cameras

TOKYO--Yodobashi Camera is a massive electronics complex in Tokyo's bustling Shinjuku district. You walk through the neon-lined entrance into a maze of computer, smartphone, TV, and other displays. It's designed to overwhelm.

The plastic shines under the glare of fluorescent lights. Add to that fumes from the bus depot outside, yelling salesmen, and a looped company jingle on the PA system based on "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

It's a sensory assault. … Read more

You know what they say... keep your friends close, and your batteries closer.

A Washington-based accessory maker has just created a Kickstarter project for its latest product, the Rhino Battery Holster. As the name suggests, the contraption allows you to holster your camera battery like a gunslinger in an old Western.

Capable of holding two Canon 2 LP-E6 juice packs, the battery holster has an integrated belt clip that lets you attach the holster to your belt, camera strap, or camera carrier. Alternately, there are brass inserts at the rear of the belt clip that let you secure the holster to anything using a carabiner. … Read more

Welcome to CNET Australia's guide to pocket filmmaking. The Pocket Filmmaker will show you how to turn the smartphone in your pocket into a camera capable of shooting video projects that are worthy of sharing with family and friends, online, and even with the judges of some of Australia's biggest short-film festivals.

Your host on this creative journey is Jason Van Genderen, winner of several short filmmaking awards, including at Tropfest NY, Tropfest Sydney, Aspen Shortsfest, and even an IF Award. Jason's projects have been shot on the Nokia N95, Nokia N8, and Apple's iPhone. He … Read more

Boy meets camera. Boy loses camera. Boy launches undercover sting to recover camera. Photographer Jeff Hu became the star of his own version of the classic cop show "The Streets of San Francisco" when he took on the task of recovering his stolen Canon Rebel T2i camera.

Hu details his adventure in an article for PetaPixel that should act as a training manual for anyone who ever finds a stolen item on Craigslist.

The story begins innocently enough with a party that got a little out of hand. A group of close friends soon expanded to include some strangers. The next morning, the party-goers were gone, and so was Hu's dSLR.… Read more

Freelensing is a technique where you remove the lens from the front of your SLR or interchangeable lens camera, and hold it in position rather than locking it in place in the lens mount.

Tilting the lens back and forth gives you an effect that looks somewhat similar to that of a tilt-shift lens or a selective focus lens like a Lensbaby. Expect light leaks and lots of bokeh, or blur, thanks to the shift in the plane of focus.

A word of warning, freelensing is not for the faint-hearted, as you could drop your lens or get dust and … Read more

Comic Book Camera has one purpose, and that is to turn your pictures into comic book-inspired prints. Despite its limited focus, it's a fun app to have in your library.

Comic Book Camera doesn't waste any time; it's ready to snap a picture as soon as you open it. Its editing features are all accessed from the same screen, which also displays your image. The camera operates much like your iPhone's camera. There's a button for flipping the camera if you want to snap a picture of yourself. The FX menu lets you pick from … Read more

Continuing to focus on its pockets of growth for point-and-shoots, Fujifilm announced today two new FinePix models, the XP200 and S8400W.

An update to 2012's rugged XP170, the XP200 gets better waterproofing, now able to shoot down to 50 feet, and is still shockproof to about 6.6 feet, freezeproof to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, and dustproof. It has a redesigned battery door with a dial-locking mechanism to help keep the seal tighter than simple sliding locks.

Other improvements include a 16-megapixel CMOS sensor, a 3-inch, 920K-dot-resolution LCD, and a new burst-shooting button for capturing shots at up to 10 … Read more

Facebook is all about giving its users a one-stop-shop for all of their social needs, and Facebook Camera is another facet of that. The app lets you take pictures and immediately post them to your Facebook account. While it's not really necessary considering there are so many other ways to share photos on Facebook, it's fast and performed without a hitch.

Once you're logged in to Facebook Camera, all the photos in your News Feed from your Facebook friends appear on the screen. And just like any other status update or post, you can Like or add … Read more

Lytro, a Silicon Valley startup making an unusual new light-field camera, said today Jason Rosenthal will take over as chief executive on April 15.

Rosenthal previously was an executive at Silver Lake Partners and CEO of social-networking start-up Ning. He also worked at AOL, Hewlett-Packard, Netscape, and OpsWare.

He'll replace interim CEO Charles Chi, who took over when founder Ren Ng stepped aside as CEO in 2012. Ng will remain executive chairman, the company said.

Lytro's light-field camera allows photographers to focus an image after the fact, but also reduces resolution and makes sharing photos less convenient than … Read more