GorillaPod, the bendy tripods you know and love, just announced its newest version: GorillaPod Magnetic. This guy has magnets on each of its feet, allowing you to stick it to pretty much any magnetic surface.

Of course, it’ll still work without sticking to a surface, as it’s still a normal GorillaPod above the feet. But if you feel the need to have your camera attached to the side of your car door, well, now you’ve got the ability to. It’ll be available in April.

Someone sent a video camera on a seven-and-a-half minute ride on a sushi conveyer belt, capturing amused and surprised eaters as they discover that they’re the subject of someone’s weird tentacle-eating video.

The fun almost stops when some lady in the kitchen gets uppity, but luckily enough the sushi chefs put it back on track and back to its owner. Is a sushi place the only place with a conveyer belt? I can’t think of any other restaurant type that does this. I would like to see more, though.

If you’re looking for a more surreal trip around a sushi belt, here you go. [Boing Boing]

Eye-Fi just made a series of announcements that will please existing users. By October 5, their cards, new and old, will receive a firmware update to double photo upload speeds on all models. Also, MobileMe was added to the list of supported services and those interested in advanced functions like geotagging will be able to buy the options in an ala cart subscription menu. Good stuff—read on for the full release.

EYE-FI MAKES PHOTO UPLOADS TWICE AS FAST;

LAUNCHES CUSTOMIZED SERVICE UPGRADES

Also Adds New Photo Destinations; Cards Now Available at Best Buy Stores Nationwide

PHOTOKINA, COLOGNE, Germany, Sept. 23, 2008 – Eye-Fi Inc. (www.eye.fi), makers of the world’s first wireless memory card for digital cameras, today announced enhancements to its family of Eye-Fi cards that will make the upload of digital photos from camera to computer twice as fast. The faster wireless speeds will also be made available to existing Eye-Fi users at no extra cost. In addition, users will be able to upgrade their Eye-Fi cards to add the individual services they want, including Web sharing, geotagging and hotspot access.

“Faster wireless uploads and the ability to add new services to your Eye-Fi card are significant advancements in making it more convenient and rewarding to save and share digital memories,” said Jef Holove, CEO of Eye-Fi. “Even better, we’re able to offer this new convenience and flexibility to current users as well as new customers.”

Beginning October 5, new and existing Eye-Fi card owners can easily add features that are not already included on their cards and renew annual services. By using the updated Eye-Fi Manager Web application, users can add the following services to their cards:

o Web Sharing – Users who have an Eye-Fi Home card can add Eye-Fi’s popular Web sharing service to send photos directly from their camera to one of more than 20 online photo sharing, printing, social networking or blogging sites using a wireless network, saving the time and hassle of manually uploading from the computer. Annual service fee: $9.99.
o Geotagging – Users who have an Eye-Fi Home or Share card can add geotagging to their card. Geotagging invisibly adds geographic information indicating where the photo was taken, allowing users to map where their memories were captured. Annual service fee: $14.99.
o Hotspot Access – Users who have an Eye-Fi Share card can upgrade their card to automatically upload photos away from home at more than 10,000 Wayport hotspots and through open hotspots. Annual service fee: $14.99.

Also announced today, Eye-Fi users will be able to upload photos directly to one of two new online photo destinations: Apple’s MobileMe and AdoramaPix. MobileMe members can wirelessly send photos from their camera directly to their MobileMe Gallery which can then be viewed by friends and family on the Web, iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. Available now, users will also be able to upload photos directly from their camera to their AdoramaPix account, where they can edit, share and make prints.

As a significant nationwide expansion, Eye-Fi cards will be available for purchase at more than 900 Best Buy stores throughout the United States, as well as at Circuit City, Ritz Camera Centers and major online retail sites.

By October 5, users will be able to enjoy Eye-Fi’s faster upload speeds and service upgrades, and purchase cards from Best Buy stores nationwide.

At the Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany, Sept. 23-28, Eye-Fi will demonstrate its family of products in booth # B19b in the USA/Canada Pavilion, Hall 4.1.

