We start this week with some more photography in the news. Engineers at Georgia Tech have come up with an interesting digital camera-neutralizing prototype that was created mainly to thwart those who would use a digital video camera to videotape and then resell movies.
Movie piracy is a $3 billion dollar per year problem right now, and to prevent it from growing, the prototype uses sensors, lights, and a computer, to scan for, find and then neutralize digital cameras.
Other uses may eventually be to prevent unwanted pictures being taken at events such as weddings, or of Mom taking pictures of her child with Santa, to avoid paying for the professional shot. What will they think of next?
Mike Wendland has a good article on the latest trends in digital cameras, as well as a list of the top three that he recommends.
Here is an article on the trend toward smaller sized digital cameras, and a review of the Panasonic FX9.
Consumer Reports reviews the newest digital cameras, and finds:
A $350 Fuji-film camera has an extra large LCD screen for playing arcade style video games the camera offers. For $500 Sony offers one with a large LCD display and a screen that is touch sensitive. You use a stylus to navigate the menus. Sony and Nikkon both offer cameras that let you hook up to a television and put on a slide show.
“You can play music in the background. You can change the speed of the slide show and there are effects like panning and zooming,” said Maria Grimaldi of Consumer Reports.
For $300 Samsung gives you a camera that doubles as a personal multimedia player. You can play mp3 files and upload videos onto it. So, what model does Consumer Reports recommend? The $170 Canon Power Shot a520, which offers excellent picture quality for the price
And lastly, the new Digital Art Photography for Dummies book is now available.