For a lot of people, the only thing that makes a point-and-shoot better than a smartphone for taking pictures is a zoom lens, and for many of those people, the more zoom range, the better.

That's how we end up with the Sony Cyber-shot HX300 and its 50x f2.8-6.3 24-1200mm lens. It's the same range found on the Canon PowerShot SX50 HS and the Fujifilm FinePix SL1000, but the Sony's apertures are wider at both ends (though just marginally more so than the SL1000's), making it a bit better in low light than the … Read more

A team of researchers at several universities around the world has created a new digital camera technology that takes cues from bug eyes.

The technology, which has not yet been named, is designed after the eyes found in arthropods. The camera is equipped with a a slew of image sensors and focusing lenses around a hemispherical base. With the sensors arranged in that way, the camera can take complete 180-degree pictures with no interpretive mistakes in image quality.… Read more

Continuing its full-court press in camera connectivity, Samsung introduced the NX2000 interchangeable-lens camera, which features a phone-like touch screen and easy Autoshare toggling.

Essentially a slightly more feature-rich version of the NX1100 (which in turn is the NX1000 with Autoshare capability and a bundled version of Adobe Lightroom 4, which also comes with the NX2000). Both are based on the same sensor as the NX210, though the NX2000 has an updated version of the image-processing engine. Samsung says that it results in better image quality and faster performance, and that autofocus performance falls somewhere between the NX1100 and NX300; it'… Read more

Continuing its full-court press in camera connectivity, Samsung introduced the NX2000 interchangeable-lens camera, which features a phone-like touch screen and easy Autoshare toggling.

Essentially a slightly more feature-rich version of the NX1100 (which in turn is the NX1000 with Autoshare capability and a bundled version of Adobe Lightroom 4, which also comes with the NX2000). Both are based on the same sensor as the NX210, though the NX2000 has an updated version of the image-processing engine. Samsung says that it results in better image quality and faster performance, and that autofocus performance falls somewhere between the NX1100 and NX300; it'… Read more

If you've always wanted a pair of HD digital binoculars, you could very well get some without shelling out the big bucks.

A new smartphone accessory called Snapzoom allows you to mate your smartphone camera with the optical scope of a pair of binoculars, dramatically increasing the reach of your handset. The iPhone 5, for instance, would get its normal 33mm focal length boosted to 330mm on a 10x spotting scope.

Compatible with most smartphones (with or without a case), the Snapzoom can be mounted on all single- and dual-eyepiece scopes, which include the usual binoculars, spotting scopes, telescopes, and even microscopes. … Read more

Taxidermy and technology aren't two words you usually associate with one another, but Swiss artists Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs managed to make the two subjects collide in an unconventional series of works featuring cameras made out of the hallowed remains of books, armadillos, and turtles. Yes, you read that correctly.

Fortunately, no animals were harmed in the making of the series, as Onorato and Krebs sourced the creatures from flea markets and other uncommon outlets. … Read more

Sony, trying to bring digital technology to a market that's remained stubbornly analog, has upgraded its digital binocular with the announcement today of the $2,000 DEV-50V.

The binoculars, due to ship in June, are vastly more expensive than even high-end binoculars from rivals such as Canon and Nikon. But Sony's digital binoculars -- which capture a scene with image sensors then display it with small electronic viewfinder (EVF) -- can do something ordinary binoculars can't.

Namely, they'll help you remember what you saw by taking a video or photo. And, if you like, it'll … Read more

Admit it: Whenever you see someone using their iPad as a camera, you giggle. Maybe even snicker. That two-handed grip and big ol' viewfinder screen, that's just comedy. Especially when something like this happens.

On the other hand, the iPad 3, iPad 4, and iPad Mini all have a respectable 5-megapixel sensor, an IR filter, face detection, and some other solid digital-photography features. All that's missing is a zoom lens. (The iPads do offer digital zoom, of course, but that's to be avoided at all costs. It ruins photos.)

Enter Photojojo, the outfit known for making smartphone … Read more

Some things I still can't come to terms with.

You know, like the members of Senate being all millionaires.

Then there are people who use their iPad as a camera. I know you can do that, but it doesn't mean you should, any more than you should drive your F-150 through the front door of a drive-through McDonald's.

The iPad as a camera feels like the shoulder pad as an expression of style.

I am, therefore, in some shallow sense, grateful to Busted Coverage for directing me to this video of a women's softball game at the University of Northern Iowa.… Read more