Digital Trends

Blue Sky Stuff

Geotate (www.geotate.com) showed a very cool technology called “geo-tagging.” With it your camera records the GPS signals beamed by satellites and it’s stored with the metadata of your JPEG (it is not a full-blown GPS device). Once you get home the supplied software goes to the Internet and translates the data into an actual location and creates a map pinpointing where you took the photo. Simply click on the map and the specific image pops up. This is very cool and something to keep an eye on later this year. The company showed a prototype built by Alket, a huge OEM camera maker. Geotate is working hard so manufacturers will incorporate the technology into their cameras. We wish them well.

Geotate Screenshot

HD Video Surprise

PMA is not a big video show but the big boys like Sony and Canon displayed the models they announced at CES. Surprisingly, JVC decided to introduce two new high-def Everio hard drive camcorders, the GZ-HD6 and GZ-HD5, so they could stand out from the huge media buzz at CES. They were right since no other camcorders made their debut at PMA. Other than body color, the pair have similar feature sets—10x Fujinon lens, 3CCD imaging and optical image stabilization. The $1,399 USD HD6 has a 120GB HDD and can record 10 hours of 1920 x 1080 video. The $1,199 USD HD5 records for “only” five hours onto its 60-gig drive; both are due in March. If you have a new 1080p display with HDMI ver. 1.3, you’ll see 1080p video at 60 frames per second on screen. The demo we saw was quite good with reduced jaggy lines and very accurate colors.

JVC Everio GZ-HD6

Film Simulation 

Fujifilm just can’t give up the old film routine (its name may have something to do with it). Rather than dwell in the past like Kodak, Fujifilm introduced a digital camera that offers film simulation modes. For people who remember, Fujifilm’s Velvia and Provia film stocks added a “feel” to their prints that generated millions of fans. The new FinePix S100FS does the same thing except you simply adjust the onscreen menu rather than swapping out rolls of 35mm film. This $700 USD 11.1-megapixel camera has a 14.3x zoom with a nice range of 28-400mm as well as a 2.5-inch articulating LCD, making it a nice choice for vacationers.

Fujifilm FinePix S100FS