February 22 Full
review posted for Canon EOS-D60!
Who'd have known? It looks like the real fireworks at next week's PMA show will
be in the "semi-pro" digital SLR arena. Nikon announced their new
6 megapixel D100 yesterday morning, today it's Canon's turn, with their new
6 megapixel EOS-D60. Neither company has yet committed to a price (looks like
one of those "no, after you..." standoffs), but the rumors I've heard
on the street suggest that they're going to be *extremely* aggressively priced.
You can bet that neither company will take a back seat to the other on pricing
for this critical product.
That said, I haven't seen a D100 yet, but have had hands on a prototype D60
now, and am very impressed with resolution and color on it. I had only a single
day with a "shootable" unit, and it turned out that there was an exposure-metering
problem in that sample that complicated getting good exposures. I do have a
moderately complete range of my standard test shots snapped with it, and even
a handful of random "non-standard" shots for folks who'd like to see
what photos of more "natural" subjects look like. More will likely
need to wait for a production-level model, but what's here now makes the camera's
potential clear. Color is clear and accurate, and the sensor has the low noise
and generally beautiful tonality we first saw in the D30. (The prototype's default
tone curve was a tad contrasty however.) And resolution - The D60 now holds
the crown of the highest-resolution camera I've tested to date.
All in all, this looks like a really exceptional offering, and you can bet
there's going to be some fireworks over pricing: Last year I made much of the
D30's obviously highly modular design, and it looks to me like the D60 will
reap the benefits of that. It's clearly based on the same body design, which
means Canon has had a year or so to work off the engineering costs associated
with it. Canon should have a fair bit of room to work the price issue, given
that there's really relatively little tooling cost associated with this new
unit. - And I fully expect them to take advantage of that fact. Neither Canon
nor Nikon have yet shared price information with me, even under nondisclosure,
so I'm free to speculate. Even at that, I won't repeat the prices I've heard
rumored on the street for the new models. They're so low I don't want to carry
*that* much egg on my face if the rumors prove wrong. I do think though, that
the prices will startle many in the industry. (I expect Nikon to lead with a
price announcement sometime early in the PMA show, and Canon to follow quickly
behind. All speculation on my part though, we'll just have to see.) Meanwhile,
check out my review of the new D60!
February 21 First
Look review posted for Nikon Coolpix 2500!
I (and no doubt many others) have always thought of Nikon as a "serious"
camera company, associating their name with industrial-strength hunks of black-coated
titanium and optical glass. The lower end of their Coolpix digicam line has
somewhat belied that image over the last year or two though, with products specifically
tailored for the more mass-market picture taker. (Witness their very popular
Coolpix 775 and 885, for instance.) Now though, they've gone beyond mere ease
of use to true style, with what has to be one of the prettiest cameras I've
ever reviewed. The new Coolpix 2500 looks like some sort of a cross between
a sleek cell phone and a lady's shaver, but whatever you call it is just a delight
to look at. At the risk of being labeled a sexist, I'm inclined to think of
this as a "girl" camera, but Nikon's imaging heritage guarantees it'll
be more than just a pretty face. At this point, I've had hands on a prototype
model that was fully functional, but which Nikon wasn't yet done tweaking the
image parameters (color, tone, and sharpness processing) , so they asked me
not to share photos from it on the site. I did put together a pretty comprehensive
First Look on it though. Check it out,
this is definitely a camera that begs to be brought along!
February
20 "First
Look" review (with sample photos) posted for Sony DSC-P31!
Well, it's a few days before spring PMA again, and Sony once again leads off
the action with a flood of new product announcements - no fewer than *5* this
time. The announcements cover three new compact Cyber-shot models, and two new
CD Mavicas. First up is the new little DSC-P31, a two megapixel Cyber-shot with
a fixed focal length lens. Nice, cheap ("anticipated retail price"
is only $220), and what looks like pretty good picture quality as well. (Our
test unit was a prototype, but Sony said it would be OK for us to share photos
taken with it. Final units may show some improvements in image quality though.)
One big departure for Sony is that these new units are powered by NiMH AA cells,
rather than Sony's own InfoLITHIUM cells. Too bad to see the InfoLITHIUMs go,
they give really long run times, but the NiMH AAs included with the units are
very high-capacity (I'll include some limited test data on them on my battery
test page after PMA), and the switch doubtless lowers the cost of the cameras.
The P31 looks like a great entry-level camera, with more than the usual assortment
of features we've come to expect at that price point. Check
it out!
"First
Look" review (NO sample photos though) posted for Sony DSC-P51!
