Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Archives for September 2009

Point-and-Shoots to Suit Your Personality

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Maria Sharapova and her Canon Powershot Diamond Collection

Camera manufacturers design point-and-shoot cameras for the specific needs and wants of consumers the same way that they target their DSLRs to different professional markets. While we as photographers will always sing the praises of how awesome our DSLRs are, the general population will opt for a “nice” point-and-shoot. We know many of these people and they make come to us asking camera questions. Here’s a round up of cameras for the different personalities in your life. If they’re a student, link them over to my post on Back-To-School digital cameras.

Author’s Note: The camera’s above are a special series of Canon Powershots that Maria Sharapova designed with Canon. They were available in a contest.

[Read more…]

 

Nikon APS-C Compact Camera = Leica X1 Clone?

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Ok, “clone” may be strong words; however, word on the street is that the Leica X1 sensor is manufactured by Sony – and that same sensor is set to be placed in an upcoming (and as-yet unannounced Nikon camera).  More specifically, the sensor is 23.6 x 15.8mm with 12.2 “effective” megapixels.  13 million pixels in total sit on the sensor.

At recent press event in Singapore, Sunil Kaul, regional director of Asia Pacific for Leica Camera AG spilled the beans as to the sensor’s origin and its future home inside a Nikon camera, which he “cannot disclose.”

I haven’t read any news lately about Sony developing a new 12.2-megapixel CMOS sensor, which seems like it would have surfaced by now if it was newly developed.  That’s roughly the same size sensor that the Sony A700 and the Nikon D300 have been sporting for a long time.

I really can’t imagine Nikon moving away from its 12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor that has been such a workhorse in it’s recent DSLR lineup.  I also can’t imagine Nikon dropping another 12.3-megapixel DSLR into its lineup right now.  So, the compact, rangefinder-style camera sounds like the logical next step for this sensor.

Anyone with more knowledge about Sony’s CMOS sensor lineup feel free to chime in via the comments below to confirm or rebut my assumptions.

[Cnet Asia via DPR Forums]

Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Raw 5.5 Now Available

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Adobe has updated Lightroom 2 to version 2.5 and Camera Raw 5 to version 5.5.

Lightroom 2.5 and Camera Raw 5.5 now include support for the following cameras:

  • Nikon D300s
  • Nikon D3000
  • Olympus E-P1
  • Panasonic DMC-FZ35
  • Panasonic DMC-GF1

The updated versions can be downloaded here.

Lens Picks for the Micro Four Thirds System

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Olympus E-P1

After reading the article on how the Micro Four Thirds cameras can become an entire system, one may really try to decide on which lenses will be best for them. With such a large selection available, it can be hard to decide which ones may suit you the best if you’ve just stuck with one camera system to begin with and never had much experience with others. That being said, the following letter came in from a reader.

[Read more…]

Olympus E-P1 and Lens Firmware Update

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Olympus E-P1

Olympus has released a firmware update for the E-P1 Micro Four Thirds camera, along with updates for the M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 and 17mm f/2.8 lenses.

The firmware update for the E-P1 is described as providing improved operation when using the C-AF, which is something that I found to function quite poorly in the Olympus E-P1 Review.  The firmware updates for the lenses are described as providing improved AF operation.

You can download the updates on the Olympus Japan website.

SanDisk Extreme Pro CompactFlash Memory Cards

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SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB CF Card

SanDisk has announced a new series of faster CF cards – the Extreme Pro cards.  The big number that SanDisk is throwing out there is 90MB per second max read/write speeds. The question is: “Does it make a difference?”

Well, I haven’t gotten my hands on one yet; however, spec-wise the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 50D should be able to take advantage of the speed boost.  Both cameras feature UDMA support up to Mode 6 for a maximum theoretical transfer rate of 133MB/s, which is well within the new SanDisk cards specs.

Lori Grunin over at Cnet’s Crave took the new Extreme Pro cards for a spin the the Nikon D300s (I couldn’t find any documentation confirming the extent of UDMA support for the D300s) and the Canon 5D Mark II.  The differences were minimal in both cases.  The D300s produced the same frame rate with Extreme Pro and 60MB/s flavor of Extreme cards.  The Pro version was able to give about a 10% savings on buffer emptying after a burst of shots.  The results were similar in the 5D Mark II, which got a boost of 0.2 frames per second with the Pro model and an almost 20% discount emptying the buffer after a burst of shots. Hit up Lori’s test for all the facts. [50 kudos to Lori for the hard work.]

Prices? The 64GB model will set you back $811.99 direct from SanDisk – I’ll say that again . . . $811.99!  $507.99 for the 32GB model and $304.00 for the 16GB model.  Hardly a bargain for a 0.2 fps advantage…

Get the full run down on these new cards in the news release below.

[Read more…]

Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 18mm f/3.5 ZE Lens for Canon DSLRs

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Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 18mm f/3.5 ZE Lens for Canon DSLRs

Carl Zeiss announced the Distagon T* 18mm f/3.5 ZE lens for Canon DSLRs (EF-mount) today. Zeiss already produces an 18mm f/3.5 Distagon T* lens for Nikon F-mount and Pentax K-mount cameras.  Canon users should be pleased that Zeiss is continuing its comitment to the EF-mount.

The new ZE lens should be available Fall 2009 at an initial price of EUR 1049.00.  No official word on US prices yet; however, if it matches up with the existing Nikon and Pentax mounts, expect it to be around $1250 in the US.  Check availability on Amazon.com.

More details in the news release below. [Read more…]

Nikon D3000 Sample Images

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Nikon D3000

The D3000 is Nikon’s current low-end DSLR model.  It features a 10.2-megapixel DX-format CCD sensor, as found in the Nikon D60 that the D3000 replaces.  The updates are fairly subtle; however, it is clear after spending some time with it that Nikon is targeting a very entry-level crowd.

Expect more details in a full review coming soon.  For now, you can take a look at the below sample images from the D3000 and judge for yourself.  These images are from a production camera as shipped from Nikon.  Don’t expect any real differences from what we know the Nikon D60 could do though. [Read more…]