Aug/100
Olympus E-P2 dons all-black garb for limited edition pancake lens kits
Olympus has just made a pair of new, limited edition kit options official for its PEN E-P2 shooter. Both include an M. Zuiko Digital 17mm F2.8 prime lens and an all-black paintjob, with the choice for the buyer being between a a Special Black (or just black, if you’re talking to humans) EVF Edition that brings you the V-F2 viewfinder, and an equally noir Flash Edition, which will enrich your life with the FL-14 external flash. Prices are €1,079 ($1,371) and €1,049 ($1,332), respectively, and launch is scheduled for October of this year. As the old saying goes, you don’t have to be crazy to buy these, but it’d help.
Olympus E-P2 dons all-black garb for limited edition pancake lens kits originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
dpreview | Email this | Comments
Aug/100
Fraunhofer working to make HD video conferencing a little less laggy
The early days of VOIP calling required a lot of patience, as the half-second or more delay between you speaking and your conversation partner receiving often turned the convo into a start and stop mess. Those days are gone for voice, but we’re right back there again when it comes to HD video calls. However, random product researcher Fraunhofer is working on a new device to kill the lag and speed up your two-way monologues. It’s basically an encoder card able to do hardware squashing of HD video via H.264 and audio via AAC, not unlike the sort of tech Skype requires for its SkypeHD-compatible video cameras. Fraunhofer’s tech is also said to remove boomy room echoes and even handle network hiccups to keep you streamin’ in style. The result is said to be sub-100ms lag, which would be more or less playable for a shooter. Expect more on this development soon from IFA.
Continue reading Fraunhofer working to make HD video conferencing a little less laggy
Fraunhofer working to make HD video conferencing a little less laggy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Aug/100
Ricoh’s 10 megapixel, 10x zoom CX4 compact hits Japan next month
Why, it seems like just yesterday we were talking about the CX3 and now here we are, but a few weeks away from the release of Ricoh’s CX4. The camera is set to hit Japanese retailers on September 3, offering a 10 megapixel backside-illuminated sensor perched behind a 10.7x (28 – 300mm) zoom lens, with a three-inch LCD ’round the back. Ricoh is also talking up an advanced new image stabilization system, five fps burst shooting, 720p video recording, plus all the smile- and scene-detection modes you’d expect out of a modern shooter. MSRP for all this is set at 45,000 Yen in Japan, which equates to about 525 of your American dollars.
Ricoh’s 10 megapixel, 10x zoom CX4 compact hits Japan next month originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 02:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Akihabara News | 
Ricoh | Email this | Comments
Aug/100
Nikon Coolpix S1100pj and S5100 hands-on
Nikon’s new projector-equipped camera has broken cover today and we’ve naturally had a little play around with it. Regrettably, the Japanese DSLR dominator had pretty early firmware on board and refused to let us take any sample pictures or video, but we were able to compile a few impressions anyhow. Firstly, as to the S1100pj’s body, it’s your typical compact affair — feeling sturdy and light, it’s basically fit for its intended purpose, but no more or less than that. We found accessing the compartment for the battery and memory card a pain, as it doesn’t auto-lock when you close it, requiring an unnecessary bit of finger adroitness, and removing and replacing batteries can also be a fiddly affair. There’s not much good to say about the built-in “tilt stand” at the bottom, either — it only alters the angle of projection slightly and feels too plasticky — but at least it gives you an extra option.
On the plus side of things, the battery is a generous 1,050 mAh unit, and there’s a pleasingly instant access scheme for the camera’s most regularly used functions. Video recording has a dedicated button, as does switching to projector mode. Both seem to work quite well too, with the 720p video looking smooth and buttery, but then on-camera playback can be deceiving. We got to check out those 14 lumens of projection power in a dimly lit room, and came away with a pair of impressions. Firstly, you should be able to squeeze out a decent-ish 40-inch image out of this shooter if you set the right mood with your lighting, and secondly, focusing is a relative cinch with the included controls on top. All in all, given that it’s intended as a quickie display station at parties, we think the S1100pj does what it promises. We rarely praise compact camera software here, but we’d be remiss not to note the saturation adjustment tool on this touchscreen shooter. It was a particular highlight for us and something we could definitely see ourselves getting creative with.
