Camera Digital

Nikon Coolpix S3100

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:53:00 -0700

Not all of us are looking for a camera with which to make competition standard prints; sometimes all we want to do is point and shoot and end up with an attractive result that doesn't require much, if any, image editing. And if we can get that for a reasonable price, all the better. Ticking those boxes is the new Coolpix S3100, which offers an effective resolution of 14 megapixels and a 5x zoom lens.
Available in a range of seven vivid colours - citrus yellow, pink, purple, blue and regulation silver and black – the cheerful label can be applied to this camera even before you've taken a photo, assuming any of the above colours takes your fancy. The S3100 inevitably also boasts slender proportions and manageable weight of just 118g with battery and card, so it will slot equally well into any handbag or trouser pocket.
For the cheap part of the equation, prices of between £115 and £130 seem to fit the bill. Inevitably, at this price you're looking at a camera with no few manual controls, so if you start to get a bit ambitious with your shooting you may soon out grow it.
There are some interesting stats that come with the S3100. It upgrades last year's 12 megapixel S3000, which Nikon claims was, incredibly (considering its mediocrity), Europe's best selling camera for 2010. This immediately lends the S3100 a place of importance within the manufacturer's line up that belies its gaudy/glossy exterior and high volume/low cost market position.

Reminding us a lot of last year's great value and similarly dinky S5100 model, the new Nikon S3100 is one of a co-announced Coolpix trio which includes the touch screen S4100 and 7x zoom S6100. This unit's own 5x optical zoom, the equivalent of a wider than most 26-130mm in 35mm film terms, is an improvement over the S3000's 4x, and is shoehorned into its slim-line, 18.4mm, body (also an improvement over its predecessor's 19mm frame). Inevitably, the lens aperture is a modest f/3.3-6.5 so low light shooting will more often than not require a flash or very steady hands and subjects. Unfortunately there's no sensor shift nor optical stabilisation mechanism to help out in the latter scenarios or when shooting handheld at the telephoto end of the zoom.
More positively, the S3100's 2.7-inch, 230k dot resolution LCD screen is claimed to be brighter than its forebear's despite being identically sized, which we found was borne out in testing.

HD video recording is a thoroughly unsurprising addition in this day and age, though here's it's of the HD ready, 1,280x720, variety. You even get a dedicated record button located at the top right hand corner of the backplate, which is a rare addition on lower priced cameras. Press this and recording instantly commences, the screen's default 4:3 aspect ratio cropped to the widescreen 16:9 in which hthe footage is being recorded. There's no HDMI output however, just standard definition AV output and USB 2.0 connectivity, sharing a port at the camera's base, next to the shared compartment for the supplied rechargeable lithium ion battery and optional SD, SDHC or SDXC media card. Incidentally, the battery is charged within the camera, as Nikon, doubtless to keep costs down, has supplied a generic USB mains adapter into which one end of the supplied USB cable neatly slots.
Despite being a mere slip of a thing, Nikon is pitching the S3100 as a camera that has both style and substance. With a metallic finish faceplate and matt black plastic back plate, the S3100 both looks attractive whilst feeling surprisingly sturdy when gripped in the palm. Inevitably at this entry level end of the market, there's nothing resembling a handgrip at all to be found at the front of the camera, so your fingers slip and slide around its faceplate, six raised plastic nodules at the rear providing the only point of purchase for the thumb.

This means that the camera is difficult to hold rock steady and level when shooting handheld, and even in broad daylight this resulted in us getting some blurred results when shooting at the telephoto end of the zoom, due to camera shake. Nikon offers software based electronic stabilisation (Or as Nikon terms it 'Vibration Reduction') which boosts ISO and shutter speed to try and compensate; but in fact it falls short as well as reducing image quality. A wrist strap can be attached via a lug on the camera's right hand side (if viewed from the back) so you don't actually drop it.

