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Hot Kingston Memory Deal

kingston-133x-8gbI’ve been helping Nick slug through the new inventory list for the website (staff shortages the past couple of weeks and internet interruptions have made it something of a mess to catch up on), and hidden in there I found this little gem:

Kingston’s Elite Pro 133x Compact Flash Card – $24.97

Now, as you probably don’t know, the 4GB version of this card has been the staple of my shooting for the past year (I currently have two of them). Running at about 20 megabytes/second (133 x 1.5 kb/s = 199.5 = 19.95 mb/s, close enough for me), they’re fast enough for me to chug 10mb raw files at 5 frames per second for about 14 shots, and if I lay off the continuous drive it’ll clear the buffer in about 10-20 seconds I’m off again. Probably not for sportsshooters, but for your everyday joe that’s plenty fast enough.

And, while Kingston plays third fiddle to Sandisk and Lexar’s reputations it seems, their cards are certainly reliable in my experience (again, used two of them exclusively for a year, they’ve survived my washing machine and my attrocious habit of hot-swapping them in and out of readers and cameras.)

And, they’re 25 friggin’ bucks. You know that’s a nice price. A year ago I paid 40 bucks for the 4 GB one.



Nikon Announces 4 New Cameras

OK, so, due to some crazy storms in Indianapolis yesterday we’ve just now regained internet connectivity at Roberts Imaging, and right off the bat I need to catch up on yesterday’s new Nikon point-and-shoot models.

Coolpix S1000PJ

Coolpix S1000PJ

The highlight of the batch is the new Coolpix S1000pj, a 12 megapixel compact with a 5x optical zoom (28-140mm equiv), and Nikon’s 5-Way VR (including a blend of optical and electronic VR, extra high ISO, and Nikon’s Best Shot Selector). Oh, and a built-in projector.

Yup, as in for projecting your pictures onto a wall. Neat stuff, actually, and we’re hoping to get to do another field test with one when it comes out (reportedly next month).

This unique, actually exciting point-and-shoot will be available in Henry Ford’s favorite color (black, that is), and will set you back around $430 when it comes out.

Coolpix S640

Coolpix S640

Up next is the Coolpix S640, which is bacially the S1000pj minus the projector. Actually, it’s almost exactly that. So much exactly that that we’re moving on to the next model down. (The S640 will come in black, red, pink, and white, and set you back about $250)

Coolpix S640

Coolpix S640

The third model announced is the Coolpix S570, which is a further pared down S640 (ditching the optical VR, most notably). Still present are the common threds in all four models: the 12 megapixels and the same 5x zoom. At this point the price is now down to right at $200. Not a bad. (The S570 will come in black, blue, red, and pink.)

Coolpix S70

Coolpix S70

The last model is the upgrade to Nikon’s popular and svelt Sxx series, this time in the form of the Coolpix S70. As mentioned, it sports the same 5x zoom and 12 megapixels of the others, goes back to the full 5-Way VR, and upgrades to a 3.5″ touchscreen for controls.

More interesting than the specs are the color options. It’s available in the rather traditional satin red on red, but then things get wild rather quickly. The other three colors feature metal on one half, and a faux grip on the other. You can pick from black with a black pebbled leather grip, light brown with pebbled champaigne leather, or beige with a surprisingly nice light brown tech grip. It’s hard to describe, actually.

All of these coming, er, soon.




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