Rumor: Panasonic to acquire part of Leica

Well, this is definitely no April Fool's joke like the one about Nikon acquiring Canon that was reported last year. There are speculations online that Panasonic has expressed interest in acquiring part of Leica, presumably for its Lumix digital cameras division.

Photography blog 1001noisycameras mentioned that there is a rumor on the Web saying the Japanese electronics giant is looking at the possibilities of buying over Leica's photography parts and technology. Note that these two companies have been collaborating for years, since the first Lumix camera was unveiled in 2001. Panasonic provided the electronics wizardry, while Leica chipped in with its sought-after optics. This combination has proved to be successful as Lumix cameras are now one of the more popular camera marques in the market.
Read more »

Crayola's digicam scrapbook kit looks fun

One of the art classes I had in primary school required us to make a scrapbook which we were supposed to decorate with photographs or drawings. I submitted mine with doodles of the art teacher, which is probably why I didn't do well for that particular assignment.

Kids these days won't have to resort to drawing as there are plenty of cameras targeted at children with their colorful casings and simple interfaces. Crayola's Digital Camera Scrapbooking Kit bundles a colorful point-and-shoot capable of taking pictures in VGA (640 x 480-pixel) resolution. Also in the package are an image-editing program, markers, scissors, glue and a scrapbook to get the young ones started at making their own visual diary. This is a great activity for kids to express their creativity, and for parents to bond with their children in this shared activity.

The camera has no memory card slot, so images are stored in the 8MB internal memory. The shooter is powered by three off-the-shelf AAA batteries and is available at US$74.99 on Crayola's Web site.

Canon to dish out tough point-and-shoot at PMA?

Olympus has proven that there is a market for rugged cameras, and Panasonic's announcement of the robust Lumix DMC-TS1 indicates that this segment won't be dominated by Olympus alone. Now, it seems Canon also wants a piece of the pie.

Blog site Canon Rumors reports that the imaging giant will unveil a hardy point-and-shoot before the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) tradeshow next month. The rumored snapper is speculated to come with a 2.5-inch LCD, 3.5x optical zoom lens (35mm to 122mm) and a 10.1-megapixel sensor. The point-and-shoot is said to be waterproof up to 8m and drop-resistant from heights of 2m.

Some comments to this post have indicated that Olympus' may see a drop in sales of its rugged point-and-shoots as Canon and Panasonic use the more popular SD format media. Olympus is sticking to the proprietary xD-Picture Card which has a maximum capacity of only 2GB and is relatively more expensive.

Canon Rumors is certain that Canon will announce new cameras on either February 17 or 18, so we'll see if the tough camera will debut then.

Fastest Nikon DX lens

Nikon recently announced the AF-S DX 35mm f1.8 G lens, a "fast-fifty" for DX shooters. It's a fast aperture prime lens with a DX-equivalent focal length of 52mm, replicating the classic 50mm focal length, long a standard in photography for having a field of vision similar to the human eye.

The fast f1.8 aperture is great for low-light shooting, and it has a narrow depth of field for portraits for intentionally blurring the background. The lens has a closest-focusing distance of 11.7 inches and features Nikon's Silent Wave Motor for fast and quiet auto focusing. It is compact and lightweight at 7 ounces.


Read more »

Samsung's Lapfit monitors complement laptops

Forget your laptop stand and hideously mismatched secondary display, because Samsung's Lapfit series offers external LCD monitors that will match your laptop beautifully. The Lapfit External Display, which coordinates with the design of Samsung's latest laptops and comes in 19- and 22-inch versions, connects to your notebook, considerably enlarging your workable display area.


The pair of low-profile, widescreen monitors, the LD190G (19-inch) and LD220G (22-inch), sit at the height of your typical laptop and have adjustable tilt angles from 10 to 30 degrees. Both monitors offer 1,360 x 768 pixel resolution (16:9 aspect ratio), 4ms response time, and a 20,000:1 dynamic-contrast ratio.


Read more »

Crave is...

The name says it all. Crave is our blog about cool gadgets and other crushworthy stuff.

Drop us an email if you have tips or suggestions.

Crave for...

» Mobile Phones (2236)

» Digital Cameras (988)

» Notebooks (1236)

» PC & Peripherals (1312)

» Handhelds (585)

» Printers (83)

» Home AV (1147)

» Music & Play (895)

» Gadgets (1487)

» Future Tech (396)

» Green Tech (172)

» Lifestyle (157)

» Luxury (22)

» Home Appliances (58)

» Cars (99)

» Games and Gear (248)

» Software (96)

» Web (118)

Previously...

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

Hot Topics

Subscribe to
Crave

What's Hot

apple apple inc. apple iphone apple ipod asia battery camera game google inc. iphone microsoft corp. microsoft windows mobile phone photograph singapore smart phone software sony corp. video

Today on CNET |  Reviews |  Crave |  Blogs |  CNET TV |  Digital Living |  Downloads