Samsung Electronics has developed the world's first 3-inch VGA LCD screen for digital still cameras which can also be used for portable media players and other small devices that utilize little power and require high resolution screens.

Previously, LCDs could not be made to such tiny specifications. Samsung's ability to create LCD panels that operate at 30hz (instead of the usual 60hz) made it possible for them to create VGA images on the tiny screen without compressing or otherwise manipulating the signal.

Without the advances Samsung discovered, low power, high resolution LCDs of this size wouldn't be possible. According to a Samsung press release, "the three-inch VGA LCD also incorporates a dot inversion scheme that lowers power consumption while substantially reducing the image flickering that has prevented such an approach in the past."

The public will see the new monitor at IMID 2006 (International Meeting on Information Display), in Daegu Korea on August 23. A commercial version of the 3 inch VGA LCD will be made available in the first half of 2007.

This little project will be of interest mainly to owners of the Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel camera, but the methods and ideas used in the build can be applied to other projects and adapted to be used with other digital cameras as well.

While I would not recommend trying this to your average person, tinkerers and dedicated photography enthusiasts should be able to get something out of this how- to whether they actually attempt to build the remote or are simply reading the instructions to learn something new and get ideas.

Using components that can be found easily at local stores like Radio Shack, you can create a versatile remote shutter controller for your Canon 300D for little outlay of cash.

You might even already have some of the parts needed laying around at home or find them inside some of the outdated electronics you no longer intend to use.

By making your own, as opposed to buying one from Canon or another commercial supplier, you can save yourself some money, and create a controller that best suits your own needs.

Why pay for features you don't need or miss out on the functions you do need? Add functions where you need them and remove the ones you don't.

Professional photographers and even non pros can benefit from the ideas contained in this how- to. So get your tools ready and be creative, you never know what useful mods you might end up with!