Good Things, Small Packages
For the past week, New York City has been the technological center of the universe. The "TechX NY" or, Tech Expo, took the city by storm, filling it… well, at least part of it… with the latest, coolest and most far-out gadgets imaginable.
Some of the more interesting things on display were centered around digital imaging and photography. From the smallest and thinnest, to the most feature-packed gizmo, the following represents just a sample of the goodies on display.
Sony Clie Personal Entertainment Organizer
This is too cool. The NR 70 V Color Clie is more than just your average Palm OS-based organizer. The Clie features a nifty color screen, a built-in MP3 audio player and, coolest of all, a swivel-mounted digital camera. Now, you can snap pics right into your organizer, include face shots on your contacts page, even turn the thing into a makeshift picture frame. Not to mention the fact that you can record short videos as well. The swivel hinge on the screen allows for great versatility in use and display. The thumb keyboard makes for quick typing.. In short, I LOVE THIS. Lists for $599.
Sony Cyber-shot® Digital Camera
The DSC-P31 is a low-price model that has many of the high-performance features of far more expensive digital cameras. Simply put, it's small, easy to use and takes great pictures… all for $219.95. Try and beat that.
SONY DSC-f707
Speaking of high-performance features, check this one out. At $999, this is clearly not for your beginner photographer. This model features low-light modes, excellent Carl Zeiss optics and a very happy 5.0 megapixel CCD. If you've got the coin, Sony's got the camera.
Sony CD Mavica MVC-CD400
This little beauty features 4.0 megapixel resolution. It uses a small CD as its storage device, allowing more than 150 megabytes of storage. The CDs are viewable on any CD ROM computer. When you're talking 4 megapixel images and above, when you print an 8X10 you won't see the grainy mess you'll see from lower resolution cameras. These mini-cds come in rewritable and write-once flavors. This beauty lists for $899.
Logitech Pocket Digital Camera
Shoot 52 photos at a time with this incredibly thin 1.3-megapixel camera. It really couldn't be much thinner: about the size of a small stack of credit cards. That's cool. Sadly, there's no screen on the camera's back and it doesn't come with a flash. But it does feature easy recharging and downloading, and can take hundreds of pictures between full recharges. It has USB-compatibility for easy PC connectivity. This is more fun than photographically functional, but if you want a small, cool camera, this is worth a look at $130. (I just love carrying this around!)
SiPix StyleCam Blink
This even smaller model captures 400 images at low resolution and 100 at higher 680 X460 pixels… not really fine, but good enough for small pictures and web shots. This little baby includes 8 megs of memory… a very robust set of photo and mini-movie making software. You can theoretically use it as a USB video camera … but it's best feature is its incredible small size… and its low cost (about $40). Knowing what a klutz I am, this is the first camera I've found that is actually TOO small!
Canon Card Photo Printer CP-10
This is also cool. For about $399, this dye-sublimation printer with overcoating prints 300x 300 dpi. It's kind of fun to watch a picture come out. It connects directly with the Canon Digital Powershot and Elph series as well as some other cameras. The pictures are smallish, but fine for wallets. If you print a lot of those, you'll really dig this printer.
Casio QV-R4
Just released yesterday, there are two models to talk about. The $499 and $399 versions, which feature 4 megapixels and 3 megapixels, respectively. Each as a 3x optical zoom, a hearty design and 11 megabytes of built in storage; plus accomodate an SD card for even more storage.
Kodak Easyshare LS420
Film legend Kodak has launched several new digital cameras but I like this ultra-compact 2.1 megapixel model best; it has a nightshot mode and even has video and audio capabilities. It fits on a docking station which recharges the camera while connecting to your computer. Small, but satisfying!
by Daniel Dubno