Many Other Camera Reviews Inside! [Archive]

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:46 PM

Sony DSC-T300

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120713,sony-dsct300.aspx

You can’t help but be impressed by Sony’s T-Series. It’s consistently packed
the latest camera tech and great image quality into the sexiest, pocket-friendly bodies for almost half a decade. The DSC-T200, with its innovative touchscreen, class-leading 5x optical zoom and excellent pictures, has been a firm favourite with Stuff.

So we’re chuffed that its successor, the T300, retains the same reassuringly chunky aluminium shell of its predecessors, right? Well, yes and no – it’s still a pleasing experience to clunk that lens cover down, but the design hasn’t really changed at all. A minor re-design wouldn’t go amiss.

T-t-t-touch me
The latest T-Series icon also has the T200’s 3.5in touchscreen, which makes accessing functions easy, once you know exactly where everything is. It’s also blessed with one of the coolest features on any camera – you can touch the screen to set where in the frame you want to focus, so if your subject is massively off-centre and you don’t trust the autofocus to read your mind, just prod the subject on the screen.

What’s also impressive is how Sony has crammed that 5x optical zoom vertically into the relatively compact body. Many premium-priced compacts are now boasting focal ranges starting at an equivalent 28mm (or more) wide-angle, but the T300’s widest, 33mm, will be enough for most.

Image problems
Where Sony seems to have dropped the ball is with the jump up to 10MP. There are, of course, issues with cramming two million more pixels onto a sensor the same size, and Sony has obviously had problems.

As a result, the images look over-processed, with some odd colour-smoothing that just doesn’t look natural, especially at high ISO. The colours are still really vibrant, but with those processing problems that can make some shots look oddly unreal.

At this price, the DSC-T300 should be better. If you’re not fussed about printing at poster size, we’d still recommend the T200 or Fujifilm’s excellent Z100fd.

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:48 PM

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T200

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120710,sony-cybershot-dsct200.aspx

Sony's T-series has spent the last three or four years consistently exceeding all our expectations. And our expectations, believe us, are tremendously high.

The T200 happily continues that trend, packing more tech into its stylish little body than it has any right to, and still executing its prime directive – taking photos – with aplomb.

LCD good, LCD bad
It's hard to know where to start, but perhaps we should get the bad things – for there are but few – out of the way. The LCD round the back is quite smeary, dull and not particularly hi-res. The T200 is also, perhaps, a little expensive. Maybe.

Okay, that's it. Now to the cool stuff – that slightly iffy screen is also a massive 3.5in and touch-sensitive, with all the useful menus popping up to be prodded. Even cooler, you can poke your finger at an area of the frame on screen and that's the point the T200 will focus on. Nice.

Impressively for an ultra-compact camera, the T200 has a 5x zoom lens – and they're internal periscope-style optics, so there's not frontal protrusion. Heaven forbid. Sliding down the hefty lens cover, there's a satisfying thunk and the camera automatically switches on.

Peerless photo quality
Now, as we've alluded to, this isn't just a big bundle of gimmick; it can take a darn fine snap, too. The 8.1MP images are much crisper and punchier than any of its competitors', brimming with colour and detail.

Even at high ISO – and it manages up to 3200 – the quality doesn't make you want to scratch your eyes out, and flash performance is very good.

The VGA movies aren't too bad, either – okay, it won't compete with Panasonic's Lumix FX100 in that department, but neither does it disgrace itself.

Aside from the shortcomings of the screen – and it isn't that bad, in all honesty – there's little to fault with this incredibly little picture-taker. Now go buy one.

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:49 PM

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T100

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120707,sony-cybershot-dsct100.aspx

Compact cameras are under attack! The rise of the camera-phone has one of the best-selling gadgets of the past decade if not exactly running for cover, then certainly looking over its shoulder for reinforcements to arrive.

Luckily, a digicam Braveheart has arrived in the form of the latest model in Sony’s impressive Cyber-shot clan – the T100. This style camera piles in the features, filling its chunkier-than-it-looks-body with more extras than a Star Wars DVD.

Stacks of features
For starters there’s that 8.2 megapixel resolution, which is far in advance of even the most modern of mobiles. Sony has also managed to cram in one of its amazing folding lenses.

In this case it offers 5x optical zoom, which is highly impressive, and very handy when it comes to trying to shoot architecture and the like on your summer hols.

Build quality is also superb. The T100 is incredibly solid, while controls are easy to locate and feel responsive when pushed. The sliding front panel also gives a good solid click, and doesn’t have you worrying about whether you are going to break it off, while the massive three-inch LCD around the back is incredibly detailed.

Still new to cameras, and not yet on phones, is face detection; which is where the camera can tell whether you are shooting people rather than places, and adjusts its settings accordingly. The results we had with this were mixed, but this Sony seems to have it nailed better than most of its competition.

Picture perfect
The same is true with its performance in actually producing pictures. The quality of the shots from this camera are first rate, with detail levels and an ability with natural colour reproduction that must make the competition weep with envy. It can even take shots in low light without the horrendous digital noise some lesser snappers suffer from.

As far as stylish yet capable cameras go this is one of the best out there. Sure, some of the competition is cheaper, but they can’t match the Sony for either features or delivering the goods.

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:52 PM

Olympus cameras Mju 800

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120693,olympus-cameras-mju-800.aspx

Cameras aren’t just cameras any more. They’re part of the fickle world of fashion and, sad to say, the Mju 800 is looking rather last year.

That asymmetrical styling was once so chic. However, put the 800 alongside the Konica Minolta Dimage X1 and it looks like a bulbous blob.

It’s still smooth, rounded and easy to use but it doesn’t do anything the X1 can’t, while taking up twice the space. And it doesn’t have any kind of image stabilisation for slow shutter speeds.

It’s not all bad; the weatherproof metal body should stand you in good stead if the weather turns foul and the HyperCrystal LCD is nice for composing and playing back your shots.

It has an unusually wide viewing angle (160 degrees) so everyone gathered round the camera will get a good view of your photos. This makes it easier to judge exposure levels, too (the brightness doesn’t change as you shift position).

Beginners will have plenty to play with, too, because as well as the standard fully auto mode there are 19 scene modes to try out, covering everything from night scenes to ‘cuisine’.

The Mju has hidden depths with aperture-priority and shutter-priority modes, but alas no fully manual mode. You can shoot in low light levels at higher sensitivities, in the BrightCapture mode, though this does reduce the image size to 3 megapixels.

On the downside, noise reduction isn’t great and it appears to delight in smudging the lines into oblivion. You’ll need a magnifying glass if you drop your xD cards too – it may be big capacity but it’s way too easy to drop and lose.

If you’re going to put style over substance, steer clear. But aside from that, the Mju 800 isn’t bad at all.

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:53 PM

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:53 PM

Olympus 790 SW

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120692,olympus-790-sw.aspx

If used properly this rugged camera is well worth the money and makes you feel a little more manly into the bargain.

Pros
Very tough design. Good image quality. Lots of exciting features

Cons
Expensive compared to non-rugged competition. Controls can be unresponsive. Some lens distortion
Rugged cameras have being doing battle with the elements for many years now. We were rather taken by Vivitar’s Vivicam 6200W recently despite its lifejacket styling, and Olympus’ 770 SW has long been a rucksack favourite for Stuff’s extreme breaks.

Well, now Olympus’ tough guy has returned for more action as the 790 SW. It packs the same 7.1MP sensor and 3x optical zoom as its predecessor, but strangely drops the waterproofing depth from 10m to 3m. Still, features like face detection make it a respectable step up.

New paint jobs
As if this camera wasn’t distinctive enough, Olympus has also decided to supply it in a number of shades – ours was a kind of burnt orange. Elsewhere the silver edging makes it look pretty smart, and it doesn’t look rugged in the way the overly macho way that, say, a Panasonic Toughbook does.

The buttons on the back are all off to the right of the screen, and this whole area looks a little bit confusing. This feeling isn’t helped by the fact that the sturdier construction needs mean the buttons tend to be a little less responsive than on wimpy normal cameras.

Still, the menu system is very friendly, and Olympus has taken hand-holding to new levels with its Guide mode. This is selectable from the sturdy mode wheel on the back, and it lets you scroll through a selection of possibly problematic picture scenarios – such as shooting at night – and tells you what to do about it.

This adds a certain degree of tutoring, which we like, and supplements the otherwise well stocked selection of scene modes, which includes a whopping four underwater offerings.

Solid performance
In action the 790 is actually very competent, with a good all round performance even if you are shooting on the fly, which bodes well for the sporty types it’s aimed at. Detail resolution is good, colours are reasonably natural and there’s little in the way of unsightly noise until you set the ISO above 200.

There’s some lens distortion at the extremes of the zoom, but as the lens doesn’t extend from the body for safety reasons this is to be expected. But beyond that, this is one hell of a sporty little camera, and well worth the additional expense if you are planning on using it in extreme conditions.

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:54 PM

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:56 PM

Olympus Mju Mini S

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120695,olympus-mju-mini-s.aspx

The Olympus Mju Mini S makes a unique style statement for the cost of an everyday budget snapper.

Pros
Good value. Unique style and colour range. Weatherproof body handy for British weather.

Cons
LCD only 1.8-inch, 134,000 pixels. A bit on the chubby side compared to other slimline cams. Rotary mode dial on the top is a bit odd.
No other digital camera looks like this one. Straight from the set of Forbidden Planet, the Mju Mini S will leave onlookers stunned. It comes in a variety of tempting colours, including Champagne, Lagoon Blue, Enamel Black or… Pink.

The Mini S is a bit fatter than some of the latest superslims but it’s hard to complain - it’s still portable and the ‘weatherproof’ body could be handy in the weatherworn UK.

The controls are good, and the camera easy to get to grips with, though the rotary mode dial on the top is a bit odd.

The Mini S is relatively cheap too, and although the 2x optical zoom, 1.8in LCD and 15fps movie mode aren’t exactly top of the range, the camera makes a unique style statement for the cost of an everyday budget snapper.

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:56 PM

Panasonic Lumix LX1

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120697,panasonic-lumix-lx1.aspx

How much? Never mind what the LX-1 costs, just see what it does – yes, it’s pricey, but boy is it worth it.

Pros
Nicely made. Good controls. Choice of three aspect ratios.

Cons
Costly. Almost D-SLR territory. Our lens cap kept falling off.

Panasonic produces some rather good cameras, and this is one of them. The price tag is enough to make your eyes water but, if you can get past that, this camera is reasonable value for money.

Its unique image sensor’s native aspect ratio is 16:9, unlike the widescreen mode on the Fujifilm FinePix F810, which simply slices strips off the top and bottom of the image (like the old APS film cameras in ‘panoramic’ mode).

Once you start shooting 16:9 shots, you can’t stop. Many shots – principally landscapes, urban and rural – look much better with this ‘wider’ view.

If you don’t want a 16:9 shot, flick the switch on the lens barrel. You can shoot at 3:2 (digital SLR and 35mm film ratio) or 4:3 (digital compact and domestic TV ratio). Easy.

Apart from that, you get a 4x zooming range and an optical image stabiliser. The picture quality is good – yes, there’s some noise, but the detail rendition is OK and the colour and exposure levels are very good.

Still not convinced? After all, £450 is still a big wodge of cash when you can get a D-SLR (Nikon D50) for less than £500. Maybe the build quality will sway you; it’s one of those cameras you have to handle to appreciate.

The metal body is compact and superbly finished, the controls neat, logical and positive. Press the ‘Open’ switch on the top to release the flash, and it pops up with a satisfying ‘chonk’.

The LX1 is small but meaty – but, then, so it should be at that price.

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:57 PM

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:58 PM

Samsung NV11

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120705,samsung-nv11.aspx

We like this camera a lot, and for a rugged day out it’s one of the most reliable snappers out there. We just wouldn’t shoot our best mate’s wedding on it.

Pros
Great lens. High megapixel count. Fantastic user interface. Generally impressive results

Cons
Styling is odd. Very heavy. Softness to images a problem when blown up large
This is one odd looking camera. But then it is part of Samsung's NV range, and they're all a little bit odd when compared to your average compact snapper.

The NV11 is certainly well up there in terms of features, with a highly impressive 10.1 megapixel CCD backed up by one of the best lenses we've yet encountered on a compact camera.

But it's not just the 5x optical zoom rating that's getting us hot under the collar, because this is top-notch Schneider glasswork, and adds a touch of class to the whole set up.

Lens eleven
The lens is also part of the reason for the NV11's odd styling, which has a certain Communist Eastern Europe quality to it. In terms of solidity and build quality it's one of the best we've ever seen. The way the lens and the rest of the buttons move and feel really is first rate, and the NV11 feels like a 'proper' camera – and has the manual mode to match.

The design doesn't get any more normal around the back either, with the large 2.7inch LCD viewfinder surrounded by more buttons than in a whole seaside town's panto season.

The system works by pressing the button down the side that relate to the icon on screen – say ISO setting – you then run your finger along the other axis of buttons to adjust the settings. It's great after a while, but starting off it's a right royal pain, and may well turn people off using it altogether.

Pictures almost perfect
This would be a real shame, because the NV11 is fantastic camera, and while the looks are old school, the quality of the images it produces are bang up to date.

Okay, so we know the megapixel count on offer here is pretty high, but the quality of the images this camera produced still took us a little bit by surprise, as previous Samsung cameras have disappointed.

While high-megapixel compacts often end up noisier than a student's 21st birthday party, this beauty keeps that unsightly stuff to a minimum even when you push the ISO up quite high. However, there is often a pay off in the form of a slight softness to the image.

The lens also works wonders, with little in the way of barrel distortion – where the edges of the image go out of shape – that many other compacts suffer from. This coupled with the extra lens capacity makes it one hell of a flexible camera.

Elsewhere, face recognition technology works reasonably well, and the colour reproduction is excellent. Bright colours and dramatic contrasts are top of this Samsung's skills CV, although that lack of absolute sharpness may bug you over time – especially if you are blowing prints up larger than standard.

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:58 PM

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:59 PM

Samsung i7

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120703,samsung-i7.aspx

Gotta love that revolving screen – but remind us again what exactly the point of it is

Pros
Good image quality. Anti-shake works well.

Cons
Sluggish zoom. Revolving screen a faff.
Samsung’s been blowing us away with the design of its compact cameras of late. From the svelte NV3 to the iconic NV7, it’s been love at first black metallic caress.

The i7 is part of it’s ‘other’ range of, so far, eminently forgettable cameras. Who could remember the i6 – the first digicam with a built-in media player – or how about the ‘classic’ i50 and its MP3 feature? Thought not.

