I love my Nikon D70 as much as I did when I first took it out of the box the day it was released. But I have to admit that over the years I’ve become jealous of more recent Nikon DSLR models which feature considerably larger LCD displays. Rumors about the new D700 have got me itching to upgrade, but that’s unfortunately an expensive solution to the problem. If you’re in the same boat but can wait until tomorrow, Uniden will be releasing the UNX-8507 which is basically a 3X magnifying glass you can place over your camera’s LCD display allowing you to get a closer look at the image you just snapped.
The magnifier features a rubber housing which allows it to be placed over the LCD on the back of any digital camera (be it an SLR or a P&S) and also ensures it’s not going to scratch your display. While I don’t necessarily recommend relying on just the LCD preview to proof your shots (a DSLR can provide far more valuable image data with histograms and such) it could be particularly handy for those with poor vision. And like I already mentioned, it should be available tomorrow for about $47.
DXG has come up with the DXG-567V, a High Definition digital video camera that is just over 4 inches long and comes in four different colors (red, blue, black and pink). It records 720p using H.264 Video Compression (using the MOV format) and also has a built-in retractable USB cord and a web-upload feature that makes it easy to upload your videos to sites like YouTube.
The price is fairly good too, just $179 US. But of course with the low price comes some serious sacrifices, like no optical zoom. Instead it has a measly 2X digital zoom, along with the extra-low flash memory of 32MB (it can take SD cards) and a 2 inch display on the back.
It seems rather crazy to have a High Definition Camera with 2X digital zoom. But hey, you’ll have the best looking blurry home movies on the block.
I always get a kick out of things are shouldn’t be fuzzy, but are. The Moss Colorsplash FurCam is a 35mm film camera covered in a generous amount of real fur from fake rabbits, and it has a few features that make it a little better than your average 35mm point ‘n shoot. It’s got a bulb mode, which keeps the shutter open as long as you hold the trigger down (great for night shots), and a lomo flash: twist the end of the flash to select different color gel filters, creating some cool effects. Plus, with the included vinyl cover on, it kinda looks like a fluffy little dog dressed up in a bondage costume:
Can you seriously think of anything that couldn’t be vastly improved with a covering of faux rabbit fur? I can’t, and you can enjoy snuggling this camera for $80.
I haven’t gotten around to finding the perfect macro lens for my Nikon D70 as of yet, so I mostly rely on a Nikon point & shoot digital camera when I’m taking close-up product shots for reviews. When combined with a bit of Photoshopping the shots turn out great, but this LED macro ring for compact cameras would make my life a bit easier. Instead of relying on a flash that’s offset to one side of the camera, the ring of 8 LEDs surrounds the lens, providing even illumination from every side.
It’s powered by 3 AAA batteries which are housed in a battery pack that can be attached to the tripod mount on the camera, or to an actual tripod. The ring itself connects to the battery pack with a 12cm flexible arm, making it compatible with almost any P&S camera configuration. The LEDs have two levels of intensity you can select, depending on how much ambient light there is, and includes a carrying case to keep it safe during transport.
Canon has filed for a patent they hope will revolutionize digital watermarking when it comes to photographs. Future cameras from the company could have a ‘REG’ setting on the Mode dial that will actually take a photograph of the user’s iris as they look through the viewfinder.
This image, which is as unique as a fingerprint would be added to the photo’s metadata once a series of shots have been captured. If the camera were to write this data to the photo every time the shutter was pressed, it would slow down the camera’s performance and could actually end up hindering the photographer.
While the technique won’t stop people from actually stealing photos, particularly online (case in point) it should provide some solid proof as to who originally took the shot and owns the copyright should there ever be a dispute.
We first wrote about the Ricoh 500SE last year since the camera seemed to include everything from WiFi to Bluetooth to GPS right out of the box. But it seems that still wasn’t enough functionality for Ricoh since they’re now adding barcode scanning capabilities to the camera as well. The 500SE will support all popular 1D barcodes and the scanned information is automatically embedded into the JPEG files as they’re captured.
What’s particularly cool is that barcodes can either be scanned optically through the camera’s own lens, where software then interprets the data, or with an add-on laser scanning module for facilities requiring a laser scanning solution. The camera is also shock resistant and waterproof making it ideal for industrial use.
The suggested retail price for the 500SE is $899, while the Se-4 laser scanning module is an extra $349.
At PMA this week, Nikon announced a new (sort of new) entry-level DSLR, the D60. It’s virtually identical to the D40x both outside and in, with the same small-ish size, the same 10.2 megapixel sensor, and more or less the same OS. The new stuff you might care about includes a sensor cleaner, adaptive dynamic range, the ability to recognize Eye-Fi cards, and a stop-motion movie mode. You might also appreciate the fact that the $750 kit includes an 18-55mm lens with vibration reduction, but the best news is that the nearly identical D40x (and for that matter, the just as good D40) are now going to drop in price.
The more exciting thing, in my opinion, is that Nikon has also released a tilt/shift lens, which takes pictures like this:
If you think that’s an extremely detailed model, you’ll want to read more after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t really have any issues downloading pictures from my digital camera to my computer. Mostly because I just pop out the SD card and insert it into the card reader in my PC. It eliminates the need for any resource-hogging software. The same goes for my camera phone, there’s just the extra step of inserting the microSD card adapter. Apparently some people still think this is an issue, which is one of the reasons why this tiny USB digital camera was created.
I’m going to guess that there’s some artistic reasoning behind this creation as well. You’ll notice that this thing is tiny, which gives no room for any kind of viewfinder or LCD display. You’re kind of in the dark as to whether your picture is going to turn out. I guess I don’t really get it, as I want to make sure that my pictures are actually going be worth looking at when I download them.
I’ve also got a beef with their little diagram. They clearly show a card reader that plugs into a USB port, then they show that you need a USB extension cable. Why do they think you’ll need one for that and not your little camera? Because it makes their little camera look better, that’s why. Yes, I am probably reading into it just a little much.
Besides illustrating why nerds mostly game while sedentary, this vid shows the ZCam, by Israeli company 3DV Systems, in action. ZCam works by sensing depth, which is fairly innovative when it comes to interactive gaming. Instead of looking for motion or color, in the demo application (a boxing game) the camera figures out where you are and what you’re doing by contrasting distances. For example, it knows that if it sees small objects moving around in front of a large object, those are probably your fists in front of your body, and it can project those into a gaming environment like the boxing demo. The infrared rangefinder has a depth resolution of up to 1 centimeter and VGA resolution at 60fps, meaning that it can effectively detect finger movements. The camera unit should be released at the end of the year for under $100, but software developers are going to have to integrate the technology into their products for any of us to get much use out of it.
How many times have you been out somewhere and decided to snap a picture, but you wanted to be in it and no one was around to hold the camera? At this point you have to find somewhere to set the camera, someplace that will be the correct height and sit at the perfect angle to get your shot. Sure, you could walk around everywhere with a tripod, but then you look like a tool.
Here’s a camera stand (I’d call it a tripod, but it really has to have three legs to earn that title) that wouldn’t be so bad to carry around. It folds up quite small, and can even attach to your keychain. When you unfold it, you find that it will adjust to direct your lens at just the right angle to snap that awesome picture. The only downside to this little gadget is that it doesn’t appear to be available outside of France.
Related Tags: cameras, Photography
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By Andrew Liszewski
