camcorders

Great discussion yesterday on the subject of CDs! Lots of you are still very passionate about them; others prefer modern streaming and download options. Thanks for weighing in!

Back to business. It was less than a year ago that Kodak unveiled the Playsport Zx5, its second-generation waterproof pocket camcorder.

A lot has changed since then. Main competitor Cisco pulled the plug on the Flip Video line, and Kodak itself just announced plans to exit the camera business. Sad.

The silver lining: cheap deals on Kodak goodies. For example, today only, and while supplies last, Bedeals has the refurbished Kodak Playsport Zx5 pocket camcorder for $79.99 shipped. … Read more

At this week's CP+ show in Japan, Sony unveiled its road map for the next couple years' worth of NEX E-mount lenses. Hint: it's light on the heavy glass.

According to the plans Sony unveiled at the show, photographers with Sony's Alpha NEX series of cameras have eight new lenses to look forward to over the course of the next year and a half or so. These include:… Read more

SD cards now have a patent spat of their own.

During CES, Toshiba and the SD Association made a couple of announcements that flew under my radar: a new specification dubbed Wireless LAN SD, aka iSDIO, (PDF) and a formal announcement by Toshiba about its FlashAir card, the first to support iSDIO.

Friday morning, Eye-Fi issued a statement on its blog expressing its displeasure over the SDA's announcement. In its statement, Yuval Koren, CEO of Eye-Fi, claims the announcement was premature, issued before the draft consideration process was complete, and that it runs the risk of violating some of … Read more

LAS VEGAS--This was an odd CES for cameras.

We usually only get point-and-shoots, and some generally uninteresting ones at that. This year we were greeted with three models targeted at enthusiasts and pros, though: the Fujifilm X-Pro1, the Nikon D4, and the Canon PowerShot G1 X. Consequently, they were each nominated for a CNET Best of CES award in the digital imaging category.

The overall number of point-and-shoot announcements was down (no thanks to Fujifilm's deluge of 19 models), but it looks like that's just a CES phenomenon; we expect a lot of the entry-level and mainstream models not announced here to pop up at CP+ in Japan in early February.

Is it a sign of the U.S. market's decreasing relevance to the camera companies? With Kodak having flushed itself, every major camera company is based in Asia. We still buy a lot of cameras in the U.S., but we're not growing as fast as other regions, and are a mature, price-conscious market, which can be unappealing to companies looking for high volume and high margins.

It's also possible that the timing of CP+, in PMA's old spot, simply matches camera makers' habitual announcement cycle.

Despite all that, we still got plenty of point-and-shoot camera announcements, and with them, a closer look at what you can expect this year as manufacturers build out their 2012 lineups.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Standard-definition camcorders should have died a while ago, but the manufacturers kept them around because they were still selling. That changed this week at CES when all the major manufacturers--Canon, Sony, Panasonic, JVC, and Samsung--announced nothing but high-def models and confirmed there would be no more SD models coming in the future.

Now, I know some of you out there have or had SD camcorders that produced great video, but manufacturers stopped making high-quality SD models a long time ago when HD took over.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--It's really too bad that all the bankruptcy talk and lawsuits overshadowed Kodak's CES product announcements, particularly its latest minicamcorder, the Playfull Dual.

It's called the Dual because it's set up to shoot both full HD movie clips and 12-megapixel stills. Movies can be captured at 1080p at 30 or 60 frames per second (H.264) and it can also do high-speed capture at up to 240fps at 720p resolution for slow-motion clips.

As a still camera, its backside-illuminated sensor allows for faster shooting and better low-light image quality. It has an f2.6 wide-angle … Read more

LAS VEGAS--It's certainly looking like the minicamcorder is headed off into the sunset, being beaten down by compact cameras and smartphones. Sony's giving it at least one more go, though, with its Bloggie line with two new models--one fitted with Wi-Fi, the other with a coat of armor.

The Sony Bloggie Live is a full HD minicamcorder (though it'll shoot at 720p at 60 or 30 frames per second, too) with a 3-inch touch screen and built-in Wi-Fi. Connect to a hot spot or other wireless network and you can stream live to Qik.com (assuming you'… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Sorry, Sony, you may have some really good camcorders, but you have too many. Thirteen new models between $300 and $1,500 is simply overkill.

Normally, I'd break Sony's camcorder barrage into three posts and attempt to meaningfully differentiate the two midrange CX models from the four entry-level models from the five projector-enabled models from the one hard-drive model...but this year, I'm just going to hit the highlights of the models that I think deserve to exist.

There are a couple notable updates for 2012. The first is Balanced Optical SteadyShot (BOS), a major enhancement … Read more

LAS VEGAS--With updated naming conventions and fewer offerings than last year, Panasonic's somewhat stolid lineup resists jumping on the Wi-Fi bandwagon.

This year's camcorder lineup from Panasonic is a refreshing change from previous years. Not only did the company take the opportunity to rationalize its offerings, simplifying its nomenclature with the convention that "M" indicates the model with built-in memory, but it's also pruned the number of models. Plus, this year it joins the march of companies declaring the death of the hard-disk camcorder.

One thing that hasn't changed is Panasonic's annoying practice … Read more