If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Nikon Coolpix S1000 PJ
Interesting idea. A camera with a built-in projector. The camera
projects a VGA screen 40 inches across two feet away. I wonder if it does PowerPoint? There is a company called Microvision in Bellevue, Washington that has been working on a projector for cell phones. I wonder if they had anything to do with this? Or, if not, if the Nikon projector violates any of their patents? This is an idea whose time has come, I think. And it is nice to see a Coolpix that is not just another "me too" camera. -- Waddling Eagle World Famous Flight Instructor |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Nikon Coolpix S1000 PJ
On Tue, 4 Aug 2009 16:43:43 -0700, C J Campbell
wrote: Interesting idea. A camera with a built-in projector. The camera projects a VGA screen 40 inches across two feet away. I wonder if it does PowerPoint? There is a company called Microvision in Bellevue, Washington that has been working on a projector for cell phones. I wonder if they had anything to do with this? Or, if not, if the Nikon projector violates any of their patents? This is an idea whose time has come, I think. And it is nice to see a Coolpix that is not just another "me too" camera. I've already done this very thing for grins and giggles long ago when on one of many camping treks Crank up the brightness in the EFV and using the diopter adjustment to focus it on the wall of a totally dark tent. You just have to make sure your eyes are totally dark adapted. A fun way to watch downsized DVD movies when traveling if you have no other means. I've also used it when photographing aurora. Rather than subject my eye to the brightness in the EVF, I'll project the display on my opened palm so I can read the exposure and other needed information without loosing my dark-adaptation. It's upside down (if you don't turn the camera over as when projecting on a tent wall) but it's easy to mentally flip the info. |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Nikon Coolpix S1000 PJ
On Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:39:26 -0500, Bob Johnson
wrote: On Tue, 4 Aug 2009 16:43:43 -0700, C J Campbell wrote: Interesting idea. A camera with a built-in projector. The camera projects a VGA screen 40 inches across two feet away. I wonder if it does PowerPoint? There is a company called Microvision in Bellevue, Washington that has been working on a projector for cell phones. I wonder if they had anything to do with this? Or, if not, if the Nikon projector violates any of their patents? This is an idea whose time has come, I think. And it is nice to see a Coolpix that is not just another "me too" camera. I've already done this very thing for grins and giggles long ago when on one of many camping treks Crank up the brightness in the EFV and using the diopter adjustment to focus it on the wall of a totally dark tent. You just have to make sure your eyes are totally dark adapted. A fun way to watch downsized DVD movies when traveling if you have no other means. I've also used it when photographing aurora. Rather than subject my eye to the brightness in the EVF, I'll project the display on my opened palm so I can read the exposure and other needed information without loosing my dark-adaptation. It's upside down (if you don't turn the camera over as when projecting on a tent wall) but it's easy to mentally flip the info. Heh, I just found something that works even better. Due to the larger size of the LCD display there's more candle-power available from it (similar brightness as the EVF, but a larger area). Stacking two good-quality 3.5" x 5.25" fresnel lenses for maximum f-ratio, I now don't even need dark adapted eyes to view the screen projected on a light-gray wall in a darkened room. I think I'm going to have to make an easy to attach, collapses-flat, "movie "projector add-on" for my cameras. Stashed in the docs-flap of my camera bag for future camping trek fun. Plus I'll always have a handy fire-starter handy. Thanks for bringing this up. |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Nikon Coolpix S1000 PJ
On Tue, 4 Aug 2009 16:43:43 -0700, C J Campbell, who may be the
first kiddie on his block to buy a Coolpix S1000pj, wrote: Interesting idea. A camera with a built-in projector. The camera projects a VGA screen 40 inches across two feet away. I wonder if it does PowerPoint? There is a company called Microvision in Bellevue, Washington that has been working on a projector for cell phones. I wonder if they had anything to do with this? Or, if not, if the Nikon projector violates any of their patents? This is an idea whose time has come, I think. And it is nice to see a Coolpix that is not just another "me too" camera. An idea whose time has come? I don't think so, and neither does Thom Hogan : Two things come to mind in looking at the latest Coolpix: 1. Most of the Coolpix models now have a simple, look-alike nature to them. It's difficult to distinguish one from another, and the same basic design seems to be iterated over and over, with the main changes coming internally. On the one hand, this is good, as it means that time and money aren't being wasted on style, even in the so-called Style (S) lineup. But at the same time, it doesn't appear to me that much is happening functionally, either. More and more the Coolpix lineup feels like "placeholders," cameras that are expected to sell just because of the Nikon name and give Nikon a presence across all cameras. I now count almost two dozen Coolpix models that have had the same basic S570/S640 design. So if I have an S600, why would I buy an S640? It's not as if there's a huge pent-up demand for people buying their first camera. And the minor tweaks don't exactly make for much in the way of upgrade demand, either. 