Digital Cameras

Crave goes Christmas shopping

Ah, Christmas, a time of infinite craving for countless digital desires... We've decided to put our craving to the test and from now until 25 December we'll be on a mission -- each member of the team has been given £5,000 in Virtual Crave Pounds (VCP) to spend on the best consumer electronics gear he or she can find.

The rules are astonishingly strict. All Crave Christmas shopping products must be available for purchase online in the UK with normal English pounds sterling. Every VCP must be spent, right down to the last Virtual Crave Penny. To keep things interesting, every writer has been given one free Santa gift.

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Pulling out the stops: Nikon D200

We've always been fans of the Nikon D70, and for a while there it was the only camera in the Nikon range that combined semi-pro performance with a body small enough to consider lugging around for casual use. But those clever shuttermonkeys are at it again and Nikon is set to release the Nikon D200 within a month. This is a camera that comes close to the specs of the lardy Nikon D2X, but retains the portability of the D70.

Considering that the D2X is the mainstay of many professional newspaper photographers, the similarity between this model and the lighter D200 will raise a few inky eyebrows. The D200 is likely to appeal to pros and enthusiasts who need a relatively lightweight body without sacrificing the fast auto-focus and image clarity of the higher end models.

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Canon Digital Ixus goes wireless for wildlife

In the future, all cameras will be wireless-enabled. Or something. At the CES show in Las Vegas last January, Kodak announced plans for its first Wi-Fi enabled digital camera, and our US parent CNET.com (Hi Dad!) gave the camera one of its CNET Next Big Thing awards.

The big idea here is that photos are all about sharing, and so built-in wireless connections will make it easier for you to get your pictures from your camera to a PC for editing or email, and from your camera to your printer for direct printing via the PictBridge standard.

We got all excited -- but then it took Kodak aaaaaages to release the darn thing. Finally, in September, both Kodak and Nikon launched cameras with built-in Wi-Fi connectivity -- Kodak with the EasyShare-One, and Nikon with the CoolPix P1 and P2.

And now Canon wants to play, announcing plans to bust out a Wi-Fi enabled Digital IXUS in the new year. Continue reading...

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Incoming: Fujifilm turns it all the way up to F11

Heavens to Betsy! Camera maker in releasing-update-of-successful-model shocker! Fujifilm has decided that the FinePix F10 Zoom, an unquestionably able compact digicam, just isn't enough 6-megapixel goodness for the world, so it has gone and made the FinePix F11 Zoom. What with this and the Tory leadership contest, we're going to have to up our Ritalin dosage.

So what's new? Not the chassis -- it has exactly the same dimensions as the F10 and the weight is still 155g without the battery and memory card. The 6.3-megapixel resolution, 3x optical zoom, F/2.8-5.0 lens, 0.3-6.5m flash range and 64mm (2.5-inch) LCD display are all the same as the F10's, too. It's still PictBridge compatible, takes xD Picture cards and has USB and composite outputs.

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Exilim S500: We've been admiring its form

Crave liked Casio's Exilim EX-Z750 because of its monster screen and easy-to-use controls, so we've been looking forward to a chance to play with its stylish little brother, the Exilim EX S500. This elegant little credit-card sized camera has 5 megapixels rather than 7.2, and its screen is slightly smaller at 56mm (2.2 inches) rather than 68mm (2.7 inches), but apart from that it has similar, user-friendly controls and feels very well specced for such a small form factor.

You may lose a few megapixels but in exchange you get Sean Connery styling: this is a sharp-looking, elegant weapon in sleek silver and savage gunmetal grey (although there are orange, white and red versions if you're not as butch as us). The camera's party piece is its devastating lens action: it emerges magically from the main body like one of those collapsible silver wine cups, and it seems absurd that such a teeny tiny camera body could contain such a long lens.

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Incoming: the evolutionary Pentax Optio 6 and WPi

Pentax continues to push the envelope, stretching the edges and testing the glue that holds down the flap. But it's not optics, usability, size of screen or quality of picture where it's forging ahead, so much as the sheer frequency of updates.

With its Optio S5i, S5n and latterly S5z cameras, Pentax managed to create new products simply by adding a few millimetres to the LCD on the back. We like the bigger screens, but there's only so much excitement we can muster for these incremental upgrades.

