Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve got a tropical vacation coming up this summer, bring along a video camera that goes where the others don’t: under the sea. DXG has just introduced the Sportster line of rugged, waterproof high-definition cameras. The first, shown here, has a traditional camcorder shape and captures 1080p video. It also records up to 10 feet underwater. When you’re ready to submerge, hit the Dive button, and the lenses automatically adjust to underwater colors and conditions.

The camera can also take 12-megapixel still shots and includes USB/AV and HDMI outputs. It offers 128MB of built-in storage, which you can expand with an SD/SDHC card of up to 32GB.

This first Sportster lists for $169.99. The company plans to release a pistol-grip model soon but hasn’t yet announced the release date.

I’m riding shotgun in a surprisingly roomy helicopter cockpit with Vincent Laforet, one of the foremost practitioners of DSLR video, over New York City. I’ve never ridden in a helicopter. The asphalt below fades from black to grey. More »

The Lowepro Outback 300 AW beltpack camera bag ($100 street) holds all the camera gear most people would need for a vacation trip if you shoot with a digital SLR. Just don’t plan on using it as a fashion accessory unless your vacation color of choice is basic black. It has both an integrated belt and a removable shoulder strap, along with two removable padded lens pouch saddlebags, and cushioned interior dividers. It’s black nylon (one color choice only) and boxy looking, but it packs a lot into the 12 x 11 (without pouches) x 9 inch (HWD) main unit. With the pouches, it’s 22 inches wide.

It was almost a throwaway line in Nvidia CEO’s Jen-Hsun Huang‘s Computex presentation about the future of graphics technology, but I caught it. Huang announced that Sony’s new Alpha interchangeable lens cameras would now be part of Nvidia’s 3D Vision ecosystem, enabling users to take 3D still images and view them on their PCs.  Fuji has already announced plans to support 3D Vision in one of its cameras, but the Sony support should give the technology a boost.

PCMag.com just tested the Sony Alpha NEX-3 in the Labs and liked it a lot. In fact, that is what I shot Huang’s keynote with. Personally, I am no huge fan of 3D still photography, but since the NEX-3 won an Editor’s Choice without 3D, I guess it can’t hurt to have the option.

Want to see more? Check out our Computex 2010 slideshow at PCMag.com.

Canon reported on Monday that the season finale of “House” has been shot entirely on a high-end digital SLR, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. The episode marks the “first network prime-time drama” to be shot on a digital SLR.

Based on a preview clip I saw, the finale involves some sort of disaster trapping House and the case beneath a building. I’m not entirely sure if the video actually plays a role in the plot or not, or if it’s strictly incidental.

In any event, shooting a high-profile show like “House” on a digital SLR should validate the HD video capabilities that manufacturers like Canon have begun adding to their high-end and even mod-range cameras – even if Canon didn’t specifically say that the video shot was in HD.

In
addition to shooting the episode on the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF lenses
were used for a complete Canon workflow for image capture, Canon said. “Recording every
second of footage to compact flash cards, the crew for HOUSE took full advantage
of a completely digital workflow and was able to complete filming the entire
episode in just 10 days,” the company said.

The finale ends tonight at 8:00 PM ET/PT on Fox.