HDR photos in iOS 4.1 could be a result of Apple acquisition
The addition of high dynamic range photos to the iPhone 4 via the iOS 4.1 software update may have come from the purchase of Imsense Ltd., a company that creates software to improve the quality of digital photos.
Evidence compiled by MacRumors shows that Imsense was acquired in July by an unnamed buyer, and its online presence, including the "imphoto" application it sold for the iPhone in the App Store, has since vanished. In addition, Alexis Gatt, formerly the director of engineering at Imsense, is now a senior engineer at Apple.
The company developed technology it dubbed "eye-fidelity," which allows for dynamic range correction in both standard and HDR photos. This is accomplished by recovering details lost in underexposed and overexposed pictures.
In addition to an iPhone application, Imsense sold imphoto software for both PC and Mac. But since the company's online presence was purged, the applications are no longer available.
Apple's HDR photos, exclusive to the iPhone 4 in iOS 4.1, are created by quickly taking three pictures: one normal, one underexposed, and one overexposed. The resulting effect, in some cases, results in superior pictures when taken in daylight or a bright setting.
When enabled, the HDR photo feature helps to prevent pictures that are "blown out" with too much light. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs demonstrated the HDR feature at his company's media event last month, where he said the software relies on "pretty sophisticated algorithms," but did not elaborate. iOS 4.1 was publicly released last week.
Apple has made a number of smaller acquisitions in the last year, as the company has more than $45 billion in cash on hand. In July, it was alleged to have bought Poly9, an online mapping company based out of Quebec, Canada.
Apple's purchase of Quattro Wireless late last year paved the way for the iAd mobile advertising network to launch in July. And the acquisition of streaming music service Lala is believed to play an integral role in a rumored cloud-based revamp of iTunes.
Evidence compiled by MacRumors shows that Imsense was acquired in July by an unnamed buyer, and its online presence, including the "imphoto" application it sold for the iPhone in the App Store, has since vanished. In addition, Alexis Gatt, formerly the director of engineering at Imsense, is now a senior engineer at Apple.
The company developed technology it dubbed "eye-fidelity," which allows for dynamic range correction in both standard and HDR photos. This is accomplished by recovering details lost in underexposed and overexposed pictures.
In addition to an iPhone application, Imsense sold imphoto software for both PC and Mac. But since the company's online presence was purged, the applications are no longer available.
Apple's HDR photos, exclusive to the iPhone 4 in iOS 4.1, are created by quickly taking three pictures: one normal, one underexposed, and one overexposed. The resulting effect, in some cases, results in superior pictures when taken in daylight or a bright setting.
When enabled, the HDR photo feature helps to prevent pictures that are "blown out" with too much light. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs demonstrated the HDR feature at his company's media event last month, where he said the software relies on "pretty sophisticated algorithms," but did not elaborate. iOS 4.1 was publicly released last week.
Apple has made a number of smaller acquisitions in the last year, as the company has more than $45 billion in cash on hand. In July, it was alleged to have bought Poly9, an online mapping company based out of Quebec, Canada.
Apple's purchase of Quattro Wireless late last year paved the way for the iAd mobile advertising network to launch in July. And the acquisition of streaming music service Lala is believed to play an integral role in a rumored cloud-based revamp of iTunes.
Comments
The addition of high dynamic range photos to the iPhone 4 via the iOS 4.1 software update may have come from the purchase of Imsense Ltd., a company that creates software to improve the quality of digital photos.
Evidence compiled by MacRumors shows that Imsense was acquired in July by an unnamed buyer, and its online presence, including the "imphoto" application it sold for the iPhone in the App Store, has since vanished. In addition, Alexis Gatt, formerly the director of engineering at Imsense, is now a senior engineer at Apple.
The company developed technology it dubbed "eye-fidelity," which allows for dynamic range correction in both standard and HDR photos. This is accomplished by recovering details lost in underexposed and overexposed pictures.
