camera

Camera falls victim to Hello Kitty

Usually the gadgets we see that have been conquered by the Sanrio empire are of dubious quality, though that obviously matters not to its loyal subjects. But Hello Kitty Hell, the spiritual leader of The Resistance, has come across a new item that has gotten some early nods from a few consumers.

Fujifilm's "FinePix Z5," which has received a few high marks in reader reviews, is the latest victim of Hello Kitty subjugation, festooned with Swarovski crystals, a gold emblem and, of course, the trademark Pepto-Bismol pink. All this for $500 on the Japanese market.

This is … Read more

This week in cameras

Sony's newest SLR, the Alpha DSLR-A700, is this week's big news, but it's hardly alone. Also up this week is a look at Corel's new Paint Shop Pro update, a guide to the CNET Labs camcorder testing process, and more. Sony's Alpha for amateurs Corel freshens Paint Shop Pro X2 Inside CNET labs: How we test camcorders JVC's vertically challenging camcorder Casio ultrazoom snaps 60 shots per second

Copter cam has too many enemies

If it weren't for the rocket cam, we might just be tempted to get the new "Radio Control Recon Camera Helicopter" spotted on the Discovery Store. After all, we can think of no better way to irritate friends and loved ones while recording their flush-faced reactions the whole while.

The temptation to fly in every direction to avoid furious swats is almost irresistable, especially when viewed on the 2-inch LCD of its remote control from a safe distance, with two sets of blades to boot ("beginner and pro"). The video duration isn't specified, but … Read more

Photos: Berlin's big gadgets show

The show may be over, but the gadgets are yet to come.

If you couldn't get to Berlin over the last week for the IFA consumer electronics show, don't fret. ZDNet Germany and CNET News.com have teamed up to bring you some of the highlights. A lot of the gear, whether brand-spanking new or updates of not-so-old favorites, will only be hitting stores sometime this month or later still.

GPS devices--such as the Navigon 2100 pictured here--were prevalent at the gizmo fest. Notable, too, among the consumer-friendly machinery were a circular Sony PC for the living room, … Read more

Sony's Alpha for Amateurs

Although it made its unofficial debut under glass at last winter's PMA show with naught but "Sony's amateur dSLR" to identify it--and an equally and still mysterious big brother by its side--Sony's Alpha DSLR-A700 finally gets a name, a price, and some specs today.

The long-awaited (at the very least by Konica-Minolta diehards) midrange dSLR incorporates Sony's latest 12-megapixel CMOS chip. Unlike most other sensors, this new model performs its analog-to-digital conversion on its chip, rather than in the imaging pipeline, which Sony claims delivers better control over image noise.

I had a chance, … Read more

Now soaring at 500 feet, the rocket cam

The remote-controlled rocket phone may yet to become a reality, but in the meantime we can all amuse ourselves with another airborne gadget: a flying video camera. And it's just in time for football season--we can just see these projectiles knocking out those wimpy floating field cameras in midflight.

It may look like an ordinary toy rocket, but the remote-controlled mini-craft houses a digital camera in its nose cone that's "impact-resistant" (good thinking) and can capture images from an altitude of 500 feet. Once it lands, the video can be downloaded onto a computer through its … Read more

This week in cameras

It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon busy week for digital cameras. Casio, Kodak, Nikon, and Panasonic all unveiled their latest cameras, and that means plenty of posts here on Crave. Here's a handy roundup of the new cameras announced this week.

Casio's new V8 and Z1080 have nothing to do with engines or HDTV Kodak brings high-def video to two new cameras Kodak's new superzoom Panasonic gets serious about SLRs Nikon introduces two new affordable amateur cameras Nikon's latest Wi-Fi slimcam Nikon's new slim shooters Two new basic budget Nikons

Panasonic gets serious about SLRs

It's no secret that Panasonic's first digital SLR, the DMC-L1, wasn't very well received. But Panasonic's not worried about that. They viewed the L1 as a "technology statement," to show that they're serious about jumping into the SLR market. The company's new dSLR, called the Lumix DMC-L10, is aimed at people stepping up to a SLR from compact cameras, and marks a big step forward for the company's SLRs. The L10 features a Four-Thirds-sized, Live MOS imaging sensor with 10.1 effective megapixels and a Supersonic Wave Filter system to rattle … Read more

Nikon's latest Wi-Fi slimcam

Nikon has been dabbling in Wi-Fi-equipped cameras for a few years now. Most recently, the company included Wi-Fi in its ultracompact 7-megapixel Coolpix S50c. The new Coolpix S51c continues this trend and includes an 8MP CCD sensor, a 3-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD, sensitivity of up to ISO 1,600, and optical image stabilization. This new model also includes Nikon's D-Lighting to compensate for imperfect exposures after the fact, as well as Face Priority AF to help make sure that the camera focuses on your friends' faces, instead of a tree or some national monument in the background. It also … Read more

Kodak's new superzoom

If you're a fan of Kodak, or a cryptologist, you shouldn't have any trouble figuring out that the company's new superzoom, called the Z812 IS, is an 8-megapixel camera with a 12X optical zoom lens and optical image stabilization. The name won't tell you that the camera has a 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD screen, or that the camera can capture MPEG-4 video, with stereo sound at up to 1,024x720 pixels and 30 frames per second. Kodak seizes on this last fact to say in its product literature that the Z812 IS can capture 720p … Read more