Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, News

Tagged: Photography

Earn Money from the Photos and Videos You Already Post with the Staree Platform originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 24, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Taking good photos is very important to me.  Not only do I want to have good photos of family and friends, but I need good photos for my reviews here at The Gadgeteer.  The Adorama Learning Center has three eBooks that can help me improve my photo skills, and they are offering free downloads of all three titles.  The Adorama Guide to Snapshooting teaches you how to fix common point-and-shoot mistakes.  The Adorama Guide to Studio Lights teaches you about various kinds of studio lights and backdrops.  And The Adorama Guide to Family Photography teaches you how to best capture memories.  Each is available as either an ePub or PDF file.  All you have to do is supply your first name and an email address to download the books from Adorama.

Filed in categories: Gear, Miscellaneous, News

Tagged: Books, Photography

The Photography eBook Collection Free from Adorama Learning Center originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 1, 2012 at 8:00 am.

We’ve featured many creative ways that you can share your favorite pictures with friends and family, through photo books, printed canvases, etc. Bumpy Photo offers a unique service that will take your digital pictures and turn them into 3D relief sculptures that you can actually touch. When you upload your digital image, special software creates a color 3D depthmap from your 2D flat photo. Once you approve the image, it is then printed in 24bit color 3D hard plaster-like composite material. The price for this service isn’t cheap and is dependent on size, subject matter of the photo and how thick/deep you want the sculpture. For example, a 4″ sculpture of one person/bust with standard thickness is $59.00. But a 2 person picture with extra thickness is $123.00. Very pricey, but very cool too…

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, News

Tagged: Photography

Bumpy Photo Turns Your Favorite SnapShot Into a 3D Sculpture originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 28, 2012 at 2:00 pm.

Ok, this is just too cool… The Galileo is an iOS-controlled Robotic iPhone Holder designed by the same guys that designed the Joby and the Gorillapod line of tripods. The Galileo holds your iPhone or iPod touch and can pan and tilt 360 degrees with a swipe your finger on a remote iOS device. This device would make a great surveillance tool, video conferencing tool or video capturing tool. It features a standard tripod mount and a USB rechargeable lithium polymer battery. The Galileo also charges your device while it’s plugged into USB. This is a new project on Kickstarter that just got started. Although compatibility with existing iOS camera and video apps is unclear, they will be offering an SDK for app developers. I’ve already pledged my $85 so I’ll be sure to get one of the first available devices. It will have a MSRP of $129.95 once the project is funded.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: iPhone, Photography

Galileo iOS-controlled Robotic iPhone Holder originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 22, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

A few weeks ago, I reviewed the GoPano micro panorama lens attachment for the iPhone 4/4S. This adapter allows you to easily capture 360 degree video and sound. I loved the concept of the product, but the resulting video was less than impressive due to focus issues. Techguy commented on that review suggesting that I might want to take a look at the Kogeto Dot. His wish was my command, so here we go…

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Included in the Package

Kogeto Dot
Drawstring storage bag

Unlike the GoPano micro which consists of a case and the lens attachment, the Kogeto Dot combines the adapter and the “case” into one piece.

The Dot is available in several colors. I was sent the Black version.

Installing the adapter is very easy. It just snaps on the back of the iPhone 4/4S.

The panoramic lens adapter is positioned over the actual lens on the back of the iPhone.

The Dot has a circular mirror that allows for 360 degree video capture. A clear plastic cover protects the lens from dust and fingerprints.

To start capturing video you have to install the free Looker app from the app store. When you first launch that app, you are presented a calibration screen. To calibrate the lens, you just have to drag the donut shape so it is centered over the center circle.

Then you’re ready to start recording 360 degree video. The recording interface is very simple. It consists of a record button and that’s about it. The lock button takes you back to the calibration screen.

Buttons at the bottom of the display will let you see your recordings and other featured dotspots from other Kogeto owners.

After testing the Dot for a few days, I ran into 3 problems which I’ll talk about in reverse order of annoyance. First of all you should be aware that there is an 8 minute recording limit for your videos. This may or may not be a big deal to most people.

The second biggest problem that I have with the Kogeto is that you can’t see what you’re filming as you’re filming it. Unlike the GoPano, which allows you to use the display as a viewfinder, you have to hold the Dot as show above. This means that you won’t know exactly what is being captured at any given time. Another problem with holding the camera this way is that your recordings will also capture you flipping the camera/phone over as you first start the video and then stop the video. The FAQ on the the Kogeto site goes into some details about how you can export your video to your computer so that you can edit it to remove the start and ending parts. Of course this isn’t very convenient…

The biggest issue that I see with the Kogeto Dot isn’t the way you have to hold it though. The main problem in my opinion is that the clear plastic cover causes glare, flares and reflections that are captured in your videos. I had this distracting problem with video that I captured indoors from overhead lights and also outdoors in sunlight. But don’t just take my word for it, take a look at these two samples I captured. And don’t forget to use your mouse to pan 360 degrees.

Kogeto Dot Video Samples

Walking down Main Street in Nashville, Indiana.

You’ll notice right away that there are reflections at the top of the video and some glare in the center.

Touring the Rock Shop on Main Street in Nashville, Indiana.

More glare is noticed from the overhead lights…

Another problem I had a few times was with focusing. I realize that these adapters are not capable of super sharp video. But sometimes my video would be completely out of focus and I would have to record again.

That same day I brought my GoPano with me and captured the same video to use as for comparison.

GoPano Video Samples

Walking down Main Street in Nashville, Indiana.

Touring the Rock Shop on Main Street in Nashville, Indiana.

The GoPano and the Kogeto Dot are far from perfect and I realize they are for novelty purposes only. That said, I like the Kogeto Dot better than the GoPano because it usually captures video that is in sharper focus. But, I like the GoPano better than the Dot because the GoPano doesn’t have as much trouble with reflections and glare. I also like the GoPano player on the iPhone which will let you pan your phone left or right to spin the image instead of using your finger to swipe the display. Both adapters are within $1 of each other, so if you’re trying to choose one based on price, that isn’t going to help you.

So it’s a toss up as to which one to buy if you’ve decided you need one of these gadgets. Either way, these videos are a conversation starter and the adapter is something fun to keep at the bottom of your gear bag for the next time you’re standing on top of Mt. Everest or some other epic location that would greatly benefit from a 360 degree video.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: iPhone, Panorama, Photography

Kogeto Dot Panorama iPhone 4/4S Camera Adapter Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 29, 2012 at 2:00 pm.

