canon

It's been said that Ubuntu's open-source operating system would be available on smartphones by the end of the year, and now it's confirmed that consumers can get their hands on such devices in October.

Ubuntu is made by Canonical, and according to the Wall Street Journal, the founder and CEO of Canonical Mark Shuttleworth said that Ubuntu OS smartphones will be available in October and app developers will get access to the OS later this month.

It's not yet clear which smartphones will run Ubuntu's OS, but app developers will be able to work with … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Ubuntu is one of the better known flavors of desktop Linux, but its successes pale in comparison to a mobile version of Linux known as Android. At CES 2013, Ubuntu maker Canonical showed off a pre-release version of the operating system running on high-end Android hardware.

Canonical isn't promising a mere revision of Linux for phones. Its pitch involves a full computing ecosystem, encompassing the desktop version of Ubuntu, the smartphone and a desktop dock for it, and a thin client.

The company said in a press release that it expects to sell Ubuntu phones on a mix … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Canon piggybacks on this morning's PowerShot N announcement with the introduction of four new Pixma inkjet printers. Flaunting larger-than-average duty cycles and shipped with high-capacity ink cartridges, the Pixma MX392, MX452, MX522, and MX922 all-in-ones all deliver copy, scan, and print functions for individuals and large work groups.

Canon focuses on professional media handling on these devices, combining stationary wireless printing with Google Cloud Printing for the mobile crowd, not to mention compatibility with the Canon Easy-PhotoPrint app for Android and iOS devices that lets users forgo a standalone digital camera for a Web-connected smartphone.

Standing at the … Read more

LAS VEGAS--For the past few years, Canon has been successively eliminating several camcorders from its annual lineup. This year, we're left with just three consumer models; really, though, just one model in three configurations. The surviving version is the still popular lowest-end HF R series -- specifically, the Vixia HF R40, R42 and R400.

The series gets a few hardware updates, including a bump to Digic DV IV, which enables several new video capabilities, including higher frame and bit rates -- MP4 1080/60p at 35 megabits per second and AVCHD 2.0 1080/30p at 28Mbps -- a … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The excellentCanon Vixia HF G10 gets a modest -- some might say disappointing -- upgrade for 2013. The most notable change is the price; the G20 will cost $1,099.99, a couple hundred lower than the current retail price.

On the upside, the camcorder incorporates a new version of the HD CMOS sensor, which Canon claims offers a better dynamic range. That's good, of course, but surprisingly it doesn't offer the increased bit rates or frame rates as the lower-end models. Instead, it gets prerecord capabilities, an improved eye cup for the EVF, and a … Read more

If you're bored with the run-of-the-mill images produced by your dSLR's kit lens, the dSLR Wheel of Filters may pique your interest with its ability to add a lo-fi twist to your pictures.

The system consists of two components, an adapter and two "wheels." First, the adapter mounts on your dSLR like a regular lens, which will allow you to attach the two supplied "wheels." One lets you choose between colors, dual colors, and color surrounds, while the other comes equipped with macro lenses, kaleidoscopes, and prisms. … Read more

Two new higher-end but not top-end lenses will arrive in December, the $1,500 EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM and the $850 EF 35mm f/2 IS USM, Canon said today.

The 24-70mm f4 lens, though not inexpensive by any means, extends a Canon tradition of offering intermediate models for enthusiasts and pros who don't necessarily want to pay more for top-end lenses -- in this case, the alternative is the $2,300 Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM introduced in February, whose f2.8 aperture enables photography in low-light shooting and with a blurrier background … Read more

Canon plans to release a notable firmware update to its high-end EOS 5D Mark III in April that will let videographers use the SLR to record uncompressed HDMI video.

As the successor to the 5D Mark II that jump-started the video SLR revolution four years ago, the 22-megapixel 5D3 has big shoes to fill. The new update surely will help professionals who need better quality, even if ordinary folks need not care much. Here's what Canon had to say about the news:

When shooting video, HDMI Output makes possible the recording of high-definition uncompressed video data (YCbCr 4:2:… Read more

With the Photokina show in Germany producing so many new high-end cameras, it's evidently been a busy season for Adobe Systems' Lightroom team.

That team just released Lightroom 4.2, which supports 22 new cameras, 43 new lenses, and lets people shoot with 11 new cameras tethered to a computer. It takes work to figure out how to decode each camera's proprietary raw format.

Here's the full list of new cameras supported, but note that the Nikon D600 support is "preliminary and there is a minor risk that the appearance of your images may change when … Read more