Hasta La Gadget!

This week we got the opportunity to take a peek at a hero device from none other than camera manufacturers Pentax, their MX-1 showing itself to be quite the looker for the 2013 Summer season. This machine is the very first advanced compact camera the company has ever presented, here showing a 12-megapixel sensor, 4x optical zoom, and a solid body with a classic look. This camera also comes with a 3-inch tilting display that’ll allow you to hold your unit above or below, the display pointing out at your face from any forward angle.

The lens on this machine is a 28mm F1.8 wide angle, making sure your next-level photos bring on a life that’ll make you want to stick with Pentax through the future. The middle of this device is a texturized rubbery black while the top and bottom are a cool metallic with brass panels up top and down below. This machine will be available sometime inside 2013, likely by the time Summer rolls around.

Also revealed this week was the Pentax Q10′s new ultra-vast collection of body colors. You’ll now be able to pick 100 different custom color combinations for the Pentax Q10 – and it still feels so nice to use this classic body and set of controls. Have a peek at pure red here and create your own at the Pentax studio online. You’ll be able to pick your own body color and your own grip color – go wild!

For those of you that didn’t see this camera back when it was announced in September of 2012, it’s a real live interchangeable lens system-toting camera with a 12.4-megapixel sensor all in the size of “a pack of cards.” It’s small and it’s powerful, those two things are certainly true. Have a peek at a whole lot more CES 2013 coverage in our CES portal and be sure to stay tuned to our Pentax tag for more camera action all year long!

Pentax MX-1 digital camera hands-on: advanced compact in a retro body is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This year at CES 2013 we took on the full gamut, everything from ultra HD televisions to smartphone cases, and all things good in-between. While we’ll be presenting several CES wrap-up posts for you over the next few days so you can get caught up in a collection of nutshells, we’d like to take the opportunity here to say thank you to all of the individuals, companies, and institutions that helped us make it easy to present all the newest innovations to you, the readers.

What we’ve seen this week is a wide variety of devices, services, and events that collectively give us a basic idea of what we’ll be seeing from developers, manufacturers, and creators of all kinds over the coming set of months. CES 2013 has presented the usual undeniably intense next-generation in televisions, too massive to use, more accessories than we’ll ever have time to use, and whispers of this Spring and Summer’s mobile device offerings.

NOTE: We brought more people than the photo above suggests, but planes take off early, and it’s rare you get a minute to take a photo with the SlashGear truck!

Interestingly enough, we only saw a few devices in the mobile market that we’d not seen before. Groups like NVIDIA and Lenovo presented smart mobile devices while Samsung, LG, Nokia, and Motorola all but abstained from the “CES reveal” method. Instead they stuck to their refrigerators, software upgrades, and re-commitments to the devices they’ve already got out.

What we’re expecting from the companies that did not present (only represented) is either a big showing at Mobile World Congress (next month) or their own device reveals spattered throughout the coming weeks. We shall see soon enough!

So for now you’ll want to head to our massive CES portal for everything CES 2013 and stay tuned to SlashGear for a set of wrap-up posts you wont want to miss!

Goodbye CES 2013: It’s been fun! is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you haven’t yet experienced the world of light field photography, it’s time to step into the Lytro. (See what I did there?)

The Lytro camera is a brand new form of photographic technology that produces what the company calls a “living photo.” This means that the user has the ability to change the focus from the foreground to background, shift perspective, and add cool color filters to the photos. But this is only the beginning.

What truly makes Lytro unique isn’t the hardware — though the camera itself is undeniably innovative. The most interesting thing about Lytro is that it’s almost more of a software company than a hardware business.

With this new form of technology that captures not only the plane of light, but the direction of the light, there is a ton of data to mine out of each photo.

This means that the possibilities are endless, since Lytro simply has to adjust the software to introduce new features. We spoke with Eric Cheng, Director of Photography at Lytro, who hinted that there’s plenty more in store for Lytro users. And the beauty is that it all comes to you over software updates — no hardware upgrades required.

The Library of Congress is brimming with flawless daguerreotype photographs that give us a pristine look into the state of things over the past two centuries. Now that’s great and all, but perhaps even more incredible are the ones that succumbed to the 200 years of damage and decay. More »

Shooting Challenges are back for 2013, and our first of the year is a doozy. For this week’s challenge, you’ll capture beautiful human figures that blur into abstract art. An accomplished portrait photographer explains how. More »