The POPA accessory might have made a bit more sense back in September 2011 when it first appeared in the Amazon store, since iOS 5 hadn’t been released yet. So the idea of a standalone button to trigger your camera was appealing. But in a way, it still is now, if only because it’s big and red and so conspicuous. It has to work with its own picture taking app, of course, since the iPhone’s native one isn’t compatible with it.

The only problem is the price: $75. You gotta ask yourself just how badly you want a big red button and a grip…

[ Product Page ] VIA [ BoingBoing ]

By David Ponce

Looking like it should be holstering pistols, the The MoneyMaker Multi-Camera harness lets you pack a different kind of heat. Photographic heat. (Lord, that’s the worst joke of the week, someone shoot me.) The two shoulder straps let you carry a camera on each side while a D-ring on each allows you to string yet another thinner strap to your front. So you end up with a camera on each side and one in front. I’m assuming that professional photographers would like something like this, what with them spending an entire day shooting a wedding, getting tired and things like that. “The cameras are kept inline with the body and the weight centered over the upper back and shoulders taking strain off the lower back. ”

The MoneyMaker is made from oil tanned, top grain leather and the asking price is $175.

Now, I’d really like it if someone could tell me in what situation three different cameras might be needed.

[ Product Page (Caution: auto-playing video) ] VIA [ Wired GadgetLab ]

By David Ponce

The limiting factor in a cellphone camera is often the lens. There’s really not much you can do at that size and if you want to somehow expand your horizons, you typically have to get into a fairly sophisticated solution that usually involves cases, rotating dials or other contraptions. But this $15 rubber band macro lens laughs in the face of all those other solutions. Snap it on, take your pics and put it back in your pocket. We can’t speak for the image quality, but the sample pictures look nice enough. And at that price, does it really matter? Sadly, it’s currently out of stock, though you can sign up to be notified once it’s available again.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Phandroid ]

By David Ponce

It was just a few days ago that news was spreading of Sharp’s new 12MP image stabilized CMOS sensor. Roughly the same size at the sensor in the iPhone, it’s the world’s smallest to have stabilization. And while the cramming of so many pixels may or may not be a good idea, turns out that the stabilization capabilities are pretty darn impressive. Just watch the video below to get an idea. Incidentally, it’s mounted inside the “Sharp AQUOS SH-01D, a skinned Android handset from Japan’s NTT DoCoMo which also packs a 1280 x 720 3D display into its waterproof case.”

VIA [ Petapixel ]

By David Ponce

There are a limited number of times you’re going to want to be taking a picture straight down, but if you do, you’ll soon realize it’s easier said than done. It usually requires the purchase of a specialized tripod if you want to do it right. It gets even more complicated if you’re planning on shooting with an iPhone. But with the Steady Stand 200 from ModaHaus, things change.

Designed from the outset for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, Androids, Blackberrys, smartphones and most compact cameras, the STEADY STAND provides an elevated platform support for overhead product photos ensuring pin sharp, totally square-on, precisely composed, perfectly exposed photos. The clear translucent side walls soften and diffuse incoming light helping eliminate harsh shadows and provide clean uncluttered reflections in shiny subjects such as jewelry. Takes the grind out of processing documents and receipts as well!

For $34, an affordable portable product photography station could easily be thrown into your backpack and carried to wherever the client needs it.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ CNet Crave ]

By David Ponce

It bears repeating at any given chance: past a certain point, megapixel counts in sensors are almost meaningless unless you’re printingroad signs. What matters more is the quality of the lens, and when you’re talking about the camera on a phone, well, size constraints kind of limit things. If you don’t mind giving your iPhone 4 or 4S a trip-to-the-eye-doctor look, Photojojo has created an accessory that could add a little range to the types of photos you can take. Made from aircraft grade aluminum, the iPhone Lens Dial features a rotating dial with three different lenses:

“A 0.7x Wide Angle for sweeping landscapes. Get fun warped images with the 0.33x Fisheye. Switch to the 1.5x Telephoto and get nearly two times closer to your subject.”