So while there are a few desirable features missing, some useful point-and-shoot additions are available. Smile Timer, Blink Proof, in-camera red eye fix and Skin Softening all help you to more easily take group photos and keep portraits looking their best. Again, though, it's worth noting that if none of these automatic settings can get the job done there are no manual options to fall back on – a typical situation for budget compacts but annoying nonetheless.

That said there is the option for a degree of creativity with its colour modes, which range from the default setting of standard, through the alternatives of vivid, black and white, sepia or cyanotype.
There's no obvious dedicated shooting mode button or dial here, as fully automatic image capture is by default the main setting. Thus you can turn the camera on and, provided date and time have been pre-set, be up and shooting near instantly. However we do get a dedicated 'scene' mode button which lets you instead drill in to a collection of 19 pre-optimised options, covering the usual selection of portrait, both human and animal, and landscape biased snapping. Even among these there is a 'smart' option, letting the user rely on the camera to decide which of the scene modes it deems most appropriate for any given scene or subject.

Via a left hand toolbar that pops up alongside, users can furthermore drill into the aforementioned Smart Portrait system options or, unusually for a camera in this price bracket, tab further down and activate subject tracking to maintain focus on moving subjects. Again, the impression given by the S3100 is that if offers rather more than one might expect from a humble pocket snapshot.

Sony Unveils A700

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 04:05:00 -0700

With all the hubbub surrounding Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, we almost missed a pretty significant announcement from Sony which gave us the release date and a few more details about the replacement of its very popular A700 model.
When we looked at the high-end digital SLR way back in September 2007 we were very impressed and the Alpha model went on to be a very successful and popular model for Sony. So a replacement was always going to be eagerly awaited to help continue Sony’s stellar rise in the world of DSLRs which started with the entry-level A100. We first sawa prototype of the successor model at Photokina last year (see below) and now a new image has been unveiled. The image above is one released by Sony who also this week announced the as yet unnamed model will be released “mid-year.”

While the name of the model has not been released, going by Sony’s naming conventions the likely monikers for this model will be the A800 or – following the A33 and A55 - it could be called the A77. The reason it could be the A77 is because this model employs the same Translucent Mirror Technology first seen in the A33 and A55 last year. As regards other specifications, Sony has been pretty tight lipped but did say the A800/A77’s body will also feature a new battery grip and new flash. It will also allow for Full HD video recording and sport Sony's newly developed Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor.
There was no mention from Sony what the sensor size would be but considering the A55 boasts 16.2 megapixels, the A800/A77 will probably be larger than this and somewhere around 18 megapixels would seem reasonable. Recent reports in the media suggesting the replacement for the A700 would have 25 megapixels was rubbished by a Sony spokesman this week. The other major issue for people considering upgrading to this model will be price but Sony has not released any information in this regard.

We will be eagerly watching this space and once a more concrete release date, specifications and a price are announced we will be bringing them to you.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ20

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:40:00 -0700

If you're restricted to just the one lens on a camera yet shoot a multitude of subjects, better make it a jack of all trades with as broad a focal range as possible. Now the question is, how to shoehorn that into a camera that will still fit in your pocket?

Panasonic thinks it has the answer in its Lumix DMC-TZ20 (also known as the DMC-ZS10 outside of Europe), which newly tops its 'TZ' range of so-called 'travel zooms'. Previous models have seen its maker heralded as something of a trailblazer for slim(ish) bodied compacts with big zoom power, though in truth Ricoh has been quietly ploughing a similar furrow for a decade now. Nonetheless all three of this camera's predecessors, the TZ10, TZ8 and TZ7 earned themselves recommended awards.

