Digital Cameras
Olympus Pen E-P1 in Swarovski horror: You'll wish you were blind
There we were, minding our own business, thinking about film locations and zombies and plugs, when an email popped into our inbox that made us want to scrub our eyes with bleach. We've seen some messed-up shiznit in our lives, but it's nothing to the ocular assault when Swarovski date-rapes the Olympus Pen E-P1.
Olympus has clearly looked at the Micro Four Thirds E-P1, a camera that has no viewfinder or flash and is already expensive, and thought, "How can we really mess it up?" In fact, the E-P1's most appealing aspect was its appealing aspect: finished in retro silver or louche off-white, it looked smashing. Continue reading...
The best of Photosynth 
Photosynth blew our minds from day one, and now the 3D image technology has matured to the point where there's even an iPhone app.
You can look at popular synths on the site, but we've dived deeper into the archives to find synths that do clever things with the technology, allow you to swoop around geek landmarks, and generally boggle our brains. These are our favourites, divided into two pages -- interesting places and other innovative uses for the technology. When you're done swooshing and whooshing, we'll show you how to create your own synth.
To view synths, first you'll need to install Silverlight, Microsoft's framework for running Web applications. Just click the link in Photosynth, save and run the installer, and you're good to go. Now -- on with the show... Continue reading...
Ricoh GXR offers bonkers new lens-swapping camera system
Ricoh has announced the GXR system, a brand-new and frankly barmy camera system. The GXR system offers interchangeable lenses, but they're not your dad's interchangeable lenses: instead, the Ricoh GXR system involves swapping modular lens units that also contain a sensor and processor in one sealed package. Continue reading...
Olympus E-P2: How's the view? Electronic, expensive
The Olympus E-P2 has been announced. The E-P2 is the much-anticipated follow-up to the E-P1, Olympus' first Micro Four Thirds compact camera with interchangeable lenses. At least we think it is -- we're hard-pressed to see anything different about it.
The 12.3-megapixel E-P2 isn't much of a design departure from the E-P1, except for the slick black livery, a more staid look than the E-P1's louche retro styling. The E-P2 shoots high-definition video at 1,280x720 pixels at 30 frames per second and includes an HDMI connection. Depth of field and art filters can be used in movie mode. Stills can be captured while shooting. You can choose from different aspect ratios: 16:9, 3:2, 4:3, and 6:6, in movie and still mode. Burst mode fires 3fps, up to 10 raw files. Continue reading...
Win a CNET UK Editors' Choice swag bag worth £1,200!
Christmas may not be here yet, but we've been distilling the spirit of Santa Claus for months now, nurturing our pot bellies by gorging on pies and cultivating slightly off-putting beards. In order to indulge our premature festive inclinations, we're offering the chance for one reader to win a veritable smorgasbord of consumer tech. And we're not talking just any old gadgets -- what's on offer here is the cream of the crop, with all prize offerings having been awarded CNET UK's coveted Editors' Choice award.
The Humax Foxsat-HDR freesat PVR and 1080p Toshiba Regza 32RV635DB LCD TV are sure to please on the wintry evenings ahead, while the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ6 superzoom camera, 8GB Apple iPod touch, and Asus Eee PC 1008HA Seashell netbook should provide ample distraction from the numbing sensation in your toes and fingers if you decide to venture outside. Continue reading...
Top ten DIY photography tips
On the day the digital camera was invented, the photographer died. Go on to the street these days and the only thing a digital camera tells you about a person is the size of their bank balance. As an alternative-lifestyle statement, SLR ownership is now right up there with owning a Coldplay CD. In these troubled times, when SLRs are no longer a badge of actual photography skills, you need something to distinguish yourself from the crowd.
We're going to tell you how to stand out from the Jessops jockeys with ten DIY tips for distinctive looking -- and almost free -- photography hardware. Sellotape at the ready: let's go! Continue reading...
Flickr adds face tagging
Flickr has added people-tagging. Tagging photos with little notes has been a feature of the service for a while, but the new feature allows you to highlight faces and link to Flickr users in your picture, similar to tagging in Facebook.
To get started, simply double-click on or draw a box around the person you want to tag. Select whether you're adding a note or a person, and type the person's name. Flickr searches your contacts first, then every user of the site. Non-users can be emailed to ask if they want to be tagged. Continue reading...
Canon EOS 1D Mark IV to the floor with 1080p video 
Canon has busted out the EOS 1D Mark IV professional dSLR. The successor to the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III is strutting a 16-megapixel sensor and shoots 1080p high-definition video.
The APS-H CMOS sensor, Dual DIGIC 4 processors and 14-bit colour conversion allow the Mark IV to shoot up to 10 frames per second at full resolution, for up to 121 JPEGs or 28 raw files. Continue reading...
Nikon D3S: 720p video and ISO... how much?!
Nikon has taken the wraps off the D3S, an update to its flagship dSLR, the excellent D3. The S seems to stand for 'substantially superior', with a new sensor achieving an eye-popping sensitivity of ISO 102,400 -- that's 10 stops, camera fans. It also adds 24fps, 720p video, which Nikon claims is better than Canon's 30fps version. It'll set you back £4,200 when it arrives in the UK in December. Continue reading...
Nikon S1000pj: So how do you get a projector in a camera?
The Nikon Coolpix S1000pj certainly divides opinion. Some think a camera with a projector in it is a terrible idea, and others think it will light up their lives.
Upon getting our hands on the S1000pj, the question foremost in our minds changed from "why?" to "how?" iFixit.com answer that question in the time-honoured manner of taking the thing to pieces. Continue reading...
