pointandshoot

While there isn't much information available on it yet, Olympus seems to be playing with the idea of what would be the worlds fastest compact camera, according to Patent No. 2014-48359.

Last week, Nikon executives said in an interview that they see smartphones as an opportunity in the compact camera game. By integrating more connectivity features, they seem to believe they'll make the point-and-shoot relevant again.

Canon wasn't the only one to food our inbox last night, and not even the announcements we were most anxious for. Sony also made some exciting announcements, including a refresh to its Cybershot line that includes three new superzooms and two new point-and-shoots.

Oh, and we should probably mention that one of those superzooms is the world's first bridge camera to feature a 63x optical zoom lens.

Samsung was the first to announce some of its new offerings pre-CES, but the company didn't let all of its cats out of the bag right away. In addition to the NX30, Galaxy Camera 2 and 16-50mm f/2-2.8 premium lens already announced, Samsung yesterday also refreshed its SMART camera lineup with a few point-and-shoots and two superzooms, one of which packs dual grips and monstrous 60x zoom.

We've said it before, but it bears mentioning again: smartphones might be bludgeoning the compact camera market, but that doesn't mean camera companies aren't putting up a fight. Fuji's new superzoom lineup is kind of a case in point, but a better example are the three new point-and-shoots just released by Canon.

This one is just too silly not to share. While browsing through Walmart's website looking for deals to share with their readers, the folks over at 1001 Noisy Cameras ran across a strange warning.

There are advantages to shooting time-lapses using a cheap point-and-shoot camera -- for example, if it gets stolen, you're not out thousands of dollars -- but there is one particular challenge that is difficult to overcome: battery life. If you want your creation to cover any significant period of time, you need a way to keep the camera running.

The video above shows you one way to get around this problem if you're using a AA-powered camera: just build your own DIY battery pack.

You'd think companies would be shying away from creating new compact cameras -- or maybe going the way of Sony with its lens cameras -- but that doesn't seem to be the case. Earlier today, another big player released a new line of compact cameras: Leica.

It wasn't long ago that Canon revamped its compact line-up, adding a new flagship compact G16 and a few minor other updates. Now, just a few weeks behind, Nikon is doing something similar by announcing a new flagship prosumer point-and-shoot, an ultra-portable compact and a movie light for the Nikon 1-series mirrorless cameras.

Last night was packed full of announcements from Canon, as the Japanese company saw fit to announce four new point-and-shoots (including a new flagship), update the PowerShot N and release a new lens in one fell swoop.

3D printing has made inroads into photography in many ways. From 3D-printed photos, to DIY flash diffusers, to a camera made entirely out of 3D printed parts, there's a lot of photographic applications to the third dimension.

But even as 3D printer costs are dropping, there's still the problem of capturing a proper, high-quality 3D scan of whatever it is you would like to print. The Fuel3D handheld bridges that gap.

According to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, the market is not looking great for digital cameras. The report states that as the popularity of smartphones has increased, sales of digital cameras have decreased.

The downside to being the photographer in any given group is that you inevitably wind up being left out of the majority of the photos. One simple little student concept camera seeks to change that by splitting in two and allowing both subject and photographer to take a picture at the exact same time.

Olympus isn't the only camera manufacturer finding ways to cut costs by getting rid of their low-end camera offerings. Tokyo-based Fujifilm is expected to dramatically slim down their compact camera line by fifty percent in the near future.

The recent announcement from Olympus that it's dropping out of the compact camera market started us thinking: Why is anyone bothering to make those things anymore?

One week ago, we reported that Canon had sent out spy-style projector pens that teased an upcoming PowerShot announcement. Well, that announcement came yesterday alongside the two new entry-level DSLRs that were unveiled (the SL1 and the T5i).

It's the new PowerShot SX280 HS, a camera that may not look too special on the outside, but packs something quite interesting on the inside: Canon's next generation DIGIC 6 processor.

In addition to announcing a long-overdue lens update and the company's very first APS-C compact, Nikon has also chosen today to update one of the members of its Coolpix performance series. The new P330 replaces the P310 and, in one fell swoop, manages to almost overtake the more expensive P7700 announced in August of last year.