This AC wall adapter is no ordinary AC wall adapter. It’s loaded with an A/V recorder that can save 66 hours of footage to its 2GB microSD card. And even if the wall socket is turned off, a built-in lithium ion battery will keep shooting for 3 hours of glorious, socket-height footage. Yes, that’s the extreme low angle stuff. We’re talking shoes. We’re talking you didn’t vacuum under that couch. It’s just more evidence piling up to an unavoidable fact. In the future, everyone will know what everyone else looks like naked. Or we’ll at least have some hot shots of one another’s bare feet. [product via ohgizmo]

The flash on most point and shoot cameras is harsh and makes your subjects look horrible. It’s fine if you’re just taking a night shot of your buddies in a bar, but when you want slightly higher quality shots for your eBay photos or your “personal collection,” you need something like this Marumi Ring Light to get more uniform illumination. This way there’s not just one harsh flash light spot on the person’s face. It still doesn’t help those people who photograph their naked junk being reflected off a teapot on eBay, other than, you know, making sure their junk is lit correctly. [Enjoy Your Camera via DVice - DSLR Version]

The gadget: The Eye-Fi. It’s an SD memory card that adds Wi-Fi to any camera. Plus the free Eye-Fi service supports automatic uploads to 20 different web photo sites (like Flickr) as well as a computer on your home network.

The verdict: It works flawlessly.

The performance: Like we said, the Eye-Fi works flawlessly. Setup takes roughly five minutes (you program the card through your computer and bundled card reader.) From there, you simply snap pics in the range of your router, and chances are, by the time you go back to your computer, the pictures will be viewable. If your router dies, you turn off your camera, or even if you take out the card and put it back in, the photos will upload when you get things sorted out again. It’s actually a normal 2GB memory card underneath all of the other functionality and can work as such.

The catch: We figured iIt must drain more battery —but apparently in-camera SD power standards dictate that this extra consumed power needs to be minimal, to the level of not noticeable to the end user. Unfortunately, the product doesn't support hotspots.

The price: $100

The verdict Part II: Sure, the Eye-Fi is basically a cradle replacement. But snapping photos and automatically uploading them in real time to share is truly fantastic, especially when the images can be better than one’s camera phone. And the entire product experience is built with Apple-like simplicity. If you can get over the price and are sick of cords, we strongly recommend the purchase. Available now. [eye-fi]

Nikon also announced the D300 today, as was heavily rumored. Its latest prosumer DSLR is loaded with a 12.3 megapixel DX format CMOS sensor (the one Sony just announced), 6fps burst—it goes up to 8 with the optional battery pack, HDMI support with 1080i playback, 200-3200 ISO range, live view and a 3-inch viewfinder (the same as the D3's). It too is shipping in November, with a body-only price of $1799. This is a lot of camera for less than half of what the D3 costs.

NIKON D300 DIGITAL SLR CAMERA: MAJOR FEATURES

New DX-format CMOS image sensor with 12.3 effective megapixels
The D300 features a new 12.3 effective megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor that produces high quality images with fine detail and sharp resolution throughout its sensitivity range of ISO 200 to 3200. The camera’s ISO range can be extended using its built-in options of Lo-1 and Hi-1 for the equivalent of ISO 100 and ISO 6400 respectively. The CMOS sensor’s integrated A/D converter features the ability to select between 12-bit and 14-bit conversion, making it possible to shoot 14-bit NEF (RAW) format images.

High-speed performance
The D300 offers professional level high-speed performance with a shutter release time lag of only 45 milliseconds, camera start-up time of 0.13 second, and continuous shooting speed of approximately six frames per second. This speed can also be boosted to eight frames per second when using Nikon’s optional Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10*. The D300 can sustain continuous high-speed shooting for bursts of up to 100 shots** at full 12.3 megapixel resolution, and it supports next generation UDMA high speed memory cards.

New EXPEED Image Processing System
Similar to the Nikon D3, the D300 features the new EXPEED Image Processing System that is central to the speed and processing power of the camera. EXPEED delivers optimized performance for the camera and its features and ensures high-image quality and high-speed image processing.

Versatile new Picture Control System
The D300 features Nikon’s versatile Picture Control System that allows photographers to fine-tune and adjust fundamental rendering options for their pictures so they can define the exact tone, sharpening, brightness and saturation they prefer. They can then port these settings to any other Nikon camera featuring the Picture Control System, such as the recently introduced D3, so that even when shooting with different cameras, they can get consistent tones for all their pictures.

New 51-point auto focus system
The D300 features Nikon’s Multi-CAM 3500DX auto focus sensor module, with 51 AF points, including 15 cross-type sensors that are located in the center of the frame. These cross-type sensors work with all NIKKOR lenses, including those with apertures as small as f/5.6. The D300’s auto focus system is closely linked with the camera’s innovative Scene Recognition System to deliver greater accuracy in subject detection and focus tracking performance.

