Digital cameras, camcorders, photo printers and other gift ideas for the shutterbug on your list
Like computers, trying to see what’s new in the world of photography and video usually involves seeing what’s new in megapixels, features and sizes. Still, we were able to try out a variety of digital cameras, camcorders, some accessories and a couple of photo printers that should keep the shutterbug on your list happy this holiday season.
Products reviewed for this category:
- Fujifilm FinePix Real3d W3 digital camera
- Olympus Stylus Tough-8010 digital camera
- Olympus PEN PL-1
- GE Digital Camera – X5 (14 megapixel, 15x optical zoom)
- Kodak EasyShare M590 digital camera
- HP CW450t digital camera
- Kodak PlayTouch video camcorder
- Joby Gorillamate Magnetic tripod
- Epson PictureMate Show photo printer
- MIMO Monitors iMo Foto Frame Printer
- Pandigital Photo Scanner/Converter
- Kodak Pulse digital photo frame
- Vizit – 10.4-inch photo frame with mobile network for updates
- Dropcam Echo Wi-Fi Security Camera
- General Imaging GE E1480W digital camera
FinePix Real 3D W3 digital camera, by FujiFilm
This year saw the emergence of 3D technology on TVs, but the real trend to watch regarding 3D will be whether consumers decide to take their own photos and videos in 3D. This camera by FujjiFilm offers users the chance to snap their photos and record videos in 3D.
The 10-megapixel camera has two separate lenses that shoot two different images, and then the camera merges those to show you a 3D picture on its 3.5-inch LCD monitor. The monitor can display its 3D image without the user needing to wear the special glasses. The photos and videos can also be converted to 2D images, by basically just using the file from one of the lenses.
A manual parallax switch on the camera lets you fine-tune the image before you shoot to try and get the best 3D image, and the camera features a 3x optical zoom lens. Photos and videos can be stored on an SD or SDHC memory card.
After you’ve taken the photos, you can view them on a 3D TV via the camera’s HDMI out port, or you can upload them to a computer and use photo/video editing software to play with the images (The Roxio Creator 11 software supports the 3D images from this camera).
If you’re interested in trying out the new world of 3D photos and videos, this camera can get you off on the right foot without breaking the bank (other models we’ve seen are more expensive).
Cool Yule rating: 4.5 starsAmazon.com
Price: $433 at
Reviewed by Keith Shaw
Stylus Tough 8010 digital camera, by Olympus
The Olympus Stylus Tough absolutely lives up to its name. Even as I was taking it out of the box, I could tell that while it isn’t heavy, it sure feels sturdy and well built. It is one solid piece of equipment. It’s a 14-megapixel camera with 5x wide-angle zoom and 2.7-inch LCD monitor screen. Olympus says the camera will still work 33 feet underwater, after being frozen at 14-degrees Farenheit, after being dropped from up to 6.6 feet, and is crush-resistant up to 220 lbs of force.
You may be asking yourself how often do you even plan to do these things, and perhaps the answer is not that often. Yet, it’s still nice to know that you can take the camera snorkeling or to the beach and it will survive. Or take it on a ski vacation and it will 1) survive the cold temperatures and 2) it could survive if you happen to fall on it while skiing. That’s pretty sweet. This camera is definitely ideal for the active person in your life.
The Stylus Tough 8010 has some advanced functions, such as “AF Tracking”, which tracks unpredictable, fast-moving subjects such as kids and pets, and continuously adjusts the focus and brightness so you can capture these photogenic whirlwinds with ease; and “Creative Art Filters,” which can apply artistic effects like Pop Art, Fisheye, Drawing and Pinhole.
There is a lot going on with this camera, but is easy enough that even a child could take a few good pictures. I recommend that if you’re considering this camera, please check out all of fun features on the Olympus Web site. This camera is not aimed at the average user, because you could end up spending your money on features that you’ll never use. If you’re an advanced user, or just love testing out fun advanced features, you will love this camera. My favorite fun feature is beauty mode, where it smoothes out wrinkles and blemishes. It absolutely works.
