Six or even seven years ago, when we were involved in a gadget gift guide for another technology publication, rounding up cool techno-toys was truly a novelty. To choose one product in each category was a no-brainer -- there just weren't that many products available, and the vendors did backflips to send you their products. Now as we head into 2003, the scene has changed greatly ... vendors aren't so quick to send review products, and in certain categories, it's a daunting task to determine the leaders, just by virtue of the number of products available.
In this section of our gadget guide, we're looking specifically at three categories: Digital cameras, webcams and imaging software.
In the digital camera category alone, there are dozens upon dozens of digital cameras available -- in all price ranges ... from as low as $149.99. to several thousands of dollars. We set out to work with cameras that seemed to typify what you can get at the low end of the market, and at the high end. If you're in the market for a digital camera, the best place you can research the specific functions and price ranges is at this great website run by Digital Photography Review: http://www.dpreview.com/.
For the webcam category, the selection process was a little easier. There are about five or so vendors in this arena, and it was Logitech who stepped up to fulfill our request for a review copy. Other players in this field include Labtec, Inc., Micro Innovation Computers, Creative and ADS Technologies.
And in the photoediting category, which is also fairly narrow, we chose to review the latest version of Photoshop because that is the Holy Grail of image editing. We paired that with a lower cost option by Ulead. Other vendors in this space: Scansoft and Microsoft.
Our team of reviewers' consensus? Read more to find out what they thought.
