To the point Camera reviews, tips, techniques and Travel photography at Photography 24x7 's Blog

Thursday

Canon PowerShot SX210 IS is Fantastic

The Canon PowerShot SX210 IS ($349) is a compact camera with some brilliant features :

· 14X optical zoom lens,

· Optical image stabilization,

· A widescreen LCD display,

· Manual controls, and

· HD movie recording.

· Resolution 14.1 Megapixel

· Focal range 28 - 392 mm

· Max. aperture F3.1 - F5.9

· LCD aspect ratio 16:9

· Continuous shooting rate 0.7 fps

· Memory cards supported SD/SDHC/SDXC

· Dimensions (W x H x D) 4.2 x 2.3 x 1.3 in.

· Weight (empty) 188 g

· Available colors Black, purple, gold

· Use of stereo sound recording, Yes

· Use of the optical zoom during Movie recording Yes

All these features are excellent and makes it an all-round camera

A few concerns though:

· A plastic tripod mount

· Battery life only 260 shots as per CIPA standards

· Slow max Aperture

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Monday

Leica M9 - Pictures do speak

Like the title says, Lieca M9 images do speak, I promise that I saw them speak ;-)

In my photographic experience I researched a lot for many cameras in last 4-5 years. I saw image output of many SLR or digicams, compared their features, specifications, body design, looks,price and lots more.

Many people say that "Ease of Use" is most important thing, lots say handling should be great, some say it should be heavy and some like light weight. People complain about Noise in images. People complain about low battery life etc etc.

All these people are right in saying so as they might not seen the Leica output. Leica is very awkward for general people who are used to SLR or other EVF, zoom cams.

Its different.
Its slow.
Manual Focus.
And major draw back to me is its price; lol.

But I lust for M9 ;-) and one day will get it for sure. Why?

Bcos, you know Photography is to present your creativity, your feelings and what you want the world to see through your eyes. Image quality matters most as per my opinion whatever pain you took to get any image, that hardship disappear as soon as you see the final output.

Same feeling I got from Sony R1 a great camera, which I could not get.

If your images do speak and create a sense of attachment then you are special photographer whatever camera gear you use. My images don't btw.

I found these links to be useful to explain a bit what I mean.
Enjoy

http://www.nikonweb.com/m9/
http://dfarkas.blogspot.com/2009/09/leica-m9-review-shooting-in-wetzlar.html
http://www.kenrockwell.com/leica/m9/examples.htm

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Thursday

Canon PowerShot S90 Review

Canon S90 Features we liked

* Its sensor is big 1/1.7" Type CCD
* 10 million pixels sensor
* RAW shooting (wow !!! cool)
* ISO 80-3200 (for low light performance)
* Fast f/2.0-4.9 maximum aperture range
* Lens amazing 28-105mm range
* Shutter speed 15-1/1600 sec
* Dual Anti-Noise System (high sensitivity sensor and Digic 4 noise reduction)
* It has Lens Control Ring
* 3.0 inch PureColor II LCD
* Optical Image Stabilization
* Smarter Scene Detection
* Low Light mode
* DIGIC 4 image processor
* HD output

The new feature of Control Ring is highly customizable, and in addition to the default (which varies by mode; in Av mode, for example, it controls aperture) it can be set to control the Zoom (a 'step zoom' function), White Balance Adjust, manual Focus, AE compensation and ISO. If you do choose to override the default option then the S90 will pass control of that function over to the rear control dial.

Nice points :
* Excellent image quality, particularly at lower ISO settings
* Extensive photographic feature set
* New Function Ring transforms use of manual controls on a small camera
* Usable, fast raw mode with excellent DPP software supplied
* Highly customizable
* Fast, sharp zoom with useful 28-105mm range and F2.0 aperture (only at the wide end)
* Reliable metering, focus and white balance
* Very compact, well built
* Decent battery life
* Usable results up to ISO 800 (though shooting raw is advised at higher settings)

Few reservations:
* Highlight clipping and channel clipping in bright, contrasty conditions
* Video limited to VGA resolution
* Lack of grip and smooth, featureless body don't help handling one bit
* Flash underpowered, flash performance overall not that impressive
* Relatively small maximum aperture at long end of zoom

Overall its good competitor and will gain a nice market share.

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Tuesday

PANASONIC INTRODUCES AG-AF100, 4/3” PROFESSIONAL HIGH-DEFINITION CAMCORDER

Panasonic today announced a beautiful gift to movie making enthusiast its a game-changing AVCCAM HD camcorder, the AG-AF100 is the first professional micro 4/3-inch video camcorder which can take different lens and optimized for high-definition video recording.
Scheduled to ship by the end of 2010.

The camera on the picture has the Panasonic 14-140mm Lens

Camera is targeted at the video and film production communities, the AF100 delivers the shallow depth of field and wider field of view of a large imager, with the flexibility and cost advantages of use with a growing line of professional quality, industry standard micro 4/3-inch lenses, filters, and adapters. The full 1080 and 720 production camera offers superior video handling, native 1080/24p recording, variable frame rates(60i to 24i), professional audio capabilities, and compatibility with SDHC and SDXC media(upto 2TB).

Equipped with an interchangeable lens mount, the AF100 can utilize an array of low-cost, widely-available still camera lenses as well as film-style lenses with fixed focal lengths and primes.
The AF100 incorporates a 4/3-inch, 16:9 MOS imager. The camcorder records 1080/60i, 50i, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) and 720/60p, 50p, 30p, 25p and 24p (native) in AVCHD’s highest-quality PH mode (maximum 24Mbps). Ready for global production standards, the camcorder is 60Hz and 50Hz switchable.