We also spent some time with the S5100, which surprised us with its quick autofocus and generally snappy execution of instructions. Its 720p movie mode also looked competent, but bear in mind that it doesn’t allow you to zoom while recording video. Ah well, such is the fate of budget shooters, we suppose. Hit up the galleries for the hands-on imagery or skip past the break for video of the S1100pj’s projector in action.
Gallery: Nikon Coolpix S1100pj hands-on
Gallery: Nikon Coolpix S5100 hands-on
Continue reading Nikon Coolpix S1100pj and S5100 hands-on
Nikon Coolpix S1100pj and S5100 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Aug/100
Sony Alpha A55 makes articulating cameo, A33 and some rumored specs tag along
In the market for a Sony shooter or two? The company’s upcoming lineup can’t seem to stay off the internet, which lucky for you serves as a great source for planning holiday gift plans. First up the Alpha A55, pictured above with an apparent articulating display. According to the DChome forums, there’s a 16.7 megapixel APS CMOS sensor, a translucent mirror, 15-point AF, 1080 / 60i video, 10fps continuous shooting, an ISO range of 100 to 25,600, dual memory card slots (we’d guess SD and MemoryStick), and an eventual retail price of $900 to $1,000. Also pictured on the site is the A33 — with an unmoving display — spec’d at a reported 14 megapixels, ISO range of 100 to 12,800, and 1080i video. The expected launch is August 24th, but bear in mind this all is just a rumor for now — keep your wallet and check and don’t do anything rash, k?
Sony Alpha A55 makes articulating cameo, A33 and some rumored specs tag along originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Sony Alpha Rumors | 
DChome (1), (2) | Email this | Comments
Aug/100
Olympus introduces mju-7050, FE-5050 and FE-4050 point-and-shoot cameras
Fancy they aren’t, but Olympus‘ newest digicam trio will definitely get the job done in a pinch. Kicking things off is the mju-7050, a rather conventional looking shooter with a 14 megapixel CCD sensor, 7x optical zoom lens, an HD movie mode, SD card slot, 2GB of internal memory and a 3-inch rear LCD monitor. The slim and seductive FE-4050 offers up a 12 megapixel CCD sensor, 4x optical zoomer and a far less inviting rear, while the FE-5050 (shown above) steps thing up with a 14 megapixel sensor and 5x optical zoom. Curiously enough, the outfit has refrained from dishing any further details beyond that, only saying that they’ll be hitting Japanese store shelves later this month. We can’t say the mystery is driving us mad, though.
Olympus introduces mju-7050, FE-5050 and FE-4050 point-and-shoot cameras originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Hardware Zone | 
Olympus 1, 2, 3 | Email this | Comments
Aug/100
Samsung Galaxy Tablet P1000 firmware leaks out, points to 1GHz Hummingbird core?
Samsung’s Galaxy Tablet might debut with Vodafone. It might appear at IFA. And it might ship with a slightly slower processor than the last batch of rumors supposed. Samsung Firmwares claims to have stumbled upon a Android 2.2 software build for the Samsung Galaxy Tab P1000 complete with device specs in tow, and says it will have a 1.0GHz S5PC110 processor just like the Galaxy S at left. That’s not the only characteristic the 7-inch tablet might share with that smartphone, as the website also fingers an 800 x 480 screen, which might explain why Sammy felt the need to smack the iPhone 4’s pixel density. We wouldn’t call it anything near confirmation, but the website also corroborates the 3.2 megapixel rear camera and tiny front-facing shooter our tipster tagged in June, plus a Swype keyboard, Flash and the ubiquitous WiFi and GPS. We’re eager to find out what’s actually under the hood when we finally see it in person.