Nikon had quite a surprise for the camera world today, as it announced the new Coolpix A -- the company's first compact camera to sport a massive DX-format sensor.

Moscow, Russia-based photographer Alexey Kljatov shoots incredibly beautiful photographs of snowflakes on the open balcony of his home... using a custom compact camera kit. That's right: rather than use fancy (and pricey) camera gear, Kljatov simply uses a 12.1MP Canon PowerShot A650 and some DIY macro gear that he put together.

Tired of capturing the world as 2D photographs? What if you could just as easily capture things as 3D models? That's what Lynx A does. It's the world's first point-and-shoot 3D camera that produces 3D models with the push of a button. The company claims that "you can use a point-and-shoot Nikon, you'll find the Lynx A even easier to use."

Pentax has announced its latest line of uber-durable "adventureproof" compact cameras. There are three distinct cameras in the lineup: the WG-3, the WG-3 GPS, and the WG-10. All three are designed to take a beating and survive in locations that would be hazardous to other cameras' health.

Nikon just overhauled its entire compact/superzoom lineup, so we thought we'd give it a go at a broad overview. New camera models are the Coolpix P520, L820, AW110, S9500, S9400, S5200, and S31; and all of them are trying to compete with your smartphone by offering a mix and match of great zoom, Wi-Fi connectivity and GPS.

We've seen a lot of gimmicks when it comes to selling cameras. Especially where point-and-shoots are concerned, gimmicky features have become standard over the past few years as part of the war on smartphones. But this has to be one of most interesting: a special edition camera with the sole purpose of inserting Japanese anime characters into your pictures.

The camera is a modified Casio Exilim, and the second in a series of cameras by electronics magazine Digimono Station made especially for fans of the show "Puella Magi Madoka Magica."

Canon's attention grabber at this year's CES 2013 is a new compact camera designed to fight against the encroachment of smartphones: the PowerShot N.

The little guy is unlike most point-and-shoots you'll find on the market. It's extremely small, square, and simple. The design may seem gimmicky at first, but pick it up in your hands and your opinion might change.

Hiroshi Hiyama over at Phys.Org reports that smartphones are crushing the point-and-shoot industry, …

We've seen ring flash units that redirect light from a DSLR's pop-up camera and a hot shoe-mounted flash, but never from a compact camera's built-in flash. Based on a patent filing published earlier this month and uncovered by Egami, that's what Nikon appears to be in the process of building.

One major trend in the camera industry this year is the introduction of mobile operating systems such as Android into digital cameras. By opening the door to things like Wi-Fi, data plans, and apps, camera makers are going in the same direction that phone makers went some years ago, turning their devices into what can best be described as portable computers with specialized functions (e.g. voice-calling, photography).

While covering the trend, we've been at a loss for what to call the new cameras. After calling the Samsung Galaxy Camera a "voiceless phonecamera" in our hands-on first-look yesterday, commenters suggested that we call the device a "smartcamera". Bingo... that's the term we were looking for.

Sony shook up the digital camera world today by announcing the RX1, a game-changing camera that was somehow kept under wraps until news about it leaked a few days ago. Regardless of whether or not ordinary consumers will readily adopt it, it's a bold camera that sets the bar for what the world can expect in a point-and-shoot. Why is it so revolutionary? It's the first time a full frame sensor has been put inside a compact camera body.

As far as camera naming conventions go, Sigma's is pretty wacky. First off, we'll start with the news: the company announced today that its new DP1 Merrill compact camera will be available starting mid-September for a street price of $999.

Good, now that that's out of the way, lets talk about the name and the camera. Basically, it's a clone baby of the DP2 Merrill announced back in July, except the DP1 Merrill features a 19mm (28mm in 35mm terms) lens instead of a 30mm (45mm in 35mm terms) one. That's it.

There's a fascinating rumor floating around in the gadget world today. Apparently Samsung is planning to introduce a point-and-shoot camera that's powered by Android OS and based on the popular Galaxy S smartphone. GSMArena, which first published the rumor and created the mockup seen above, reports that the camera will be named the "Samsung Galaxy S camera" (creative, I know). It's said to feature a giant 4.8-inch screen and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.