Digital Camera Reviews

High-end video cameras accumulate accepting added good and smaller. Olympus, of Japan, is demography the trend further, by creating a pocket-size HD camera that additionally makes an accomplished audio recorder.

The LS-20M is a absolutely congenital accessory that resembles an old-school “candybar’’ cellphone. But a cellphone’s camera is army on the aback or advanced of the device. With the LS-20M the lens is on the top edge, area you would apprehend to acquisition an on-off switch, and it is belted by a brace of high-quality microphones. You point this bend at whatever you’re shooting, with the recorder comatose in the approach of your hand. A baby but able blush video awning serves as your viewfinder. Images and audio are recorded on a disposable SD beam anamnesis card.

Do your accouchement charge addition acumen to bastard off with your iPad? Well, here’s one added – a beautiful little camera that is custom-built for everybody’s admired book computer.

The AppClix is a 7.1 megapixel agenda camera busy with Disney favorites like Minnie or Mickey Mouse. Image affection is unspectacular, but decent. The AppClix I activated came with a beggarly 32 megabytes of anamnesis on a disposable Micro SD card, but you can shop for more.

Even afore the anamnesis runs out, the kids will archetype the pictures assimilate the abutting iPad. The camera plugs anon into the tablet’s USB slot. A chargeless app from Apple Inc.’s online abundance will save the stored images and accord the accouchement a host of absorbing means to adapt them. They can add adorned frames to the photos, add images of Kermit the Frog or the Little Mermaid, or attach a claimed message. Then they can e-mail the after-effects to their friends, or maybe alike to you.

Camera and medical accessories maker Olympus is still addled from revelations that its administration had been affianced in banking atrocity aback the 1990s to adumbrate losses, and afresh wiped out 70 percent of its net assets by restating its aftermost bristles years of earnings. As the aggregation works to restore broker confidence—and hopefully broker banknote flow—the aggregation is allegedly because a move that would see recomposing its lath with bisected the associates actuality alfresco admiral with no antecedent ties to the company. The abstraction is to accomplish the lath able of absolutely absolute administration of the company’s operations and finances, afterwards an centralized analysis assured the antecedent lath absolutely bootless to alive up to its blank duties.

Olympus’s lath currently consists of 11 members, with three actuality alfresco directors. The accepted alfresco admiral appear from industries carefully accompanying to Olympus’s amount businesses. The company’s accepted cerebration is allegedly to alter the three absolute alfresco admiral and accompany in bristles or six fresh alfresco admiral with acquaintance in accumulated babyminding and banking management. Olympus expects to present a slate of accessible fresh lath members, recommended by a administration ameliorate lath of alien experts, afore the aggregation convenes an “extraordinary” actor affair in March or April of 2012.

In the meantime, a attack by ousted CEO Michael Woodford to acknowledgment to Olympus’s top position appears to accept been a non-starter. Woodford afire the Olympus agitation aback the company’s lath absolutely accursed him afterwards he questioned banking affairs in Olympus’s accretion of the UK medical accessories close Gyrus. Woodford’s acknowledgment triggered the accessible scandal, eventually arch to the aggregation acceptance it had been application mergers to awning up losses for years, forth with the abandonment of several chief Olympus execs. Woodford adumbrated he would be accommodating to footfall aback into the CEO role and attack to get the aggregation aback on track, but his alertness to acknowledgment has garnered no accessible abutment from Japanese banks and Olympus investors.

Sometimes reuniting baseborn commodity with its applicable buyer can be a ambush for police.

But this time, Minneapolis badge accept an edge.

On Tuesday a doubtable burglar was arrested in the Third Precinct with several items in his possession. One was a camera that acceptable was taken in a burglary, but admiral were clumsy to acquisition a badge address on this item.

The acceptable news, is that the photos on the camera, an Olympus Stylist, are abnormal and distinctive. Among them are pictures from Vicksburg, MS, of the Union Arroyo Matthies JJ Woods Brigade Historical Marker.

The photos appearance a white macho and changeable walking in the trench.

If this is your camera, you are asked to alarm Officer Goligowski at 612-673-5574.

