Posted by hina on November 7, 2008 under Digital Camera | 
Olympus has rolled a couple of digital cameras recently. One of them is the Olympus Stylus 1050 SW camera, which seems to be a super tolerant beast to harsh environments.
The Olympus Stylus 1050 SW is specially designed to be used under an extremely cold temperature. When the Summer is ending and Winter is just a few months away, it’s time to start eyeing on a camera that allows you to take photos of you with the snowman in those freezing days. The Olympus Stylus 1050 SW is claimed to be able to function well even under the extremely cold temperature of -10 degrees celsius.
Furthermore, it’s designed to let you control it with ease even though you’re wearing thick gloves during the freezing days. It includes Tap control, which allows you to control the camera, by tapping on the top, back or sides of the camera. The frustration in the freezing days is that you’ll have to remove your gloves getting your fingers exposed to the freezing temperature, when it comes to operating a gadget. The Olympus 1050 SW camera uses a 3D accelerometer to detect the directions of your tapping on its body. Such as when you wanna turn on the flash, you’ll just need to tap on the side twice without needing you to remove your gloves for pressing a button.
Similar to the earlier models in its line, it’s also waterproof and shockproof. Somehow when you have your hands wearing thick gloves, the tapping action will get little clumsy too, which likely causes you to drop it into a pool of water or on the ground. When you accidentally drop it into the pool, you’re safe as it’s waterproof. When you drop it on the ground, as long as its’ within the maximum dropping height of 5 feet then you can pick it up and start taking pictures again.
About the goodies of the camera, you’ll find a 1/2.33″ 10.1 Mpix CCD sensor, 3X optical zoom, ISO sensitivity of 80 to 1600, TruePic III image processor, 2.7″ LCD screen, and freezeproofing as mentioned, face detection, and smile shot function etc. Scheduled to be released in October for about 200 Euro (or $299.99). Besides, Olympus has also readied a cheaper model, Olympus 1040 SW, a super slim camera, which comes with almost all the features of 1050 SW excepts the Tap control and it asks for 135 Euro only.
Posted by hina on under Digital Camera |
Sony has showcased a couple of products at the IFA Convention in Berlin. One of them was the Sony Cyber-shot T-500 which is a newly released digital camera by Sony.
The Sony T-500 isn’t just a camera. It also works as a camcorder which is capable of capturing clear high-def video with stereo sound. The T-500 is equipped with a 10.1 megapixel sensor, Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with 5x optical zoom and with various technologies such as Double Anti-blur with Optical SteadyShot and High Sensitivity for producing better pictures for you.
The T-500 is equipped with a 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen which is wide enough for comfortable operations on this camera. The face detection also allows people’s face in scene to be in sharp focus and get the captured in perfect exposure to minimize spoiled shots.
Besides the still pictures, it’s also equipped with various goodies for taking high-def videos. It’s capable of capturing crisp, clear HD movie clips with stereo sound. You can continuously shoot video for up to 10 minutes per clip. Movies files are recorded in MPEG4 AVC/H.264 format, which keep file size at its minimal without loosing the quality, best for uploading on the web or email for sharing.
Switching between the still and video mode is super easy by just have a press of a button on top of this camera. Grabbing of crisp still images can be done without interrupting the video shooting. Once, you’ve done with your shooting, you can then make use of the HD slide shows to slide through the captured photos and videos. And you can play some music tracks to accompany your viewing away.
Posted by hina on under Digital Camera |
Sony Alpha A900 – the world’s first full-frame 24.6 Megapixel DSLR camera is now officially official, and the price tag of this super high-res camera is $3,000!
As mentioned the Sony A900 features the world’s first ever 24.6 effective megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor, which is equivalent to a 35mm film frame, making it able to deliver extraordinary image detail and wide dynamic range. The full frame feature is definitely great for serious photo shooters, now you’re able to capture all the previously lost detail by capturing 100% of the coverage of photos visible in the viewfinder.
The Sony A900 is also the first full-frame shooter that features SteadyShot INSIDE™, which is a feature that enhances in-body optical stabilisation system, offers up to 4.0 steps anti-shake performance. Some other goodies are a 100k shutter cycle, a 3-inch 921,000-dot LCD screen, and a 5FPS burst, up to 12 shots in RAW.
There is a new Intelligent Preview function which simulates the effect of White Balance, D-Range Optimiser and exposure level on the LCD screen without actually taking a picture. Even though you mess up with the previously preset settings, just a confirmation on the camera, the new setting will be used for taking your next picture.
Posted by hina on under Digital Camera |
The Micro Four Thirds is the standard first defined by both Olympus and Panasonic. And now Panasonic is ahead of the former to have rolled out their first camera, which uses the Micro Four Thirds standard, the Lumix DMC-G1.
The Micro Four Thirds standard allows the camera size to be kept at smaller than an SLR camera, without losing the feature of allowing you to change lenses like an SLR (single-lens reflex). SLR camera allows interchanging of lenses but the downside is it has a relatively large body which is contributed by a need of a mirror and the lenses need to be far away from the film plane, which makes it to need more space. And so, an SLR camera is much bigger than an average camera.