Beyond the features of this camera, the design of the camera is sweet. It’s obvious that a lot of work was put into the design. All of the plug-in type things are all together. The battery, the charger port, the memory card slot are all placed behind the same door, so you don’t have to waste your time searching the camera for various ports. Besides that, the camera’s buttons are raised and easy to push, even with larger fingers. Plus, the buttons are the essential buttons, there aren’t a lot of extras, nor are there too few that you’d have to remember where everything is hidden. They are all marked clearly. Plus, the HD video recording only requires the touch of one button, there’s no scrolling through menus. Push the button and it changes to video mode and starts recording at the same time.
One warning to anyone planning to buy this camera: read the manual before you start taking pictures! The Stylus Tough 8010 comes with cataloguing/archiving software loaded on the internal memory. You could accidentally write over this software by taking photos. Transfer the software onto your computer before taking pictures. This software will let you tag people, places, and events and search those various things. Most cameras have you upload photos and can only search that folder. This camera can find all pictures of whatever/whoever you’re looking for. After you’ve transferred the software, this camera has 2 GB of internal memory.
Really, this camera packs a lot into one small device. It’s strong and durable. It comes with a ton of features. It’s easy to use. It’s definitely worth its price as long as you’re going to use at least half of its features.
Cool Yule rating: 5 stars
Price: About $380
Company Web site
Reviewed by Jen Finn
EasyShare M590 digital camera, by KodakI’m a big fan of the Kodak M590. This 14-megapixel digital camera takes very crisp pictures. It also has a very powerful flash. If you’re taking a picture of something in a dark room, it will light the room up, making the picture so clear that you’d never know it was taken in a dark space.
One of the cooler features of the Kodak M590 is a stabilizer, and after taking a few pictures after a couple of glasses of wine, I can say the feature works like a charm. It also recognizes faces, which is a sweet feature because it focuses on them instead of anything else closer to the camera. For example, if your friends are sitting across a table from you, the camera will focus on your friends’ faces and not the water glasses on the table. As with all cameras, there are options to enhance photos of different concepts: portraits, landscape, action, at night, etc. What’s great about this camera is that you can choose which setting you want or you can leave it on auto and it will decide for you. Many cameras do that, but when on auto, the M590 will display which option it has chosen for you. If you think it’s wrong, perhaps you want to take an action shot and it thinks you are taking a picture of landscape, you can change the setting before you take the picture.
The Kodak M590 is really user friendly. Most of the options have their own button, so you don’t have to wade through menus to find what you need. Because of its usability, I think this camera would be a great gift for a wide range of users. Another easy thing is that the camera’s charger is the same cord that connects to your computer, the USB adapter fits into an AC adapter. I love having fewer cords to keep track of.
Kodak brags that the M590 is “the world’s thinnest 5x zoom digital camera.” I’m going to assume that this is an accurate claim because the camera is so slim, it can fit in the back pocket of women’s jeans. Speaking of size though, the memory card that comes with the camera is large enough for 450 pictures.
Because it’s a Kodak, it comes with EasyShare technology. Essentially, there is an easy-to-find button on the camera. If you push the “Share” button while reviewing a video or picture, you can then decide how you want to share the video. Once you plug the camera into your computer it will automatically “share” to the location you chose (an e-mail address, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, and a few lesser known locations). You will however, have to download the application to your computer.
There is only one thing that I don’t love about the camera. It’s powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and not perhaps AA batteries. I do like that it has a USB/AC adapter for in-camera battery charging, so I’m less likely to forget the battery at home. However, the camera doesn’t really highlight how low it is on battery life. It does show it, but doesn’t flash anything at you as it gets low, so the camera died on me while I was out testing it and I didn’t even notice it was low. Plus, I couldn’t go buy a couple of batteries to remedy the situation. Beyond this battery issue, I really liked the camera and I think it would make a great gift for almost any user.
