November 2009 Archives

Ready for a breathless string of hyphens the likes of which no digital camera maker can lay claim to? The new Stylus Tough-8000 from Olympus is: Shock-proof; Water-proof; Freeze-proof and even Crush-proof. Specifically, you can go as deep as 33 feet underwater, shoot snowmen and polar bears down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, drop the camera from 6.6 feet and even stomp on it (up to 220 lbs. of pressure) -- without hearing a squeak or a whimper.

You can feel the heft in your hand when you hold the 8000 -- this is not your niece's digital camera, more like your white-water rafting third cousin's, the daredevil. Capable of shooting at 12 megapixels, this latest in the Stylus line can make up for your shake and bake hobbies with dual image stabilization and a 3.6 optical zoom. Not only that, one has the ability to change settings and issue commands by tapping once or twice on the side or top of the camera -- very handy when you're wearing hockey or diving gloves, as I so often do.

Of course, it's not just ruggedness that makes this unit so useful, it's that it has all the elements of a great, everyday handheld camera -- a super-bright 2.7" HyperCrystal III LCD display, a zoom which takes you from a wide-angle 28mm to 102mm telephoto and face detection technology that insures your human subjects are in focus and perfectly exposed. There is also a boon to those of us too techno-challenged to make wise exposure choices -- the Intelligent Auto Mode that analyzes the image being photographed and uses one of five templates or "scene modes" to select the optimal settings. All that and an ultra-cool Platinum Silver housing that makes the 8000 look more like a lab instrument than a point and shoot. Truth is, you could probably bring down a grizzly with one swift camera-in-hand blow. That, my friends, is not in the manual, nor recommended.

The Digital World's virtues -- faster, smaller, more portable, etc. -- are also one's undoing if you happen to be a trifle absent-minded. I probably waste a cumulative hour a week searching my pockets for the cellphone, the digital camera or the iPod Touch. Pathetic, I know. Which is why I am so enamored of the new Eye-Fi Share Video wireless memory card, a Wi-Fi-enabled SD storage device for your digital camera that instantly uploads photos to your computer or even the website of your choice (Facebook, Flickr and such like). You needn't remove it from the camera, insert it somewhere else, nor click your mouse till your wrists need physical therapy.

It takes just minutes to configure the Eye-Fi with your home computer, at which time you can select which photo-sharing websites you'd like to upload to. The 4GB card holds up to 2,000 photos or ninety minutes of video, all for about $80 smackers, a swell value indeed. The card is compatible with hundreds of digital cameras, but check the website to make sure it works with yours. Eye-Fi also makes a 2GB version and a Pro card that transmits RAW images and streamlines the workflow when you're shooting those barely-clad models in Fiji.

Dutch company EKS is one of the venerable names in the DJ-Gear World, known for its innovative design and indestructible workmanship. Latest off their line is Otus, a software/MIDI controller that eliminates the need to carry around bulky dual-CD decks and a thousand pound pile of music. Download drivers, attach cables to laptop, configure the software (probably Traktor or Deckadance) -- and boom, you are ready to spin, chop, mash-up and beat-match to your heart's content. Not only that, you are going to look subzero cool doing it.

Touch sensitive controls and a smoothly solid illuminated 7.5" jog wheel provide most of the hands-on action, enabling one to scroll through vast amounts of music on your laptop without having to mouse around in a dark and cavernous club. You can even adjust the touch-sensitivity of the controller surface to make sure it's working ergonomically correct. And speaking of efficiency, the whole rig runs off your computer's USB bus, so there's no need for additional power cables.

As cool as it presents itself, the real goal is shoe-shattering dance-floor sounds, and Otus is well up to that task as well. Its Burr-Brown sound card delivers fat basses and shimmery high-frequency transients without distortion. The touch-sensitive platter dominates the surface and -- like other jog-wheels -- acts as a pitch bend when touched on the side and scratches when you touch the top. The pitch slider takes a bit of getting used to and the overall feel of the aluminum-sheathed unit is solid without being bulky.

In the end, you do have to be able to re-orient your thinking to get the most out of Otus, but once you've bowed down to its forward-looking grid, you can control two decks with the ease of steering an automobile, and with twice the MPG! This is technology at its best.