Sony's Cyber-shot T500 captures HD movies

It's no surprise that Sony has kept up with the point-and-shoots trend to deliver HD-movie capture feature in one of its latest offering, the Cyber-shot DSC-T500.

The T500 was announced yesterday and its specifications look quite promising--10-megapixel sensor, 5x optical zoom, 3.5-inch touchscreen display and optical image stabilizer. One of the major selling points would, of course, be the HD-quality (1,280 x 720 pixels) movie capture function. Sony also mentioned that videos will be recorded in the .MPEG4 format instead of the usual .AVI. This will supposedly reduce the recording file sizes. Another upside of the T500 is its the ability to capture audio in stereo quality which will offer a better aural experience.

Sony was unable to confirm with us the T500's availability and pricing, but we've got our mitts on a set so check back soon for a hands-on preview.

Digital infrared photography: Do more than take creepy shots of your cat

So I'm currently testing the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50, one of Sony's high-zoom cameras that among a gazillion other features has an on/off switch for Sony's NightShot infrared shooting mode.

As you can see, I managed to snap a picture of my cat hiding under a table in a darkened room, at which point I thought to myself, "Surely there must be a better way to use this feature." And there is.

Rocky Nook's Digital Infrared Photography by Cyrill Harnischmacher (US$24.95) is a guide to infrared photography with your digital camera. I know, I know, you figured that out on your own, but the book covers basic theory for shooting in infrared, as well as guidance on capturing images and post-processing. You'll also find information on cameras, filters, and equipment.

Via Crave CNET

Microsoft, Nikon sign patent-sharing deal

Microsoft and Nikon have signed a cross-licensing deal that gives each company access to the other's patents.

The deal is one of a growing list from Microsoft, which has been seeking to establish the heft and significance of its intellectual property effort.

Detailed terms of the Nikon deal weren't disclosed, but the companies said Nikon is compensating Microsoft through the alliance.

"The companies believe that this patent cross-licensing agreement will substantially benefit customers of consumer products including digital cameras," the companies said in a statement Wednesday. "Both parties will be able to innovate openly with each others' technologies, enabling new features and products to come to market."

Nikon and Microsoft didn't indicate what new products and features would be enabled through the patent agreement, but they did point to existing cooperative efforts involving wireless cameras and raw image formats.

Raw images are taken directly from a camera's image sensor with little or no in-camera processing; the formats more detailed and flexible than JPEG, but they're also proprietary and specific to each camera model, and they require processing with software to become useful to most consumers. Windows Vista has the ability to display raw images as long as a camera maker supplies the necessary encoding and decoding software plug-in, called a codec.

Via CNET Blogs

SanDisk card perfect for shiny, new Nikon D90

Already saving up to get the new Nikon D90? You might want to add at least another US$65 to your budget for SanDisk's new 30MB/s Extreme III SDHC cards.

Available worldwide in September, the cards offer a 50 percent speed boost from 20MB/s cards, and the Nikon D90 is the industry's first dSLR to take advantage of the speed.

That means that with the 30MB/s Extreme III, the D90 can record 39 6MB JPEG images at 4.5 frames per second in continuous shooting mode. Getting them off is almost as fast, too, when used with SanDisk's new ImageMate Multi-Card USB 2.0 reader/writer.

Prices for the cards are US$64.99 for the 4GB card, US$109.99 for the 8GB card, and US$179.99 for the 16GB card.

Via Crave CNET

Nikon D90: First dSLR to do video

The much-rumored and even more longed-for update to the Nikon D80 has arrived. We have the first take of it here on CNET Asia. The Nikon D90 doesn't replace the popular D80, which moves down Nikon's dSLR product line, and unsurprisingly, provides some significant enhancements over that 2-year-old model. Most notably, the D90 is the first digital SLR to support movie capture.

Though its movie-capture specs aren't too shabby--24fps 1,280 x 720 motion JPEG and support for VR optical image-stabilization if the lens has it--D-Movie still doesn't match the best of the snapshot-camera movie modes.
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