By David Ponce

So I’ve been walking around the floor here at CES with a camera strapped to my neck and I just discovered a better way to do things. The Capture Camera Clip from Peak Design is a Kickstarter project that not only got fully funded last summer, but was the second most successful on the site to date. It’s a metal clipping system that features two parts: a clamp that attaches to either your clothing or bag, and another to your standard camera mount. Then it’s a matter of just holstering your device. There’s a trigger that releases it and the camera can be inserted in four different orientations. A representative from the company wandered into the press room, just now and gave me one. I’ve been trying it out and it’s pretty darn cool.

It’s $79 and is available now.

[ Product Page ]

By David Ponce

If you want to get into shooting HD videos of your own sporting adventures, you now have a new option. While the preferred method thus far was to purchase a GoPro rugged camera, the Optrix HD Sport is selling a special case for the iPhone 4 and 4S that will let you turn your own smartphone into something very similar. It completely waterproofs your phone while still allowing you to control it through a 0.5mm thick touchscreen membrane. The kit comes with industrial strength 3M tape so you can stick the base (comes with a curved and a flat one) to whatever you want. This means that for $80 you can do more of than what you could do with a $239 GoPro HD.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

By David Ponce

You’re sure Martha at cubicle 24C is stealing some of the Reese’s Pieces from the stack you keep on the corner of your desk. You know, the ones you have to eat because of your low blood sugar? You know it’s her because you see the glint in her eye every time she casually comes by to say hello. But you’re on to her and with this insanely expensive little device, you can have all the proof you need for an HR melodrama of epic proportions.

This new ingenious small covert hidden camera video recording system is built into a tiny iCharger for charging up an iPhone, iPad or iPod. However, the iCharger stand contains a little secret. Hidden inside is a high grade high resolution low light covert hidden video camera.

-Motion Activated Recording for Weeks of Mpeg-4 AVI Video
-Time/Date Stamp for Evidence Authentication
-Actually Charges Your iPhone, iPad or iPod
-Powered By Any Wall Outlet
-Records Directly To Included 4Gb SD Card (upgradable to 32GB)
-Can Connect To TV with Cable For Viewing
-450 TVL Color CCD Camera

Did we mention insanely expensive? Yeah? Because we’re talking about $300 to stop peanut butter and chocolate theft.

Really?

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]

By Chris Scott Barr

If you’ve spent a lot of time behind a camera, you’ve no doubt discovered just how much of an impact lighting has on your pictures. Sure, you can make do with that built-in flash on your DSLR, but if you really want some great shots, you’ll need to cough up the dough for a decent flash. Once you’ve done that, you can pick up this awesome kit from Brando that will really let you do some cool stuff.

This kit includes 6 different flash accessories that will drastically improve the quality of your shots. I’m still in the learning process myself, and for $88, this kit certainly looks tempting.

[ Brando ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Did you ever play cops and robbers as a kid? Well I always thought it would be cool to be the cop that has a pair of pistols hidden beneath his coat. They always had that cool double-holster that kept the guns right up against their sides. Well if you’re a photographer, you can have that same feeling. Only with cameras, and they won’t really fit well under a jacket.

The RS DR-1 Double Strap is probably the most awesome way that you can carry two cameras. If you’re wondering why you would need to dual-wield cameras, this is not a product for you. This is for the serious photographer that doesn’t have time to be switching lenses and settings between shots. It’s also for someone that’s used to spending $130 on accessories for their camera, because that’s exactly how much this will set you back when it’s released next month.

[ BlackRapid ] VIA [ Coolest-Gadgets ]

There isn’t any one secret to taking a great photo, but there are many things you can do to improve the quality of your shots. For instance, taking into account the color temperature of the available lighting where you’re shooting will help you avoid photos that end up with an odd tint. This can be done by adjusting your camera’s white balance pre-sets, or by carrying and photographing a gray card for color correction reference or creating a custom white balance setting. Both techniques have their advantages and limitations, but these baLens White Balance lens caps from BRNO seem to be an even better solution.

