The lightweight Cam Crate has a quick-opening door, a soft foam interior, and a proper seal. It’s waterproof, mud-proof, crush-proof and shock-proof, allowing you to no longer worry so much about your precious camera. Hopefully, this will encourage you to carry your camera places where you’d probably would have left it behind, so you’ll be taking some cooler shots.

The brains behind this is Matthew Geyster, and his Kickstarter project is on the way of being funded. There are 56 days left, and he’s already got almost $4,000 out of the necessary $20,000 for Cam Crate to go into produciton. You’ll need to pledge at least $50 to receive your own Cam Crate. It will retail for $80 after the initial fundraising round.

Geyster says that despite the size of the prototype, the final version will be big enough to handle cameras like the Canon 5D and Nikon D700.

[via Uncrate]

The camera is also said to have integrated Ethernet, presumably to allow the streaming of live video, and perhaps the sending content to your computer faster. Storage is to a CF card, and the D4 should support the new XQD standard – which offers significantly improved throughput and a small form-factor.

Other features include Face Detection, video recording in 1080p (only 30fps?), and uncompressed video output via the HDMI port. These specs were picked up by Nikonrumors from a variety of sources, but the site thinks that they are 90% accurate based on experience. They expect that all will be revealed about the D4 in January 2012.

Ok, when I say it’s fully-functional, I don’t mean that it has interchangeable lenses, but it does snap high-quality digital pictures. It was built by Tyler Card, who happens to actually be a professional photographer – so that’s only fitting.

Tyler built it using a bunch of cardboard and a five-gallon paint bucket for the lens. Hidden inside  is an actual Nikon DSLR, and it displays photos on the Dell LCD laptop screen on the back. It’s even got a functional Alienbees flash, and working shutter button.

Watch it in action below:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

More on the build can be seen in the video clip below, in case you’re still looking for ideas for your own costume and have the time and talent to spare to build something this complex…

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via PopPhoto via PetaPixel]

The catch with the awesome looking LockCircle is that the thing costs $100 (USD), which seems like a lot for what it does. There were a lot of people out there wondering why the thing is so expensive when it was announced. Now with this video footage of one being made, it’s a lot clearer now why it costs so much. The LockCircle starts off as a round billet aluminum disc strapped to a CNC lathe machine, eventually taking the form shown in the photo above.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

It is so cool to see the billet disc start to spin and then the router bits come in and shave metal off to create the product. You really have to watch the video to see how the thing is made. My favorite part is seeing the laser etching machine burn the name onto the product at the end.

[via PetaPixel]

Actually we already saw a camera-shaped flash drive a couple years ago, but that old model had the actual flash drive on the body, which made it awkward and too bulky for some USB ports, especially on laptops. But you won’t have that problem with this flash drive because the lens is just a tad wider than most USB plugs or drives.

You can order the Camera USB Drive from Photojojo for $20 (USD). There are three designs to choose from – Canon, Ricoh and Nikon, but productive photographers may be disappointed to find out that it only has 4GB of storage. Perhaps there’ll be 16GB telephoto or 32GB zoom lenses available in the future.

[via Svpply]

Unlike its predecessor, which can only take pictures at 1600 x 1200 and videos at 640 x 480, this upgraded version snaps photos at 3264 x 2448 resolution and records 1280 x 720 videos at 30fps. The trade off? An increase in size… by about 0.1 to 0.3 inches on each side. Whip out a magnifying glass and inspect the two Chobi Cam Ones side-by-side:

The Chobi Cam One HD even offers add-on zoom, wide-angle and fish-eye lenses. The tiny camera has a microSDHC slot that supports cards up to 32GB in storage, and can transfer data over USB. Its battery can be fully charged in an hour, after which it’s good for about 25 minutes of shooting videos.

Here’s a more jarring comparison of the Chobi Cam One HD. I know DSLRs are chunky, but it’s a building next to this bugger.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The Chobi Cam One HD sells for appx. $185 (USD) at GeekStuff4U. Unfortunately the accessory lenses are not bundled even at that steep price; you can get those from JTT Online for about $30-$60 each.

The geeks over at LensRentals who entertained us with that lens with 50 UV filters attached last month came up with the idea for this camera lens chess set. As the story goes, a couple workers were in a new warehouse waiting for people to show up to connect some utilities and decided to use some tiles they found to kill some time.

They also had some lenses sitting in the warehouse so the thing that came to mind was a chess set. The white lenses are Canon and the black are Nikon. You can even rent the chess set if you feel the need but it’s not cheap. The lens chess set rents for $9,221 per week and the shipping runs into the thousand-dollar range. One can only imagine how much it would cost to purchase it.

