This is a one a of kind camera – at least for now!

Monday, November 2^nd, 2009 Netcast 951

You’re taking pictures at a party and everyone wants to see them. So you pass the camera around and each person pushes another wrong button until your camera is in some weird mode you can’t figure out! That won’t happen if you own the new Nikon COOLPIX S1000pj. That’s because the pj stands for “projector”! Yes, Nikon has introduced the world’s first projector camera. Hidden in a point & shoot camera that’s just about the same size as dozens of others, is a built-in video projector. Shoot pictures and the camera projects them and the same with your video clips. You can project on any flat surface at up to 40 inches in size. (Of course the darker the area you project on, the better the results!) The projector brightness is up to 10 lumens and the image size ranges from 5 to 40 inches. (The throw distance is approximately 10 in. to 6 ft. 6 in. (26 cm to 2 m). Now about the battery life. Projecting photos will drain it fast. Nikon says battery life will be approximately 1 hour. (But you can buy an optional AC adapter if you’re going to do a lot of projecting. The projected resolution output is equivalent to VGA quality.  A handy projector stand is included, along with a remote control. You can use that to operate the projector, even release the shutter when you shoot photos. Other features include 12.1 effective mega pixels and a 5x wide-angle zoom-NIKKOR lens, 5-way VR Image Stabilization system and a bright, high-resolution 2.7-inch LCD.  Price is $429.00. Discounts are tricky to come by. I did a web search and the cheapest I could find it for was $399.99. But it’s a fairly new camera, so prices may drop more. There’s more info at the company’s website:

http://www.nikon-coolpix.com/en/?cid=IGD98BGZIG0#/camera4

 Hear this Netcast:  www.twit.tv/dgw951