Nikon Unveils Pocket Camera with Onboard Projector

Nikon Coolpix S1000pj

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.

Like a pico projector (‘cause that’s basically what it is), the S1000pj uses an LED light source to bounce the image off an LCD and through the lens. You get one hour of showtime on a fully charged battery. Aside from that, this is more or less your standard point-and-shoot: 12.1 megapixels, 5X zoom, image stabilization, 2.7-inch LCD, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The S1000pj will be available in September for $430.