If that tax refund is burning a hole in your pocket, B&H Photo can help you with double savings on Canon camera gear. Save $20 – $320 instantly on select lenses and speedlites. Check out the deals here (affliate link).

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, News

Tagged: Photography

Canon Double Instant Savings at B&H originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 7, 2012 at 8:07 am.

PENTAX has announced the K-01, the first mirrorless digital camera that can use 25+ million PENTAX K-mount lenses without an adapter. The K-01 features 16MP, a 3″ LCD, HD 1080p Video, anti-shake, an ISO Range from 100 to 25600, In-Camera HDR and Focus Peaking Modes. It has a machined aluminum frame and offers a popup flash as well as a hotshoe for external flashes. It’s available in Black, White and Yellow and is priced at $749 for just the body, or $899 with an included 40mm lens. You can pre-order from B&H Photo (affiliate link).

I’ve been thinking about upgrading from my Canon G11. Maybe this is the one I should consider…

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, News

Tagged: Photography

PENTAX K-01 – First mirrorless camera that can use SLR lenses without an adapter originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 2, 2012 at 12:37 pm.

The iPhone continues to be my favorite smartphone almost entirely due to the fact that I love the built in 8MP camera and all the photography apps devoted to it. But it isn’t just the apps that keep me interested, it’s also the camera accessories created specifically for the iPhone. We’ve reviewed a few of those accessories like the Pixeet Panorama Lens, which is an attachment that enables you to capture 180 and 360 degree panoramic images. I had fun with that product, but I have something even more interesting to show you. It’s the GoPano micro. It also allows you to capture panoramas with your iPhone. But instead of static images, it captures video and audio in 360 degrees. Let’s take it for a spin (sorry, couldn’t resist…).

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Package Contents

GoPano micro panoramic lens attachment
iPhone 4/4S case
Draw string pouch

The GoPano micro kit comes with an iPhone 4/4S case that must be used to attach the lens. This is a 2 piece slide on case that snaps together like a puzzle.

The GoPano attachment is designed to fit into the case opening for the lens.

The attachment is made of plastic.

It’s designed like a periscope with a funnel shaped mirror at the top and another smaller mirror at the bottom near the attachment point.

You just press the GoPano into the opening in the included case. It’s held there with friction. If you click the image above, you’ll notice that there is extra space around the GoPano. At first I thought the design was flawed, but then I realized that it’s made this way so that you can still use your iPhone’s LED flash when you’re not using the GoPano micro.

Here we see the iPhone 4S and GoPano micro connected and ready to go. I would have to advise NOT using the GoPano if you are going to be in an environment where you could be bumped or are moving around quite a bit. I say this because the lens is only attached by friction and can easily be knocked off if bumped. I’d like to see a better method of attaching the lens to the phone so you could use it in more active / extreme ways.

Unlike with the Pixeet lens, the GoPano does not require you to snap a picture, rotate the camera, snap another picture, rotate, snap, etc in order to capture a 360 degree image.

Its funnel shape can capture video in 360 degrees all at once.

The iPhone’s built in camera application can’t be used with the GoPano. It requires a special free GoPano app which is registered with a code included in the package. The application is very easy to use and allows you to view videos uploaded by other GoPano owners as well as record your own.

The video recording interface has 3 buttons. Done, Record and Calibrate. Done takes you back to the main menu, Record starts video capture and Calibrate  brings up the focus screen. The focus screen is used to make sure the image is as sharp as possible. Unfortunately focus is the biggest problem with the GoPano. But more about that in a minute… The image that you see above on the right is actually the image that the GoPano captures. The software will then turn that image into a more traditional looking flat version.

Once you’ve recorded a video, it can be uploaded to the GoPano website, saved to your iPhone’s camera roll or shared to iTunes file sharing which means it will sync to iTunes and will be available on your desktop/laptop for easy access.

Here are a couple example videos that I captured. You can use your mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard to rotate the video. Give it a try.

Walking by the Bartholomew County Courthouse in Columbus, IN. It was a cold day, hence my fuzzy hat

Another walk by the Bartholomew County Courthouse in Columbus, IN. I wasn’t in a bad mood while filming this… the sun was in my eyes.

A walk around the Commons Mall in Columbus, IN.

As I had mentioned above, you can export your videos to your iPhone’s camera roll. From there you can email them to your friends. They will be saved as a .MOV (Quicktime) file, and won’t allow for mouse or keyboard panning, but they are still kind of cool because it’s the whole 360 degrees in one long strip. Here’s my walk around the Commons Mall video in .MOV flat format.

I’m sure you’ve noticed an issue with all these videos – they are not in focus. That’s the biggest problem with the GoPano. No matter how many times you use the calibrate feature, the resulting videos are always blurry. My guess is that the process to convert the donut shaped image into a flat image somehow degrades the focus. The picture can also look a bit stretched or warped and isn’t very flattering for the person doing the filming. When I first watched the videos I had captured and panned around to see myself, I was like “yikes!” It’s a shame about the focus, but the coolness factor of being able to make a 360 video that you can manually spin around kind of makes up for the blur. That said, I do wish it was in better focus. Even with its faults, the GoPano micro panorama lens attachment is fun and easy to use.  It is just one more reason why I love the iPhone.

Update: The folks at GoPano explain the focus issue:

The focus issue you mentioned in the article, is not actually a focus problem- it’s because of the lack of usable resolution. Due to the circular nature of video capture, the app discards a major chunk of the image sensor, the app then slices the donut and then wraps it around you. Read more about the tech here: http://goo.gl/S5xX7 (You would notice the videos look perfectly in focus in flat mode, as you see the entire resolution at once). The better the resolution of the base camera the better the final resolution of your 360 videos.

Good news:
- The resolution with the iPhone4S is much better than what you get with iPhone4. The better the resolution gets the better resolution you get on your 360° videos.
- We wish apple gave us the choice of selecting the shape and size on its image sensor – we try to fit the circular mirror in the rectangular image sensor, if we had the choice of chooseing say a square sensor- the resolution increase would have be phenomenally better!

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: iPhone, Photography

GoPano micro Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 20, 2012 at 11:00 am.

MultiFrame from Apalon is an easy to use iOS app, which will allow you to create photo collages with 2-4 images. It offers a variety of layouts and frame styles. Let’s take a look.

Note: The images in this review can be clicked to see larger view.

