Sure, Sony’s new series of camcorders with interchangeable lenses might look nice and have “good specs,” but are they available right now for under $100? No, but this thing is. Running just $99 from everyone’s favorite retailer of the cheap and bizarre, Brando, this Vivikai-branded camcorder boasts an impressive VGA resolution, 32MB of built-in memory, an SDHC card slot for expansion, and a single interchangeable “telescope” lens, which promises to add 8x the zoom and 8x the crazy. Hit up the link below to get your order in — assuming you didn’t already dash off to do so at the first sight of it.
Garmin’s new Nuvi 295W is kind of like a GPS iPod Touch. With a camera.
Coming on like a phone-less Nuviphone, the 3.5-inch touch-screen 295W comes loaded with Wi-Fi, a 3MP camera, photo-viewer and MP3-player. There is also a web-browser and an email client. And of course, there is GPS, and maps are supplied for the US and Canada.
The combo is a pretty compelling one. If you think about the iPod Touch, it loses most of its functionality as soon as you get it outside. The 295W still can’t connect to the internet away from a Wi-Fi hot-spot, but it does have GPS and built-in maps to serve directions when off the grid. And the camera is genius, especially as it will geo-tag your photos.
There are downsides, though. First, no Apple App Store. Second, despite the $280 price-tag, you’ll need to bring your own memory (SD-card). And third, the battery life is a paltry four hours. Reduce that figure for real-world use and you have a GPS unit that won’t even last you a walking-tour of a city. A shame, to be sure. We also expect Apple to at least add a camera to the iPod Touch this September. Put GPS in there too and this little Garmin will be dead. Available now.
Oh, Canon — you and your milestones. Just under two years ago, you took time out of your busy schedule to gloat about the shipment of your 100 millionth compact camera, and today you’re bragging about the production of your 40 millionth EOS-series SLR camera. In all seriousness, we’re pretty proud of ya. After all, it took a full decade (1987 to 1997) for you to conjure up 10 million EOS film cameras, and six more after that to hit the magical 20 million mark. Once you blew through 30 million in 2007, it took but 28 months to get where you are today. What’s really wild, though, is that half of the milestone is all digital, and given the state of film today, we’re guessing that the delta between the two will only grow larger in the future. You’ve come a long way since the introduction of the EOS-1, but we know you’ve got a few surprises in store yet — how’s about a sub-$1,000 DSLR that shoots native 4K video and has an ISO ceiling of 1,000,000 to celebrate the rapidly approaching 50 million mark?
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.
Look, we’re not saying Olympus’ original all-black PEN E-P2 had no retro whatsoever in its blood, but you’ll be hard-pressed to convince us that this newer, silver-er model doesn’t have a whole lot more. Nearly six months after the (admittedly overpriced) Micro Four Thirds camera got pushed through the ringer, Olympus has decided that the world needs a second color option, though outside of the hue, there’s no difference whatsoever between the two models. It’ll ship later this month in Europe for a still-lofty €799 ($1,016), but at least that scores you a M. Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens! Ah, who are we kidding — that removes precisely zero pain from the sticker shock.
Last time on let’s-speculate-about-Apple-products, the New iPhone rumor mill dug up dirt on video chat and a 5 megapixel camera. Now, it appears there might be one more reason to call it the iPhone HD. MacRumors reports that the iPhone SDK 4 beta includes the value “AVCaptureSessionPreset1280x720,” leading some to believe Cupertino’s next phone will record video in 720p. Mind you, the iPhone 3GS was technically already capable of that feat, so this might not have anything to do with a new handset, but honestly, at this point the iPhone’s camera wouldn’t be competitive recording in a smaller format anyhow.
Well what do we have here? We’ve just been handed a picture of what we’re told is Sony’s EX3 prototype 3D camera, with changeable lenses and a penchant for capturing life in the third dimension. That’s unfortunately all we really know at this point, but if this two-eyed beaut does go to market (and we hear that it most certainly will), it looks like Panasonic’s 3D camcorder will have some healthy competition. And hey, we’re all for having more options.
Update: A trusted source just chimed in with some specs, and it’s looking like Sony’s basically just crammed the guts of two PMW-EX3 studio cams into a single shell for this prototype. That’s not a bad thing: behind those proprietary hot-swappable lens cartridges are the same two three half-inch CMOS eyeballs that stream 4:2:0 MPEG-2 video at 1080p to SxS memory cards at 35Mbps per eye, or send uncompressed 4:4:4 footage over a new pair of HD-SDI outputs. Our source was pretty excited about how close together those eyes were, too — he whispered something about an industry-first 1.5-inch interocular distance, before vanishing into the darkness without a word on price or availability.