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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W7: Fat is the new thin

There are few publications for which Crave can muster more venomous contempt than Heat magazine. But even we must admit that its latest sales ploy of mocking anorexic celebrities is marginally less repulsive than its previous tactic of recommending the illness to its young readers. In this spirit, we've been reappraising our relationship with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W7, a 7.2-megapixel camera that positively revels in its love handles, exuding curvy feminine warmth and exposing faddish credit-card thin digicams like its sister, the T7, as the awkward, angular waifs they are.

The W7 does not get lost in your pocket. It does not get stuck between floorboards. It will not snap in two, be eaten by a dog or let you open a locked patio door, Beverley Hills Cop-style. It could be used as a bludgeoning weapon, though, if it wasn't too busy being a very fine camera. Its considerable heft is reassuring, letting even the clumsiest of snappers feel like they're taking a proper picture. The quick, accurate autofocus and 64mm (2.5-inch) LCD amplify this.

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Festival photos that rock!

Festivals aren't all music, dancing and drug addled self-discovery. For the photographer they represent one of the best opportunities to capture people behaving in ways they wouldn't dream of back in the mundane enclaves of their homes and offices.

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Fujifilm Finepix F10: It's been eating carrots

Fujifilm has announced the launch of the FinePix F10, a 6.3-megapixel, 3x optical zoom compact digital camera that can see in the dark. Well, almost.

The camera looks and feels great. It's reassuringly solid, with a clean silver exterior, perhaps a touch larger than the slew of wafer-thin, credit-card-sized cameras available, but the extra heft may appeal to people who can't quite believe a tiny sliver of metal and plastic really is a camera. On the back is a 64mm (2.5-inch) screen, which has a range of image capture and display options. The control navigation is simple if a little too beep-heavy -- at times, we thought the smoke alarm was going off. Continue reading...

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Best camera for photographing jewellery?

I am a jewellery designer/maker and I would like to photograph my jewellery. What kind of camera should I buy? Continue reading...

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Konica Minolta DiMAGE X1: more pixels than most

Konica Minolta has announced the DiMAGE X1, a compact digital camera that trounces other manufacturers' 5-, 6- and 7-megapixel cameras with an 8-megapixel CCD. This puts it near the peak of the resolution mountain, at an altitude normally only reached by dSLRs and serious-photographer compacts.

The other interesting thing about the DiMAGE X1 is that it uses a new Anti-Shake system that enables you to take handheld, wide-angle shots at shutter speeds as slow as 1/6 second. This makes it great for capturing the sunset over the Himalayas, the candlelit interior of your tent, and your romantic, rehydrated, boil-on-primus dinner. Konica's system tilts the entire optical unit, together with the CCD, to counter the image-blurring effects of your tired and trembling hands. Continue reading...

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Wacom Graphire Bluetooth: the pen is pointier than the mouse

Wacom has introduced the Graphire Bluetooth, a wireless pen-and-tablet combo. It's aimed at digital imaging enthusiasts who want to create artwork and edit photos using a pen instead of a mouse.

The silver tablet connects to your PC via Bluetooth (if your computer doesn't have Bluetooth built in, you'll need to spend another 25-30 on an adaptor). Once it's chatting to your computer, you can move the mouse pointer by drawing on the tablet with the matching pen. Tap the tip for a left click; press the button on the side for a right click; or flip the pen over to erase whatever you've just drawn or typed. The 208 by 150mm active area maps exactly on to your screen, so moving the pen to the top left corner always moves the mouse pointer to the top left corner of your screen. If you're rubbish at drawing, you can place a picture under the transparent photo frame and trace round it with the pen. Continue reading...

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The new Pentax Optio S5: Catching some zzzzs

The fast-moving camera world waits for no one, and despite the fact that the Pentax Optio S5n has been available for all of three months, Pentax has deemed it time for an upgrade in the form of the S5z. What the heck happened to the S5o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x and y? Maybe they're locked away in some Pentax lab somewhere, or perhaps the S5z is so good that only the last letter of the alphabet will show just how ultimate it is.

Either way, we had to go out and buy one of these puppies before we could take it home and stroke it lovingly. The big improvement, quite literally, is the huge 64mm (2.5-inch) screen on the back, a display which is both smooth and clear in practice. Otherwise, it's business as usual, with the same 5-megapixel CCD, 3x optical zoom and 640x480-pixel movie mode from the S5n.

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Olympus C-180: just press the button

Olympus has announced the C-180, a digital camera that makes a virtue out of having no interesting new features whatsoever.

