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Olympus Stylus VG-120

So, it’s not that Olympus’ Stylus VG-120 is a boring camera, rather, it seems pretty solid. It’s just, after the wake of everything else today, it comes off a bit flat, so, I’d like to help you to get to know the real VG-210.

The VG-210 has a slim metal body wrapped around 14 megapixels. It allows us a gaze into its soul through a 5x zoom, 26 – 130 mm equiv, and a 3″ LCD. It enjoys long walks on summer evenings, and tying sheets down to furniture to make little tents when the AC comes on. It sees the world in color. Or in black-and-white. Or through one of 7 magic filters. Because, for the VG-120, the world is always magical. The VG-120 is also considerate, and it wants to help you remember not just in snapshots, but in flowing minutes of time with its 720p video. It likes puppies, and kittens, and is unsure about polar bears. It may sound down-to-earth, but it shows its bold streak in silver, red, or black. It likes SD, but really yearns to someday know the company of an SDHC card. It’ll run about $149.99.



Super-zooms Still Exist: The Olympus Stylus SP-610 Ultra Zoom

So, this just in, the superzoom point-and-shoot market isn’t dead, it seems. Olympus has announced a new entry to their SP- UZ series of ‘superzoom,’ ‘ultrazoom,’ or ‘bridge’ style cameras. The bodies have gotten much smaller these days, but with their still notable lens barrels these cameras look a bit more like a DSLR, and pack in way more zoom than is probably healthy. This year, we’re looking at a 22x zoom lens here, covering 28 – 616 mm and ranging from f2.8- 5.6. So, pretty respectable there. And, er, it’s got like, 14 megapixels, and 8 art filters, and 3″ LCD with sadly low resolution, and it shoots 720 p and you totally stop caring about the other details after that zoom, didn’t you? It’s OK, it’s an impressive zoom, and it’s really the selling point for this camera.

“Why, hello sir, do you need an obscene amount of zoom to revel and romp in?”

“Why, actually, I do.”

“Aha! Well, the Olympus Sp-610 UZ it is for you then, sir! Right this way…”

It’ll be about $230ish, and should come out “soon.”



The Voice of Raw Returns, 40% More Rambling Guaranteed

So, the last couple months were a bit rough around here, and I didn’t have time to pull Nick away from his other duties long enough for us to cut our usual Voice of Raw podcasts. But, it’s the post-Christmas lull right now and we’ve missed the sounds of of our voices as we obstensibly tell you what’s up in the camera world.

So, we’re back…TA-DA!

 


Olympus 1050 SW, tapping away to get there!

So, last night at the Olympus training, we all saw some pretty neat Olympus digital camera offerings.  One of the neat new features that we learned was on the new Olympus Stylus 1050 SW.

1050 SW Olympus
The new camera shares all of the same SW camera features; shockproof, waterproof, and really cool.  The one thing that sets it apart from all digital cameras is it’s ability to tap the sides of the body to change settings in the camera.  You can change flash settings, shadow adjustment, and scroll through images in playback, all by tapping the sides of the camera.  Pretty handy on those cold days when you have gloves on and can’t manipulate those little keys.  In stock now at Roberts Imaging.  Come in and check them out.  They are fun and easy to use.



My Memory Sticks

Even after 20 years at the store I still find it hard to believe that I’ve been here twenty years. Two decades, 5 summer olympics, 5 presidental terms. That is a long time. I guess that is why they honor that kind of persistence with things like watches at most companies. I got mine, and it is a doozie. I am wearing arm candy (not the kind that gets you into the posh nightclubs, or out of marriages). I was honored by Bruce Pallman and the company he keeps with a very nice Citizen Titanium Eco-Drive alarm/chronograph/perpetual calander number in a royal blue. This arm candy always has the time for me.
The ceremony (pre-opening meeting) was a couple of weeks ago, and got me thinking about time and the industry, and co-workers and waxing poetic about age and technology. Here is some of the things I have found out about life in a camera store. It moves pretty fast even when it is moving slow.
When I started they expanded the payroll to nine employees. I  worked in the relatively new camera department in a store that was 30% jewelry and clocks, 50% catalog showroom (remember those?), 15% cameras, tripods, albums and frames (mostly albums and frames) and 5% video and miscellaneous (anybody need a rotating 8-track tape rack? It holds twenty 8 tracks).  Today we have 30 employees at our main store which is 85% camera and video products, with the balance being jewelry, clocks and that miscellaneous stuff (call and reserve your 8 track rack today they are going fast!).
About two years before I started at Roberts I was selling cameras at a major retailer. That is when I was introduced to the new ‘Auto Focus’ cameras from Minolta. By the time I started here Nikon and Canon both had Auto Focus cameras too. In the time since then film cameras themselves have all but disappeared, digital cameras of all styles makes and sizes have taken over the imagination of the imaging inclined, and technology marches on.
The first point and shoot digital cameras from Olympus, Kodak and Casio were about the size of a brick and sported between 160 x120mb resolution to 320×240 mb pixel resolution (or thumbnail to 1/4 screen size on the computers of that day).  Today you can buy an Olympus Stylus digital, Panasonic Lumix digital, Nikon Coolpix camera or Canon Powershot digital cameras that are about the size of a deck of cards and have 10 or more mega-pixels of imaging resolution (32 to 64 times the resolution of those oldies). The first compact flash memory cards came in 2,  4,  6 and 8 mb sizes, Olympus’ “SmartMedia,” (no longer available) maxed out at 64mb.
Today Sandisk Card come in SD, CF, xD, Memory Stick and many other formats for electronic devices, and go up top 16gb in many of those formats. Kingston and Lexar offer the SD and CF cards too, and all are at fractions of the cost of the first digital memory cards.
On my trip down memory lane I found out something interesting about Roberts itself. Of our 30 person staff here at the main store the average years on the job is 8.3, I think that is amazing. I think that is a staff with experience and answers, if you need them.




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