Into Tech

Fancy a digital camera that won’t drown on your next holiday? Vivitar has joined the slowly growing ranks of companies launching digital cameras that can be taken for a swim without washing away all your holiday snaps.

However, unlike those than can withstand a depth of 3-feet, the Vivicam 6200W claims it can dive with you to depths of 30-feet. It’s a 6-megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom – the useless type of zoom – and no optical zoom – the useful type.

There’s a 2in LCD so you can see those shark teeth really clearly before “Chomp!”. It comes with 16Mb of internal memory and supports SD Cards up to 1Gb.

I like the rubber wet suit that clothes this little snapper but with no in-built flash – yes, no flash – you’ll be lucky to clear shots from anymore than a few feet under the surface. On a really sunny day. In very clear and calm waters. It costs around £130 and you can see full, yet short, feature list here. -Martin Lynch

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Throw away your cables! The latest Cybershot from Sony adds wireless, a feature that you can get on a slowly growing number of other digital cameras. Nikon, Kodak and Canon already sport wire-free models.

Just imagine not having to fiddle around with bloody storage cards, readers and cables – almost too good to be true. This year you will see a lot more cameras add Wi-Fi, which will no doubt drive down prices a bit and that can only be a good thing.

Even cuter is that you’ll be able to share pics with cameras that sport the DNLA logo (Digital Living Network Alliance).

The DSC-G1 is a 6-megapixel camera with a 3.5in LCD screen and 2GB of internal memory. It supports Memory Stick Duo or Pro Duo cards, which come in capacities up to 8GB.

It’s due out next month in the US and trust me, you will pay for the privilege. It will cost a cool $600 (£350), but will cost more than that here when it arrives in a few months.-Martin Lynch

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This is the latest in ‘prosumer’ digital camera offerings from FujiFilm which is pitched as ‘boosts power and extends range without breaking the bank’. And with a US price of $250 - £128- who am I to argue? Just be aware that the same camera here will push the £200 mark, if not higher when it arrives in March, or later.

Aimed at advanced amateurs, the Finepix S700 is a 7MP camera with a 10x optical zoom, 2.5in LCD display and electronic viewfinder. It also sports a combo, xD/SD Media Compatible Slot for xD-Picture Cards and SD media cards. In terms of features there is picture stabilisation, i-Flash (Intelligent Flash) which varies flash intensity according to ambient light, and a dual shot mode for shooting two shots, one with and without the flash, in quick succession. There’s also 14 pre-programmed scene modes.

It’s certainly cheaper than the £330 10MP Nikon P5000 announced earlier this week and its 10x optical zoom trounces the measly 3.5x zoom.

Full specs after the jump.-Martin Lynch

FinePix S700 Specifications*
Number of Effective Pixels 7.1 million pixels
CCD sensor 1/ 2.5-inch CCD
Storage media Internal memory (approx. 27MB) /xD-Picture Cardâ„¢ ( 16MB - 2GB ) / SD card
File Format Still image : JPEG (Exif Ver 2.2 )
Movie : AVI (Motion JPEG ) with sound
Audio: WAVE format, Monaural sound
(Design rule for Camera File system compliant / DPOF-compatible)
Number of recorded pixels
Still image: 3,072 x 2,304 / 3,072 x 2,048 (3:2 format) / 2,304 x 1,728 /1,600 x 1,200 / 640 X 480 pixels
Movie: 640 x 480 pixels (30 frames/sec.), 320 x 240 pixels (30 frames/sec.) with monaural sound
Recording Capacity with 512 MB xD Picture Card (not included)
Still image:

