The Latest Gear

by daniel goncalves
For photobugs like me, this October this year was all about technology and I was like a kid going to Santa’s workshop for the 2008 PDN PhotoPlus Expo in NYC. It’s basically a camera and gadget type of Disney/Wonderland for adults. All the major camera manufacturers had booths showing off their full product lines and new arrivals.
Some of the newcomers include waterproof, shockproof and freezeproof point and shoots from Olympus, the Stylus 1050W and the 1030W. Pretty cool in case you ever forget your camera in the freezer, let if fall or get creative in the pool.
The two biggest players in camera world had some new arrivals as well. On the high end, Canon came out with the much awaited 21.1 megapixel EOS 5D Mark II ($2600). A full frame camera which has the latest Digic 4 image processor, and is the world’s first dSLR to capture 1920 by 1080 resolution HD video. Nikon’s newest is the D90 with a 12.3 megapixel sensor which also captures video at 1280 by 720p, and also boasts a 4.5 frame per second burst rate.
In the high end point and shoot (around $500), Canon showed off it’s new Powershot G10 with a 5x wide angle zoom lens and Digic 4 image processor. It’s a point and shoot with a 13.5 megapixels, amazing! Nikon flaunted it’s Coolpix P6000 with a 4x wide angle zoom and build-in GPS so your photos are geotagged automatically. Very, very cool.
Sony has also unveiled a surprise this year. They had their Alpha A-900, a full frame dSLR with a huge 24.6 megapixel EMOS sensor. It can shoot 5 frames per second and will sell for around $3000. If you have a super large budget, haven’t maxed your credit cards yet or can sell both of your kidneys, Hassleblad had its 50 megapixel camera body for around $30,000.
A cool little gadget that won’t break the bank is the Eye-Fi SD memory card. There are three types to choose from starting at $79 for the Eye-Fi Home 2GB card and topping out at $129 for the 2GB Explore and 4GB Anniversary edition. What’s so special about these cards? Well they make your camera wireless. How cool is that? Basically you go through a simple configuration. You then go out, and take your pictures. When you get home you turn on your camera and it automatically downloads the pictures to your computer via your wireless network. They also feature unlimited “WebShare” which uploads photos directly to online sharing sites such as Facebook and MySpace. It doesn’t get much easier than that. The Explore adds another level of coolness; it geotags your photos with gps coordinates that allow you to see on Google maps exactly where you took your picture.
Amazingly, every year the technology gets better, faster and more impressive. Whatever tech-gift you give or get, make sure you get out there and have fun with it. Only after you’ve fully recovered from your kidney removal surgery that is!