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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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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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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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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For much of the early and mid 20th century Leica was the world’s most stylish and sophisticated camera manufacturer.

The father of modern photojournalism, Henri Cartier-Bresson, used a Leica camera for his work. While covering World War II he was found himself on the verge of being captured by the enemy. Not only did Cartier-Bresson bury his Leica to prevent it from falling into Nazi hands but made the dangerous mid-war journey to retrieve it after escaping from a POW camp!

In 1954 Leica introduced the M series, which almost single-handedly gave birth to the class of “professional amateur” photographer. Leica’s M cameras allowed for serious photographers (including the grandfather of Spot Cool Stuff) to purchase equipment very much like what high-end photographers were using but at a fraction of the price.

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Three small LED lights around the lens that illuminate subjects when taking macro photos. Very cool.

A few months ago we compared the Canon PowerShot D10 to the Olympus Stylus Tough-8000. Since then a new waterproof ultra-compact point-and-shoot has entered the market: the Pentax Optio W90. Spot Cool Stuff’s review:

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Stop motion animation has been around almost as long as cameras have. But Olympus took it to a whole new level when creating an Olympus PEN digital camera advertisement.

For the ad, Olympus took 355 photographs with a PEN camera and printed them out to billboard size. They then took those billboards and photographed them in an urban environment to tell a story. The result is a very cool, especially when you consider that no special effects were involved and that the whole ad was shot using a camera that costs around US$600.

The Olympus PEN, not incidentally, is a really excellent micro four thirds camera—it looks like a compact point-and-shoot digital camera but can accommodate interchangeable lenses. As much as Spot Cool Stuff loves the still photos the PEN produces (and we do!) were this gem-of-a-camera really excels is in taking HD quality video.

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