Tilt-shift photography is one of those things that you've probably seen already, even if you don't know what it is. It involves taking high-angle photographs of large-scale scenes in which the top and bottom of the shot are out of focus, creating the shallow depth of field that people usually associate with photos of small objects. The result is photographs of things such as city streets, in which all the people, cars and buildings look like tiny models. The effect can be achieved using custom lenses or software ... or now, the tilt-shift-dedicated NeinGrenze 5000T camera.
The lens of the 5000T is actually mounted at an angle, which is how the tilt-shift perspective is produced. Beyond that, it's a fairly simple point-and-shoot digital camera. It has a 5-megapixel sensor, a 2.4-inch LCD display, some exposure control, and takes SD cards up to 8 GB. Photograph resolution is 2560 x 1920 pixels, although it can also record 640 x 480 15 fps tilt-shift video. Power is supplied by an included rechargeable li-ion battery.
Besides the tilt-shift effect, users can also mess around with vivid and sepia color modes, along with five white balance settings. As professional tilt-shift photographers often saturate the colors to make their subjects look more like painted-up miniatures, the vivid mode could come in handy.
The NeinGrenze 5000T tilt-shift camera is available from Photojojo, for US$149.
