Camcorders

Carbon dioxide is for suckers. If you really want to do some damage to the environment, sulfur hexaflouride is where it's at. According to Pollution Online (which, despite its name, is actually against pollution), one pound of SF6 has the same potential global-warming impact as 11 tons of CO2. Sulfur hexaflouride is used in high-voltage electrical equipment. If inhaled, it acts like antihelium, and, according to Wikipedia, makes one "sound like the god of hellfire." Finally, this dangerous (and potentially hilarious) gas is odorless, colorless, nontoxic, nonflammable, and extremely difficult to detect.

That's enough of a … Read more

Sanyo has announced two new compact digital camcorders, the Xacti CG6 and the Xacti CG65. Like the rest of Sanyo's Xacti cameras, the CG6 and CG65 are portable, catch-all devices that can shoot both video and still photos onto SD cards.

The CG6 and CG65 are nearly identical: both shoot VGA (640x480) video at 30 frames per second; both have 6-megapixel sensors that can interpolate images up to 10 megapixels (not the best strategy for getting big prints, but it technically works); both have flip-out, pivoting 2.5-inch LCD screens; and both have 5x optical zooms. For all intents … Read more

Earlier, we reported on the Panasonic SDR-S10, an SD card camcorder the company claimed was the smallest on the market. Unfortunately, details were sparse. Fortunately, we finally got the full scoop on the little camcorder.

Panasonic officially announced the SDR-S10 at PMA 2007. The SDR-S10 is a compact, rugged, affordable SD card camcorder that can handle both drops and splashes. The S10 measures just 1.5 inches thick and weighs just 6.4 ounces, making it at least one of the smallest and lightest camcorders we've seen so far. It's shockproof for drops up to four feet, and … Read more

Budget staple Mustek just announced two new jack-of-all-trades digital camcorders. The Mustek DV700TZ and DV530TV are a pair of pocket-sized, budget-priced camcorders that record video to SD cards. The blocky, robotic-looking DV700TZ can capture both wide screen VGA (720x480) video at 30 frames per second or 7-megapixel still images. The curvier, scaled-down DV530TZ has a 5-megapixel sensor and can capture only standard VGA (640 480) video at 30 frames per second. Both gadgets sport 3X optical zooms, swiveling LCD screens, and can function as a camcorder, a digital camera, a voice recorder, a Webcam, and an MP3 player.

Unfortunately, catchall … Read more

Panasonic is releasing what it calls the "world's smallest SD camcorder," but there's just one problem: We have no idea how big it is. Pocket-lint broke the news of the SDR-10, which has a 2.7-inch widescreen LCD and a 10x zoom. It also has features that could be useful when dealing with any small piece of equipment that could easily slip from one's hand: water-resistance and shock absorption up to 1.2 meters, or nearly 4 feet. But no actual dimensions of the camera were provided, so Panasonic's size claims remain something of … Read more

Lexar this morning announced its first Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) memory card. Part of the company's Professional line, the 4GB card carries a 133x speed rating, which Lexar translates into a minimum sustained write speed of 20MB per second. For those unfamiliar with the new SDHC standard, it was developed to let SD memory cards reach capacities larger than 2GB.

Of course, a new standard also means that SDHC cards aren't compatible with older readers or cameras that aren't SDHC compatible. Because of that fact, Lexar includes a small USB 2.0 SDHC reader with the … Read more

A show of hands, please: When Panasonic's consumer division announced its $1,500 HDC-SD1 SD-based HD camcorder at CES, how many of you thought "That's too cheap--I want to pay more!" Well, here's your chance. Panasonic's Broadcast division has just announced the nearly identical 3CCD camcorder for the bargain price of $2,099.

There are some differences, of course. The pro model is a nonreflective gray with an anodized filter ring. The pro model carries a one-year parts-and-labor warranty, while the consumer model has a mere three months on labor. They have different default … Read more

Kids these days don't know how good they've got it. When I was a kid, you were lucky to get one megapixel in your camera, and that megapixel would be written to a single 3.5-inch floppy disk. We didn't have MP3 players or pocket camcorders or any of those fancy things. The only moving pictures we had were on our CRT monitors. And don't get me started on the regular ritual of taking the mouse ball out of your beige mouse and picking lint out of the rollers.

Today, kids have their Facebooks and Myspaces … Read more

It doesn't exactly qualify as a comeback, but film is far from dead. Retro Thing says Sweden's Ikonoskop is planning to introduce the first new Super 8 movie camera design the world has seen in more than 20 years.

Like its earlier 16mm sibling, the A-Cam DS8 will have interchangeable lenses and a parallel viewfinder. It also weighs a manageable 3.3 pounds, including lens, battery and up to 100 feet of film. The camera uses 16mm-wide film to capture Super 8 frames in a hybrid format, reportedly making it far more stable than the old Kodak Super … Read more