Photography

Just a couple of months ago we told you about iZON, an app-based room monitor that allows you to view and listen to what's going on in your home from anywhere – right on your iPod touch, iPhone or iPad. This handy device has already come to good use! An elderly woman in South Florida used it to capture video of a thief burglarizing her home. The theft triggered iZON's motion detection, capturing video to a private YouTube account, and ultimately led to the arrest of the perpetrator. Busted!

Dru Ackerman, whose story was first reported on CBS-12 in Boynton Beach, FL, was concerned that someone was entering her residence while she was not home. Having learned about iZON's motion detection capabilities from her son, she purchased and quickly set up iZON to monitor her front door. The very next day, iZON automatically captured video of a neighbor entering her home and stealing prescription medication.

"The police... could not believe that we had video of the person doing the crime", said Ackerman's son. "The officer was so impressed with the video, he wanted to purchase [iZON] for his home!"Read more

Canon today announced its fifth annual Photography in the Parks Photo Contest. Beginning today (May 17) until September 30, 2010, you can submit your best "Nature" image to win Canon photo gear. The Grand Prize winner will also receive a trip to a U.S. National Park of his or her choice, within the lower 48 states. The contest is divided into two divisions; the teen division, for ages 13-17 and the adult division, for ages 18 and older.

Photos should be submitted through the contest page at the Canon Digital Learning Center Web site: www.usa.canon.com/parks. To qualify, photos must be taken at a park or monument in the United States. After entering your photo in the contest, you can then forward an e-postcard of your entry to friends. Read more

Leica is adding another camera to their line of titanium special edition cameras. Leica is limiting the D-LUX 4 Titanium to 10,000 worldwide.

This collector's item is functionally identical to the regular D-LUX 4. The compact system camera's high aperture lens allows for use without a flash under more conditions than most compacts.

The Leica D-LUX has a 10.1 megapixel sensor, 24-60 mm lens and can store photos in fine, standard, raw or combinations.

It comes with a matching titanium colored leather case. Available accessories include a handgrip, auxiliary finder and flash.

Available at authorized dealers in January 2009.

You are about to start … Check out the gallery to understand what you are capable of creating. PhotoFiddle.com can even deliver your final product (fiddled photo) on a stretched canvas frame. The ease, and quick turn around on a PhotoFiddle project will amaze you. Why buy something useless for your family this Holiday Season? Give them a digital photograph that you shot, and upload the photo to PhotoFiddle and create a piece of art. You will be remembered as the family artist for the rest of time.

What impressed me the most about PhotoFiddle was how EASY it was to create an account, upload a photo, have the photo additionally altered (by the pros at PhotoFiddle), and then shipped home for my enjoyment. The packaging is well done with the care of a prized art dealer with little white gloves to hold the Fiddled Photo. Prices range from $34 - $3,400. It all depends on how large and creative you want to be with your photo. Give them a shot, tell them we sent you and go fiddle.

If I had to assume something, I would assume that Sony has their sensor inside the Nikon D3X 24.5 megapixel D-SLR camera for the professional. The D3X can shoot up to five frames-per-second (fps), and 14-bit files that are 138MB when processed. The exclusive Scene Recognition System from Nikon is a feature in the D3X. This feature further refines the auto exposure, auto white balance and autofocus calculations. The D3X also features the exclusive Multi-CAM 3500FX focus module. This module has 51 auto focus (AF) points. Nikon ensures their "over-delivery" on what this camera is capable of producing, and I would encourage Canon to pay attention, Nikon is on your heels.

Here is a great review of Nikon’s D2X . Keep an eye out for Imaging Resource’s D3X review soon.

Read the press release for more information.

For as long as the camera has been a household item, matriarchs and custodians of family memories have sought to preserve their precious family pictures for posterity, often through the scrapbook. Many homes throughout America likely have entire shelves dedicated to these photo albums, and, as fun as they may be to examine on a rainy day, are probably not an efficient use of space. Furthermore, a picture can only survive so much air exposure and so many handlings before it begins to deteriorate.

This is where Pandigital’s PhotoLink Photo Scanner becomes invaluable. Handheld and portable, this small scanner can take regular size (4”x6”) pictures and scan them directly onto a convenient flash media card. This card is compatible with digital photo frames, which allows a simple two step process for getting old family pictures out of scrapbooks and onto digital frames. If you want to be able to view and arrange your pictures in a more familiar way, the scanner also allows you to get those pictures onto a PC at a very high 1800x1200 resolution. This, of course, allows for online uploading and sharing of pictures without regards to geographic limitations through the wonders of the Internet.

At $100, the Pandigital Portable Scanner won’t break the bank, and is sure to make a good gift for the scrapbooker in your family.