Besides jumping on the netbook bandwagon, at their press conference on Wednesday Sony announced that they’d be entering the cheap and easy-to-use hi-def web video camcorder market with their new ‘Webbie’ cameras. Both models capture high-def MPEG4 video or 5 megapixel photos and come with “PMB portable software” making it easy to upload your shots or clips to online sharing services like YouTube. The MHS-PM1 Webbie pictured above (available in April for about $170) has a vertically oriented body and a rotating swivel lens making it easy to take self shots, while the MHS-CM1 pictured below (about $200 available now) has a more traditional camcorder body with a 5x optical zoom and a 2.5-inch swivel LCD screen. And both are available in your choice of orange, eggplant or silver color schemes.
At their press conference this morning, Casio showed off some new additions to their line of high speed digital cameras. The flagship model is still the EX-F1, a beefy prosumer camera that can take stills at 60 frames per second and video at up to 1200 frames per second… We posted some sample movies when we covered it back in April. The new Exilim models that Casio released today feature a comparable high speed engine capable of 30 fps burst shooting for stills and up to 1000 fps for movies, in a much more compact size. Normal pictures are captured at 9 mpx, burst mode cuts that down to 6 mpx, and it’ll also take standard video in 720p.
Features include the ability to extract the perfect frame from long high fps bursts, and somehow the camera is able to combine multiple blurry shots in a burst into a single image that’s in focus. There’s also a novelty mode that will take a video of you moving, clip you out of the background, and transpose you onto a different background, which is something that you’ve been able to do with webcams for years. Basically, if you’re going to buy one of these, you’ll do it for the high speed, and that’s a pretty good reason if you ask me. Look for these in April for $400 with a 5x optical zoom and 2.7″ LCD, or $350 for a 3x optical zoom and 2.5″ LCD.
It’s no secret that the iPhone’s built-in digital camera isn’t its strongest selling point. And while using some sort of lens attachment might make it a bit more useful, they usually require an extra housing for mounting the lens, which adds bulk to the phone. But USBfever is now selling a trio of add-on lenses for the iPhone (or any compact camera-equipped device like the DSi) that attach with a simple magnetic ring. Of course you have to be willing to attach the magnetic mounting ring to your iPhone with the included self-adhesive ring, but when you’re not using the lenses it means your phone is as sleek as the day you took it out of the box.
The magnetic mount lens kits are available from USBfever for just $16.99, and come with either a wide-angle lens, a 2X telephoto lens or a fish-eye lens which are all made from actual glass and aluminum.
Unless you have an Eye-Fi card, getting pics from your camera onto your computer is more or less a pain that generally involves a cable. Cables, we know, are evil because you never have them when you need them, and when you don’t need them, they’re behind your desk having sex with each other and making cute little baby cable tangles of annoyingness. So having a cable that stays right with your camera and actually serves a purpose is a good idea, right? Sure it is!
This cable has a regular USB connector on one end and a mini connector on the other end, and is strong enough to swing your camera around with. You can find it on Amazon for only $8, along with an inexplicable picture of a record player.
Sooo, remember the Tomy Xiao TIP-521 digital camera with a built-in Zink printer that we posted about last month? It’s now available in Japan, and here’s how they’re trying to convince you to buy one:
Um, thanks. That makes it look totally appealing. If this commercial somehow resonates with you, you can pick a Xiao up for about $350 when it hits the states in Q2 next year.
It doesn’t quite have that magical exciting warm and fuzzy spur of the moment cheap plastic instant gratification feeling that traditional polaroids do, but the Tomy Xiao TIP-521 digital camera does provide the same basic functionality: immediate physical access to pictures. It does this with a tiny built-in Zink printer, which uses special pieces of composite paper embedded with heat activated yellow, magenta and cyan dye crystals to make 2″ x 3″ borderless prints with sticky backs. There are no ink cartridges to replace, you just add more paper, at about $1 a sheet.