2. Nikon has long had someone in the Coolpix product management team with a gimmick fetish. Indeed, gimmicks date back all the way to the original Coolpix models: the Coolpix 300 had the ability to write on an image displayed on the screen with a pen. The long-forgotten SQ was like a piece of jewelry to be worn. And innovation happens every now and again with the Coolpix, the 900 being the start of a long line of twist-and-shoot cameras. But the interesting thing is that none of these things seem to last long--they make a big splash at introduction, mainly because Nikon gives them a big splash. But public acceptance isn't exactly all that great. So the addition of a mini-projector in a Coolpix seems to fall in this tradition: interesting, but not exactly something that's going to shake up the market (even more so because the technology is available to anyone, so if Nikon really has found something that people want in their pocket cameras, it'll be copied by everyone within a year). Worse still, the mini-projector is already available as an add-on, and many of them will work with multiple items you own: phone, camcorder, camera, netbook, etc. Thus I don't see a built-in projector being anything except less flexible. #2 is indicative of a theme I've been harping on as of late: the Japanese camera makers have lost the pulse of the real camera user. While I don't object to having a video capability in my camera, that feature doesn't make my camera a better still camera. Meantime, it still doesn't appear that they understand simple needs, like true raw histograms, a "freeze all settings" button for panos, bracketing that actually works for HDR, and a host of other simple things that would make our camera a better still camera. Of course, asking for such things in a Coolpix would probably get the Japanese engineers laughing all the way to the Salaryman bar, but um, hey guys, all those things would have been better additions to the P6000 than an Ethernet interface that is only usable for MyPictureTown. I don't mind seeing Nikon try oddball things like putting a projector into a Coolpix (see my "play" comments below the picture at the top of the page). I do mind that things that should be high on the list of functional improvements don't seem to be on any camera's update list. My own personal list of needed still camera improvements--many of which could be done easily in firmware--now sprawls to several pages, even in bullet list form. You might wonder why I'm using the latest Coolpix introductions to repeat this particular design rant. That's because nowhere is it more obvious than in the Coolpix line that Nikon's products are just more me-to designs. How do you sell a Nikon over a Sony or Canon compact? Brand name? Price? Ubiquity? How about trying "it's a better camera, silly!" There was a time when that was true of many Coolpix models. It is far less true today, if it is even still true at all. In the Coolpix line Nikon has transformed themselves from "the better camera maker" to "we're a consumer electronics company, too." An obvious question to ask is this: at what point will that happen with DSLRs, too? One reason why the Coolpix models all look so me-to is that Nikon uses "reference design" bases created by another company, as do many of the compact camera makers. There are perhaps a half dozen providers of these reference designs, of which three seem to be getting most of the action. Essentially, what happens is that you get much of the camera part pre-done for you (CPU, memory, display, flash, sensor, ADC, SD write mechanism, etc.). Around that you wrap your own lens, case, battery, and menu system. Some base designers have allowances for imaging ASICs, like EXPEED and DIGIC, while some go further and provide lens and other goodies. But just as with film, it's actually the user interaction that makes or breaks a camera. Getting the camera set for what you want it to do, then feeling that it "performs" as you do it. That's within Nikon's control, and that's the part they keep failing at for me. Sorry, Nikon, still no Coolpix for me. Ironically, a true consumer electronics firm, Panasonic, seems to make a better camera than you do. http://www.bythom.com/ |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Nikon Coolpix S1000 PJ
On 2009-08-04 18:03:28 -0700, Bob Johnson