For cameras that use the Micro Four Thirds standard, sensor size is standard, which eliminates the confusion of of focal length multipliers. This camera might have been mistaken by others that it is the world’s smallest digital SLR, due to it allows the changing of lenses. Strictly speaking, it isn’t an SLR camera as it has no mirror found in an SLR. But you still get the same TTL (Through the lens) image like you would with a camera that has a mirror.
On the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 you’ll find a 12MP N-MOS sensor, a 3 inch LCD screen, an ISO range of 100 to 3200 and an electronic viewfinder. This camera is indeed small, packed with neat controls, which is highly suitable for ladies who’re looking for a small, compact yet powerful enough camera to bring around. If you compare the Lumix DMC-G1 with Panasonic’s DMC-L10 SLR camera, it’s said to be 27 percent smaller than the latter. And it weighs only 385 grams, which is slightly heavier than a regular can of beer.
This new camera is scheduled to go on sale in Japan on Oct 31 for a price tag of $840, which includes the camera and a lens unit. Panasonic also launches two lenses together with the Lumix DMC-G1, which are the Lumix G Vario ƒ3.5-5.6 14-45mm and the Lumix G Vario ƒ4-5.6 45-200mm.
Posted by hina on under Digital Camera |
Panasonic was ahead of Olympus to release their first Micro four thirds camera, even though the two share the definition of the technology. If you’ve forgotten what Micro four thirds is all about, we have a little recap here – it’s all about being able to produce a camera with interchangeable lenses but with much smaller in size than the SLR cameras.
Olympus has just announced that they’ve started their development of their digital camera based on the Micro Four Thirds System. As mentioned this kind of camera will have a much smaller size than the SLR cameras but it maintains the same ability of allowing the users to interchange it lenses.
Besides, the Micro Four Thirds System enables users to enjoy the same high image quality of the Four Thirds system’s 4/3-type image sensor but with much smaller body size. And it takes full advantage of the significantly more compact lenses, especially in the wide-angle and high-power zoom range.
From Sept 23 through 28, Olympus will be present at the PhotoKina 2008, (the world’s biggest fair for the the photographic and imaging industries held at Köln Messe, Cologne, Germany), to start presenting you the first mock-up of their Micro four thirds cameras.
Tags: 2008, at, camera, four, Micro, Micro-Four-Thirds, mock-up, Olympus, PhotoKina, PhotoKina 2008, thirds, to see, you
Posted by hina on under Accessories, Cell Phone, Digital Camera |
Samsung Pixon is a new full-touch 8-megapixel camera phone that has just been announced. The phone features a 3.2 inch WQVGA full touch screen and is dubbed as the world’s slimmest camera phone that measures 13.8 mm only in thinness.
The Pixon is a camera phone that is specially designed and equipped with various goodies for shooting photos. Other than the 8 megapixel camera, the cellphone’s 3.2 inch full touch screen makes it so easy to operate the phone like a camera. It’s also integrated with smart software, the Photo Browser which makes sharing and viewing of photos much easier.
It’s got almost all the latest technologies found on today’s digital cameras such as x16 digital zoom, auto-focus, fast-shutter, face detection and geo-tagging. It’s claimed to work even better than an actual camera.
Besides photo shooting, it’s also loaded with various other goodies such as music player (MP3, AAC, e-AAC+, WMA), FM radio, DNSe, Bluetooth, and an internal memory of 200MB that is Micro SD card compatible. This Pixon is expected to surface in France in mid of October but the price still remains unknown.
Posted by hina on under Digital Camera |
The Nikon D3 is dubbed as the Usain Bolt of DSLRs. For those who are not into sport, just a short note about the guy Usain Bolt – he is the world’s fastest man who created both the world’s new records for men’s 100m and 200m race in the Beijing Olympics 2008.
The Nikon D3 is considered the fastest ever in the DSLRs, which boasts a super fast 12.1 megapixel image sensor that is capable of firing up to nine frames per second. And also various goodies such as it’s equipped with the 51-point focusing system and autofocus tracking, which allow flawless exposures that make big, beautiful prints. And it’s got a super-sharp LCD which presents ultra clearness, almost as clear as watching HDTV.
The high-ISO shooting is great, with low noise and even at ISO 3200. In-camera RAW conversion. Live-view function is said as the best of the top-end DSLRs. And it’s capable of Dual CF card. It accepts media in compact flash, flash and microdrive. The reviewer claims this beast has too many functions that might take a lifetime to explore all of them. The price? It’s $5,000, a price tag which only serious photo shooting geeks will pick up one of these.
Posted by hina on under Digital Camera |
he Micro Four Thirds technology allows digital cameras to be kept at compact size without losing the ability of changing lenses, similar to the DSLRs. This Micro Four Thirds technology is shared by Olympus and Panasonic.
Olympus has announced that they have firmware updates for their lenses, making them “Micro Four Thirds” compatible, which allows them to be used by the Panasonic DMC-G1. The updated lenses from Olympus are the 35mm F3.5 Macro, 25mm F2.8 pancake, 35-100mm F4.0-5.6 and 40-150mm F4.0-5.6.
After the you’ve downloaded and updated the firmware of the mentioned Olympus lenses, they will become compatible with the Panasonic DMC-G1. According to Dpreview, the 25mm pancake and 40-150mm lenses are able to autofocus, whereas they’re still unclear if the 35mm Macro and 35-100mm lenses are able to autofocus. Panasonic owners can click here to download the new firmwares to update their Olympus lenses that are in the list.