Clearly the i7 has a lot to prove – and it’s doing it with more gimmicks. The MP4 playing PMP is there, now with a three-inch touchscreen. Not only that, it’s a revolving touchscreen. Pretty wild, huh?

Turn, turn, turn
How does it all work? Well it ‘turns’ out that the revolving screen is actually how you turn the i7 on. Twist it 90 degrees and the media player fires up, a full 180 and you’re in camera mode.

The PMP is no iPod replacement. Tracks are listed by filename in the order they were dragged into the MP3 folder. At least it sounds better than the decidedly average i6, and for video the screen’s a big improvement, both in size and quality.

Camera, action
The camera-activating swivel can be done manually or using our preferred ‘nudge’ method. One tap and the spring-loaded mechanism whips the screen round the full 180 at breakneck speed.

After that things get a little slower. We timed a laborious five seconds from whip-round and power-up to actually taking a shot. The zoom is sluggish and the autofocus is prone to wandering. Worse still, the face recognition seems to miss more faces than it ever finds.

And yet, and yet, the final results are actually quite pleasing. They’re well lit and colour is good. Noise isn’t too much of a problem and the Advanced Shake Reduction actually seems to work – despite the lack of a proper optical stabiliser.

Video’s good too, though the headline 800x592 resolution is only 20fps so stick to the standard 640x480 res at the smoother 30fps.

Trouble is, it’s just such a pig to use. The revolving screen is a faff once the initial amusement is over – and you have to do it each time you want to shoot.

The touchscreen menus are simple enough, but the zoom buttons on the camera itself are narrow and fiddly. And the whole thing is just too heavy – a full 210g with the battery.

If you enjoy weightlifting, have a penchant for pointless gimmicks and don’t mind too much if your camera’s slower than a Sunday stroll, then maybe this is the one for you.

Otherwise, save your dollars and go for the far more stylish NV3. It does nearly everything this cam does – without the need for the song and dance.

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 10:59 PM

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 11:03 PM

Samsung i6

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120702,samsung-i6.aspx

Full marks for effort but the i6 is trying to do too much, without doing anything very well

Pros
Feature packed camera with a delightful screen

Cons
It doesn't do anything well enough for it to justify all the features
The touchscreen menus are simple enough, but the zoom buttons on the camera itself are narrow and fiddly. And the whole thing is just too heavy – a full 210g with the battery.

If you enjoy weightlifting, have a penchant for pointless gimmicks and don’t mind too much if your camera’s slower than a Sunday stroll, then maybe this is the one for you.

Otherwise, save your dollars and go for the far more stylish NV3. It does nearly everything this cam does – without the need for the song and dance.

Cameras in mobile phones? That’ll never take off, will it? Guess what? It did. Now Samsung has turned its attentions to adding extra feature to its cameras. But at least it’s versatile.

The i6 does the usual stuff like taking pictures – we’ll get to that in a minute – and VGA movies but it also has an MP3 player on board and even the ability to play films.

The problem is that all of the extra technology has affected the camera itself. Picture quality leaves a bit to the imagination. The 2.5in screen is perfectly suitable for framing, the zoom control is quick and accurate, and the end result is a pretty sharp picture. But colours are rarely accurate, blue tones being a particularly sticky subject.

The i6 only has an ISO sensitivity of 400, which isn’t what you’d call groundbreaking. This wouldn’t pose a problem if the flash was good but the shots end up looking like a Chihuahua in a blender.

tomatoman

21-10-2008, 11:04 PM

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T30

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/66556,sony-cybershot-dsct30.aspx

Sony wowed the world with its first T-series Cyber-shots. They were farcically thin yet sported an unheard-of internal 3x optical zoom. But the T30 is rotund by comparison: to accommodate the whopping 7.2-megapixel CCD. We’re not sure this is a good idea.

The lens is only 9mm wide and even quality Carl Zeiss optics struggle to be sharp enough to satiate the 7.1 megapixel resolution. We didn’t have to zoom into our outdoor portraits to notice some very soft edges to hands and faces and noticeable grain in fleshy areas. There was also noticeable noise in light-coloured areas too – all of which are bugbears of high-resolution, low-sharpness cameras. Tonal transitions could also be abrupt and harsh as well. There was a lack of chromatic aberrations (purple fringing to objects in areas of high contrast) though. Leaves in trees could look impressionistic such was their lack of sharpness and detail. Uniform blue skies and the snow of Thredbo looked grainier than we’d like, too.

The raison d’être of the 7.2 megapixels is to blow photos up to A3 but many people going to such effort and expense would be disappointed with the detail captured. Indeed, the results garnered from digitally upscaling images from the 6-megapixel Canon IXUS 800 IS in Photoshop looked sharper and less noisy. At least the optical ‘Super Steady Shot’ stabilizer reduced blur derived from hand shake.

But pictures for an undiscerning snapper are good. Colours are all vibrant and accurate both indoors and out. However, the manageability of 3MB photo files will be awkward for those without powerful PCs and big hard disks. Dropping the resolution to five-megapixels introduces yet more grain, noise and even less sharp images.

The 640 x 480 videos aren’t bad though they look grainy compared to Canon’s.

General usability is good. There’s a one-second start up time when you slide down the lens cover. All the features and controls are intuitive and easy to find and the whopping 3-inch, gloss-coated LCD is bright and clear even in harsh sun. However, the 3x optical zoom is very slow.

But the main issue is price. A $700 price tag in this market is ridiculous considering you can pick up the smaller, 27g lighter, better-featured, better-performing Canon Ixus 65 (see A-List) for $409. Why Sony, why?

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:46 AM

Samsung i85

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120704,samsung-i85.aspx

Not worth the extra money for the media ability, but a solid performer
Pros Solid and stylish. Decent image quality. OK media player

Cons Too expensive. Harsh flash. 2.5mm headphone socket

Convergence, like the celebrity chef epidemic, has attacked us in many forms. Samsung's take on it is the i85: an ultra-compact camera that will also play movies and music from an SD card.

As you might expect, it doesn't do a top-drawer job of either, but it's not the worst media player we've seen. The 3in screen is also a little too smeary, washed out and low-res to compete with the likes of Archos.

Clever media controls
When switching the i85 into media player mode, slightly rubbish supplied headphones can be plugged into a 2.5mm jack socket on the side and the zoom rocker becomes a volume control, which is all very sensible. Well, not the part about the 2.5mm socket; that's always a stupid idea.

Getting video on is a case of loading MP4s onto an SD card – but you'll first want to convert your vids using the supplied software to make sure they're fully compatible. No such problems with MP3s, which play without any trouble.

Better as a snapper
As an 8MP camera it's a tad better – colours are natural and the extra girth it has compared to its competitors makes it easy to hold steady, but the cluttered control layout just gets confusing. There really isn't the need for so many buttons on what's essentially a point-and-shoot compact.

The 5x optical zoom is pretty impressive in such a small snapper and the face detection works reasonably well. The flash is a little harsh, though, making for unflattering party portraits.

One nice touch – and other manufacturers please take note – is that you don't need a conventional charger. In iPod-style there's a USB cable and a USB mains charger, so you use the same cable to connect to a computer and also to charge.

But for all its good points, we can't ignore the price of all this converged technology: $449 is simply too much for a pretty good compact camera. You're going to really have to want that extra media capability to splash that much cash.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:47 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:48 AM

Ricoh Caplio R7

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120701,ricoh-caplio-r7.aspx

Megapixels are a plenty, but the real selling point here is that impressive lens. It’s just a shame that some noise issues cloud matters

Pros Compact design. Reasonable Price. Amazing lens.

Cons Noise at higher ISOs. Design clunky. Flash results hit and miss
In a world packed with megapixel monsters it’s tough for manufacturers to differentiate their products from the competition by using this measure. So the eight on offer here is the same as can be found on many sub-$200 cameras.

But what this camera has that none of the competition can boast is a 7.1x optical zoom lens. This wide-angle beauty offers the 35mm equivalent of 28 to 200mm – that covers everything from extreme close up to top-draw landscape photography.

Other features include the now ubiquitous face-recognition technology, plus the first implementation of the new Smooth Imaging Engine III processing engine, which promises such niceties as getting rid of some of the unwanted noise that blights shots taken at higher ISO settings.

Add in a choice of vibration controls and a high-speed start off and you have a very impressive base for what could be an excellent value camera.

Build is bum
Build quality is a bit iffy, mind. We don’t particularly like the look of the camera, which is one thing, but the buttons aren’t really aligned properly, and the lens sounds like its grating as it creaks it’s way out of the body.

Also, we can see the point of the large screen – there’s no optical viewfinder for starters – but it takes up vast swathes of the back panel and sucks battery life like an LCD vampire.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:48 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:49 AM

Pentax E40

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120699,pentax-e40.aspx

The selling point of this camera is that it’s cheap – and it certainly excels in that department!

Pros Cheaper than yesterday’s chips; 8.1MP. Good colour reproduction

Cons Plastic and looks it. Too much noise in images
Megapixel and price erosion has surely come to its natural conclusion in the form of this Pentax snapper. Not only is this a big-brand camera that sells for under a ton, but it's also sporting a whopping 8MP of resolution.

Now, we all know that massive megapixels does not a great camera make, but you can't sniff at the combination of those factors. And if you are looking for a reason to actually buy a digital camera when you already have a camera mobile, then this isn't too much to spend.

Plastic fantastic
So apart form the MP figure, what exactly does $189 get you in the digital camera world – well, not that much really. OK, so there's a 2.4inch LCD screen and a 3x optical zoom, but apart from that this is as bog standard as the price suggests.

It does have shake reduction, which is useful for low-light snapping. But while it makes a big deal of 'Face Priority' this isn't to be confused with Face Recognition, which is obviously the current buzz feature of the compact camera world.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:50 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:50 AM

Pentax A30

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120698,pentax-a30.aspx

Another compact crams in too many megapixels. But if you never look at pictures at pixel-level you’ll be dead pleased with this Pentax

Pros Great features. Compact design. Reasonable Price

Cons Image suffers from too much noise.
Pentax is packing them in with this compact camera: it’s got more features than Mount Rushmore, and is a million miles away from even the most competent of mobile phone snappers in terms of thrills and added extras.

It’s also – and the brand won’t thank us for saying this – pretty good looking for a Pentax. We particularly like the black version we had for review, as it stands out from the silver-clad crowd.

The A30 is also a solid piece of kit. There are few protrusions to break up the sleek lines and, as well as those key high-end features, it also has a par-for-the course 3x optical zoom lens and a 2.5inch LCD screen that takes up most of the back panel.

Turn out the light
This camera is obviously designed to shoot in low light situations – which is apparently where most of us take pictures when we’re not sitting around on beaches of snapping famous tourist spots. To this end it gives you an amazingly high-sensitivity setting of up to ISO 3200, on top of an intelligent flash system and face recognition.

This allows you to take images in incredibly low light without the need for flash, but with the pay off that the pictures are prone to unsightly digital noise. While this camera is far from the worst we’ve seen in that respect, ramping the setting up does produce a degree of noise that may not be to your taste, especially if you are likely to blow the image up above the standard 6x4 size.

Megapixel mayhem
Unfortunately, this also transfers across into lower ISO settings. The root of the problem is that squeezing 10,000,000 pixels into such a small body inevitably creates more digital noise.

While the Pentax isn’t as bad in this respect as some of the competition, such as Kodak’s Easyshare V803, if you are planning to blow some images up large we’d recommend letting an 8MP snapper like the Sony T100 do the job instead.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:51 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:51 AM

Nikon P5100

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120687,nikon-p5100.aspx

An ideal companion for a DSLR, this is a compact for the photography enthusiast rather than the happy snapper

Pros Impressive picture quality. Excellent features. Well-designed and easy to use

Cons Looks may not appeal. Pretty large and pricey
Nikon is better known for its impressive digital SLR cameras rather than its range of compact snappers. But because the P5100 is larger than most compacts it suggests Nikon has had the opportunity to squeeze in some of its SLR smarts.

That has certainly happened to the megapixel count, with the P5100 joining an elite group of 12MP compacts. However, unlike traditional 'bridge' cameras, that span the divide between SLR and compacts, there's no amazing zoom lens on offer here, although the 3.5x optical figure is slightly more than you get on many.

Solid as a rock
Build quality is also better than on most compacts, as is the ergonomic design. The black magnesium body is solid and reassuringly weighty, with just the rights nooks and crannies to hold the camera firmly in place and still have easy access to the controls on the top and dotted around the 2.5in LCD.

The top of the P5100 features a mode selection dial, a very responsive shutter release and a function control button, which is a nice touch and really puts you in mind of the brand's consumer SLR cameras.

There's also a hot shoe for bulking up the camera's own flash – it all feels very professional. In fact, the only thing that the enthusiast could complain about in these areas is the lack of a RAW mode.

Top-class image quality
Still, JPEG image quality is about the best we've come across in a 12MP compact, with very little to complain about. The colours and detail levels are first rate, and the new EXPEED image processing engine does a great job of providing you with the best results possible, and includes neat tricks such as getting rid of the compact bugbear that is barrel distortion.

The ISO on this cameras go up to a nose-bleed inducing 3200, but unless you are taking pictures of a burglar looking in your back window we'd avoid anything above about 800, as digital noise levels are very high after this point – and certainly too high for our prestigious photo album.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:52 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:52 AM

Nikon Coolpix P1

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120684,nikon-coolpix-p1.aspx

An older Nikon wireless camera, that in its day was a superb 8-megapixel camera in its own right. Small, smart and destined for greatness

Pros Laps up shots in dim or artificial light. 8-megapixels is a lot of resolution for a compact. Lots of creative features.

Cons Setting-up is a chore. Looks a bit cheap and plasticky.
USB cables are the 21st-century equivalent of coat hangers: turn your back for a minute and the damn things breed like rabbits.

The Nikon P1 promised to cut through our cable-related confusion, packing a full-power Wi-Fi system that could beam its 8-megapixel images direct to our printer and PC. So could we finally bin our trippy-up, ever-tangled, socket-hogging cables, or were there strings attached?

A scarcely noticeable bump on the right-hand top corner of the P1 houses the 802.11b/g Wi-Fi antenna, which flashes blue when transmitting. Range to our router faded at about 10m, after two thick walls. You’ll soon be able to send your snaps directly to (almost) any photo printer, without involving your PC at all, using a plug-in USB Wireless Printer dongle.

The VGA-quality movies are large enough to watch on TV, although we weren’t keen on the reddish vertical smears that appeared whenever conditions got too bright. But the 30fps clips are smooth enough, and the Nikon positively laps up shots in dim or artificial light.

For a compact camera, 8-megapixels is a lot of resolution, especially when it uses a small 1/1.8-inch sensor. Squeezing so many pixels onto a tiny chip can make for ugly, noisy images in the dark. Luckily, there are few such problems with the P1: its photos are punchy, sharp and full of life. Avoid the maximum ISO 400 sensitivity, though.