MultiFrame offers 19 different frame choices that have been arranged for 2-4 images. After you make your choice of frame, then you can add your images to each pane in that frame. The individual images can be moved around inside each pane by sliding them around with your finger or stylus.

The whole frame style can be changed from square, landscape or portrait and there are 6 types of frame backgrounds to choose from.

The individual images in the frame can be customized by rotating, converting them to black and white, sepia or cross process, which is like an over processed HDR type look.

Once you have finished creating your multiframe image, you have the option to save it to the photo album or send it via email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Flickr.

Here’s a sample multiframe that I created.

Using MultiFrame is quick and painless. I wouldn’t offer any complaints about this app if it were free. But since it costs $0.99, I have to tell you that there is a better alternative for the same price. PicFrame from Active Development offers more customization options. It has 34 frames that can be adjusted for both width and corner rounding. It also has many frame patterns and colors, as well as more styles that can be applied to each image in the frame. Your completed image can then be opened in Instagram and other image apps that you might have installed on your device such as Evernote.

Hopefully MultiFrame will get more features as newer versions come out. But as it is now, I would look for better alternatives like PicFrame in the app store.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: App, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Photography

MultiFrame iOS Photo Collage App originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 22, 2011 at 3:23 pm.

My iPhone 4 replaced my Canon SD1100 point and shoot pocket camera quite awhile ago. Not because it takes better images, but because I have with me all the time and am able to snap photos whenever the mood strikes me, which is pretty regularly. I recently captured the cool image you see above (at least I think it’s cool…) and wondered what it might look like blown up into a 12″ print. Lucky for me, a company by the name of Fracture had offered to send me one of their 12″ printed glass images if I would review their process and resulting product. I happily agreed and here is the review.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

First of all, the image above of the rusty mailboxes was taken with my iPhone 4 using the stock camera app. There’s no applied filters or any post processing. You can click it to see the full sized 5 megapixel image. I wish I would have taken more time to compose the shot just a little better, by allowing more of the large mailbox on the left to be displayed. Either way, I still like the image quite a lot.

The Fracture website is very easy to navigate. All you do is upload your image, which they suggest be 1mb – 10mb in size. Then you’re presented with some editing options for cropping, resizing and aspect ratio.

I opted for a borderless print, but there is a large selection of patterns…

and solid colors that you can choose from if you desire a frame around your image. Be aware that this ‘frame’ is actually printed and not a physical frame.

After you finish editing and choosing the framing option, you can choose a size. I was giveing the 12″ sized print, which is only $15. That seems like a great price considering it’s a glass print and not a paper photo.

Your last customization option before checking out is to decide if you want to to hang the print on the wall or put it on a stand. I choose the wall.

There are 4 shipping options in addition to being able to pick the print up in person for free, if you happen to live near  Gainesville, Florida.

US Priority Mail – $9.09
FedEx 2nd Day – $32.96
FedEx Next Day – $53.06

I ordered my print on 9/16 and didn’t receive it until 10/1, which seemed a bit slow given that US priority mail should only take 2-3 days. That said, the resulting image is impressive.

As advertised, the image is printed on a sheet of glass. Don’t worry, the edges are completely smooth. The image will not fade and can not be scratched because it is printed on the backside of the glass. That means you can clean the front side with glass cleaner as much as you like.

The Fracture image won’t shatter either, because it’s affixed to a thin piece of black foam board.

They even provide a screw and a slot to hang the image on the wall if you like.

Even though I chose the wall hanging option, I’ve set mine up on a stand.

Other than the time it took to receive the image, I’m very happy with the Fracture print and have no qualms recommending their server.  I wondered how well an iPhone image would blow up and am glad to say that at least for a 12″ print, they look great as it is bright and crisp. Looking very closely, I noticed no banding or any other imperfections in the print. Now I’d like to try an even larger size

Have you used picture that you’ve taken with your iPhone as art for your home? If so, tell us about it in the comments.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: iPhone, Photography

Fracture Printed Glass Images Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 7, 2011 at 2:44 pm.

I often say how much I like the iPhone 4′s camera. It takes very good pictures considering that it has a 5 megapixel fixed lens. It’s no DSLR, but I find that I take many more pictures than I ever have before, mainly due to the fact that it’s always in my pocket or gear bag. I must not be the only one, because there are quite a few photography accessories that have been designed specifically for the iPhone. The one I’m going to show you today is the Pixeet Panorama iPhone Lens Kit.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

Package Contents

Pixeet fisheye lens
Protective lens caps
Drawstring pouch
Silicone iPhone case
Stick on steel lens attachment rings
Lanyard

The Pixeet fisheye lens looks pretty professional for an iPhone accessory. The case is made of aluminum and the lens is made of optical glass.

The base of the lens is magnetic.

To attach it to your iPhone, you can use the included silicone case / skin, that has a metal ring over the phone’s lens.

The lens magnetically sticks to the ring, holding it in place.

If you don’t want to use the case and aren’t squeamish about sticking an adhesive ring to your phone, you can use the one included in the package. There’s even a notch in the ring for the LED flash.

Once you’ve attached the lens to your iPhone, the next step is to download the free Pixeet app.

The Pixeet interface is pretty simple to understand. Just click the New Panorama button to get started.

You can then decide if you want to create a 180 or 360 degree panorama. The 180 degree panorama only requires one image, while the 360 requires 4.

To take a 180 degree panorama, you hold the phone in landscape orientation. If you forget, the Pixeet interface will remind you with the green / red orientation indicator (see image above). Line up your shot and press the onscreen shutter button. That’s all there is to it.

Here’s a shot without the Pixeet lens.

And here’s a shot with the lens attached using the iPhone’s normal camera app. Notice how it looks circular and sorta of warped? That’s where the lens gets the name “fisheye”.

Here’s another example without the lens…

And with the lens.

Here’s a completed 180 degree panorama:

Pretty cool right? 360 degree panorama’s are even better… except that they require 4 images instead of 1.

To capture a 360 degree panorama, you have to hold the phone in portrait orientation and rotate a quarter turn for each shot.

The app will indicate which way to rotate and will help you line up your shots. It’s not difficult to take the 4 shots, but if you’re in a public place taking them, it might make you feel a little weird twirling around.

Here’s an example of a 360 degree panorama:

Your panoramas can be viewed through the app’s interface, or you can sync then to a free account on the Pixeet website.

