The next time you snap a picture of your family, friends, or that huge rat you saw crawling along the subway tracks, you might just reach for your cellphone rather than your trusty point-and-shoot camera. According to consumer research company NPD Group, the number of photos taken with smartphones has been steadily increasing over the years, while the number of photos taken on cameras has decreased.

In its latest Imaging Confluence Study, NPD states that the number of pictures consumers shot using smartphones increased from 17 percent  in 2010 to 27 percent in 2011, while the number of photos shot using cameras fell from 52 percent to 44 percent. NPD points to smartphones’ ease of use, compact size, and relatively long battery life as the reasons consumers have started turning away from classic point-and-shoot cameras in favor of their phone’s camera Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s offering from Dell will really set you up with a package of entertainment goods that will keep you busy for awhile. So if you’re a fan of one-stop shopping – and let’s be real, who isn’t – today is your lucky day. The Dell Inspiron 15R heads up the group, and with a Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS as well as Adobe Elements for Photoshop and Premiere, this package is perfect for somebody who enjoys photography and editing or retouching photos. Through a deal at LogicBUY, all three of the products are available for $599.

If that sounds like a sweet bundle to you, you’ve got good taste. The Dell Inspiron 15r includes a 15-inch display, an Intel Core i5 processor that packs plenty of power for everyday tasks and more, and a comfortably sized 15.6-inch 720p display. On top of that, buyers get an Intel HD 3000 graphics card (to help wrestle down intense video frame rates),  6GB RAM, SRS-boosted audio, and a DVD drive. And we haven’t even gotten to the included point-and-shoot camera for taking snapshots and the Adobe Photoshop software that will let you edit those pictures. It may not include a Canon Rebel XSi DSLR or a full install of Photoshop CS5, but for amateur photographers, today’s deal can’t be missed.

Get the Dell Inspiron 15r with a Canon ELPH 100 camera and Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.0

Today’s offering from Dell will really set you up with a package of entertainment goods that will keep you busy for awhile. So if you’re a fan of one-stop shopping – and let’s be real, who isn’t – today is your lucky day. The Dell Inspiron 17R heads up the group, and with a Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS as well as Adobe Elements for Photoshop and Premiere, this package is perfect for somebody who enjoys photography and editing or retouching photos. Through a deal at LogicBUY, all three of the products are available for $699.

With the Dell Inspiron 17R the alpha machine of this package, it’s evident that this sale doesn’t sacrifice quality for price. In our May 18 review of the computer, we were shocked by the gaming capabilities of the computer and its overall prowess for multimedia applications; it received 4 out of 5 stars. The Canon Powershot, a 12.1-megapixel point and shoot camera, features a 3-inch LCD monitor and up to ISO 1200, a $180 value. And with Elements, you can get right down to editing and improving your images.

Base specs: Dell Inspiron 17R with switchable lids: Intel Core i5 processor, 6GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, 1-year warranty, 12.1 megapixel Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS, Adobe Elements for Photoshop and Premiere.

Get the Dell Inspiron 17R, Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 and Adobe Elements for $699 through a deal at LogicBUY.

When it comes to really capturing a scene, a smartphone camera still can’t touch the prowess of today’s leading cameras. For the best in photography this year, check out the cameras below. They’re organized by type and price, so you’ll be able to find exactly what the photographer in your family wants.

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Ultrazoom: Sasmsung WB750 ($279)

Bang for Your Buck

Samsung provides the best of both worlds in the 12.5-megapixel WB750: the flexibility of an 18x zoom lens with the portability of a pocket camera, plus the ability to snap 10-megapixel stills without so much as a blip in the HD video she’s recording. Other highlights include 3D and HDR modes.

www.samsung.com

Hauling around a battered DSLR can be culturally enriching and snapping images on your smartphone’s camera is always fun, but what’s really cool is catching the world on video. After all is said and done, video is the medium that captures more senses, brings out life’s actors, and has the power to overturn court rulings. So invite your favorite family member to indulge her cinematic side this holiday season and set them up with one of these shooting stars – all of which offer a little something extra.

