PDN - August 2011

AUGUST 2011

TECH

NEW TECHNOLOGIES, PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES AND CREATIVE APPLICATIONS OBJECTS OF DESIRE

Olympus LS-20M

If you’ve ever tried to record a video blog post or capture an event using the HD feature on that trusty compact camera in your bag, you’ve probably noticed the audio quality of your movie stinks. Of course, you can always pop a stereo microphone onto your HD-DSLR and go a more professional route but you may prefer something that’s portable and discreet.

For that, we recommend the new Olympus LS-20M, a handheld device that takes the quality of its audio recording as seriously as its video capture. In fact, the LS-20M comes out of Olympus’s audio division and is basically a Linear PCM recorder with an HD video feature added on. Along with shooting 1080p HD, the LS-20M records pristine audio in 24 bit/96hHz Linear PCM stereo sound. With both the camera lens and microphones located on top of the unit, all you need to do is point the device at your subject and press record.

A 2-inch LCD screen on the front of the LS- 20M gives you a live video feed of what you’re shooting while a 1.46-inch LCD data screen displays time, audio levels and battery life. An HD video compression feature will reduce the size of your files so they’re easy to upload to video sharing sites such as Vimeo, You Tube and Facebook.

The camera in the LS-20M has a 4.1mm (49mm in 16: 9 format, 59mm in 4: 3) autofocus lens with a 4x digital zoom. While that might not sound particularly impressive, it’s the ease of use and immediacy of being able to record HD and pro-level audio from a close distance that makes the LS-20M great in a pinch. And if you want to give your video clips a funky look, try one of the in-camera “Magic Movie” effects including Rock, Sketch, Pinhole and Pop.

Tron: Legacy
Pinball Machine

No, this doesn’t really have anything to do with photography but we think it would look mighty fine in your studio.

Most photographers we know are sci-fi nerds and having the Tron: Legacy Pinball machine around for your clients to entertain themselves with should score you some major geek points. Plus, who doesn’t love pinball?

Tron: Legacy Pinball features a very cool 3-D backglass that’s designed to bring the movie’s characters and story to life. Fans of the movie Tron will also like that the game includes sound bites from the film’s main characters and music from the film’s score.

We haven’t had a chance to try out Tron: Legacy Pinball yet but
according to press materials about the game you can play multi-ball
rounds based around scenes from the film. Here are some examples:
“Ride the two ramps for Light Cycle battles on different levels of the Grid;
defeat the motorized Recognizer target bank to expose Rinsler’s spinning
Identity Disk; or fire the ball from Rinsler’s Disc to simulate a Disc War.”
Hell yeah! Long live the Users! Nerds rule!