The free account allows you to upload up to 50 panoramas per month. Pro accounts have no limit, higher resolution and commercial features so that you can add your own branding and audio to the panoramas. The price for the pro account is $19.90 per month or $199.9o per year. That yearly price will also get you a free upgrade to iPhone 5 hardware. That’s a lot of money for the pro account, but I can see realtors opting to pay it so that they can create virtual tours of homes.

I was a little apprehensive of the fact that there didn’t seem to be a way to archive the panoramas off the Pixeet website. However, with a little digging, I found that you can download the images that can probably be loaded into other software to recreate the panoramas if needed.

The Pixeet fisheye lens is a fun accessory to have for your iPhone. It’s not extremely expensive and offers some unique photographic options.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Reviews

Tagged: Camera, iPhone, Photography

Pixeet Panorama iPhone Fisheye Lens Kit Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 3, 2011 at 5:56 pm.

The Brinno GardenWatchCam is a weather resistant, time lapse camera that will help you capture cool video of activities that regular snapshot photography can’t easily do. Imagine capturing a flower blooming, a house being constructed, the autumn leaves changing colors. You can do that with the GardenWatchCam. Let’s take a look.

Package Contents

GardenWatchCam
2GB USB Flash Drive
4 AA Batteries
Mounting Stake
Setup Software
User Manual
Warranty Card

The GardenWatchCam looks sort of like a large webcam. It’s made of a hard plastic, with a Green color that will blend in well outdoors. On the front of the camera are 3 status LEDs, the Lens and a power button. The lens rotates to select two capture settings: Macro and Standard. The Macro setting will focus from 19 inches away and the Standard setting focuses 2.6 feet and beyond.

The LEDs alert you to low battery and memory. It also will blink every 15 seconds to indicate that the camera is powered on.

The GardenWatchCam is powered by 4 AA batteries that are thankfully included with the package. One set of batteries will last for up to 6 months when set to take one image every hour.

Image capture frequency is set by rotating the dial between the batteries. As you can see, you can choose between 7 different time settings. The first 6 settings and are chosen simply by opening up the camera and turning the switch to the desired time (ranging from 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, 24 hours).

The custom setting can be set to take shots between 5 seconds to 12 hours (the default custom setting is set to 20 seconds). To change the setting you have to run the application on the included CD. Unfortunately, you’ll need a Windows PC to do this. There’s no Mac compatible app yet. This app also is needed to set the date and time for the captured videos.

Your videos are stored on a USB stick. Included with the camera is a 2GB stick. The camera supports up to an 8GB stick.

To start using the camera, install the batteries, choose the image frequency, insert the USB stick and put on the back cover.

Then you can either screw the camera onto a tripod or use the included mounting hardware.

You can use 1 or all 3 stakes depending on how high you need to position the camera.

The GardenWatchCam is weather resistant and has been designed to withstand a driving rain, morning dew or high noon heat. There’s no info on the Brinno site to indicate if the camera can withstand extreme cold temperatures too.

The camera is definitely simple to setup. Just place it where you want to capture the action and power it on. The only issue I have with it is that there’s no viewfinder or LCD display, so you don’t really know if you’re pointing the lens in the exact perfect spot. You either have to eyeball it or let the camera capture a couple images, remove the USB stick and go check the captured video on your computer to see if it’s pointed correctly. Once it is, you can leave it running as long as you like.

In my first test, I set the camera lens to Macro mode and set it to take an image every 30 minutes for a couple days. Videos are captured in AVI format (1280 x 1024 resolution). Here’s the result of my first test:

I was trying to capture the flower bud at the top center of the picture, but the weather was too dreary and rainy, so it didn’t bloom. You’ll notice some parts of the video that are black. The camera is supposed to not take photos when it is too dark out, but as you can see it did anyway.

My 2nd test was shot indoors on a tripod. It’s of me cleaning Gadgeteer HQ. The camera lens was set on Standard focus and it captured a picture every minute:

The GardenWatchCam is really fun and easy to use. I hope that Brinno will consider adding a Mac compatible app to allow the custom time and date settings.

I am excited to think of various ways to use this camera and am going to set it up outside pointing to my woods line so that I can have it capture the leaves turning colors for Fall. I’ll probably leave it running for a month or longer and will add that video to this review when it’s complete. What would you capture with the GardenWatchCam?

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, Outdoor Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Camera, Photography

Brinno GardenWatchCam Time Lapse Camera Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 13, 2011 at 5:00 pm.

Until recently I kept away from DSLRs, they were just to big for me to lug around and as such my last 4 cameras have been point and shoots.  This meant missing out on a lot of manual settings and flexibility , but better to have a camera with you rather than not having one because it’s too inconvenient to carry.  Recently however I bought a Panasonic G2 Micro Four Third kit.  I’ve found this a nice compromise with the smaller size. Normally I use the standard 14-42 so it’s not too big to lug around and most of my pics are around the 14-30 mark anyway. The 45-200 is only used for kids sports, dancing and plays, so don’t have to carry it all the time.

Panasonic has just released their X series lens for Micro Four Thirds.  As you can see from the picture above the 14-42 /F3.5-5.6  while set at 14mm looks almost like a pancake prime lense.  Hidden inside though is a fully electronically controlled zoom lens. At 26.8mm in length and weighing approximately 3.5oz ( 99 grams ), this makes their Four Third range ( like their new GF3 ) even more portable and perhaps more competitive against the crop of portable point and shoots.

Available for SRP of $399US from Panasonic

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, News

Tagged: dslr, Photography

Panasonic X Micro Four Thirds Lens, Growing Pancake originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 1, 2011 at 9:00 am.

Pentax has just announced the Pentax Q 12.4MP camera. This little (very little) guy has a footprint of only 3.9 x 2.3 x 1.2in and supports interchangeable special Q lenses that include a wide, telephoto, zoom and fisheye. It also features a 3 inch LCD viewfinder, shake reduction, 1080p video capture, HDMI out. It comes in Black or White and has a price of $799.95 for a kit that apparently does NOT include a lens. It’s currently available for pre-order with no mention of a shipping date. It looks cute as a button, but that price is pretty ouchy. What do you guys think? Is it drool worthy?

[via Likecool]

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, News

Tagged: Camera, Photography

Pentax Q – world’s smallest interchangeable lens camera originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 19, 2011 at 1:00 pm.

Digital cameras are great.  They’re convenient, fun, and are becoming idiot-proof.  Then the Fuji X100 came into my life and I realized just how lazy and dependent on technology I’ve been when taking snapshots.  How did this happen?

