RGB on-chip color filter.

• Filter Type - RGB
• Sensitivity (e/lx/sec) 25,000 (Green) @Analog  gain x1 (TBD)
• Sensor Size -- 1 / 2.32 inch equivalent
• Number of Effective Pixels 1936 x 1456 (Horizontal x Vertical)
• Pixel Size - 3.2 um x 3.2 um
• Scan Type - Progressive scan
• Shutter - Rolling shutter 120 dB, HDR
• Dynamic Range - 75dB, Normal
• Maximum Frame Rate (All Pixels) - 60 fps, Normal, 30 fps, HDR
• Operating Temperature - -40℃ ~ 105℃（-40°F ~ 221°F）
• Saturation - 23,000 e @Analog gain x1 (TBD)
• Dark Random Noise - 2.7 e rms @Analog gain x4 (TBD)
• Dark Current - 13 e/sec @Analog gain x 1, 60℃ (TBD), TBD @room temperature
• Drive Frequency - 24MHz (recommended)
• Output Channels - Data: 4 lanes, Clock: 1 lane MIPI-CSI2 output maximum 576 Mbps
• Output Format - @in all-pixel operating mode 12bit, 60fps
• Power Consumption - 300mW (Typ.) @using all pixels 60 fps (TBD)
• Power Supply Voltages 3.3 V, 1.8 V, 1.2V
• Package Type - 94 pin ceramic LGA
• Package Size - 15.07 mm x 13.37 mm x 2.74 mm 

Canon Super 35mm 9.34MP 4K CMOS Sensor

Color CMOS solid-state image sensor, Super 35mm (30mm diagonally), 9.24 million effective pixels in a square pixel array. Supports speeds of 60 fps when reading all pixels, high-sensitivity 4K.

• Filter Type - RGB
• Sensitivity - 72,000 e/lx/sec @Analog gain x1 (TBD)
• Sensor Size - super 35mm (Diagonal30 mm)
• Number of Effective Pixels 4112x 2248 (Horizontal x Vertical)
• Pixel Size - 6.4 um x 6.4 um
• Shutter - Rolling shutter
• Maximum Frame Rate 12bit, 60 fps (All Pixels)
• Saturation - 39,000 e(TBD) @Analog gain x1
• Dark Random Noise -  2.7 e rms @Analog gain x 8 (TBD)
• Dark Current - 54 e/sec(TBD) @package reverse side 60℃
• Drive Frequency - 72 MHz (recommended)
• Output Channels - Data: 24 lanes, Clock: 2 lanes
• Output Format - LVDS output maximum 576 Mbps @12 bit
• Power Consumption - 2 W (Typ.) @All pixels readout 60 fps
• Power Supply Voltages 3.3V, 2.1 V, 1.8 V, 1.0V, 0.85V, -1.2V
• Package Type - 154 pin ceramic LCC
• Package Size - 46.00 mm x 38.00 mm x 3.59 mm

Canon Full Frame 50MP CMOS Sensor

Full frame CMOS solid-state color image sensor (43.2mm diagonally), 50.6 million effective pixels in asquare pixel array. High definition, low noise, and reduced dark current.

• Filter Type - RGB
• Sensitivity - 32,000 e/lx/sec @Analog gain x16 (TBD)
• Sensor Size - 35mm Full size (36 mm x 24 mm)
• Number of Effective Pixels 8688x 5792 (Horizontal x Vertical)
• Pixel Size - 4.14 um x 4.14 um
• Shutter - Rolling shutter
• Maximum Frame Rate - 6.8 fps (All Pixels)
• Saturation - 38,000 e (TBD)
• Dark Random Noise - 2.5 e rms @Analog gain x16 (TBD)
• Dark Current - 9.6 e/sec (TBD) @package reverse side 60℃
• Drive Frequency - 24 MHz (recommended)
• Output Channels - Data: 16 ch
• Output Format - 16 ch analog outputs
• Power Consumption - 1.5 W (Typ.) @All pixels readout 6.8 fps
• Power Supply Voltages 5.5V, 4.8V, 3.3V, 2.0V, 1.8 V, 1.5 V, 1.3V, 1.2V, -1.4V
• Package Type - 104 pin ceramic QFP
• Package Size - 55.2 mm x 44.35 mm x 2.74 mm

Coverage: Anmol Mishra, India team