I'm sometimes amazed at the Japanese design decisions. To wit:
- Ricoh WG-8 waterproof/tough camera — Not only can you use it underwater, but you can use it as a Web camera for video conferencing. From the horse's mouth: "Not only for use outdoors, but also in everyday business situations." Uh-huh. And those six LED lights around the lens will give you a real nice ring lighting effect. Sadly, using it as a Web camera requires you to hook up via the USB port, which means you're running on battery power for that conference. Hope it isn't a long one.
- Pentax (Ricoh again) 17 camera — Hey, a new film camera is being made. Hey, it's a half frame camera that takes verticals (when held normally). Guess we know who that's targeted for, but it seems to me that "creator" crowd will quickly balk at the workflow, inconvenience, and cost. Did someone at Pentax actually survey this and discover an unmet demand that will be ongoing? Meanwhile, there is such unmet demand for a sophisticated, modernized film camera. (And an irony: Pentax launched the 17 on June 17th, but due to the Nikon Z6 III hoopla on that date, most sites didn't cover the Pentax until the 18th ;~)
Not that the Chinese are doing better:
- Insta360 GO 3S — In the progression of Insta360 trying to figure out a way to dislodge GoPro (and maybe DJI), the Insta team just continues to try come up with new action camera designs, hoping one will stick. The GO 3S might, because it's magnetic ;~). I suppose I should support them because it's sort of modular—I espoused modular designs back after the turn of the century—and at 1.4 ounces (39g) for the camera only it's the smallest and lightest 4K camera around. But the problem here is the thing is so small that you only get about 30 minutes of recording time and it'll take you another 30 minutes to recharge it completely. So I'd call it an intermittent action camera. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to like here, it's just that going this small generates real compromise, and it probably won't always work for me.