I have a love-hate thing with digital cameras.  First, the technology keeps advancing that lures me into feature-lust.  Second, I can’t seem to find a camera with controls that I like.  Either the buttons don’t feel right, or you have models with all touchscreen controls.  I’m not sure I like that either.  I like knobs and levers.  I don’t want a camera that’s too big, either, or I’ll be less likely to bring it out on a day trip.  The list goes on. Let’s just say I’m picky.

Recently, I was snapping photos with my most recent digital camera, which came equipped with over a dozen or more “intelligent” presets, and I came to the realization that there had to be something better than this, without having to resort to a full-sized digital SLR I didn’t want to carry around.  Sure there are other compact micro 4/3rds cameras out there, but I just wasn’t interested.  Was I doomed to pocket “point and shoots” forever?

Well, enter the Fuji X100.  I wasn’t even thinking of buying a new camera until I saw this- and fell in love.  Has the handsome good looks of an old-fashioned rangefinder style camera with the modern guts of a modern digital camera… and wasn’t a gigantic as a digital SLR.

First things first.  This isn’t cheap.  At $1199 list price, most people would buy a really good digital SLR and call me foolish.  I’ve also owned less expensive “not SLR” cameras like the Canon G9 and G10, plus the Sony NEX-5, but neither felt quite the same as this.

Really short list of specs:

• 12.3 MP
• APS-C sensor (what you’d find in typical digital SLR cameras, way bigger than ordinary point and shoots)
• Focal length f=23mm (equiv. to 35mm on a 35mm camera)
• Full apeture: F2
• ISO 200-6400 standard sensitivity, 100-12800 extended
• Shutter speed: up to 1/4000
• Movie: 1280 x 720 at 24fps, stereo (10 min max length)
• 126.5 (W) mm x 74.4 (H) mm x 53.9 (D) mm / 5.0in. (W) x 2.9in. (H) x 2.1 in. (D) (Minimum thickness: 31.0mm / 1.2in.)

Click here to read full specs

The X100 is superbly built.  Even the lens cap is a solid, one-piece metal thing with a thin foam lining to keep it snug when attached (and I’ll probably lose it by next month).  It’s got a beautiful array of knobs and levers where you want them, and buttons on the back like any other digital camera.

Lovely, lovely knobs!

That little lever toggles between optical and electronic viewfinder modes in the eyepiece. Focus assist LED is right next to it. Tiny hole to the left is one of the stereo microphones.

No, you can't change the lens, but I like it that way.

One serious metal lens cap.

A thin liner keeps the lens cap snug.

USB and HDMI ports

Focus modes: Manual, autofocus, and continuous autofocus

Looks like a digital camera from back here

SD card slot and battery compartment

Using the X100, I noticed right away that this isn’t the same as using the crazy, feature-filled pre-programmed digital cameras of today.  There are no presets for “action”, “pets” or “aquarium”.  There’s not even face detection, which you’d think would be standard in this price range.

I recalled the days before cameras were so automated.  I could feel the cobwebs being blown away as my rusty photography skills were reawakened.  I guess I really did get lazy!

You still get the standard PSAM modes (Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual).  Leave both shutter and aperture knobs on the red “A” and you’re in full Program mode.  Dial in your own shutter speed with aperture on “A”, and you’re in Shutter Priority, and so on.

See that little black “Fn” button?  It’s F’n great!  You can program it to your own custom function, like ISO, ND filter, etc.  Assigning a function is easy, too:  Just press and hold the Fn button and it’ll bring you straight to the customize menu.

Let’s talk about that viewfinder.  This is no ordinary viewfinder.  It’s an optical viewfinder (OVF) and electronic viewfinder (EVF).  EVF is straightforward:  What you see on the main, rear LCD shows up in the tiny viewfinder.  The X100 has a nifty eye sensor (like the ear sensor on an iPhone) that detects your face close by, and toggles the main LCD off as you peek through the viewfinder.  (This is user-adjustable if you want to keep things simple).

Eyepiece view of the Electronic Viewfinder

The OVF is a different matter.  Yes, you’re looking out the glass, into the “real world”, but the X100 overlays shooting information, like a fighter pilot’s heads-up display.  See the two focus points in the middle?  The centered one is solid, the off-center one is dashed.  When focusing on close-up objects, the focus point ends up being closer to the off-centered one due to parallax.  When you lock on to focus, a green square appears on or between the two rectangles, indicating the true focus point.  And, the white border around the image also shifts to adjust for parallax.

Optical hybrid viewfinder. The overlay is a digital heads-up display, not painted on.

The main LCD is bright and very crisp 2.8-inch, 460,000 dot display.  There are many customizations to what you can display, but my favorite has to be the electronic level.  I’ve ruined many photos by not watching my horizon and being off-kilter like a vintage Batman episode.  The lines turn green when you’re level.

The main LCD. Horizontal line in the middle indicates image is level.

White and blue lines indicate image is not level

Another interesting feature is the “film” selection.  Besides black and white, sepia, and other filtered modes, you can choose between three “film” presets that simulate Fuji’s Provia, Velvia, and Astia films.  Provia (“Standard”) is the all-purpose film, Velvia (“Vivid”) gives a more vivid look as the preset suggests, and Astia (“Soft”) gives softer color and contrast.

Film simulation samples

This is picture of a chair in my office.  The easiest thing you’ll notice is the blacker blacks and slightly brighter colors on the pillow in the Velvia setting.

Provia (standard) setting

Velvia (vivid) setting

Astia (soft) setting

Same thing for these toy cars.  With the Velvia setting, the green cars are almost fluorescent, and you can barely see the stripes on the side of the black car.

Provia (standard) setting

Velvia (vivid) setting

Astia (soft) setting

Quirky?

The X100 is not without it’s quirks, though.  For one, I find the menu button difficult to press.  It’s not small, but it seems flush to the four-way jog dial, so I have to be careful not to make accidental presses.

It looks easy to press, but the Menu button can be tricky.

The battery can actually be inserted the wrong way quite easily.  I got around this by noticing the battery has an arrow printed on the outside, and that there’s a arrow icon printed on the inside of the battery compartment.

Just follow the arrows and you'll be fine.

The autofocus/read-write LED is located exactly where you’d put your thumb.  Not so hot.

Under thumb? Very dumb!

As for manually focusing, forget it.  It’s a “focus by wire” setup and there’s no focusing confirmation, like a split prism window or something.

