Advances in digital photography

New technology has us itching for two new cameras – one is a step towards clearer pictures at night, while the other is a step back to the lomographic days of yore.

First up is David Pogue’s recent review in the Times about how real technological advances in recreational digital cameras don’t come in the form of megapixels, but light sensors.  A relief to hear that our next camera won’t be taking 20 MP shots at 20 MB each, which is useful for printing an airplane banner and not much else.  What matters to us more are the inabilities of shooting in low light and darkness.  Turning off the flash and then holding the camera as steady as possible is a battle we continuously wage yet never come close to winning… and imagine the difficulties after a few cold ones.

Like Pogue, we’re diehard fans of the Canon Powershot series.  Right now I’m currently dating the SD1000, and with its ease of use, durability, screen size, and manual features, it rarely leaves me wanting more in a digital camera (SLRs aside).  Apparently, the Sony DSC-WX1 will beat out our beloved Canon in any instance of minimal lighting, which is key since that’s often when the most striking Kodak moments occur.  See his full slideshow here, but this should be enough evidence:

Old Canon on top, new Sony on bottom

Next up? The Digital Harinezumi, a new camera from Superheadz.  Long known for its analog toy cameras (example here), Superheadz has somehow managed to go digital – which would seem to defeat the purpose of a toy camera.  But it doesn’t.  (Read here and here for details on how a camera famous for its analog images can go digital).  And the cool design to boot:

Digital Harinezumi

Digital Harinezumi - palm sized

Lomography: oh, the character.  All user shots from this mini work of art:

Now, if only we had a friend in Asia that could bring us one of these…