Microsoft today just unveiled its new visual search engine feature for Bing at the TechCrunch50 technology conference.

The new visual search lets you search for items that you might not necessarily know what its name is. The search results present a grid of images to you, where you can subsequently narrow your results with criteria based on your search.

For example, if you are searching for a digital camera, you can refine your search to show cameras with certain specifications, by brand, or even its purpose.

It is unlikely most people would switch over to Bing from Google, but the Bing visual search can be very useful if your looking for something that you might not really know what its called, or even for a person (say a sports star) that you don’t really know what that persons name is.

From a product level, the feature is looking great, and for consumers, it will only lead to more innovation as the top players push to create a competing/more superior product.

The new visual search is powered by Microsoft Silverlight technology.

Check out the video below for complete information and to see visual serach in action.