Inspiring ways to improve your photos
Inspiring ways to improve your photos
Photo Review Reviews section
The DSC-H1 Cyber-shot is Sony’s first entry in the competitive, image-stabilised, ultra-zoom digicam market. Designed for photo enthusiasts, the 5-megapixel H1 provides a generous suite of controls and can record JPEG stills with 4:3 or 3:2 aspect ratios plus MPEG movie clips at 30 frames/second with VGA quality.
[ia] Sony’s Cybershot DSC-F828 has similar ‘SLR-like’ styling to the DSC-F717 but is larger, weighs roughly 250 grams more and its 28-200mm (equivalent) Carl Zeiss T* lens is better integrated into the body, making the camera more comfortable to operate. The lens barrel can be tilted up through 70 degrees and down to 30 degrees and has rings for zooming and focusing. The mode dial carries P, A, S, M and full auto positions, movie and playback modes, plus a scene setting covering landscape, portrait, twilight and twilight portrait shots. Three AF settings are provided: multi-point, centre AF, and flexible spot AF, selected via the joystick multi-selector. Sony’s NightShot and NightFraming modes are included, the former delivering a grainy monochrome image captured in infrared light and the latter using the hologram emitter to provide a range for the focusing system and flash.
A mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera with a high-resolution APS-C sized sensor, sophisticated controls and both 3D and Full HD video recording.Sony has taken the 23.5 x 15.6 mm 24.3-megapixel Exmor sensor it used in the Alpha SLT-A77 and installed it in a compact camera body to produce the NEX 7. It has also built a high-resolution, 1.3 cm XGA OLED electronic viewfinder into the new camera body, along with a proprietary hot shoe that accepts Sony’s flash guns. Further adjustments have been made to allow the NEX 7 to match (or exceed) the capabilities of many DSLR cameras while retaining a small, almost pocketable camera body.
A distinctively-styled, ultra-compact, interchangeable-lens camera that can record Full HD video clips with stereo soundtracks.Although Sony claims its new NEX-5 as the world’s smallest and lightest interchangeable-lens camera, this can only apply to the camera body itself, which is similar in size and shape to Sony’s H-series digicams. Attach the low-profile E 16mm f/2.8 (SEL16F28) ‘pancake’ lens and the camera remains just pocketable; fit the E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (SEL1855) zoom lens and you’d be hard pressed to get the camera into a jacket pocket.
A sister model to Sony’s NEX-5 interchangeable-lens camera with the ability to record 720p HD video clips with stereo soundtracks.The main difference between Sony’s NEX-3 and the more expensive NEX-5 model we reviewed in June lies in the video recording system. Whereas the NEX-5 uses the AVCHD format and can record Dolby Digital soundtracks, the NEX-3 uses the less efficient MP4 compression system for video and MPEG-4 AAC-LC for audio. The NEX-5 is also Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) compliant while top video resolution for the NEX-3 is 1280 x 720 pixels.
A pocketable, advanced digital camera with a large Foveon X3 Direct Image Sensor and few automated functions.Although many photo enthusiasts have been looking forward to Sigma’s DP2 since the camera was first revealed at Photokina 2008, we’ve had to wait almost eight months to see a review unit. Physically and technologically similar to the original DP1 model (which Photo Review reviewed in March 2008), the DP2 comes with a standard-range lens that is considered more suitable for snapshots and portraits.
A pocketable camera with a large Foveon sensor that delivers rich, natural-looking colours plus a wide dynamic range and supports raw file capture.Sigma’s DP1x features the same 20.7 x 13.8 mm Foveon X3 sensor and wide angle lens as Sigma’s first large-sensor compact camera, the DP1, which was released just over three years ago. This recent update is largely cosmetic and combines the rear panel interface design of the DP2s with the True II processor from the DP2. It also introduces a revised autofocusing algorithm.
The first compact digital camera with a relatively large image sensor.We’ve been waiting for Sigma’s DP-1 digital camera for approximately 18 months. First announced at Photokina in September 2006, it has been withheld from the market through what Sigma describes as “unforeseen image quality problems which resulted in a requirement to change the specification of the camera’s imaging pipeline”. But it’s here now – and a very interesting camera it has turned out to be.
Pentax’s first super-zoom digicam offers high-speed continuous shooting and 720p HD video recording.Pentax enters the competitive super-zoom market with the X70, a 12-megapixel digicam with an advanced suit of controls and a 24x optical zoom lens. Covering a focal length range equivalent to 26-624mm in 35mm format, the lens boasts a fast f/2.8 maximum aperture at the widest position and the camera includes an ‘Intelligent Zoom’ function that can extend magnification to 150x, providing an equivalent focal length of approximately 3900mm at VGA resolution. Sensor-shift image stabilisation and a 2.7-inch monitor are other key features.
An upgrade to Panasonic’s popular enthusiast digicam flagship with improved ergonomics, autofocusing and image quality.The enthusiast digicam market has changed in the two years since Panasonic released its popular DMC-LX3 Lumix digicam and the new LX5 model faces tough competition both from high-end digicams from other manufacturers and the new Micro Four Thirds cameras released by Panasonic and Olympus. To meet this challenge, Panasonic has improved the user interface on the LX5 and increased the range of the zoom lens to the equivalent of a 90mm lens in 35mm format.
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