Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Domains

Domain: powershot.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to powershot.com.

Stories · 3

  1. Sony Shoots For 4-Filter CCD, 8 Megapixel Camera

    Entertainment · Toy · · posted by simoniker · from the color-filter-volume-goes-to-four dept. · 405 comments
    Artifex writes "If you're looking to spend about $1200 on a new digital camera, check out this Digital Photography Review look at Sony's upcoming 8 MegaPixel Cyber-shot DSC-F828. The most interesting thing isn't the number of pixels in this prosumer-grade camera, but its 4-color filter CCD system. ['Instead of the traditional RGB color filter array, the new CFA is made up of Red, Green, Blue and Emerald (like Cyan) color filters.'] I've always been a strict Canon fan, but this is making me think twice."

  2. Gameboy Advance SP vs Canon Powershot G3

    Entertainment · Humor · · posted by timothy · from the apples-and-alleycats dept. · 353 comments
    Pink Daisy writes "When it comes to modern consumer electronics there are a lot of choices to be made. Choosing the right gadget for you can be difficult, but a good decision has tremendous rewards. A bad one can doom you to Boring and Uncool Gadget Hell until your wallet recharges. Today I will help you decide whether your next portable device should be a Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP or a Canon Powershot G3. Since I'm a scientist, I will make this review as objective as possible. Where subjective judgements are required I will make note so that you can evaluate the evidence for yourself." Read on, or you won't know where to open your wallet.

    Colour: Both devices have a metallic silver colour that is typical of portable consumer electronics. Black would have been cooler. The Gameboy is also available in other colours, although I think they don't look as good as the silver. Win goes to Gameboy for choice, although it doesn't matter unless you prefer one of the cheesy colours.
    Score: G3 7, SP 8

    Construction quality: Although the colour is metallic, neither one is completely metal. The Gameboy Advance SP is made from slightly pliable plastic. It feels strong enough, but is probably susceptible to scratches and bumps. The G3 body is about half metal and half carbon reinforced plastic. It is definitely a piece of quality construction. The lens is a marvel as well. The thing is built like a brick.
    Score G3 8, SP 4

    Form Factor: The Powershot G3 is box shaped, with a grip protruding from an edge and a cylinder from the centre of one face. It has a twist out LCD display. The Gameboy is box shaped when closed, but opens up in clamshell fashion to expose the LCD. Both feel a bit small to me when being held in the intended manner. That's because I have large hands; most people would probably find both very comfortable. When closed the Gameboy is more compact and very easy to pocket. The G3 is too large for many pockets and difficult to fit in others because the lens cap has a tendency to come off.
    Score: G3 7, SP 9

    Controls: The small size of the devices doesn't hamper operation of the controls. Both have excellent control layout. The buttons on the G3 are logically laid out so that the important ones are easy to reach when you need them. The buttons on the Gameboy are easily accessible in the heat of the moment. Despite the G3's great menu system for complex controls, the Gameboy has it beat there. Metroid Fusion has an even simpler menu system and very intuitive controls. My only complaint is that the controls on the Gameboy look like cheap plastic, whereas the buttons on the Powershot G3 have an excellent high-quality appearance.
    Score: G3 10, SP 9

    LCD Display: The part of the device that you will look at the most is the LCD display. The G3 has a smaller display. It has the definite edge in graphical capability. As well as being higher resolution, it performs sub-pixel anti-aliasing, where the Gameboy does not. It also displays more colours.
    Score G3 7, SP 6

    Replayability: Quality means nothing if you don't want to look at it. The Gameboy has an excellent selection of games available, with more arriving regularly. Metroid Fusion is particularly good, and many others are also noted as being of quality. If you already have a collection of older Gameboy and Gameboy Colour games that you love, they are compatible with the Gameboy Advance SP. In comparison, the photograph of a garbage dumpster stored in my G3 is lacklustre.
    Score G3 2, SP 9

    Storage: The G3 is compatible with all CF2+ class storage devices, including type 1 and 2 compact flash memory cards and microdrives. These cards are available in capacities of up to four gigabytes. In comparison, the Gameboy uses proprietary cartridges with a 24-bit address bus and a 16-bit data bus for a maximum of 32 megabytes of data.
    Score G3 9, SP 6

    Totals: G3 50, SP 51
    The Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP narrowly beats out the Canon Powershot G3 for the coveted Raymond's Choice Award. Your next portable electronic device should definitely be a Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP.

    Slashdot welcomes reader features.

  3. Digital Cameras As Web Cams?

    Ask · Hardware · · posted by Cliff · from the low-FPS-web-fun dept. · 16 comments
    A not-so Anonymous Coward asks: "I've got a spiffy Canon Digital Elph camera, and have been wondering if I can control it from my PC - that, is can I trigger it to take a picture remotely via the USB interface? If so, it seems a logical next step to turn it into a very (very) nice Web cam for stills at a fairly low frame rate. 1600x1200x24 bit. Also, I'd love to try my hand at digital astro-photography (put it on a telescope that is). Seems to me there ought to be some way for me to control it thru the USB again. Anyone with good leads/info on how to hack a Canon digital camera? Seems a worthy hack to me." Some cameras have command line utilities that can be used in scripts to do this. I know Kodak-compatible cameras can do this via ks or the DIGITA [?] scripting language, however I'm not so sure about Canon's Elph series. This also might not be too hard a capability to hack into gPhoto.