In late 2022, Atomos told investors that it had “completed development of a world class 8K video sensor” and that it was “actively exploring opportunities for commercialisation” and holding talks with camera makers that it said were “showing great interest.” In an interview with PetaPixel later that year, the company said it was a full-frame, global shutter sensor capable of capturing 8K at 60fps with up to 15 stops of dynamic range, all while drawing just 2W of power.

We’ve heard very little about the project since then, but PetaPixel has just reported that it’s been abandoned, citing a conversation with the company’s COO. Currently, there are no further details about when the call was made to sideline the sensor or why that decision was made. We’ve reached out to Atomos and will update this story if we hear back.

While there’s been very little news about the sensor – dubbed the ‘Sapphire F8’ – since 2022, it seemed like an interesting proposition. Global shutters are especially useful for video applications, where rolling shutters can cause distortion on fast-moving subjects or during quick camera movements.

In 2022, the Sapphire would’ve been ahead of the curve

While several cinema-focused cameras have used the tech over the years, it’s only recently become available in cameras with larger (full-frame or above) sensors. When Red announced the V-Raptor X in early 2024, it said it was the “first available large format global shutter” cinema camera. Around the same time, Sony’s a9 III became the first full-frame mirrorless camera to feature a global shutter. In 2022, Atomos’ Sapphire project, developed after it acquired rights and technical staff from broadcast equipment company Grass Valley in 2017, would’ve been ahead of the curve.

Whatever caused the company to drop the project, it’s unfortunate that there won’t be more competition in the high-end sensor market. Making a sensor is no small feat, and neither is actually getting it into a finished product – something Atomos already knew since work on the Sapphire began during a project to create a cinema camera, which also wound up being canceled.

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Embedding social media posts has become a widespread practice and a critical tool for all sorts of websites. It allows sites to share content without hosting it themselves, opening the doors to showcase more dynamic content and user-generated or brand materials. Now, though, a photographer is asking the US Supreme Court to consider if embedding social media content is a violation of copyright.

As initially reported by Digital Camera World, photographer Elliot McGucken filed a petition for certiorari (a request to review) on March 28. This petition is part of his lawsuit against media company Valnet, Inc., which runs thetravel.com. The lawsuit results from The Travel embedding 36 photographs in McGucken’s Instagram posts across multiple articles without his permission. The case argues that embedding a copyrighted work without the artist’s permission is copyright infringement.

This debate, which centers around the “server test,” is far from new. The server test was a guideline initially established in a 2007 Ninth Circuit Court decision. It essentially says that if a website hosts a copyrighted image on its own systems, it is a copyright violation. But if the website uses third-party hosting, such as by embedding a social media post or an image from an artist’s website, it does not violate copyright.

There have been multiple challenges since the initial guideline was established. However, the most recent (outside of this new case) was in 2023, when photographers Alexis Hunley and Matthew Brauer filed a class action lawsuit against Instagram. They claimed that Instagram violated their copyright by allowing Time and Buzzfeed to embed photos they shared on their Instagram profiles. A three-judge panel at the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Instagram was not liable for copyright infringement, though, explaining that when a photo or video is embedded, no copy is made.

The district courts and Ninth Circuit court have already dismissed the complaints, but the photographer has now asked the Supreme Court to weigh in. The petition gives multiple reasons for why it should be granted, one of which is that it “presents a clear legal question that has divided the federal courts.” However, as VitalLaw reports, district courts in the Second, Fifth and Tenth Circuits, including a federal court in Manhattan, have all rejected it.

Instagram, like many other social media platforms, allows users to turn off embedding, which prevents websites from sharing content in this way. Instagram rolled this out in 2021, and users can change the setting under the “How others can interact with you” option inside the Settings menu.

The Supreme Court has until May 1 to issue a response.

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Canon recently made its PowerShot V1 compact available globally, after it was initially launched for the Asian market. While the company’s marketing it as a vlogging camera, photographers also seem to have taken an interest in it, with its reasonably large Type 1.4 (18.4 x 12.3mm) sensor paired with a 16-50mm equiv. F2.8-4.5 lens.

We’ve gotten the opportunity to shoot with it a bit and have put together a sample gallery, which should give you some idea of how the sensor and lens perform. We’ll dig deeper into image quality in our full review.

See the sample gallery

Given that it’s a vlogging camera, we’ve also put together some sample footage taken with it. It’s embedded below, though do note that you may need to click through to watch the video on YouTube if you want to see it at its maximum quality.

Please do not reproduce any of these images on a website or any newsletter/magazine without prior permission (see our copyright page). We make the originals available for private users to download to their own machines for personal examination or printing; we do so in good faith, so please don’t abuse it.

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