This one is the slightly bigger brother to the DSC-P31. It's also a two megapixel
design, with very similar features, but sports a 3x optical zoom lens, and an
expected street price of $300. The P51 sample I tested was at an earlier stage
of development than the other new models they sent me, so Sony asked me not
to share test photos from it yet. - All the rest of the information is there
though, and this looks like a nice step up from the P31. (I *really* like zoom
lenses, think they add so much to the average person's photography that everyone
should spend the little extra to get one.) At $300 though, the P51 will have
more competition in the marketplace than the P31, competing against existing
units like Fuji's little FinePix 2600, which did very well this last Christmas
season. Like the P31, the P51 is also powered by AA batteries, and comes with
two of the high-power Sony cells and a charger. Check
it out!
"First
Look" review (with sample photos) posted for Sony DSC-P71!
Yeesh, this is starting to sound repetitive! *This* particular new Cyber-shot
sports a three megapixel sensor, a sharp 3x Zeiss lens, and a few more features.
It's slated to appear at a retail price of $400. (This is getting really good,
isn't it?- Full-featured three megapixel cameras at $400. Pretty neat...) Other
specs are similar to the lower end models mentioned above. - And like the others,
it has Sony's new "MPEG HQX" technology, which lets you record movies
up to the capacity limit of the Memory Stick! (No fixed buffer limits of 5,
10, or 15 seconds. - You can record literally minutes of digital action.) Check
it out!
Full
review posted for Sony CD Mavica MVC-CD250!
Sony's CD Mavica concept made quite a stir when the original MVC-CD1000 appeared
almost two years ago now. Last year, they updated and extended the line with
the CD200 and CD300. This year, they've both moved the line down in price, and
up in features and capabilities. The first new model is the MVC-CD250, a two
megapixel successor to the CD200, aimed at bringing CD Mavica technology down
the price curve, without sacrificing features. (Introductory price is stated
as "around $600.") Feature-wise, the CD250 is very similar to the
CD200 before it, but with two important additions. First, it has a huge (about
8 frame) buffer memory, so cycle times are *very* good. What's more, the buffer
memory allowed a "confirm before write" mode, in which you can examine
each photo after you take it, to decide whether you want to burn it onto the
CD or not. Both of these features topped the list of requests from former CD
Mavica owners, and constitute a big boost to the technology, IMHO. The other
significant addition is that these latest CD Mavicas use Sonys new MPEG HQX
technology to permit continuous video recording direct to the CD. - This gives
nearly 6 minutes of highest-quality video (with audio), and as much as 89 minutes
(!) in the low-resolution "SQ" mode. Zounds! Not quite a digital camcorder
(Sonys dedicated camcorders capture higher quality video and (particularly)
audio, and are more versatile as well), but it's still a long step in the direction
of true "convergence" products. Very
cool, check the review for all the details!
Full
review (with sample photos) posted for Sony CD Mavica MVC-CD400!
Phew, finally at the end of Sony postings! This is a real corker to end with
though, a true "enthusiasts" camera using CD-Mavica technology. With
a 4 megapixel sensor and Carl Zeiss lens, the MVC-CD400 certainly has the chops
to qualify in the image-quality department. It doesn't stop there though, as
there are a host of other innovations and features as well. First among these
are the huge buffer memory, confirm-before-write mode, and looong movie recording.
"But that's not all..." as they say on the infomercials. - Sony has
also added their Hologram AF technology first seen on the F707, permitting flawless
focusing in pitch darkness. And (a drum roll, please) ... A flash hot shoe!
- This has been a personal crusade for me, trying to convince Sony to add a
hot shoe or other provision for a generic flash unit to their cameras, probably
the most frequent request I've seen from our readers relative to Sony's higher-end
cameras. The CD400 still has a connection for Sony's own (very nice) little
HVL-F1000 external flash, but now also supports the use of generic "dumb"
strobes, as well as studio strobe units (provided they have a low, safe trigger
voltage). I admit I'm a little strange, but it was actually exciting to plug
my old Sunpak cheapie auto-strobe atop the CD400 for our "indoor portrait"
test. Worked like a champ! Big kudos to Sony for finally opening up their cameras
for use with a full range of external strobe devices! Check
the review for all the details and sample photos as well! (Oh - right, the
price: "Around $900," a pretty good price point given all the capabilities
and CD Mavica technology as well.
February
16 Full
review of Olympus C-3020 posted!
I've had a lot of email asking about this one, as it took Olympus a little while
to get me a unit to test. I've finished reviewing it though, and now (finally)
have that review posted. The C-3020 is a replacement for Oly's very popular
C-3000 model, long one of my favorite recommendations to friends looking for
a good deal on a fully-featured digicam. The 3020 fills a niche with few real
competitors, as a bargain-priced three megapixel camera, but one having a very
full feature set. About all that's missing relative to the higher-end C-3040
Olympus model is an external flash connection, and a bit less buffer memory.
(Oh, and no sound recording for its movies.) It's a great "enthusiast"
camera, as it has a raft of features like spot metering, aperture or shutter
priority metering, and a full manual mode. Takes good pictures too, and the
list price is only $599. Check it out!