Griping about large LCDs is like whinging about having too much chocolate ice-cream, but some cameras focus on size at the expense of quality. Not the P1. Its 2.5-inch display is crisp and colourful in bright sunlight and handles dim, smoky rooms with ease, although it does go a bit grainy. We loved the menus, too: you can choose between clear text or one-click icons for access to advanced features.

There are plenty of creative features inside the P1. Aperture-priority mode lets you tinker with exposure settings and many of the 16 scene programs come with extra digital effects to tweak sharpness or colour. Hi-tech features include a useful D-Lighting setting to boost contrast in images after they’ve been shot.

Not everything was just peachy, though. Setting up any Wi-Fi device can be a chore and the P1 is no exception. And even once you’ve domesticated it for use at home, the camera can’t currently use any of the thousands of public hotspots to upload snaps while you’re out and about.

Despite all that technical wizardry inside it’s not going to win any design gongs: the boxy, matt black housing manages the neat trick of looking like cheap plastic while actually being made of tough metal alloy. Although the P1 is pretty responsive (especially the lightning-fast 3x zoom lens), its lightweight plastic controls don’t inspire much confidence, either.

Having had a moan we can’t resist getting back to the P1’s good points. You won’t get much better (or bigger) images than this from a compact camera. The P1 masters its massive 8-megapixel resolution, delivering rich, accurate colours and fine print detail.

Icon-driven menus and a help button smooth off the edges but getting the P1 to work with a typical home Wi-Fi system requires patience. The paper instruction book is excellent, though.

Plenty of auto and program modes, plus aperture-priority exposure, processing tweaks, fast-burst mode (2.3fps) and 32MB of on-board memory. Large, sharp video clips, too.

Basically, a high-quality compact camera with Wi-Fi functionality stuck on. Printing and streaming images to your PC at home has never been easier but you’re stuck with memory cards outside.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:53 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:53 AM

Konica Minolta Dimage Z5

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120681,konica-minolta-dimage-z5.aspx

[NOTE: This is an older Konica Minolta camera, and is no longer available in Australia.] A bit of an ugly bug, maybe, but an amazing zoom range and full-on photographic control in a camera half the size of an SLR

Pros Fabulous build quality. Solid switchgear. Decent LCD.

Cons Not exactly pocketable
With this 5MP offering you’ll be able to get high-quality shots of a vast range of subjects, without spending a fortune. Five-megapixel sensors are small enough to allow compact camera designs even when they incorporate massive zooms. You can get higher resolutions but in no other megapixel banding do you get this level of versatility.

You’ll also be able to achieve the equivalent of a 35-420mm zoom – the 12x zoom in the Z5 is the longest currently available. It’s perfect for long-range sports and wildlife shots, and while long zooms have a reputation for inducing camera shake, the Z5 incorporates Konica Minolta’s CCD-shift anti-shake system for sharper handheld shots. The Z5’s equally good at everyday photography, too. What a dear.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 07:56 AM

Kodak V570

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120680,kodak-v570.aspx

The V570 is a fine camera but isn’t for everyone. The ability to take wide-angle photos is a great feature, though there’s a slight trade-off in image quality compared to similarly priced snappers

Pros Has a 1.2s start-up time. 2.5in LCD has an enormous viewing angle.

Cons No shake reduction tech. 5x optical zoom is not truthful - 3x would be nearer the mark.

Just when it seemed the digital compact camera had been beaten into submission by the camera phone, Kodak rode to the rescue on its white-balanced horse.

Its V570 is the first dual-lensed compact in the world, and can do something no other camera in the world can: take 3D photos. Which is a lie. No, it can capture genuine wide-angle shots in addition to standard 5MP stills.

Wide-angle lenses make it easy to take photos of groups of people or large objects from close range; better still, the V570 can use its extra lens to create 180° panoramas from just three photos. Lining the next image up is easy; thanks to a small portion of the last shot remaining on screen, and the camera stitches them together.

Even without its 23mm fixed-focus wide-angle lens, the V570 would still be a competent gadget. It has a 1.2s start-up time and it’s ready for the next shot just 1s after the last. Video is recorded in VGA MP4 and you can even switch between lenses and zoom while recording.

There’s no optical viewfinder but its 2.5in LCD has an enormous viewing angle and is more than happy even in bright conditions. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sport any shake reduction technology. Sob.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:43 AM

Fujifilm Finepix Z1

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120672,fujifilm-finepix-z1.aspx

Fujifilm’s FinePix Z1 is chic, clever and tough. It has a top look and feel, and is well worth the cash.

Pros LCD made from toughened glass. Good in low light - to a max ISO of 800. Good movie mode up to 30fps.

Cons Spec has been topped by the Z2.

Fujifilm’s original FinePix Z1 is still a highly sought after snapper despite the launch of the updated Z2. For a not astronomical amount of your hard earned you can get your hands one of the finest fashion cams on the market.

This is an excellent pocket camera, partly because the lens doesn’t extend even in use and the glass on the big 2.5-inch LCD has been specially toughened.

The camera doesn’t just protect itself however – it’s a thoughtful soul with a clean, smart design won’t snag your pockets.

The Z1 is pretty good in low light, with a maximum ISO of 800, has a reputable 3x optical zoom and has one of the best movie modes around, shooting at 640x480 pixels and 30fps.

All this meaty goodness and it weighs only 130g. Now that’s what we call lean.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:44 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:44 AM

Kodak EasyShare V1273

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120679,kodak-easyshare-v1273.aspx

A well-built and stylish compact. Only a sluggish menu system lets it down

Pros Stunning build and design. Good features. Impressive video modes. Above average still images

Cons Unresponsive touch screen. Overly-complex manual setting
Kodak’s industrial designers were obviously told to go mad with the EasyShare V1273. This metal bodied, curvaceous vision in black or gunmetal grey is one of the best looking cameras we’ve seen this year.

Internally, the specification keeps our impress-o-meter peaking too with 12megapixel still resolution and high-definition 720p video recording the show-stopping highlights.

And then there’s the space-hogging 3in touch-screen display. Apart from three small buttons, the zoom toggle and the shutter release, all the options and settings are accessed on here, so it had better be good.

Menu system disappoints
Unfortunately, that’s where the V1273’s biggest problem lies. The menu system itself isn’t terrible, and should be familiar to people with Kodak previous. It’s just that the screen itself is too unresponsive and slow, especially when compared to the likes of Sony’s DSC-T2.

For example: to access the flash options you have to press a specific part of the screen to get a second layer of options, and then choose your flash settings from there. It sounds simple, but you’ll probably press the larger ‘mode’ setting zone at least once, and then have to press the flash twice for it to recognise the change, by which time your subject has probably swanned off to the bar to get another drink in.

Point and shoot wins favour
Still, the Kodak V1273’s point and shoot mode, the ‘smart’ setting, is bright enough that many casual punters won’t even see a problem here. It works out what you are taking an image of – a landscape, a face, or something close up - and adjusts the settings accordingly. And it does this pretty well most of the time, letting you concentrate on framing your shots rather than having to worry about the intricacies of white balance and ISO settings.

While this goes some way towards countering our menu moans, a good quality digital camera needs to be much more than just a point and shoot idiot box, and accessing the V1273’s manual options can be frustrating. All of this is a shame, because the pictures that this camera is capable of are at times very impressive, and at its worst above average.

Plenty of colour
The colour palate of shots is attractively bright and vibrant, but not overly so, and even when blown up the pictures are free of the unsightly noise that can effect some high-megapixel compacts. There’s not the pin sharpness that’s available on the very best cameras such as Canon’s Ixus 85 IS, but it’s not overly smooth either.

And then there’s the HD video, which turns out to be not only a fun extra, but a useful tool. When the brilliantly detailed and jerk-free videos recorded on V1273 are displayed on a 32inch LCD the benefits of HD are obvious.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:44 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:45 AM

Kodak Easyshare V803

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120678,kodak-easyshare-v803.aspx

In the words of Amy Winehouse: they tried to make us buy this Kodak, but we said ‘no, no, no’

Pros Good image quality outdoors. Available in eight colours.

Cons Slow start-up time. Confusing controls. Weak flash.
For years we’ve been seeing cameras pour out of the Far East in myriad shades only to find that by the time they’ve reached our shores the choice has been cut down to black or silver.

So Kodak, bless it, has decided to put things right. Its 8MP V803 comes in eight, count ‘em, eight shades of lacquer from gold to purple. And, yes iPod fans, it comes in white too. If you want brown or graphite you’ll have to go for the 10MP V1003 version which comes in, you guessed it, ten hues.

The camera’s part of Kodak’s Pocket line-up that includes the easy-as-pie slim shooter, the V603, and the innovative dual-lens, 10x zooming, V610. This one’s put on a few pounds from both those cams, opting for a rounded, chunky monkey look that’s pleasing enough on the eye but not as pocketable as its other chums in the range.

The front is a fuss-free, plain wash of colour, bar the flash and the 3x zoom lens which remains silver whichever shade you opt for. Round the back the sleek look breaks down a bit with a recessed 2.5in screen in between two silver blocks bestrewn with buttons.

Here comes trouble
We perhaps had an inkling that we wouldn’t get along with this Kodak when we had trouble turning it on. Here’s a rough transcript: Push power button, nothing happens. Check battery, push power button again, more firmly this time, note cheap plasticky feel, but still nothing happens. Push and HOLD power button – lens shoots out and camera springs to life.

Not that this is a fast camera. Compared to Canon’s Ixus 75 with its Digic III processor it is big and slow. Start-up time is woeful. It took us four seconds to turn the camera on and take a properly focussed shot, compared to one second with the Ixus. That could make all the difference between papping Posh Spice and watching her new blond ‘do disappear unprofitably into the distance.

Control freak
Controls are spread out confusingly over two sides of the camera and feel flimsy, especially the tiny four-way direction stick. It’s difficult to use one-handed, especially as there’s no grip to speak of. It’s slow to focus and, with no face recognition, doesn’t always hit the right spot.

When it finally does focus, the results are actually pretty good. Colours are (typically for Kodak) well saturated and detail is razor-sharp. Exposure is generally spot-on and it’s easily adjusted up or down by moving the direction controller left or right before taking the shot.

Sadly the same can’t be true of indoor snaps. The flash is weak and as the ISO creeps above 200 the shots get progressively more noisy and less detailed. There is an anti-blur mode but all it does is whack up the ISO even higher to the point where the results are pretty much unusable. The onboard Kodak Perfect Touch software will rescue some dark shots and is great to have in-camera, but it can’t work miracles.

Video performance is good and the zoom works while your film – shame that it makes a noise like a power drill as it churns through its range.

Bottom line is that you can get good results with this camera in the right light and with enough patience but, given that it such a pig to use, why would you want to bother?

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:45 AM

Kodak Easyshare V610

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120677,kodak-easyshare-v610.aspx

A fun, innovative camera but heavy and underpowered for the price

Pros Easy to connect to PC. Has a virtual keyboard for entering security settings.

Cons Zoom lens is slow and misses the finest detail. Boxy metal case isn't light.

The Easyshare-One is less a camera and more a portable image hub. You can upload 4-megapixel images to a PC or direct to Kodak’s online gallery – then download previous snaps and show them off on its huge touchscreen. The boxy metal case isn’t light but does contain a heavyweight 256MB of built-in memory, in addition to whatever SD card you whack in.

Getting connected to a PC (or, soon, commercial Wi-Fi hotspots) couldn’t be easier – it even has a virtual keyboard for entering security settings. Full-quality images take about five to ten seconds to transfer but photo taking isn’t quite as assured: the zoom lens is slow and misses the finest detail.

Despite these minor misgivings the Easyshare is, with its 3x optical zoom and 3in LCD touchscreen, a treat.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:46 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:47 AM

Fujifilm F810

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120671,fujifilm-f810.aspx

A great still camera with a decent movie mode. The restrictions on movie length mean it’s only any good for short video ‘snapshots’, though, and not ideal for that holiday of a lifetime

Pros Good photographic controls. Great for snapshots.

Cons Widescreen simply slices off top and bottom of images. Primitive in movie mode.
Fujifilm’s F810 is a conventional still camera that can, thanks to SuperCCD technology, shoot movies at a resolution of 640x480 pixels and 30fps. Movie length is limited only by the capacity of the memory card, while stills can be shot at either 6-megapixels or interpolated (guessed) 12-megapixels.

On the back, there’s a switch for Standard and Wide mode. In Standard mode there’s the usual digital camera 4:3 aspect ratio, but in Wide you get a 16:9 widescreen format. Admittedly, the Fujifilm does this simply by slicing strips off the top and bottom of the image, but it can still help you see a wider range of still photo compositions and shoot movies specifically for your widescreen TV.

There’s a serious level of photographic control with this camera, starting with a 4x optical zoom (which covers a wider angle than most), a full set of exposure modes, three different metering patterns, auto-exposure bracketing, the works.

Things are more primitive on the movie side. If you want night view modes, image stabilisers and long-range zooms, get a camcorder. But for quick and easy video snapshots, it’s great.

The movie quality isn’t bad at all, especially by the (usually low) standards of still cameras. The bad news is that the F810 saves movies in the AVI format, which uses lots of space and limits you to 10 minutes shooting, even with a 512MB xD-Picture Card (only 16MB comes with the camera).

Most importantly, still photo quality is - as we’ve come to expect from Fuji - superb.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:48 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:48 AM

Casio Exilim EX-V7

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120665,casio-exilim-exv7.aspx

Not the slimmest any more, but still amazingly compact. A very capable cam if you don’t mind the menus

Pros 7x zoom. Sharp lens. Optical stabilisation. Manual controls

Cons Unfriendly menus. Lens distortion
The trouble with wearing a crown is that there’s always someone else ready to take it from you. Barely a month had gone by from Casio’s announcement of the slimmest ever cam with 7x zoom, than up popped Samsung to announce the ever so slightly thinner L77, swiftly followed by Ricoh with its ‘wide-angle’ slim zoomer, the R6.

Such is the life of a gadget, but little EX-V7 isn’t ready for the scrapheap just yet. It’s still got more than enough tricks left up its brushed-metal sleeves to pull in the punters. Take the impressive manual mode, the two flavours of anti-shake and the stonking 848x480 widescreen video mode with stereo recording.

Slide show
The slide-open lens cover is nicely sprung and powers up the camera instantly. We timed a solitary second to switch on, focus and fire off a shot – as speedy as Canon’s whippet-like Ixus 75.

The controls are reasonably well laid-out next to the 2.5in display. Not everything is immediately accessible. Lesser-used settings such as the white balance and ISO level are buried in the menus – but you can assign one of them to the left and right keys for speedier access.

