Filed under: Digital Cameras, Misc. Gadgets
Those cats at MIT have been at it again: when not fooling around in their dorm rooms or playing with robot snails, they’re toiling away in the lab late at night developing technologies that could well become commonplace in our everyday lives. Their latest breakthrough is a sphere-shaped web of photo-detecting fibers that can measure the direction, intensity, and phase of light, something previously only possible with traditional lens-based optics. Unlike lenses, however, the fiber webs have an unlimited field of view, opening up a whole range of new possibilities like improved space telescopes or sensitive clothing to provide increased awareness to soldiers or the blind. Still in the research phase, this tech is likely a long ways from trickling down into the consumer space, although researchers do see the common man eventually using it to enhance interaction with computers and video games.
[Via Digital Camera Info]
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Olympus FE-130 Review at Steve’s Digicams
Steve’s Digicams has finished their review of the 5 megapixel Olympus FE-130 and they write – “Olympus’ FE-130 may be appealing because of its under-$160 street price, but its image quality suffers even in comparison to the entry-level FE-115. If low price is a major consideration and you can tolerate slow shooting performance, I would even suggest the FE-115 as a better alternative.”
DIY camera for the Nintendo DS
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Gaming
We’re all aware that a digital camera/webcam for the Sony PSP is right around the corner, but how many of you knew that you could also snap photos with your Nintendo DS? Don’t feel bad; we didn’t know it was possible either until we spotted modder Kako’s handiwork on YouTube — apparently he’s taken a Treva CMOS chipset, done a bit of rewiring, and written software that allows the unit to output images directly to his DS Lite. We can’t vouch for the picture quality, and the frame rates are positively sluggish, but at least this mod gives Nintendo fanboys one less missing feature to defend when the PSP crowd goes into one of those regular, tiresome diatribes listing the many reasons why their product totally “pwns” the little dual screen console — in fact, you’ll probably catch a few examples of said diatribes right here in the comments section of this very post.
[Via DS Fanboy]
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Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5 Review
LetsGoDigital reviews the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ5. Quote: ” At the end of the tests, the Panasonic LZ5 leaves us with a pleasant and particularly positive feeling. For its price-tag, the camera offers the consumer a great deal of ease…
Sanyo updates handheld HD camcorder – Xacti HD1a
Filed under: Digital Cameras, HDTV
Sanyo is yet again offering 720p quality in an extra-small package; their new Xacti HD1a handheld camcorder records in HD and pulls double-duty as a camera if you so desire. Sanyo kept the same 5.1 megapixel sensor from the HD1 and added some forgettable features in the refresh including a 16:9 still picture mode and in-camera editing capability, but did manage to up the ante by providing a 320 x 240 MPEG-4 recording mode ready-made to play on your iPod. The secret to keeping it compact is the usage of SD storage in favor of more traditional miniDV tapes; you can squeeze about 21 minutes of beautiful HD footage on a GB, or about an hour in SD quality if time becomes an issue. Weighing in at just 8.3 ounces, keeping the HD1a handy shouldn’t be much of a burden, but there just isn’t much new here to get excited about. For those who prefer form over function, you can pick this up for $699.99 in September.
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Sony’s new Handycam DCR-SR80, DCR-SR60 and DCR-SR40 hard drive camcorders
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Sony’s all out assault on the marketplace didn’t stop with those wonderful new HD camcorders of theirs, they’ve also got three new standard definition Handycam units to show off. The DCR-SR80 leads the pack with a 1 megapixel CCD, 60GB drive, 2.7-inch widescreen viewfinder, 12x optical zoom, a hot shoe, and $800 price tag; the DCR-SR60 is essentially the same unit as the SR080, but with a 30GB drive and $700 price; the DCR-SR40 features a 40GB drive, 20x optical, 2.5-inch 4:3 aspect ratio touchscreen viewfinder, and $600 price point. All are due September, during which time we’d roughly estimate they’d vanish from store shelves in short order.
