Sony s new Handycam DCR-SR80, DCR-SR60 and DCR-SR40 hard drive camcorders Sony s all out assault on the marketplace didn t stop with those of theirs, they ve also got three new standard definition Handycam units to show off. The DCR-SR80 leads the pack with a 1 megapixel CCD, 60GB drive, 2.7-inch widescreen viewfinder, 12x optical zoom, a hot shoe, and $800 price tag; the DCR-SR60 is essentially the same unit as the SR80, but with a 30GB drive and $700 price; the DCR-SR40 features a 40GB drive, 20x optical, 2.
5-inch 4:3 aspect ratio touchscreen viewfinder, and $600 price point. All are due September, during which time we d roughly estimate they d vanish from store shelves in short order.
Perhaps worried that their bid proposal for will never pan out, the wacky minds at DARPA are now looking at the humble maple tree to provide inspiration for their future fleet of tiny surveillance drones.
The agency has just awarded Lockheed Martin a 10-month contract to develop maple seed-shaped known as remote-controlled nano air vehicles (or NAVs, for short) that can be deployed from a hovercraft and whirl around urban battlefields snapping pictures and confusing enemies who have never seen a maple tree. DARPA is stipulating that the single-blade NAVs be equipped with a self-stabilizing wireless camera, yet weigh only 0.07 ounces and be capable of traveling 1,100 feet with the help of an onboard chemical rocket.
Seems like a lot to ask from such a minuscule device, but the $1.7 million DARPA is shelling out will probably be enough of an incentive for Lockheed to get the job done.
Technology Breakthrough: A Cure For Blindness
Dr.
Keith Mathieson from the University of Glasgow s department of physics is all set out to combat the two common forms of blindness. And what he uses is a technology very similar to the digital cameras that we re all familiar with. Dr Mathieson said, By implanting a device into the eye, we hope we will be [ ]
Source: www.
hiptechblog.com
Most indicate their digital cameras only take good pictures within such a small range of lighting conditions. There is no getting around it, unwanted motion blur is a persistent problem.
What causes motion blur and how can digital camera anti-shake, anti-blur, or image stabilization systems help?
First of all it s important to differentiate between the blur caused by movement of the subject you are trying to photograph and that caused by movement of the camera.
Cardboard SLR Camera
Why spend hundreds, when you could make a SLR camera out of cardboards?
Oh, because the wind might blow your camera away. But that s not going to stop a certain anonymous shutterbug from spending hours building his/her very own cardboard SLR camera. Of course, the camera does not come with any fancy technology, and it uses a [ ]
Source: www.
hiptechblog.com
Gauging Age With Cameras Red-Eye Effects
Unless you are some pro photographer, you ve probably seen those dreadful red-eye effects in some of your pictures taken with flash. Because of the intensity of most camera flashes, any reflection off the retina of the subjects eyes shows up as red-eyes in the resulting picture.
So what does it has to do with gauging a [ ]
Source: www.hiptechblog.com
Fujifilm FinePix F30 Reviewed By CNET.
Verdict: Great Low-Light Shooter
CNET reviews Fujifilm s new FinePix F30 that has been out since last month. The good: Produces usable shots, without digital noise, even at high ISO 1,600 and ISO 3,200 sensitivity levels; aperture- and shutter-priority modes; versatile 2.5-inch LCD.
The bad: Noticeable fringing in photos; lens could be wider. The bottom line: Low-light shooters will love that [ ]
Source: www.hiptechblog.
com
If you re wondering who the heck Voigtlaender is, rest assured you aren t missing out on much. The German-based company s Virtus D8 digicam is about as , sporting no standout features and a long list of mediocre specs. The only thing mildy impressive about the 8.
1 megapixel camera is its compact size and of course its outlandish name. Essentially like every other average compact, you ll get a 2.5-inch display screen, 3x optical zoom, meager ISO settings, a 640 x 480 video mode, and an SD slot that only accepts cards up to 1GB.
More realistically, we presume this is just another digicam with for its own good, and priced at around $430, we don t envision many enthusiasts rushing out to grab such an underwhelming offering.
It was only a matter of time before helmet-mounted sports cams , and if you ve been tapping your foot at cutting the cable your wait is up with their new SC-X205WL and SC-X210WL. These devices are essentially the same as their wired counterparts: 512MB internal memory on the X205WL and and 1GB on the X210WL, both featuring the same 2.
0-inch display, 680k pixel (720 x 480) CCD, 10x optical zoom, and image stabilization (on the full unit, anyway), as well as the obligatory SD slot for recording that MPEG-4 video. Expect em in September for $580 and $680, which is a steep price to pay for those whose finances are probably tied up mending broken bones.
ThinkCamera has reviewed the FREE and they write - As one of the world s most famous open source packages, it is something of an oddity.
This is because while packages like Adobe Photoshop have leapt ahead in terms of the features they contain, GIMP is different. It has been developed in line with a simpler non-commercial look at photographers needs.
Besides the that we just brought you, Fujifilm has another six megapixel shooter slated to hit stores in September, though this model is more at home in a pocket than a camera bag.
