When it comes to digital cameras, there’s a time and place for function, and one for fashion instead. Case in point: The hefty five-pound DSLR cameras you see pros muscling around at press conferences and football games are the tools of the trade for shooting magazine covers and Pulitzer award winners. But when it’s time for a night out on the town? That’s when you leave the big guns and tripods at home. Whether club hopping or twirling around a ballroom, the ideal point-and-shoot digital camera needs to fit the tiniest suit pockets and handbags, fire up at a moment’s notice, and, most of all, look good doing so. Here are a few of our favorite models that fit the bill.
Tag Archive: Digital Camera
Nikon DS3 DSLR Offers Wide Dynamic Range, HD Video Capture
Nikon is again upping the ante in digital single lens reflex (DLSR) cameras aimed at serious amateurs and pro photographers, introducing the Nikon DS3 with a vastly expanded dynamic range and 1,280 by 720-pixel HD video capture capability. The DS3 features a reworked 12.1 megapixel CMOS sensor that enables the camera to boast light sensitivity all the way to 12,800 in normal use…and an enhanced mode can extend that range all the way to ISO 102,400 for settings with very (very) low light. And the expanded dynamic range applies to video capture too, so videographers can take advantage of the camera’s low-light capabilities while shooting high definition video. Photographers can also trim video clips within the camera (no need to export to a PC to lop off unwanted video at the start and stop of a clip), as well as extract single frames from video as still images.
Digital Camera Buying Guide: DSLR vs.Point and Shoot
Be happy if you’re gearing up to buy a new digital camera – as of press time, there are over 300-plus different options from which to choose! But within the huge crop of available models you’ll find units in all shapes, sizes and colors, with prices ranging anywhere from $79 on up to a whopping $7,999. Need help narrowing down the selection? Not to worry, as here, we’ll help you make a critical first decision—whether to buy a point-and-shoot digital camera or a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) unit instead. The good news: Everything falls more easily into place once this key question is answered.
Samsung TL225 Front-LCD Camera
People love to shoot themselves – on camera, that is. Take a spin through Facebook and you’ll find any number of self shots: in front of statues in Rome, riding shotgun on epic car trips, and posed with theme park mascots. All of them framed incredibly poorly.
When you don’t have a tripod or a friend, it’s the best option you’ve got – but Samsung’s trying to improve the process with its latest duo of cameras: the TL225. Besides the typical LCD in the rear, it sports an additional 1.5-inch screen up front, specifically for composing those solo shots destined for the Web.
10 Most Influential Tech Products
Before even discussing the most influential, important developments of the technology age, the simple transistor must claim its rank near the top. Or, more accurately, the incredible shrink-ability of said transistor.
In 1947, the world’s first working example of a transistor, a crude-looking assembly seemingly made up of various bits of wire, assorted spare parts, ample doses of solder, and what looks like an ancient Indian arrowhead, sprang to life in a nondescript room at Bell Labs’ Murray Hill, New Jersey facility. That transistor would evolve – and shrink – quite substantially over the course of the next three decades, and by 1979, Intel engineers had figured a way to incorporate an astounding 29,000 of them into its landmark 8088 processor. But that number positively pales in comparison with today’s Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, which features 10,000 times as many (291 million), and Intel’s upcoming eight-core processors, which will sport an astounding 2.3 billion.
Samsung Hybrid NX Series Digital Cameras
Don’t call them point-and-shoots. But don’t call them DSLRs, either. Much like so-called Micro Four Thirds cameras (like the Lumix DMC-G1 we recently reviewed), Samsung’s new NX series of digital cameras, announced Monday, will straddle the line between true DSLR cameras and their ever popular consumer counterparts.
The key difference lies in the viewfinder. Ever since the days of traditional film, single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras have differentiated themselves by showing the photographer exactly what the lens sees, by bouncing light through a mirror system and into the eye through an optical viewfinder. Even DSLRs, which have digital LCD screens to show what the cameras sensor sees, retain this feature.
8MP Samsung Memoir Appears on T-Mobile
Though rumors of a 12-megapixel camera phone from Samsung have yet to come to fruition, the company did meet rumormongers halfway Thursday morning by pulling the sheet off its already-leaked Memoir. T-Mobile officially announced the new phone in a recent press release.
Much like the company’s camera phones in other countries, the SGH-t929 boasts a full 8-megapixel camera for snapping high-resolution still pictures, which is accompanied by a Xenon flash, 16x digital zoom, and five different shooting modes.
Other features include a A-GPS, 3G connectivity, and the ability to upload pictures taken with the camera directly to photo sharing sites like flickr, Kodak Gallery and Photobucket.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1 Rugged Camera
While most of the “rugged” electronics we’ve tested here at Digital Trends live up to their drop-proof, waterproof, catastrophe-proof reputations, those Herculean traits doesn’t come without drawbacks. The tough guys usually bulk up on plenty of plastic and rubber to pull it off, making them look more like castoffs from Hasbro’s toy department than sleek consumer electronics.
Panasonic’s new Lumix DMC-TS1 rugged camera, though, manages to play rough with the other rugged devices without losing its slim Lumix looks in the process. The first rugged cam from the makers of the legendary ToughBook offers 12.1-megapixel resolution, 4.6x optical zoom, optical image stabilization and 720p video capability in a relatively normal-looking case that won’t bite the dust when it goes down.
TakaraTomy Xiao Digital Camera with Printer
Now that Polaroid cameras have all but disappeared from store shelves, film for them has reached the price of dirt in Waterworld, and digital quality makes their prints look downright awful, what’s the instant photo lover to do? Grab a TakaraTomy Xiao, of course.
Much like the Polaroid PoGo printer we looked at back in June, the Xiao uses zero ink technology, or Zink, which produces photos from dye crystals embedded in paper. Quite unlike the PoGo, the Xiao has no need for an external camera or phone to print pictures from – everything you need to make memories on the spot has been rolled into one device.
Sony alpha DSLR-A900
Introduction
And you thought the megapixel wars were over! Earlier this year Sony announced it had designed a full-frame 24-megapixel imaging device and officially stated a camera featuring this chip would arrive later in 2008. Well, that time is here. Sony officially took the wraps off the alpha DSLR-A900, a 24.6-megapixel digital single lens reflex camera for a cool three grand (body only). It arrives in stores come November.
You may think $3K for a digicam is steep but put it into perspective—the full-frame 21.1-megapixel Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III costs $7,999. What a deal! Yes, we know there are 50-megapixel sensors out there (Hasselblad has them) but that baby is a tidy $50,000 and is for studio pros only.
