Welcome to CrunchGear’s Gala Best of 2008 Awards featuring the Best Gear, Gadgets, and Software of 2008. Best of all, we tallied your responses and collated them in the People’s Choice awards. Now that I’m wearing my tux, let’s get right to the awards.
Available at Amazon for the low, low price of $1,000, the Kodak OLED 7.6-Inch Wireless Digital Frame sports a widescreen 800×480 resolution, 2GB of internal storage, and WiFi connectivity to Flickr or Kodak’s Gallery service. Just the thing you need to show off pictures of your dog!
Good lord, sir. There are so many lawsuits about that you can’t swing a cat without hitting a lawyer. IBM is suing Papermaster, Papermaster is suing IBM, Apple and Psystar are suing each other, the US is suing LCD makers, Spansion is suing Samsung, and god knows what else just from the last couple weeks has escaped my memory.
And now Kodak is getting in on the feeding frenzy, and is suing Samsung and LG for undisclosed damages, saying their mobile phone cameras infringe on Kodak patents in some way. It’s a bit fuzzy right now, but I’d guess that Kodak pretty much has any sensor-related stuff locked down. Without knowing any of the details, I’m guessing LG and Samsung are going to cough up.
I’m loving Kodak lately. They’re rocking the sensors, they’re introducing new Super 8 film(spotted here), what’s next? Their own social network?
Actually, to be honest, I don’t really understand this latest move. It makes a lot less sense than a new color still film, which is still relatively well-used. Super 8 is pretty rare to find, and although its low cost means anyone can try, editing is a pain. Unless you like cutting film and taping it together, you’re going to have to get a digital conversion to edit anyway, unlike easy-to-print still shots. So any benefits you get from shooting film are negated or at least dampened by that process. Still, for people still shooting and editing 8mm in the old school style, this is pretty awesome.
[via Retro Thing]
The Kodak EasyShare Z1012 IS is a 10.1 megapixel camera with 12x optical zoom and image stabilization. It also records video at 1280×720.
The Good
This camera is really, really light. It’s surprisingly light. You could easily forget that this thing was in your pocket. It’s got a fast start up time, which means you’re less likely to miss those impromptu shots. The auto focus is fairly fast, and certainly adequate for most casual users.
It’s got your standard assortment of scene modes (fireworks, museum, beach, kids, snow, etc). In auto mode, you can select from 10, 8.9, 7.5 and 5.0 megapixels at a 4:3 aspect ratio. In PSAM modes, you can select 10 (4:3), 8.9 (3:2), 7.5 (16:9), 5.0 (4:3), 3.1 (4:3), 2.2 (3:2), 2.1 (16.9), and 1.2 (4:3) to allow you to select the best resolution and aspect ratio for the intended use. Also in PSAM modes you can control the compression of the JPEGs between Fine (little compression), Standard, and Basic (lots of compression). For example, the same shot taken with all three settings produces files 4.1, 2.8, and 2.1 megabytes in size. In auto mode, you don’t get to select the compression at all — and it looks like it uses Basic compression, because the files are surprisingly small.
Kodak’s really on it. In addition to creating some of the best digital camera sensors on the market, they are now also putting out the film with the finest grain on earth, in addition to it having extremely high contrast and color saturation. Very nice.
Although the film in my fridge is nice big-grained T-Max 400, something like this might still be useful for fashion photographers and nature buffs who like to print stuff real big. Like side-of-building big. I’m not actually at that stage in my photography career yet, but it never hurts to be prepared.
[via Retro Thing]
This is interesting. I really had no idea that Kodak was the sensor provider for both Leica and Hasselblad, whose near-medium-format professional DSLRs have been the talk of the town lately. Good for Kodak! I like it when companies are behind the scenes and don’t steal the thunder — companies like IBM and Broadcom that make the hardware that makes the hardware.
I wonder then if Kodak is in Red’s sights as well? They have said they are going to take on Canon and Nikon, but with the idea being that their sensor is far better, that also puts Kodak in the kill zone.
Kodak will be showing off a fancy OLED photo frame in Germany next week. I bet it’ll look really nice. I also bet it’ll be prohibitively expensive for most people. Yep, there we go — it’ll cost $999. I hope you have some really good looking friends and family.
If you have beautiful acquaintances and deep pockets, here’s what you’ll get: a super thin 7.6-inch screen with 180-degree viewing angle and 30,000:1 contrast ratio, Wi-Fi connection for streaming photos from Flickr and/or FrameChannel, 2GB of memory, 16:9 aspect ratio at 800×480 resolution, video playback, and support for multiple memory card formats. It’ll be available from Kodak.com in November.
