Nov 29

F-Stop Watch: The Perfect Gift for the Photographer You Hate

Posted in: Apparel, Today's Chili

Geeks like to show their colors. Bike polo geeks will wear jewelry made from old bike-chains, and the tackier car geeks will don Ferrari jackets and caps, hoping to trick people into thinking they actually have something better than a Ford Taurus parked outside,

Camera geeks already have their badge: a big swinging camera around their neck. But for the times when you can’t wear a giant 24-70 ƒ2.8 phallus on your chest, the F-Stop watch will do. It has a face with a “fetching” aperture-inspired design, and instead of boring old 1,2,3,4 running around the dial, you get markings at numbers 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6 and so on. The strap is faux-leather, like so many classy camera accessories, and it is made in China, just like almost everything in your kit-bag.

Want one? No, me either, but if you insist on inflicting a themed gift on a “loved” one this Christmas, you could do a lot worse, and it’s just $36. And if he or she is a Canon owner, may I interest you in my own entrepreneurial Christmas gift? It’s a “My other Camera is a Nikon” sticker (kidding!).

F-Stop Watch [Uncommon Goods via Oh Gizmo]

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Nov 26

Next iPad likely to get a new screen, front-facing camera; USB port… not so likely

Posted in: Apple, camera, ipad, ipad 2, Ipad2, rumor, tablet, Today's Chili, touchscreen, usb

New rumors are swirling about the iPad 2, and they’re a bit of a grab bag. The source is the same Economic Daily News paper that made one of the early calls on the first iPad, but also the one that reported in August that there was a 7-inch display being sourced for the iPad’s sequel (which Steve Jobs seems to differ with). The new report says that the next iPad will be out in Q1 2011, will have dual cameras, a new display with new touch tech, and a USB port for working with third party devices.

From our own information we know there were actually some last minute revisions on the first iPad that ended up killing the camera and nixing an extra dock connector, so the camera(s) seem a particularly natural “addition” for the iPad 2. We’ve also heard that a revised screen is happening, though it’s unclear if this will be a “Retina Display” or something more minor. On the USB plug front, which could mark a sort of adolescent transition of the iPad into “computer,” our source says it’s, sadly, very unlikely. We’re particularly interested in this mention of a new touchscreen technology from the EDN rumor (perhaps stylus support or pressure sensitivity?) but we don’t have anything else to go on there. Overall, it’s still hard to tell if the next iPad will be a small update or something more splashy, but it’s certainly going to be something.

Next iPad likely to get a new screen, front-facing camera; USB port… not so likely originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Nov 2010 12:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MobileBurn  |  sourcePCWorld  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 24

Lensbaby System Bag Keeps All Your Lenses in One Basket

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, lenses, Today's Chili

Lensbaby’s new bag is like an oversized egg-box for your precious light-bending optics. The long padded stick has movable sections inside to hold up to four lenses, and there is a mesh section for small accessories, an external zippered pocket for other extras, and the ends themselves open with flaps for quick access to an oft-used lens. Finally, you can attach a shoulder-strap and stack multiple bags using interlocking Velcro straps.

For just $40, Lensbaby owners will probably snap this up. I have a few of the focus-distorting lenses and they tend to rattle around in a bigger bag, and it seems like overkill to actually lug a proper camera-bag just to carry these and a camera body. The bag also makes swapping out the changeable optics a little easier, as you don’t have to juggle their little plastic containers, too (pro tip: don’t forget at least one of these containers’ lids. It is also a removal-tool).

What I like best is that it is slimline, and comes with a strap included but not attached. Perfect for tossing inside a stealth camera-bag.

Available now.

Lensbaby System Bag product page [Lensbaby]

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Nov 24

Kuwait bans DSLRs, leaves Micro Four Thirds question hanging in the air

Posted in: camera, dslr, government, Law, legal, photography, Today's Chili

We’re not sure what the humble DSLR has ever done to offend the Kuwaiti government, but, according to the Kuwait Times, the recreational use of Digital Single-Lens Reflex cameras has now been outlawed in the country. The Ministries of Information, Social Affairs and Finance (hello, 1984!) have collectively decided to ban the use of the chunky shooters in public places, except where it can be shown that it’s for journalistic purposes. This decision has left a lot of people scratching their heads, not least because every self-respecting smartphone nowadays can pump out screen-filling images. And then there’s also the matter of determining where the line between compact cameras, which are still allowed, and DSLRs resides — for example, is the Lumix G2 an illegal shooter just because it looks like one?

Kuwait bans DSLRs, leaves Micro Four Thirds question hanging in the air originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Nov 2010 05:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceKuwait Times  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 19

Lens Bracelets: Too Nerdy Even for a Geek?

Posted in: Apparel, lenses, Today's Chili

Just how dorky do you have to be to wear one of these lens bracelets? Pretty damned dorky, I’d say, and that’s coming from someone who is still seriously considering making a bracelet from a bike-chain.

The Lens Bracelets are made from silicon, and ribbed to further emulate the nodules that help focussing on a real lens. They’re both the same size, but styled as either a 50mm prime or 24-70mm zoom. Would anyone really wear one of these? A bike-chain bracelet is at least kind of cool, in a tough-guy, mechanical way. Jewelry in the shape of a lens-ring, though? You may as well just become celibate right now.

The bracelets are $10 each, or $15 for the pair, available now.

Lens Bracelets product page [Photojojo]

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Nov 19

XShot: An iPhone Tripod Case You May Actually Use

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, case, iPhone, Today's Chili

The XShot is yet another iPhone tripod-mount, but it is also one you might actually take with you. A hard shell case covers the sides and back of the phone, and can be left in place if you’re the case-toting type. In fact, apart from a chubby little growth on the lower left side, there’s not much to distinguish the XShot from any other case.

