Digital Camera Reviews and Guides
All of the best cameras and lenses, including reviews and guides to all the latest photography gear.
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Catching lightning in a volcanic bottle
What do you get when you marry two of Earth's most dramatic natural events, lightning and volcanoes? The answer is a "dirty storm," an infernal melange of lightning, magmatic fire and ash that surpasses even the wildest Hollywood disaster movie effects. If the volcano has enough energy, dozens of bolts -- which blast upwards, rather than downwards -- can spawn in the ash. At the Volcán Calbuco in Chile, photographer Francisco Negroni captured a stunning example of the phenomenon, winning second prize at this year's Epson Pano awards.
Surprise: This $20 home monitoring camera actually doesn’t suck
Most of the low-end connected cameras you'll find on store shelves will run you at least $50, and more feature-rich options like Amazon's Cloud Cam and Logitech's Circle 2 are north of $100. The prospect of kitting out your house with connected cameras doesn't need to be that expensive, though. On the opposite end of the price spectrum sits the WyzeCam, a super-cheap connected video camera ushered to market by — who else? — a handful of Amazon alums. Each camera will set you back a whopping $20, but don't let the price tag fool you: the WyzeCam is a surprisingly capable bargain.
Leica's CL gives an iconic design the modern tech it deserves
Up until recently, Leica built lovely, expensive cameras that no-one ever called "state-of-the-art." The TL2, however, recently marked a change in direction. Not only was it relatively cheap for a Leica at $1,950, but it was endowed with modern features like 4K video. It's pushing that idea further with the CL, its new $2,795 flagship 24.2-megapixel APS-C mirrorless that looks and feels more like an old-school Leica, thanks to a new body and manual dials. At the same time, it's got the tech you'd expect in a modern camera, including an all-new electronic viewfinder.
Amazon Key flaw could let a courier disable your Cloud Cam
Amazon recently weirded out much of the internet when it unveiled its Key delivery service that lets its couriers open your home and deliver packages while you're away. A key part of that is the Cloud Cam security camera that confirms deliveries and shows that your house remains un-ransacked. Now, researchers from Rhino Security Labs have shown that it's possible, under rare circumstances, to hack the camera so that everything looks fine while someone takes all your stuff.
Kodak cuts 425 jobs as film revival treads water
Kodak has lost $46 million this quarter and will lay off 425 employees, indicating that its film resurgence is still a work in progress. The company chalked up $46 million in losses (compared to a $12 million profit in the same quarter last year), to a slowdown in the printer market and rising cost of aluminum used in its products. The company's Consumer and Film division, which manufactures movie film for its upcoming Super 8 camera and the motion picture industry, also lost money.
Google explains the Pixel 2's super-stable video recording
Google's Pixel 2 phones have a clever trick up their sleeve when recording video: they can use both electronic and optical image stabilization, delivering largely jitter-free clips even if you're walking down the street. But how does it meld those two technologies, exactly? Google is happy to explain: it just posted an in-depth exploration of how this stabilization works. As you might guess, Google uses some of its machine learning know-how to incorporate both anti-shake technologies where many phones can only use one or the other.
A dedicated AI chip is squandered on Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro
Let's face it: The AI hype train isn't going away, and soon all our devices will be run by artificial intelligence. While Apple's answer to the AI takeover is to just call its new A11 processor "Bionic," Huawei has taken a more concrete approach. The company embedded a neural processing unit (NPU) on its Kirin 970 chip, which it claims can run AI tasks faster and with less power than others. The newly launched Mate 10 Pro is the first phone to use the Kirin 970, and it's meant to demonstrate the wonders of deeply embedded AI. So far though, it's a capable, well-designed phone that has yet to fully explore what a dedicated NPU can do.
Sharp's $77,000 camcorder shows that 8K is coming soon
Sharp has unveiled an 8K camcorder that is undoubtedly aimed at the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but will be equally at home on a film set. Looking like an old-school ENG news camera, the 8C-B60A captures 8K, 10-bit 60fps video onto a large, Super 35mm sensor that's around the same size as the one on Red's Helium Weapon 8K. The custom 2TB SSD pack, developed in collaboration with Astrodesign, can hold about 40 minutes of 8K video.
Snap heads to trendy east London to peddle those unsold Spectacles
What do you do when hype around your quirky hardware play dies, leaving you with hundreds of thousands of unsold units? You open an experience and retail store in a trendy part of east London and hope to catch a few late adopters cruising by, of course. That's exactly what Snap is doing this weekend, opening of a store dedicated to peddling Spectacles in the hipster haven that is Shoreditch's Boxpark. It's no transient pop-up, though, but a permanent store and Snap's first in Europe.
T-Mobile can keep Nest Secure online if your WiFi fails
In September, Nest released its Secure alarm system, complete with motion and door sensors and an app that lets you manage the system from anywhere. But arming the alarm through your phone or receiving alerts that motion has been detected in your home requires the Nest system to be actively connected to WiFi. If your internet service goes down or your home network stops working, however, you won't get those alerts or be able to access your system through Nest's app. That's why Nest has worked cellular backup into the Secure system and T-Mobile announced today that it's the exclusive cellular provider for Nest Secure.
The Reflex 1 is the first manual film SLR in decades
Written off not long ago as dead technology, film has recently been embraced by instant photographers and filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan. A company called Reflex has capitalized on that trend by launching the manual focus, 35mm Reflex 1 SLR, "the first newly designed manual SLR system in over 25 years."