Cool Yule rating: 4.5 stars
Price: About $170
Reviewed by Jen Finn
Pen E-PL1 SLR Digital Camera, by OlympusThe Olympus Pen E-PL1, while actually at the low end of the Olympus Pen series, is a serious camera with a serious price tag. If you’re just looking for a simple point-and-shoot to take pictures of you and your friends, you could get something for far less money. But if you want something better (but still not on the high end), this product should be on your short list.The tradeoff with digital cameras comes down to ease-of-use versus functionality. You want to be able to get quality photos, but you don’t want to have to figure out aperture settings when you’re trying to capture a moment.
On the other hand, you want a decent flash, a powerful lens, the ability to shoot video and the ability to take lots of quick shots. The Olympus Pen handles all of those tasks with ease. It features a pop-up flash unit, an M. Zuiko 14-42 mm. lens, an easy-to-locate red button that triggers HD video, and a quick shutter action that allows you to snap multiple photos in a short period of time.
The controls are easy to find, relatively straightforward and the raised silver buttons on the black surface of the camera are easy to locate and have a solid feel. The Olympus Pen has a feature called Live Guide that lets you tweak the photo before you take it by adjusting color, brightness, fading the background, etc.
Other things we liked about the Olympus Pen: it has a Lithium-Ion battery (I just hate it when your AA batteries die just when you’re trying to get a once-in-a-lifetime shot.) One minor quibble: I left the SD card in a computer at home and went out the door with the camera and it wouldn’t let me shoot at all. Apparently it has no internal memory. Apparently neither do I, so I guess we’re even.
Bottom line: This is a camera that’s a giant step up from a simple point-and-shoot. It takes great pictures, HD video and it’s relatively easy to use.
Cool Yule rating: 4 stars
Price: $599
Company Web site
Reviewed by Neal Weinberg
GE Power Pro X5 camera, by GE/General ImagingGE makes digital cameras. Who knew? The company that produces jet engines and owns NBC (at least until the end of the year) got into the camera business in 2007 under the name General Imaging. The idea was to deliver the same or better functionality at lower cost than existing camera companies.
With the Power Pro X5, GE has certainly succeeded in putting together a well designed, powerful digital camera at a ridiculously low price point — $139. That buys you a 15X-wide angle zoom lens, 14.1 megapixels, and all the bells and whistles that you’d expect on a far more expensive camera.
On the plus side, the Power Pro X5 is clearly designed by a company with a rich history of making functional consumer products. There’s a hand grip that lets you hold the camera with your thumb and three fingers and then hit the zoom and the shutter button with your index finger. In other words, with image stabilization turned on, the idea is that you can take pictures with one hand.
The on/off is a clearly-marked toggle switch and the other controls are simple to use. There’s an on-board flash, and a feature that alerts you when you take a picture and the subject’s eyes are closed.
On the downside, the internal memory can only hold about three shots, the X5 takes AA batteries (a pet peeve), and this isn’t the most stylist camera you’re going to find. It’s black, boxy and clearly designed for function over form.
But at $139, it’s a significant step up from the base-level point-and-shoot models, and it delivers quality photos. If this were a car it would be a Toyota Corolla. And there are millions of happy Corolla owners on the road these days, so that’s not a bad thing.
Cool Yule rating: 4.5 stars
Price: $139
Reviewed by Neal Weinberg
CW450t digital camera, by HPIt’s a testament to the ease of use of this HP digital camera to tell you that my 4.5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son could quickly and easily take photos with this camera, and with about a 40% success rate actually take a decent photo. As long as their fingers weren’t in front of the lens, and they were pointing it somewhat close to the subject, they could expect a good photo for their efforts.
So chances are that anyone receiving this camera for a gift will likely have a much higher success rate than my two children. The 12.5-megapixel camera offers features such as 4x optical and 5x digital zoom, a choice of 25 scene modes, blink protection (the camera can save/delete photos if a blink is detected), and support for 32GB of storage capacity on SD/SDHC memory cards. The camera is powered by two AA batteries, which has its pros/cons. Some like the convenience of replaceable batteries that you can change immediately (or with a quick trip to a store), others like having a battery that can be recharged via USB or power adapter.
