digital

Pentax f2.0 WG-3 rugged camera to challenge Olympus

While there are plenty of rugged digital cameras to go around these days, Pentax and Olympus have been making them the longest. The new WG-3 is Pentax's 15th-generation ruggedized camera and it's going directly after Olympus' top models, the Stylus Tough TG-1 iHS and TG-2 iHS.

The key features of the Olympus are its 4x f2.0-4.9 25-100mm lens and the option to attach a lens adapter for add-on conversion lenses. And that's exactly what you get with the WG-3; the exact same lens specs, and you can put on a lens adapter and wide-angle conversion … Read more

Nikon delivers wide-angle complement for D600

Nikon hasn't lacked for full-frame wide-angle zoom lenses -- the 14-24mm f.8 is a yumburger -- but with the shipping of the D600 new Nikon adopters faced a rather limited choice of lenses that didn't cost as much as the camera. Nikon rectifies that with a new AF-S 18-35mm f3.5-4.5 FX lens which is better-priced to go with that camera at $749.95.

The lens is ostensibly designed to be compact and lightweight (about 13.6 ounces) to match the lighter D600 body as well. Other specs include a minimum focus distance of about 11 … Read more

Sony slowly fattens E-mount lens line

Sony adds to its E-mount lens line for the Alpha NEX series of cameras with a 20mm f2.8 pancake (30mm equivalent) that will ship in April for $349.99. Sony currently only offers one other pancake lens, a 16mm f2.8 (24mm equivalent). From a size standpoint, the pancakes are a nice complement to the skinny NEX bodies, but you'll usually get better image quality --and faster apertures -- out of their not-so-slim counterparts.

Sony also took the opportunity to announce standalone pricing and availability for the 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 power zoom E-mount lens that it unveiled … Read more

Keep your Blu-rays and DVDs, Hollywood -- I've gone digital

It had been years since I actually bought a DVD or a Blu-ray copy of a movie. But over Christmas, I bought one. I really wanted those extra features that a physical disk provides. Why not get a Blu-ray with a digital copy, I thought, and have the best of both worlds?

Why not turned out to be because redeeming digital copies is a nightmare. Are you getting a copy for iTunes? Or for Amazon? Or whatever on earth UltraViolet is supposed to be, something that finally crashed into my awareness as a new Blu-ray owner?

The film in … Read more

First all-digital library in the U.S. will look like an Apple Store

The first book-free library in the U.S. may look pretty familiar to visitors. That's because it's being modeled after an Apple retail store.

Bexar County, Texas, which includes San Antonio, will launch the nation's first all-digital public library system, dubbed BiblioTech, this year. A prototype location on the county's south side is slated to open this fall, and the county hopes to open similar libraries in the future.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff got his inspiration for the all-digital library from Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

"… Read more

Cameras not entirely out of the picture at CES 2013

LAS VEGAS--It's been an exceptionally busy and newsworthy past 12 months for cameras -- budget full-frame models, 4K action cameras and cinema cameras, full-frame compacts. Unfortunately for CES 2013, most of that happened at Photokina this past fall. So while this show brought a few nice, potentially ownworthy updates to existing product lines, none of it really stands out as particularly whizzy.

In advanced cameras, the most common update has been to autofocus systems, with combo phase-detection/contrast AF starting to take over in camera lines that have traditionally had rather slow performance -- new models like the Fujifilm X100S … Read more

iPotty for iPad aims for high-tech toilet training

LAS VEGAS--Everybody walking by the CTA Digital booth at CES 2013 does a double-take at a colorful plastic object on the ground. They stop and stare. They take pictures. One woman declares it the best thing she's seen at CES. It's the iPotty for iPad, a toilet-training device for digitally connected kids. It's a fairly straightforward potty trainer with a holder designed for the iPad.

The first thing I look for is splash protection for the tablet and, fortunately, it's there in the form of a plastic sheet that fits over the iPad. There's a lid that turns the contraption into a seat. There's also a pee guard for the boys. All of it comes apart for cleaning.… Read more

Sigma DP series dons a new lens for CES

Editors' note, February 22, 2013: Updated with price and availability date.

LAS VEGAS--The Sigma DP series of cameras, which are based on the Merrill generation of the Foveon sensor -- an effective 14.8-megapixel sensor array with stacked rather than staggered color filters -- are the closest competitors in spirit (and price) to Fujifilm's X100 and now X100S. Unlike Fujifilm, which combines photographic simplicity with high-tech power, Sigma concentrates on the simple and relies on the Foveon sensor to differentiate itself. The past few generations have seen some tweaks but essentially the DP series remains the same from generation … Read more

Nikon fleshes out interchangeable-lens camera line

LAS VEGAS--Nikon shipped the Nikon 1 J2 interchangeable-lens camera only five months ago and already it's obsolete. Given the lukewarm reception for such a meh update, especially given the flurry of competing products this past fall, it's neither surprising nor distressing that it's being superseded. Here at CES 2013, the company announced two new models in the Nikon 1 series: the Nikon 1 J3 and the cheaper entry-level model, the S1.

The J3 essentially has the same internals as the V2 in the body of the J2; the one physical difference is the mode dial has been … Read more