Coming after the TZ10, and adopting a new 15.1 megapixel 'Mos' sensor said to better suppress noise, the 14.1 effective megapixel TZ20 sits just above the equally new TZ18 with which it shares many features. Optical zoom power has also been boosted to 16x, which is also accessible in movie mode, whilst pocket sized proportions are maintained by virtue of the lens being folded within the body when not in use. The reach can be further extended to 21x equivalent via the digital zoom, and, if you don't mind resolution dropping to three megapixels, boosted to an equivalent 33.8x via Panasonic's Extra Optical Zoom option. The lower resolution is because only the central part of the sensor is being used; in effect the camera is making a crop. So though it's an impressive figure to stick on the box, there is a downside.
Whilst the headline 16x zoom sounds good in isolation, it's worth bearing in mind that Fujifilm has had its 15x optical zoom FinePix F300EXR available since last year - to name just one stand-out competitor. The Fuji is both sleeker in design, being just 22.9mm at its 'thickest' point (to the Panasonic TZ20's 33.4mm), and altogether sexier (thanks to a double gloss finish) if you are purely looking for the best compromise of big zoom in a small camera body.
That said, the Panasonic has a couple of advantages over the Fuji, of which probably the most noteworthy is the TZ20's built-in GPS antenna for storing longitude and latitude coordinates in the image file's Exif data. Like the same feature on the ruggedised Lumix DMC-FT3, location info is provided for 203 countries and more than a million landmarks. The other draw over the Fuji is the TZ20's Full HD video, against the F300EXR's 1280x720 pixels clips. This comes with stereo sound via top-mounted microphones, not unheard of on a pocket compact but still fairly unusual, plus the choice of the highly compressed AVCHD or more widely compatible Motion JPEG video formats. HDMI output is also provided by a port hidden under a side flap for connecting it up directly to a flat panel TV.
As with the rest of the recent Lumix models, we also get a dedicated camcorder-like button for instant video recording. Although because flipping between capture mode and playback is controlled by a slider switch, you can't instantly record unless you happen to have the correct capture option physically selected at the time. The shooting mode wheel, meanwhile, houses program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual modes, for when you want various degrees of manual control. You also get a user customisable setting, no less than three scene mode options plus, plus, for those who just want to point and shoot and let the camera reliably decide which parameters suit which scene or subject, there's the most prominently marked mode here: intelligent Auto. The new mode on the dial that jumps out at you however is 3D mode; a new feature is shares with the equally new FT3 and FX77 snappers.

Like its two siblings, the TZ20 doesn't actually feature twin lenses nor twin sensors, both featured on the Fujifilm Real 3D W3, to achieve its stereoscopic effect. Rather, in 3D mode the camera composites an image using a sequence of up to 20 individual frames. With 3D mode selected, the user simply presses the shutter release as normal and pans with the camera in the direction of the arrow provided on screen – easy enough for any beginner. This prompts a machine gun-like flurry of shot-taking, the camera automatically generating the end result and saving it as an MPO file. As with the 3D Panorama mode on rival Sony Cyber-shot cameras, this file isn't actually viewable (yet) in all its glory unless you own a 3D TV, as the TZ20's back screen remains resolutely two-dimensional.
Weighing a manageable 219g with rechargeable battery and optional (yet essential) SD card loaded, and slipping reasonably comfortably into the front pocket of a pair of jeans thanks to dimensions of 104.9 x 57.8 x 33.4mm the TZ20 is eminently portable, even if it's not the absolute smallest. The matt black finish to our review model imbues it with a sense of sophistication and purpose. There's the hint of a handgrip to the left hand side of the body (if viewed lens-on) and a tiny pad of nine raised nodules at the back to provide some purchase for the thumb, so you'll generally want to use two hands for a secure and steady grip.

Changing settings is done via a combination of the 3-inch, 460k dot, touchscreen and physical buttons. Using the two in tandem can feel a little peculiar at first but in no time it becomes second nature. By touching the right hand side of the screen and swiping you finger up or down, you can even control the lens without otherwise nudging the lever encircling the shutter release button (though the physical control is less fiddly).