The 2.7-inch LCD touch screen lets you quickly touch your way through menu options and settings, and the buttons are all in the right location if you’ve used digital cameras before. The size is very portable and light – you can easily throw this in a purse, backpack or even your pockets if you want to, and it comes with different color options for the stylish users on your list. The camera comes with ArcSoft MediaImpression software for editing after you upload to a PC.
Overall there are enough features for a new digital camera user to enjoy and experiment with, and it has all of the things you’d expect from a modern digital camera. I know this sounds clichéd, but it really is so easy that a child can operate it.
Cool Yule rating: 4 stars
Price: About $100
Reviewed by Keith Shaw
PlayTouch Video Camera, by KodakKodak’s PlayTouch Video Camera is an exciting little device. It can record 1080p HD video and it’s the size of smart phone. The images are seriously sharp, even at 720p HD. Your photos can be taken with four different effects: black and white, sepia tone, high saturation, and 1970’s film look (which has more of a gritty feel). Still photos can be captured at 5 Megapixels. The only downside to the quality is that the PlayTouch has no flash, but at least it makes use of all available light. I’ve never had a camera take such good shots with such little light.
The camera is very easy to use, it’s basically just a point and shoot. The touch screen makes it simple to navigate through the settings and options. Even children and people who are terrible with technology could figure it out.
Because it’s a Kodak, it comes with Easy Share technology. Basically, there is a button in the review screen. If you push the Share button while reviewing a video or picture, you can then decide how you want to share the video. Once you plug the camera into your computer it will automatically “share” to the location you chose (an e-mail address, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, and a few lesser known locations). You will however, have to download the application to your computer. It’s super simple though.
Two other features make this camera super user friendly. The first is that the USB connection is part of the camera. You never have to worry about finding cords in order to view your videos. This seems like such a far cry of the video cameras of my youth, which required tiny video tapes. Because of this, I don’t think my family ever saw the videos we made. With the built-in USB connection and the EasyShare capability, you could take a high quality, holiday video and send it off to the grandparents in less time than it would take to write a sweet message in a holiday card.
The second ease of use feature I really appreciated is the record button itself. Unlike some other new cameras, you don’t have to hold down the button to record. Like a normal camera, just tap the record button and off it goes until you click it again to stop. The PlayTouch can be mounted on a tripod too. This camera is so simple and easy to use, while making high quality videos, I think almost anyone could have fun using it.
Cool Yule rating: 4.5 stars
Price: About $200
Reviewed by Jen Finn
Gorillapod Magnetic tripod, by JobyThis little tripod totally rocks! Joby’s Gorillapod Magnetic is intended for use with digital cameras to make it easier to take pictures. This tripod’s legs are made up of ball and socket joints so you can adjust it into hundreds of different positions, plus the feet are magnetic so you can take pictures in all sorts of odd positions and angles.
Here is a list of the things that I flawlessly used the tripod on: a metal railing, a wooden railing (the little legs clamped right around it), a car’s trunk, an uneven rock, a lamp post, and the hinges of an open door. I’m confident that it will be sturdy in more locations as well. Even if the object itself isn’t metal, the feet connect to themselves around the object or will just surround it enough to make it sturdy.
The Gorillapod also has an awesome quick release clip. You can remove a clip that’s attached to the screw that attaches the camera to the tripod. It’s easy to pop it out, screw it into thecamera, and then slip the clip back onto the head of the Gorillapod. The clip is so small you can just leave it attached to the camera, and then slip onto the Gorillapod whenever you want without the hassle of screwing the clip onto the camera every time.
Some people might not like this because it’s only as tall as your hand, but it can attach to almost anything to give you the height you desire. I liked the size, because it can fit in my purse, or even wrap itself around the strap of my small camera bag.