Actual Use:

Without the idiot-proof camera presets, I was more or less forced to think before shooting- as I should have been all along.  What kind of effect am I going for?  Do I have enough light?  That kind of thing.  But this is a good thing!  Now, when I get a “bad” shot, I blame it on myself and not the camera.

Compared to other point and shoots, the X100 works well in low light where I wouldn’t dream of taking pictures with a point and shoot.  This is no surprise, considering the CMOS sensor is way bigger (APS-C) vs. the rinky-dink sensors of most compact cameras.

Yes, there’s no zoom, and there’s no way to change the lens.  You’re stuck with what it came with.  And, I couldn’t be happier.  I’m one of those people who doesn’t like zoom lenses, but that’s just me.

I’ve read reviews that say the camera is slow to startup, read and write.  I made sure I used the fastest memory card I could find (this one from Sandisk, a UHS-1 card) and I made sure I formatted it in the camera.  No complaints in actual use.

Here are some samples taken on the first week I owned the X100.  I’m still getting the feel of things, but I’m happy with the results.  Click each image for full size.

Joey's new favorite number is 3. He's also letting you know he's 5 years old.

At f2, details are a little soft but very pleasant. The Velvia setting makes the colors a little brighter. Those are my blue, penguin-print pants I'm wearing.

Taken in an underground garage with no flash. Note the raindrops on the front bumper.

Same parking garage, no flash, just crummy ambient light.

Some friends on my desktop.

Yes I have Christmas lights in my office.

My office building. You may recognize it from a Mythbusters episode where Adam tries to scale the windows with a suction cup rig.

Closing Thoughts:

OK OK I admit.  I was initially drawn to the X100 for it’s good looks.  But the more reviews I read about it, the more excited I got and I’m not disappointed.  No fancy auto-everything presets, but if you take the time to learn the camera and understand (or dust off from memory) the fundamentals of photography, the X100 will reward you with great photos.  And in my case, if the shots are bad, it’s entirely operator error!

Are there better cameras that cost less than the $1199 price tag?  I’m sure there are.  But there aren’t many that can match the sturdy build, good looks, and great performance in such a package smaller than a digital SLR.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Camera, Photography

Fuji X100 Digital Camera Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 15, 2011 at 11:00 am.

It seems like Brando is always coming up with a product that makes you go “huh?”. Their latest offering is a USB optical mouse with a built in digital photo frame. It has 8MB memory which allows you to store up to 50 photos that will display on the the 1.5″ LCD located in the palm rest. Special Windows XP, Vista, 7 software is included to transfer the images to the mouse. It’s definitely a conversation starter. You can get one now for $32.00

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Digital Cameras and Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: Mouse, Photography

No Room for a Digital Photo Frame on your Desktop? Put One in your Mouse! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 13, 2011 at 9:00 am.

You’ve no doubt seen flip books before… They are small books with an image on each page that looks like an animated cartoon or movie when you rifle through pages sequentially. Now you can use a 5-15 second video that you’ve captured on your iPhone to create your own 50 page flip book by using the Flickbooks free iPhone app. The video is uploaded to MyFlickBooks website and you can pay for the book directly on your iPhone. The price is € 9.90 plus € 3 Shipping. That works out to about $17 US. Don’t have an iPhone? No worries, just visit the MyFlickBooks website and upload your video directly and place your order.

Filed in categories: Audio, Video, TV Gear, Do-It-Yourself, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: Photography

FlickBooks App Turn iPhone Videos into Flipbooks originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 16, 2011 at 2:00 pm.

We’ve reviewed several photo books at The Gadgeteer, and they’ve all allowed some customization of your book design.  You can choose themes (wedding, baby, holiday, etc) that determine a set of background images, and you can choose templates that fit a pre-determined number and size of photos and text boxes on a page.  Shutterfly also has a photo book that works that way, called Simple Path.  After listening to their customers, they know that people want more control over the book design, and they have introduced Custom Path photo books.  With Custom Path, you have complete control to resize photos, move them around on the page, even use your own photo as a background.  You can add text and embellishments, too.  A Custom Path book fit up to 25 pictures per page, for a total of 1,000 photos.  At launch, 41 design styles are available from designers like Stacy Claire Boyd, Demby & Solomon and Ali Edwards.  Five sizes of books are available, starting at only $12.99.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, News

Tagged: Photo books, Photography

Shutterfly Custom Path Photo Books Give You Complete Design Control originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 19, 2011 at 1:00 pm.

Several of the ladies on my staff go every year to some cottage somewhere do go “scrap-booking”. I see stores come and go selling scrap-booking stuff, whatever that is.  Personally, I think they really go to sit around and drink wine more than scrapbook (not that there is anything wrong with that….)!  If you want to have cute stickers of ducks on your scrapbook pages and have the photos of little Melvin and Aunt Agnes under a heart cutout, then off to the cottage with you.  If, however, you just want a truly nice looking photo book to show off your pictures, then read on.

I have made several photo books in the past with other services.  The ones I have used were pretty simple and easy to figure out.  VioVio is as well, but they have a TON of things you can do with their program, so I spent more time on these books; but, I found it really fun.  When you go to their website, you come to a clean home page.  On the right side of the page is a window entitled Explore VioVio, which has links to information on all their products, including photo books, travel photo books, photo cards, yearbooks and teams, architectural portfolios, scrap-booking (don’t know about the duck stickers) and more.  I really enjoyed just wandering around the site checking out the options.

Lower on the home page there is a box called Step by Step Guide with a link that reads Watch a Quick Video Tour which I found helpful and not too long (22 minutes).  In the long run it will probably save you time as you will be able to navigate around the site with more familiarity.  What took me the longest to do in the process had nothing to do with the site.  It was gathering all the different photos and arranging them for easier upload to the VioVio site.  I chose to do a book about different outings I have been on with my staff, so I had photos from many years.  Depending on how organized you are with your photos, this may take you much less time.

I uploaded a bunch of photos and only used half of the 500GMB storage allowance. The photos can be uploaded in a zip file, or if you are a Flickr user, you can get photos from there for your project. They can accept most photo formats, including of course JPEG, but also GIF, and PNG. If you are familiar with FTP accounts (File Transfer Protocol) you can set up a free account on the site  and upload your photos to VioVio this way as well. After your photos are uploaded comes the book design part, the fun part.  The home page has a quick quote area to give you an idea what you might be spending.