But there’s a trick! The tripod screw is contained in a separate widget, and this clips into either the bottom or the side of the case when needed, hence that unsightly hump.

It’s actually a great idea, and would pair up nicely with a small Gorillapod – it’s kind of silly to carry a full-sized tripod just for your phone after all. And if you don’t have a Gorillapod, you can use the included flexible tripod that comes included with the XShot. And then you should do buy a Gorillapod.

The XShot will be available later this month, for a reasonable $25.

XShot product page [XShot. Thanks, Alex!]

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Nov 18

Sony’s Hot Pro Camcorder Uses SLR-Lenses

Posted in: Today's Chili, video

Sony is following Panasonic with a new pro-level camcorder that uses lenses from Sony’s stills cameras. Provisionally named the NXCAM, it will share a lens mount, and lenses, with the little NEX mirrorless cameras.

If you had any doubts that lenses were the most important part of a camera system, they should be evaporating right about now. With a clutch of Sony or Panasonic lenses, you can choose between different kinds of camera bodies to do whatever you like.

Like the NEX cameras, the NXCAM will have a big sensor, although not quite as big as Sony’s misleading press release would have you believe. It is listed as being a “Super-35mm equivalent large format CMOS sensor.” Super 35 film is used in movies, and is the same size as the 35mm film in your old SLR. However, the images are shot “sideways” on the strip: if you held the film-strip up vertically, the movie images would be horizontal, and quite a bit smaller than what we know as “full-frame” these days. (The “super” part comes from the expansion of the image into the space normally occupied by the optical sound track).

Still, if it’s good enough for the movies, etc. Further details are still thin, but we do know that the video will be captured in AVCHD format, shooting at 1080p in 60p, 30p, 24p, 50p and 25p frame rates. Bigger Alpha lenses will also fit on the box, via an adapter.

The NXCAM will be available in the middle of 2011.

Press release [Sony/DP Review]

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Nov 18

Set Perfect White-Balance With Starbucks Coffee-Cup Lid

Posted in: Hacks, Mods and DIY, Today's Chili

How do you achieve the correct white-balance for your photos? Do you leave the camera on auto, like me, and fix things up later with RAW processing software if you need to? Or do you use the $70 Expodisc, a painstakingly calibrated piece of white plastic which fits over the lens and smushes together all the light in a scene into one big circle, ready to be processed by your SLR?

If you answer was “$70!? What the hell are you talking about now, Sorrel?” then I have the perfect hack for you. The Emergency Expodisc, a light-measuring device that consists of nothing more than the lid of a Starbucks coffee-cup.

Steve Bennett’s “invention” is simple. Grab an unused lid from any coffee-shop, pop it on the front of the lens, focus to infinity and take a custom white-balance reading. You should now have a setting either perfect for the scene (single light-source) or a good compromise (different sources).

And before the Expodisc folks come running, we know that a plastic coffee-cup lid isn’t going to be a perfect neutral white, but if you’re shooting JPEGs, it sure beats the hell out of the glowing red pictures you get when shooting indoors.

Emergency Expodisc [Steve Bennett / Flickr via DIY Photography]

Real Expodisc [Expo Imaging]

Photo: Steve Bennett


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Nov 16

Olympus Tweaks ‘Pen Lite’ With Faster, Quieter Lens, Higher ISO

Posted in: lenses, micro four thirds, olympus, Today's Chili, video

Hey, Panasonic, take a look over here. This is how you upgrade a successful, well designed camera. You add almost no changes, boosting the maximum ISO from 3200 to 6400, for example, and perhaps tweaking the color and shaving some weight to make it look a little different from its predecessor. What you don’t do is take possibly the best camera you ever made (GF1) and dumb it down until it is little more than a point-and-shoot with interchangeable lenses (GF2).

Olympus did it right, and the paragraph above contains almost all the tweaks it made to the already good Pen EPL-1. In fact, the new camera does’t even get a new name, just an extra letter: EPL-1s.

A bigger change is the new kit lens, the 4-42mm II ƒ3.5-5.6 which shrinks down to 454g (one pound) and gets a video-friendly silent AF motor which is also faster to focus than the old model.

The EPL-1s can also be had in a nasty burgundy/red colorway.

The new kit is launching in Japan, hopefully making its way overseas soon.

Olympus Pen Lite [Olympus Japan]

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Nov 12

RAW STEEL SD Card is Made of Metal, Testosterone

Posted in: Accessories and Peripherals, rugged, sd, storage, Today's Chili

Do you need a tough, waterproof, almost indestructible SD card? Then go ahead and buy any SD card you find in the store. I have dropped them, stepped on them and run them through a cycle in the washing machine, and all my cards still work fine.

If, however, you want to add a sliver of weight and a shiny metallic finish to your flash-storage, consider the RAW STEEL range from Hoodman, a steel-clad tough-guy whose caps-locked name seems to simultaneously yell and beat its doubtlessly very hairy chest.

The class-10 SDHC cards come in 4, 8, 16 and 32GB sizes, and Hoodman says that by shrinking the internals onto a single chip, space was made to add the armor plating.

Skipping over the inevitable “Blue Steel” Zoolander joke, there could be a case for using this card other than as a salve to your paranoia. What about a magnetic strip in (or on) your camera-bag, where you could stick these things like knives on the magnetic strip in your kitchen?

The RAW (ROAR!) STEEL cards will be available on November 15. Prices TBA, but consider that the same capacity plastic RAW cards run from $50-$190.

Press Release [Imaging Resource]

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