The Avatar digital camera has a 21x analog zoom lens which should make long-distance observation and photography a snap. While the extra-long lens isn’t exactly inconspicuous, I suppose it’s better than trying to duct tape your digicam to the back of a telescope.

It’s capable of capturing images at a 2-megapixel resolution (yawn), and in addition to the analog zoom, has a 40x digital zoom mode too. You can also shoot full-motion video at 640×480 resolution at 25fps, or at 320×240 at 30fps. When you’re not using it to capture surveillance shots, the camera also functions as a portable media player.

Normally, I’d tell you guys you could find these over at ChinaVasion, but they’re currently sold out. But with a little looking over on eBay, I was able to turn up a whole bunch for about $190 (USD). Please do not use this to videotape your neighbors without their clothes on. That would just be wrong.

[via The Design Town]

HD View allows for smooth panning and zooming of extremely high resolution images which have been stitched together from hundreds or thousands of individual images using tools like Microsoft’s free Image Composite Editor. The HD View software can automatically correct for the appropriate perspective as you zoom in and out of the incredibly detailed photographs.

In addition to providing the ability to pan and scroll and zoom your way around insanely intricate images, the latest release (Beta 3) provides support for high dynamic range (HDR) images, which preserve a much wider color and light gamut than ordinary digital photographs. There’s also the ability to automatically adjust the tone and dynamic range of parts of an image as you zoom in to a particular section of a large photo, bringing out detail you didn’t even know was there when zoomed out. While this effect is kind of slick, I found that it worked sort of like the auto-contrast feature on televisions, producing some hyper-real results when moving between extremely dark and light areas of an image.

HD View also offers support for two viewing modes: lens and fisheye. When in lens mode, the image is displayed as a panorama, while in fisheye mode, you’ll feel like you’re looking at the world from the inside of a globe. In both cases, the experience of moving around an image is pretty stunning. Think of it like Quicktime VR on some serious steroids.

Best of all, you can create your own HD View images. The only bad news I can see about HD View is that it currently requires a Windows-only browser plug-in to be installed on your PC in order to view the content (at least it works in both Firefox and IE). Still, it’s a small download, and it’s worth checking out if you’ve got any interest in digital photography. There’s also an experimental Silverlight version that will work on Macs as well, but it’s not as feature rich.

You can grab the plug-in and check out a number of really cool demo images over on the Microsoft Research HD View site. Once you’ve got the plug-in installed, there a bunch of additional HD View panoramas for you to check out here. And being a Chicagoan, I have to point out this truly unreal panoramic shot.

If you check out the rendering on the site, you can zoom and orbit in ways that are fun and freaky, allowing you to see the bots from different angles. The piece’s gravitas reveals itself as you keep zooming in on more and more and more speck-like robots that, when enlarged, reveal themselves to be working on their mini-me’s.

But don’t fear, these aren’t really real robots, it’s just an artist’s rendering. Also, we might keep this in mind during the robot uprising, as we could possibly keep them busy with a task of this nature to distract them from wanting to kill and maim all of us. Seriously, people. We need to start thinking about that stuff.

This add-on 6x optical zoom lens by Conice might look a little weird protruding from the back of your iPhone, but it will give you much greater flexibility for your photos. I’ve seen similar add-on lenses for cell phones before, and while they’re not as good as a built-in zoom lens, they’re better than nothing if you’ve got a steady hand. Since the iPhone doesn’t have any sort of image stabilization or a tripod mount, you might have some trouble keeping zoom photos in focus.

The lens attaches to a protective plastic case that snaps snugly around your iPhone, so it can easily be removed when you’re not using it. Keep in mind that the lens and case weigh in at 4.69 ounces, which nearly doubles the 4.8 ounce weight of a stock iPhone. If you don’t mind adding a little extra bulk to your phone, you can pick one up from DealExtreme for just under $15.

Like a giant cyclops sitting on your desk, the USB Big Eye Webcam not only has a big lens, it’s got some pretty nice other features for an inexpensive cam.

It’s got an 8-LED ring that provides nighttime illumination, and can swivel all the way around on its clip-on base. Image resolution is very good at 1280×960 and it can capture up to 30fps. The camera also has a built-in microphone so it’s good for video conferencing and chat applications.

The Big Eye Webcam is available now from Brando.

The new Lumix DMC-FX100K offers a whopping TWELVE megapixel resolution. For those of you who are counting every tiny dot, that’s 4000 horizontal pixels by 3000 vertical pixels. To put that in perspective, this camera can snap pictures at almost five times the resolution of a high definition 1080p big screen television. With detail like that, you’ll probably be able to blow up your images to wall size before you have to worry about seeing those pesky pixels.

The $399 camera features a Leica 28mm wide angle lens, and something called “extended optical zoom” which allows you to jump up beyond the 3.6x native zoom all the way up to 7x. However, you can only go to 7x if you drop down to three megapixel resolution. Still, it’s a nice feature in a pinch. Also along for the ride is Panasonic’s MEGA optical image stabilization system which should remove all but the worst jostling during picture taking.

The FX100K also offers a couple of rapid shooting modes, including an 8 frame-per-second burst mode, and a 15 frame-per-second (1280 x 720) widescreen video capture mode. Based on the excellent reviews that other recent Lumix cameras have gotten, this is definitely one to watch.

[Order this item from Amazon]

Thanks to its microphone configuration, the recorder can accurately capture stereo positioning as well as 5.1 surround positioning when you record in 360° 48kHz/24-bit mode. The device can record 16-bit or 24-bit WAV files at up to 96kHz, and MP3 files at up to 320kbps. When equipped with a 4GB SD memory card, it can capture up to 2 hours of the 96kHz WAV files, or up to 138 hours in MP3 format. You can record for about 4 hours on a single set of AA batteries, or plug it into the included AC adapter for longer sessions.

The H2 includes a 512MB SD memory card, USB cable and a handy tripod stand. It should be available later this Spring for around $200.

[via PopSci via OhGizmo!]

ZenZui’s differentiator is its unique “zooming” user interface which lets you quickly maneuver from one application or website to another. The interface features a grid of customizable “tiles” which provide links directly to the users areas of interest. Once a tile is chosen, the selected content immediately fills the mobile devices screen.

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