Over the past several years, the LEGO brand has grown into something approaching a cult, with fans creating some amazing projects (LEGOs in space, the Woniak/Jobs playset) and other companies incorporating the design-friendly bricks into sometimes surprising products (iPod speaker docks). PCMag even once commissioned a LEGO artist to build a PC.
Now CE-for-kids maker Digital Blue is coming out with some of the most appealing LEGO-inspired products I’ve seen, including a camera, videocam, MP3 player, and more. Yep, they’re for kids–but I can think of more than a few grownup who’ll crave one or another of these cool products. And yes–they’re stackable!
The LEGO Digital Camera, above, sells for $49.99 list. It has 3 megapixels and a 1.5-inch LCD on the back; 128MB of built-in memory holds around 80 photos.
Nikon’s D300s is the very same camera we loved two years ago, but with a few new tricks to try to stay relevant in this crazy video-shootin’ DSLR world we live in. Namely, 720p video.
Same Ol’ Same Ol’
The D300s remains a capable, even impressive camera. I mean, it’s not like it got worse: The D300 retains the same sensor, excellent 51-point autofocus system, fantastic chassis build quality and ergonomics—just about the same everything—as the D300, and it still holds up 2 years later, mostly.
Low-light performance is solid, as you can see in the giant sample gallery here that walks through ISO ranges. We’re talking fairly good-looking stuff up through ISO1600, though noise starts to creep in there, finally getting oogly around ISO3200. It’s no 5D Mark II or D700, but it still stands up. Color saturation remains top-notch, and it seemed to handle white balance even a bit better than 5DMkII we shot alongside it at Giz Gallery last week. Bottom line, though, you’re getting the same D300 performance. (Which means D300 reviews are still worth reading.)
So What’s New?
• 720p video recording • Extra SDHC slot • More Active-D Lighting controls • Tweaked button layout
Oh Hey, Video
What’s majorly new in the D300s is video, and even it’s not a whole lot different than what you saw with the D90, which also shot 720p video (and had a similar 12.3MP sensor). But, there’s stereo input, and you can autofocus during recording—it’s god-awful slow, so you’re better off doing it your own damn self. Not to mention movies are capped at 5 measly minutes. And if you’re still in live view, you can’t actually watch the stuff you’ve just shot, since the playback button is how you adjust the display’s brightness in live view mode.
The video quality itself is good, generally, but pushing past ISO1600, it starts getting a little dicey (Brian’s shirt makes my eyes and ears hurt it’s so noisy in this clip): Beyond video, my favorite new addition to the D300s are the dual memory card slots, which were formerly a super pro feature. The extra slot holds an SDHC card, which you can use a number of different ways—continuing the storage over from the CF card, duping whatever goes to the CF card, or to save JPEGs from RAW+JPEG shooting. (Handy, since OS X and Aperture don’t support D300s RAW files yet.)
And of course, one of the best things about Nikon cameras is that since the lens mount for their SLRs hasn’t changed in about 50 years, you can use seriously vintage lenses (and save money), which is something we definitely took advantage of while shooting.
The Value Shopper’s Verdict
Here’s the thing about the D300s: It’s a great camera, no doubt. The problem is two-fold: At $1800, it costs the exact same as the D300 did when it was released two years ago, but beyond video, delivers no major advancements. There’s no new pixel-squeezing camera tech here. The other part is that the very shortly forthcoming 7D from Canon is their first direct competitor to Nikon’s D_00 semi-pro cameras, and it may make the value proposition look even less fantastic with what appears to be the most advanced video features of any DSLR yet. As it stands, the D300s is a tough purchase call (you can pick up a D300 for $150 less if you don’t need video), and certainly not a necessary upgrade. But we hope to head-to-head the 7D and D300s very soon to figure out the best camera you can buy for about $1800.
If only Nikon had just given us the D400 like we’d wanted.
Have you been waiting for the digital equivalent of the traditional Polaroid instant-camera experience? As the Polaroid PoGo Instant Digital Camera is a hybrid printer/camera product, we enlisted PCMag’s printer and camera experts, M. David Stone and PJ Jacobowitz, to review it. One thing I can tell you: They both had a lot of fun testing it.
This 5-megapixel camera uses the same ZINK (zero ink) technology to output its photos as the Polaroid PoGo Instant Photo Printer and the Dell Wasabi PZ310 . With ZINK, clear dye crystals are embedded in the photo paper; heat from the printhead activates the color in the crystals. A downside is that you’re limited to 2- by 3-inch photos; one thing you can do with the PoGo that you couldn’t with an analog Polaroid camera is to save and store digital versions of your photos. You will need an SD card, as the camera comes without one, and its internal memory is only enough to hold a handful of images.
The PoGo’s image quality is modest, about that of a high-quality camera phone. Prints are tiny, and ZINK isn’t yet up to the standards of ink-based photo printing. But it provides what people want and expect from a Polaroid camera–enjoyable picture-taking and the ability to print your results out on the spot (and perhaps to draw a small crowd while you’re doing so, as happened with one of our reviewers).
It was only a matter of time before these two came to blows.
The Olympus E-P1 and upcoming Panasonic GF1 are the smallest Micro Four Thirds cameras available. They both offer DSLR image quality in compact bodies.
