Mattebox: An iPhone Camera App That’s Modeled After the Konica Hexar
Photographer and developer Ben Syverson has created an iPhone camera app called Mattebox that mimics the Konica Hexar, a luxury point-and-shoot from 1993 that was powerful enough for professionals but simple and intuitive enough for beginners. It’s one of the most beautifully designed camera apps we’ve seen yet, and comes with a number of fancy...
Pentax Optio VS20 Mimics Pro DSLRs with Vertical Shutter Release
Pentax released a new compact camera today called the Optio VS20, which offers a feature we haven’t seen before on a point-and-shoot: a second shutter release, zoom lever, and tripod mount for shooting vertically. The 16-megapixel camera is also smart about the orientation, as it packs an accelerometer that helps it intelligently display images the...
Turn Your Old Point-and-Shoot Camera Into a Creative Nightlight
Perhaps inspired by the vintage camera nightlights we shared last year, photographer Laura Merz decided to upcycle her old Kodak digital camera by turning it into a nightlight for her house. She writes, I took out all the tiny screws and gutted the camera very carefully as to not crack the exterior case. Be careful...
More Than One Quarter of All Photos Now Taken with Smartphones
Smartphones are taking huge bites out of the compact camera market. A recent study by market research company NPD found that the percent of photographs taken with a smartphone has increased from 17% to 27% over the past year, while the share of photos taken with a dedicated camera has dropped from 52% to 44%....
Canon Announces the S100 with CMOS Sensor and DIGIC 5
Today Canon unveiled its new high-end PowerShot S100 compact camera, successor to the popular S95. The S100 uses Canon’s new DIGIC 5 image processor and packs a CMOS sensor instead a CCD one. It shoots 12 megapixel images with a 1/1.7″ 24-120mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.0 lens, can capture RAW files, has a max ISO of...
Forget DualView, Samsung MV800 Has a Back that Flips 180-Degrees
Samsung’s DualView feature adds a small LCD screen to the front of compact cameras for self-portraits, but why use a small screen when you can use the screen on the back? Announced today, the company’s new MultiView MV800 camera has a large 3-inch touchscreen on the back that can flip up 180-degrees, letting narcissists users...
Nikon Unleashes Eight New Coolpix Cameras, “Pro” Model Still in Hiding
Nikon did launch a new Coolpix camera today — eight of them, in fact — but the rumored “Coolpix Pro” mirrorless camera was nowhere to be found. The bevy of compact cameras hits store shelves next month, and includes the P7100 — a more polished successor to the P7000 announced around this time last year,...
Make a Bouncy and Kid-Proof Camera with Sugru
Most cameras designed for young children have kid-friendly designs, but eye-numbingly bad image quality. On the other hand, a cheaper point-and-shoot camera shoots better photos but probably won’t last very long in the hands of a child. A way to make a cheap digital camera more kid-friendly and durable is to use Sugru, a special...
How to Take Better Pictures with Your Point-and-Shoot Camera
There are several things you can and should do to get the most out of the images from your point-and-shoot camera. If you use it correctly, people won’t know with what camera the shot was taken.Check out the photograph above and guess which camera it was taken with. I’ll reveal the answer at the end...
Samsung Might Give Compact Cameras Shallower DoF with Second Lens
A compact camera probably isn’t the first thing someone would grab when looking to make a photo with an extremely shallow depth-of-field, since the small aperture and small sensor limit it in this regard. That might soon be different: a recently published patent application by Samsung shows that the company is looking into producing achieving...
CNBC: Point-and-Shoot Cameras Are an Endangered Species
CNBC ran this short segment a couple days ago in which they invited CNET’s Dan Ackerman to explain the changing landscape in the digital camera industry. He thinks point-and-shoot cameras may soon become extinct due to the rise of camera-equipped phones, but also that DSLRs are the cameras here to stay. A recent study found...
Pentax Q is the World’s First “Point-and-Shoot” with Interchangeable Lenses
Pentax has just announced the Q, the world’s smallest interchangeable lens camera (ILC). Unlike existing ILC cameras, which have large sensors despite their tiny bodies, the Q has a tiny 1/2.3-inch sensor that’s more comparable to the sensors in point-and-shoot cameras. Thus, the Pentax Q can be considered the world’s first interchangeable lens point-and-shoot camera,...