Revolutionary new Scene Recognition System
Nikon’s D300 features a revolutionary new Scene Recognition System that greatly enhances the accuracy of, auto exposure, auto white balance detection and auto focus in the camera. The Scene Recognition System uses the camera’s built in 1,005-pixel RGB metering sensor to recognize the subject or scene being photographed and detect any movement. This information helps optimize exposure and white balance settings for the recognized subject and also enables the camera to assign appropriate AF points based on any movement of the subject, ensuring highly precise auto focus tracking performance.

Super-density, 3-inch VGA, TFT LCD monitor with 920,000 dot resolution
The D300 features a gorgeous, ultra high-definition 3-inch LCD monitor with 920,000 dot resolution. The monitor provides a 170-degree viewing angle and is very effective in confirming focus on pictures as well as framing a shot using the camera’s new LiveView modes.

LiveView shooting with two optimized modes
Two new LiveView modes in the D300 enable photographers to compose their shot using the camera’s ultra-high resolution LCD monitor. The Tripod mode is designed for precise focus and accuracy when the camera is on a stable platform and the subject is not moving. In this mode, the camera focuses on the subject using focal-plane contrast and any point on the LCD screen can be selected as the focus point for the picture. The second mode, called Handheld mode, allows photographers to use the camera’s conventional TTL focusing system, with all 51-points and 15 cross-type points available. When using this mode, the camera activates focusing immediately when the shutter button is pressed, to ensure accurate focus.

Active D-Lighting
Nikon’s D-Lighting feature in its digital SLR cameras has proved to be a popular way for photographers to quickly compensate for dark areas of a picture after it is taken, without adversely affecting its highlights. The D300 features a new Active D-Lighting mode that, when enabled, provides remarkable real-time highlight and shadow correction with optimized image contrast. Active D-Lighting produces broader tone reproduction in both shadows and highlights by controlling highlights and exposure compensation while applying localized tone control technology to achieve a more pleasing level of contrast across the entire image. And because the advantages of Active D-Lighting are applied as images are captured, image editing time can be shortened.

Self-cleaning Sensor Unit for efficient dust reduction
The D300 is the first Nikon digital SLR camera to employ a Self-cleaning Sensor Unit. Four different resonance frequencies vibrate the optical low pass filter in front of the image sensor to shake particles free and reduce the presence of dust in the camera.

Large, bright viewfinder that achieves 100% frame coverage
The D300’s new eye-level pentaprism viewfinder offers virtually 100 percent frame coverage and 0.94x magnification for comfortable and precise composition.

Fine-tune adjustment for auto focus
Photographers who need to make small adjustments to correct differences in focusing can do so using the D300’s built-in capability to adjust focus specific to a lens. The camera offers the option of either setting compensation for a specific lens so adjustment in focus is only enabled when that particular lens is used, or the camera can apply a uniform level of compensation for any lens used with the camera. Users can store settings for up to 20 different lenses if they prefer to fine-tune the camera’s focusing based on specific lenses.

Reliable and durable
The D300 incorporates several features designed to ensure the camera performs reliably and consistently under demanding conditions. The camera’s chassis is constructed of highly durable magnesium alloy and the body features numerous seals to protect the camera against dust and moisture. The camera’s shutter mechanism is tested to 150,000 cycles, assuring a long life of consistent performance.

Exclusive Wireless Transmitter WT-4A (optional)
The D300 is compatible with Nikon’s new WT-4A wireless transmitter that provides support for wired LAN (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX) and wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11a/b/g,). When using the D300 in LiveView mode, the WT-4A can transmit a remote view from the camera and also support continuous shooting through a wireless or wired connection using Nikon’s Camera Control Pro 2 software (optional).

Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10 (optional)
The D300 is also compatible with the optional new Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D10. This battery pack supports three types of batteries and features sequential power supply with auto-switching to the battery installed inside the camera body. When used, the battery pack can boost the D300’s high-speed continuous shooting to eight frames per second* for up to 100 consecutive shots**.

