Gizmodo: leaf

Solar Phone Concept Charges On Your Wrist

Jason Chen — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:40:00 EDT

Speaking as a guy who rarely goes outside, this concept would be very much the same as a regular phone, but it is a neat looking flexible device that doubles as a watch when not in use.

It's by Seungkyun Woo & Junyi Heo, and wraps around your arm in the normal state, soaking up solar power to keep it going longer. It's kind of a genius idea to stick solar onto everything in the future, or even a combination of solar and kinetic charging. [Yanko Design]

Nissan's LEAF Gets Its Tailpipe Chopped Off in the Name of Zero CO2 Emission

Rosa Golijan — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EDT

The LEAF may be compensating for the lack of a tailpipe with 30 minute "quick charges" and the ability to go for miles and miles on a single charge (100 miles to be exact), but hey, it's eco-friendly.

Nissan's quick to separate its newest vehicle from the pack by detailing that the smiling face formed between the car's headlights isn't the only friendly thing about it:

Unlike internal-combustion engine (ICE) equipped vehicles, Nissan LEAF's power train has no tail pipe, and thus no emission of CO2 or other greenhouse gases. A combination of Nissan LEAF's regenerative braking system and innovative lithium-ion battery packs enables the car to deliver a driving range of more than 160km (100 miles) on one full charge.

Surprisingly, charging the LEAF doesn't take all eternity and you can be ready to go in less time than it takes to get a sunburn in the Florida sun:

Nissan LEAF can be charged up to 80% of its full capacity in just under 30 minutes with a quick charger. Charging at home through a 200V outlet is estimated to take approximately eight hours - ample time to enable an overnight refresh for consumer and car alike.

We'll know more about pricing of this zippy little thing as the LEAF gets closer to being on the market (around late 2010), but it's expected to qualify for an "array of significant local, regional and national tax breaks and incentives in markets around the world." Saving money and the environment? Maybe this eunuch of a car is worth it after all. [Nissan]

Mamiya's $20k, 33-Megapixel DL33 Medium-Format Digital Is Beautiful

John Mahoney — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:40:00 EDT

Medium format wizards Mamiya are continuing their legacy of huge-sensored digicams with the new DL33—33 megapixels spread across a 36mm x 48mm sensor, which is twice the size of a full-frame DSLR's chip.

As you know, sensor size and performance is the far more important factor governing image quality in digital photography. So the DL33 has crazy-wide dynamic range capturing at 16-bits per channel,—12 stops worth, which is a measure of exposure stops between the darkest and lightest areas that can be captured accurately at the same time. (For more on dynamic range, check out our HDR tutorial). The RAW files this sensor spits out are around 67MB, with a 16-bit TIFF weighing in at 190MB.

The upgrade comes way of a new 33-megapixel Aptus-II 7 Digital Back from Leaf, mated to an improved Mamiya 645AFD III body. I love my old Mamiya C330 TLR, so I wish I was a fashion or studio photographer who could write this off, because there's something about medium-format photography that gets me hard. [Mamiya via Photography Blog]

Winsome Leaf Keychain Speakers are Almost Certainly Irritating in Real Life

John Herrman — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:04:14 EST

At first glance, this leaf from Bird Electron doesn't seem like such a bad idea: Provide people with a small, unamplified, discreet speaker that can hook up to pretty much any MP3 player, wrap it in a cute little leafy shell and clip it to a keychain. But then, please, consider the uses. When can't you just give you friends an earbud to share a song? When you're 13, on a bus with five friends, all of whom are on a pretty hard Chingy kick. That's when. Japan can keep this one. [Akihabara]

The Leaf AFi 10 Camera Delivers 56 Megapixels

Sean Fallon — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:20:00 EDT

This has been a big month for big-time cameras. First we we first saw the Hasselblad H3DII-50 and its whopping 50-megapixel sensor, which was topped the following week by the Phase One's P65+. The Leaf AFi 10 medium format camera falls in the middle of the war over sensor-size with a 56x36mm TWF sensor that cranks out a 56 megapixel resolution across the entire width of the 6x6 sensor area.

Unlike the other cameras, it also features proprietary "Verto" technology that rotates the sensor internally, so you don't have to turn the camera when you want to take a portrait shot. Other than that, the AFi 10 captures images at about 1 second per frame and it can shoot up to ISO800. Oh, and it's even more expensive than the Phase One P65+ at $43,700. [Leaf via Photography Blog via DVICE]

Your Fridge Gets the Forest Effect with Leaf Magnets

Kit Eaton — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Forget fridge magnet poetry— you know you only used it to make up smutty phrases anyway—stick these fridge leaves on that boring metal door, and you'd have your own indoor forest. Granted it would be much more "lovely" if it was made of real leaves not plastic ones, but I reckon they've got a charm all of their own. Designer Richard Hutten created them for office ceilings in a Rotterdam museum, and now they're being commercialised. No word on pricing or availability yet. [Dezeen]

Leaf Mamiya 22 Megapixel Cam

Travis Hudson — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 09:37:39 EDT

I am noticing a trend in digital cameras similar to that of razors. Don't get me wrong, my Gillette Mach 14 Enhanced Super Turbo Plus Exclamation Point razor gets the job done, with all 35 blades and seven moisturizing strips, but enough is enough. Two or three blades tops is all you really need in a razor. This Leaf Mamiya camera has an astonishing 22 megapixels. I am pretty sure a picture taken at 22 megapixels could be blown up to the size of a football field with little to no quality loss. Maybe I am not enough of a photog to really appreciate a camera of this ~~overkill~~ proportion. More specs on the Leaf Mamiya after the jump.

The Leaf Mamiya ProDigital II improves the workflow by letting you work more intuitively. For example, the 3.5 touch screen, which allows users to setup and adjust image settings, is where you create and name folders and files. The lighting-fast 1.2 f.p.s. capture rate is a perfect match for the completely new auto-focusing system.

Other improvements the Leaf Mamiya ProDigital II offers:

Faster focusing than the original ProDigital

User-selectable Selective Spot Focus or Wide Focus area modes

All critical exposure and shooting information including exposure and available image storage are now available in the viewfinder.

36 custom functions. Individual camera preferences such as 1/3, 1/2 or full aperture/shutter speed increments, flash synch speed, dial functions, exposure compensation increments, bracketing sequence, dial direction setting and much more are easily set and recalled in a snap.

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