The DSLR Camera Bank is a realistic life-sized replica of the Canon EOS 350D that doubles as a piggy bank. As you’ll see in the gallery below it really is quite detailed. All the buttons and switches are present, as well as the viewing screen. The lens is also detachable, just like the real thing.

You can order the DSLR Camera Bank from Photojojo for $24 (USD). Aside from using it as a piggy bank, Photojojo has a couple of suggestions: you can give it as a present for someone else who’s also saving up for a camera or for kicks, treat it carelessly in front of your friends (or better yet make them break it) to freak them out. Of course with the first suggestion the person you give it to might think that you’re giving him a real camera and will thus be disappointed. As for the second suggestion? I imagine it’ll be a fun prank indeed, but if it does break that’s still $24 out the window. I’m quite the downer today.

[via Holycool]

Before you jump for joy, remember that the iPhone’s 5-megapixel sensor is pretty paltry, so don’t expect to take DSLR-quality photos with it. However, it might come in handy if you want to have a bit of fun. Honestly though, if you’re carrying along these big lenses, might as well just carry along your DSLR. The only reason would be to give the iPhone some more visual control, and for its instant sharing options.

The lens mount is selling for $249 (USD) and will ship in August from Photojojo. At that price, you might be better off spending the money on another lens for your DSLR.

Especially girly girls who want their camera wraps to look stylish or at least reflect their personal style. That’s probably what the people behind the Chocmuf online store on DaWanda (which is like Europe’s version of Etsy) had in mind, too, with their line of Pixbags camera wraps.

A wide variety of quirky and colorful designs are available from Chocmuf’s storefront. Choose from comic book inspired prints, checkered bags, wraps decorated with floral designs, among others.

The Pixbag camera wraps are padded so your DSLR will be snug and secure in it. All of them are handmade and come in three different sizes, so you can find one that will fit your camera perfectly. These Pixbags range in price from about $72 to $79 (USD). The seller also has some battery grips and wrist straps available in store so you can carry everything easily.

These Pixbags are definitely something to check out if you’re looking for something colorful, unique, and creative to carry your digital SLRs in.

[via Oh Gizmo!]

What you’re looking at is the latest in Canon DSLR technology, it’s a camera that runs on pocket change instead of batteries. Nope, I lied. Actually, it’s just a piggy bank, but it sure looks like a Canon EOS7D DSLR, doesn’t it?

It’s designed to look like a Canon EOS 7D, along with an EF 70-200mm USM II lens, which can be detached when you want to get your coins out. The kit even includes a matching lens hood, to complete the look. A real EOS 7D, along with these accessories would set you back about $4000. On the other hand you could buy more than 100 of these piggy banks for the same price.

Funny thing about it is that you usually try and hide your money in something that doesn’t look valuable, like an old shoe box, or a soda can with a false bottom. In this case, you’ll be storing your precious coins in something that actually looks expensive, further enticing thieves to walk off with it.  Still, if you’re a photography buff, you’ll probably want to get one of these to put up on your shelf to collect your spare change.

You can grab the DSLR piggy bank over at Brando for $35.90 (USD).

The cats over at LensRentals are though, and they have a slew of filters that the sell and are returned. They clean them up on occasion and then do who knows what with them. Apparently, the last time they cleaned filters they ended up with a stack of 50 of the bad boys, and screwed them all together. I wonder what the guy is compensating for with such a long lens? A short umm… exposure? That lens has enough UV filters to keep a vampire from bursting into flames.

They even took some photos with all those filters in place. The picture of the building with 890 on it is the result. The bottom is with the filters and the top is without. My pics tend to look like that bottom one by accident, only I generally have a finger in the shot too.

My wife loses the lens cap every time she uses the camera, which is one of the reasons she is banned from using my gear. If you have issues keeping up with your lens cap and want something to keep the cap right on your neck strap this simple and ingenious device might be perfect. It simply called the Camera Lens Cap Holder and it is designed by Mark Stevenson.

There will be several models to fit the caps of all sorts of vintage and new, Nikon, Canon, and other cameras. All you need to do is thread your neck strap through the holder and then clip you lens cap onto it and no more losing the cap. Mark is seeking $3,900 in pledges over on Kickstarter to cover the costs for the molds for injecting plastic to form the lens cap holders. The project already has over $2,000 pledged right now and 14 days to go. Pledge at least $15, and you’ll get one for yourself.

