News for the week of November 26

Lord Lichfiled Dies Photographer and Royal Cousin Dies at the age of 66 from a stroke. Lord Lichfield was the Queen's first cousin, once removed and was official photographer at the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Diana. His Illustrious career includes working for Vogue and photographing many stars and personalities, including Michael Caine, Colin Farrell, model Jerry Hall, the late Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and the Royal Family. Plenoptic Imaging This was one of the most interesting pieces in the last while. DP Review featured an article covering the development of a new type of digital image recording. Ren Ng, who is a graduate student at Stanford University has developed a hand-held plenoptic camera. The camera works by taking the shot first and then allows you to make the decision about the focus point in software afterwards. According to the article "The prototype camera is actually a Contax 645 with a modified Megavision FB4040 back (sixteen megapixel). The back has had an array of 90,000 microlenses mounted in front of the sensor (with a gap between the array and the sensor). These microlenses create a unique image on the sensor surface which includes not only the amount of light deposited at that location, but how much light arrives along each ray. The image is then reconstructed in software and a focus point can be chosen. Note that the final resolution is the same as the number of microlenses." for more info visit dpreview which has plenty of links to more info. Sigma Lenses and EOS 5D Review Other news includes new lenses from Sigma, a 135 - 400mm F4.5-5.6 DG lens, a 170-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG Lens. A full Review of the Canon EOS 5D at dpreview which makes interesting reading and makes me even more interested in get my hands on one. Solar Bags from Eclipse Eclipse Solar Gear are a Manufacturer who have released a line of bags aimed at gadgeteers. innovative solar charging carrying cases for all your mobile personal electronics. The bags are in eclipses own words: "a patented line of backpacks, messenger bags, soft coolers, and other quality cases designed to charge the batteries of common handheld electronics including: cell phones, PDA’s, iPods, and GPS units in a convenient and effortless manner."