Movie:
640 x 480 - Approx. 9.3 min.
320 x 240 - Approx. 14.8 min.
Lens Fujinon 10x Optical Zoom lens , F3.5 - F3.7
Lens focal length f=6.33mm - 63.3mm, Equivalent to 38-380mm on a 35mm camera
Aperture F3.5- F13.6, 7 steps in 1/3 EV increment
Digital zoom Approx 4.8x
Focus distance Normal : Wide angle :Approx. 30cm/1.0 ft to infinity
Telephoto: Approx. 1m/3.3 ft to infinity
Macro: Wide Angle: Approx. 4cm/1.6 in. to 3m/9.8 ft.
Telephoto: Approx. 60cm/2.0 ft. to 3m/9.8 ft.
Super Macro: Approx 1cm /0.4 in. to 1m /3.3 ft.
Sensitivity Auto / Auto(800)/ Auto(400)/ Equivalent to 64/100/200/400/800/1600 (Standard Output Sensitivity)
Exposure control TTL 256-zones metering
Exposure mode Programmed AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE, Manual
Shooting modes Mode dial : Auto, Picture Stabilization Mode, Natural Light, Natural Light & with Flash, SP1, SP2, P, A, S, M, Movie
SP1/SP2: Portrait, Landscape, Sport, Night, Fireworks, Sunset, Snow, Beach, Museum, Party, Flower, Text
Shutter speed 4 sec. to 1/1000 sec. (depend on Shooting mode)
Continuous shooting Top-3 ( max.1.4 frames/sec), Long-period (max.0.6 frames/sec)
Focus Auto focus (Area, Multi, Center)/Continuous AF/ Manual focus
AF assist illuminator available
White balance Automatic scene recognition
Preset (Fine, Shade, Fluorescent light (Daylight), Fluorescent light (Warm White), Fluorescent light (Cool White), Incandescent light), Custom
Self-timer Approx. 10 sec./2 sec. delay
Flash Auto flash (Auto pop up)
Effective range: (ISO AUTO(800)): approx. 0.5 - 6.2m /1.6 - 20.3 ft
Macro: approx. 0.3m – 3m / 1.0 ft - 9.8 ft.
Red-eye Reduction + Slow Synchro.
Electronic Viewfinder 0.24-inch, approx.230,000 pixels color LCD monitor, approx. 97% coverage, 60fps
LCD monitor 2.5-inch , approx.230,000 pixels, low-temperature polysilicon TFT color LCD monitor, approx. 97% coverage, 60fps
Movie recording 640 x 480 pixels, 30 frames/sec.
320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames/sec.
With monaural sound, With Electronic Image Stabilization
Photography functions High speed shooting, Best framing, Post shot assist windows, Frame No. memory, Automatic playback, Histograms
Playback functions Slide show, Trimming, Single frame, 9 Multi-frame playback , Sorting by date, Image rotate, Voice Memo, Histograms (Highlight warning)
Video output NTSC / PAL selectable
Digital input/output USB Full-speed
Power supply 4xAA type alkaline batteries(included)/ 4xAA type Ni-MH rechargeable batteries(optional) or AC power adapter AC-5VX(optional)
Dimensions 106.1(W)× 75.7(H)× 80.7(D) mm/4.2(W)× 3.0(H)× 3.2(D) in.(excluding accessories and attachments)
Weight Approx. 306g/10.8 oz.(excluding accessories, batteries and memory card)
Accessories included 4xAA type Alkaline batteries
Shoulder strap
Lens cap
Lens cap cord
USB cable
A / V cable
CD-ROM: FinePixViewer
Owner’s Manual
Optional Accessories xD-Picture Cardâ„¢: 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, 2GB
Rechargeable Battery 2HR-3UF(2xAA type Ni-MH)
Battery Charger with Battery(2xAA type Ni MH) BK-NH/BK-NH2
AC Power Adapter AC-5VX
PC Card Adapter DPC-AD
CompactFlashâ„¢ Card Adapter DPC-CF

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If you already have a skinny phone you might to pair it up with a real skinny digital camera in the shape of Samsung’s forthcoming L77.

Touted as the world’s thinnest 7MP camera – we’re probably talking a few millimeters here – the L77 measures 94 x 57 x 21mm and sports a 2.5in TFT LCD display. It has Samsung’s ASR (Advanced Shake Reduction) image stabilisation system for those with the shakes and can record video at 30fps.

You can even do some basic editing on the camera. Due in April but no price yet. Jump now for the full specs. -Martin Lynch

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Specifications of Samsung L77 camera:

# Sensor:
1/2.5 ” Type CCD
7.4 million pixels total
7.1 million effective pixels

# Image sizes:

3072 x 2304
2592 x 1944
2048 x 1536
1024 x 768
3072 x 1728 (16:9)
3072 x 2048 (3:2)

# Movie clips:
640 x 480 @ 30 / 15fps
320 x 240 @ 30 / 15fps

# File formats:
JPEG Exif 2.2
DCF
DPOF 1.1
QuickTime MPEG-4

# Lens:
38 - 266mm (35mm equiv)
7x optical zoom

# Digital zoom:
up to 5x

# Focus TTL auto focus

# Focus distance:

Normal: 80cm - infinity (wide, 100cm - infinity (tele)
Macro: 10 cm - 80cm (wide) 100 cm - 150cm ( tele)
Auto Macro: 10 - infinity (wde) 100 cm - infinity (tele)

