angle

Flipbac your pics to shoot from an angle

Digicams with tilt-and-swivel LCDs always have a place in our hearts. One reason is that they facilitate taking pictures at awkward angles. However, most point and shoots on the market do not come with such displays. This is because the implementation usually results in bulkier cameras.

But now there is Flipbac, an angle finder that uses a mirror to reflect the scene off your LCD, which simulates a screen that's able to tilt. What's more, this gadget can be used in either landscape or portrait mode due to its dual-hinge design. When not in use, it can also … Read more

Panasonic's Free Angle HDMI cables: Cool, but there are cheaper options available

At first glance, Panasonic's Free Angle HDMI cables look to be the perfect solution for HD connections in tight spaces. The cables--available in lengths of 1.5 and 3 meters--are so named because the HDMI plugs on each side can rotate up to 180 degrees. That means you can fold the plug down to a 90-degree angle with the cable (as shown), allowing it to fit into spaces as tight as 1.2 inches--ideal for wall-mounted TVs, for instance.

The cables worked just as well as standard HDMI cables in a quick and impromptu test. The only problem, then, … Read more

Casio's thin Z150 offers a wide view

Though I've yet to see one of these ultraslim ultracompact cameras produce great photos, the specifications on Casio's new Exilim EX-Z150 have me crossing my fingers.

The 8-megapixel camera incorporates an f/2.6-5.9 28-112mm-equivalent 4x zoom lens, which offers the widest angle of view we've seen at that size, and is one of the few ultracompacts in general to provide it. Since people usually use cameras like this for group and travel snapshots, the wide angle is a nice feature to have. It also offers sensor-shift image stabilization; while most of its competitors do too, … Read more

Ricoh's wider-angle GX200

Ricoh continues inching its way back into the U.S. market, this time with an update to its Caplio GX100 point-and-shoot camera, the GX200. The real distinguishing characteristic of the GX models is the 24-72mm-equivalent 3x zoom lens; 24mm is a fairly wide-angle view for a snapshot model.

The GX200 isn't a huge upgrade over the GX100; basically, it's got a higher-resolution 12-megapixel sensor compared with the GX100's 10-megapixel CCD, and it sports a slightly larger, higher-resolution 2.7-inch LCD, versus 2.5 inches for the GX100. Ricoh claims its updated image-processing engine, Smooth Imaging Engine III, … Read more

Sigma expands stabilized lens line

LAS VEGAS--Sigma, a third-party maker of lenses for SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras, has expanded the range of Optical Stabilization (OS) lenses, those with a moving lens element that can compensate for camera shake.

Of eight mainstream lenses the Japanese company announced at the Photo Marketing Association trade show here, three new telephoto lenses include OS. (I'm not counting Sigma's 200-500mm f/2.8 super-telephoto behemoth as mainsream.)

The three stabilized lenses are the 18-125mm F3.8-5.6 DC OS HSM, the APO 120-400mm F4.5-5.6 DG OS HSM, and the APO 150-500mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM. … Read more

Panasonic goes wider with FX35

It's not easy to find a compact camera with a wide zoom lens. Panasonic has been good about offering cameras with a 28mm wide angle in the past, but its new Lumix DMC-FX35 offers an even wider 25mm wide-angle zoom lens. The 10.1-megapixel Lumix DMC-FX35 boasts a 4X optical, 25-100mm f/2.8-5.6 Leica DC Vario-Elmarit zoom lens with optical image stabilization. It also sports a 2.5-inch LCD screen, a 2.5fps (up to 5 images in Standard JPG, or 3 images in Fine JPG) burst mode at full resolution, and a video mode that can … Read more

The million-dollar fishing lure

With the sport of fishing becoming increasingly high-tech, there are new gadgets coming on the market all the time. This isn't one of them. Will that stop us from posting about it? Of course not.

That's because we simply must share this "Million Dollar Lure" just to purge it from our system, in a combination of awe and disgust. It's the ultimate creation of an outfit called MacDaddy's Fishing Lures ("We Put the Bling in Your String!"): The foot-long "lure" comprises 3 pounds of platinum and gold festooned with 4,… Read more