They attach to your lens like a standard lens cap, but feature a translucent plastic dome allowing light to still reach your camera’s sensors. With the baLens mounted to your lens you can easily snap a reference exposure that can be used to create a custom white balance setting in your camera, instantly improving your photos. (In terms of color that is.) The baLens lens caps can also be used as a replacement for your standard lens caps, meaning you always have them readily available. You can get them from Adorama in 52, 55, 58, 62, 67, 72 and 77mm sizes for $54.95 each.

[ BRNO baLens White Balance Lens Cap ] VIA [ SlashGear ]

By Evan Ackerman

I’m quite sure that nobody who buys the JingPeng E1181 cellphone would ever even dream of using its spy camera for any sort of nefarious purpose. You may be able to completely detach the camera and its rechargeable battery from the phone and place it up to 30 feet away and have it stream video back over RF, but that doesn’t mean you should use it to… Well, I’m not going to give you any ideas. The rest of the phone involves a 3 inch touchscreen, an FM tuner, and just about everything else you’d expect from a mostly generic phone along with support for dual-band GSM networks and dual simcards. It’s $155.

[ DealExtreme ] VIA [ Engadget ]

By Luke Anderson

When is a gift card more than just credit to be used at a store? When you get one from Target, it seems. Earlier this year they brought us the Speed Racer Flash Drive gift card, which was pretty cool. However, they’ve one-upped themselves for the holiday season by turning their cards into digital cameras.

Sure, this thing isn’t exactly a Digital Rebel or anything, but getting a free 1.2-megapixel in your gift card worth $50 or more is pretty sweet. You’ll be able to store up to 50 pictures on its 8MB of memory, and it comes with a USB cable and the drivers you’ll need to download your snapshots. Heck, Target is even throwing in 40 free prints. All of that, and it still won’t cost you any more than the value of the gift card.

[ Target ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]

By Evan Ackerman

There are the casual bird watchers, who can appreciate robins and blue jays and stuff when they see them. Then there are bird enthusiasts, who buy binoculars and telescopes to spot more exotic types. And then we’ve got the actual bird voyeurs, who buy hardcore spy equipment to catch birds with their pants down. If you’re a creepy weirdo, a Handykam system is for you. It’s a nest box with a digital camera hidden inside the roof, letting you spy on the comings and goings of your feathery woodland neighbors.

Handykam comes in either wireless or wired versions, although why you’d want a wired version is beyond me since the thing is going outside. The cameras are full color, with 420 lines of resolution and sound, and will switch to infrared black and white mode at night using an array of IR LEDs to illuminate the hot, hot action. If you’re lucky, you’ll get an up-close view of a pair of tits. Great tits.

Handykam bird boxes start out at about $110 for a wired camera in a pine box, and the wireless version in cedar costs about twice that. Feeders with camera systems are also available, starting at $94. Sample video of what you might expect to see, after the jump.

[ Handykam ] VIA [ Tech Digest ]

By Luke Anderson

Last year I finally decided to bite the bullet and get a nice digital SLR camera. This has proven to be a worthwhile investment, as I’ve been able to capture images that wouldn’t have been possible with a cheaper device. I’m still far from taking professional-quality photos, but I’m getting better all the time. One issue that I’ll sometimes run into is keeping my camera level on certain shots. It’s usually not a big deal, as I can eye it, however, I can see where a professional might need to be more accurate than that.

This little Cube Hot Shoe 3-Axis Bubble Level makes sure that no matter which way you have the camera tilted, you’ll know when it is level. It fits into the same slot as your external flash, which means you’ll have to do without the extra light. Unfortunately it also means that depending on your camera (such as mine), even the regular flash would be rendered useless, since it wouldn’t be able to open. This little accessory will only set you back $11.

[ Brando ] VIA [ GeekAlerts ]