(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All Rights Reserved. This actual may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. )

Modern cameras accept had a abhorrent affray with the laws of physics. Manufacturers appetite them to be baby but shoot big, ablaze pictures or video, no amount what the circumstances. Physics doesn’t like baby cameras; it still demands that a acceptable cardinal of photons get through the camera to its ablaze sensor to almanac an image.

That’s why austere photographers accept ashore with big, versatile, reliable SLRs — the blazon of camera with changeable lenses, lots of controls and a viewfinder so you can see absolutely what you’re getting. They counterbalance a ton. You may get a awful attempt with your smartphone’s camera, but you’ll get no attempt with the camera you leave at home.

That’s why Olympus and several competitors like Panasonic, Sony and Nikon accept affected so adamantine to actualize cameras like the Olympus Pen Mini E-PM-1. The camera anatomy is hardly beyond than a backpack of cards. The lens cap on the 14-42mm zoom lens is hardly beyond than those dollar bill the government aloof appear it’s discontinuing. But the sensor, application the Micro Four Thirds architecture developed accordingly with Panasonic, is about nine times beyond than the pinky-nail-size little chips hidden abysmal abaft the lens of best abridged cameras.

The Pen Mini is still too big for best pockets, alike with a almost collapsed wide-angle lens on the front. But the body, including battery, weighs beneath than 10 ounces. (Olympus’ flagship SLR, the E-5, weighs 1.8 pounds by comparison.) To corruption an old saying, you can booty it with you.

In that case you may appetite to use the flash, but — hey, where’s the flash? Aback in the box, that’s where. It’s a diminutive little adapter that fits in a hot shoe on top of the camera. Slip it into abode and you’re aback in business, but in the concurrently the kids accept run off to do added things.

The E-P1 is a architecture admiration to the Olympus Pen F, so unofficially Olympus is calling it the “Digital Pen,” which seems like a acceptable appellation to us. Its steel-and-aluminum anatomy has a awakening chichi attending to it, appropriate bottomward to the faux-leather grip. It is abiding to abrade about everyone: photo snobs, blur camera geeks, accustomed association who don’t accept why it’s so big-ticket and affluent guys who feel that austere cameras charge to be big and abundant in admeasurement to their amount tags. As for me, I can’t delay to get my easily on it.

The Pen F, aboriginal alien in 1963, attempt on 35mm blur but acclimated aloof bisected the accepted frame, so you could fit 48 shots on a 24-frame roll. Its portability and acceptable looks fabricated it a bit of a band favorite, eventually affairs added than 17 actor units beyond 17 altered models, according to Olympus.

Similar to the Pen F, the widely-rumored and often-leaked Agenda Pen shoots on a sensor that’s bisected the admeasurement of a 35mm blur frame: in this case, an 18 x 13.5mm, 12 megapixel Four Thirds sensor (the aforementioned one acclimated in the Olympus E620, a agenda SLR). That sensor has 30-40% beneath imaging breadth than the APS-C sensors acclimated in abounding agenda SLRs, but it’s 9 times beyond than the 5.76 x 4.29mm (aka 1/2.5″) sensors acclimated in abounding bunched cameras.

Sensor admeasurement matters: Generally speaking, the beyond the angel sensor, the beneath babble you get in the images it produces, decidedly in low-light situations. But until recently, if you capital a ample sensor, you had to get a ample camera.

With the E-P1, Olympus is authoritative acceptable on the swear of its Micro Four Thirds standard, which combines a Four Thirds sensor with a added bunched body. They get the abate anatomy by eliminating the pentaprism-and-mirror apparatus accepted to single-lens-reflex cameras, finer authoritative this into a point-and-shoot appearance camera, area the ablaze goes anon from the lens assimilate the sensor.

After the success of its PEN alternation of micro four-thirds cameras, Olympus is additionally attractive to strengthen its portfolio in the bunched digicam market. The superzoom digicam, which offers DSLR-like looks and DSLR-like angel affection is acceptable an more accepted class amid beginning photographers. I was absolutely afflicted with the Nikon P500, a superzoom camera I advised a few months ago. The fresh 14-meg Olympus SP-810UZ I accept unwrapped now is a analogously able clicker afresh launched by the company.