As with previous touch panel Panasonics, focus can be biased toward a particular subject simply by tapping it on screen, and the shutter can also be fired this way (though the latter can be deactivated to prevent accidentally taking a shot, which is otherwise fairly easy to do). Furthermore, when the camera's in intelligent Auto (iA) mode and the subject is touched on screen, the camera selects the most relevant mode to best fit the subject; for example selecting portrait mode if the user touches a face, or landscape mode if it's something more scenic. Screen brightness automatically adjusts through 11 stages depending on light conditions at the time so hopefully the best visibility is achieved without the user having to think about it. We were using the camera outside in bright sunlight and didn't feel the usual urge to cup a hand around the screen to see what was going on.

For squeezing those landscapes and group portraits into frame the TZ20's Leica branded lens starts out at a wide angle 24mm equivalent in 35mm film terms, running up to 384mm at the telephoto end (to the Fuji's 360mm). So, what you lose in sleekness is more than made up for in the quickness and convenience of not having to take steps forward and back to fit everything you want into frame. It's optically image stabilised too, to avoid the blurring effects of camera shake, which are more pronounced when taking pictures at the telephoto end of the zoom or in lower light. Whilst not 100% perfect, more often than not we achieved results we were pleased with. Its maker has coupled this with an Active mode to boost the effect of the stabiliser when not only the photographer but the subject is on the move.
In terms of operation speed, you can achieve up to an impressive 10 frames per second in consecutive shooting mode, or 5fps if you have continuous AF selected. If you don't mind a resolution drop to 3.5 megapixels then up to 60fps is also offered. Even in regular single shot mode the TZ20 remains a speed demon. The camera's auto focus is also fast - a whopping 49% faster than its predecessor, says Panasonic, something that seemed to be borne out in testing.

All of this inevitably costs though, and currently the TZ20 has a street price of £350, so you're paying an inevitable premium for the camera's combo of big lens, pocket-size chassis, and a payload of the latest must have features to round off the package. To put the Panasonic into context as regards rivals, this is not only dearer than the Fuji F300EXR, if only by £30 or so, but makes Canon's own big zoom compact in the 12x optical PowerShot SX130 IS look an outright bargain at £150. If you don't mind a slightly broader chassis still, Fuji also has the DSLR-styled 18x zoom S2800HD at the same price as the Canon, which is excellent value. None of them offer built-in GPS or 3D modes however. Have a look also at Casio's £330 Exilim EX-H20G if you want GPS and a larger than average zoom, even if 10x seems modest compared to what's on offer here.

Olympus E-PL2

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:07:00 -0700

With the promise of 'fuss free' photography for those wanting to take higher quality pictures than their current compact allows, the 12.3 effective megapixel E-PL2 is Olympus' fourth Micro Four Thirds compact system Digital Pen camera. It arrives in the wake of 2009's E-P1, its bigger brother in the E-P2, and last year's E-PL1, of which this is its direct, beginner-friendly descendant. The enticing pitch for the mirror-less model is once again DSLR-like quality - thanks to a physically bigger chip than your conventional compact, plus interchangeable lenses - and with shoot-from-the-hip accessibility and portability.
With its manufacturer having seemingly abandoned future digital SLR plans following the last gasp release of the E-5, there's now a lot more riding on the Pen's success, especially as regards maintaining the brand's heritage and prestige among photographers at all levels. So how does the new E-PL2 stack up? Well, for starters it's available for around £500 depending on which kit lens configuration you wish to opt for (we're looking at the 14-42mm (28-84mm 35mm equivalent) kit lens), an identical price to an entry-level DSLR, such as the Nikon D3100, with its own standard lens.
Like Panasonic's direct rival in the GF2, there's not an advertised body only option for anyone considering upgrading from an earlier iteration, though they can be found for around £380. Other mirror-less compact system competitors of course include the Sony NEX-3 and NEX-5, the Samsung NX series, and to extent Ricoh's modular GXR system, on which not only lens but also sensor are swappable. The big two of Canon and Nikon remain tight lipped on if and when they will be joining this particular 'hybrid' camera party.