Most users will stay in auto or ‘snapshot’ mode, which this camera does well, but if you fancy getting more creative then aperture and shutter priority are easily accessible from the main mode dial, as well as a full manual option. Dip into the menu and there’s even manual focus. Nice.

Zoom, zoom, zoom
The 7x zoom performed admirably. Not surprisingly there was a fair bit of distortion at either end of the range but our snaps generally proved razor-sharp. Colour was a little flat, but it can be given a boost by upping the saturation. Features like the live histogram help with getting the exposure right or just leave it up to the camera – it’s usually spot-on.

There are two modes of anti-shake; one that shifts the sensor to compensate for shaky hands (a must with such a big zoom) and a second one that increases the ISO to quicken the shutter speed when things get too dark. The first works excellently but the second only serves to increase the chances of unwanted noise so best leave it turned off.

In the dock
The bundled docking station makes it easy to hook up to a PC or TV. It also charges the camera, but not while pictures are being transferred. The V7’s higher-than-normal resolution movies look great on a TV and the stereo mic is surprisingly good. Video really shows up the lens’s barrel-like distortion, though, so be prepared for a few unwanted comedy mirror effects.

We were seriously impressed with the versatility of this cam. There’s an awful lot that’s been packed in, including options for those that want to take their photography further. It could do with being a touch more user-friendly, but otherwise we can’t fault it.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:48 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:49 AM

Casio Exilim EX-Z8

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120667,casio-exilim-exz8.aspx

This well-built compact is a solid point-and-shooter, but it struggles in low light

Pros Sturdy. Slim. YouTube capture mode

Cons Low-res LCD. Shutter lag. No bundled SD card. Feature-poor compared to top-end cameraphones
Prices fall, pixels rise and bodies keep getting slimmer in the compact digicam market. Casio's latest size-zero snapper, the EX-Z8, has a spec that rivals cameras from classier brand-names costing twice as much. So should the boys from the specialist names be losing sleep?

Full metal jacket
On first impressions, yes. The EX-Z8 has fantastic build quality: sturdy metal casing, bright 2.6in LCD screen and cool black body. The microSD card/battery cover snaps open in a satisfyingly sturdy way, and the Casio own-brand 3x optical zoom lens purrs in and out of the casing like a good 'un. The few buttons it has are also well-placed and obvious - essential in a point-and-shooter.

The on-board software is extremely intuitive, so even a digital virgin should be up and running in seconds. A touch of the 'BS' button brings up pages of icons for pre-programmed settings, from shooting documents (handy for spies) to running water. And wait - under the movie options there's a YouTube logo.

Do you 'Tube?
Yes, all the new crop of Exilims offer 'YouTube capture' mode, shooting at the required 640x480 size in H.264 format. Bother to install Casio's clunky image editing software on your PC (Mac users can go fish) and there's a one-click upload option. It's all the sort of thing that, had we encountered it six months ago, would be wondrous indeed.

But today, high-end camphones like the LG KU990 'Viewty' will do all that and beam it to your computer over Wi-Fi, or indeed straight to YouTube via broadband-speed HSDPA. Suddenly, fiddling around with USB cables, computers and software installs feels like old hat.

Low light difficulties
The first page of BS settings, and most of the subsequent ones, are set outdoors, bathed in the sort of full sunlight you'd expect to find on a beach holiday - conditions in which every camera should shine. But we tested the Z8 in gloomy conditions, and colour saturation was sadly lacking on our low-light shots, whether with added flash or without. Focus, however, was excellent, and at the highest resolution pictures were full of detail and free of artifacts.

Of more concern was shutter lag when using the flash. This Exilim is obviously being targeted at casual users, so taking snapshots in clubs and pubs would be exactly the sort of situation where the camera should be in its element. But under poor light conditions it took a good second before an image was captured, making any kind of spontaneous shooting a matter of guesswork.

The LCD panel, though bright, is fairly low resolution (479x240 pixels), and colours looked false. Video performance, however, was perfectly adequate for YouTube's bar-set-low requirements.

In favourable conditions, the EX-Z8 produces terrific images, and the easy-to-use YouTube mode is a good idea. But under testing circumstances, more expensive compacts like the Sony DSC-T200 and Canon Ixus 960 IS really outperform it and begin to justify the price gap.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:49 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:49 AM

Casio EX-S10

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120668,casio-exs10.aspx

Too many flaws make this merely a sexy-looking underachiever

Pros Super-skinny. Simple controls. Nice colours

Cons Hard to hold steady without image stabiliser. Poor screen. Quality drops off at ISO 400
It’s been a couple of years now since the last super-skinny camera came along, the Sony DSC-T7. We loved it. It was ridiculously thin and yet felt incredibly solid. Trouble is, it’s skinniness was also its undoing – most people found it impossible to hold steady, resulting in more than the average number of blurry photos.

Thus the first super-skinny camera was also the last... until now. Casio’s new Exilim EX-S10 is a slender 15mm thick, which is slim enough that you won’t feel it in your pocket. But does it suffer from the same problem that doomed this breed the first time round?

Not learning from mistakes
In a word, yes. The very same problem of camera shake afflicts the S10 – you simply can’t hold it steady, especially with cold hands. To compound the situation, the slimming-down process seems to have meant there was no room for image stabilisation of any kind. The result is that you’ll find many images at slower shutter speeds with ghosting.

The S10’s images themselves are blessed with lovely, vibrant colours and reasonable detail – not class-leading, but not terrible. Less pleasing is the fact that the quality degrades so sharply at ISO 400 and above. Most of its competitors falter at ISO 800, but by 400 the Casio has such prominent digital artefacts and noise that you’ll wish you’d used the flash.

Actually, the flash performance isn’t that bad, certainly out-gunning the likes of the Panasonic DMC-FX100 in that department. Sadly, it can’t match the Panasonic’s excellent optical image stabilisation.

Redeeming features
Another redeeming feature is the beautifully simple menu system, with one button press giving you access to the main settings – quality, ISO, EV, flash and the like – down the side of the screen. There’s also a dedicated button to start video capture, which is a nice touch.

Oh dear, we’ve mentioned the screen – it’s, ahem, not too great. Okay, it’s terrible. Not many cameras costing over $400 have screens so wishy-washy and smeary.

It’s difficult to criticise the EX-S10, because Casio has made such a lovely camera to hold and – screen aside – it’s a joy to use. The problems come when you look at your pics later and find the blurring and grain.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:51 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:51 AM

Fujifilm Z10fd

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120674,fujifilm-z10fd.aspx

At first sight a pocketable gem, this all too often lives up to its budget price

Pros Simple interface. Stylish

Cons Soft, grainy shots. Plasticky body
Surely the guys at Fujifilm are having a giggle, busting out a 7.2MP point-and-shoot camera so cheap, sexy and in so many colours, then charging almost nothing for it. They've even compromised with an SD slot alongside their usual xD, the loons.

It was about time Fujifilm realised xD-Picture cards were a bugbear – everything non-Sony uses SD these days, doesn't it? But not content with giving the Z10fd a dual slot, they made it compatible with SDHC cards for even more storage options. Bravo.

You make me colourblind...
The range of colours stretches to seven: Hot Pink, Wave Blue, Red, Midnight Black, Wasabi Green, Moss Green and Sunset Orange. How come Red doesn't get a funky adjective? Even Black got one. We're going to say... Tahitian Red.

Sadly, for all this worthiness and style, the cheapness shines through. Although the lens cover is nice-looking brushed metal, the rest of the body is light and plasticky.

It doesn't take the best shots, either – soft and grainy, and the autofocus struggles even in good light. Flash shots are a bit hard and lifeless, too.

Low-light dark horse
Surprisingly, though, it performs quite well at high ISO – even at ISO 1600 the shots aren't totally hideous, but you'll want to convert them to black and white to make them at all useable.

A pair of circular D-pads mean any idiot can navigate the menus. Even us. The top one selects zoom in/out, playback mode and face detection, while the lower circle handles the usual menu navigation, macro, flash, self-time and anti-shake. All compacts should be this simple; maybe then the less camera-savvy of us can actually point and shoot, not point, shoot and swear.

For the money and the amount of sexiness on offer, it seems harsh to complain. But you might not feel that way when you see how disappointing your photos are.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:52 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:52 AM

Fujifilm Z5fd

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120673,fujifilm-z5fd.aspx

A stylish compact camera that can’t quite compete with the best on image quality, but does wonders when darkness falls

Pros Looks good for a Fuji. Great face detection performance. Loves low light.

Cons Uses xD cards. Not top of the class in terms of detail.
Over the years FujiFilm has made some damn odd-looking cameras. The Z5fd isn’t one of them. It’s actually a pretty sleek - even stylish - compact camera. True, it won’t turn heads, but you certainly won’t feel ashamed to whip it out of your pocket even in an achingly cool bar. In fact, the only real quirk is Fuji’s awkward insistence on sticking with the unpopular xD memory format.

It’s a tightly packed little number, with a horizontal front slider hiding a self-contained 3x optical zoom lens. Around the back a 2.5inch LCD sits comfortably alongside a smattering of controls, including the ever-useful Fuji ‘F’ button, which provides instant access to key settings.

Bring the light!
The Z5 is one of the best compacts we’ve come across if you want to lose the flash in low-light conditions. The only style snapper to really better it in this arena of late is Fujifilm’s much lardier F20.

But where this camera loses out to some of its rivals is in out-and-out image quality. We’re not megapixel obsessives, but the six on offer here will often struggle against true megapixel monsters when it comes to detail.

In terms of colour reproduction, though, the Z5 is capable of duking it out with the best of the rest. There’s a vibrancy that makes well-lit subjects leap out off the paper at you, and at normal images sizes there’s really no telling the resolution deficit.

Face up to itIf you regularly have trouble telling who’s who in your family snaps then this snapper’s marquee feature will be right up your street. The little ‘fd’ tag in the model name tells you that it sports the latest must-have camera feature: face detection. That means it’ll cleverly sense when you’re taking a snap of a person and automatically adjust its settings to ensure they come out crystal clear.

All this makes for a highly competent compact that can’t quite compete with stars like Sony’s Cybershot T100, but is well worth its more very reasonable price tag.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:53 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:53 AM

Fujifilm Z100fd

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120675,fujifilm-z100fd.aspx

Lovely to behold, a joy to hold – and even takes great photos

Pros Great features. Solid and stylish design. High-quality LCD screen. Some cracking pictures

Cons Slow beyond belief at times. Tricky to use
A camera’s features are always secondary to its actual performance – we know that as well as the next snapper obsessive. But sometimes a camera breaks new ground, and it’s worth having a look at exactly what it has that makes it so special.

In the case of FujiFilm’s Z100fd none of the features are in themselves enough to make you leap with excitement – 8MP resolution, face detection, image stabilizer, 2.7in LCD, we’ve seen these before.

But the fact that they are all encased within a super slim 19.8mm body along with a 5x optical zoom marks the Z100 out as one to watch.

The colours and the shape
There's something a little art deco about the Z100fd. A range of hues are available from the rather dour and business like battleship grey of our review sample to a slightly hideous pink. There’s also an odd sounding but actually rather attractive brown version out there.

Still, whatever the colour the build quality of the Z100 is impeccable. It feels solid and reassuringly weighty in your hand, and the combination lens cover/start button feels great as it clicks diagonally across the brushed face of the camera to get the party started.

The flash clothes are by no means there to hide a lack of substance. Within the pretty, 20mm-thin metal body is a 5x zoom, an optical image stabiliser and an 8MP sensor capable of better results than most compacts packing two or three megapixels.

Whatever issues you may have with FujiFilm’s Super CCDs and their resolution, this camera is capable of taking some excellent shots, full of rich and vibrant colours and packed with enough detail for blowing up large.

Fiddly menus
There are a couple of minor issues with the Z100fd. It's a little slow to get going, but not significantly more so than other compacts of this size. And some of the functions can be a little tricky to access thanks to the convoluted menu system.

But you'll quickly forget about these niggles. The LCD is hyper-crisp, and the card slot is versatile enough to take SD or xD cards. Combine this with the two-tone looks, delightful diagonally sliding lens cover and the great performance, and you have our new favourite compact snapper.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:54 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:54 AM

Nikon S50c

http://i.haymarket.net.au/utils/pca/ImageResizer.ashx?n=http%3a%2f%2fbackoffice.ajb.com.au%2fimages%2fDynamicImages%2fProduct%2fNikonS50c.jpg&w=218

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120688,nikon-s50c.aspx

Still a great looking camera that's foolproof to use, but Wi-Fi's now only half the feature it was

Pros Anti-Shake. Solid build. Looks great

Cons No direct camera to computer Wi-Fi transfers. Slow autofocus
Camera phones may be massing on the border, but for the last year Nikon's been busy reinforcing its compact camera ranks with some slick Wi-Fi models. It started with the lumpy P1, finally added some much needed style with the stunning S6, replaced it with the S7c – and has now come up with this, the equally sexy S50c.

Hewn from the same aluminium block as those S-series predecessors, its 7MP sensor, 3x zoom and 3in LCD is whipped straight from the S7c but it's now been shrunk down and fitted out with proper optical image stabilisation – or VR as Nikon calls it – and a high maximum ISO for taking snaps in low light without busting out the flash.

Wireless made easy
Nikon's worked hard at simplifying the Wi-Fi set up. For the first time it can be done in-camera, rather than having to transfer the settings from a PC.

It works great for sending snaps to Nikon's Flickr-esque Picture Bank site and for emailing them to mates but, for some bizarre reason, Nikon's taken away the most useful function – the ability to transfer shots direct to a PC or Wi-Fi printer without having to reach for a USB cable.

It's a serious omission, especially as your can't hook up to hotspots while out and about – when the email and upload features would be most useful. In the US Nikon's included settings for T-Mobile hotspots, but here it'll only work on home and office networks – places where you'll likely have your laptop to hand anyway.

Best shot forward
Thankfully Wi-Fi isn't this cam's only trick. Also on board is the Best Shot Selector (BSS) mode that takes a quick burst of ten shots and automatically keeps the least blurry. As a triple whammy, the entire blur-reducing arsenal – VR, BSS and high ISO – can be called upon with one press of the dedicated anti-shake button. Think of it as 'instant sober'.

The result is that the S50c performs much better in low-light without flash than its predecessors, although the results do vary. The darker things get, the higher the ISO is pushed.

Above 200 it starts to become noticeable. By the time it reaches its maximum 1600 ISO the shots are so bespeckled with noise that they're pretty much unusable and you'd be better off admitting defeat and turning the flash on. As a final resort there's the surprisingly effective D-lighting which edits shots after they’re taken to lighten any dark areas.

