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› archive for December 1st, 2008

Trinkets Abound

Digital Foci Pocket AlbumThis was one of my favorite products last year around this time, when we didn’t have a blog. Now we do and since we just dropped the prices on them I’ll just talk about them now to make up for last year.

I talked about their big brother here, but this time let’s talk 1.5″ Pocket Albums, one of several digital camera accessories from Digital Foci.

A 1.5″ LCD is no award-winner, but it’s perfectly fine for something I have every intention of shoving in my pocket. Actually, given my distaste for fobs cluttering my pockets, 1.5″ might just be perfect.

It holds up to 74 pictures, more than my entire formal portfolio and certainly enough to replace the old wallet pictures. The other plus? Built-in rechargeable battery,with included AC adapter and USB charging, so I can choose. I appreciate that. It’s a bit saddening that it doesn’t take SD memory cards, but at the dimensions it sports I’m not going to whine too loudly, I’ll just move my pictures onto it from time to time, much like managing my MP3 player.

And, the best part? We just dropped the price to under 15 bucks (OK, juuust under, but it counts). At 15 bucks this thing is now officially in the land of “neat trinkets” and not “object I have to budget for.” Plus, if you know anyone like my mother it’s a great idea, then she can always have pictures handy to show off. Gift ideas, anyone?



Nikon D3x

D3x Nikon digital SLR cameraSo, while this is old news in the forum worlds, it’s new news in the official world: the D3x has been announced. 24.5 megapixel sensor as more-or-less widely expected. I’m impressed it can shoot 50 mb RAW files at 5 frames per second. Time to start stocking up on 16 GB compact flash memory cards, and lets hope Sandisk trots out some 32 GBs this season.

But, I think my favorite thing about this camera is how it’s clearly designed for a purpose. Yes, I’m talking about the new 100-1600 native ISO range. Yes, it can only push the ISO to 6400, low by today’s standards and seemingly against everything people want from full-frame sensors. But, it seems fairly obvious Nikon wasn’t intending this to be a low-light champion, there’s the D3 and D700 for that purpose. No, this is a new beast designed for work that more than likely already needs a camera tripod. Studio, landscape, macro, fashion– the D3x is claiming a dynamic range and tonality gradient that’ll go head-to-head with medium format.

And I say good for them, taking an 8,000 buck camera and pulling it out of the ISO war. It’s a nice reminder that cameras are tools, you pick the best one for your needs, and if you don’t need ISO 25,600 it becomes little more than a number on the spec sheet.




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