Encouragingly for anyone buying into Olympus' own camera system for the first time and considering its future expandability, there are now 16 Micro Four Thirds lenses and three further conversion lenses, with older Four Thirds DSLR optics attachable via an optional adapter ring. This is in contrast to a year or so ago where a much smaller range was available.

While the original E-PL1 looked and felt slightly more plastic in comparison with the metal bodied E-P1 and E-P2, that's not so obviously the case with the E-PL2, at least as regards the silver bodied incarnation we had on test. Otherwise, placed side by side the E-PL2 and the E-PL1 models take up the same amount of space, with differences being subtle rather than substantial. The newer model is more comfortable to hold than the E-PL1 thanks to a more rounded grip at the front and newly implemented curve at the rear which lets the thumb rest comfortably on the backplate; albeit blocking off the built-in speaker when doing so. Otherwise front-on the cameras are identical.
On the top plate of the E-PL2 we find the same integral pop up flash, sleekly sunk into the bodywork when inactive, hotshoe for optional flashgun with accessory port (now also in its second generation) for the attachment of an optical or electronic viewfinder (EVF) or even microphone tucked just behind, plus identical half-penny sized shooting mode dial. This offers up the standard P, A, S, M creative settings for those who want to get hands on, a dedicated setting for Olympus Art Filter digital effects (more on which later), plus scene modes, video mode (though there is also a dedicated instant record button at the back) plus a collection of scene modes, 22 in total.
The shutter release button is now almost twice the size of the one on the E-PL1 so as to make it both more obvious and more comfortable to use, whilst the on/off button has conversely been swapped from a rounded button to a narrow lozenge shaped one and sunk further into the top plate to prevent accidental activation.

At the back of the E-PL2 the most noticeable difference is that the LCD screen has been made larger than its predecessor's (it's now 3-inches with a 460k dot resolution), which is always welcome, and especially in the absence of any separate viewfinder supplied with the camera. The second thing you pick up on is that the large rectangular and plastic-y looking controls to its right have been switched for smaller, rounded buttons that serve much the same functions but have been re-jigged in terms of positioning. The cross-keys-style control pad on the E-PL1 has been replaced by scroll wheel type pad that we're used to seeing on Canon PowerShot models, but for which we don't have a great love as it's simply more fiddly to use accurately in our opinion. Otherwise the settings ranged around it are exactly the same as those found on the E-PL1, namely controls for exposure, flash settings, self timer and drive mode plus controlling the AF point/s. The lack of a dedicated ISO button is something of an inconvenience for the more discerning user.

Separate HDMI and combined AV/USB output ports at located under a flimsy plastic flap at the camera's side, whilst a central screw thread at the base provides the opportunity to attach a tripod. The compartment and chunky protective catch for the rechargeable lithium ion battery and optional SD/SDHC/SDXC card are in the same place also, so as we say the E-PL2 is more a subtle refinement of the E-PL1 than complete makeover.

Also carried over from its predecessor on which the feature was first introduced, is Olympus' hand-holding 'Live Guide'. Accessed as a toolbar that appears on the right edge of the screen, with a press of the back plate 'OK' button if the mode dial is turned to iAuto (point and shoot intelligent Auto). This allows users to incrementally and manually adjust the likes of image brightness and colour saturation, as well as introduce motion blur through the 'Express Motions' mode. Any adjustments are shown in real time on the screen so you always know approximately how your image is going to look. As on the XZ-1 compact, we also get a brief hints and tips section which outlines how to take better photographs. This only pops up when shooting with the iAuto mode, so more experienced users in Program or Manual mode, for example, can bypass it entirely if necessary.

