frames

Now that Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" has opened in theaters around the world, the most controversial thing about it isn't even that he somehow is making three 3-hour movies out of a 300-page children's story. No, it's the way the movie has been shot that has the most people talking.

The "Hobbit" trilogy has been captured using James Cameron's 48-frames-per-second 3D technology (HFR 3D), which Jackson says leads to less eyestrain and a sharper picture.

Only a limited number of cinemas will be showing the movie in HFR -- Jackson says it's only 1,000 out of 25,000 theaters.

"On the first day of shooting 'The Hobbit' in 48 frames, there was not a single cinema in the world that could project the movie in that format," Jackson said, according to CinemaBlend.

While we're not going to go into how the technology works here, CNET editors David Katzmaier and Ty Pendlebury have just come out of a showing in HFR 3D and wanted to share their thoughts.… Read more

Instead of leaving your favorite snaps to languish virtually, the folks at Ghost Nest have created an interesting way to show off your prized images.

The Geode is basically an oddly shaped picture frame that illuminates specially printed versions of your chosen snapshots. Just send your images in and the company will print them for you. This unique picture frame comes with a rechargeable battery and will glow for up to 6 hours on a full charge. … Read more

COLOGNE, Germany -- A decade ago, a cataclysm rocked the photography business as digital image sensors replaced fim.

It turns out that was just the beginning.

At the Photokina show here, it was clear a second wave of change is sweeping through the industry. Cameras produced during the first digital photography revolution looked and worked very similarly to their film precursors, but now designers have begun liberating them from the old constraints.

Three big developments are pushing the changes: a new class of interchangeable-lens cameras, the arrival of smartphones with wireless networking, and the sudden enthusiasm for full-frame sensors for … Read more

Between Canon and Nikon's inexpensive full-frame bodies and Sony's full-frame press of a compact, pro body and camcorder, there are going to be a lot of photographers and videographers lining up to sit on Santa's lap this holiday season.

But if you prefer something smaller, there's plenty of that for you, too, in the form of new enthusiast compact cameras from almost every manufacturer and updates to interchangeable-lens models. Plus Panasonic gave its video-friendly GH2 a complete overhaul for the GH3.

Here's a guide to our complete Photokina coverage. Just because.… Read more

Leica's known for putting out limited editions of its cameras drafted by high-profile designers or for luxury retailers -- Hermes, Audi, and Neiman Marcus versions come to mind -- but the company's entering new fanboy territory by enlisting the creator of Apple's current signature looks, Sir Jony Ive, to create a single limited edition of the new Leica M.

The camera will go up for charity auction in collaboration with U2's Bono.… Read more

Photokina hasn't even started yet and I'm ready to declare it Full-Frame Fest based on what Sony's unveiled today and what I know is coming. Sony alone is rolling out three full-frame devices aimed at a variety of different types of photographers, albeit all of them professionals.

Sony may be first to market with a compact full-frame camera, but at a price of almost $2,800, the Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 is cruelly out of reach for a lot of the enthusiasts who will stare longingly at it online only to settle for an RX100. Is it even fair … Read more

It's easy to click away with your digital camera or phone and save tons of snapshots to your PC. If you've ever admired someone else's immaculately trimmed and framed digital pictures, there's no reason yours can't look the same; all you need is software that can create borders and frames for your images. But a tool that's too difficult to use is almost worse than no tool at all, especially if you spend a lot of time learning to use it but end up no further than when you started. Not all picture framing … Read more

Once-hot digital photo frames are now relegated to the holiday gift sales section at department stores. But the digital frame may be about to get its groove back thanks to Instacube, an Instagram-specific display.

The bigger-is-better concept is alive and well with this Kickstarter project. The squared-off Instacube streams your Instagram photo feed in a much larger format than you can view on your little smartphone screen.… Read more

Would you like a super-easy way to capture video frames and convert them into JPEG stills? Or generate a series of images showing a sequence from your favorite movie? Or create picture albums out of family videos? DVDVideoSoft's Free Video to JPG Converter is your production assistant. This free tool makes it easy to capture still images from video files and save them as JPEG images, the most common format by far. It can sample frames at rates you select or copy every frame, though you can also limit the total number of frames to keep things from getting … Read more