The NEX C3 will cost $600 (USD) and is the next iteration of the popular Micro Four-Thirds compact APS-C format camera series. These small cameras have interchangeable lenses, allowing them to be a lot more versatile than normal point-and-shoots, and they still have that small form factor, which means that they are easy to carry around. It comes with their new 16.2 MP sensor, has 720p HD recording capability, an ISO range of 200 to 12,800, 25 auto-focus point, face recognition, and built-in HDR. It’s also got a hi-res 921k dot LCD screen.

The a35 DSLR comes with a 16 MP CMOS sensor and is able to record full 1080 HD video. The ISO range is 100 to 12,800, you can create 3D sweep panoramas, it can shoot 7 fps in still mode, and has 15 AF points. It also has a built-in HDR, which is really cool. It will sell for $700.

Release dates haven’t yet been announced.

[via Photorumors]

(Of course, I know SLRs are huge and bulky and heavy in nature, but I retain rights to complain about it because I am a woman with muscle-less arms.)

But today, I laid my eyes on possibly the most gorgeous DSLR that might just push me to overcome the first factor that’s been holding me back from getting one: the Pentax Ribbon K-r.

Isn’t she just a beaut? Now I may not know much about cameras, but I know women, and women like me sometimes need a shove in the right direction, even though it’s just the appearances that’s drawing us in.

The Pentax Rainbow K-r [JP] is actually a limited-edition DSLR that encases Pentax’s K-r series of cameras in an all-new and colorful housing. The design was cooked up in conjunction with Tower Records, and the Rainbow is actually the second camera released as a result of their’ collaboration.

The bad news is that it’s only being released in Japan. The good news is that you can likely pre-order one from Japan-based importers like Rinkya.

They don’t come cheap and will retail at around $1,100 (USD), but this set does already come with a DA 35mm F2.4 AL lens. However, the blah-looking normal Pentax K-r is priced at $800 with the added lenses though, so technically you’re paying an extra three hundred bucks for the added color.

Call me crazy, but I actually think it’s worth it.

You can check out the specifications of the Pentax K-r right here.

[via CrunchGear]

A guy named Nigel has solved that problem with a creation he made using hobby plastic, glue, and a sharp knife. He cut the plastic so it would slide into the hotshoe mount on top of his DSLR. He then glued the parts together and made a holder that he can put his iPhone into.

The holder keeps the iPhone on top of the camera a like a giant flash. By combining this mount with the iTunes Pocket Light Meter app, he can aim the camera where he wants to shoot and look at the iPhone to see the light in the room. This is a cool little project if you’re into photography for sure.

[via Make:]

So apparently Bonnie Pink is the name of a famous Japanese pop star. But even so, I don’t really get the reasoning behind the colors of this Pentax. Beige camouflage with white, red, hot pink and purple accents? J-POP star or not, the color palette is hideous.

If I were in the market for a DSLR, I’d get a Nikon D7000, which is almost the same price as this limited edition Pentax, and a much more capable camera. The K-r Bonnie Pink will sell for $1,100 and there are 100 units available.

[via CrunchGear]

A team at Microsoft Research is working on deblurring images by detecting inertial movements of the camera itself. For their experiments, they took Arduino board and bundled it with a bunch of sensors, including a Bluetooth modem, 3-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, and a trigger for the camera. The system detects rotation, translation and planar depth and applies mathematical transformations to the image to remove blur caused by these movements.

The high-speed camera on the side of the rig in the photo was just used for validating the algorithm that actually removes blur from the images. This is a cool hack, but you would get some strange looks if you use it in public. Hopefully, Microsoft can figure out a way to shrink this down and fit it into a camera someday.

[via Hack A Day]

Measuring about 1 in. x 1 in. x 1 in., the camera shoots pictures with a 1600 x 1200 resolution, and shoots videos up to 30 fps at 640 x 480. It also supports microSD and microSDHC cards up to 32GB and can transfer data via USB.

What’s more, the lenses you saw in the first picture are actually functional – there’s a telephoto lens and a fish-eye lens sold separately. The Chobi Cam One is currently available in Japan only. JTT is selling it for ¥9,800 (appx. $118 USD), while the lenses can cost up to $60 each. Pretty expensive for a crappy camera. It’s really tiny though.

[via CrunchGear]

The great thing is that such a pedal can be constructed with a little bit of know-how and about $30 worth of parts. You just need a keyboard sustain pedal, a stereo cable and a mono plug. You’ll just solder the mono plug onto the end of the cable, then plug it into the pedal and your camera.

For the complete instructions and a parts list, you’ll want to check out the guide here.

[via Crunchgear]