Sharp shooter
Overall image quality was good, if not outstanding. Colour was pleasingly accurate and the lens produced sharp results. The autofocus wasn't the best, taking longer than we'd like to get a fix, especially in macro mode where it often gave up, but it turned things around by strolling the face recognition test.

Not bad then, and still a head turner, but with the wireless features seriously restricted you may as well go for the cheaper S50, which packs all the same innards but without the Wi-Fi antenna.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:55 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:55 AM

Nikon S51c

http://i.haymarket.net.au/utils/pca/ImageResizer.ashx?n=http%3a%2f%2fbackoffice.ajb.com.au%2fimages%2fDynamicImages%2fProduct%2fNikonS51c.jpg&w=218

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120690,nikon-s51c.aspx

The S51c combines good looks, neat technology and quality images in one reasonably affordable package

Pros Impressive image quality. Good low-light shooting. Wi-Fi Connectivity. Solid feature count

Cons Faddy styling. Quite expensive
The S51c’s odd, wave-like design certainly makes it stand out from the IXUS box-with-a-lens crowd, but we’re not sure it’ll look as cool ten years down the line.

Still, its feature count is bang up to date, and the requisite eight megapixels of resolution will certainly go down well with number crunchers.

Top-notch LCD
Inside, the three times zoom NIKKOR lens is pretty much par for the course, while the three-inch LCD is slightly larger than most cameras in this class. But the good news is that Nikon hasn’t traded size for quality, because the screen is top notch, easily good enough for framing your pictures, but also sharp and clear enough to review the shots you have already taken.

The rotary menu system looks pretty enough, and makes good use of the large screen, but it’s a tad long winded compared to the competition. It runs smoothly enough, it’s just that if you want to access the shooting modes, for example, a second button press is needed.

Slow starter
Still, all the buttons respond quickly, and the whole system is very smooth. The options you can access are all pretty useful also, with niceties such as a quick access High ISO for shooting in low light easily accessible. The only other downer is that it takes a little but too long for the camera to start up; there’s a good chance you might miss the instant snap you are after.

The big news as far as badge collectors are concerned is the Wi-Fi option – the standard S51 doesn’t have wireless as standard. Here it provides instant uploads of your images to Nikon’s My Picturetown server, or allows you to email images directly to friends and family – which is great for passing on that instantly memorable shot.

Bags of detail
And as long as your skills are up to it, it should be a good-looking image, because this is a fine little camera for the price. Detail levels are high, but without too much in the way of digital noise through cramming so many pixels on such a small CCD, and in good light lines are sharp and well defined.

Shooting in lower light is a mixed blessing, with the flash lacking oomph, but the high ISO setting working well as long as you can out up with some graininess. Colour reproducing is also up there with the best compacts, which all goes to make this a very good snapper – especially if you want to impress your friends with instant images from wherever you are.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:56 AM

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:57 AM

Canon Digital Ixus I zoom

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/120657,canon-digital-ixus-i-zoom.aspx

The AF could do with being a bit quicker, and a longer zoom would be good, but it’s still a gem

Pros - Light and small - only 104g. Great design, great colours. Sixteen shooting modes.

Cons - Movie mode only 10fps. Functional 1.8in LCD. Not the fastest around.
Photographically, the Ixus iZoom is just a snapshot camera with a passable movie mode of 640x480 and 10fps. But it’s also a thing of beauty in its own right, coming in a seductive range of luscious colours - black, violet, gold or red.

No more fumbling in the dark
The Ixus iZoom is even smaller than it looks, so it’ll happily sit in your shirt pocket and, at a svelte 104g, won’t strain the lining.
Despite its size, it’s easy to use, with a low fumble-factor and easy navigation of the 16 shooting modes.

The camera has an average enough 5MP CCD, a functional 1.8inch 118,000 pixel LCD, and an optical zoom of only 2.4x – so no great shakes there – but the pix are nice enough and what you’re really paying for is, well, a work of art.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:58 AM

FIRST LOOK: Olympus Tough MJU 1030SW and Olympus MJU 1020

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/115751,first-look-olympus-tough-mju-1030sw-and-olympus-mju-1020.aspx

We get our hands on Olympus’s newest additions to the mju range, including one with a 7x optical zoom and one waterproof to 10 metres.

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Gallery/115756,first-look-olympus-tough-mju-1030sw-and-olympus-mju-1020.aspx/1

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:58 AM

The market for compact digital cameras is a busy place, and Olympus’s two new 10.1 megapixel models will have to work hard to make an impact. The Olympus Tough mju 1030SW is immediately striking – clad in tough-looking metal and weighing in at a hefty 173g before the battery is installed – it looks hardy.

It’s also waterproof up to 10 metres, and complies with the MIL-STD 810F standard for shockproofing – the same standards met by Panasonic’s incredibly durable range of ToughBook laptops.

Converted to 35mm format, its lens is the equivalent to 28-102mm, or 3.6x. It’s not terribly long, but 28mm is good for wide-angle shots such as landscapes or group photos.

tomatoman

22-10-2008, 10:58 AM

If you don’t need a camera that can stand up to some serious abuse, the Olympus mju 1020 weighs in at nearly $100 cheaper and nearly 40g lighter without a battery. It’s a sleek-looking model available in black or silver, but we’re not as keen on its wide-angle capabilities – converted to 35mm format, its lens is at its widest at 37mm. That said, it’s a 7x optical zoom, extending to a 35mm-equivalent of 260mm – great for getting shots of distant wildlife or people.

Both models have the same screen specifications – a 2.7in LCD with 230,000 pixels. Both screens are bright and reproduce colours well, although when panning the action tended to get blurry – these may not be the cameras you need for sporting events.
Side by side:Olympus Tough mju 1030SW (bottom) and Olympus mju 1020

The menu systems are also identical – relatively straightforward if rather unattractive compared to the best efforts of Canon’s Ixus or Nikon’s Coolpix range.

Image quality for both cameras was good; colours are reproduced faithfully and we had to look hard for the kind of JPEG mottling that often distinguishes compact digital cameras.

Performance was impressive for the glossy mju 1020 at around 3fps in continuous shooting mode, with the Tough 1030SW providing an almost identical score. The only problem we had with the mju 1020 was its zoom performance – it took two full seconds for it to go from wide-angle to full zoom, and it’s a rather noisy affair with the lens wheezing its way to full zoom. The Tough 1030W, on the other hand, while not providing any great leaps in zoom performance, was significantly more refined.

tomatoman

23-10-2008, 11:20 PM

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/113778,canon-digital-ixus-80-is-vs-nikon-coolpix-s520.aspx

Canon Digital Ixus 80 IS vs Nikon Coolpix S520

http://i.haymarket.net.au/utils/pca/ImageResizer.ashx?n=http%3a%2f%2fbackoffice.ajb.com.au%2fimages%2fDynamicImages%2fProduct%2fCanonIXUS80IS.jpg&w=218

Two of the best small compacts on the market. Quality differences are on a knife edge, but the Canon wins for superior features and handling.

Both Canon and Nikon have launched new high-end, similar-sized, similarly-priced, compact, eight-megapixel digital cameras which offer similar headline features at identical prices. At the last refresh, face recognition was added to both lines. This time image stabilisation has been introduced. So which to buy?

Features
Anyone who’s used an Ixus will be familiar with the 80 IS’ arsenal. This includes the excellent panorama utility which aids stiching together photos to make single panoramic shots. However, Nikon matches this and even surpasses it by allowing you to pan up or down in addition to left and right.

But, Nikon can’t match Canon’s Colour Accent and Colour Swap features which, in both stills and video, allow you to choose one colour to remain vivid while everything else is left black and white (a la Schindler’s List) or to swap two colours over. It might seem gimmicky, but it’s great fun.

Both have a full complement of pre-set exposures for the likes of beach, snow, underwater and night modes. Macro, exposure compensation, timer and flash options (like slow-shutter and red-eye reduction) are also close at hand. Both offer DPOF printing options and audio/video out via composite and RCA connectors.

Both also sport face detection modes to ensure ‘people pics’ are focussed and exposed properly and lens shift-based image stabilisation which keeps images sharp at about a stop lower than normal. However, Canon’s is superior as you can make it active only when shooting and you can optimise it for panning. The latter only adds vertical stabilisation so you can still pan left or right when shooting.

Canon also offers focus checking features like AF-Point Zoom which enlarges the area of focus so you can to check for sharpness before shooting. Also, Focus Check lets you see quickly view this area once the image is captured. Canon also offers a true focus lock, exposure lock and even flash exposure lock. Nikon simply locks focus when the shutter is half depressed, but the Canon does this too.

Both offer extensive playback features for checking and cropping photographs. Nikon’s D-Lighting feature can help fix poorly-exposed photos by copying and enhancing them, but again Canon offers more options to check focus, levels and even edit video.

But Nikon’s time-lapse feature is superior. Canon’s allows photos to be taken 1 or 2 seconds apart for up to 2hrs before stitching them into a movie. But the Nikon can take pictures up to an hour apart hour for 1800 shots. These can form a time-lapse movie or full-sized, time interval-separated stills.
Neither sports full manual control, but there’s no call for it with cameras this size.

Handling and ergonomics
Few will disagree that the Canon is a prettier camera and not just because it’s available in pretty colours. However, the Nikon looks more masculine. The Canon is faster to start and more responsive when mode-changing and scrolling through pictures, though. Conversely, we found the Nikon’s reciprocal little delays slightly frustrating.

From behind, the control panels look similar, but Canon’s mode switch and superior menus make it easier to navigate. Most of Nikon’s advanced menus are accessed via a single ‘star’ button and we frequently got lost and struggled to get back to picture-taking mode.

Enjoy Reading!

tomatoman

23-10-2008, 11:21 PM

http://www.pcauthority.com.au/Review/79229,canon-powershot-tx1.aspx

Canon Powershot TX1

It’s the stills camera that thinks it’s a video camera. A high definition video camera.

http://i.haymarket.net.au/utils/pca/ImageResizer.ashx?n=http%3a%2f%2fbackoffice.ajb.com.au%2fimages%2fDynamicImages%2fProduct%2fcanonpowershottx1.jpg&w=218

tomatoman

23-10-2008, 11:21 PM

The TX-1 is one of the few legitimately striking stills cameras we’ve seen in quite a while. Its form factor aside, the TX1’s claim to fame is its ability to capture 720p HD video.

Even though it bears the Powershot name, the TX-1’s closest relatives are from the Ixus family. This makes it more of a point and shoot camera than a true Powershot camera; which are rightly acknowledged as ‘The Portable Cameras For Real Men’.

For controlling most of the image settings, you have a green backlit power button and rotary mode dial control. These suit the TX1’s point and shoot style. There are more image settings available from the intuitive and sparse menu, which is controlled by a 5 way rocker switch positioned above the zoom rocker. Not only does it navigate the menu, it also provides quick access to the more crucial image settings such as ISO speed and flash modes.

In spite of the flash’s close proximity to the lens, very few of our photos were cursed with red eyes. Subjects wearing glasses at a distance of three to four metres away from the camera were more prone to red eyes than those without, but we were nonetheless impressed with both the red eye reduction and the autofocus settings.

It’s a beautiful machine to use. It’s weightier than it should be; which makes it feel solid and sturdy like a Bang and Olufsen remote control. Unlike a light camera, this weight keeps your hand steady; and the result is less movement in dark scenes. Even something as simple as reviewing photos on the 1.8” fold out LCD is a pleasure; as a fast and subtle fade blends pictures together as you flick through them. But enough of still images; let’s look at the video.

The TX-1 encodes footage with the MJPEG codec, which as the name implies is a video composed of a series of JPEG images. This means that there are no motion artefacts and the camera doesn’t chew through its battery when recording. However, a huge storage requirement balances out these plus on the other side of the scale.

In 1280 x 720 resolution (also known as 720p, which is technically a form of HD) the TX1 will burn through 2GB of memory every 7 minutes. You can drop the resolution to either 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 to gain some recording time, and each mode does come with a long-play option that will roughly double the recording time of the selected mode at the expense of bit depth. Either way, it makes video a little impractical unless you have storage to burn.

Although MJPEG has been used by many still cameras before, until new generation SDHC memory cards (which the TX1 supports) of 8 GB and above become available, this is not an alternative to a dedicated video camera. Even if you do have the right storage requirements, there is still a lot of digital noise viewable in darker scenes where it seems that gain has been added to the image. The microphones in the back of the viewfinder do an admirable job, but in spite of the undeniably impressive high resolution video, it still feels like watching a stills camera on video duty, albeit one that is doing a great job of it.

In this regard, the TX1 is a highly polished point and shoot stills camera with remarkable video capabilities requirements and a design that will turn heads. It may not offer as much control over the still images as a more advanced Powershot, but it’s not supposed to. We love it for its construction, good image quality and brute force approach to video, which will become less of an issue as SDHC memory capacity inevitably increases.

Even though we do love it, it does suffer from first generation syndrome; it’s about $100 too expensive, and comes bundled with a laughably inadequate 32MB SD card. However with so many other points in its favour, the discerning gadgeteer won’t care about these minor shortcomings.

tomatoman

23-10-2008, 11:22 PM

Canon Digital Ixus 960 IS

A superbly easy-to-use and feature-laden compact camera that’s well worth the price.

It doesn’t look much different to its illustrious predecessor, but the gorgeous 960 IS, which replaces our former A-List favourite the Ixus 900 is an improvement. It’s just as gorgeous, is clad in the same, super-tough titanium shell and has image stabilisation among its armoury of features, allowing you to take handheld shots in far lower light than you’d normally be able to manage.

The playback controls for both stills and video are intuitive and easy to use. Video is superb, giving 30fps at 640 x 480 (with audio). The 960 IS has an enormous 12.1 megapixels, which is pointless but reassuring. You can choose 8-megapixel capture instead, which will still let you enlarge up to A3 prints before you start seeing any pixellation.

Absolute quality isn’t perfect – the camera applies a fair bit of noise reduction, which manifests itself as slight smearing of very fine detail – but you’ll only notice that at 100% magnification or with your nose half an
inch from an A4 print.

More serious photographers won’t be too frustrated by the 960’s feature set, though. As well as the very capable image stabilisation – allowing at least two stops of leeway when it comes to low-light shots without the flash – it offers three metering modes, including spot metering. Image review options include a histogram breakdown and highlight-clip warnings (over-exposed areas of the image flash in the preview). Manual mode is a little limited, though, with no way of setting shutter speed apart from +/-2EV exposure compensation, and no manual aperture control at all.

The maximum wide-angle setting of 35mm-equivalent is average, but it would be nice to see a move to 28mm on higher-end models like this. Maximum zoom is 133mm equivalent for a total of 3.7x.