Samsung Galaxy Tablet P1000 firmware leaks out, points to 1GHz Hummingbird core? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
OLED-Display.net | 
Samsung Firmwares | Email this | Comments
Aug/100
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 reviewed: the best megazoom shooter your dough can buy
Panasonic and superzoom cameras go together like… well, like any two things that are undoubtedly meant to be together. The company has a history of outdoing itself time and time again when it comes to enlarged point-and-shoots with atypically long zooms, and the all-new DMC-FX100 is most certainly not bucking the trend. Announced just a few weeks back, this here Lumix carries a 24x optical zoom, 11fps burst mode, 1080p movie recording and a 14 megapixel sensor. The gurus over at PhotographyBLOG have been testing its every feature for the past few days, and they drew some rather positive conclusions. Confessing that the FZ38 was a hard act to follow, they still felt that the FZ100 managed to top even that, with the only real (expected) knock being the noise that made itself too evident once you pushed beyond the ISO 400 mark. They also felt that the $499.95 asking price was a bit on the high side, but now that Panny’s building somewhat of a reputation in this space, we guess it’s entitled to try and take advantage. Hit the source link for the fully skinny, but don’t even bother if you’re hoping for someone to talk you out of pulling the trigger.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 reviewed: the best megazoom shooter your dough can buy originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 06:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
PhotographyBLOG | Email this | Comments
Aug/100
Screen Grabs: EVO 4G captures illicit in-progress surgery on The Closer
Gallery: HTC EVO 4G appears on The Closer
Screen Grabs: EVO 4G captures illicit in-progress surgery on The Closer originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Aug/100
Operation Flashpoint: Red River takes the fight to Tajikistan
Codemasters has officially unveiled Operation Flashpoint: Red River, the followup to 2009’s Dragon Rising, for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. While “Red River” doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as “Dragon Rising,” perhaps the very fact that there’s more Flashpoint on the way is exciting to those disappointed by the end of Dragon Rising DLC. There’s also the promise of new cooperative modes and new classes.
The press release also details the setting for the new shooter: “a deadly new battlefield set in the remote yet beautiful country of Tajikistan along the Vakhsh River.” Guess we’re going to have to make that military shooter about the escalation of the OU/Texas football rivalry ourselves.
To see more Red River, check out GameSpot’s interview and impressions, and see concept art in our gallery.
Operation Flashpoint: Red River takes the fight to Tajikistan originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Operation Flashpoint: Red River takes the fight to Tajikistan
Aug/100
DXG-5D7V, ‘the only 3D video camcorder,’ now available for preorder
Panasonic may have the first 3D camcorder we’d actually ever consider purchasing, but technically speaking DXG has been sitting on the stereoscopic gold mine for months. This past week, the budget camera company’s 3D View pistol cam got real, in a Hammacher-Schlemmer package that’ll set you back $600. That outlay buys you not only the twin-lens VGA shooter you see above, but also a companion 7-inch, 800 x 480 3D media player, both of which are outfitted with glasses-free parallax barrier LCD screens. It’s not a terrible deal considering the alternatives on offer, but we’re not down with the $200 luxury tax Hammacher and company tacked on top, and we’re a little unwary about the way that ram is staring at us. Cameras are expected to ship August 6th; press release after the break.
Continue reading DXG-5D7V, ‘the only 3D video camcorder,’ now available for preorder
DXG-5D7V, ‘the only 3D video camcorder,’ now available for preorder originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Aug 2010 08:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Macworld | 
Hammacher Schlemmer | Email this | Comments
Jul/100
Medal of Honor beta now available on Xbox 360
Xbox 360 owners have been patiently waiting their turn to go online in the Medal of Honor beta. After weeks of delays, it appears EA and DICE’s multiplayer shooter is now available on Xbox Live. If you’ve managed to snag an elusive code, you’ll be able to redeem it here to exchange it for an Xbox Live voucher.