In addition to an iPhone application, Imsense sold imphoto software for both PC and Mac. But since the company's online presence was purged, the applications are no longer available.
Apple's HDR photos, exclusive to the iPhone 4 in iOS 4.1, are created by quickly taking three pictures: one normal, one underexposed, and one overexposed. The resulting effect, in some cases, results in superior pictures when taken in daylight or a bright setting.
When enabled, the HDR photo feature helps to prevent pictures that are "blown out" with too much light. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs demonstrated the HDR feature at his company's media event last month, where he said the software relies on "pretty sophisticated algorithms," but did not elaborate. iOS 4.1 was publicly released last week.
Apple has made a number of smaller acquisitions in the last year, as the company has more than $45 billion in cash on hand. In July, it was alleged to have bought Poly9, an online mapping company based out of Quebec, Canada.
Apple's purchase of Quattro Wireless late last year paved the way for the iAd mobile advertising network to launch in July. And the acquisition of streaming music service Lala is believed to play an integral role in a rumored cloud-based revamp of iTunes.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
HDR photos are great, love it.
The addition of high dynamic range photos to the iPhone 4 via the iOS 4.1 software update may have come from the purchase of Imsense Ltd., a company that creates software to improve the quality of digital photos.
Evidence compiled by MacRumors shows that Imsense was acquired in July by an unnamed buyer, and its online presence, including the "imphoto" application it sold for the iPhone in the App Store, has since vanished. In addition, Alexis Gatt, formerly the director of engineering at Imsense, is now a senior engineer at Apple.
The company developed technology it dubbed "eye-fidelity," which allows for dynamic range correction in both standard and HDR photos. This is accomplished by recovering details lost in underexposed and overexposed pictures.
In addition to an iPhone application, Imsense sold imphoto software for both PC and Mac. But since the company's online presence was purged, the applications are no longer available.
Apple's HDR photos, exclusive to the iPhone 4 in iOS 4.1, are created by quickly taking three pictures: one normal, one underexposed, and one overexposed. The resulting effect, in some cases, results in superior pictures when taken in daylight or a bright setting.
When enabled, the HDR photo feature helps to prevent pictures that are "blown out" with too much light. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs demonstrated the HDR feature at his company's media event last month, where he said the software relies on "pretty sophisticated algorithms," but did not elaborate. iOS 4.1 was publicly released last week.
Apple has made a number of smaller acquisitions in the last year, as the company has more than $45 billion in cash on hand. In July, it was alleged to have bought Poly9, an online mapping company based out of Quebec, Canada.
Apple's purchase of Quattro Wireless late last year paved the way for the iAd mobile advertising network to launch in July. And the acquisition of streaming music service Lala is believed to play an integral role in a rumored cloud-based revamp of iTunes.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Damn. This is the best journalism I've seen on AI in a long time. Taking the various pieces and putting them together was done very well. Kudos to the author.
HDR photos are great, love it.
Damn. This is the best journalism I've seen on AI in a long time. Taking the various pieces and putting them together was done very well. Kudos to the author.
I guess you guys haven't been on the Internet long eh?
There is no need to quote the entire article just to add your one liner at the end. It's extremely bad form, especially when you aren't even referencing the material you are quoting. The purpose of the quote is to say "I'm replying to this thought here," but neither of your comments reference anything at all in the text.
I guess you guys haven't been on the Internet long eh?
There is no need to quote the entire article just to add your one liner at the end. It's extremely bad form, especially when you aren't even referencing the material you are quoting. The purpose of the quote is to say "I'm replying to this thought here," but neither of your comments reference anything at all in the text.
You're right, wont let it happen again
Does anyone think Apple will go into the CAMERA and/or CAMCORDER business? They do love photography and videos (FCS, Aperture)... Just a thought.
i moved recently and put my digital camera into my inlaws garage during the process. found it yesterday and realized i haven't used it in over a year since i had my iphone
Does anyone think Apple will go into the CAMERA and/or CAMCORDER business? They do love photography and videos (FCS, Aperture)... Just a thought.