This would be a great gift for someone with any standard point-and-shoot style camera, especially if that person likes to take their camera out for a little adventure. Joby does make Gorillapods for heavier cameras, but the magnetic one will only support 325 grams.
Cool Yule rating: 4.5 stars
Price: $24.95
Company Web site
Reviewed by Jen Finn
PictureMate Show personal photo lab printer, by EpsonThe PictureMate brand of “personal photo lab” printers have consistently produced outstanding 4-by-6 inch prints over the years, and this year’s model is no different. What is different is the inclusion of a very large 7-inch display that not only makes it easier to select photos for printing, but it also then doubles as a digital photo frame for viewing photos when it’s not being used as a printer.
The other thing that has been added is a 270MB hard drive, for storing photos from your memory cards. These photos can also then become part of the slide show for the digital photo frame, but this also acts as a handy backup method for getting images from the digital camera to a more secure storage device. A USB port on the PictureMate Show lets you attach an external USB hard drive for more storage options.
A handle on the device lets you pick it up and move it around very easily, it prints from a variety of mobile storage media cards, and the photo prints it produces are of photo store quality. If you’re giving a digital camera to someone on your list this year, make sure that they also have the ability to print out their photos quickly and easily. Then you can keep the Show on your desk and view the photos after they’ve been printed.
Cool Yule rating: 5 stars
Price: $225
Reviewed by Keith Shaw
iMo FotoFrame Printer, by MIMO MonitorsLike the Epson PictureMate Show, this combo device merges a digital photo frame with a compact photo printer. The 8-inch LCD screen (800 by 600 resolution) shows pictures from a memory card (supports CompactFlash, SD, Memory Stick, MMS and xD) or USB stick. The unit has a 1GB internal hard drive that lets you store images, music and even video.
The printer uses a cartridge that includes the ink and paper, so you don’t have to buy separate photo paper. When a photo is printed, the colors are placed onto the paper one at a time (yellow, cyan, magenta, etc.), so printing is a bit slower than with the Epson photo printers we tried. This also limits the number of photos you get per cartridge – after you use up the paper, you have to replace the cartridge.
Overall the system worked well, but I had one complaint. When you launch a slideshow, a really loud and annoying song starts playing, and you quickly have to figure out how to mute the sound or stop the song (there is an included remote, which makes this a bit easier).
This seems more like a digital photo frame first, with the option of being able to print photos as a secondary feature. If that’s what you’re looking for, then this device works just fine. If you are looking for more of a photo printer as your main tool, than check out the PictureMate Show.
Cool Yule rating: 3 stars
Price: $79.99
Reviewed by Keith Shaw
Pulse Digital Frame, by KodakI’ve tried a couple different digital frames before, and the Kodak Pulse is my favorite yet. The main reason is how simple it is to transfer photos to the device. You don’t even have to take it out of the box! That alone makes it a great gift for someone. You can give it to them with great photos pre-loaded (see below) and the recipient wouldn’t know until they set it up and photos started downloading to the frame. Additionally, the frame doesn’t come loaded with goofy, stock photos that you will later have to delete anyway.
Here’s how to do it – you go to KodakPulse.com and create an account, and then enter a code that’s on the digital frame box. Once you’ve set this up, you can then upload photos to the online account from your computer. When the owner of the digital frame connects the frame to their Wi-Fi network, photos from that account download to the photo frame. You can also view photos stored on an SD memory card.
There are two other ways that photos can be shared and downloaded to the frame. The system creates an e-mail address for the device, so every time that address receives a photo attachment, it can be downloaded to the frame (one hopes this e-mail address has a good spam filter). The other way is that the frame can be synchronized with a Facebook account and/or a Kodak Gallery Account. Every time you are tagged in a photo, it shows up on the frame. I chose to skip this step, because while I love seeing people’s photos of me on Facebook, I don’t necessarily want all of them popping up the frame. Unfortunately, it doesn’t give you the option to pick and choose from Facebook. The final step allows you to invite other people to add photos. After you enter their e-mail addresses, an e-mail address is sent to your friends and family, explaining that they can send photos to that e-mail address. After that, photos can be managed and deleted online, not on the frame.
