Hasta La Gadget!

In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “Insert Coin” as the subject line.

Carrying an extra camera body just to avoid scrambling for another lens seems a bit silly, no? Quikdraw wants to run that convoluted method out of town with a holster system that lets you carry Canon or Nikon lenses on your belt and change them in around five seconds. The holder start in a locked vertical position, and to attach a lens you just bayonet it into place, securing the glass and allowing the holder to be lowered. To liberate that fresh prime, you tilt it up and give it a twist, freeing it and locking the carrier in the “ready” position at the same time. Admittedly, packing a gaggle of lenses around your waist may brand you as an overzealous camera geek, but we suspect that those in the market for such a product would hardly care about that. So far, the company has wrangled around $40k towards its $100,000 goal — if you want to ante up $75 to get one in an EOS or F-mount, draw a bead on the source below.

Continue reading Insert Coin: Quikdraw targets lens fumblers and multiple camera packers (video)

Filed under: Cameras

Insert Coin: Quikdraw targets lens fumblers and multiple camera packers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Kickstarter  | Email this | Comments

Just before Halloween in 2009, Canon announced its most powerful DSLR to date. The $5,000 full-frame EOS-1D Mark IV was the company’s answer to Nikon’s market-leading D3S, which rang in just shy of $5,200. On the basis of price alone, Canon won that round. Then, after two years of silence, the company launched its new flagship, the 1D X. The date was October 18th, 2011 — roughly 10 (or “X”) years after the very first model in the series was announced, way back in 2001. A decade ago, Canon priced that introductory 1D at $5,500 — a princely sum considering the 4.15-megapixel CCD on board. Now, the 1D X, which is arguably the most powerful sub-five-figure camera available, commands 6,799 of your hard-earned dollars, or $800 more than the D4, Nikon’s $6,000 equivalent. All this talk of price may seem to skirt the camera’s long list of lust-worthy features, but when the cost of any piece of hardware approaches a year’s tuition at a public university, a purchase decision deserves thorough consideration.

A camera in this league is absolutely to be used as a professional tool. And while deep-pocketed amateurs may pick one up — in the way folks with cash to burn may build a collection of overpowered two-seaters — the vast majority will live in $30,000-plus kits, where they’ll reach six-figure shutter counts, and will likely change hands several times before their eventual retirement. Right now, you’re probably researching the 1D X as exhaustively as you would a new car — in fact, you may have even lined up a test drive, through the company’s Canon Professional Services group. Many months after it was first announced, we’ve had an opportunity to take the new eXtreme model for a spin ourselves, and it’s every bit as impressive as its price tag suggests. Canon’s top model isn’t any smaller or lighter than its predecessors, the 1D Mark IV or 1Ds Mark III — but is all that bulk justified, despite strong contenders like the workhorse 5D? Buckle up and join us in the field (ahem, after the break) to find out.

Continue reading Canon EOS-1D X field review

Filed under: Cameras

Canon EOS-1D X field review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

We enjoyed our short time with Panasonic’s new mirrorless G5 in our hands-on last month, even if it was a little on the porky side. And, if you hail from the Land of the Rising Sun and had your heart set on one of these 16-megapixel shooters, Panny’s announced you’ll get your chance from September 13th. We’re getting dangerously close to missing the stateside launch target of August, but where the US website is showing the G5 as unreleased, availability on Amazon tells a different story. We’re reaching out for confirmation on that — as well as pricing — and will update should we hear more.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Panasonic G5 mirrorless camera gets September 13th release date in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Panasonic (1), (2), Amazon  | Email this | Comments

Olympus announced the new STYLUS SP-820UZ iHS, its flagship Ultra Zoom camera that features an impressive 40X optical zoom in a stylish and light body (485g). Thanks to the Super-Resolution Zoom, you can get up to 80x digital zoom magnification.

The 22.4 mm lens (equivalent to 22.4- 896mm on a 35mm camera) offers a super-wide angle which is great for shooting panoramas and urban photography. The camera looks great for high speed video capture, featuring 240 fps HSQVGA video recording alongside 1080p full HD video capture.

(more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Olympus VR-340 , Olympus Tough TG-320,

If you’re not quite sure what the Nikon COOLPIX S800c Android-powered camera is all about, you’re not alone – that’s why Nikon has created a simple-to-swallow demo video for your convenience. This video has the same nerd on both sides of a black line, busting out a COOLPIX S800c in one instance to take a photo of a stray parrot perched on a porch, and a nondescript smartphone in the other. The point here is to show how it’s simpler to take photos with a camera running Android than it is to use a smartphone running the same OS.

They also make it clear that the smartphone, in this case, will not have the same – or any, for that matter – optical zoom that the COOLPIX does. Many smartphones do have digital zoom, but this method doesn’t use lens adjustments and therefor makes the photo you take get just a bit more grainy the closer you get – every time. The S800c is able to zoom in on your subject with 10x optical zoom – the good kind.

The S800c also has the ability to take 16 megapixel photos which, unless you’re using an amazing device such as the Nokia 808 PureView (see our full review here), you’re just not going to get from a smartphone. This camera is shown doing essentially the same set of tasks as the smartphone in the video, but with less steps in some cases – and of course with the one drawback in place, that being a lack of mobile data connectivity.

Instead you’ll need to be working with Wi-fi connected to data – which you might want to get being connected to your smartphone. But at that point you might just want to send the camera back and pick up your phone – but who are we to judge? The COOLPIX is also shown battling against what appears to be an iPhone, gaining a lot more “Great!” points on an off-brand social network than the smartphone.

Of course there are a few oddities in the video such as the iPhone appearing on both sides of the black line at once at 0:32 – but no worries, the message is clear! Have a peek at the timeline below to see more Android camera action from Nikon from all angles!

Nikon COOLPIX S800c Android camera gets video demo is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.