Mention Sanyo when you talk about camcorders with the rest of your mates, and chances are the Xacti line will be a name that pops up often. The Japanese company is back again, this time round releasing a new range of Dual Camera Xacti cameras which ought to cater for just about any and every active lifestyle, offering options for those looking for high-definition video and photo capability in a single, easy-to-use compact camera. The mixed form factor involves both horizontal and vertical designs, and we are privy to half a dozen Sanyo Dual Camera Xactis. Without much further ado, they consist of the new Full HD 60fps units (VPC-FH1, VPC-HD2000), waterproof HD models (VPC-WH1, VPC-CA9) and Compact HD cameras (VPC-TH1, VPC-CG10), where all six will target a March 2009 release date.

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Victor Company of Japan Ltd., better known as JVC, has recently introduced two new models of High Definition camcorders – the GZ-HD320 and the GZ-HD300, further expanding its Everio HDD camcorder series. Thanks to the advancement in miniaturization and electronics, both camcorders now sport a lighter and more compact body without sacrificing on performance. These new camcorders are pocket friendly (unless you have really, really small pockets, that is), measuring 53mm x 68mm x 113mm and tipping the scales at 325g. Their size is in fact similar to that of the GZ-MG330, also from JVC, despite it being a mere Standard Definition camcorder unlike these two that support High Definition recording.

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When I was on the road to Vegas for CES, I wished I had some sort of video recorder so I could just speak my mind and write about it later. It would have definitely saved me some time and would have made the trip a lot less boring. On a somewhat related note, Nikkai has created the In Car Journey Recorder, which is the inverse of my idea.

Yes, the In-Car Journey Recorder is designed to affix to the windshield to record the road ahead, not the driver. It uses a 1.3M CMOS image sensor, which can record video footage for your insurance or lawyer in case of an accident. Now you have proof that it really wasn’t your fault in a collision case, when it’s your word against someone else.

The In-Car Journey Recorder records to an SD card for up to 2GB capacity, which is good for up to 18 hours worth of video footage. It can capture intervals between 2-3 seconds and 3 minutes.

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Panasonic is no stranger to the world of digital cameras, and their Lumix line of point-and-shoot devices have made a pretty strong name for itself, at least where casual photographers are concerned. The trend continues with the Japanese consumer electronics giant expanding their Lumix line of digital cameras with two more models, and this time the DMC-FS7 and DMC-FS15 will fall under the Lumix FS Series. The FS models are actually a sister line of the highly acclaimed Lumix FX Series, and merge a potent combination of slim and sleek looks with advanced features and controls that will cater to both both beginner and advanced users, allowing either one to snap pixel perfect images.

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We all know that the iPhone 3G is a great handset by any means, but it certainly falls short when it comes to the built-in digital camera. This handset is meant more for portable entertainment instead of snapping picture perfect photos, but there are tools like the Clarifi iPhone Case with Macro Lens which will help you out if you insist on ditching your dedicated pocket digital camera.

Protect your iPhone and take close-up macro photos to boot. The Clarifi iPhone Case with Macro Lens makes blurry photos of secret documents a thing of the past. Simply slide the built-in lens over your iPhone’s camera and take crystal clear shots of business cards, documents or any other close-up item. Then you can use those photos with some cool free iPhone apps like Snappr which scans barcodes in stores to find you the best prices, or Evernote which takes photos you shoot and creates a searchable picture database from any text in the photo.

You can bring home the Clarifi iPhone Case with Macro Lens for $24.99 from ThinkGeek. Nice to know that everything is integrated into a single device, so there are no adapters for you to fumble with and neither are there small pieces lying around, waiting for you to lose them. Make sure that you’re rocking to an iPhone 3G though – it won’t work with the iPhone 3G’s predecessor.

It has been about a year since we covered a product from VuPoint Solutions. For those who aren’t familiar with VuPoint Solutions, they are a company that makes digital cameras as well as devices that can convert prints and slides into digital formats.

I got a chance to see their latest model of their print photo-to-digital file converter at CES. The PC-C520-VP is a definite step up from the PS-C500-VP, as the C520 has a 2.4 inch TFT LCD color display so you can see what the photos look like before they are scanned.

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CES 2009 may be over, but I have enough material collected from the collective booths that I visited for articles for the rest of the month, and longer. For example, when I was passing through the Sands/Venetian portion of the show, I met two representatives for VIEVU.

The VIEVU PVR-PRO 2 is a camera that is small enough to be clipped on to a user’s shirt for home and law-enforcement purposes. There is a small lens there, and the cover can be flipped open to start recording, and shut for stopping it. With every flip, the video footage is saved as a separate file.

The video footage is SVGA and shoots at 30 frames per second with resolution of 640 x 480. The PVR-PRO 2 has an internal 4 GB memory card for over four hours of recording time. After filming, a user can then connect the VIEVU via USB to a PC or MAC for downloading the videos.

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One of the problems with camera technology is that we have cameras on all our mobile devices, which leads to an abundance of digital photos scattered about on memory cards everywhere.

This is why Digital Foci invented the Picture Porter 35, a one stop place to store all a user’s digital photos. The Picture Porter 35 has a 3.5 inch color screen, and a built-in card reader for CF, SD/HC, MMC, miniSD, MS/Duo, and xD cards.

The Picture Porter 35 has 160GB of storage space capacity, and the user has the option of viewing photos and other advanced file management features including copying files, renaming files, deleting files, even creating new folders and sorting by name and date.

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