There are six Art Filters in total and they're identical to the ones offered by the even smaller XZ-1 compact, another possible competitor for the E-PL2 if you don't need the ability to swap lenses. Like that model they can be accessed whether shooting stills or High Def video. In full then, there's Pop Art, Soft Focus, Grainy Film, Pin Hole, Diorama and Dramatic Tone. As we noted in our XZ-1 review, the Diorama feature is the increasingly ubiquitous Miniature mode by another name, which narrows the sharply focused portion of the image to a narrow central strip, thus creating the optical illusion that we're viewing a toy model rather than the real thing. The contrast and colour boosting Dramatic Tone, introduced on Olympus' flagship E-5 DSLR, mirrors the results achievable from compacts that offer high dynamic range modes, and as it sounds can add mood and depth to shots that would otherwise look rather flat and uninteresting straight out of the camera.

Sony Alpha NEX-3

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 02:26:00 -0700

Promising digital SLR-type image quality from more compact proportions, the mirror-less interchangeable lens 'compact system camera' (CSC) market is undergoing a period of exceptional growth. It kicked off with Panasonic's introduction of the DSLR-styled G1 in late 2008, and was followed by the more obviously compact camera styled Olympus Digital Pen E-P1 mid 2009, which seemed to be what we'd all been waiting for. In 2010 we saw Samsung also enter the fray with its NX series (fielding both DSLR and compact styled models) and Ricoh introduced the modular GXR system on which both lens and sensor were swappable in tandem.
Sensing opportunity, it was less of a surprise therefore when Sony pitched in with the announcement of its own NEX series last summer, a sub-brand of the existing Alpha digital SLR series. The Alpha NEX-3 and NEX-5 were again mirrorless, again allowed the lens on the front of the camera to be swapped, and again claimed to offer DSLR image quality. In Sony's case this was down to a 14.2 effective megapixel resolution, APS-C sized Exmor HD CMOS sensor. This sensor is even larger than the so called Four-Thirds sensor used in the above Panasonic and Olympus models, so should produce even more detailed shots and cope better in dark enviroments. This is on top of the Four-Thirds sensor already being significantly larger than the chip in your regular compact. What's so amazing is that the NEX 3 and 5 have bodies even smaller than the micro Four Thirds cameras mentioned, and not much larger than said compacts. We reviewed the NEX-5 at the time but omitted its NEX-3 little brother, a 'wrong' we're righting here.

Sony generously sent us the NEX's twin lens kit, which includes the usefully general purpose 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 standard zoom and, for those looking for the most compact set up possible - that we just managed to squeeze into a jacket pocket - also a bright 16mm f/2.8 'pancake' lens. This proves a good starter combo to provide a fair amount of compositional opportunity out of the box. Whilst the standard zoom range is par for the course for a kit lens, the pancake option is a useful tool for taking wide angle shots of particularly high quality, and with pleasing de-focused background effects (bokeh). It also incorporates a whisper quiet AF motor.
Existing Alpha DSLR owners perhaps downsizing to the NEX are further directed to the LE-EA1 lens adapter, which enables around 30 Sony existing A-mount lenses plus older Konica Minolta camera lenses (which shared the same mount - Sony bought up KM's camera expertise in 2006) to be used. At the time of writing there were two further NEX-3 kits that came with camera body and either the 16mm lens or 18-55mm zoom for around £450.

Whilst the 18-55mm lens is optically stabilised to protect against the blurring effect of camera shake when shooting handheld at the telephoto end (or in low light), the 16mm lens isn't, which is the case also with the lens options provided for the recently reviewed Panasonic GF2, which directly competes with the NEX models. You thus may have guessed rightly that Sony hasn't built its SteadyShot Inside anti shake mechanism into the NEX-3's body, unlike on its Alpha DSLRs. As a result if you're buying longer focal length lenses, a stabilised model is a must. As to that unstabilised 16mm lens, it's fast enough that stability shouldn't be a problem for most photography.
Incidentally, the camera looks more the part with the physically narrower 16mm lens attached - with the longer zoom the appearance is certainly 'lens heavy' from front and side on.
The Sony NEX-3 differs from the pricier NEX-5 in the fact that not only is it slightly larger - 25.4mm in depth as opposed to 24.2mm for example - and sports a plastic body to its sibling's magnesium alloy build, but also in features, offering up 1280x720p MPEG-4 format video clips to its siblings' Full HD 1920x1080i in AVCHD format.