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JVC GC-PX10 ($900)

Cinema-Quality Shooter

A hybrid camera that shoots 12-megapixel stills and records 1080p HD video at an unusually high-quality 36 Mbps bit rate, the JVC GC-PX10 also possesses esoteric talents. We’re talking video capture at 250 fps for super slow-mo playback and full-resolution still capture at 25 fps. It sports a 3-inch tiltable touchscreen, manual controls, and an accessory shoe, too.

www.jvc.com

Nikon launched its first mirrorless interchangeable lens compact camera this week that is based on an entirely new imaging system. The new camera, dubbed the J1, is the first homegrown camera system that Nikon has developed since its F System more than 50 years ago.

At a swanky event in Tokyo, Nikon revealed the 10.1MP candy-colored cameras with high-tech features designed to appeal to a new crowd of users.

“Nikon is looking to capture young, socially connected adults who may or may not be traditional memory-keepers in the home,” Sharon Henley, Nikon product life cycle control senior manager, told reporters. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Labor Day weekend and you know what that means: summer is coming to a close. But before you head out to that last barbeque of the year, take some time to catch up on this week’s reviews. From Sony’s new Tablet S to a near-$5,600 Alienware notebook, we’ve seen it and reviewed it all. So check them out, and then have an extra burger for us.

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Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5204

If you’re in the market for a budget-friendly notebook that can handle some casual gaming, the AMD Quad-Core A6-3400M-powered Satellite L755D may be the notebook for you.

Read the Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5204 Review

It’s an old, and all too often told story: Airline passenger checks bag with expensive electronics equipment, arrives at destination sans expensive electronics equipment thanks to a grabby TSA screener. Often these cases don’t end the way they did last week, with the culprit being caught red-handed with an iPad that he’d stuffed down his pants. (Must have been some loose pants…) Turns out that screener, Nelson Santiago-Serrano, had stolen over $50,000 worth of merchandise in his time working at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

How is it that Mr. Santiago-Serrano  hadn’t been caught up until now? Possibly because the process of reporting stolen items is labyrinthine, confusing, frustrating, and sometimes not even worth the effort. First, it’s not clear who’s responsible: the TSA, the airport, or the airline? If the TSA, just looking at the claims page gives the impression that getting your claim resolved could take weeks or months, and that’s if you file it correctly. Airlines limit their liability for theft and sometimes exclude items like jewelry, cameras, and laptops.

Artist Shaenon K. Garrity had her $2,000 Macbook Air stolen from her luggage while traveling on US Airways. The bag was misrouted to begin with, left in unsecured areas for hours, and generally mishandled. “I contacted the airline immediately and filed a complaint,” she said on ComplaintsBoard.com. “After keeping me waiting for a month, U.S. Airways sent me a form letter telling me that it does not compensate for laptops. If they have a policy of not compensating for stolen laptops, why couldn’t they have told me this a month ago instead of making me jump through all these hoops?” Shaenon also contacted the TSA to file a complaint but they didn’t help.

Getting the TSA to take responsibility is an ongoing issue in these cases.

Ever spent time trying to get that perfect shot with your camera, only to be left with an amorphous blob? Out of focus photos could be a thing of the past thanks to a new camera  that focuses images after the fact. No, it’s not some kind of black magic, just some good old fashioned innovation.

Lytro, a Silicon Valley-based startup has just unveiled some of the first images created from its light field camera. Instead of recording images in 2D like current digital and film cameras on the market, Lytro cameras capture every light ray in the scene using a light field sensor. “The light field sensor captures the color, intensity and vector direction of the rays of light.” From there, a set of algorithms are applied and a “living picture” is created. Living pictures can be manipulated after the fact, allowing the viewer to focus on individual parts of the image.

Read the rest of this entry »

Panasonic recently introduced its ninth micro four-thirds camera, the Lumix GF3, a camera designed for serious photographers who want the benefits of a dSLR in a lighter, smaller form factor. Micro four-thirds is a relatively new camera standard introduced by Panasonic and Olympus in 2008 and one that may be unfamiliar to many photographers.

Is it for you? Whether you’re looking to move up to a more professional camera or extend your camera arsenal, we’ll show you how new format cameras stack up against more familiar compact and dSLR cameras.

The micro four-thirds standard was developed through a partnership between Panasonic and Olympus as an alternative to their bulkier dSLR counterparts and the entry-level dSLR cameras made by rivals Canon and Nikon.

If your camera skills have gone beyond the pocket camera, and lugging around a bag full of heavy dSLRs and lenses seems daunting, micro four-thirds cameras are worth consideration. Read the rest of this entry »