For the money, you’d expect the 960 IS to offer a lot and it doesn’t disappoint. Cheaper cameras are rapidly catching up in terms of features, but as a point-and-shoot carry-anywhere model the 960 has almost no vices. It may be a touch heavy and it isn’t the slimmest around, but it’s absolutely stuffed with features and has the quality to back it up.

Enjoy Reading!

rotiboyz

28-10-2008, 07:29 AM

http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/nikon-p80-front.jpg

http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/nikon-p80-back.jpg

Latest - Review and Sample Photos by NeoCamera (added 27 October’08)

Nikon Coolpix P80 is a 10.1 megapixel ultra zoom digital camera that features, 18x optical zoom, 2.7 inch LCD, optical image stabilization, and a high ISO of 6400.

NeoCamera
“The most serious limitation is destructive image noise reduction performed by the camera which both destroys image details and causes colors to shift from ISO 400 onward.”

http://www.neocamera.com/review_nikon_p80_more.html

tomatoman

31-10-2008, 07:09 AM

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28

http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/fz28fr.jpg

tomatoman

31-10-2008, 07:09 AM

Latest - Photo Quality Samples by Lets Go Digital (added 30 October’08)

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 is a 10.1 megapixel DSLR digital camera and it features an 18x optical zoom 27mm wide-angle LEICA lens - (35mm Equiv.: 27-486mm), 2.7 inch LCD, and an ISO range from 100 to 1600. Camera dimensions are (H x W x D) 2.96” x 4.63” x 3.5” and it weighs .82 lbs.

Reviewers Conclusions & Verdicts - (updated 30 October’08)

Digital Camera Review
“Overall, the FZ28 sets a very high bar for the next generation of ultrazooms: it’s rare that a camera has this much to offer to shooters of widely varying skill levels, and at the end of the day, this versatility will likely make the FZ28 one of the new models to beat in its class.”

tomatoman

31-10-2008, 07:10 AM

http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=3744&review=panasonic+lumix+fz28

CONCLUSIONS
In many ways, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 is like a perfectly broken-in baseball glove: most users will find that the camera's functions, features, and form conform perfectly to just about any shooting situation, making it easy to trust the Lumix to haul in great images time after time. Solid performance all around – including some noteworthy improvements to the very good FZ18 platform – make this one of the most balanced ultrazooms we've had the pleasure of shooting with this year. There's enough here to keep serious shooters occupied, but with Panasonic's excellent Intelligent technologies reprised for this model, novice users should be able to quickly intuit their way into consistently good shots as well.

In general, you have to dig fairly deep to find concerns with the FZ28. Some AF weirdness may give potential buyers pause, and the camera could still offer cleaner low-ISO settings and additional high-ISO ones. White balance is rarely spot on – quite possibly the FZ28's most serious concern – and I wish Panasonic would get screen white-out and banding issues sorted. Little of this, however, tends to get in the way of taking just about any kind of shot you can envision.

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:14 PM

Latest Canon E50D Review!

http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/camera/review/178/page_1.html

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:16 PM

http://www.letsgodigital.org/images/producten/1801/testrapport/fujifilm-finepix-s100fs-review.jpg

Latest FujiFilm FinePix S100fs Review!

http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/fujifilm_finepix_s100fs/review.html

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:16 PM

FujiFilm FinePix S100fs Conclusion

Fujifilm FinePix S100fs digital megazoom camera
The market for the so-called bridge cameras is very much under pressure due to the DSLR cameras becoming cheaper and cheaper. And yet the bridge cameras are obviously in favour, especially when they have a huge zoom range. It's quite clear that a camera offering an all-round zoom range puts less weight and costs on you than a similar DSLR camera. Fujifilm have broad experience and has been active for years in this segment. Bringing out the FinePix S100fs, Fujifilm start attacking the cheaper reflex camera and have their own alternative to the entry-level reflex cameras of the competition.

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:16 PM

Fujifilm S100fs works as a true SLR camera

If you take a look at the Fujifilm FinePix S100fs, I can imagine you questioning yourself why on earth you would also want to purchase a cheaper DSLR camera. The Fujifilm S100fs offers simply everything an entry-level reflex camera offers. And additionally, a huge zoom range, more than you'd find in a standard digital SLR kit. On top of that, all photographic functions such as exposure programs, the possibility to shoot in RAW and an enhanced accessory program are available. Moreover, the Fujifilm FinePix S100fs has a beautiful build. I can not emphasize this enough; the camera feels and works just like a real SLR.

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:16 PM

FinePix S100fs offers a Fujinon lens
One of the great advantages of the Fujifilm S100fs is of course the range of the high quality Fujinon lens. With focal lengths from 28mm up to and including 400mm, there is not a lot that you cannot capture. And, finally, Fujifilm have decided to combine this with physical image stabilization that truly works well. The lens is of superb quality, except for the chromatic aberration, that is disappointing. The sharpness is impressive for the entire range making it one of the best lenses I have seen on a compact camera. The zoom ring allows you to zoom in quite precisely. All it needs is for the focus ring to offer more resistance and grow bigger, that will make manual focus a lot easier and it will make the Fujifilm FinePix S100fs feel like a real reflex camera.

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:17 PM

Fujifilm FinePix S100fs image sensor and processor
Characteristic for Fujifilm is the Super CCD image sensor. This kind of sensor has proven its value more than once and does so again in the FinePix S100fs. Certainly in combination with the RP III image processor. Noise is visible however; details are kept. I find that Fujifilm have managed a nice balance between sharpness, detail and noise, considering these three are not exactly friends. The dynamic range is also beautiful. It is already huge standard, yet you can still enhance it even though this is at the cost of some flexibility.

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:17 PM

Many functions are dependent of other functions

And that brings me to a weak point of the Fujifilm S100fs. Many functions relate to each other, although it is not always clear as to how they are related. Even reading the manual frequently and thoroughly doesn't always make it clear. If you increase the dynamic range, the ISO range becomes limited. The same goes for certain film modes, which require an enhanced dynamic range. Many settings allow you to use bracketing but not in RAW mode. The highest sensitivities require the lowest resolution. And although the camera offers many functions, these are unfortunately not really comprehensible.

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:21 PM

Menu structure of the Fujifilm S100fs megazoom camera

This also applies to the menu. The famous F-button has disappeared and that is why most settings are now accessible through the menu. This is a pity, more so because I am still not convinced of the menu structure Fujifilm offers. Who would possibly think of placing the RAW option somewhere far away hidden in the menu instead of where you would look for it under image quality? I truly hope that Fujifilm will reconsider the menu structure and change it adequately. The many similar competing models are proof of how it can be done successfully.

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:21 PM

Fujifilm FinePix S100fs is an allround camera

These are the kind of characteristics that withhold me from being enthusiastic about working with the Fujifilm FinePix S100fs. It is a nice camera, no doubt about that, with nice and useful functions like the excellent face detection. You don't get dust on the sensor, one of the main annoyances with DSLR cameras. And even though you don’t get the same depth of image reproduction as an SLR offers, the S100fs is still excellent to use for enlargements and print jobs. Still, the camera has a tad too many issues that I can't or won't get used to. It is a typical case of a camera that performs excellently when tested extensively in a lab but doesn't live up to that expectation in practice. But then again, not everybody might look upon this as a big problem. What's left then, is a fine full Megazoom camera with an all-round lens of high quality.

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:22 PM

FujiFilm FinePix S100fs Flash Memory

Fujifilm FinePix S100fs resolution

The choice for resolution and quality is rather limited. There are some six resolutions available, which is fine, however, it is only in the highest JPEG that you're able to choose from a high and low compression. And that is rather scanty. Besides JPEG you can also shoot in RAW, although it seems that Fujifilm do not want you to, since the option is hidden in a faraway spot somewhere in the menu. Fujifilm deliver a RAW convertor, unfortunately it doesn't work too well. However, better this than nothing at all. Thankfully you can also work in Adobe Camera RAW with the files of the Fujifilm FinePix S100fs.

tomatoman

03-11-2008, 11:22 PM

Frames per second in RAW and JPEG
A RAW file is fairly large with its file size of 23MB. This is a disadvantage that comes with the Super CCD sensor. The JPEGs are considerably smaller and this is noticeable in the buffer. At full resolution the Fujifilm S100fs reaches 3 frames per second. Maybe not too impressive but for a camera like this it is sufficient. You can shoot 3 RAW pictures sequentially whilst in JPEG you can carry on. Certainly thanks to the files being written onto the card quickly, and RAW hardly slows down. If you need more speed, you have to use the 3 Megapixel resolution. You will then reach 7 frames per second and it allows for storing 50. All in all a decent result.

1GB memory card recommended
If you prefer working in RAW format, you'll have to invest in memory cards. Just as well prices are still dropping. In the table below you will find the amount of pictures you can take with a 1GB memory card, which to me feels like the minimum capacity you should be taking along.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:29 AM

Latest - Review and Sample Photos by Shutterbug (added 06 November’08)

Nikon D700 is a 12.1 megapixel full frame DSLR digital camera and it features a 3 inch LCD, image cleaning system, and a 51 point auto focus with 3D focus tracking. The camera dimensions are Width 5.8 in. (147mm) Height 4.8 in. (123mm) Depth 3.0 in. (77mm) and it weighs 35 oz. (995g).

http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/d700fr.jpg

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:29 AM

Reviewers Conclusions & Verdicts - (updated 06 November’08)

Shutterbug
“I believe it is for those who regularly work in low or marginal light and want to get the best quality available to date; who do not want any hint of noise in a clear blue sky; who enjoy or might need to shoot in previously astronomical ISOs (such as surveillance work).”

http://www.shutterbug.net/equipmentreviews/proquality_digital_slrs/1108nikon/

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:30 AM

Nikon’s D700 D-SLR; The Full-Frame March Continues
By George Schaub • November, 2008

The Nikon D700 is the latest in what is clearly a continuing trend in so-called “full-frame” D-SLRs. Unless a radical departure from the classic 35mm form factor takes place, this class of camera cannot accommodate a larger sensor, at least in terms of area. The D700 does offer an (effective) 12.1-megapixel resolution, modest in terms of some of the competition, but also priced to reflect it, at $2999, body only.

For comparison, Nikon’s D300, a DX format (APS-C), delivers 12.3 megapixels while their D3 full frame offers 12.1. On the Canon side, the venerable 5D (full frame) offers 12.8 megapixels, while the Rebel XSi offers 12.2. Nikon says the D3 sells for about $5000, though street prices are less, and perhaps will become a bit more so when the D700 is fully in the pipeline.

There are numerous benefits offered by the camera, and some drawbacks, but first a bit of a digression into some digital history and past image quality. Recently I have been reviewing lots of images made over the past 10 years using digital devices, and the one thing I can assure you is that image quality has improved substantially, thanks in large part to more sophisticated image processors. Yes, resolution has increased, and that’s certainly a help, but early to mid-stage digital images show, on close inspection, a disturbing amount of noise. While this varies a bit camera to camera, with no brand sinless, one of the chief culprits seems to be lack of efficiency of the pixels in terms of light gathering, something that becomes painfully clear at any ISO above the “native” sensitivity. Of course, this is a relative observation, as what we saw at the time passed muster; however, in comparison to what we have today the images seem almost useless, like the first wave of ISO 1000 color negative film.

While the “native” speed of the sensor is 200, you can also drop it to ISO 100 (-1 EV setting) to help diminish sensitivity for shots like this when you want a slower shutter speed outdoors. Even though shot in the shade and at minimum aperture, I wanted to get a 1⁄8 sec shutter speed rather than 1⁄15 sec for this effect. That’s when being able to drop to EI 100 helped.
All Photos © 2008, George Schaub, All Rights Reserved

One of the wonderful things about the D700 is the extent of features still available even when you use “older” manual focus lenses, of which I still have a good collection. Once you “register” the lens you have exposure automation and access to Color Matrix metering in spot and center-weighted patterns and more (see text) and besides, it’s fun to change apertures by manually clicking the lens stops again. These shots along the Chama River in New Mexico were made with a 20mm f/3.5 (top right) and 55mm Micro-Nikkor with polarizer.

The question is—will images made recently using APS-C sensors in our D-SLRs give us the same vivid impression of quality difference when compared to full-frame sensor results, all else being equal? (Of course, in digital “all else being equal” is near impossible to achieve. Not that there aren’t standards one can measure against, but the variables are probably more than you or I want to include in the comparisons.) My answer to the above is that it is unlikely, although when you are really critical about it the full-frame images are better at low-light imaging, especially when you raise ISO. Does this mean there is a line in the sand between APS-C and full-frame sensor D-SLRs? As prices on the full-frame models come down this will become a debate that until recently has been forestalled due to budgetary considerations.

The promise of FX, or full-frame sensors, is greater light-gathering efficiency, which translates to less noise in dimmer lighting conditions. One test I like to use to check noise is with a continuous tonal area such as sky (above). I shot at both ISO 800 (above, right) and 6400 (right), then did the takeouts to see how the noise level fared. At ISO 800 noise is minimal and very good for this speed. The Nikon base speed is ISO 200, and with the EXPEED processor this sensor/processor combo is very impressive. Even at ISO 6400, which kicks in the NR overdrive, noise is pretty good, again a very impressive accomplishment.

D700 Handling And Layout
At first glance the D700 will be very familiar to anyone who has worked with a Nikon D-SLR in this class. However, Nikon supplied a 444-page instruction book with the camera (subtract a number of pages for strap attachment instructions, cautionary notes about using the charger during a thunderstorm, etc.) hinting at much more beneath the hood of this cool-looking, efficiently laid out, and solidly built camera. The feel and handling are of a pro model.

The D700 takes CF (CompactFlash) cards, another argument against the predicted demise of this format in favor of the diminutive SD(HC) cards used by an increasing number of amateur-level cameras. There is only a single slot, not the double slot found in some “pro” models. Images can be formatted in various JPEG levels and compression ratios, TIFF (!), and raw (NEF) or raw + JPEG recording. Base ISO remains at 200, although oddly you can get to ISO 100 with a -1 EV setting. I must say that the return of TIFF is surprising and I am somewhat dumbfounded by it. I’d also like to put in my two cents for allowing custom input of resolution numbers that would automatically retain the aspect ratio.
One thing I did notice is that shots at ISO 6400 are certainly less colorful, which makes sense, but are also more sensitive to any changes you make in processing. That can be fun or bothersome, depending on what you have in mind for the image. This shot, made in a canyon way after sunset, was subject to just a bit of extra saturation in Photoshop CS3. The red/orange areas started jumping after a slight plus saturation setting, and the blue shadow areas became quite strong. Fauvists, take note.