With a printer packed inside the camera, there isn’t much room left over for optics (the case is pretty bulky looking as it is) so I wouldn’t expect wonders from the 39mm equivalent fixed focal length lens and 5mp image sensor. For that matter, I wouldn’t expect wonders from the printer, either. But I would expect the camera to print out something a mere 60 seconds after you snap the picture, which is no small feat in of itself.
The Tomy Xiao TIP-521 will be available in Japan on November 28 for about $350.
We took a look at the Ricoh 500SE (and it’s crazy features) last year, and now GeoSpatial Experts has added another little doohickey to the water resistant, WiFi enabled, Bluetooth enabled, GPS equipped camera: a compass. It may not seem like much, but it’s a very nice thing to have integrated into your geotagging system. Now, you get a record of which direction you’re pointing the camera in addition to where you’re standing when you take a picture. Pop that data into Google Earth, and you’ll be able to stick a geotagged picture into the same location and perspective (both heading and tilt) as when it was taken, which could make for some pretty sweet virtual tours.
The rest of the features on the Ricoh 500SE are mostly standard, including 8 mp resolution, a 28mm wide angle 3x zoom lens that can macro focus to 1cm, a 2.5″ LCD, and image stabilization. The camera takes SD cards and accepts a range of accessories, including additional lenses and even an external GPS antenna. Oh, and it can be hooked up to a Bluetooth laser rangefinder to record distance data along with pictures, and it scans barcodes.
All these bells and whistles will cost you just under $1800, which is certainly a little steep on the compact digicam spectrum. My guess is that there’s a certain type of person out there who this camera is absolutely perfect for, and they probably lead a far more dangerous and exciting life than I… You know, until they get devoured by a gang of ravenous anteaters in the jungles of Borneo, which is not generally something I concern myself with. Knock on wood.
If there’s one thing I hate about my DSLR (a Nikon D40x), it’s the size. And the weight. With a wide-angle zoom on there, it feels like it weighs about a bazillion pounds, especially after lugging it around a trade show all day. Panasonic’s Lumix G1 is a new DSLR that has adopted the micro four-thirds standard for digital camera bodies and lenses, which is supposed to give you all of the advantages of a cumbersome DSLR but in a much smaller package. The four-thirds system does this removing the mirror box that most SLRs use to bounce light up to the viewfinder:
The feature list on the G1 is about a mile long, and puts it on par with most other full size (that’s full size, not full frame) DSLRs. It has a 12mp sensor, a swiveling 3″ LCD with Live View, low shutter lag, fast autofocus, intelligent shooting modes, image stabilization, interchangeable lenses, and no movie mode. But the big deal is that the body weighs a mere 0.85 pound, whereas the body of an entry-level Nikon DSLR, the D60, is over 1 pound, or about 25% heavier. Also, the G1 is noticeably smaller at 124 x 83.6 x 45.2mm versis the D60’s 126 x 94 x 64mm. These numbers don’t take into account the lenses, which are also substantially smaller and lighter on the G1.
Yesterday Nikon let the cat out of the bag regarding their D90 DSLR, and in addition to a slick new pseudo-HD recording function and a host of other features, the new camera also plays particularly well with the Eye-Fi wireless SD cards thanks to a collaboration between the two companies.
While Eye-Fi cards work seamlessly with conventional SD-compatible digital cameras, the Eye-Fi Connected Nikon D90 gives users an improved out-of- box experience and more control of wireless capabilities. The camera will detect when an Eye-Fi card is inserted and manage its power settings to ensure that photos upload effortlessly for sharing and storing. In addition, the Nikon D90 will include an Eye-Fi menu that allows users to turn the wireless function on or off, giving the user more freedom to customize how and when they want to use the Eye-Fi card. For example, if a user is in a hospital or on an airplane, or anywhere else where wireless connectivity is not allowed, the user may disable the wireless function through the Eye-Fi menu.
The Eye-Fi Home, Share and Explore SD cards each come with 2GB of storage and varying levels of wireless functionality and range in price from $79.99 up to $129.99.
Related Tags: CES2009, Digital Cameras
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