Aside from the dubious claim that 1.5 is nearly 2, Photojojo seems to have made an interesting product. The lenses are “optical quality coated glass” and the case gives you access to all your buttons. Holes in the rotating dial let you take pictures with the iPhones regular camera. The only two drawbacks we can see is that shots taken with it appear to display some massive amounts of vignetting. And the price: $249!

[ Product Page ] VIA [ TechCrunch Gadgets ]

During my brief, but enjoyable, vacation last week, Nikon unloaded a bunch of new digital cameras on the market, including the Coolpix S1200pj which caught my pico projector loving eye. The S1200pj is actually Nikon’s third projector-equipped compact P&S camera, but improves on the previous models with a 40% increase in brightness (an impressive 20 lumens) and three times the contrast. Facilitating a projected image up to 60 inches in size, in ideal conditions of course. It’s also competently capable as a P&S with a 14.1MP sensor, 5X optical zoom with lens-shift stabilization, ISO settings up to 6400 and a 3-inch HVGA display on the back.

But sharing movies and videos of your mundane daily activities with friends and family is going to wear on them at some point, so Nikon has also made the S1200pj iOS friendly. Using an included cable you can connect your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to the camera, letting you project content from any of those devices. And making the S1200pj a far more valuable companion for those who travel a lot. Available sometime in September for $429.95 in black and hot pink metal finishes.

[ Nikon Coolpix S1200pj ]

By David Ponce

Over the years we’ve written a few times about the Gorillapod, an extremely versatile camera tripod that can be used to take shots from unconventional places. It’s a great product, but it can be made better. Still images is not the only thing modern DSLRs are able to do: they also shoot great video. The only problem is stabilization.

Enter the Cineskates.

They transform the Gorillapod Focus into a camera dolly, with which you can do the following type of shots:

Arcing shots that rotate around objects

Sliding shots that push or pull the subject into focus

Rolling shots that glide over the subject

Time-lapse shots that move the camera slowly and smoothly

Panning shots that scan a wide area

“Worm’s eye view” shots that slide just above the floor

The entire system consists of the Cineskates (the wheels), a BallHead X joint, the Gorillapod Focus, a case and cleaning cloth. And the best news is that you can actually purchase this now, as the Kickstarter project associated with it has amply surpassed it’s $20,000 funding goals and should start shipping soon. Retail, the complete system will go for $350 but if you pledge now, you can have it for $275.

Hit the jump for a video and links.

[ Kickstarter Page ] AND [ Company Page ]

For those times when the talent’s being difficult, you keep blowing fuses on set, or Photoshop’s being a pain in the butt; the Photojojo Store now has a Shot Glass Lens Set to help get you through it. Modeled after a real Canon EF 24-105mm lens, the shot glasses are “…perfect in every detail, from the teeny raised numbers to the focus-ring ridges to the wee auto/manual focus switch. They’re nice and heavy, too: sturdy ceramic that feels solid in your hand.” Get ‘em in a set of 3 for $18 and you’ll ensure in the future you’ll never miss another ‘shot.’

[ Shot Glass Lens Set ] VIA [ Coudal Partners ]

It’s probably not a concept that Nikon or Canon are going to embrace any time soon, but if you don’t have much confidence in your photography skills, Sascha Pohflepp’s blind ‘Buttons’ camera will certainly appeal to you. It’s actually part of their ‘Blinks and Buttons’ art exhibit, and as you can see in the photos, the camera has no lens, no sensor and no optics whatsoever. Just a faux shutter button that triggers a cellphone hidden inside to retrieve and display a photo from Flickr that was taken at the exact same moment. So in a manner of speaking, the Buttons camera actually takes other people’s photos.

And since the camera was created as part of an art piece, I feel obligated to share the artist’s ‘motivations’ and ‘inspirations’ behind it:

Taking a photo means making a memory. Choosing a moment in time and framing a situation. Archiving it or making it public. Either way, we create a visual item that we have an emotional attachment to through our memory. Photos help us to remember moments in our past. Often they even become a memory in their own right. For many, making their moments public through services like Flickr is already part the process of photography itself, creating archives which contain a vast collection of visual fragments of individual lives.

[ Buttons - A Blind Camera ] VIA [ @ronbrinkmann ]