Brian Lam on August 31st, 2009

This is one of the worst waterproof cameras I have ever used, even if its the cheapest and does 720p video. Maybe you can recommend it to a merman you hate?

Price

$150

Waterproofness

Because it lives in its own magic bubble housing, its good for 15-feet. That’s good, but not great. The Canon D10 is good for 30 feet, and most other waterproof cameras are good for this depth without a housing.

The Photos

I won’t go too in depth here as the photos speak for themselves:

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Barfy color, contrast and grain. It’s really a video camera that can record at 1280×720 (or, 720p) at 30 frames per second in h.264. There’s 4x zoom, and it starts fairly zoomed in, making me wish it had image stabilization. It has an LED for lighting videos, though. The stills were 5MP, for whatever that’s worth.

The Designs

Inside of its case, you can’t do much. You can’t power it down and up, either, so I ended up getting a bit of moisture in the case. No biggie, since its no loss if this thing drowns. Oh, you know what else is terrible? The thing is, like many camcorder housings, permanently stuck in a flipped out screen position, so packing this thing is a chore.

720p video

Cheap, but only a few bucks less than the much nicer Fuji Waterproof. So…

External housing

Worst images of any underwater camera

Not very waterproof considering the bulky housing

[DXG]

Summermodo is a chance for Giz to get outside and test our gear where it belongs.

Continue reading about DXG-U579VS $150 Waterproof HD Camcorder Review

Dan Nosowitz on August 31st, 2009

Hardcore photo geeks know that Leica’s M9 is supposedly due out on 09/09/09 (exactly one 9 less cool than the Sega Dreamcast’s release). Now the company’s second digital offering has been captured in several blurry shots from a promo.

Live Webcast on 9/9/2009 – The next Generation of Leica Cameras from leica camera on Vimeo.

What do these shots show us? Well, nothing. The camera’s rumored 18MP full-frame sensor can’t be confirmed, and we can’t even get a full shot of the body. Luckily the launch isn’t far off, and we’ll be sure to fill in the gaps once Leica officially announces the camera. [Pocket Lint]

Continue reading about Leica M9 Appears for Four Blurry Seconds in Promo Video