Panasonic's photo-centric Lumix G9 borrows from the GH5
The 10-bit, 4K GH5 video powerhouse is Panasonic's most famous camera, and now it's trying to bring that mojo to its new photography flagship. The Lumix G9 uses the GH5's 20.3-megapixel sensor without a low-pass filter, and has a restyled, slimmed-down, dust-proof and splash-proof magnesium alloy body better suited to still than video photography. While it also does 4K at 60fps like GH5, its signature feature is an 80-megapixel photo mode, created by taking up to eight separate images.
Israeli company claims Apple copied its dual-camera tech
Whatever you think of your dual-camera iPhone, there's one company that's less than thrilled. Israeli startup Corephotonics is suing Apple for allegedly infringing on patented technology with the cameras in the iPhone 7 Plus and 8 Plus (it's likely none too pleased about the iPhone X, for that matter). Corephotonics says it pitched Apple about a potential alliance, only to be shot down and see Apple implement dual cameras on its own. The plaintiff company even claims that Apple boasted it could infringe on patents without fear. Apple's negotiator said it would take "years and millions of dollars" before the iPhone maker would have to pay if it did infringe, according to Corephotonics' version of events.
Vodafone branches out into internet of things things
The UK's major carriers have mobile all sewn up, and after a bit of broadband here and TV there, they're turning to other things to get their kicks, grow their brands and pad their bank accounts. For O2, that meant moving into smart home gear, and for Vodafone, that means launching a range of internet of things (IoT) devices under the banner "V by Vodafone." Available to Vodafone customers in the UK and a handful of other European countries from today is a car telematics dongle, pet tracker, bag tracker and connected camera, with more products due to join this launch lineup next year.
Introducing Engadget's 2017 holiday gift guide!
Behold: our 2017 holiday gift guide, where we've curated 119 recommendations, running the gamut from laptops and fitness trackers, to smart speakers and kitchen gear, to apps and services, to video games and Blu-ray box sets. Oh, and for the first time since Engadget started publishing gift guides, we have a section dedicated to toys and coding kits. That might just be our favorite. One difference this time around: We've formatted our guide not in galleries, but in one neatly laid-out page that's as easy to navigate on mobile as it is on the desktop. Feel free to peruse everything at once, or try filtering by price. You can also jump straight into the Gear, Gaming and Entertainment tabs, at which point we'll give you some sub-categories to help you narrow down your selections further (say, if you wanna get something for the PC gamer in your life). Enjoy, and happy shopping! A note on prices: We've mostly included MSRPs, but if we noticed what appeared to be an across-the-board price drop, we went with that. Keep in mind that real-world prices are likely to vary -- sometimes you can find a surprise deal, and sometimes short supply means you'll pay a premium.
Mars 2020 rover will observe the red planet with 23 eyes
The Mars 2020 rover will be able to show us more of the red planet than any of its predecessors ever did. NASA says the extraterrestrial vehicle will be equipped with 23 cameras, six more than Curiosity's and all a lot more capable. Seven of those "eyes" are tasked with collecting data for scientific experiments, nine are engineering cameras that will keep an eye on its surroundings for navigation and the last seven will capture the rover's descent and landing. Its main camera, however, is Mastcam-Z -- an upgraded version of Curiosity's Mastcam with a 3:1 zoom (hence, "Z") lens the original didn't have.
GoPro is finally profitable again, but its holiday outlook disappoints
After years of losses, GoPro's main goal in 2017 was finding a way to make its business profitable. And it looks like the company finally succeeded during the third quarter, where it saw a net income of $15 million, according to its latest earnings report. That's not much, but it's a big improvement over last year's $104 million loss during the same quarter. Analysts expected to its revenues to jump by 30 percent, but GoPro surpassed that with 37 percent growth, reaching $330 million (compared to $240.5 million last year).
Rylo’s 360-degree camera lets you decide what shots you want later
There are quite a few 360-degree cameras on the market now and they cover a range of needs. For professionals and major VR buffs, there's the Samsung 360 Round and for more casual videographers there are a slew of options from companies like Ricoh Theta, Garmin and Samsung. But there's now a growing market for those wanting to shoot high quality 360-degree video and decide later on during editing what images to focus on and what to cut out, minimizing how much effort is required during the actual video-capturing process. For that, there's the GoPro Fusion, the Insta360 and, as of today, the Rylo.
Neural network gives your phone 'DSLR-quality' photos
You can buy a Pixel phone if you want AI to enhance your photos every time you press the shutter button, and services like Google Photos use AI for minor fixes and clever effects. But what if you wish your photos looked like they were taken with a much better camera? Scientists might have an answer. They've developed a neural network system that's focused solely on giving your photos a "DSLR-quality" look. It's not flawless, but its novel approach points to a future where your phone knows what photos should look like and tweaks shots to match.
Android 8.1 preview unlocks your Pixel 2 camera's AI potential
Remember how Google said the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL both have a custom imaging chip that's just laying idle? Well, you can finally use it... in a manner of speaking. Google has released its first Developer Preview for Android 8.1, and the highlight is arguably Pixel Visual Core support for third-party apps. Companies will have to write support into their apps before you notice the difference, but this should bring the Pixel 2 line's HDR+ photography to any app, not just Google's own camera software. You might not have to jump between apps just to get the best possible picture quality when you're sharing photos through your favorite social service.