February
8 Full
Review posted for Fuji FinePix 2800!
I reviewed the Fuji 2600 Zoom last year and really liked what I saw. That model
offers about the best deal on the market for a two megapixel, 3x zoom-equipped
camera that takes good pictures. The 2800 uses much the same CCD and electronics,
but couples it to a 6x zoom lens for a retail price only $100 more than that
of the 2600. This makes it the best deal going for a camera with a 6x zoom lens,
and the photo quality is very much on a par with the 2600. If you want more
than the typical 3x zoom, but have a tight budget, the 2800 Zoom would make
an excellent choice. Check it out!
February 1 1/2 Catchup:
REALLY low light shots, EOS-1D, Nikon 5000, Olympus E20!
This seems to be catchup week at IR, as I'm finally clearing a lot of things
from my long-term "to-do" list. Today, it meant posting the results
of some *really* long time exposures I shot a little while back with several
high-end digicams. The shot at right is the obligatory "river of lights"
freeway shot, taken with the Canon EOS-1D, while the others (shot with the Nikon
5000 and Olympus E20 were taken in my backyard. (The EOS was the only one with
a lens that'd stop down enough to let me shoot the 2 minute + exposure I was
aiming for with the freeway shot.) The results are interesting, and I found
it quite amazing that we could actually contemplate 2 minute exposures
with a digicam! To see what the results looked like for each camera, check out
the picture-index pages for the Canon
EOS-1D, Nikon
Coolpix 5000, and Olympus
Camedia E-20N! (Note that you'll need to scroll toward the bottom of each
page to see the ultra-low light shots.)
More
Catchup: External
flash shots with Sony F707. (And connector
dimensions!)
Another catchup item: I've finally posted a test shot taken with Sony's nice
little HVL-F1000 external flash unit on the F707. While I'm generally no fan
of proprietary flash connections, I have to admit that the HVL-F1000 has some
things going for it, most particuarly that it apparently offers true TTL (through
the lens) flash metering when used with the F707. The lack of TTL metering is
one of the real deficiencies of prosumer digicams generally - Virtually all
use area sensors to meter the flash. Area sensors work OK if your subject and
background have the same reflectance, but not at all if you're zoomed in on
a light subject against a dark background (for instance). The HVL-F1000 seems
to do a nice job overall. Given my dislike for closed systems though, I went
as far as to carefully measure all the critical dimensions on the F1000's sync
plug. - This is an unusual four-circuit miniature phone plug, a configuration
I've not seen before. The flash itself uses a serial protocol to communicate
with the camera, via circuits A and B on the connector diagram at right. (Click
on the thumbnail for a large-scale drawing.) Click here
to see an example of what the F707 can do with the HVL-F1000 in my standard
indoor flash test. (Very nice.)
February 1 Inkjet
Paper Review: MediaStreet.com's Offerings!
Recently, a friend of mine who runs a well-known internet/mailorder photo products
business asked me to evaluate a range of inkjet papers made by MediaStreet.com.
He was interested in carrying the papers himself, but wanted an objective third-party
test of them first. He needed to know how compatible they were with different
printers, and how well they worked overall. Ever helpful, I said "Sure,
I'll get right on it", completely ignoring the typically absurd backlog
of other projects I had burning my toes at the time. It's thus now several months
later, but I finally did have a look at the MediaStreet papers, and ended up
quite impressed. Figuring that something approaching 100% of our readers are
inkjet users, I thought I'd write up the results of my testing to show on the
IR site. This article is a brief digest of several weeks of off-and-on testing
of a variety of MediaStreet's papers. The bottom line? I was so impressed with
MediaStreet's papers that I invited them to become a site sponsor of the Imaging
Resource: I'm very comfortable recommending them to all and sundry as an excellent
line of third-party papers, offering both a wider range of surfaces and better
prices than most manufacturer's proprietary formulations. Check
it out!
"First
Look" review posted of Minolta Dimage S404!
Last year, Minolta made a lot of waves in the high-end consumer digicam arena,
first with the introduction of their Dimage 7 and Dimage 5 cameras, and later
with the intro of their more bargain-priced (but still very full-featured) Dimage
S304. Now, they've updated the S304 with a four megapixel sensor, keeping all
the other "Dimage" technology, including the excellent 4x optical
zoom lens and very fine-grained control over contrast and color rendition. I've
just finished testing a prototype of the S404, and have posted a "first
look" review of it. - No photos to share yet (the color hasn't been tweaked
to final specs yet), but I did test and report on viewfinder accuracy, resolution,
lens distortion, and minimum macro coverage. Check
it out, stay tuned for a full review (including test photos) as soon as
I can get my hands on a "shootable" sample!
Catchup:
REALLY low light shots, EOS-1D, Nikon 5000, Olympus E20!
