Hasta La Gadget!

Canon’s latest midrange SD4500 point and shoot — known as the IXUS 1000 HS in Europe — has scored a “Recommended” review by the folks at Photography Blog thanks largely to its excellent image quality (particularly with night shots) and the presence of a big 10x zoom lens packed inside its Elph body. The testers were concerned, though, with the camera’s poor 150-shot battery life, 36mm not-so-wide-angle setting and minimal physical controls — which may drive experienced users loco from excessive button mashing. Its $299 price tag is also precariously close to the beloved Canon S95, which offers significantly better performance for only $70 more. Still, if your budget is rigid and size is key, the SD4500 should suit you and your pockets nicely. To read the full review by the folks at Photography Blog, thanks.

Canon SD4500 IS reviewed: gets recommended despite some glaring faults originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You have a phone, you have a DSLR, yet although you love them both equally, the two pretty much never speak. This failure in capturing synergistic value is now at an end, however, thanks to the BlueSLR Bluetooth dongle and its accompanying iOS app. Compatible with iPhones (down to the 3G model), iPod touches (second generation and above), and iPads, this remote control system will let you manually trigger your Nikon‘s shutter release from a distance of up to 300 feet. There’s also GPS tagging, if you’re into that sort of thing, and a toggle in the app for adjusting exposure length. The app itself’s free, though the dongle will set you back a mighty $149. At least it communicates via Bluetooth, which won’t require line of sight like Nikon’s own IR remotes. Compatibility is set to expand to include Canon DSLRs and Android and BlackBerry smartphones in the future, but if you’ve already got a D5000 and an iPhone 4 lying around looking wistfully at one another, you can pre-order your BlueSLR at the source link below.

BlueSLR dongle and app turn your iPhone into a DSLR remote shutter release originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 06:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Technically speaking, Polaroid returned to instant photography earlier this year with the introduction of the 300, but we all know that thing was forgotten as soon as it was revealed. The famed camera outfit — despite being a shell of its former self — just dropped a luscious teaser into our inbox to let us know about an exclusive event it’ll be hosting at CES 2011 next month. The image you see above is severely distorted, but we did so to give you a better idea of what’s truly to come — unless that’s an outrageously shaped projector, we’re guessing it’s some sort of next generation instant camera. The slot on the bottom definitely helped push us over the edge, but if you’d rather cover the whole thing in mystique and guess for yourself, the un-doctored (er, unmutilated) teaser is just after the break. Oh, and we’ll be bringing you the blow-by-blow on what this thing really is on January 6th, hopefully with Outkast blaring in the background.

Continue reading Polaroid’s CES 2011 teaser hints at instant photography’s rebirth

Polaroid’s CES 2011 teaser hints at instant photography’s rebirth originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Panasonic’s DMC-GF1 proved itself as a tasty go-between, filling the gap between high-end compact and DSLR. The GF2 will soon arrive and, according to Photography Blog, if anything it slots in a little closer to the compact side of things thanks to a new user interface that ditches many buttons and dials in favor of touchscreen menus. This will drive some users mad, but ultimately the up-rated features here still make this a worthy choice over the GF1, including video recording at 1080i60 and a new body that’s a fifth smaller and seven percent lighter than before despite still containing a pop-up flash, 12.1 megapixel sensor, and image quality that’s about as good as you’re going to get out of a shooter this size.

Panasonic Lumix GF2 reviewed: smaller, simpler, and arguably better than the GF1 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you know someone who has a ton of photos just sitting on their computer’s hard drive that they don’t know what to do with, a digital photo frame could be just the thing they need. A digital frame, like the Toshiba DMF82XKU 8-Inch Wireless Digital Media Frame, is the perfect gift for the person in your life that wants to show off all their pictures. The Toshiba DMF82XKU even allows for video playback.

PCMag reviewed the Toshiba DMF82XKU and gave it a 4 out of 5 and an Editors’ Choice award for its elegant design, and excellent Web integration. It also allows for simple image transfer via e-mail or Internet.

“The Toshiba DMF82XKU 8-inch Digital Media Frame does much more than just display your photos; it pairs an elegant design with the ability to add images wirelessly and stream a variety of Web content. But at $180, it may be a bit too pricey for some,” PJ Jacobowitz said in his review.

The frame has a list price of $179.99, but you can get it at Amazon now for $83.51. That’s a 54 percent savings. The now-$84 digital frame may be worth the money. According to Jacobowitz,

“Toshiba pairs Wi-Fi with FrameChannel, a sophisticated Web-based photo and content streaming service that makes sending content to the frame seamless, allowing you to add your own photos wirelessly, invite friends and family members to share their photos, and stream a variety of content from RSS feeds. Thanks to its online component, the DMF82XKU is great for, say, displaying party pictures from Facebook or sending vacation photos home to grandma–while you’re still on the road. “

Read the full Toshiba DMF82XKU 8-inch Digital Media Frame review for more details.