It would be too lengthy to detail all the choices you have on the site.  Some of them include the layout of the pages, for which there are numerous templates.  Each page can have a different template if you wish.  You also have many choices of book size and shape, and a number of binding and cover options.  The book building program does have options to do some editing of your photos, but I found it easier to do this before uploading.  I had assigned numbers to the photos, then went to rotate one, and all the assigned numbers disappeared.

You use the VioVio Designer to build each page of your book. For the “easy way outers” there is an option to autofill the pages, which plunks you photos down on the pages automatically.  I didn’t try this, I chose to build each page on its own.  As you build your book this way, you first choose the template for each page, (i.e. one landscape photo on the top of the page and two landscape photos on the bottom of the page.) Again, multiple page templates are available.  A default book starts with 20 pages, but you add or subtract pages as you need quite easily.  There are some effects also available, such as adding text boxes, etc.  I used text on a number of the pages.  My biggest complaint about the book was that in a couple of instances some of the text was cut off in the printing of the book, and I was unable to tell that it was going to happen.  It looked on the layout in front of me that the text was properly placed on the page. I think some way for the software to recognize a problem like this would be very helpful.  (Also I imagine if I worked with the program more I might be able to figure out why this happened and how to avoid it.)

After designing the pages (and adding over 10 more pages) I was ready to choose the cover style and photo.  For one book, and 8 1/2 x 11 book I chose hardcover die cut- which is shown at the top here.  A cut is made in the cover similar to a cut on a photo matte, and the photo underlies.  For the other book I chose a 9 x 7 inch hard-cover imagewrap cover, shown below, which prints the phot to cover the front of the book and wrap onto the back.

The photos came out crisp and clean in the book, and drew great praise from the group of ladies I work with as well as a number of our customers. Pages in my book are of a nice stock, not too thin and flimsy. They offer three types of paper for your book pages, including a silk paper. The total for both of these books came out to around $60, which I felt was a very fair price for such a good quality product.    I would encourage you to visit the site, but don’t rush to put a book together.  Take your time and have fun with the process.  If you feel you must have a glass of wine, do so, but I think you will be pleased with your results!!  I will be doing future projects with VioVio for sure!

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Photo album printing, Photography

VioVio Photo Books Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 22, 2011 at 12:00 pm.

My best buddy Bill of iPhotosports.com sent me a link this morning telling me that I needed to check out Ortery Photosmilie systems so that I could take my product review images to the next level. Ortery’s multi-dimensional imaging tools allow you to take 360 degree 3D images and videos of products. They offers several models that include animated light boxes with built in turn tables and special TruView 3D image capture software for PC and Mac. The Ortery Photosmilie 5000 even includes a Canon EOS Rebel XS and lens. I was thinking hmmmmm, this really could be cool to add 3D rotating images to my reviews – that is till I saw the price! The Ortery Photosmilie 5000 is $22,000 through B&H Photo. At that price I think I’ll buy one for everyone on The Gadgeteer team Not. I guess I’ll just stick with the same homebrew macro photography setup that I’ve been using for years.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, News

Tagged: 3D, Photography, Spotlight Gadgets

Take your photography to the next level originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 21, 2011 at 9:06 am.

Last year, I had the opportunity to review Professor Kobre’s Lightscoop – an accessory for cameras with a pop-up flash.  The Lightscoop is designed to redirect the harsh, direct light of the pop-up flash to the ceiling to wash the scene was a softer, more even light.  It worked great with my Nikon D80 to produce beautiful photos and portraits.  Go check out the review again, check the Lightscoop website to be sure it will work with your camera, then take advantage of the 25% discount they’re offering through 12/27/2010.  Just use the coupon code CHEER to receive your discount and get a great gift for yourself or the photographer in the family!

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, News

Tagged: Camera flash attachment, Camera gear, Photography

Special Holiday Pricing for Professor Kobre’s Lightscoop originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 21, 2010 at 7:30 am.

Creating framed pictures and photo books from your own snapshots is a great way to add your own flair to your home and gifts. Need some more ideas of things to do with your photography? MOO to the rescue with custom StickerBooks, MiniCards and a special MiniCard Mosiac frame.

Note: Most of the images in this review can be clicked to view a full-size version.

MOO StickerBooks

Who doesn’t love stickers? Remember back in the 70′s or 80′s (I don’t remember exactly when, but I was still a kid…) when all the shopping malls had sticker kiosks? I know my sister and I spent quite a few dollars and hours picking out all sorts of neat stickers that we promptly went home and stuck on our bedroom doors. When I left home and my Dad remodeled my old room, it took him a long time to scrape them all off.

MOO’s order process is simple. Get some images and upload them. They recommend 343 x 343 pixels. I used photoshop to size my images to that requirement and uploaded them. One such example is shown above.

Once uploaded, you can move the image around on the sticker template to get it just right. I was worried that my images weren’t the correct size because of the grey border overlapped the edges of the image. The re-size slider on the cropping page would not allow me to make it any smaller, so I manually re-sized and re-uploaded the picture in photoshop and had the same result. I hoped that it would be fine and uploaded a bunch of similar images.

The next step in the ordering process is to choose the color of your StickerBook cover and then you’re done! Let’s see the final product…

Cool! I was really really happy with the StickerBook until I took a closer look at the stickers.

You’ll need to click the image above to see what I’m talking about. See the perforations?

Dang it! Every one of my stickers were like this. I guess the only way around this happening to is to make sure that the image has a large ‘gutter’ around it. Even though MOO says that the optimal image size is 343 x 343, don’t allow your image to come right up to the edge of that size. I actually had some room around my images, but I’d suggest leaving a lot more room than I did.

Even though my stickers didn’t turn out perfect, I am impressed by the quality of the StickerBook and the stickers themselves. They are vinyl and won’t tear. The colors are bright and the printing is very crisp.

The prices aren’t bad either. 90 stickers for $9.99 up to 360 stickers for $39.96.

MiniCards

MOO MiniCards are half the size of a standard business card. They can be used as a unique business card, bookmarker, custom gift tags, etc.

The ordering process for the MiniCards is similar to the StickerBooks.

Upload your images and then decide what portion of the image you want to use for each MiniCard. You can rotate the crop tool and move it around on the image, but once again, you can’t make the image smaller. Not sure why…

In addition to customizing the front of the card, you can also customize the back with your own artwork, contact details and various icons. I opted for a simple icon and no text.

My MiniCards turned out better than the stickers as you can see here. The images are from my recent trip to Sanibel Island Florida.

