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Motorcycle Vibrations Can Damage iPhone cameras as per Apple

By General Posts

by Kim Lyons from https://www.theverge.com

by Edward Moyer from https://www.cnet.com

From Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212803

Motorcycle vibrations can degrade iPhone camera performance, Apple says

High amplitude vibrations can cause problems for the cameras’ gyroscopes

A new post on Apple’s Support forum https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212803 says exposing iPhones to high-amplitude vibrations, “specifically those generated by high-power motorcycle engines” could degrade the devices’ camera system. The company recommends against mounting an iPhone on a motorcycle, as the vibrations may be transmitted via the bike’s handlebars and chassis.

Here’s the technical explanation from Apple:

If you accidentally move a camera when you take a picture, the resulting image can be blurry. To prevent this, some iPhone models have optical image stabilization (OIS).1 OIS lets you take sharp photos even if you accidentally move the camera. With OIS, a gyroscope senses that the camera moved. To reduce image motion, and the resulting blur, the lens moves according to the angle of the gyroscope.

Additionally, some iPhone models have closed-loop autofocus (AF).2 Closed-loop AF resists the effects of gravity and vibration to preserve sharp focus in stills, videos, and panoramas. With closed-loop AF, on-board magnetic sensors measure gravity and vibration effects and determine the lens position so that the compensating motion can be set accurately.

The OIS and closed-loop AF systems in iPhone are designed for durability. However, as is the case with many consumer electronics that include systems like OIS, long-term direct exposure to high-amplitude vibrations within certain frequency ranges may degrade the performance of these systems and lead to reduced image quality for photos and videos. It is recommended to avoid exposing your iPhone to extended high-amplitude vibrations.

The iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and all iPhones since the iPhone 7 have both optical image stabilization and closed-loop autofocus (as noted by MacRumors, the first outlet to spot the Apple support post). Both features are also vulnerable to magnetic interference from some iPhone accessories, Apple warned earlier this year, but removing the accessories should take care of that issue.

Additionally in the new post, Apple says if you’re planning to mount your iPhone to a scooter or a moped, it recommends using a vibration-dampening mount to lessen the risk to the phone and its camera system. And avoiding prolonged regular use of an iPhone mounted to a vehicle that produces lower-amplitude vibrations is also a good idea.

Apple says iPhone cameras can be hurt by motorcycle vibrations

High-power or high-volume motorcycle engines produce potentially damaging high-amplitude vibrations, so the company says don’t attach your phone to your hawg.

If you’ve been rockin’ down the highway with an iPhone mounted on your motorcycle, you might want to think again. On Friday, Apple said certain motorcycle engines can give your iPhone’s camera bad vibes.

“Exposing your iPhone to high amplitude vibrations within certain frequency ranges, specifically those generated by high-power motorcycle engines, can degrade the performance of the camera system,” the company said in a post on its support site.

The vibes are channeled through the chassis and handlebars, so you shouldn’t attach your phone to motorcycles with high-power or high-volume engines, the company said. It said mopeds and scooters, which tend to have small-volume or electric engines, are less of a concern but that you should use a vibration dampening mount and “avoid regular use for prolonged periods.”

The problem has to do with high-tech gyroscope- and magnet-based camera systems designed to compensate for shaky shots. Such systems, like optical image stabilization and closed-loop autofocus, make automatic adjustments if you accidentally move while taking a picture.

“The OIS and closed-loop AF systems in iPhone are designed for durability,” Apple said. But “long-term direct exposure to high-amplitude vibrations … may degrade the performance of these systems and lead to reduced image quality for photos and videos.”

For details on which iPhone models feature these camera systems, you can check out Apple’s post.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212803

 

Behind the Scenes: Tom Cruise Jumps Off A Cliff With A Motorcycle

By General Posts

by Eric Eisenberg from https://www.cinemablend.com

With each new Mission: Impossible movie there is a raised expectation for bigger and better stunts, and that’s because with each sequel Tom Cruise has managed to successfully raise the bar with his performances. The franchise has become a kind of testing ground for the star to push the limits of practical action on the big screen, and the things we’ve seen him do over the years is just mind-bending. That’s a tradition that unsurprisingly will continue in the upcoming Mission: Impossible 7 – but audiences may not be totally prepared for what they are going to witness, as what Cruise, director Christopher McQuarrie, and the crew of the film have in store is simply next level and unbelievable.

Paramount Pictures held their big studio presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this morning, and the event kicked off with a special behind the scenes look at the next chapter in the Mission: Impossible series that provided an early glimpse at what is said to be the biggest stunt in the film. It’s something that you should really start emotionally preparing for now, because the blockbuster shot a sequence that features Tom Cruise riding a motorcycle off of a cliff, leaping off the bike, and then turning the fall into a base jump. And what makes it even more amazing is that he not only had to do a crazy amount of preparation for the sequence, but also performed the actual thing on set six times.

The presentation featured an extended behind-the-scenes featurette detailing all of the work that went into the creation of the stunt, and watching it all unfold was just unreal. In order to ensure that everything would work absolutely perfectly when production started, Tom Cruise practiced the different elements of the jump several times, including doing 13,000 motocross jumps off of a ramp, and 500 skydives (breaking it down, it was noted that he was doing 30 tumbles out of a helicopter per day during pre-production). The crew did digital tracking for each of the practice runs, reading a GPS put on Cruise’s back and calculating for wind and different variables that could impact the insane feat, and they used the data to figure out the best way to shoot the sequence with drone-mounted cameras.

As noted in the featurette, all kinds of things could have gone horribly wrong. The bike didn’t have a speedometer, so Tom Cruise had to rely on feel alone to ensure he was getting to the right speed in order to hit the correct jump trajectory. It was an elevated ramp, so a mistake resulting in falling to either side would have resulted in serious injury. And a change in the wind while he was parachuting down could have seen the Mission: Impossible star crash into the rocky side of the cliff regardless of how well things went on the motorbike. The production schedule had the stunt being filmed on the very first day of principal photography (presumably because the crew knew that if anything went wrong the movie wouldn’t move forward), but fortunately everything worked out, and audiences will be able to experience the insanity on the big screen next year.

Having wrapped production this past week, Mission: Impossible 7 is being prepared as one of the biggest blockbuster events of next year, and is set to be released on May 27, 2022. It will be followed by Mission: Impossible 8, presently dated for July 7, 2023, and it’s pretty insane to imagine the production coming up with something that is even more insane than what Tom Cruise is doing in the next chapter. Hopefully it won’t be too long before a first look at the movie arrives online, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed it will give us at least a brief glimpse at the finished version of the motorcycle base jump.