As you can quite plainly see, a good portion of the camera body has been replaced with a wood veneer. The shiny wood reminds me of the dashboard on cars from the 70s and 80s, but without the usual cigarette burns and 8-track player. However, that’s not to say that this camera from Sigma Germany is cheap. Quite the contrary, actually.

The wood veneer casing comes by way of Amboyna Burl. Apparently, this is “an expensive and decorative veneer taken from complex growths on a Southeast Asian tree.” The casing reportedly takes 60 hours to cut, mill and polish, so thsi camera certainly comes at a premium. The body alone for the Wood Edition is listing at €9,999 (~$13,728) and they’re only producing ten units at this time.

The post Sigma SD1 Wood Edition SLR looks like dashboard from your dad’s Oldsmobile appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The world of DSLRs is largely dominated by the two juggernauts in the field: Nikon and Canon. Yes, there are definitely other alternatives, but these are the two biggest dogs in the yard. So, what can Nikon do to separate itself from Canon? How about a pico projector?

These little pocket projectors are getting thrown into all sorts of different things and it looks like the digital SLR is the next frontier. The Nikon S1000pj point-and-shoot already has a projector, so why not toss one into a better camera? A new patent from Nikon is doing that, but the projector isn’t located in the front as you may imagine.

There’s no room there no matter how awesome it would look projecting an image out of your lens. So they’re apparently considering a pico projector to shoot out the back. When set to projector mode, the Nikon SLR will then blast out a giant image through the electronic viewfinder, which will happen to have a pico projector hiding behind it.

This sounds like it could be an interesting possibility, particularly when it comes to showing almost real-time shots at, say, a wedding reception. Just make sure your eyeball isn’t right there in the viewfinder when you accidentally flip the the projector switch. If I were Nikon, I’d be more inclined to sell some sort of hotshoe accessory (or similar) if they want to do the pico projector thing.

[Nikon Rumors]

The post Nikon DSLR patent shoves pico projector in the back appeared first on Mobile Magazine.