The Micro Four Thirds Olympus E-P1 offers DSLR image quality but is much smaller than most DSLRs. This camera is pleasing on so many levels–but disappointing when it comes to auto-focusing speed. Not only is it not as fast as a tradition DSLR, but even some point-and-shoots offer faster performance. (See our full review on PC Mag.com)
Earlier this month, Olympus released firmware updates to the E-P1’s body,14-42mm, and 17mm lenses. The purpose of the updates: to improve focusing speeds.
I spent some time today with the E-P1, 14-42mm lens, Shooting Digital’s Shutter Lag test, and I’ve come to the conclusion there’s not much improvement in focusing speeds. Before the update, the camera took an average of 1.3 seconds to focus and shoot. After the update, it averaged 1.2 seconds. A traditional DSLR with auto-focus can focus in less than half that time; the Canon D50 averages just .5 seconds.
Some gadgets just hit the “awesome” button in the deep, lizard part of your brain. At an NVIDIA meeting today, my “awesome” button got smacked hard by the Fujifilm FinePix REAL 3D W1, the world’s first point-and-shoot, consumer 3-D digital camera. It’s expensive, somewhat awkward, and probably impractical. But it’s really cool.
The W1 is a bit of a brick, sure, but who cares? It’s 3-D! The camera is black and glossy, and looks a little like a Sony Cybershot T-series with its big, slide-down shutter cover. It’s much thicker than a Sony T-series (but still easily handheld) and it has – woah now – two lenses on the front. It uses those lenses to take two images, which it merges together into a 3D picture.
The W1 takes both photos and videos in 2D and 3D mode. I took a bunch of 3D photos and recorded a 3D video. The 3D photos come through in .MPO format, a new multiple-image format supported by NVIDIA’s 3D Vision kit ($199), a set of drivers and glasses which turn any monitor into a 3D device. The 3D videos are a pair of streams stored in a standard AVI container; the NVIDIA 3D Vision’s software player knows how to merge them into a 3D movie.
You might suspect that executives at tech companies spend a lot of time sitting around, trying to figure out what two pieces of consumer electronics they can cram into a single device. Case in point: the newest iPod nano, which was magically transformed into a pocket camcorder.
For its latest addition to the Coolpix line, Nikon has managed to squeeze in a pico projector. The S1000pj is the world’s first point-and-shoot with a built-in projector. Take a picture or shoot a video with the camera, and you can display it on a nearby wall.
The projector isn’t very powerful, and I can’t imagine the demand for such a hybrid device would be huge, but it’s neat nonetheless. The S1000pj comes out this month at a suggested price of $429. Check out a video of the camera/projector in action, after the jump.
Around the corner from the PCMag.com office is a construction site for a hi-rise apartment complex. Last Tuesday, when I passed it on my lunch hour, I noticed one of the workers pointing his iPhone’s camera up at the structure, so I tried to see what he was aiming at.
Above the building, I spotted a rainbow-like arc that I immediately recognized as a portion of a solar halo, and snapped a number of pictures of it (such as the one above) mostly with my Canon SD990 IS. (I even got a few good shots of it with my iPhone.)
In observing and photographing solar halo phenomena, the biggest obstacle, ironically, is the Sun itself. You must avoid looking at the Sun–even when partially obscured by thin clouds, looking directly at it can cause eye damage. As for photography, the Sun’s glare can wash out much of the detail of the delicate arcs, and spots, as well as the structure of the accompanying cirrostratus (and sometimes cirrus) clouds. So be sure to hide the Sun behind a tree, a building, a street sign, or other object–even a hand will do in a pinch.
Note that in photographing a halo, you’ll need to focus on the sky rather than the nearby object, or else the halo will be blurred. You can do this by pointing the camera at the open sky and engaging the autofocus if you’re in automatic mode–usually, a green box will appear when the shutter is half-pressed. Then, while keeping the shutter half-pressed, you should return to your initial framing with the nearby object in view, and press the shutter fully to complete the shot) It’s a good idea to move the camera around a bit to find the place with the least glare before you shoot. Although it’s good to try both, I find that wider-field shots often work better than close-ups–for one thing, if you want to capture the entire solar halo, it may be necessary to go as wide as you can.
Creative today announced the release of its second-generation of HD Pocket Camcorders. The second generation of Vado HDs seem fairly similar to their predecessor, save for the introduction of some new software and color combinations.
On the software side, the new Vado HD’s Vado Central is more compatible with Mac OS X, featuring direct transfer to iMovie. The software is downloadable directly from Creative’s Website and can be installed on older Vado HD and standard Vado models. The new Vado Central should be available later this month.
The new models come in a 4BG white and green version as well as an 8GB red and black, available for $179 and $199, respectively. The first generation Creative Vado snagged the PCMag Editors’ Choice, but has since been eclipsed by the Kodak Zi8.
The just-announced Canon EOS 7D digital SLR (DSLR), $1,700, may tilt the balance of power back in Canon’s direction in the segment that is either “high-end prosumer” or “entry professional.” Nikon trumped Canon with the D200 and now D300s in the realm of cameras costing $1,500-$2,000 for the body alone (no lenses).
The Canon 7D boasts an 18-megapixel sensor and 8 frames-per-second motor drive. It also shoots HD video. Despite the name, this is not a follow-on to the Canon EOD 5D since it’s not a full-frame camera with a slow motor drive. Instead, it uses the same cropped-sensor size and 1.6X lens multiplier as the Canon EOD 50D and predecessors. It ships later this month, Canon says.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Dual memory card slots are a huge win
Good low-light performance, awesome color saturation
Two-year-old sensor costs this year’s money