Kodak’s slogan for this frame is “Be surprised by new pictures, more often” and I think this frame totally lives up to that. How great is that for a gift? You can completely set it up for someone, even the Web site asks if it will be your account or if you’re only loading it for a loved one. Then, you can continue to add photos, even after you’ve given it to them. I know a lot of grandparents who would love to be surprised by new pictures of their grandchildren just arriving on their frame. This would work for all sorts of family or friends who are far away from loved ones and want to be surprised by photos of the people they miss. I even live near all of my family and friends and think it’s a super fun idea. This 10-inch frame can hold up to 4,000 photos, allowing for lots of fun surprises.
When actually using the frame’s touch screen, you can decide the speed at which the pictures change, you can pause it on just one picture, or use a setting that puts up five pictures at a time in varying sizes. The frame doesn’t allow you to create folders, but it will allow you to view only new pictures or pictures added in different ways (e-mail per person, online account, Facebook).
The frame is Energy Star rated because it will go into energy saver mode on a schedule that you set up on the Web site. For example, the frame I set up will come out of energy saver mode at 4 pm and play through the photos until midnight. I can change the settings online if I ever want the photos to play during different times.
I really think this is a great gift for almost anyone and it’s one of the best frames out there. I’ve reviewed a lot of Kodak products this year and I have to say that one thing Kodak has nailed across the board is ease of use. This frame is so simple, I can’t think of anyone in my life who couldn’t use it and that includes children and tech-phobic adults. Easy to use, easy to set up, and the photos look great on the screen, the Kodak Pulse makes for a great gift.
Cool Yule rating: 5 stars
Price: About $200
Reviewed by Jen Finn
Personal Photo Scanner/Converter, by PandigitalThe Pandigital Personal Photo Scanner/Converter is average at best. It’s ideal if you already have one of Pandigital’s photo frames. It makes it pretty simple to scan photos in and load them directly to your frame without even having to use a computer. It’s also nice because it’s so small: just a thin, little stick of a scanner, only a few inches wide but 12 inches long. I like that it will scan anything from business cards to photos the size of a piece of paper (8.5 by 11 inches). My favorite part is that it also comes with something you can slip old or curled photos into before sending them through the scanner. I scanned some 50-year-old, black and white pictures and they survived just fine and the images look great.
Now, onto the features I wasn’t so crazy about. You can scan either directly to the memory card or to your computer, however it is not easy to switch between the two, and still find your photos on the memory card. The quick start guide is not user friendly and I sincerely doubt that my parents, let alone my grandparents, would be able to set up the “scan to computer” part of it. Actually, I even doubt that some of my co-workers could do it and they work with computers all day.
Picture quality aren’t helped much by this scanner. First, it’s really easy to get crooked images. Second, it crops all of your pictures, and will over crop any photos that have dark edges. Third, I’ve used other scanners that try to increase the quality of the images. This scanner is not one of those.
Finally, this scanner has to be fed photos one at a time, and it’s not the fastest. Maybe it would be useful if you only had a few pictures that you wanted to scan, especially if they are old photos, but if you have shoeboxes or albums filled with photos that you want to scan, this is not the scanner for you.
Cool Yule rating: 2 stars
Price: About $150
Reviewed by Jen Finn
Vizit 10.4-inch photo frame with mobile updatesThe Vizit photo frame is a digital picture frame that includes a SIM card slot in the base of the unit. The SIM allows for new photos to be received across the mobile cellular network. In order to receive the updates, you have to subscribe to a service plan – the basic plan costs $5.99 per month and lets you receive 100 photos per month. The premium plan, at $79.99 per year ($6.67 per month), gives you up to 1,450 photos per year (about 120 per month).