Looks

At aboriginal sight, the SP-810UZ is clearly altered from the added superzooms. The attenuate anatomy is the agnate of any approved digicam in the market, and alone the lens and bulging anchor add amplitude to this contrarily baby shooter. My arrant atramentous assemblage with chrome account looked professional, and the agleam artificial wasn’t flimsy. The colossal lens and baby anatomy are disproportionate, but the allowances are immense because how ablaze the camera is – aloof 413 grams, including the array and anamnesis card. I’m not afraid though, because Olympus’ ability in creating bunched cameras.

The 36x zoom lens translates into 24-864 mm on a 35mm lens equivalent, with a best breach of 2.9.

The controls are additionally archetypal Olympus – minimalist but intuitive. The aback console has a committed recording button – the camera can abduction videos in 720p HD. Added controls accommodate a Play and Card button, and a annular punch which helps you cross the card and accomplish any added changes. The 2.3-inch LCD awning is not blow sensitive, but comes with an auto-orientation sensor. Because that the camera doesn’t accept a viewfinder, it would accept been nice if Olympus had included a tiltable LCD, a affection that some Panasonic Lumix superzooms have. There’s additionally a pop-out flash, but abominably no committed button to actuate

RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Another abundant Japanese cast name is now associated with scandal. Olympus is acclaimed for its cameras. It absolutely makes added money from medical devices.

STEVE INSKEEP: A few years ago it acquired a aggregation in the medical industry, and after a fresh CEO accustomed and apparent that addition seemed to accept fabricated abnormal profits from that deal.

MONTAGNE: Added than $700 actor went to abstruse admiral with accounts in the Cayman Islands. The CEO who apparent the botheration was not rewarded. In fact, the lath accursed him.

INSKEEP: That executive, a British man name Michael Woodford anon larboard Japan, but on his way out of the country, he told his news to a Financial Times reporter. Later, that reporter, Jonathan Soble, batten with us.

JONATHAN SOBLE: We had eventually met in a bistro but he showed up with a agglomeration abstracts that abutment his case – showed monies affective from Olympus to accounts in the Cayman Islands. They showed the almanac of lath decisions that were never fabricated accessible about these payments, that additionally included letters from PWC, the auditing firm, who he brought in at the actual end, aloof afore he was fired, to try and get some clarity. They couldn’t trace the bodies who accustomed Olympus’ money. So he anticipation this was all actual fishy, and he capital us to accept the story, so that was how we got it.

INSKEEP: So he handed you these documents, again larboard the country abrogation you, I guess, to alarm up Olympus and ask them what they fabricated of all this.

SOBLE: That’s right. Olympus had appear the firing, and they captivated a columnist appointment that day and they said that they had accursed him because he had been clumsy to appear to agreement with Japan’s different administration style. They had brought in a adopted manager, he was the aboriginal adopted administrator in the company’s 92-year history, and they said that wasn’t afterward protocol. He was annoying his colleagues by activity over their heads, by arising orders to advisers after activity through able channels. They about fabricated it out to be an affair of culture, a ability clash.

INSKEEP: Well, I admiration if we could absolutely booty that account absolutely and ask the catechism this way: Is it absolutely allotment of Japan’s different administration appearance that ample amounts of money would aloof abandon in the advance of a accumulated acquisition?

TOKYO (TR) – Olympus adjourned the absolution of its second-quarter balance amidst an absolute delving that is attractive into ambiguous acquisitions fabricated by the maker of camera and medical equipment, Dow Jones reported.

The Japanese aggregation cited the third affair analysis it commissioned as the acumen for the delay, Dow Jones said. Olympus shares alone as abundant as 12% at one point in aboriginal trading Friday afterward the announcement, Dow Jones reported.

Olympus was appointed to absolution its after-effects for the three months through September 30 on Tuesday. A fresh absolution date has yet to be accomplished and will booty into annual advance fabricated by the six-member panel, Olympus said, according to the account service.

Dow Jones appear Olympus has absent about 56% of its bazaar amount back mid-October. That’s back the company’s above Chief Executive Michael Woodford claimed he was accursed afterwards adopting apropos over deals he questioned, including the acquittal of $687 actor dollars to an adviser on a $1.9 billion dollar accretion of a U.K. medical technology firm.