Joby, maker of the GorillaPod, has introduced the MPod Mini Stand and the GPod Mini Magnetic, two small and flexible tripods that are designed for compact digital cameras and smartphones. Both are now available in the US from Joby’s website, with the smartphone-based MPod Mini and the Magnetic GPod being priced at $14.95 USD. The […]
Samsung’s Android-powered Galaxy Camera
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Digital cameras and high-speed photography go hand in hand today, with many models letting you easily adjust the frame rate to capture your own high-speed footage. But believe it or not, high-speed digital cameras are actually a relatively new technology. Up until recently this was another area of photography where film still reigned supreme.
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It’s been a couple of months since we got to play around with Samsung’s latest Android-powered camera, the Galaxy NX, but consumers over in the UK can now grab the camera from a couple of retailers that have it on sale. Jessops, Currys, and Wex are selling the Galaxy NX for a staggering £1,299. That […]
Garmin is well known in the GPS and navigation space, but now the company is taking that technology and adding a camera to the mix with its VIRB line of action cameras.
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There are more than enough action cams on the market, but that’s not stopping Garmin from jumping head first into that saturated space. The GPS maker hopes to bring something fresh to the table with its $299 VIRB and $399 VIRB Elite, a pair of ruggedized camcorders that do more than simply snap footage from within a clear protective shell. Both models can shoot 1080p clips at 30fps and 16-megapixel still photos (while recording video) for up to three consecutive hours with one 2,000mAh cell, but they offer a variety of features that some competitors can’t match, including a low-power 1.4-inch transflective LCD for navigating menus and previewing footage, optional (digital) IS and the ability to sync up with a variety of other Garmin devices through ANT+.
That last feature is perhaps the most compelling here — VIRB’s ANT+ chip lets you add on accessories like a heart rate monitor while also pairing with the company’s Fenix watch, logging GPS coordinates and other stats with each captured clip. The pricier Elite flavor brings positioning sensors on board, however, along with an altimeter and WiFi, which you can use to connect the cam to a dedicated Android or iOS app. That software component lets you see a live preview and control basic settings (video start/stop and still image capture) remotely — eventually, you’ll be able to send content from the device to your phone or tablet, though that functionality isn’t included just yet. A tiny remote will also be available as an add-on, should you opt to leave your smartphone at home.
It’s easy enough to operate the water-resistant camera without a remote though, even with it mounted on your helmet or attached to a surf board. A large sliding record button lets you power up and start shooting video right away, even when the camera’s turned off. There’s no built-in storage, but you can slide in your own microSD card under the battery. The Garmin VIRB ships next month for $299, while its Elite counter part will ship around the same time for $399. Check out that base model, along with some of the many optional straps and mounts, in our hands-on photos just below.%Gallery-slideshow46976%
Features:
Pros:
Cons:
What Is It?
While we normally focus on flagship hardware on TC these days, I thought this new Olympus tough camera – an upgrade to the TG-1 released last year – was interesting enough to feature. Why? Because it’s not every day you can hand a camera to a team of toddlers and get it back in one, working piece.
The Olympus TG-2 is a simple, compact point and shoot that is clad in a hard plastic case. Locks on the bay doors make it waterproof to 50 feet and it can withstand drops on hard surfaces from 7 feet. The aforementioned toddlers – four in all – took the camera through the back yard at a garden party, dunked it a few times, and threw it around with nary a scratch. The worst I could manage was a ding on the side when it fell on concrete. In short, this camera is surprisingly resilient.
The camera itself isn’t particularly extraordinary. It does have an excellent f2.0 lens with 4x optical zoom but the 3-inch screen is hidden behind thick plastic, reducing the vibrancy of the shots when viewed in camera. As for the speed and low light performance, the 35mm equivalent built-in lens can grab some excellent shots across the light gamut and even underwater. While the camera in automatic mode can do little that similarly-sized point and shoots offer, the hearty package is really why you pay the price of admission. The camera supports teleconverters as well as zoom and fisheye external lenses, but those are additional $140 dollar investments.
Here are some very basic, unmodified shots I took in full sunlight in Program mode. I also took one goofy shot in the camera’s “Punk” art mode. The Art modes are simply gimmicky filters that Olympus seems to love to add to all of their cameras and, unless you really like simulated tilt-shift photography, you can probably ignore it.
Demo shots. Click to embiggen.
I also took this zoom test down my driveway. Both shots are taken from the same distance.
The Good
The best thing about this camera is its ability to withstand abuse. While I’d be afraid to, say, toss around the arguably rugged Canon G-series or other waterproof camera from Nikon, or Panasonic I could definitely see this thing rolling and tumbling down a hillside and surviving. While I have noticed some reports that the camera acts up after a deep dunking, I didn’t experience any problems while beating this thing up. I dunked it in a pool, ran water over it, threw it around, and even (accidentally) nicked the edge. It still kept shooting.
Could I eventually drown or break this? Sure. It’s not made of adamantium. However if you have a clumsy loved one or are looking for a good vacation camera, you could do worse than this model. It is small, fun, and quite solid.
The Bad
The camera did have a few problems. First, it requires a special cable for charging and does not include an external charger. There is also no visible way to tell which direction the battery should be dropped in, leading to a period where I thought, mistakenly, that it wasn’t taking a charge. The front of the camera also has a red ring that can be removed to add external lenses. This ring is easily jarred loose and can fall off. Finally, because there is no external audio jack, the lens noise is audible when filming video. That’s about it. This is, to be clear, a point and shoot and shouldn’t be depended on as anything else. The quality, while impressive, is hardly earth-shattering.
The Bottom Line
The question then is whether this camera is worth about $350. Given that the arguably superior Canon G15 and Nikon P7700 are about $100 more expensive and will take excellent shots, the real draw here, then, is the water and shock resistance. If you’ve broken a camera before or, barring that, you expect to use this on a long, rough trip – say to Burning Man or Bohemian Grove – you will find this more than adequate. If you’re looking to take real photos, you may need to go elsewhere.
That said, the TG-2 is surprisingly fun to use. When you don’t have to worry about water, rain, weather, or dust you can take some very interesting shots. It was especially fun while doing science experiments with the kids. In a fun test I decided use it to shoot a Mentos/Diet Coke explosion – from below. It went off without a hitch.
With Red Camera’s industry footing now quite solid, CEO Jim Jannard is relinquishing his position at the helm. Jarred Land, the company’s president, will become the new face of Red. Jannard announced the leadership change in a post today over at Reduser, the forum he’s used to announce everything from a lawsuit against Sony earlier this year to a DSLR replacement that never quite saw the light of day, way back in 2008. Today’s thread, titled “My Final Post,” details Jannard’s nearly eight years at the company he founded, which began with the NAB 2006 debut of Red One and ran through shipping the Dragon upgrade, the component that essentially served to make “Obsolescence Obsolete.” What’s next for Jim? Retirement might be in order, and with upwards of $2 billion in the bank following his sale of eyewear and apparel maker Oakley, he certainly has the financial footing to back some pretty posh R&R.
Filed under: Cameras
Source: Reduser
Taking panoramic photos was once a time consuming process of carefully snapping a series of shots and then manually stitching them back together in Photoshop. Today it’s as easy as just panning across a vista with your digital camera or smartphone, but researchers at Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab have come up with an even easier solution: a flexible camera that captures panoramic images in a single snap.
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Switzerland-based startup
Hyetis is preparing to impress smartwatch-cravers everywhere with its
first product, the Crossbow. It will be capable of not only
controlling your smartphone but surely outmatching it with a huge
list of features. No surprise to find, then, that Hyetis is charging
a pretty premium.
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