My Canon PowerShot A510 takes surprisingly decent video for a still camera. And it makes sense, when you think about it, that video and still cameras would get closer and closer together. Now, Canon's new PowerShot TX1 combines them in a surprisingly low-priced, attractive package that's got me thinking it might be time to upgrade.
The TX1 can take still shots at 7.1 megapixels, as well as record video at 720p HD. There's also a 10x optical zoom lens, ISO settings from 80 to 1600, face recognition, an orientation sensor (think horizontal vs. vertical, not north and south), and more. All for a very slick $500. While this probably won't get you professional quality video, and the lack of a microphone in port is certainly a bummer, at that price, it's well-positioned as an entry-level camcorder for budding young filmmakers. Think of it as the 8mm for the digital age and without any of the unpleasant Nicolas Cage associations.
The TX1 is Windows and OS X compatible, but no release date has been set yet.
[via Engadget]
Convergence strikes again! Ricoh's new camera is almost as cool as Samsung's HSDPA shooter and far, far cooler than their 180 degree rotating screen. Not that that's a particularly difficult feat to accomplish, mind you.
Anyway, the Ricoh 500SE boasts an 8 megapixel resolution, and a 2.5" LCD screen, as well as a ruggedized, waterproof exterior. Heck, it's even got Wi-Fi built-in, for transferring pictures to your computer and Bluetooth for talking to your mobile devices. And rounding out the trifecta of wireless technologies? GPS, baby. The 500SE comes with a detachable GPS unit that can be used to location-stamp your photos, but should you have an external GPS device that has Bluetooth, you can use that too.
All these features won't come cheap: the 500SE is available in Europe right now for about $1,200. Should you wish to ditch the Wi-Fi, that'll bring the model down to a much more affordable, er, $1,100. Oh what the heck? Go nuts!
[via SCI FI Tech]
The consensus going around is that the rotatable LCD screen on the Samsung i7 is totally ludicrous. Not so, my friends. The true usage? Viewing portrait mode photos. Duh. What? You could just turn the camera around? Oh, you make me laugh! Where's the technology in that?
Besides its crazy awesome rotating screen, the i7 has a decent feature set: 7.2 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, up to 1600 ISO and advanced shake reduction (to stop you from pounding those milkshakes like there's no tomorrow). The i7 also acts as a media player, showing you not only pictures but MP4 video on that snazzy spinnable screen, and playing back MP3s.
Playing back MP3s? On your camera? Did some design exec at Samsung decide that they shove all of their bizarre features into one camera? Well, hopefully that will at least keep all of the other models slimmed down. There's no price listed yet, but my guess is: way too much.
[via SCI FI Tech]
Digital cameras seem to be the norm nowadays, but there are still some holdouts; people who refuse to spend more than ten bucks on a camera. These folks suffer from a rare for of dementia known as "disposabilitis." We can't do much for them, but we can try to make their condition more comfortable.
For example, here's a little gizmo that brings some of the convenience of both digital and conventional cameras to their smaller disposable brethren. The ten dollar Picture Yourself tripod not only includes a compact stand for steadying your disposable camera, but also features a battery-free windup 12-second timer, so you can finally get yourself in the shot. Pretty slick.
[via Uber-Review]
Most of us have cameraphones, but how many of us can say that we have phonecameras? Samsung's new VLUU i70 (translation from Korean) doesn't just boast a 7 megapixel resolution, it totally rocks the 3G HSDPA connectivity. That's right: it's a camera that has higher speed cell wireless than, say, the iPhone. Crazy? Little bit.
What can you do with that fancy acronym? HSDPA is pretty high speed, and the VLUU i70 integrates a modem, so you'll be able to upload pictures directly from your camera to the web. The possibilities are so varied: there's blackmail. And, er, blackmail. Think about it: it's the natural progression. First you had to take your film to be developed, then you had to connect your digital camera to the computer, now you can go straight from phone to Interweb.
Besides the super funky wireless features, the camera also features the ability to shoot at an insanely high 1600 ISO speed, making the flash unnecessary in many low-light situations. There's a 3x optical zoom, and the ability to receive text messages—wait, wha? Yeah, that's just what I need.
[via New Launches]
Why, hello there. It's been far too long, Gadgetboxers. I'd love to discuss where I've been for the past week, but well, it's not for me to say. There were spies, you see, and girls, and gadg—okay, I spent my Christmas vacation watching the James Bond marathon on Spike. Are you happy now that you've crushed what little self-respect I have left? Hmm?
Let's just move on. Speaking of James Bond, I bet even the legendary superspy would be jealous if Q handed you this Underwater Digital Wrist Camera. Submersible up to 30 feet, it can take 360 photos (fairly low res, given the 32MB of memory), or 32 ten second clips of video...of fish (yes, only fish). The camera also includes a self-timer (for pictures of you with fish), and weighs less than twelve ounces (lighter than many fish). It's Mac or PC compatible, and quite the value for $80, presuming, of course that you like taking pictures of fish.
[via Digital World]
LCD picture frames seem to pretty much a dime a dozen. So when one comes along with an interesting twist, I'm all ears. The eStarling frame is Wi-Fi-enabled (802.11b/g), boasting the ability to subscribe to an RSS feed on Flickr and display pictures from it.
While this is a pretty slick idea, it's pretty much only a matter of time before someone takes advantage of the situation to start popping inappropriate pictures into your photostream. Even more dangerous, the eStarling has a dedicated email address to which you can send images that it will put into its rotation. I don't know about you, but I get a fair amount of spam featuring images that I wouldn't want to pop up in the middle of a family dinner. Better make sure you've got good filtering on that address.
The eStarling runs for $250 and is available from ThinkGeek. It requires Windows for the initial setup, but is standalone after that.
[via Gizmodo]
I enjoyed my cameraphone...for about fifteen minutes. I barely use it nowadays—it's handy, but the pictures it takes are just too grainy. But the quality of cameraphones is constantly increasing. However, the one thing that they might be stuck with is that terrible digital zoom. Optical zoom is far superior, but it's pretty tough to fit a zoom lens in a cell phone.
If you're desperately in need, though, Brando's got you covered with their new $19 Mobile Phone Telescope. This add-on lens fastens to your cell with an elastic band and gives you a 6x optical zoom, letting you take those elusive paparazzi shots of celebrities going shopping, picking their nose, or whatever it is celebrities do in their spare time.
Unfortunately, the telescope is only compatible with a handful of Sony Ericsson phones, the K750i, W800i, W810i, and W5500i/W600i, so me and my Motorola are out of luck. Darn.
[via Shiny Shiny]