The three NEF options are “lossless compressed” (the default), compressed, and uncompressed. Lossless compressed, Nikon claims, has no effect on image quality vs. uncompressed, but writes a bit faster and takes up between 20-40 percent less space on the memory card depending on file info. I saw no differences between the two when I opened them on the monitor later. Compressed saves you 50 percent of the space on a card, but why you would shoot a compressed NEF file escapes me, much like my reaction to the “small” raw Canon now offers. I open the pages of this magazine to the manufacturers for the justification for this compressed raw format. The D700 also allows you to shoot 12- or 14-bit NEF, and I say go for the gold with 14 bit.

File sizes in FX and DX format correspond to the image area—about 36MB in FX and about 24MB in DX. The FX format is more than enough for full-frame 18” prints and will allow you to go considerably higher given the proper use of a resampling step. The DX format can get you a nice 13x19” print, but that’s about the limit, although image quality on both is superb.
Exploring some of the back canyons along the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico I came across a cave that was on the shadow side of a niche. I could have raised the ISO but decided to try out the supplied, and new, SB-900 Speedlight auxiliary flash. I set the camera on Program at ISO 200, center-weighted metering, single AF, -1 EV exposure compensation, and -1.5 EV flash exposure compensation with aperture set at f/8. The flash brought out every nuance of color and line in the deeply shadowed cave wall, something I would not have been able to attain with an ambient light exposure.

One of the strong suits of this and many other Nikon models is compatibility with past lenses, but here, happily, Nikon has taken it even beyond previous setups. There is even compensation for those who might have gone out and bought Nikon DX lenses, thinking Nikon would not venture into full-frame territory. The Auto DX crop function reduces the recording area by little more than half to 5.1 megapixels, or just enough to cover the image circle cast by the smaller lenses. The actual size of the crop goes from the full (approx.) 24x36mm down to 16x24mm, with the angle of view change reflected in the viewfinder and a subsequent lowering of resolution. But I was heartened to learn that I could use my old AI and even non-AI lenses in both Manual and Aperture-Priority Exposure modes.
Frankly, I’m thrilled that I can now use my “old” AI lenses on this camera with the benefit of autoexposure. For those of you who haven’t panicked and sold all those older lenses on eBay for giveaway prices your payoff day has arrived. Now’s the time, by the way, to start looking for bargains in this area while you can. Unlike other makers, Nikon has stuck to their compatibility guns, and I salute them for it. Yes, there is debate over whether these lenses will deliver the quality needed for digital capture, but from what I have been seeing it’s half processing and half optics that tell the tale these days. To mount and use these lenses to best advantage, by the way, the “non-CPU lens data” menu should be used, not a big thing.

Photographed inside the Spotted Bear, a wonderful women’s clothing store that’s a must visit when in Taos, New Mexico, no flash was used in this ISO 2500 shot. Even when enlarged virtually no noise is present. This is where the full-frame sensor really pays dividends. I would never hesitate to use this speed in ambient light. No Levels or other processing was used; this is straight out of the camera.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:31 AM

Nikon’s D700 D-SLR; The Full-Frame March Continues:
Page 2

The D700 has two so-called “Live View” modes, though what I see through the viewfinder seems just as live, and eminently more viewable in daylight, to me. I have to confess that I am still perplexed about the need for this in any D-SLR, though the D700’s bright and crisp 3” monitor makes it a pleasant enough experience. You can work with the Handheld or Tripod mode, each having their foibles and tricks. If you are a fan you can engage Live View via the Function button if you program it thusly, which makes going in and out of the mode handy. I guess anything’s better than those EVF finders from years back.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:31 AM

One of the chief advantages of a full-frame sensor is quality in low light; the theory goes that the larger pixel sites have more light-gathering efficiency, with concomitant lowering of noise at all speed levels in all sorts of lighting conditions. This means that images at ISO 400-1600, which approached the danger zone in the past, are now comparatively less noisy, while the hubris of ISO 25,600 is settable. I can’t imagine what you might need that for, but if you have any images shot at above ISO 8000 I’d love to see them in our High ISO gallery on our website. This is a big step, I think, and it feels very much like the day when ISO 400 color film started looking like the old ISO 100.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:32 AM

Now that photographers have gone over the deep end for HDR the D700 will please even the most avid fan, with a nine-step bracketing sequence capability. For most folks 1 EV steps will do it, but for full nuanced control you can make these in 1⁄3 EV steps. The nice thing is that you don’t have to halt everything to set it up—do it once, then make the Function button the key to unlock the procedure.

Nikon’s near-obsession with color control continues in the D700, with eight artificial light categories, including five for specific fluorescent lights. The research for the photographer is in discovering the type of light in the fixture, not the temperature it emits, as the differences between Day White and Cool White FL escape me. You can nudge color temperature and color as desired on the blue/yellow, magenta/green axis. Custom white balance is easily done via the snap and measure method, but you can also “lift” the color temperature setting from an image already on your card, whether from the same day’s shoot or from a past shoot you’ve stored and labeled and inserted when needed.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:33 AM

There are numerous Picture Control settings that, while fun, are perhaps left to later image processing. The range of options is repeatable via Nikon’s (still) optional Capture NX 2 or your picture editor of choice. The Picture Control Grid shows off the contrast and saturation of your selection in relation to other possible settings and does help put matters into context. You can, if desired, modify the presets and name them in a “Manage Picture Control” memory bank. You can also build your own “emulsions” if you will in Capture NX 2 and the supplied View NX and then load them onto a memory card, which you then load into the camera. (I’ll send a free copy of our current Expert Photo Techniques issue to the first reader who can tell me the camera model and brand name of cards that were used to preset Program Exposure modes on a 35mm camera.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:34 AM

There is a built-in flash, which has become less of a mark of a strictly amateur camera when you consider that it can play a role in wireless flash setups. The built-in has a GN of 56, keeping in mind that this is an ISO 200 not 100 standard.

Noise reduction is still an important part of image quality generated by this camera, and the EXPEED processor does its part in making the most of the larger pixel sizes. In the D700 high ISO NR (Noise Reduction) is performed on all images taken at above ISO 2000. This is a statement about the sensor as many current D-SLRs make the trigger point for high ISO NR at ISO 400.

The microprocessor offers high, moderate, or low settings, which I think should be used for increasingly lower-light situations and after judging how much smoothing the image can tolerate—in other words, a pretty big judgment call. You can turn off high ISO NR so noise reduction will only be performed at speeds of HI 0.3 and above, in the stratospheric ISO 8000 range and above.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:35 AM

While I am sure that the SB-900 Speedlight is a very versatile studio and interior flash, especially when used as a second flash or off-camera flash with the built-in flash on the D700 as control, I used it mostly outdoors to work foreground/background-light/dark relationships. I used the flash at -1 EV and the ambient exposure at -2 EV for many of these exposures. I also used the rotating head to light the foreground corners when using the wide angle (24mm) setting.

Camera Customization
Part of the attraction of a camera in this class is the degree to which you can customize it to the way you work. The Function button leads the way in this as you can set it up to evoke any of a number of operations, such as exposure bracketing, Live View operation, choice of non-CPU lens number, etc. You can also: set up exposure compensation on a Command dial as opposed to always having to press the +/- button and hold; save power through meter on and replay image on display timing; call up a grid in the finder; and make the built-in flash perform like a Commander to other wireless flash units. On the last item you can also eliminate the built-in burst via an optional SG-3IR infrared panel. And, one of the most amusing of things you can do is evoke a “virtual horizon” which yields a kind of compass/bubble level in the monitor which reacts to tripod adjustments, great for panoramic shots. And so as to not leave one button unmultifunctioned, you can also make the Depth Of Field (DOF) preview button do numerous tricks as well when it’s not performing its DOF preview functions.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:36 AM

One thing an advanced camera like the D700 offers is the ability to work AF and AE Lock separately, something many lesser mortals do not allow or have you go through numerous gymnastics to accomplish. By assigning the AE-L/AF-L button on the back of the camera to “Auto Exposure Lock and Hold” you can meter the part of the scene most important to your exposure, then press the AE-L button once to “lock and hold” the exposure, then recompose, then autofocus as normal and shoot.

You can also use other methods of AF Lock if you need to, including using the AF-On button for AF activation. You can then let go of the button once AF is achieved and by default it locks in place. With both AF and AE locked this way, you are free to shoot without having to reset either. Or you can assign either the FUNC button or DOF preview button for this operation.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:37 AM

Say there’s a fairly strong backlight I want to bring close to middle gray, and want to autofocus on a fairly dark object in the near foreground. Being able to separate the functions I can lock exposure on the hot background area, then recompose and focus on the foreground subject. With the D700 this is easily solved by the ability to disengage the two functions.

As I was writing this report Adobe released Camera Raw 4.5, which handles the NEF files from the D700. Playing with NEF files, either in Camera Raw or with Nikon’s optional Capture NX 2, gave me the feeling that I was dealing with a very rich and information-filled image file. This image was manipulated in Camera Raw 4.5 to enhance contrast and color.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:38 AM

Using Legacy Glass
One of the real attractions for Nikon fans and those who still retain their old glass (or who snagged up bargains from those jumping film’s ship) is the ability to use legacy glass with the D700 to an extent that may surprise you. The route is using the “non-CPU data menu,” where you first assign the lens in question a number, then input the focal length and maximum aperture. The one flaw, if you will, is that with zooms you have to assign an identity with each focal length you might use, which for me eliminates their consideration and makes this chiefly a fixed focal length lens convenience. If you use a tele-converter the max aperture setting becomes the “combined” aperture, or simply adding the stop loss to the prime’s max aperture. What does this get you?

• Auto power zoom with modern Speedlights
• Aperture value displayed in the finder
• Aperture on your EXIF data (OK, no big deal, but there it is)
• Color Matrix metering (though center-weighted averaging might be the only pattern you can use with some lenses)
• Manual and Aperture-Priority Exposure modes
• And, according to Nikon, general overall improvement in metering accuracy

The fun comes when you actually change aperture by click stops on the lens.

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:38 AM

Conclusion

The D700 raises some interesting questions about the future of the D-SLR class. Just how many megapxiels do you need to achieve very good image quality at a large print size? And does 12.1 (effective) megapixels in a full-frame sensor stand up against similar or even larger resolution in smaller sensors, and does the larger sensor justify the price?

tomatoman

07-11-2008, 08:39 AM

Conclusion

I guess the answer depends on what you have in mind for the camera. For those with modest aspirations and budget there’s no doubt that the 10-12-megapixel APS-C sensor cameras do the trick. Indeed, they deliver excellent image quality that far exceeds D-SLRs of the past. So, when might the D700 come into play? I believe it is for those who regularly work in low or marginal light and want to get the best quality available to date; who do not want any hint of noise in a clear blue sky; who enjoy or might need to shoot in previously astronomical ISOs (such as surveillance work); who might need an 8 frames-per-second framing rate; who want maximum functionality out of their “old” Nikon glass; who want a super wide to behave like a super wide and have a tele not go through the focal length roof; and who want image quality that rivals medium format film. I guess that about sums it up.

tomatoman

08-11-2008, 06:16 AM

Latest - Review and Sample Photos by ePhotozine (added 07 November’08)

Nikon Coolpix S520 is an 8.1 megapixel point-and-shoot digital camera that features a 3x optical zoom, optical image stabilization, 2.5 inch LCD, and an ISO range up to 2000.

http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/s520fr.jpg

tomatoman

08-11-2008, 06:16 AM

Read More Reviews - (updated 07 November’08)

ePhotozine
“he camera performed well in many areas and I like the colours it produces. Against that, it struggled with my scenic shots and there was a noticeable delay in taking a picture.”

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Nikon-Coolpix-S520

tomatoman

08-11-2008, 06:18 AM

Nikon Coolpix S520 Digital Camera

Review

· 6 Nov 2008

Nikon Coolpix S520 Review - The Nikon Coolpix S520 is an 8 megapixel digital camera that can slip into a pocket. It has a 3x optical zoom lens plus features such as image stabilisation and automatic red eye fix.
Why Buy the Nikon Coolpix S520?

When compared with other small, snapshot cameras the Coolpix S520 is reasonably priced. One of its main strengths is the fact it is easy to use.

Image Quality

http://www.ephotozine.com/images/news/normal/nikon-coolpix-s520-outdoors-1-large.jpg
http://www.ephotozine.com/images/news/normal/nikon-coolpix-s520-outdoors-2-large.jpg
Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
When I have tested Nikon digital cameras in the past it has often struck me how bright the pictures are. This is normally a big plus point. With this photo, the Coolpix S520 has gone way over the top. It has really struggled with the lighter areas of the photo. This has wiped out a lot of detail on the boats. It has also affected the colours with some blue lines taking on a green tinge.
Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
Now this photo is a real contrast to the first photo and the darker areas of the photo lose detail. This is especially true on the left hand side of the shot. This makes me doubt the camera's ability to shoot scenes with plenty of contrast and also this digital camera's ability to adjust for different lighting conditions.

http://www.ephotozine.com/images/news/normal/nikon-coolpix-s520-outdoors-3-large.jpg
http://www.ephotozine.com/images/news/normal/nikon-coolpix-s520-building-large.jpgOutdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
This is another darker shot. In terms of focusing at distance, the camera does well enough for a small, pocket digital camera. I like the colours in this photo.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
The camera does a good job of focusing on the brickwork in the building. When it comes to picture sharpness the Coolpix S520 is roughly average when compared with other, similar digital cameras.
http://www.ephotozine.com/images/news/normal/nikon-coolpix-s520-portrait-outdoors-large.jpg
http://www.ephotozine.com/images/news/normal/nikon-coolpix-s520-indoors-large.jpg
Outdoor Portrait
All three of my portrait test shots produce much improved results when compared to the more demanding scenic shots. In the outdoor portrait colour, lighting and focusing are all about spot on.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
Here the Coolpix S520 scores well when compared to other digital cameras. The amount of light emitted by the flash unit is about right. This helps to give great balance to the photo and the colours are excellent too. I often see skin tones that are overdone when flash is used or colour bleached by the power of the light. This Nikon digital camera manages to avoid these common problems and get more or less everything right.
http://www.ephotozine.com/images/news/normal/nikon-coolpix-s520-portrait-indoors-large.jpg

Indoor Portrait with Flash
This is another good effort. Again, colours and brightness are about right. The only problem is that focusing is not quite perfect. This suggests either you will need plenty of light or you will need to resort to flash as soon as lighting levels dip.
Colours
Overall, I like the way this digital camera handles colour. There is a more natural feel than with many other digital camera brands.

http://www.ephotozine.com/images/news/normal/nikon-coolpix-s520-macro-large.jpg
Macro
There is good news and bad news when it comes to the macro shot. The good news is that the shot is bright and clear. The bad news is that the Coolpix S520 can only focus from 15cm away from the subject. Compared with other cameras that is not very close. My test shot has been cropped for display.