Like the Olympus Pen E-P1 and EP2, neither Sony model features a built-in flash nor optical viewfinder, though like its Olympus CSC rivals both attach via an accessory port (here a 'smart accessory terminal' rather than a standard hotshoe) as does an optional stereo microphone, though the body integral microphones also offer stereo sound. The flash is provided out of the box, a viewfinder isn't. The accessory port on the Sony, rather than being located above the LCD as on the Panasonic G-series and Olympus Pens, is instead hidden under a plastic-y top plate flap where you feel (and hope) on initial inspection that a pop-up flash might otherwise lie hiding. A one-touch video record button features top right of the backplate where it falls readily under the thumb as the camera is gripped in the palm of the right hand.
Either with or without lens, the NEX series is slightly odd looking, a bit 'basic' even, though the build is of the usual Sony high standard so it doesn't feel like the NEX-3 will disintegrate without tender loving care. It resembles a prototype that's been fast tracked to the shelves of your local camera emporium; its no-nonsense utilitarian appearance matched only by Ricoh's GXR modular system in that respect. Placed next to it, the Panasonic GF and Olympus Pen series certainly look both more appealing and more obviously camera like. One area where this is felt acutely is the hand grip, which although finished in an easy-grip rough texture, is flat and fairly unsupportive, making one handed operation difficult.

For those who want to get creative with their framing and compositional angles Sony has a slight advantage over the aforementioned models in that it features a tilting 3-inch LCD screen at the back. It can only be angled up or down however, and only a small amount as well. It cannot be flipped out at 90° to the body, nor turned to face in to face the body when inactive for added protection, as on the likes of Canon's PowerShot G12 or Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 for example. Though preferable to a completely fixed screen, it's a little stiff and inflexible so leaves plenty of room for improvement on future models.
Mirroring the wide angle aspect ratio of the back screen, the Sony shoots JPEG or Raw stills in a choice of 3:2 or 16:9 aspect ratios rather than the standard digital camera 4:3, so, in comparison, you end up with a slightly elongated image. Its maker suggests the LCD's TruBlack technology allows for easier viewing in all shooting conditions and certainly, when we were using the NEX-3 outdoors with the sun almost directly overhead, we didn't experience visibility problems. We didn't get a chance to try the, FDA-SV1, viewfinder option, but considering it costs around £140 we don't think many people will even consider it, no matter its merits.

Although there's mini HDMI output via a port on the slide and USB 2.0 connectivity also, Sony has omitted standard AV output alongside it, obviously hoping its customers don't use such archaic technologies. Another nod to modernism comes courtesy the 3D Sweep Panorama mode, which you will only be able to watch in its full stereoscopic 3D glory on a 3D TV.

Nikon Coolpix P90

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:38:00 -0700

Super-zoom bridge cameras have been getting a lot bigger recently. We've already taken a look at the Canon PowerShot SX10 IS (£300) and SX1 IS (£450), with their 20x zoom lenses, and the Olympus SP-590UZ (£275) with its massive but slightly impractical 26x zoom. I'll be reviewing the 20x zoom Casio EX-FS20 later this week, but today it's the turn of Nikon's variation on the theme, the 24x zoom, 12.1-megapixel Coolpix P90. It's Nikon's first full-size super-zoom since last year's Coolpix P80, and although it bears a superficial resemblance to that model, the P90 has a new body and a much better specification. It doesn't come cheap though; the P90 is currently selling for around £330.
At least you get a great-looking camera for your money. The P90 is the classic super-zoom shape, with a large rubber-coated handgrip, a large aluminium lens barrel and a prominent viewfinder turret with a pop-up flash. The lines of the body are clean and elegant, and the camera is very nicely proportioned. The build quality is up to Nikon's customary high standard, and although the body is made of plastic it feels strong and well made. It is, of course, only available in black.

