Hasta La Gadget!

You know those movies when a filmmaker wanders the streets dressed in a beret and peers at potential shots through a frame made by his fingers and thumbs? Well, the Rec concept camera does just that, only instead of your thumbs the frame swings from the side of the camera, and instead of a beret you get nothing. Nothing at all.

The Rec’s, designed by Dongyeon Kim, is made to be fast to use. The giant viewfinder also features a transparent LCD screen, presumably similar to some see-through game’n’watch games from the 1980s. When in playback mode, this screen can be seen from both sides, letting more people view images at the same time.

I don’t see that this would be any quicker to deploy than a regular camera, as Kim claims, and there’s the additional disadvantage of poor accuracy. This kind of frame-finder depends on you looking through it from the right angle to actually make it correspond with the photo.

Still, it looks like fun to use, and the resolution of the viewfinder is the same as that of your eyes. And putting such a thin and delicate screen in a flexy plastic bezel is also a great idea. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Picture Perfect Shot [Yanko]

See Also:

• Slanted Camera Concept is Face-Friendly
• Concept Case Adds Camera to iPad
• Flip-Open Clamshell Camera Protects Itself

Last November Pentax’s mid-range front runner, the K-5 DSLR, got an upgrade, now the K-7 and K-x are following suit. New firmware updates for both cameras tout SDXC card compatibility, increasing memory, but failing to follow through on speed — Pentax notes transfer rates won’t hit UHS. Despite the company’s Japanese website listing the K-7 as a discontinued product, the camera also gets increased video editing functions in playback mode, as well as improved image sharpening settings. Now, follow the source links below, and let Pentax upgrade you.

Pentax K-7 and K-x firmware upgrades pack SDXC compatibility originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Digital Photography Review  |  Pentax K-7, Pentax K-x  | Email this | Comments

This is the cutest thing you’ll see today. The Fuzzy Wuzzy is a felt camera case that looks just like a little camera. The big blanket-stitches make it even more endearing, and if you don’t have a camera small enough to fit in (it works great with compacts like the Canon S95), you can always use it to carry a phone, or even photo accessories.

The Fuzzy Wuzzy looks like a little plush Leica, and closes with a Velcro fastening to save scratches. Felt is a great material for protective cases. I have made bags with it in the past and found that it repels splashes, offers great impact-protection for its weight and thickness and it is slippery, meaning you can slide the camera in easily.

Best of all, Photojojo only wants $15 for it. That’s probably cheaper than you could make it for yourself.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Camera Case [Photojojo]

See Also:

• First Look: Leather Lumix GF-1 Ever-Ready Case
• Create a Custom Camera Case

We couldn’t be more impressed with the way the Gizmodo community has pushed their photography skills with Shooting Challenges. So today, we’re expanding the idea with a once-a-month expansion called the Video Challenge. Our first topic: time lapse. More »

Evan Solida’s Rael is yet another concept bike, although this one doesn’t dicker with the time-tested double-triangle frame, wheels and chain. Instead, it aims to make a regular carbon-fiber road-bike safer to ride.

What you don’t see is Solida’s Cervellum Hindsight digital rearview camera hidden in the seat-stays. It continuously records a loop of video and if it detects a crash with its accelerometer, it keeps recording for ten seconds and then stops, keeping the footage as evidence. The Cervellum can also be hooked up to a 3.5-inch transflective (viewable in sunlight) LCD screen mounted on the handlebars, giving you a digital rear-view mirror.

The part you do see is the redesigned brakes and handlebars. The drops have been refashioned into pistol-grips, and the brake levers flipped to point up instead of down. The point is to let the index fingers get to the levers whether you’re riding on the hoods of the brakes or down in the drops.

Everything else is pretty standard, as it should be, although far from pedestrian. the gears, for example, are Shimano’s Di2 electronic-shifters.

The bike may be a concept, but the Cervellum camera is on its way to market, although there’s still no launch date. And as concept bikes go, this one looks like it would actually be good to ride.

Rael: a road bike concept by Evan Solida [Bicycle Design]

Cervellum camera product page [Cervellum]

See Also:

• Two Brakes, One Hand: How To Stop a Polo Bike
• Coasties: Fixed-Gear Style, Only With Brakes
• Peugeot Concept Bike Channels Tron
• Commuter Cycle Concept is Bike and Briefcase