Photoshop Sets Gigapixel Record for Chromebook Pixel

Back in 1989 Adobe Photoshop was released as a Mac only software. The program was simplistic in what it could do and unless you had a time machine no one would have predicted that it would be the image editing behemoth that it has become today. Now though thanks to the Computor History Museum the original source code has been released for Photoshop 1.

The Software is is very different to what we can use today, with its pixely duo-tone shadings but it does show the origins of most of the dayd to day functions photoshopers use. The layout has not changed with the tools on the left and the menu options at the top, with the classic filters; add noise and  Gaussian blur. Although the layers palette is not there as it was not available until much later, you can see the neanderthal man of digital photography in the software.

We can only wait for someone to compile the source code and create a online release, to be able to really get a vintage editing experience. Beware of a new hipster trend.

The latest champion in the never ending, mine has more pixels than yours, in the “world’s largest digital picture”title, is a 320 gigiapixel image panorama of London. The Image has taken the crown worn by a panorama of Dubai that was a 45 gigapixel panorama.

The image of London was taken at the top of the BT tower at the end of the 2012 Olympics. The image is made of more than 48,000 images all stitched together.

The huge image was shot by four Canon 7d cameras fixed to a rig. All cameras had a EF 400mm f2.8L IS IIUSM lenses and 2x teleconverters. The image took three days to capture nearly 50,000 shots and a further three months of stitching to create the final image.

The image is quite an impressive feat especially when you see how far you can zoom into the image. But once you get to the fully tele end the objects become unrecognisable. Also at certain depths the dynamic contrasting disappears and you are left with a flat image.

Is there a need for these images? Well not really. I would be impressed if the image was shot on a 320 gigapixel camera but it wasn’t. Technically you could do this with enough computers and cameras. This seems more like a PR/advertising stunt by BT.

BT are holding a competition for the first person to spot their mascot in the crowd.

Has Google made a wrong turn with their new Chromebook Pixel?
Well Google has released the New Chrome book Pixel. The laptop has; a 13” 3:2 ratio with 239 ppi touch screen. This screen has the highest pixel density screen on the laptop market. The press junk for this machine seems to make it worthy of photographers attentions, trying to prise them from their MacBook’s similarly as they have been with their Android Mobile OS. The touch screen is supposed to be a plus for people who want a “hands on experience” editing their images. The machine also has 2x USB 2.0 ports and a SD/mmc card reader. Depending on the model, 32GB or 64GB hard drive and 3 years free cloud  1tb of storage.

Ok, this sounds like a nice Laptop. But wait. For me the first thing I read about this is that it will be running Chrome OS. Chrome OS in my opinion is a glorified web browser what can boot quickly because it is only a web browser in essence. The one thing it can’t do is install Photoshop. It is a closed garden system with apps needing to come from the app store meaning you are constantly feeding money to Google and have none of the choice to use different software.

What the Chrome book Pixel will do with your photos via its Photos app, is begin uploading full resolution images to your Google + account. Google + is integrated into the systems UI. The app will sort through your pictures discarding the blurry or incorrectly exposed images. What about the underexposed image you chose to shoot because of the shadow details or images with extreme soft focus. Will the app be able to distinguish artistic flair from just bad shots. One of the reasons I hate modern technology is the machine thinking it knows what I want to do. This is one of the reasons I never went to Vista (also it was a bug infested mess). I know many home pc users may only use a laptop for the internet and occasional word processing but why is the minority that use computers differently being pushed to the side.

The idea of hands on experience makes me laugh mainly from my experience playing games. The mouse and even more the pen and tablet are more accurate than your finger because when you press your finger on something you are covering up the screen and cant see what your editing.

The device will run at $1,299 US and £1.049 UK not a cheap piece of hardware and definitely not for photographers in my opinion.

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