Hasta La Gadget!

It’s kinda hard trying to keep up with the litany of models in Panasonic’s Lumix family, though placing this one near the top of the point-and-shoot pile shouldn’t be so difficult. It’s equipped with a 14.1 megapixel sensor, a wide-angle F2.2 lens with 5x optical zoom, and the now obligatory HD video (we presume 720p) recording and intelligent picture processing options. A 3-inch touchscreen hogs the majority of controls on the back, including a neat touch-to-focus function that we think all these little shooters should have, which is augmented by the camera’s AF tracking a subject once selected. Slick. We’re still no big fans of the AVCHD Lite format used here, but Motion JPEG recording is on offer as well, which is kind of nice. No price or availability just yet, but we know it’ll be at least a month before you can slather the FX75 with loving fingerprints.

Continue reading Panasonic Lumix FX75 takes evolutionary step forward

Panasonic Lumix FX75 takes evolutionary step forward originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 06:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh sure, Nikon‘s got its own solution for adding native geotagging to your existing DSLR, but the GP-1 dongle definitely has its drawbacks. Aside from sucking down around 4x more power than Gisteq’s new PhotoTrackr Plus, it also eliminates the ability to use a dedicated flash in the hotshoe while capturing GPS data. Moreover, it has to warm up every time you turn the camera on / off, and there’s just 18 tracking channels compared to the Gisteq’s 44. Regardless of the back and forth, we do appreciate the PhotoTrackr Plus’ ability to plug directly into the 10-pin terminal that few amateurs even think to recognize, though we do fear that the reliance on Bluetooth could cause issues if you stray too far from the transceiver. Still, this newfangled dongle is far superior to its past iterations, both of which simply logged data as you went and then added metadata after you synced the information with your images via PC; this dongle, however, embeds the data right away into every image. Better still, there’s even a price advantage to going third party — Nikon’s aging GP-1 is pushing $200 on many webstores, while the Gisteq apparatus can be procured right now for $179. Take your pic, as they say.

Continue reading PhotoTrackr Plus brings geotagging to Nikon DSLRs, leaves your hotshoe open

PhotoTrackr Plus brings geotagging to Nikon DSLRs, leaves your hotshoe open originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 May 2010 04:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As we’ve seen in the past, rugged point-and-shoots aren’t necessarily the greatest pure shooters; generally speaking, compromises are made when it comes to image quality in order to manufacture a camera that can withstand an atypical amount of abuse. With that in mind, critics over at Photography BLOG went into their review of Pentax’s all-weather Optio W90 with lowered expectations on the image quality front, but they actually came away duly impressed. Deeming the cam one “not just of outer muscle, but with inner strengths too,” they found the W90 able to produce images “better what [they were] used to [seeing] from models that major on toughness.” As you’d expect, it was able to shrug off bouts with dust, water and the occasional rude encounter with concrete, but reviewers did lament the omission of optical stabilization, and low-light performance was unsurprisingly lackluster. Still, it seems a solid overall option for those concerned with rigidity, but we’d encourage you to visit that source link before making a final call either way.

Pentax’s all-weather Optio W90 gets reviewed: brawn meets brain originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 May 2010 18:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ah, Spring. The season of pollen, grass mowing and enlarged electricity bills. Oh, and impending vacations. In order to get you prepared for that last one, Canon is introducing a new member of its Digital ELPH range today, the PowerShot SD4000 (or IXUS 300HS in other parts of the globe). Boasting a 10 megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor, DIGIC 4 image processing engine and a 3.8x optical zoom, this one also features an f/2.0 lens and the company’s own HS System in order to produce more satisfactory results in low light situations. It also touts an 8.4fps burst capture rate, an HD movie mode, HDMI output support, a Super Slow Motion movie mode (240fps) and a 3-inch rear LCD. Those who love riding the cutting edge will also appreciate the SDXC and Eye-Fi support, and if you’re already sold on the $349.99 device, you simply need to choose between red, silver, black or a limited edition white. Commence pondering.

Continue reading Canon debuts low-light lovin’ PowerShot SD4000 IS digicam

Canon debuts low-light lovin’ PowerShot SD4000 IS digicam originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there is such a thing as a no-compromise point and shooter, the Coolpix P100 might just be it. It throws a back-illuminated 10 megapixel CMOS sensor in behind a 26x optical zoom lens, and supplements them with the hardware to record 1080p video at 30fps, with stereo mics pulling in sound, or full-resolution photos at a stunning 10fps clip. Throw in the articulating display on the back and you might already be asking where to buy one. Not so fast, though, as the Photography Blog guys have some notes for you. Firstly, the 10fps mode fills up the camera’s buffer after only 6 shots, and the usable burst mode is actually a (still decent) 2.8fps. There’s also the criticism that low-contrast detail is often lost thanks to overzealous noise reduction, but on the whole their experience of the camera was still positive. Macro performance was rated as “outstanding,” while Nikon’s Vibration Reduction was credited with performing its job admirably, and the conclusion was that casual photographers would get a lot of mileage (and fun) out of the P100. Read on for the full analysis.

Nikon Coolpix P100 reviewed, found to contain oodles of zoom and superb movie mode originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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