[Nikon]

With Kameraflage, now you’ll be able to plant subliminal messages on T-shirts, movies and billboards that can only be seen with digital cameras. This context-sensitive display technology, developed by Sarah Logie and Connor Dickie, works by using colors that are invisible to us but easily picked up by the silicon chips in digital cameras. As you can see, the lovely model above is wearing a shirt that only reveals that cloud’s lightning bolt when seen through an iPhone’s digital camera, although any ordinary unmodified digital camera would get the same result. She just as easily could have placed her phone number in that cloud. Hmm. Let’s think of some other uses for this cool tech.

Another use for the technology would be to watermark video and filmed content, so when pirates try to videotape movies by taking a camcorder into the theater, there could be a big bunch of funky-looking text all over it. Enabling this is a clever trick using a patented invisible light projector developed by Logie and Dickie. More Kameraflage clothing will be demonstrated at the ACM SIGGRAPH Unravel fashion show on August 6 in San Diego. [Kameraflage]

It’s not convenient to take a tripod everywhere you go at night in order to take good pictures. This is especially true when you’re trying to keep a low profile in the bushes. So what do you do? Adjust stuff like ISO, exposure and aperture. If you don’t know what those are, the instructions will fill you in:

Aperture: F-stops are different settings allowing different amounts of light to enter your camera. This is different from exposure, in that the aperture is that funky iris/anus looking thing that is a series of connected sheets that either open or contract to make a hole get bigger or smaller.

Doesn’t everything get much simpler when it’s explained in terms of anuses? – Jason Chen

How to take AWESOME night photos WITHOUT a tripod [Instructables]

Image Credit

We have a Nikon D40X ($730, body only) in our hands, and testing it for the past few days has been a joy. The camera is light but not too light, and its controls are perfectly placed. We’re even okay with its menu system, which other reviewers have called “meandering.” It also gives you the overall impression that it’s going to back you up if you do something stupid. For example, its auto ISO setting will reach into its higher numbers, pushing the light through to help you out in a dark situation.

What we really like is the way the thing feels in our hands. It just fits perfectly. Its menu buttons are right where they need to be, along with the dial for automatic exposure, manual control and tons of programmed auto exposure routines. In fact, we like all the nice touches in this camera. When a product is crammed into a crowded market with scads of me-too products, these little details are what can set one digital SLR apart from all the others. With the Nikon, it’s that perfect-sounding click when you release the shutter.

We also appreciate the extra megapixelidge added to this D40x model, which doesn’t replace the lesser D40, but gives you 10.2 megapixels instead of the D40’s six megapixels. The D40x also brings a bit faster rapid-fire rate, snapping off shots at three frames per second. Sure, it’s not the spectacular 10fps motor drive of the Canon EOS 1D Mark III, but it’ll still do the trick if you need to take a few quick shots in a row. What about that honking lens? There’s more.

Another huge plus when you choose the Nikon D40x is its complement of outstanding Nikkor lenses. With our test unit, Nikon included its latest 55mm-to-200mm AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor f/4-5.6 lens (35mm equivalent: 82.5-300mm), an image-stabilized and super-sharp piece of glass that we immediately liked right out of the box. It features VR (Vibration Reduction), Nikon’s antidote to shaky-cam shooting that’s located in the lens, not in the camera body as you’ll see in Sony DSLRs.

The 55-200mm lens (about $250) shares many of the characteristics of its coveted brandmate, the $870 18mm-to-200mm VR zoom that David Pogue was fawning over, and it gives you shots that are far steadier than you can ever handhold without image stabilization, even when zoomed all the way into 200mm at f/5.6.

Our supreme test was in a low-light situation, using only room lighting at night. Zooming all the way in to 200mm, we snapped a picture of a clock, which turned out to be fairly sharp even when handheld, with the shutter opening in about a 30th of a second. If you can hold a 200mm lens still enough for a shot taken at a 30th of a second, there’s some serious stabilization voodoo going on there. Bravo, Nikon.

Overall, our first impression of the Nikon D40x and this Nikkor 55-to-200mm image-stabilized lens is highly favorable. We think it hits that sweet spot of price and performance, opening up a new world of digital SLR quality to those who might otherwise have stayed with a point and shoot. Both the lens and camera body are highly recommended.

However, we get the feeling that a similar Nikon DSLR with a live preview viewfinder is in the offing, so we're holding out for that one. We've just gotten too accustomed to live view in point-and-shoot cameras to abandon it for a digital SLR. We're spoiled—it's nice to be able to hold the camera away from you and still see how your shot is framed up. That said, if live view isn't important to you, Nikon has hit a home run with the D40x. Great camera. – Charlie White