They are already in the Camera and Camcorder business. The new iPhone is one heck of a camera/camcorder.
i moved recently and put my digital camera into my inlaws garage during the process. found it yesterday and realized i haven't used it in over a year since i had my iphone
I have a Sony Cybershot that takes better pictures than my iPhone, but I barely use it. It's one additional thing I'd have to carry if I go out somewhere and even when I do manage to take a few pictures with them, they stay on there. When I get home I can never seem to remember to find the sync cable and import them into iPhoto.
Does anyone think Apple will go into the CAMERA and/or CAMCORDER business? They do love photography and videos (FCS, Aperture)... Just a thought.
They did once. It ended badly. Google "Apple QuickTake"
After a number of trials using various subjects, I think Mediocre Dynamic Range (MDR) is a more accurate acronym. I am not one for the oversaturated or spooky images that HDR processes can be made to produce, but I do wish the iPhone HDR feature did indeed produce an "eye-fidelity" image. The most I could say is that it did a decent job on the highlights, but it doesn't bring up the shadows anywhere near where they need to be.
I think the best we can hope for is that the app developers are given access to the three-exposure sequence. That way the rapid acquisition within the HDR feature will generate the sequence. Then the user can use an app to produce something close to what he or she sees. If the Apple MDR feature can't deliver decent dynamic range, let the user handle the process.
Well, color me unimpressed.
After a number of trials using various subjects, I think Mediocre Dynamic Range (MDR) is a more accurate acronym. I am not one for the oversaturated or spooky images that HDR processes can be made to produce, but I do wish the iPhone HDR feature did indeed produce an "eye-fidelity" image.
Well I'm sure you know what your talking about when it comes to photography but frankly the majority of users don't, myself included.
I think HDR offers a marked improvement and there's no fiddling about. Point and click. Simple, easy with great results. This is the Apple way.
If you want pro shots buy a pro camera and learn how to use it.
They did once. It ended badly. Google "Apple QuickTake"
That was back when Steve out of Apple. He discontinued that ugly thing when he came back.. Maybe they'll take another shot at it since Apple today is now CE company.
Well, color me unimpressed.
After a number of trials using various subjects, I think Mediocre Dynamic Range (MDR) is a more accurate acronym. I am not one for the oversaturated or spooky images that HDR processes can be made to produce, but I do wish the iPhone HDR feature did indeed produce an "eye-fidelity" image. The most I could say is that it did a decent job on the highlights, but it doesn't bring up the shadows anywhere near where they need to be.
I think the best we can hope for is that the app developers are given access to the three-exposure sequence. That way the rapid acquisition within the HDR feature will generate the sequence. Then the user can use an app to produce something close to what he or she sees. If the Apple MDR feature can't deliver decent dynamic range, let the user handle the process.
It's actually pretty good, considering the size of the sensor being used. It does bring out shadow detail, but you should use the semi-manual settings. This won't work for every image, but it's pretty good. Ars just did a review of the feature:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...and-ios-41.ars
Well I'm sure you know what your talking about when it comes to photography but frankly the majority of users don't, myself included.
I think HDR offers a marked improvement and there's no fiddling about. Point and click. Simple, easy with great results. This is the Apple way.
If you want pro shots buy a pro camera and learn how to use it.
It's tough even using my semi-pro Canon 5D mkII and Photoshop with the new HDR features. It just depends on how correct you want it to be. This little app does a bang up job for something that does it automatically, with such a poor (compared to my D-SLR) camera.
That was back when Steve out of Apple. He discontinued that ugly thing when he came back.. Maybe they'll take another shot at it since Apple today is now CE company.
I think they discontinued it even before he came back. I had one, it was really bad. 640 x 480...