Update 2: The EX3 has three CMOS chips, not two. [Thanks, The Advanced Kind]
What do you do once you’ve broken your own record for the world’s highest-grossing picture film? Well, you go offworld, of course. James Cameron, in his infinite benevolence and multidimensional wisdom, has convinced NASA bigwigs not to forgo the inclusion of a high-res 3D camera on the Curiosity (aka Mars Science Laboratory) rover, which is set to depart for the red planet in 2011. Budget overruns had led to the scrapping of the autostereoscopic idea, but the director-man — who has been involved with this project for a good few years now — felt the results of the mission would be far more engaging if people could see them in 3D. Hey, if he can make us watch the Blue Man Group reenactment of Fern Gully, don’t bet on Cameron failing to make extraterrestrial rubble interesting with his 3D voodoo.
In a quest to get the perfect shot, Eric Austin, a Texas-based videographer, found a neat way to fuse a remote controlled helicopter and a Canon DSLR camera so he could shoot aerial videos easily and get the kind of footage that would otherwise be difficult to pull off.
“I took a hobbyshop helicopter and modified it to hold a camera, so I can get low altitude, close and tight aerial shots,” Austin told Wired.com.
An amateur videographer turned pro, Austin got interested in remote-controlled photography just four months ago.
“As I did more photos and videos, I realized I could develop a niche where I could use the advancements in technology to provide the kind of photos most people can’t get easily,” he says.
Austin is one of the many hobbyist photographers who are finding ways to use drones and remote-controlled helicopter toys to get a more attractive camera angle. Wired magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson helms a site called DIY Drones where users have found a way to use unmanned aerial vehicles to do aerial photography. Last year, New York City photographer Anthony Jacobs showed a helicam built using a German helicopter rig called MikroKopter. Jacobs used his helicam rig to shoot videos of neighborhooods in the city.
Austin, who has a website devoted to his RC helicopter videography, says he wanted to do something similar and offer HD-quality video and photos.
That’s why, he says, he decided to create a rig that would be reliable and produce the kind of footage that could be used by professionals. And as this clip shows, the video can be interesting.
Austin started with a remote-controlled helicopter called Align T-REX 700 and modified it to carry a special frame and camera mount. He tweaked the landing gear for the helicopter, covering it with a bright pink foam from the “noodles” used in swimming pools.
“The color stands out when I am flying the helicopter outdoors,” says Austin. “And if I crash into the water, my whole equipment won’t go to the bottom. It will be ruined, but at least I will get my gear back.” Austin says he hasn’t crashed his helicopter yet, but the foam ensures that in case of a hard landing, the equipment is less likely to completely fall apart.
He adjusts the camera’s settings when it’s on the ground and presses the Record button right before takeoff. For still images, Austin says he uses an external timer that activates the shutter every few seconds.
To create his flying video rig, Austin says he spent hours on the online discussion forums at the Helifreak.com website.
“I didn’t know anyone to talk to,” he says. “And then realized the only place to go was online where people were discussing this.”
One of the more challenging shoots that Austin has done with his helicam was flying over a cliff that was about 25 feet high with a river below. And he didn’t crash the copter.
“The probability that a crash will happen is there, but so far, I have been careful,” he says.
To download video, Austin has set up a 5.8-GHz video downlink feed using an on-board wireless transmitter.
All of this didn’t come cheap. Austin estimates the entire rig cost him about $15,000. But for those at home, who want to do something similar, he says there are cheaper alternatives.
“I went for the best and most expensive components because I didn’t want to risk it failing mid-air,” he says. “But you can get an RC helicopter for about $400 and put a point-and-shoot camera on it.”
In the event that none of Eye-Fi’s existing 802.11n-capable offerings meet your wireless photo upload needs, take heart, because there’s a new model getting shoehorned between the $49.99 Connect X2 and the $99.99 Explore X2 that might just satisfy your discerning tastes. Like the entry-level Connect X2, the Geo X2 brings 4GB of Class 6 (read: high-speed) photo and video storage plus an “Endless Memory Mode” that can automatically delete shots once they’ve been safely uploaded to their destination — but like the name implies, the new model adds the automatic geotagging support offered by its pricier siblings. It’ll be an Apple Store exclusive starting next month for $69.99.
Along with the Geo X2, Eye-Fi is announcing a partnership with Devicescape that’s yielding significantly expanded support for open WiFi hotspots with splash screen logins such as those offered by schools, cafes, and WiFi providers like Boingo, arguably addressing one of the card’s biggest weaknesses. The new capability will be available to users by the end of May — so start finding more awesome stuff to photograph, alright?
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.
OhGizmo | 
Brando | Email this | Comments
Last time on let’s-speculate-about-Apple-products, the New iPhone rumor mill dug up dirt on 
