digital cameras

Olympus today continued the game of cat-and-mouse that is the land of Micro Four Thirds cameras with their new PEN EP-2. The new shooter, which comes on the half-iversary of the EP-1, is chasing Panasonic's much-lauded GF1 but feels unlikely to overtake it.

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We live in a world designed by Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle, and George E. Smith. Their work on the physics of light made possible the fiber optic cables carrying this web page to your phone, and the digital camera on the other side. And on December 10th, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will award them the Nobel Prize in physics for their work.

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If a Hummer died and came back as a camera, it would be a Leica -- for many reasons. First, they're built like tanks. Second, even the "small" ones are still huge. And, the most affordable ones are expensive. The just-announced M9 rangefinder and X1 compact are true to Leica form: they're both masterfully constructed cameras that are built to last. But at $7,000, the M9 should have a solid 24K gold shutter at the very least.

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This is the week of the Internationale Funkausstellung (er, International Consumer Electronics Show) in Berlin, which is pretty much just what it sounds like. It's one whopping, European CES. The trouble with IFA for us on the State-side, though, is that a lot of companies forget one key thing: the magical Internet can cross water. Because of that, a lot of "new product announcements" are "things we have already seen," so it takes a little more effort (and flexing what's left of my undergrad German skillz) to figure out what's worth paying attention to.

Over the last two days, the IFA press preview has kicked up some real goodies -- even before the show floor opens to the public today. IFA '09 has already shown us a real taste of how our home theaters will look in the next half-decade, laptops on serious diets, and a couple cool new toys.

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Panasonic was the first out of the gate with a Micro Four Thirds camera, a system that promises SLR quality in small packages. It was Olympus, however, that hit small-body sweet spot with the EP-1. Today, Panasonic announced their own realization of the Micro Four Thirds promise with the svelte Lumix DMC-GF1.

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Although Nikon was the first to market with HD capture for its DSLRs, Canon has arguably pushed things further forward with the full-frame, 1080p-capable 5D Mark II and sub-$1,000 Rebel T1i. The brand new 7D is the next step--enhancing the movie mode with video geeks' most wanted features, while at the same time integrating features from their top-end 1Ds Mark III family, giving would-be photo pros plenty to covet.

Is this the camera that finally puts the semi-pro digital camcorder firmly in its grave?

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We’ve come a long way from ye olde slide carousel. Though the idea of click-slide-clicking our way through BBQs and beach vacations is so deliciously Mad Men, it’s not exactly what you’d call “portable.” Nikon’s new Coolpix S1000pj camera, however, is a theater in your pocket. In playback mode, you can open a second lens on the front of the camera that casts images and movie clips as large as 40 inches onto any surface up to 6.5 feet away.

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Sometimes looking to the past to inspire designs of the future is inspired by nothing more than fashion, but sometimes, it actually serves a functional purpose. Enter Olympus's freshly announced EP-1, which recreate a form factor we haven't seen a lot of since the film era: a sleek, compact body with interchangeable lenses.

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"It's evolutionary, not revolutionary" was how one attendee summed up this year's show. And, indeed, the biggest debuts of last week seemed, well, not particularly big. TVs were thinner, cameras zoomier, 3D a step closer to fruition. But game changers were few and far between. And perhaps that's because companies have learned to tone down their promises and time frames.

It's not just big technologies. A few years ago, a grand, gadget-filled future was just around the corner. There'd be cameras that print their own photos! And cell phones with Skype! When you wanted to turn off your TV, you'd just wave your hand and when you wanted to turn on your toys you'd just think hard. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn that 2009 was to be the year of fulfilled promise. All those products we'd just about given up hope on were launching at long last. If only we could say it was worth the wait.

Launch the list here for a look at the letdowns.

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As time goes on, more and more people are carrying little cameras with them everywhere they go. I'm one of them. Here are a few camera tricks I've picked up through the years.

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