If you stand on the bleeding edge of technology, turn yourself through 180 degrees and look into the far, far distance, you'll see a small silver rectangle on the horizon. That's the C-180, a 5-megapixel camera with no optical zoom, a 38mm (1.5-inch) LCD, 14MB of built-in memory and a slot for an xD picture card (not supplied). It appears to have a built-in flash, although Olympus doesn't consider it worth mentioning.

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Welcome to our new Web site

Welcome to the new Crave. We thought Crave's crack team of highly-trained gadget monkeys were having far too much fun to be left on their own, so we've decided to join them and Crave is now part of CNET.co.uk, a brand new Web site which launches today.

Crave will continue to keep you up to date on the latest gadget gossip, but will now also be able to give you access to in-depth product reviews on many of the things the Crave team have been lusting after, as well as to personal technology and consumer electronics News and Digital Living features to help you make sense of the technology you already own.

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Undressing the M:Robe

Oooooh! Pretty little thing isn't it? We can't help feeling its body all over, which is lucky because the Olympus M:Robe is a touch-screen MP3 player and digital photo viewer. Decked in black, it's an anti-iPod with a difference -- this one is actually plausible competition.

Jammed inside the M:Robe there's a 1.3 megapixel camera, a 20GB hard disk and a battery capable of 12 hour stints. If you're into visualisations, this MP3 player will sychronise graphics with music for that authentic club feeling on the 8am to Waterloo. Expect a full review soon. -CS Continue reading...

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Canon PowerShot S2 IS: not shaken, not stirred

Canon has announced the PowerShot S2 IS, a follow-up to the compact but versatile PowerShot S1 IS. The S2 trumps its predecessor's 10x optical zoom (38-380mm equivalent) with an even more impressive 12X version (36-432mm equivalent). That's a spectacular lens for a camera that measures just 113 by 78 by 76mm.

If you've used a big zoom before, you'll know there's a trade-off: you can get close to the action, but it's hard to hold the camera steady enough to get a decent picture. There isn't much point being right in the face of a lion or a tiger if the photos are so blurred you can't tell them apart. Canon's answer to the many-millimetres-make-for-fuzzy-pictures problem is image stabilisation, a technology that uses small gyro sensors to detect the movements introduced by your trembling hands, then wobbles the lens in the opposite direction to neutralise the shake. It sounds mad, but it works -- we've seen the benefits using Canon's image-stabilised SLR lenses.

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Casio Exilim Zoom EX-Z57: camera, photo frame, diary

Casio's contribution to the digital camera world can be summed up in four words: "small camera, big screen". Although it does make larger cameras, it's best known for the ultracompact Exilim Card and Exilim Zoom ranges.

The Exilim Zoom EX-Z57 is a 5.0 megapixel model with a massive 69mm (2.7-inch) display. The LCD is so large that using it as a viewfinder feels like navigating the world with a heads-up display. There's no need to look around, because you can see everything on the screen, in full colour and with loads of detail. On the other hand, it has to work well, because it takes up so much space that there's no room for an optical viewfinder.

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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7: less costs more

Remember when digital cameras were brick-shaped, with a bulge on one end for the batteries? Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-T7 is more like a tile. It’s just 9.8mm thick at the thinnest point, although the lens cover bulges out like a decorative moulding, pushing the total depth to 14.7mm.

The DSC-T7 is an exercise in contrast. The super-thin body is married to an extra-large 64mm LCD and the 3x zoom lens can focus on subjects just 10mm away (in magnifying mode). The body is made of stainless steel, so it should be hard wearing, although we still wouldn't recommend slipping it into your back pocket and sitting down.

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Sony Ericsson S700i: half camera, half biscuit

We were surprised when Sony Ericsson's S700i camera phone arrived in a large silver biscuit tin. Packaging is usually something we rip off and stuff into a recycling bin, but the S700i's box went straight to the kitchen, where it's keeping our Hob Nobs from turning into soggy blobs.

Tea in mug and biscuits in tin, we opened the manual and turned straight to Phone Reviewer's Pet Peeve #237. Why do the instructions always start with, "Slide the SIM card into the holder…"? What happened to the bit where they show you how to take off the back, thereby revealing said holder? We hunted for the hidden catch and poked the phone with a Leatherman before resorting to the tried and trusted standard: brute force.

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