said: On Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:39:26 -0500, Bob Johnson wrote: On Tue, 4 Aug 2009 16:43:43 -0700, C J Campbell wrote: Interesting idea. A camera with a built-in projector. The camera projects a VGA screen 40 inches across two feet away. I wonder if it does PowerPoint? There is a company called Microvision in Bellevue, Washington that has been working on a projector for cell phones. I wonder if they had anything to do with this? Or, if not, if the Nikon projector violates any of their patents? This is an idea whose time has come, I think. And it is nice to see a Coolpix that is not just another "me too" camera. I've already done this very thing for grins and giggles long ago when on one of many camping treks Crank up the brightness in the EFV and using the diopter adjustment to focus it on the wall of a totally dark tent. You just have to make sure your eyes are totally dark adapted. A fun way to watch downsized DVD movies when traveling if you have no other means. I've also used it when photographing aurora. Rather than subject my eye to the brightness in the EVF, I'll project the display on my opened palm so I can read the exposure and other needed information without loosing my dark-adaptation. It's upside down (if you don't turn the camera over as when projecting on a tent wall) but it's easy to mentally flip the info. Heh, I just found something that works even better. Due to the larger size of the LCD display there's more candle-power available from it (similar brightness as the EVF, but a larger area). Stacking two good-quality 3.5" x 5.25" fresnel lenses for maximum f-ratio, I now don't even need dark adapted eyes to view the screen projected on a light-gray wall in a darkened room. I think I'm going to have to make an easy to attach, collapses-flat, "movie "projector add-on" for my cameras. Stashed in the docs-flap of my camera bag for future camping trek fun. Plus I'll always have a handy fire-starter handy. Thanks for bringing this up. That's a pretty cool idea, there. -- Waddling Eagle World Famous Flight Instructor |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Nikon Coolpix S1000 PJ
On 2009-08-05 04:41:44 -0700, ASAAR said:
On Tue, 4 Aug 2009 16:43:43 -0700, C J Campbell, who may be the first kiddie on his block to buy a Coolpix S1000pj, wrote: Interesting idea. A camera with a built-in projector. The camera projects a VGA screen 40 inches across two feet away. I wonder if it does PowerPoint? There is a company called Microvision in Bellevue, Washington that has been working on a projector for cell phones. I wonder if they had anything to do with this? Or, if not, if the Nikon projector violates any of their patents? This is an idea whose time has come, I think. And it is nice to see a Coolpix that is not just another "me too" camera. An idea whose time has come? I don't think so, and neither does Thom Hogan : I think Thom underestimates how much people like to chimp. This is a consumer camera, not a pro camera, and it does not pretend to anything else. I will not get a Coolpix camera for the same reason that Thom Hogan or you or many other photographers will not get one. They are lousy cameras. Some of us want real tools. But you know what? We represent a tiny minority of photographers. Most people don't want the same things out of a camera that we do. I bet the projector idea is a hit. Of course, many people have become wealthy by betting against me. -- Waddling Eagle World Famous Flight Instructor |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Nikon Coolpix S1000 PJ
In message 2009080507462450073-christophercampbellremovethis@hotmailcom
, C J Campbell writes On 2009-08-05 04:41:44 -0700, ASAAR said: On Tue, 4 Aug 2009 16:43:43 -0700, C J Campbell, who may be the first kiddie on his block to buy a Coolpix S1000pj, wrote: Interesting idea. A camera with a built-in projector. The camera projects a VGA screen 40 inches across two feet away. I wonder if it does PowerPoint? There is a company called Microvision in Bellevue, Washington that has been working on a projector for cell phones. I wonder if they had anything to do with this? Or, if not, if the Nikon projector violates any of their patents? This is an idea whose time has come, I think. And it is nice to see a Coolpix that is not just another "me too" camera. An idea whose time has come? I don't think so, and neither does Thom Hogan : I think Thom underestimates how much people like to chimp. This is a consumer camera, not a pro camera, and it does not pretend to anything else. I will not get a Coolpix camera for the same reason that Thom Hogan or you or many other photographers will not get one. I agree completely They are lousy cameras. No.. They are designed to do a job and do it very well *for the price and size* Some of us want real tools. No you have a different requirement that is all. The cool pix avery good for what they are designed for. A DSLR fails miserably as something you can put in your pocket or purse. The P&S market is not the same as the DSLR market. But you know what? We represent a tiny minority of photographers. Most people don't want the same things out of a camera that we do. I would not go that far as several companies make a lot of money selling DSLRs. I wonder what the ratio of DLSR to P&S is. Also given that mobile phones have 8Mp cameras with auto focus, zoom, flash, video (like the D300s :-) I wonder how much longer the P&S market has. It will disappear to the phone market in 5 years I think. I was at an 18th party a week ago and not one person had a P&S they were all using their phones. I bet the projector idea is a hit. I would agree with you. Of course, many people have become wealthy by betting against me. Many? -- \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Nikon Coolpix S1000 PJ
On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 16:05:52 +0100, Chris H wrote:
