| Top picks for cameras, camcorders and related equipment
Mid-range: Olympus Evolt E-510 ($650). The 10 megapixel E-510 has image stabilization, a dust removal system and 19 scene modes. A big plus is Live View, which lets users compose shots using the LCD screen (most SLR digital cameras require using the eyepiece viewfinder for shooting to conserve battery life). Uses compact flash cards, micro drives or xD cards. Includes rechargeable lithium ion battery pack. Splurge: Nikon D300 ($1,700). The high-resolution 12.3 megapixel D300 is fast on the draw, with six frames per second, and has a self-cleaning dust sensor. Exceptionally accurate 51-point scene recognition metering system quickly tracks for automatic focus, exposure and white balance. Compose pictures with the eyepiece viewfinder or the 3-inch LCD screen, a first for Nikon digital SLRs.
Find your Digital Rebel's inner Holga
If you love the look of pictures taken with the Holga —those cheap, plastic cameras made in China—but don't want to deal with the oh-so-last-century idea of film, check out Holgamods' Holga Body Cap. Randy Smith, the man behind Holgamods, has taken the lens off a stock Holga and grafted it onto a Canon body cap that fits all of the Canon D-SLRs, including the Digital Rebel series, the EOS 5D Digital, the new EOS 40D Digital, and even the top-of-the-line EOS-1Ds Mark III (it would probably fit any of the more modern Canon film cameras as well). The result is pure plastic goodness without the darkroom. Like the Lensbaby (another of our favorite toys), the Holga Body Cap isn't an automatic lens. You'll need to shoot in manual mode, and set the shutter speed accordingly, but it's a lot of fun, and you end up those dreamy, variable-focus images that tell everyone you're just a little bit off-kilter.
ESS Technology to go private in $58M sale
Digital video company ESS Technology Inc. agreed to be bought by Imperium Partners Group LLC for $1.64 a share, or about $58 million in cash. The deal, which should close in the middle of this year, will make Fremont-based ESS (NASDAQ: ESST) a private company. It requires shareholder approval. Imperium, based in New York, is an asset management firm started by Jeffrey Devers and John Michaelson. The ESS board has approved the merger and advised shareholders to vote for it. .
Thinking About Tomorrow
In fact, they'll be able to do even more, as mobile gadgets increasingly come equipped with global-positioning-system gear that can track your every move. As you drive around, for instance, you might get reviews of nearby restaurants automatically delivered to a screen in your car -- maybe even projected onto the windshield. The spread of GPS hints at another big change on the horizon. We're going to be under a lot more pressure to make our personal information public -- everything from where we surf online to where we're standing at a particular moment. Companies will offer us special deals and other incentives so that we'll let them track our activity. That information, in turn, will let the companies present us with a steady stream of intensely focused marketing whenever we go online, turn on our cellphone or even walk into a store.
Archive for: February, 2008
Digital Cameras Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives New Ricoh R8 sports wide 7.5x zoom lens in a compact body. Posted in: Digital Cameras [Updated: February 21, 2008 @ 5:28 am] I'm a big fan of extra-wide point-and-shoot cameras so I'm looking forward to getting a closer look at the new Ricoh R8, announced yesterday. Like its predecessor the R7 (which wasn't released in the U.S.), the R8 sports a fairly wide f/3.3-5.2 28mm-200mm-equivalent 7.5x zoom lens. Ricoh only recently re-entered the U.S. camera market with last year's launch of the GR Digital II and won't be shipping the R50 (another wide compact announced yesterday, with a 5x zoom) in the U.S. The R8 utilizes a 10-megapixel, 1/2.3-inch CCD with a CCD Shift Vibration Correction function (read CCD-shift image stabilization).
Tulane season opens at renovated stadium
The stadium couldn't have been built without the finances of donors, who needed to be convinced that building a stadium was smart. Dickson convinced them. "It wasn't so much that it was a hard sale, but explaining to people that this is kind of a beacon out there for us that says, look, we are not just trying to survive, we are trying to achieve and overcome things that we have been through," he said. Perhaps most unusual about Greer Field at Turchin Stadium is the artificial playing surface, the same type used in the Superdome. It now gives Tulane an easy-to-manage facility. "From a distance it does look like one of the most manicured fields you've ever seen in your life," Barto said. "But when you get on it, it's an amazing surface the way it drains rain and the way the ball plays off it.
ViewSonic Expands Display Heritage With New Line of High Resolution ...
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Parks Associates research, more than two-thirds of the digital photos taken are never printed or displayed, keeping memories bottled up on memory cards and computer hard drives. ViewSonic(R) Corp. sets photos free from the hard drive and brings them to the coffee table with the introduction of an easy-to-use digital picture frame line. The company's first picture frames - the widescreen 7-inch DP701W4WH, widescreen 8-inch DF88W-523 and traditional 8-inch DF87G533 - are affordable, stylish and versatile, providing a high-quality display for consumers to show off digital photos that may have never seen the light of day. "From wedding days and a baby's 'first' to family vacations and birthdays, displaying personal moments through high-quality displays is a natural next step for ViewSonic," said Jeff Volpe, vice president of marketing, ViewSonic Americas.
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