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UK scientists seek to restore sight
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Misc. Gadgets
We’re confident that between all these brilliant minds, restoration of sight in humans isn’t too terribly far off. Scientists housing their research in Glasgow University are working towards incorporating a device similar to a digital camera (surgery cost based on megapixels and zoom?) into those who have lost their vision due to “age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.” More specifically, an imaging detector would be used to detect light sources that would electrically stimulate the retina in the shape of the given image(s). From there, the process is fairly natural as the brain receives an image via the optic nerve that it can comprehend. So what differentiates this study from the rest? If successful, the image detectors will have memory chips that could allow for slow motion viewing and instant replays of what humans equipped with the device see, possibly giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “double-take.”
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Sony Alpha A100 Review At Camera Labs
Camera Labs reviews the 10 megapixel Sony Alpha A100 and rate it 85% out of 100 – “Increasing resolutions on sensors with the same surface area always raises concerns over higher noise levels, and as our results show, the A100 is noticeably noisier than rivals like Canon’s EOS-350D / Rebel XT, particularly at 800 ISO and above. Our gallery also reveals higher noise levels than we’d like even at 400 ISO. It’s interesting to note the A100’s also noisier than the Nikon D200 at high ISOs, despite them sharing essentially the same sensor. To be fair, most people will shoot below 400 ISO, where the A100 performs well, but one of the key selling points of a digital SLR is low noise at high sensitivities.”
[Read Our Sony Alpha A100 Review Roundup & Sample Photos]
Sony unveils HD options with HDR-UX1 AVCHD cam alongside HDD unit
Filed under: Digital Cameras, HDTV
AVCHD, the new recording format from Sony and Panasonic for saving HD video to 8-centimeter mini DVDs, is making its first appearance in Sony’s new HDR-UX1 upper-class consumer cam. For the most part the camera mirrors its SD siblings, with a side mounted disc drive, sizable 3.5-inch fold-out LCD, 4 megapixel stills and 2.3 megapixel shots while recording video. The snazz here is that the new AVCHD cam uses dual-layer mini DVD-R discs, making room for a full hour of 1080i video. The HDR-SR1 mirrors the functions of its UX1 brother, but replaces the DVD drive for a 30GB HDD, but still manages long recording times with the AVCHD codec. Both cameras have a mic inputs and manual focus rings, making them more appealing to the discerning prosumer than most Sony cams of late. Of course, all this new format action and prosumer appeal comes at a price: the HDR-UX1 should drop in September for around $1,400, while the HDR-SR1 should appear in October for $1,500.
[Via Camcorder Info]
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Sanyo’s Stylish New Xacti CA6
Sanyo is one of those companies that everyone’s heard of but few people remember when they think of consumer electronics. However, this uniquely shaped camera is something that could certainly engrave Sanyo’s name in the minds of photo geeks…
Westinghouse DPF-0701 shows multiple shots per frame
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays
You think hanging 8 x 10s on the wall is old school? Well, it looks like the standard fare of digital picture frames are getting refreshed too. Westinghouse has a new digiframe on the horizon that displays multiple digital photos in varying orientations. The DPF-0701 rocks a 7-inch 16:9 widescreen display housed in a strikingly large ebony bezel and includes an admittedly lacking 16MB of internal storage. Since you probably won’t fit all your memories on that (right?), the frame supports USB thumb drives and a myriad of card formats including CF, SD, MMC, XD, MS Pro, and MS Duo. You can get your snapshot shuffle on when it drops later this month for $199.
[Via MacWorld]
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Olympus FE 140 Review At Steve’s Digicams
Steve’s Digicams has reviewed the 6 megapixel Olympus FE140 and write – “Olympus’ FE-140 may be appealing because of its under-$180 street price, but its image quality leaves a lot to be desired. If low price is a major consideration and you can tolerate slow shooting performance, I would even suggest the FE-115 as a better alternative.”
Casio’s New EX-S600D Gets DivX Certification
Have you ever had a digital camera that recorded videos in some obscure format that didn’t play on anything except your 2″ viewfinder? Casio and DivX must know the feeling because earlier today, DivX announced that they’ve granted certification to…
