Most of the places and products reviewed on Spot Cool Stuff have something noteworthy about them that’s visible. But in the case of the Sony RX100 digital camera, the WOW factor is on the inside — the sensor.

A huge 20.2MP Exmor 1-inch CMOS sensor, to be specific. It measures 13.2mm by 8.8mm, giving the RX100 sensor about four times the surface area the ones you’d find in a typical point-and-shoot. So large and robust is the sensor, that some reviewers have declared the Sony RX100 to be like “an SLR you can keep in your pocket.”

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Spot Cool Stuff once had a chance to go on a photo safari with a borrowed Nikon 600mm super telephoto lens. It was beauty in the form of glass and die-cast magnesium, that lens was. Even sub-par shots came out vibrant, with an edge-to-edge sharpness that made it look like you were standing right next to that bear, not in a Jeep 100 meters away.

(Sadly, purchasing the Nikon 600mm lens is out our, and most consumer’s, budget. Happily, you can rent it and other ultra high-end photography gear at Borrow Lenses.)

Now comes a lens that’s sure to please avid Nikon photographers (and avid voyeurs) who are not content with a mere 600mm of super telephoto-ness: the Nikon 800mm.

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For years now, the Canon EOS 5D Mark II has been a favorite mid-range digital SLR among serious photographers. The workhorse of a camera took professional-quality images and offered a huge feature set—and did so for a relatively low price.

Then, two things happened: First, Canon came out with an updated version of the Mark II—the EOS 5D Mark III. Second, Canon reduced the price of the Mark II by $500.

Both the 5D Mark II and 5D Mark III are, inarguably, excellent full-feature SLR cameras. But now that there’s a serious 5D choice, which of the two is the better option for you? Spot Cool Stuff takes a look at the advantages of each camera:

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Taking photographs of people can be an uncomfortably self-conscious experience, both for the photographer and his subject. With that in mind, here are three items you can pair with your camera that will help you take photos on-the-fly. Each is inexpensive and makes for a great gift of a photographer.

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Spot Cool Stuff is a big fan of the Canon PowerShot line of point-and-shoot digital cameras. Some PowerShot models are better and some are worse, but in general they offer features and photo quality far exceeding their low price and small size.

Recently, Canon announced new PowerShot models for 2012. Here’s a preview of the three we feel are especially worth considering for purchase:

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You’ve heard of point-and-shoot cameras, single reflex lens (SLR) cameras, micro four-thrids cameras and perhaps even light field cameras. But what about a throwable ball camera? That’s what Jonas Pfeil, student extraordinary at the Technical University of Berlin, developed for a class project (for which we presume he earned high grades).

Using this new type of camera requires more hand-eye coordination than it does photography skills. The “photographer” merely turns on the camera, throws it straight up in the air and catches the ball when it comes down. The camera does the rest.

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Spot Cool Stuff was amongst the first blogs to report on the Lytro, an entirely new sort of camera that allows photographers to focus their shots after they snap their pictures. The “light field cameras,” which were a concept then, are reality now. Lytro is accepting pre-orders on their website as we type.

But just because you can place a pre-order for a Lytro, does that mean you should? Spot Cool Stuff’s takes a look:

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Major electronics companies like Sony, Canon, Nikon and Olympus currently dominate the world’s $40 billion consumer camera market. Now a new company—and by “new” we mean it was literally launched yesterday—aims to change that. The goal of this company, Lytro, is no less to revolutionize photography.

Their camera’s most revolutionary feature: Photographers can focus their shots after they take them!

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