Being touted as the little brother to the company s already-compact , the new F20 sports many of the same features as its big bro besides the 6.3 megapixel CCD, they both share a 3x optical zoom and 2.5-inch LCD with the major differences being size, display resolution, and battery capacity.
Also like the F30, this model is designed to perform in low-light conditions that would prove difficult for other compact cameras which don t share its relatively high maximum sensitivity of ISO 2000. The other nice touches here center around the flash: it automatically adjusts its intensity based on ambient lighting, and is part of the innovative Natural Light Flash feature that snaps two consecutive shots one with flash and one without to provide users with a so-called photographic safety net. No word yet on pricing, but since you can pick up the F30 for under $400, we imagine that this model will be available for around the same cost.
is yet again offering 720p quality in an extra-small package; their new Xacti HD1a handheld camcorder records in HD and pulls double-duty as a camera if you so desire. Sanyo kept the same 5.1 megapixel sensor from the and added some forgettable features in the refresh including a 16:9 still picture mode and in-camera editing capability, but did manage to up the ante by providing a 320 x 240 MPEG-4 recording mode ready-made to play on your .
The secret to keeping it compact is the usage of SD storage in favor of more traditional tapes; you can squeeze about 21 minutes of beautiful on a GB, or about an hour in SD quality if time becomes an issue. Weighing in at just 8.3 ounces, keeping the HD1a handy shouldn t be much of a burden, but there just isn t much new here to get excited about.
For those who prefer form over function, you can pick this up for $699.99 in September.
Pocket Lint has reviewed the 6 megapixel and they write - Canon s S3IS has generated lots of interest as even a cursory browse on the Internet will show, and given it s results and the pricing, the S3 makes a lot of sense for those trading up from a basic digital compact but they don t want the perceived bulk of a D-SLR.
The Canon Powershot S3IS offers a huge specification level, enough resolution for prints up to and over A3 in size, and provides great image quality, overall, so any of you interested in a long zoom and compact digital camera should put the S3IS very near the top of your list.
Sony Alpha 100 DSLR Goes Official
And so the rumors were right, the Sony s new digital SLR finally goes official on June 6, 2006 (triple 6s). And like most Sony cameras, this one is really looking good (at least on paper).
Named Alpha 100, the camera will feature a whopping 10.2-megapixel APS-C size CCD sensor, anti-dust protection system and in-body Super SteadyShot [ ]
Source: www.hiptechblog.
com
PopPhoto has finished a new review of the 6 megapixel and indicates in low light situations the focusing mechanism started to suffer.
They continue to write - Overall, the Digimax S600 is a passable entry-level camera for the first time digital camera buyer on a tight budget, but if you are more concerned with image quality in low light situations, you might want pony up a little more cash and look at other models in the Samsung family, like the L60 and L85, or other entry-level models from other manufacturers.
Pentax today announced the 7 megapixel Optio S7. Features include: ISO 1600, Face Recognition AF AE, a 2.
5 LCD monitor, DivX Movie Mode and support for the new SDHC card format.
Looks like it will be available in September for under $300.
Digital Camera World magazine July 2006 edition has reviewed the 6 megapixel Canon Powershot S3 IS and they write - If you re sure it s super-zoom that you want, rather than an SLR, the S3 s certainly worth a look.
The long stabilized lens, fast operation and extensive features are hard to fault, but image quality isn t perfect and he weak screen and EVF could get frustrating.
Today s speed record for fastest CompactFlash writes set by: SanDisk. Their new SanDisk Extreme IV come in sizes up to 8GB, and offer speeds of at least 40MBps, not to mention the extreme environmental conditions they can suffer through (-13 F to 185 F).
The cards are surprisingly affordable, however, weighing in at $160 for the 2GB, $320 for the 4GB, and $640 for the 8GB. Perhaps it s overkill for your puny mid-range DSLR, but from the looks of it you d probably hang on to this memory card a lot longer than your average digital camera.
World s Small Camera.
So Tiny That It s Swallowable.
OmniVision Technologies has developed a breakthrough camera chip that is only 1/18-inch in size. That makes it the world s smallest camera thus far, as the closest thing in the market right now is merely a 1/12-inch.
The entire of this OV6920 camera chip measures only 2.1mm by 2.3mm!
It is meant for usage in the medical [ ]
Source: www.hiptechblog.com
DPReview has reviewed the and writes - To sum up, the F30 is far and away the best low light compact camera on the market today, bar none.
It s the perfect social camera for the DSLR owner who doesn t want to lug all his or her gear to parties, and it is - in expert hands - capable of superb results in any light. I would even go as far as to suggest - funds permitting - getting one for low light work even if you already own a camera you use for daylight shooting So then, Highly Recommended unless you rarely shoot indoors or at night.
PopPhoto offers a buyers comparison of the .
They write - I think the Sony compares favorably to the Nikon D200 in image quality, if not in build and features. 
(I hear it even uses the same Sony-made chip.) If you re not hard on your camera and don t need such features as the Nikon s higher framing speed, I think it would serve your purposes very well.
Pentax has indicated that when the camera uses high ISO setting of 800 to 1600 the effective resolution drops to 4 megapixels.
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