The P90 is a large camera even by super-zoom standards, measuring 114 x 83 x 99 mm (W x H x D), although at only 490g including its 1100mAh Li-ion battery it's a lot lighter than the 4xAA-powered rivals from Olympus, Casio and Canon. The size and lightness make the camera very pleasant to handle, and the large handgrip and rubberised thumbgrip make it comfortable and secure to hold. The camera has a wide range of external controls, but they are well positioned to fall under the thumb and forefinger and are clearly labelled in white on black.

The most important element of a super-zoom camera is of course the lens. The P90 is equipped with a 24x zoom Nikkor lens equivalent to 26-624mm, with a maximum aperture of f/2.8-5.0. This is a close match to the 26x zoom 26-676mm f2.8-5.0 lens of the Olympus SP-590UZ. F/2.8 might sound fast, but remember that the P90 and SP-590UZ also both have small 1/2.3-inch sensors, which has an effect on relative aperture size. The P90 has sensor-shift image stabilisation to offset the inevitable camera shake problems associated with such a long focal length, and it does work very well, but even so the maximum zoom setting is frankly too long for reliable hand-held use, and like the SP-590UZ the P90 really needs to be mounted on a tripod for optimum performance.

Apart from the big lens, the P90's other most obvious feature is its three-inch tilting monitor. The screen can be tilted between 45 degrees downward and 90 degrees upward, for overhead or waist-level shooting. It's also very helpful if you have the camera mounted on a tripod. The screen is nice and sharp with a resolution of 230k dots, and has a good anti-reflective coating and five-level adjustable brightness. It works well outdoors in bright daylight, just to be sure but the camera also has a decent electronic viewfinder. It too has 230k dot resolution, and is larger and sharper than most of its rivals, with a nice clear data display. The viewfinder has a rather stiff rubberised surround and dioptre adjustment for glasses wearers.
The P90 is a proper bridge camera, with a wide range of manual control options, including aperture and shutter priority and full manual exposure. It has an SLR-style input wheel for exposure adjustment, and on-screen match-needle metering for accurate exposure. Aperture values from the maximum to f/8.0 and shutter speeds from eight seconds to 1/2000th of a second can be selected in 1/3EV increments. The input wheel can also be used to bias exposure in program auto mode, useful for quickly altering depth of field or shutter speed while maintaining accurate exposure.

Although in program auto and manual modes the P90 is a complex enthusiast's camera it does have an auto mode which is completely idiot-proof, with only two menu options available, for image size and quality.

I'm becoming quite fond of Nikon's camera menu interface. It's a model of simplicity, works quickly and intuitively, and appears to be adaptable for almost any camera, from simple point-and-click compacts to a sophisticated multi-mode camera like the P90. The three-page shooting menu includes all the usual options such as image size and quality, white balance, ISO setting, metering mode and AF mode, but also includes flash exposure compensation, auto bracketing, lens distortion correction and active D-Lighting to help with shadow detail. Noise reduction can be switched between On or Auto, and colour adjustments include a wide range of pre-sets as well as adjustable saturation, sharpness and contrast. Two preferred set-ups can be saved as user pre-sets and instantly accessed via the main mode dial.

There are also several features available in playback mode, including post-processed D-lighting, automatic quick retouch, rotating, resizing and an option to add a black border around images.

Unlike some of its rivals which can shoot HD video, the P90 only has a 30fps VGA video mode with mono audio and no optical zoom while shooting. However it does offer a couple of unusual features, including sepia and monochrome movies and an automatic time-lapse mode that shoots pictures at intervals and then turns them into 30fps movie clips, ideal for budding animators or shooting speeded-up scenes of flowers opening or mouse corpses being eaten by ants.