The beta is expected to end on July 31st, giving Xbox owners at least ten days to get an early peek at the FPS. If you haven’t managed to procure a code, stay tuned to our Twitter account. We’ll be giving away a few codes later in the day.
[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]
Medal of Honor beta now available on Xbox 360 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Medal of Honor beta now available on Xbox 360
Jul/100
Nikon D3100 to split the D5000 / D3000 difference?
We’d obviously take this one with a grain (or two) of salt, but Nikon Rumors has it that Nikon’s fixing to give entry level DSLR buyers yet another option in the not-too-distant future. Of course, with the planet’s largest photo show coming up in just a few months (Photokina, if you’re curious), it’s about time that some of these rumors start to pick up traction. Truth be told, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of the D3100 — a few months ago it was being bandied about as the D4000. Word on the street has it that the shooter will boast a 10 megapixel CMOS sensor, a dozen autofocus points and a fixed LCD on the rear (read: no swivel). But that’s just the beginning; the D3100 will purportedly boast 1080p and 720p movie modes, and each will support continuous autofocus while filming. Yeah, you read that right — continuous autofocus in video mode. That’s a killer feature that we’ve been begging for ever since the D90 became a reality, and while we’ll probably want to swap out the stock 18-55mm lens for something with a bit more flexibility, we couldn’t be happier to hear of these features hitting Nikon’s range. Look forward to a price and release “in a few weeks.” We are.
Nikon D3100 to split the D5000 / D3000 difference? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Hiking, Nikon Rumors | Email this | Comments
Jul/100
PlayStation Home ‘Wipeout Museum’ preserves futuristic racing history
Have you taken the time to familiarize yourself with some of the biggest moments in the history of the Wipeout franchise? The original game’s ship date? The day Psygnosis was acquired and rebranded SCE Studio Liverpool? How about the time young Billy Caruthers first traveled fast enough in Wipeout 64 to break the sound barrier, causing the speakers of his 17-inch television and his left eardrum to disintegrate?
You can learn all about these momentous occasions by visiting the “Wipeout Museum” space, which recently opened in PlayStation Home. The space celebrates the franchise’s 15th birthday with a few scale models of the game’s hovercrafts and a couple of interactive minigames — you know, games like Wipeout Shooter, which recreates all the thrilling shooting gallery action for which the core series is known.
PlayStation Home ‘Wipeout Museum’ preserves futuristic racing history originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on PlayStation Home ‘Wipeout Museum’ preserves futuristic racing history
Jul/100
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2 reviewed, premium features warrant its premium price
Another entrant has entered the Micro Four Thirds ring, and it’s Panasonic delivering the Lumix DMC-G2 — a new shooter with similar still performance but, this time, some rather nice enhancements, the most major being a three-inch articulating touchscreen. You can control some aspects of the camera with a touch, perhaps most useful being tap-to-focus augmented by the camera keeping focus on whatever you tapped on, even if it moves around. But, a full suite of physical buttons and dials still await your fingers, enabling you to tweak settings without fiddling with menus. The 720p video recording now supports AVCHD, giving your SDHC or SDXC memory card a break, and there’s an input for an optional stereo mic. Ultimately still performance here is said to be identical to Panasonic’s more budget-minded DMC-G10, which clocks in $200 cheaper than the G2’s MSRP of $799, but lacks 720p video and the fancy touchscreen. Worth the extra cost? That depends on how deep your pockets are.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2 reviewed, premium features warrant its premium price originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Photography Blog | Email this | Comments
Jul/100
Nikon planning "new concept" mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras with enhanced video modes
The past year has seen both Sony and Samsung unveil tiny interchangeable lens cameras designed to compete with the Micro Four Thirds units from Panasonic and Olympus, and now Nikon’s getting in the game as well — company president Makoto Kimura told Bloomberg Nikon will introduce a “new concept” mirrorless cameras with enhanced video functions as early as this year. (That sort of sounds like the Canon G11 competitor with DSLR tech Nikon was hinting at earlier this year, but we can’t tell if they’re the same.) Kimura says that Nikon is “intensively” focused on developing the new mirrorless product as part of a plan to increase SLR revenue — Nikon’s goal is to increase interchangeable lens camera sales a whopping 80 percent over the next three years. That’s ambitious, but if Nikon can produce a tiny shooter with some of the D3S’s low-light capabilities and the ability to accept even a subset of its modern family of lenses, we don’t think it’s out of the question. We’ll see what happens.