# LCD monitor:
2.5-inch TFT
230,000 pixels

# Connectivity:
USB 2.0
Video out

# Power:
Rechargeable battery NP-700
AC Charger

# Dimensions:
94 x 57 x 21 mm

If the cost of printing photos or having them developed is getting too much, you can always get all hi-tech and opt for a digital photo frame. Philips has announced two nice looking new 9in models, the modern looking 9FF2M4 (£200) and the wood-finish 9FF2CWO (£180).

OK, so cheap they are not. There is a USB slot for transferring photos on the internal memory from a camera or PC, as well as a built-in memory card slot compatible with SD, MMC, Memory Stick and CompactFlash.

You can place the frame horizontally or vertically, whichever one makes you look thinner, while photos can be displayed for different amounts of time. Like I said, cute but not cheap, and until we start getting frames that are a whole lot cheaper, people are going to still go photo printing route.-Martin Lynch

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Bluetooth
is French company Parrot’s Raison d’etre, and while they haven’t
pursued all the options yet - like Bluetooth-enabled cheesburgers, they
have managed to squeeze radios into many other doodads.

Today they debuted their latest Bluetooth-equipped picture frames
with colorful 7-inch, 720-by-480-pixel screens — a huge improvement
over the squinty-small 3.5-inch frame they introduced last summer. The
7-incher has 128MB of built-in memory - enough for 500 photos, they
say. And it includes a sensor that adjusts screen brightness according
to the room lighting. The only thing it doesn’t’ have is frickin’ slots
for memory cars –which is the most important feature on a digital
frame.

Parrot says you can load photos from a "Bluetooth-enabled
cell phone, digital camera, laptop other storage device." Well, few
cell phone pics are going to show up well on such a large screen. And
there is exactly one Bluetooth-enabled digicam — Kodak’s V610 - which
takes pictures that are slightly better than those from a cell phone.
Wireless transfer from a computer is kinda cool. But if you could pick
just one wireless technology, why not the near-ubiquitous Wi-Fi? (Check
in tomorrow for news of such a product.)

On the plus side, the frame is quite plush-looking, with the choice
of handsome black or tan leather finishes. These will be available when
the frame goes on sale this spring for $249. And Parrot says it will
offer more styles later this year. – Sean Captain

There are plenty of people out there for whom winter weather means finding the first possible flight to a hotter climate for a quick tan top-up. That said, taking technology anywhere near water can be a hazardous and costly exercise.

For a mere £50 though you can save yourself the trouble of lying to Canon or Fujifilm about, er, ‘domestic accidents’ and buy yourself this waterproof digital camera, complete with S&M-grade wrist strap. It looks a bit bulky, to be sure, but if you’re planning some aquatic snapping in the sun, this could be your best friend since you will still have two hands free to operate that harpoon gun when that hammerhead turns around for a second look.

This is how it shapes up:

Capture over 360 pictures or 32 ten-second video clips with this waterproof wrist camera.

* Shockproof and waterproof
* Can be used up to 30 feet deep
* Polycarbonate water housing protects the camera
* Pivoting neoprene strap allows for on-the-fly photos
* Ultra-light, weighs less than twelve ounces
* 32MB fixed memory stores up to 360 pictures or 32 ten-second video clips
* One size fits all design, plus fits over large jackets and gloves
* Auto exposure
* Includes self-timer
* Lays flat on the wrist and flips up to take the picture
* PC and MAC compatible USB interface

So, anyone for the world’s biggest wrist watch can go here.-Martin Lynch

[Red Ferret]

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A professional-quality digital camera
is at the top of Nate Paulson’s wish list this holiday season,
and while the price tag of nearly $3,000 is still a little
steep, he expects it to fall within his budget soon.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A professional-quality digital camera
is at the top of Nate Paulson’s wish list this holiday season,
and while the price tag of nearly $3,000 (1,500 pounds) is
still a little steep, he expects it to fall within his budget
soon.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp. said on Friday its Cyber-shot
compact digital cameras might not work in warm and humid areas
and that it would repair any affected cameras free of charge.