The card stock used for the MiniCards is nice and thick and the print quality of the front and back is very nice. I’m impressed with the way the cards turned out. The prices are 100 cards for $19.99 up to 400 cards for $68.99

Mosiac Frame for MiniCards

Once you have a bunch of MiniCards, what do you do with them? How about framing them with the MOO Mosiac frame.

The Mosiac frame is a 16.50 x 10.75″ acrylic frame with a clear plastic cover that is held in place with 6 screws. The frame is available in White or Black and can be oriented and hung in either portrait or landscape orientations.

When you remove the clear cover, you will see 20 individual MiniCard sized holders.

The MiniCards fit in these small plastic holders perfectly. Just slide a card into each one and arrange the 20 holders in various ways till you are happy. The last step is to screw the clear cover back in place and you’re done!

Nifty huh? The fun thing is that you can easily rearrange and switch out the images anytime you like.

The individual frames fit together perfectly.

Hang the Mosiac frame on the wall or use a stand to place it on a shelf like I have here. iPad stands work great like this one from Scott A. Snyder. The box that the frame ships in has instructions for cutting and folding the cardboard insert to create a free frame.

The MOO Mosiac Frame is priced at $34.99.

With the exception of my stickers not turning out as I would have liked, I am impressed with the quality of MOO’s products. They are a fun and relatively inexpensive way to take your own photos and do something fun with them that you can use and enjoy.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Photography

MOO StickerBooks, MiniCards and Mosiac Frame Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 17, 2010 at 11:00 am.

Instead of choosing pre-framed artwork for the walls in your home or office, how about using some of your own pictures for a custom touch. Canvas on Demand gives you a wide variety of choices as far as frame styles and photo effects. They offered me a coupon to try their service. Let’s see the results.

We recently remodeled our basement and have been in the process of decorating it. I had reviewed another photo to canvas service earlier this summer (CanvasPop) and at that time we went with a tree picture. So when Canvas on Demand offered a 20 x 30 framed print for me to review, I decided to keep with the same theme and picked another tree image. This time from a trip to Sedona Arizona a couple years ago.

Here is the original image (sized down of course) that I took with a Nikon Coolpix 5mp camera after climbing up to Airport Mesa. We’d visited the same place years before, but at that time, we didn’t have a digital camera. This time I came prepared because I knew i wanted to take some pix of the gnarly tree. Word has it that the tree or the area around it is a vortex. I’m really not into new age spirit stuff, but I have to admit that being up there did make me feel ‘something’. Maybe it was just the awesome view and beautiful day, but regardless, I was happy to capture some pictures. I’m glad that I did because a year or so later, I came to learn that the tree had been cut down. Enough about that…

I decided not to have this image printed in color, I thought a 20 x 30 black and white print would really stand out on our walls, so I had my good friend and expert photographer Bill Ray Jr. process the original 5mp image through a photoshop plugin to pump up the pixels and then another plugin to convert it to black and white. Once I had the modified image, I logged into the Canvas on Demand site and went through their easy ordering procedure.

First you choose the layout of the finished picture. I went with a single panel.

Next you must choose the size of the canvas. I was offered a 20 x 30 inch canvas, but as you can see, there are many choices available, including custom sizes. Of course, the larger the canvas size, the more expensive it gets. The type of matting you choose (framed or wrapped) makes a difference as well. I went with a standard style frame.

There are some nice frame styles to choose from. I went with Standard Black.

You can even choose the type of hanging hardware. Again, I opted for the least expensive (free) option.

There are several effects, retouching and background replacement options that you can have applied to your image. Some are free and others have a charge. Since my image was already converted with Photoshop, I left all these options set to None.

I placed the order on a Thursday and the finished framed canvas print arrived the following Wednesday.

It turned out great don’t you agree?

Upon close inspection, I could find no defects in the canvas or the frame.

The wood framing is very sturdy and well constructed.

Although the frame is pressed wood, it looks quite nice.

No complaints at all on the materials.

The canvas print is very nice as you can see. Click the image for a larger view.

I’ve never seen these honeycomb style hangers before…

I’m not sure I’m going to use them though. I haven’t decided for sure. I actually need to buy 2 more pictures to go next to this one to balance it out since they will be hung over a couch. More trees? Hmmmm, not sure… Probably something along that same theme though

If you’ve been considering having some of your images printed on canvas, I will recommend Canvas on Demand. The print was easy to order and they shipped a quality product quickly.

Filed in categories: Home Tech, Miscellaneous, Reviews

Tagged: Art, Photography

Canvas on Demand Photos on Canvas Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 12, 2010 at 10:59 am.

I fancy myself a pretty decent photographer. At least as far as macro photography for the product shots in my reviews are concerned. I’m not sure that I’m all that great with general photography though. I have a goal to work on that in this coming year and have even considered purchasing a Micro 4/3′s camera. Of course with new cameras come new accessories and one such accessory that has caught my eye is the Pinwide adapter from Wanderlust Cameras. It’s a special cap that fits into the body of the camera in place of a standard lens. It provides a very tiny aperture that will give your camera a super wide angle of 11mm – the equivalent of 22mm on a 35mm camera. If you don’t know the difference between apertures and ISOs, don’t worry… all you do need to know is that the Pinwide will allow you to create cool pix.  The guys at Wanderlust are using a service called Kickstarter (it’s similar to Quirky) to help them get the $$’s to produce this thing. So right now the price is $39.99 to pre-order it, but they’ve already earned 4x the amount they needed, it should be available soon.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, News

Tagged: Photography, Spotlight Gadgets

World’s Widest Digital Pinhole Adapter for Micro 4/3′s Cameras originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 1, 2010 at 5:33 pm.

Timbuk2, maker of rugged, high-end messenger bags, has finally gotten around to addressing the needs of their photography-loving users with the release of their new Snoop Camera Messenger bag.

The Snoop looks a lot like Timbuk2′s standard and laptop messenger bags, but includes a padded and removable compartmentalized insert that will hold and organize your camera and a complement of lenses, flashes, and other gadgets.  The shoulder strap, buckles, etc. all appear to be standard fare for Timbuk2 bags, which is to say, quality.

The Snoop Camera Messenger is available now on the Timbuk2 website for $130.00.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear

Tagged: gear bags, Photography, Spotlight Gadgets

Timbuk2 Shows Shutterbugs Some Love, Finally originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 12, 2010 at 3:00 pm.