Oh! Gizmo

By Evan Ackerman

When I first saw this camera, I got all excited thinking that somehow it would be able to take pictures in some kind of extra super realistic 3D. I mean, you can take a normal stereo picture with two lenses, so maybe three lenses lets you see around corners. Or through clothing. Or back in time! But alas, the 3D World 120 Tri-Lens stereo camera is not capable of any of these feats. The third lens at the top seems to be used only for viewfinding, as it’s identical to the other two lenses (80mm F2.8) but has nothing behind it. The bottom lenses are fed 58mm x 56mm stereo film, with 6 image pairs per roll. This completely manual setup promises to be popular only with very serious stereo photographers… Very serious and very rich stereo photographers, that is, since although the price is still unknown, medium format 80mm lenses cost something like $1,500. Each.

VIA [ Impact Lab ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While the era of dragging out the slide projector and screen to show off your vacation photos is thankfully long gone, it was at least better than having to pass around a low-res LCD picture frame or even worse, the digital camera itself. But if your friends grew up in the 70’s or 80’s they’d probably jump at the chance to peruse your holiday shots with a classic Viewmaster. Image3D has been creating custom Viewmaster slides for corporate clients for years now (a local restaurant uses them for their dessert menu) and the company is now offering the same service to Joe Consumer.

Of course since most amateur photographers don’t have a 3D camera the results will only be in 2D, but the company seems to offer a handful of 3D conversion services if you’re really hung up on the effect. I personally think the novelty of seeing your own shots through a Viewmaster is cool enough. As for the cost? The slides run $10 each which isn’t that bad, but there’s a minimum order limit of 10. And I’m not sure if that means 10 unique slides with different photos on each, or 10 copies of the same slide. They also sell the Viewmasters themselves for $3 but your old-school model from when you were a kid should work just as well.

[ Image3D ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Andrew Liszewski

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.

[ Canon’s Iris Registration Mode - Biological Copyright Metadata ] VIA [ Slashdot ]

By Andrew Liszewski

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.

[ Ricoh Americas Announces Barcode Scanning Digital Camera ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Evan Ackerman

This monster of a camera, brought to you by Seitz Phototechnik, has a you’ve got to be kidding me resolution of 160 megapixels in a 60mm x 170mm frame. That works out to 7,500 pixels vertically and 21,250 pixels horizontally. The image (each one is 900 megs at full res) is recorded directly onto a tablet PC (sold separately) in 48 bit color depth. Thankfully, the camera takes standardized large format lenses, since spending nearly $45,000 on one of these things doesn’t leave me much extra money for glass. The downside of this camera (besides the 10lb weight, the 18in width, the price, and the fact that it requires a PC to work) is that it works like a scanner, which is why it’s so, um, cheap. Rather than using a 160 megapixel sensor of some kind, the camera back uses a linear sensor that scans across the field of view when the shutter is open. The camera can still somehow achieve a shutter speed of 1/2000 at low resolution, but for a true 160 megapixel image, the minimum shutter speed is a whopping 1 second.

Now, why the heck am I complaining about 160 megapixels not being enough? Just for the sake of having something to complain about, for one, but what I’m referring to is digital vs. photographic film. Medium format photographic film is the equivalent of about 100 megapixels, but for high quality large format images, you’re looking at about 500 (!) megapixels. We’re getting closer, but we’re not quite there yet, especially at a shutter speed of 1 second. Still, I have to say, the 10 megapixel images that come out of my Nikon D40x, while 16 times smaller, are still plenty satisfying for a casual shutterbug like myself. 160 megapixels? Bah, humbug.

[ Seitz ] VIA [ Gearfuse ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Most people buy a compact P&S digital camera because they’re convenient to carry around. You don’t need to bring a bag full of accessories like lenses or a tripod to take half-decent photographs. But there are still times when you might need to prop up the camera, whether for taking self-portraits or for keeping it steady during long exposure night-time shots.

So while it might not be as versatile as a tripod with a ball head, the FOZI’s real advantage is that it can easily fit in your wallet when folded down. It’s made from durable polypropylene plastic and the flexible hinges will survive over 1000 full reversals, meaning that with normal use it should survive a lot longer than that. A series of notches cut into each side allow it to hold a variety of cameras at different angles, and it can even be used to support your PMP of choice when you get tired of holding it in your hand.

