digital photo
Sony Cyber-Shot TX5 & H55 Digital Cameras Announced
March 1, 2010
The last time we had a look at the Cyber-Shot camera range was just about this time last year when Sony were expanding the Cybershot digital camera range for 2009, and now Sony have added two more cameras to the already extensive range in the form of the multi-purpose H55 and the omni-weather TX5.
Sony Cyber-Shot TX5
Firstly we’ll look at the Cyber-Shot TX5 which is not only the first waterproof Cyber-Shot camera but also claims to be the world’s smallest and thinnest waterproof digital still camera out there, which is no mean feat but also not that surprising considering that it’s only 17.1 mm thick and weighs in at only 128g.
Obviously the main selling point of the TX5 is how durable it is: as well as being waterproof up to 3m in depth (which means not only will it survive splashes and spilt tea, but also drops into water and underwater photography) it’s also dust-proof, shock-proof and interestingly freeze-proof which means it should be able to survive anything a normal person would put it through.
Continue reading »Sony Ericsson Satio Review
January 18, 2010
In the latter end of 2009 Sony Ericsson released the latest ‘flagship’ phone which was shown to the world with much gusto and promise, helped by a fairly universal advertising campaign (the one with the brightly coloured space hoppers) and it certainly looked like it could be very successful not only over the Christmas spending spree, but into the new year as well.
So over the seasonally-cold holidays I’ve had the pleasure (or not as the case may be) of putting the new Sony Ericsson Satio through its paces and seeing whether the real thing matches up to the promised article and whether there’s a world beating phone there – not just a pretty face and a world beating camera.
Continue reading »Sony DSLR-A450 Digital SLR Camera Announced
January 13, 2010
At the same time as Sony announced the A845 Walkman they also gave us news of the newest addition to the ‘a’ range of DSLR cameras – the A450. Selling itself as an ‘all round model’ this aims itself at that step between the amateur and the professional, or ‘advanced’ as Sony so patronisingly put it, either way this is definitely a step up from the Sony CyberShot compact digital camera range!
But in all fairness even at first glance it does look fairly, as they put it, advanced. It boasts a 14.2 megapixel Exmor CMOS sensor (I’ll admit to not knowing what’s special about an ‘Exmor’ sensor, but it sounds good!) and a BIONZ processor which has proved effective in the past and allows for well detailed shots as well as impressively quick continuous shots, but we’ll come to that later.
Firstly we’ll have a look at the lens and screen – but not before I’ve pointed out the annoying trend for Sony to name their camera’s, MP3 players and the like with irritating ‘product key’ type names – they are dead hard to remember when you have to deal with 5 or 6 of them. What’s wrong with good old fashioned names?
Continue reading »Lego Digital Camera – Combine Lego & Photography!
December 11, 2009
It’s that time of year where everywhere you look there’s another ‘great’ Christmas gift idea, but as far as I’m concerned this is definitely one of the best ones I’ve seen year: something that can combine two of the great things in this world liked by the men and children in the family, and some women too I imagine! Yes, Lego and digital camera photography.
So do you really need to buy a Lego Digital Camera? Admittedly if you had too much spare time, a spare digital camera, and you were good with electronics you could probably make one of these at home and save most of the £59.99 price tag, but for those less gifted this is great present for both real and overgrown kids!
Continue reading »GorillaPod – Flexible Camera Tripod
December 10, 2009
I need a what? A Gorillapod???
Yes indeed, you know when you’re out and you want to take a photo or video, but there is no where to put the camera when you use the self timer and dash into your favourite pose?
The Gorillapod flexible camera tripod allows you to tie your camera down onto any surface and use the flexible, but strong tripod legs to wrap around the metal bars on fences or the thicker tree branches.
Not only is it capable of attaching to your camera for photo’s anywhere, you can also use it as a clamp for your GPS in your car or iPhone. Professional photographers told Firebox.com that it’s a must have accessory for any potential photographers or even those amateurs who just want decent family snaps including the whole family.
Continue reading »CopyTrans Photo Review (Transfer Photos To iPod / iPhone)
December 9, 2009
CopyTrans Photo is a utility from WindSolutions that allows you to manage the photos on your iPod or iPhone by dragging and dropping them to and from your PC. The interface is extremely easy and simple to grasp with the window split into 3 sections – the first showing the photos on your iPod or iPhone, the second showing the photos in the currently selected folder and the third offering an explorer view of all the folders on your hard drive.
When testing with both an iPod and iPhone I found managing photos on the devices very straight forward and intuitive. It was a great utility when wanting to transfer photos taken on an iPhone to my PC and vice-versa, with easy to view thumbnails.
Continue reading »Tao Digital Photo Keyring
December 3, 2009
The Tao Digital Photo Keyring really does exactly what it seems. You may have seen or own a digital photo frame which can display a slideshow of all your favourite moments. These are definitely a significant improvement over a single still photo if you’re one for a gadget. So why not carry a miniature on your keychain.
Unlike the larger digital frames though, it does not cost the earth. At £13 it is perhaps a bit more expensive than a regular key fob, but this comes with 8MB of memory to store images and can display all of your photo’s in a constantly crisp display, rather than one old and faded one.
Continue reading »PoGo Instant Photo Printer – In Your Pocket!
November 25, 2009
The PoGo Instant Photo Printer from Polaroid is full of new technology such as Bluetooth and inkless printing – this is how they’ve followed up on their previous PoGo Digital Camera effort. The built in Bluetooth allows you to wirelessly print photos from your mobile phone. So if you’re out and about taking snaps you can print them off and keep them looking shiny in your little photo album.
This portable printer connects to your camera via a USB cable which unfortunately is not included in the box, but once sorted with that, it’s extremely simple to connect your digital camera or mobile phone and start printing your pictures.
Continue reading »Windows Live Essentials Review: Photo Gallery
November 18, 2009
Windows Live Photo Gallery is Microsoft’s photo editing application that comes as part of the Windows Live Essentials download and I must admit that I really like it. It features everything that the average consumer needs, covering everything from tagging someone on a photo to basic editing features such as red eye removal. What I like about Photo Gallery is the fact that it doesn’t try to be Photoshop, it’s good as a basic photo management application, and doesn’t overly complicate things – you don’t need to be a professional photographer to find your way around or make your photos look great.
When you view a folder of photos, they’re presented in a grid view, with a slider adjusting the size of the thumbnail previews. You can view your pictures in a few different ways, as you’d expect from any decent photo management application. Photos can be viewed by folder, the date that it was taken or by person, using the “People Tags” feature which I’ll come to in a bit… The pictures in your library can also be rotated clockwise or anti-clockwise and you can even export selected photos, either to a DVD or Live Movie Maker.
Continue reading »World’s First Projector Camera – Nikon COOLPIX S1000PJ
August 6, 2009
It’s not every day that we see something released that is genuinely new and relatively surprising, especially within the compact camera world – where everything new seems to just have the addition of little features, more megapixels or smaller form.
However, this week in the form of the un-snappily named Nikon COOLPIX S1000PJ (no, I don’t know why they have to choose such long names either), we have one and its hidden secret is, wait for it…..a mini LED projector built into the camera!
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