Look for the frame if you’re at the Photokina show in Germany next week.
The biggest buzz in camcorders over the last year and a half hasn’t been from any of the big manufacturers — Sony, Panasonic, JVC or Canon, et. al. Instead, it’s a little product from a little company called Flip Video. A tiny pocket camcorder that offers simplicity and style over power and performance, Flip Video cameras — the Mino, Ultra, and Original — have been hugely popular with the younger, so-called “YouTube” set. About a year or so ago, one of our Born Digital predecessors wrote a story about the Flip Ultra and found it to be “perfect for online video sharing,” noting she had captured a short video with the Ultra and uploaded it to YouTube in a matter of minutes. Soon after, Flip Video camcorders were everywhere, it seemed. (Even my mom was asking about them.)
With so much attention going to such a small product, it was only a matter of time before the big boys would want a piece of the burgeoning pocket video camera market. The first major company to weigh in with a potential Flip Video challenger was somewhat unexpected though. Instead of Sony, Panasonic, JVC etc., venerable point-and-shoot camera manufacturer Kodak announced this summer that it would introduce the Zi6 pocket video camera ($179) in early Fall. Though the Zi6 seems to be part of an overall strategy by Kodak to prove that it’s no longer a stodgy, old film-based company but an energetic, multi-media, digital imaging company, the message to Flip Video was clear. Watch your ass, buster. Big Yellow is coming after you.
Guest Writer Dan Havlik is Editor of DemystifyingDigital.com. For more product news and reviews, visit DemystifyingDigital.com.
Kodak didn’t just announce a tiny little video camera last night. They also released an interesting Wi-Fi-enabled media player that can drag photos off of your memory cards and display them on your HD TV and then upload the images straight to a PC or Kodak Gallery. It will cost $299 and has a Wii-like remote that lets you browse photos and even listen to streaming audio over the Internet. It has opitical and RCA audio out, component video, and HDMI and outputs in 720p.
The field of tiny camcorders is going to blow up. Things like the Flip Mino are going to take over whether we like it or not (we don’t), because they’re so dang convenient. No bells, no whistles, just push-button controls and super-easy connectivity and YouTube uploading.
Well, Kodak is announcing a new tiny camcorder called the Zi6, which sounds more capable than the popular but somewhat underpowered Flip. It shoots 720p at 60fps to an SD card or the internal memory. It can also be plugged right into a compatible HDTV and you can navigate your pictures, videos and so on directly from the device. It comes in black and pink, and costs $180.
Update: We’ll have one to review soon. Can’t wait to get my paws on it and compare it with my old DV cam.
Remember zines? Well, this is nothing like that. This is Motorola’s latest “Z”-themed phone featuring a 5-megapixel sensor from Kodak (it actually takes some nice photos). The camera launches instantly when needed by sliding the front lens protector and you can upload images automatically or use Kodak’s EasyShare Suite to edit and move the photos on the PC. China’s getting it first but the rest of us get to use it in July. Full release after the jump.
I got my mom a digital picture frame and I don’t think she turned it on. Even though it’s one of those fancy ones with Wi-Fi and web sharking, she just can’t fathom its manifold complexities. Kodak’s new frames, on the other hand, hold up to 100 snapshots, pre-loaded by the factory. You can also add new images with a Kodak flash card, also pre-loaded.
- Minutes to Make: simply choose the frame you want and select up to 100 of your favorite KODAK Gallery photos. We’ll ship the package to you or someone else.
- Effortless Operation: We load the pictures for you. Simply plug in your preloaded KODAK EASYSHARE Digital Picture Frame and enjoy the show!
- Sleek, Stylish and Intuitive: KODAK EASYSHARE Digital Picture Frames preloaded with up to 100 of your photos come in a variety of sizes – 7-inch ($144.95 plus shipping), 8-inch ($174.95 plus shipping), and 10-inch ($224.95 plus shipping) standard frames and a 10-inch wi-fi enabled wireless frame ($274.95 plus shipping).
- Unsurpassed Quality: All frames feature KODAK Color Science, delivering vibrant color and crisp detail; a clean, thin design; plug-and-play simplicity; as well as support for both vertical and horizontal photos.
- Music to Your Ears: Play your favorite MP3s on your frame through built-in stereo speakers.
