Now that the Flip has released their handheld digital HD video camera, here's a little rundown of the offerings currently out there and coming soon.
Kodak Zi6 - 128MB of built-in memory, expandable to 32GB, 720p, 1280x720 at 60 fps, 2.4 in. LCD, AA rechargable batteries. $180. (Video sample.)
Flip Video MinoHD - 4GB of built-in memory (~60 min of video), 720p, 1280x720 at 30 fps, 1.5 in. LCD, very slim handheld. $229. (Video sample.)
Nikon D90 SLR - expandable SD memory, 720p, 1280x720 at 24 fps for 5 minutes at a time, 3 in. LCD, and almost every single setting and control that's available on a SLR camera. $1200. (Video samples.)
Canon 5D Mark II SLR - expandable CF memory, 1080p, 1920x1080 at 24 fps for 30 minutes at a time, 3 in. LCD, and almost every single setting and control that's available on a SLR camera. $2700. (Video sample.)
Red One - Not going to list the specs on this one, except to to say that you can shoot whole feature length movies on this thing at a higher resolution for less money than pretty much any other camera out there, digital or otherwise. $17500. (Gorgeous video sample.)
Lots of people love the Flip video camera for its smallness and ease-of-use but Kodak looks like they may one-up the Flip with the Zi6. The real attraction of the slightly more expensive Zi6 is that it shoots in 16x9 HD at 720p. The Kodak site says the camera is due out in August but the pre-order page at Amazon says October 1. Retail price is $180. We never pulled the trigger on the Flip so getting this to record video of Ollie is a no-brainer. (via df)
Mike Johnston on the camera he would like to own, a decisive moment digital (DMD) camera.
So there you have it: a small, light, unobtrusive carry-around camera with great handling and world-class responsiveness, capable of being used in all manner of lighting conditions and yielding DSLR-quality results on the gallery wall. The 21st-century equivalent of Henri Cartier-Bresson's stealthy street-shootin' Leica.
Demo film of the Polaroid SX-70 made by Charles and Ray Eames but set to a soundtrack of The Cramps performing Garbageman. Wot? (via spurgeonblog)
The sound of a Leica shutter.
When you take a picture with an S.L.R., there is a distinctive sound, somewhere between a clatter and a thump; I worship my beat-up Nikon FE, but there is no denying that every snap reminds me of a cow kicking over a milk pail. With a Leica, all you hear is the shutter, which is the quietest on the market. The result -- and this may be the most seductive reason for the Leica cult -- is that a photograph sounds like a kiss.
That's Anthony Lane in the New Yorker.
Leica is offering a "perpetual update program" for its M8 digital camera.
In keeping with these proud traditions, but now in the age of digital technology, Leica introduces it's perpetual update program which makes the LEICA M8 a digital camera in which, uniquely, owners will be able to incorporate the latest refinements and developments in technology. While other digital cameras quickly become outdated and are replaced by new models, Leica's new concept allows it's customers to invest in the photographic equipment they need sure in the knowledge that they will not miss out on improvements and technological developments in the future.
The first upgrade adds a hard-to-scratch sapphire glass LCD screen cover and a quieter shutter.
Update: Just to be clear, the upgrade program costs money. According to Gizmodo, the first upgrade is $1800. On the plus side, each time you upgrade, they extend the warranty on the whole camera for two years.
An examination and celebration of the Leica by Anthony Lane in this week's New Yorker.
Asked how he thought of the Leica, Cartier-Bresson said that it felt like "a big warm kiss, like a shot from a revolver, and like the psychoanalyst's couch." At this point, five thousand dollars begins to look like a bargain.
Exploring the Leica web site after reading the article, I was intrigued to learn of Leica's á la carte program for customizing an MP or M7. Tempted... There's also a limited edition titanium M7 that retailed for ~10,000 euros.
Instead of megapixels-worth of light sensors, a new experimental camera uses a series of mirrors to focus all the light on just one sensor. Somewhat related question that I've been wondering about for awhile: why do digital cameras need shutters? Why can't you just turn the sensors on and off electronically? Seems like you could then use many more arbitrary "shutter" speeds, like 5 seconds or 1/50000 of a second.
LifePixel will modify your digital camera (Nikons or Canons, mostly) to shoot in infrared. "Camera manufacturers stop infrared light from contaminating the images by placing a hot mirror filter in front of the sensor which effectively blocks the infrared part of the spectrum while still allowing the visible light to pass. We remove this hot mirror filter and replace it with a custom manufactured infrared filter."
New Yorker piece on Clifford Ross' new camera, a "high-resolution digital video camera that shoots in three hundred and sixty degrees". Ross is one of my favorite contemporary photographers.
Quick review of the Nikon D80, the successor to the popular prosumer D70 SLR. 10 megapixel, but still no wifi.
Advice for cleaning the CCD image sensor on Nikon digital SLR cameras. Doesn't look that scary....does anyone have any experience doing this? My D70 needs a little TLC in this area.
Nikon has issued a recall for certain batteries used in the D100, D70, and D50...the battery has a flaw that may cause it to overheat and melt. Check the site for your battery's lot number to see if you're affected.
Several companies who manufacture digital cameras have issued "silent recalls" due to a faulty chip distorts photos when it fails. Sony, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and others are affected. Digital Photography Review has more; here's the Nikon D2H & D70 advisory. (A "silent recall" isn't an official recall...the companies are only repairing items in which the faulty chips fail.)
Update: Eliot sez: That's the wrong service advisory for Nikon...it's an unrelated problem. Here's the related advisory...doesn't affect any of their dSLRs.
Neat visual history of Nikon SLR cameras. It would be neat to make an animation of how the cameras changed through time.
Story of how Kodak developed the first digital camera in 1975 and then sat on the technology for years and years until they finally entered the market and, luckily for them, were able to grab the top stop from Sony and Canon.
Nikon is releasing a pair of digital cameras with built-in wifi. The cameras will only send photos via wifi to a designated Nikon application, but I wonder how long it will be before someone hacks the firmware to send those photos anywhere...like to Flickr on the fly.
Barcode tattoos + mobile phones with cameras = business card (or, say, a list of your sexual preferences) on your arm.
A contemporary photo taken with a circa-1914 Kodak. For some reason I always thought old photos looked old because they were old. But really it's mostly the camera's doing.
Getting nostalgic: the Nikon Coolpix 300 was my first digital camera. Eight years later, my phone takes much better photos than this thing does.