Authorized users (you send out invites to friends, family) can send new photos to the frame by sending an e-mail with a photo attachment to the frame’s address (when you get the frame you get a special e-mail address for the frame). About a minute or two after you send the photos, they should start appearing on the frame. The Vizit frame can store up to 150 photos on the device, after that it starts deleting the oldest photos. But don’t worry – older photos are still saved in the cloud, and you can select photos as “Favorites” that won’t be deleted. You can also stream photos from Photobucket, and Life Magazine has a “photo of the day” that you can sign up to receive.
The display doesn’t have a remote control (boo!), but the display does have a very rudimentary touch-screen interface that didn’t work half the time. Each selection required a very hard finger push, hopefully new versions will include a better sensitive touch screen, plus a remote. So there are still a few rough edges to the device.
However, I love the concept behind the Vizit – have a continually updated stream of photos that can come to the machine via phone or e-mail. Some hardware improvements and control options would make the next version even more impressive.
Cool Yule rating: 2.5 stars
Price: $280 for the frame, plus subscription service for mobile network uploads.
Reviewed by Keith Shaw
Dropcam Echo Wi-Fi Security camera, by 88volts Inc.Over the years I’ve seen a bunch of network video cameras (both wired and wireless) that let you view activity over the Internet, so receiving a Dropcam camera (branded by Axis) was no big deal. However, installing the camera was probably the easiest install I’ve done with one of these cameras in a long time.
Setting the camera up involved connecting to a wired network (the instructions say router, but fortunately I had a powerline adapter and Ethernet cable that also worked), and then going to the Dropcam Web site to enter an access code. After a few seconds, the camera started showing me images from the camera, and it also quickly detected my Wi-Fi network. I typed in the security code through the Web site, and the camera was now Wi-Fi enabled, in case I wanted to move the camera away from a wired location. The process was very, very simple.
The camera allows for live viewing via Web browser, or you can download a free iPhone app to let you view the video feed from the iPhone. Premium plans include the ability to store video footage on Dropcam’s secure servers (for either 7 or 30 days, depending on the plan you choose), and you can get motion or audio-detection alerts via e-mail or mobile text message.
The iPhone app was also easy to use, I just logged in with my Dropcam account and was able to view the events (motion-detection saves) and the life feed. I then realized that nothing really interesting happens outside my house, so I need to figure out some good things to watch.
Obviously, this is aimed at people who want to keep an eye on things from a different location, whether it’s monitoring a home from their office (or a vacation home), or watch pets or kids when they’re away. The security angle is nice, but probably geared more towards small businesses who want an inexpensive video monitoring system.
Cool Yule rating: 4 stars
Price: $279 for the camera and basic plan (free live viewing, iPhone app). Service plans allow for cloud storage of video files for 7 or 30 days, and e-mail and mobile alerts of video activity.
Reviewed by Keith Shaw
GE E1480W digital camera, by General Imaging (GE)
The E1480W Digital Camera is a cool little camera. Its basic features include 14 megapixels with 8x optical zoom and a 6x digital zoom. Speaking of the zoom, I have to say I’m very impressed by it. This camera’s zoom feels so sturdy and legitimate for just a little, point-and-shoot camera. This camera comes with what I now consider to be basic features, such as different exposure types: landscape, portrait, children in motion, sports, etc. Additionally though, it comes with image stabilization, in-camera red eye removal, and my personal favorite: face recognition (and uses that as a focal point).
My only complaint with this camera is that it’s not very user-friendly. Yes, taking and viewing photos is very easy. However, to find most other settings, you have to navigate through several menus. Additionally, the camera makes sound effects. It makes a shutter noise when you take photos, it makes noise as you move through the menus, etc. I found the noise annoying because it’s so loud. I searched through a few menus before finding how to turn off the sound. I don’t think my technologically challenged father would have figured it out. For that reason, I wouldn’t recommend this camera to just anyone. However, if you have someone in your life who is relatively serious about taking photos, beyond the standard point-and-shoot capabilities, I would suggest this camera… as long as they are also somewhat tech-savvy.
Cool Yule rating: 4 stars
Price: $137
Reviewed by Jennifer Finn