- Room to Grow: KODAK Picture Cards ($19.95 plus shipping) are preloaded with up to 100 of your favorite Gallery photos and are also sold separately so you can always have your latest and greatest memories on display. KODAK Picture Cards are compatible with any brand of digital frame that has a card slot.
It was Kodak that made the first digital camera in the year before I was born. It was cobbled together out of spare parts in the Kodak labs and was less than .01 megapixels in resolution. It was the size of a toaster and it took 23 seconds to record a black and white image to a cassette tape.
That’s all so retro cool. It was “portable”, but nobody at Kodak likely thought it as a good idea, seeing as the company’s bread and butter was selling analog film. But still, just look at the thing!
Remember way back in October I told you about a handful of Motorola phones that everyone thought were fake? Well, it looks like the X PIXL is real and Kodak is supplying the optics for the Motorola ZN5 as it’s being called now. The 5-megapixel Xenon flash handset looks mighty fine, but I’m not fond of the new keyboards that Motorola is putting on their devices like the ROKR and Z9.
Kodak’s dropped a trio of new digital photo frames that lack the usual controls or remote control that most frames come with. Instead the frames have a multitouch-like “Quick Touch Border”, allowing for gesture-based input to browse or display photos. It’s a cool idea.
The M820 and M1020 are 8- and 10-inch frames, respectively, featuring built-in speakers for MP3 playback and multi-card reading card slots for loading images into its 128mb internal memory. It also has a USB port for loading straight for the computer or even a thumbdrive.
The P720 features a 7-inch screen with no internal memory; instead a secondary SD card slot takes the place, meaning it can hold as much as you’d like it to, up to 2GB. It’s slick, and made to be mounted on walls.
Their all available now, with the P720 retailing for about $120, the M820 for $180, and the M1020 for about $230.
Kodak announced a number of entry- to mid-level point and shoots at CES and the Z1085 IS is one of the higher-end monsters. It is just now shipping and I got the chance to sit down with some Kodak folks to discuss what makes this model better than the rest. Basically, the camera performs considerably more post-processing on the pictures than competitors. We tested it a few times in backlit scenes and the effects were sometimes startling. For example, this shot of PHa was taken against a window. What initially appeared to be a fairly dark, blown out scene was instantly modified by the on-board software to a rather nice shot of a young blogger in the wild.
Expect a full review coming up but right now this model has a 10-megapixel sensor, 5X optical zoom, HD video recording, and it costs $249.95 online.
Hit the jump for a nicely repaired backlit photo. This was taken in auto mode without editing.
Digital has almost completely replaced film in the casual set and is making inroads among professionals and artists, but that doesn’t mean film is being completely forgotten. Kodak and Vivitar have not forgotten their roots, and are creating a new film camera aimed at universities teaching “traditional photography.” They say it’ll be similar to the V3000.
I’m not sure I like how they refer to film photography as something of a folk tradition (I’ve still got a Canon FT and some T-Max 400 in the fridge), but I’m glad they’re keeping the fire.
Kodak SLR Brings Film Back Into the Picture [Photography Bay]
The one thing I’ve had against digital photo frames is that they’re showy. They have to be backlit, which makes them stand out, and looks odd. OLEDs promise to make more realistic looking photo frames, and this cute little 3-inch model from Kodak is one of the first out of the chute.
At only 8mm wide, the ELiTe Vision KTEL-30W has a 3-inch OLED screen that’s self luminous and produces photo-real, natural-looking colors.
And it’s battery powered, meaning it’s made to be portable. And it’s got a 1Seg TV tuner built in. If you’re in a 1Seg-having country, this is a neat little portable.
3 inches wide organic EL one-segment TV Kodak ELiTe Vision KTEL-30W Product Overview [Kaga]
One of the biggest selling points for social networks, at least for me, is the ability to upload and see others photos. It’s pretty much the only way I stay in touch with friends in different parts of the country and world. I know there are other photo hosting sites that do some slide show stuff that you can embed onto your MySpace or Facebook page, but for those of you who use Kodak’s Gallery service, and I know some of you do because they boast over 60 million users, you can now create your own slideshows thanks to a deal inked today with Slide. But it’s not limited to Kodak Gallery users, though. You can upload your own files or pull photos off of Friendster, Bebo, MySpace, Slide, Photobucket, Facebook, Flickr or compile a slideshow from image URLs.
With Slide you can add all sorts of craptacular things like glitter, transitions, music, music videos, strange effects and whatever else you feel like doing. I say craptacular because I’m not into those sorts of things, but I know the ladies love it. Valentine’s Day is coming up and this is a sure fire way to win some brownie points. Now get to it.