Also given that mobile phones have 8Mp cameras with auto focus, zoom, flash, video (like the D300s :-) I wonder how much longer the P&S market has. It will disappear to the phone market in 5 years I think. I was at an 18th party a week ago and not one person had a P&S they were all using their phones. Except for those people who don't use phones. Which is pretty much the same as most other wildlife and adventure photographers that I've ever known. Those who require lightweight, sturdy, and capable cameras to get into more remote and rugged places where others fear to go, where a phone is of zero use. To this day I've never owned nor ever used a mobile phone. I have never found any reason for ever needing or wanting one. This includes the typical "emergency use" reasons that most people create for themselves. If I have created a life or death emergency for myself that I can't resolve on my own then I'd rather die. The desire to be tethered to a phone or connected with other trite phone-heads is even less. Those who need to contact me know where I am, we talk face to face like humans should. Without the nonverbals in human communication you will always be misunderstood to some extent, the nonverbals conveying 90% or more of the meanings behind your words. Text alone being the poorest vehicle of all for conveying true intent and meaning. This is why I don't mind using text with strangers. I could care less if they understand me or not. They deserve nothing more than simple text. They are of little to no concern nor of any real value in my life. Those whom I don't want to have contact me nor have any need to contact me don't know where I am. Nor should they be allowed to contact me "at THEIR convenience". If you're going to want to contact me by voice communication you're going to have to do it the right way, in person, face to face. It takes a sincere effort to speak with me. If you want to talk with me you knock on my door, get in your canoe and paddle out to where I am, or start hiking/biking on the trail that I last told you I was going to be on and try to catch up to where I am. Those who can't or won't aren't worth knowing. All situations well resolved by not using a mobile phone, nor any phone for that matter. Even my home phone is only used for outgoing messages the rare few times I need to contact some faceless corporation, it's never used for discussions with people I know personally, otherwise it's only for modem use. Connected to the internet 24/7 downloading important data. (Aurora alerts, ebook floods in the technical groups, etc.). Email is also despised from people I know in person, they know this. I think I've used a phone about 3 times so far this year for voice communication. Seems about right and typical for my needs. Total voice phone-time amounting to probably less than 8 minutes per year. Besides, given that P&S cameras are now easily surpassing the performance of dSLRs, by your reasoning cellphones are going to put dSLRs out of commission even faster. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Nikon Coolpix S1000 PJ
On Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:11:32 +1000, Bob Larter
wrote: The P&S kook wrote: Besides, given that P&S cameras are now easily surpassing the performance of dSLRs, HAHAHAhahahahaha! http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/kidding.shtml If they can keep pace with medium-format sensors, something that no dSLR on earth can do, then they are most assuredly surpassing the performance of dSLRs. Enjoy your laugh. However you won't the be the last one to laugh. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Nikon Coolpix S1000 PJ
In message , Cellphone
Luddite writes On Wed, 5 Aug 2009 16:05:52 +0100, Chris H wrote: Also given that mobile phones have 8Mp cameras with auto focus, zoom, flash, video (like the D300s :-) I wonder how much longer the P&S market has. It will disappear to the phone market in 5 years I think. I was at an 18th party a week ago and not one person had a P&S they were all using their phones. Except for those people who don't use phones. Well in the UK EVERYONE from the age of about 10 has a mobile phone and 90% of the will have cameras. SO I think the P&S market will die out over the next 5 years Which is pretty much the same as most other wildlife and adventure photographers that I've ever known. Those who require lightweight, sturdy, and capable cameras to get into more remote and rugged places where others fear to go, where a phone is of zero use. That is not appropriate territory for a P&S or camera-phone To this day I've never owned nor ever used a mobile phone. Then you are a very small minority for someone in a modern industrialised country. I don't know a photographer without one.... they need to talk to clients, agents etc when out and about. Besides, given that P&S cameras are now easily surpassing the performance of dSLRs, by your reasoning cellphones are going to put dSLRs out of commission even faster. I did not say that at all. I said the camera-phone is putting the P&S out of business. I think the P&S camera has about 5 years left. The DSLR is a different market entirely. -- \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ \/\/\/\/\ Chris Hills Staffs England /\/\/\/\/ \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Nikon Coolpix S3 v Coolpix 4200 | LurfysMa | Digital Photography | 2 | April 3rd 06 06:02 PM |
Fuji S1000 | Shenine Livingstone | Digital Photography | 10 | January 18th 05 07:19 AM |
Fuji S1000 | Shenine Livingstone | Digital Photography | 0 | January 10th 05 03:11 PM |