Nikon planning “new concept” mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras with enhanced video modes originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
Slashgear | 
Bloomberg | Email this | Comments
Jul/100
Facebook adds face detection, still can’t identify books
Over 100 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day, making the social networking site something of a clearinghouse for random holiday snaps. Of course, those holiday snaps quite often contain people, and its in tagging those people that the whole process of adding photos to Facebook slows down a bit — finding faces, drawing boxes, typing names, etc. Those first two steps are now in the process of being automated thanks to recent Facebook acquisition Divvyshot. Facebook will now identify faces in your photos after you upload them, automatically, just like any ‘ol cheap compact shooter can do. Sadly it won’t identify who that face is yet (you still need to type in a name), but this simple addition should make tagging much, much easier. However, we’re still waiting for Google Street View’s auto face blurring technology to make an appearance before we start uploading the greatest moments from our last vacation.
Facebook adds face detection, still can’t identify books originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Facebook | Email this | Comments
Jul/100
Samsung’s ‘tank-like,’ AMOLED-screened TL500 compact camera reviewed
Another player has entered the high-end compact camera fold, and this time it looks like Samsung is in it to win it. The TL500 (aka EX1) is a 10 megapixel shooter with a larger than usual 1/1.7-inch CCD backing up a 24 – 72mm 3x zoom lens that will take you all the way down to F1.8. In the Photography Blog review, that lens earned the camera one of its few criticisms, starting very wide but not offering enough magnification on the other end of the scale. A lack of 720p video recording is another bummer, but other than those two it’s basically all positive, with the build quality and controls earning high marks, and the resulting images (helped by full manual exposure controls) looking as good as you’d expect. The camera isn’t particularly reasonable at $449, but it does at least deliver on everything it promises.
Samsung’s ‘tank-like,’ AMOLED-screened TL500 compact camera reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Photography Blog | Email this | Comments
Jun/100
HD webcam 3-way shootout: SkypeHD’s best take on Logitech
As we mused when we recently got a chance to try out the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910, it wasn’t long ago that VGA was good enough for online chatting. No more, and with the release of SkypeHD going high-def is easier than ever. To find out which multi-megapixel movie maker you want to clip onto your display, and to see how the SkypeHD-compatible offerings stack up against Logitech’s latest HD shooter, we gathered three cameras at a range of prices. Two will work with some particularly advanced TVs, while the third cam shuns Skype, offsetting that shortcoming with a middle-ground price and superior video quality. Which is your ticket to HD chat bliss, and how do they all compare to plain ‘ol VGA? Find out after the break.
Gallery: HD Webcams
Continue reading HD webcam 3-way shootout: SkypeHD’s best take on Logitech
HD webcam 3-way shootout: SkypeHD’s best take on Logitech originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Jun/100
Aiptek’s 3D photo frame serves up the fruit of your 3D camcorder’s labor
When Aiptek introduced its i2 3D Camcorder, it pledged to release a 3D photo frame to match. Well, here it is, the “Portable 3D Photo and Video Display,” a 7-inch parallax LCD display that will not require glasses to create the illusion of depth — but we’re curious to see what it’ll look like from across the room. It’s capable of displaying photos and videos captured by the i2 (or other 3D device) and releases on August 15 for $200, meaning the entire package (shooter and viewer) will set you back $400. That’s not a terrible price for taking and displaying photos of the future.
Aiptek’s 3D photo frame serves up the fruit of your 3D camcorder’s labor originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Jun 2010 10:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink 
3d-Display-info.com | 
Amazon | Email this | Comments