Views on Noise - ISO 400 and 1600: Unless you really need to use them, I would avoid using higher ISO settings with any compact digital camera. They tend to add noise to a photo even at ISO 400. This is especially true in darker areas of any shot. The Coolpix S520 produces similar results to most other digital cameras.

Overall: My results are a bit mixed. I was very happy with the portrait shots I took, but the scenic shots were a disappointment. This suggests the Coolpix S520 is more at home with subjects closer to the camera.

Shutter Lag: A single photo was captured in 0.52 seconds. Five photos took 24.9 seconds. With the flash turned on times increased to 1.78 seconds for a single photo and 27.44 for five. These are all slow times and it was noticeable that the Coolpix S520 took a long time to store a photo and be ready to take another shot. It took 3.09 seconds to turn the camera on and take a picture. This is a bit slower than most other cameras I have tested recently.

Style: This camera has a simple, plain design, but it is pleasant enough to look at. It fits into a pocket and is available in black, silver, and plum.

Dimensions: 53 x 94 x 22.5mm

Weight: 115g

Batteries: Lithium Ion (EN-EL10). Nikon estimates you should be able to take around 180 shots in between charges. Both a battery and charger are supplied with the camera.

Memory cards: 23mb of memory have been built into the camera. This is enough for 10 or 11 photos. A memory card is not supplied. The Coolpix S520 is compatible with SD and SDHC cards.

Ease of use rating: I find Nikon digital cameras easy to use. The Coolpix S520 concentrates more on the more basic camera functions you need. It has fewer bells and whistles than many similar cameras and this helps with ease of use.

Points I like: Ease of use - small size

Where it could improve: Scenic shots - start up time and shutter lag Alternatives If you are looking for a step up in terms of style, features and image quality try looking at the Canon IXUS 90 IS.

David Tymon's verdict: The Nikon Coolpix S520 is aimed at people with a smaller budget who are looking for a simple, snapshot digital camera. The camera performed well in many areas and I like the colours it produces. Against that, it struggled with my scenic shots and there was a noticeable delay in taking a picture.

tomatoman

09-11-2008, 08:04 AM

Read More Reviews - (updated 08 November’08)

Megapixel
“In the compact digital SLR category, this is one of the best we’ve seen to date. It consistently takes excellent pictures both indoors and out. For point-and-shoot shutterbugs, there are plenty of automatic features to make their transiton to the DSLR world smooth.”

http://www.megapixel.net/reviews/pentax-k200d/k200d-gen.php

tomatoman

09-11-2008, 08:04 AM

Latest - Review and Sample Photos by Megapixel (added 08 November’08)

Pentax K200D is a 10.2 megapixel DSLR and it features a 2.7 inch LCD, Shake reduction, Enhanced dynamic range, and an ISO range from 100 to 1600.

http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/k200dfr.jpg

tomatoman

09-11-2008, 08:05 AM

tom&jerry

09-11-2008, 03:03 PM

Wow, this thread looks great!

Nice effort, tomatoman!

tomatoman

14-11-2008, 07:30 AM

Olympus E-30

http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/olympus-e30.jpg

http://www.digitalcameratracker.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/e-30bk2.jpg

tomatoman

14-11-2008, 07:31 AM

Latest - Hands-on Preview by Four thirds User (fourthirds-user.com) (added 13 November’08)

Olympus E-30 is a 12.3 megapixel Live MOS sensor DSLR announced on November 5th 2008 and it features a new processing engine dubbed TruePix III+, 2.7-inch live view swivel LCD, 6 art filters, multiple exposure shooting, face detection, shadow adjustment, and in body image stabilization.

Reviewers Conclusions & Verdicts - (updated 13 November’08)

Four thirds User (fourthirds-user.com) (http://fourthirds-user.com/2008/11/preproduction_olympus_e30_handson_review.php)
“The E-30 handles very similarly to the E-3 in terms of size and weight, being slightly less heavy and tall. The similarity is concentrated when the E-3’s HLD-4 grip is attached. Full marks for Olympus for a) providing a grip for the E-30 and, b) not going for a new design that is incompatible with any other.”

Digital Photography Review (DPReview.com) (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0811/08110503olympus_e30_hands_on.asp)
“The prism-type viewfinder, with its 1.02x magnification and 0.98x coverage is around 10% larger than the pentamirror unit included in the smaller E-System cameras while allowing the E-30 to be over 1cm (0.3 inches)smaller than the E-3.”

tomatoman

14-11-2008, 07:31 AM

http://fourthirds-user.com/2008/11/preproduction_olympus_e30_handson_review.php

Pre-production Olympus E-30 hands-on review
by Ian Burley
Have a look at the new Olympus E-30 via 29 pictures in our preview tour

Welcome to our first hands-on preview of a pre-production Olympus E-30 DSLR, with the new Mark II Zuiko Digital 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 standard zoom. Much of this article is pictorial and our 27 image captioned gallery (see below) is designed to give you a feel for the camera's design and controls, as well as providing a comparison with other Olympus E-System DSLRs.

This is a pre-production engineering sample. The body doesn't have a production serial number and the firmware version is 0.80. So there is no possibility to show sample images taken by the camera. The lens does have a production release firmware version of 1.0, and I was able to use the lens normally on a Micro Four Thirds Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, via the Panasonic DMW-MA1 mount adapter.

tomatoman

14-11-2008, 07:32 AM

http://fourthirds-user.com/images/PB129565.jpg
The E-30 is a fair bit larger and heavier than the E-520, but most of the extra bulk accommodates a wealth of welcome new functionality.

I've already been asked about the weight, feel and handling of the E-30 compared to the E-3, for example, as well as the optical viewfinder. The E-30 handles very similarly to the E-3 in terms of size and weight, being slightly less heavy and tall. The similarity is concentrated when the E-3's HLD-4 grip is attached. Full marks for Olympus for a) providing a grip for the E-30 and, b) not going for a new design that is incompatible with any other.
The viewfinder will be a very welcome improvement compared to E-520 or E-420. It's large and bright; about the same size as the E-1's finder and only slightly smaller than that of the E-3, for example. The information display now lives under the frame, rather than to the right, which is the same arrangement as the E-1 and E-3.
http://fourthirds-user.com/images/PB129568.jpg
E-1 owners can now see how the size of the E-30 compares with their cameras.

The pictures linked to below from our thumbnail gallery may well answer other questions you have to ask. We've only had the camera for 24 hours, so we will follow up with a closer look at the operational features of the camera in a subsequent article.

rotiboyz

14-11-2008, 05:20 PM

Pruss 1 for you!

Casio Exilim EX-FH20 Review!

Latest - Review and Sample Photos by Digital Camera Info (added 13 November’08)

rotiboyz

14-11-2008, 05:21 PM

Pruss 1 for you!

Casio Exilim EX-FH20 Review!

Latest - Review and Sample Photos by Digital Camera Info (added 13 November’08)

Casio Exilim EX-FH20

November 13, 2008

Casio Exilim EX-FH20 announced on September 16, 2008 is a 9.1 megapixel 40 frames per second in High Speed digital camera that features a 20x optical zoom, video capture at up to 1,000 fps, 3 inch LCD, and an ISO range from 100 to 1600.

Overall Rating: 1 vote, average: 1 out of 51 vote, average: 1 out of 51 vote, average: 1 out of 51 vote, average: 1 out of 51 vote, average: 1 out of 5 Loading ... Loading ...

rotiboyz

14-11-2008, 05:22 PM

Read More Reviewers - (updated 13 November’08)

Digital Camera Info
“This camera delivers a couple of absolutely amazing features, but can only muster mediocre image quality, and comes with a stiff price tag. Deciding whether you should purchase it or not boils down to how useful you’ll find those features.”

http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Casio-Exilim-EX-FH20-Digital-Camera-Review-19403.htm

rotiboyz

14-11-2008, 05:22 PM

Casio made a large splash earlier this year with their Exilim EX-F1, boasting 1200 frames-per-second video and 60 frame per second photography at 6-megapixels, but with a high $1000 price tag. The EX-FH20 continues this tradition of high-speed/high-cost, but stepped down slightly to make it more approachable for those who don't have a spare grand in their back pockets. Arriving at the not insubstantial price of $600, the FH20 can record up to 40 fps at 7-megapixel resolution, or video at up to 1000 fps (which provides ultra-slow-motion playback), and has a 20x zoom. While the video mode seems a little gimmicky due to its focusing problems, need for exceedingly bright lighting and minimal resolution, the 40 fps mode is a boon for anyone trying to capture fast-action stills.

If you're a parent trying to get the perfect shot of your kid on the sports field, or a bird-watcher capturing an egret taking off, shooting at these high speeds lets you grab the perfect shot. Unfortunately, Casio seems to have put all their effort into these amazing speeds, and not enough into designing a good camera. The body feels low quality, and in our extensive lab tests it scored poorly in every section except white balance.

So, while the high speed videos are fun to play with, and the ability to capture images at a blisteringly fast pace is certainly handy when outdoors and in good lighting, unless you really need those features, the EX-FH20 is a dubious value.

rotiboyz

14-11-2008, 05:25 PM

Conclusion

The Casio Exilim EX-FH20 essentially delivers a couple of absolutely amazing features, but can only muster mediocre image quality, and comes with a stiff price tag. Deciding whether you should purchase it or not boils down to how useful you'll find those features. The camera fared poorly in all our image quality tests except for white balance and was slow to focus. The construction feels low-quality and the camera chews through batteries. However, if you need 40 frames per second, this camera will give it to you in a significantly less expensive package than the F1. For wildlife and sports photography enthusiasts, the ability to take photos so quickly, and then chose the best one will allow you to get some amazing shots. If you're shooting out-doors in good light, you'll probably be able to get some good color in the pictures to. The video functionality, on the other hand, was more gimmicky than usefulthough undeniably lots of fun to play with.

Likes
- Up to 40 stills per second
- Extreme slow-motion video capture
- Good white balance score

Dislikes
- Generally poor lab test results
- Slow auto focus
- High speed videos small and require bright light
- Expensive

rotiboyz

15-11-2008, 10:51 AM

Nikon D700

November 14, 2008

Latest - Review by Wired (added 14 November’08)

Nikon D700 is a 12.1 megapixel full frame DSLR digital camera and it features a 3 inch LCD, image cleaning system, and a 51 point auto focus with 3D focus tracking. The camera dimensions are Width 5.8 in. (147mm) Height 4.8 in. (123mm) Depth 3.0 in. (77mm) and it weighs 35 oz. (995g).
Overall Rating: 7 votes, average: 4.57 out of 57 votes, average: 4.57 out of 57 votes, average: 4.57 out of 57 votes, average: 4.57 out of 57 votes, average: 4.57 out of 5 Loading ... Loading ...

rotiboyz

15-11-2008, 10:52 AM

Reviewers Conclusions & Verdicts - (updated 14 November’08)

Wired
“If you’re thinking of buying a D700 (and especially if you are weighing it up against the more expensive D3), go ahead. I haven’t had this much fun taking photos since I sprung for a Leica M6 some years ago (yes, I saved long and hard for that one, too. I then sold it to pay the rent).”

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/11/hands-on-with-t.html

rotiboyz

15-11-2008, 10:52 AM

Hands-On With the Nikon D700
By Charlie Sorrel EmailNovember 14, 2008 | 7:56:54 AMCategories: Cameras

d700.jpg

After some months of saving my pennies, I blew them this week on a Nikon D700. Remember our post about buying old, full-frame lenses and using them on your small-sensor DSLR? There was a reason for it — those cheap old lenses will last you until you move up to full frame.

There are plenty of reviews and incredibly detailed spec sheets for the D700 already online, so I'll just cover a few of the quirks and delights I have found so far. In short, though, the D700 kicks ass. It's easy to use, and takes an incredible picture, even in the dark.

That Sensor

The headline feature of the D700 is its full-frame sensor, which is the same one you'll find in the flagship D3. You only get 12 megapixels, but they're big pixels, and their light-gathering ability is extraordinary. The top ISO available on the D700 is a staggering 25,600, a full eight stops faster than ISO 100. At that setting, though, the pictures are terrible. Convert them to black and white and they look exactly like they have been through a photocopier. A photocopier that is running out of toner. That said, even this is better than the results that the Canon G9 gives at just ISO 1600.

Drop just one stop, to ISO 12,800, and things are a lot better. The pictures are still noisy but Nikon has tweaked its noise reduction algorithms to mimic film grain, or so it seems. The EXPEED processor has no mercy with color noise, but is a little easier on the luminance noise. What does that mean? It means that the nasty stuff is cleared out, leaving a grainy but pleasing result.

Drop the ISO to 6400, the highest setting with an actual number (Nikon uses names like H0.3 for the more sensitive settings) and you'd never know you were shooting at more than 800. This, combined with a fast lens (a 50mm ƒ1.8, for example) means you can shoot in ambient light, handheld, at night. And coupled with the heavy body, which steadies things, you can handhold to some pretty slow shutter speeds, too. If you were to add a shake-reducing lens into the mix, you'd likely have no trouble with shooting 2001's monolith in a black hole. At midnight.

The Knobs and the Aperture Ring

About that heavy body. The weight is reassuring (body only and without the battery it weighs 995g, or 2.2 lbs.) but the feel in your hand is what counts. I used to own a couple of Nikon F100 bodies and the feel is similar, if a bit chunkier. The biggest change for anyone moving up from a cheaper DSLR is the manual controls. Instead of all the functionality being hidden away in menus, most of the important functions get their own knobs, dials and switches.

Those of you who remember our post "History’s 5 Best Interface Designs" will know I'm a big fan of knobs:

Its strength is its simplicity. Once you have twisted one knob, you know how every other knob works. If it is marked, its position provides visual feedback. If not, our brains easily associate the amount of twist with the level of the knob’s effect. And best of all, it’s the only controller we know of which can go up to 11.

Better still, many of the knobs can be customized to do different things. Part of the fun is digging through the custom settings inside the menus to figure out just what you can tweak. The short answer is "almost everything."

But the one thing I really love, the discovery of which actually brought a small tear to the corner of my emotionally suppressed eye (Hey, I'm English. We don't do emotions.) is the aperture control. You can choose to use the aperture ring around the lens to set the size of the hole, shifting it away from the finger-dial on the grip (custom function f9, page 326 in the manual).

For someone who has this muscle memory baked in since childhood, this is huge. You lose the fine-grained control of the 1/3 stop adjustments available with the command dial, but the shutter speed takes care of this. You also lose the Live View function, but you can always switch back temporarily (and quickly).