Saturday, August 30, 2008

Samsung have announced plans to launch a brand new camera system that’s a cross between a DSLR and a compact camera. Samsung Hybrid cameras will feature an APS-C sized sensor, removable lenses that are smaller than current DSLR lenses, and a framing combination of electronic viewfinder and rear LCD screen. According to the report by Amateur Photographer, the first Samsung Hybrid model will be based on the same 14 megapixel sensor that’s used in the Samsung GX-20 DSLR, and will be launched in Spring 2010. Samsung’s announcement comes just weeks after Olympus and Panasonic unveiled plans for Micro Four Thirds, a very similar system to Samsung Hybrid. ‘Although we want to make the new system affordable, we are concentrating on achieving professional quality with this system. The most important point is that this is very successful in the market. A difference between Samsung’s system and Micro Four Thirds will be that Samsung will have a much bigger sensor.’ commented Samsung Techwin Executive Vice President Byung Woo Lee, who also clarified that Samsung’s Hybrid standard has no connection to Micro Four Thirds.

So what do you think? Is the announcement of the second brand new camera system in as many months a good thing? Who will win - Micro Four Thirds, Samsung Hybrid, or neither?

Website: Samsung reveals new Hybrid digital camera system to rival Micro Four Thirds

Friday, August 29, 2008

The Lowepro Flipside 400 AW is a new high performance camera backpack. The main compartment in the Flipside 400 AW will hold a professional DSLR with up to a 300mm lens. There is also room for four to six more lenses and accessories such as memory cards. Lowepro’s unique patented All Weather Cover provides weather resistance against rain, dust and snow. The new Lowepro Flipside 400 AW is available now in two colours – Black and Pine Green - priced at £119.

Click to continue...

Digital Infrared Photography is a new book shows you how to record the invisible part of the light spectrum. This compact guide to infrared photography shows the beauty of infrared imagery while it teaches how to shoot these images with your digital camera. Digital Infrared Photography provides the basic theoretical background, information on cameras, filters and equipment, and lots of guidance on how to do infrared photography from image capture to post-processing. Digital Infrared Photography costs $24.95.

Click to continue...

A new range of Marumi lens hoods for Canon lenses is now available. Marumi lens hoods are an alternative to Canon’s own brand products, with a quality black plastic construction and bayonet fittings that can be reversed over the lens for storage when not in use. 11 different lenses are currently supported, and prices range from: £9.99 to £24.99 RRP Inc. VAT.

Click to continue...

TrustedReviews have reviewed the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5, a 9 megapixel update of Panasonic’s best-selling camera ever, the TZ3.

“Panasonic’s recent cameras have shown significant improvement in image quality, and the TZ5 continues this trend, although image noise is still something of a problem at higher ISO settings. There is a noise-like pattern visible in darker areas even at 100 ISO, although this may be an artefact of the image processing. Oddly shots at 200 ISO actually appear slightly cleaner, but the noise reduction kicks in at 400 ISO and fine detail begins to deteriorate. At 800 ISO the image looks like it’s been blurred and re-sharpened a few times, and at the maximum 1600 ISO colour reproduction is very poor and the image quality is very poor.”

Website: TrustedReviews - Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 Review

Website: Read our Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5 Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the 11 megapixel Fujifilm FinePix S100FS, described by Fujifilm as “its most advanced DSLR-styled camera to date”.

“FujiFilm has delivered a well rounded Prosumer model. With powerful features like the manually operated 14.3x FUJINON zoom lens, 11-megapixel image sensor, Dual IS, 2.5-inch Tiltable LCD, over 3fps burst capture at full resolution (during our tests), CCD-RAW capture mode, and loads of exposure options, the S100FS is a versatile digital camera. However, with an MSRP of US$799, it’s expensive.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Fujifilm FinePix S100FS Review

Website: Read our Fujifilm FinePix S100FS Review

Steves Digicams have reviewed the Fujifilm FinePix S1000fd, the world’s smallest 12x optical zoom digital camera.

“The S1000fd’s shooting performance results were a bit disappointing. From power-on to the capture of your first image takes about 3.2 seconds. Shutter delay, the elapsed time between pressing the shutter and capturing an image, was about 1/10 of a second when pre-focused, and between 5-8/10 of a second including autofocus time. The Shot to shot delay averaged about 4.6 seconds without flash, and 5 seconds with flash. One annoyance I found was, the LCD/EVF blacks out in between shots with and without the flash while the image is being processed, which is a critical time for framing the next shot.”

Website: Steves Digicams - Fujifilm FinePix S1000fd Review

Thursday, August 28, 2008

The Sony Cyber-shot T500 is a new 10 megapixel digital camera that can also shoot HD movies. Video is recorded at 1280x720 pixels at 30fps in the MPEG4 AVC/H.264 format, with a continuous shooting time of up to 10 minutes per clip. The Sony T500 also features a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with 5x optical zoom and optical image stabiliser and a large 3.5-inch touchscreen LCD. Available in a choice of piano black, silver and red finishes, the Sony Cyber-shot T500 will be available from October 2008.

Click to continue...

Nikon and Microsoft have signed a patent cross-licensing agreement to further the development of each company’s current and future product lines. Nikon’s digital cameras and other consumer products from both companies are included in the agreement. “At Nikon, we want to continue to lead the industry in pioneering photography solutions and give our customers access to innovative technology,” said Naoki Tomino, Director, Member of the Board, General Manager of Intellectual Property Headquarters at Nikon. “This agreement is a natural extension of our longstanding relationship with Microsoft and we look forward to collaborating and bringing exciting new products to the market.”

Click to continue...

Blow Up 2 is a new version of Alien Skin Software’s photo resizing plug-in for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. New features in Blow Up 2 include a new user interface that simplifies cropping and resizing, presets, smart cropping, adaptive sharpening, and built-in batch processing. Blow Up 2 sells for $249 USD with an upgrade price of $99 USD for registered users of Blow Up 1.

Click to continue...