Zooom Digital Cameras

The Sony Alpha 900 according to DP Review is a “serious DSLR” in contrast to how Sony has approached the compact digital camera market, creating cameras constructed with elements of cell phones and PSP’s. The Alpha 900 scored a “Highly Recommended” rating from DP Review. The review though positive overall did find fault in the camera. DP Review states that the camera’s image quality drops significantly at higher ISO’s, “stunning results at up to ISO 400 (and is fine at ISO 800-1600 as long as you’re not printing posters)”. The Camera’s two major features are a full frame image sensor and a powerful image stabilization system.
The camera is now available.

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Well respected digital camera website DP Review recently reviewed the Canon 50D. The Canon Digital SLR faired well in the scoring the publications coveted “Highly Recommended” rating, though just barely.

The reviewer states, “We’re by no means saying the 50Ds image quality is bad but it’s simply not significantly better than the ten megapixel 40D. In some areas such as dynamic range and high ISO performance it’s actually worse and that simply makes you wonder if the EOS 50D could have been an (even) better camera if its sensor had a slightly more moderate resolution.

The EOS 50D has to stand its ground in a highly competitive bracket of the DSLR market. It is currently almost $500 more expensive than the 40D, almost $500 more expensive than the Nikon D90 and for an extra $100 you can bag yourself a Nikon D300. Looking at the specification differences between the EOS 40D and our test candidate it appears you pay quite a premium for the 50D’s extra megapixels and as we’ve found out during this review you don’t get an awful lot of extra image quality for your money. The Canon EOS 50D still earns itself our highest reward but considering its price point and our slight concerns about its pixel-packed sensor, it only does so by a whisker.”

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Tags:   Canon EOS 50D · Digital Camera Reviews · DSLRNo Comments.

Sony has just announced its latest Cyber-shot DSC-T2 which features to help those who can’t seem to organize their photos. First off the camera has 4 Gigbytes of internal storage space allowing tons of shooting sans memory card. The unit can hold up to 40,000 images at VGA quality and a thousand at the highest quality.

The camera features the ability to store images in specific folders, which should end the cluttered feel of going through your cameras memory files.

The camera itself features capabilities which one would expect to find on a digital point-and-shoot, which includes face recognition, 3x optical zoom, and a host of other features like video capture. The camera is being marketed as a stocking stuffer with a December release date with a $350 price tag.

Via DPReview

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It took just 18 months for Canon to release a replacement for its EOS 30D with the 40D. DP Review just posted a review of the camera, giving a “Highly Recommended” review.

The review states:

“From an image quality point of view the combination of the Canon CMOS sensor and DIGIC III processor means equally detailed images at all sensitivities (except maybe ISO 3200), low noise and a complete lack of unnatural artifacts. The new high ISO speed noise reduction option has no effect on luminance detail but removes any lingering chroma noise , giving high ISO images a more film-like grain; something Nikon has been doing for some time. We would be interested to see Canon using a less strong anti-alias filter which would mean that JPEG images would require less sharpening and would be naturally ‘crisper’ straight off the sensor, but it’s a minor point and would really only be seen by ‘pixel peepers’.

One surprise came from our testing of the cameras dynamic range, it delivered a consistently higher range than both the competition and its predecessor. The majority of this improvement, however, was in the shadow range, a function we presume of the new 14-bit processing pipeline.”

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As DP Review pointed out in there review the Canon Power Shot series began as an entry-level camera, however the series has advanced over the years. The Canon PowerShot A570 IS received the highly valued “Highly Recommended” review from DP Review. The review states:

“The Canon A570 IS you get a nicely designed, responsive camera with more than enough features to keep most users - especially those wanting a little more manual control than is normal at this price point - happy. If you don’t mind it not being the fastest ’social’ snapshot camera in the world (the flash recycling puts paid to that), this is a perfect camera for anyone wanting real photographic control without paying through the nose. Its well balanced combination of image quality, functionality and handling (and not to forget value for money) means the A570 IS just about deserves our highest award.”

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The Canon SD870 IS known in Europe as the IXUS 860 IS and the IXY Digital 910IS in Japan, is the latest camera in the line by Canon.

DP Review recently had a chance to review the camera and concluded:

“Like other cameras in this range what makes the SD870 IS so appealing - aside from the high quality design and construction - is the ‘point and shoot’ reliability, which produces good, sharp, well exposed results in a wide range of shooting conditions, something you simply can’t say about a lot of competitors. We were also very impressed with the lens; a wide lens usually results in a compromise between the really useful ability to ‘zoom out’ and a degree of chromatic aberration and corner softness that can dent image quality. Our tests and experiences of real-world shooting show very little evidence of these expected shortcomings, helping the 870 IS stand out from competing wideangle ultra compact cameras.”

Via DPReview

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Here is the latest offering from Olympus, the µ 790 SW Lime Green edition. The camera offers up a stand out design and a limited production of 5,000 units available in Europe. The camera does not offer just looks; it claims to be able to withstand shock, water, and freezing temperatures. The camera comes with the standard specs for a digital point and shoot, 7.1 megapixels, 38-114mm optical zoom lens and face recognition technology. The camera should be available for purchase this month. As the camera is new release there are no reviews available for the unit. Check back for more info.

Via DPReview

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One of the great things about digital photography is the huge number of options available for sharing photos. Sony has added a very functional way to do so in High Definition. The Sony HDMS-S1D Digital Photo Album allows for HDMI output to HD televisions. The unit features an 80-gigabyte hard drive with the ability to import photos via CD, DVD, USB, and Ethernet. The unit features software, which enables you to sort and organize photos, create slide shows with preloaded audio files or gives you the option to upload your own tunes. All of this for $400 retail. Great idea, although I would wait for the price to drop before I picked one up.

Via DPReview

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The iconic Leica M series has gone digital with the introduction of the M8. A review of the rangefinder camera was just posted on DP Review. The review was for the most part positive with the reviewer pointing out the differences of shooting with a Rangefinder camera of this quality. With such a camera you have to think differently about composition, depth of field and other manual features. The camera is costly with a $4,795 price tag for just the body. However for Leica enthusiasts this will be money well spent.

DP Review stated, “So what’s the bottom line? I have to admit that I’ve been turned, from a skeptic to a believer, certainly the M8 isn’t a camera everyone is going to afford, but a rangefinder is certainly something any ’serious’ photographer should try at some point in their life. It’s changed the way I shoot, I’ve found myself going back to manual focus more even when I use DSLR’s and being more selective about lenses and depth of field, and more creative in my framing. My advice on the M8 would be, if you can afford to then get one, be aware of its limitations, shoot RAW and rediscover ‘capturing moments’.”

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Fujifilm just announced the Finepix Z10fd "Face it, Beam it, Blog it" The camera features a sleek design and has the advertised features of face recognition technology (which will give you better portraits), the ability to send images via an Infrared port, and the ability to produce 640x480 or 320x240 images which will fit on your blog (this feature used to be called email mode. You will be able to pick the camera up in black or in several neon bright colors in September for $200.

Via DPR

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