The photography special
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2. The wallet
Google launched its digital wallet service and according to a recent study smartphones will have replaced wallets by 2020. A plain leather wallet seems almost like a relic of ancient times then, and it is no wonder that we had to dig quite a bit to find one with the classic feature of a see-through picture pocket. For decades parents have used their wallets as photoholders for their children’s portraits – probably because it’s the one thing you never leave the house without. Nowadays though most of us don’t flip out our wallets anymore when they proudly want to show their new born baby or favourite pet: These days it’s the smartphone they reach for. A big no no if you ask us, especially with the kind of wallets French leather goods maker Longchamp creates. Fact is, in our world, physical beats digital any day, and we’d much rather show off an actual photograph of our little ones than a pixelated version. What’s more, a study once revealed that wallets with photos are more likely to be returned to their owner – with baby pictures being especially efficient. Longchamp wallet with picture pocket (¤130). Available from Longchamp (Brussels). longchamp.com
3. The camera
With a whopping 16.1 mega-pixel resolution, there’s not much this camera cannot do. An everyday man’s compact with professional aspirations, the latest addition to Nikon’s Coolpix tribe includes such standout features as its specially crafted wide-angle Nikkor lens, its squarish design as well as its fluid automatic-manual shift a the flick of a switch. Testing it out, we were particularly impressed by its lack of camera shake when set on long-paused shutter speeds although it really is its high-definition filming capability that got the entire office bubbling. However, if there was one flaw we had to find with the camera, it’d have to be its weight: it can at times feel a little light which somehow gives you the impression it’s not as sturdy and solid as you’d want this type of allterrain equipment to be. That’s only an impression though. Nikon Coolpix P310 (¤319) nikon.be
4. The frame
This nifty little invention is aimed at people who don’t make a habit of printing their photographs, preferring instead to keep them in digital format on their hard drives and desktops. The thinking goes like this: instead of pinning your holiday pictures or family portraits to the fridge, why not upload them to your memory card which can then be slotted into this digital frame. Once that’s done, the frame will rotate up to 1,000 of your favourite photographs in one continuous slideshow. It’s not for everyone, although your elders who are still struggling to make the switch from analogue to digital might see some benefits in this one. Philips digital photo frame (¤99,99) Available from philips-store.be