The FOZI Tripod is available on the Timetale website in pink, red, blue, black, white, clear and clear striped for about $8.

[ FOZI Tripod ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Looking for a simple way to take your photography to the next dimension? It doesn’t get much easier than this special 3D lens from Loreo. While you can go out and buy a dedicated 3D P&S camera, using this lens with your SLR allows you to take advantage of the camera’s advanced functionality to produce some great 3D images. (Note: Upgrading to an SLR does not automatically upgrade your photography skills.)

The 3D ‘cap’ as they refer to it has a matched pair of lenses with a focusing range of one meter to infinity. And the design of the Loreo 3D lens apparently improves on similar beam splitters designed in the 1960s, particularly when it comes to reducing the keystone effect in the 3D images. The lens is compatible with most SLRs and ships with a choice of 7 common mount types for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax K, and Minolta cameras. However it is not compatible with screw type mounts since there’s no way of ensuring an accurate alignment, which is crucial to producing a good 3D effect.

The lens itself is available on the Loreo website and ranges in price from $48 to $117 depending on your type of camera. But if you want to see the 3D effect on your developed shots you’ll also need to pick up one of their viewers which ranges in price from $1.70 for a cheap cardboard version, to $24 for the ‘deluxe’ version.

[ Loreo 3D Lens Cap ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While manufacturers have managed to cram larger LCD displays onto digital cameras, they’re still far too small for sharing photos with a group of people. But as long as you have access to a relatively large TV, sharing your shots becomes easy with this SanDisk Photo Album. It looks and works like a large multi-format card reader, but can also be connected to your TV for viewing photos.

It includes slots for CompactFlash, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, SmartMedia, xD, SD and MMC cards as well as a USB port for flash drives. (Which is also used to connect it to your PC.) It supports JPEG files up to 16 megapixels and will not only resize them on the fly so they fit on the screen, but using the included remote you can also zoom in to any part of the image. If photos aren’t your thing, the Photo Album also plays MP3s and has limited video capabilities with support for 8fps MPEG-1 files.

You can get it directly from SanDisk for $49.99 or save yourself $10 by buying it from Amazon instead.

[ Sandisk Photo Album ] VIA [ GadgetGrid ]

By Evan Ackerman

If you’re thinking about getting yourself a DSLR as a step up from a compact digicam, one of the things you’ll have to get used to is looking through a viewfinder, instead of at an LCD, to compose your pics. Unless, of course, you get yourself one of these digital viewfinders (or a really fancy and expensive camera). The Zigview S2 digital viewfinder simply uses a small camera to reproduce whatever it sees in your viewfinder on a 2.5 inch LCD, with a refresh rate of 25 fps. It also offers some features that you won’t find even on fancy and expensive DSLRs… You can flip and rotate the screen, or even detach it completely and (with the help of a few extension cables) use it up to 30m away from the camera. A control on the LCD itself allows you to trigger the shutter from that distance. Or, you can use a built-in motion sensing feature to have the screen trigger the camera whenever something changes in-frame. You’re even able to set the detection interval, shutter delay, and exposures per detection.

The Zigview S2 offers a lot of cool features; the only problem when it comes to remote applications is that it partially defeats the purpose of having a DSLR in the first place: being able to manually control your camera. Seems like it would be just about perfect for wildlife photography, though… If you can handle leaving your shiny new DSLR off on its own. Cost: $470.

[ Zigview S2 ] VIA [ RFJ ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you only occasionally sell things on eBay or Craigslist then you can probably get away with a less than stellar photo of the item in question. But if selling things online is your bread and butter, you’re going to want your products to look their best. A light box is an essential tool for taking professional looking product shots and while you don’t necessarily have to buy something as expensive as the MagneFlashCT MAXI, it certainly looks like it makes the job a lot easier.

The Zenon flashes it uses are actually built into lightweight acrylic panels that completely light up when the flash is fired. As a result, the system provides soft and uniform 5,600 degK lighting and looks to be a lot easier to use for amateur photographers who might not know the best way to position or bounce a regular flash.

While the largest MAXI version of the MagneFlashCT will set you back about $1,020, there are smaller MIDI and MINI versions as well that run about $600 and $250 respectively.

[ MagneFlashCT MAXI ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]