What's New - January 2010

 

 

January 31

All-in-One Printer Review: HP Photosmart Premium
It scans, it prints, it faxes, all with a gorgeous touchscreen interface. But that interface can run apps hosted on HP servers, too. What sets the HP Photosmart Premium apart from other all-in-one devices is its ability to run small print apps hosted on the Web that format information as diverse as movie tickets and product comparisons for two-sided printouts. Only a few companies (but more than the initial very few) have developed print apps for their sites. HP hasn't yet released the software developer's kit to any but a few partners. But we describe some of the more useful apps in our review (like Snapfish) before continuing with a consideration of the unit's scanning and printing capabilities. HP's touchscreen interface is really the bright, shining star of this unit, though. It's well thought-out, easy to navigate and provides helpful animations of tasks like installing ink cartridges. Read our exceptionally long HP Photosmart Premium review for the whole story.

 

January 25

Express Review posted for Casio EXILIM EX-FC150!
All cameras capture "a moment in time," but the Casio EX-FC150 can not only capture more moments than most, it can go back in time and grab the moment you actually wanted when you pressed the shutter button. With a 5x zoom and a backlit 10-megapixel sensor, the Casio EX-FC150 has even more tricks up its sleeve, including the ability to capture up to 40 frames per second at 9-megapixels, and high-speed video capture ranging from 120 to 1,000 frames per second! The FC150 will also help you in low light situations where you'd normally have to crank up the ISO into fuzzy-image territory: Just switch to High Speed Night Scene or High Speed Anti-shake mode and the Casio FC150 will capture several images then align them in-camera to form one very clean image. Click here for more on the intriguing Casio EX-FC150.

 

January 22

First test shots posted for Canon 1D Mark IV!
We've just posted our first set of test shots from a production-level Canon EOS-1D Mark IV digital SLR, straight from the lab. The 1D Mark IV is a direct replacement for the company's previous 1D Mark III model, which has now been officially discontinued and will no longer be available once existing stock is cleared from the retail channel. The Canon1D Mark IV supplements its predecessor's functionality with significant improvements in a number of areas. Perhaps most significant are the Mark IV's use of a new CMOS image sensor and dual DIGIC 4 image processors, which together have allowed Canon to offer both an increase in image resolution to 16.1 megapixels, along with a huge step forwards in the camera's ISO sensitivity range which now reaches as high as an expanded ISO 102,400 setting. Other enhancements include a revamped autofocus system, full HD video, support for UDMA cards, and much more. See our Canon EOS-1D Mark IV Preview for more details, and the Canon 1D Mark 4 Samples page for all the test images we've shot so far, including links to select RAW files. Look for more Canon 1D Mark IV test shots from the lab in the coming days!

 

January 16

All-in-One Printer Review: Epson Artisan 810 II
It does everything but scan film...and by everything, we mean the Epson Artisan 810 can print gorgeous photos, two-sided documents, printable CD/DVD media and a variety of templates; scan any letter-size original on either its glass bed or automatic document feeder; read any flash memory card; connect to any PictBridge digicam (or even a Bluetooth dongle); and network wirelessly or via Ethernet. [Breathless] And it does it with six-color Claria dye-based inks at high resolution, scanning at high resolution in 16-bit channels and wirelessly scanning quickly at that. But it's a big squat box, more an employee than a roommate. And, naturally, we had our little adventures with it, making one or another mistake despite the very large touch screen desperate to help us. But as we solved our problems our admiration for the Artisan increased. Read our Epson Artisan 810 review for the full story.

 

January 15

Full Review posted for Canon EOS 7D!
The Canon EOS 7D stands alone. It's a digital SLR camera that can capture 18-megapixel images at 8 frames per second and 14-bit depth, with a quite usable ISO range from 100 to 12,800. The Canon 7D offers Live View, full manual exposure control while recording movies, Full HD movie recording, a new 19-point, all-cross-type autofocus system, a near-100% optical viewfinder, and built-in support for controlling up to three groups of Speedlite strobes. You can choose from one or two of those items with other cameras from Canon and other manufacturers, but if you want it all in one body, the Canon 7D is your only choice at any price. Printed quality is nothing short of astonishing, with images from ISO 100 to 800 looking great when printed at 20x30 inches. That you can get it all for $1,699 is pretty amazing. Click here to read our review of the Canon 7D.

Printer Review: Canon Pro9500 Mark II
"Professional printing performance for large archival photos..." That's how Canon describes its PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II pigment-based, 13x19-inch printer. We were more inclined to use the word, "Wow!' But as we used this well-built printer that gave us the best pigment prints we've ever made, we discovered the nuances of pigment printing. And we also found out the gap between dyes and pigments has narrowed since we first tripped into it. Not only are dyes longer lasting but Canon's pigment inks showed improvements over other pigments in metameric failure, bronzing and even glossy printing. Our full Canon PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II review has all the details.

 

January 3

All-in-One Printer Review: Canon PIXMA MP640 !
Canon's entry-level multifunction device adds duplex printing and picks up the speed. It's just a little bigger than the MP620 we called "quite a deal" in our review a year ago, but a new print head design makes the new MP640 much faster. Canon has also added duplex printing to the MP620, bumping the price up just a bit. But that's not all that's new and improved with the MP640, we found out. Canon has also streamlined both the print head alignment process and wireless network setup for this unusually capable entry-level device. About all we're left wishing for is a touch screen but meanwhile the scroll wheel will do. Read our Canon PIXMA MP640 review -- including two galleries detailing installation and WiFi setup -- for all the details.

 

January 2

Test shots posted for Sony A500!
We've just posted an almost complete set of test shots taken with the Sony A500 digital SLR camera. The Alpha A500 is based around a 12-megapixel Sony Exmor CMOS image sensor, with ISO sensitivity ranging from a minimum of 200 to a maximum of 12,800 equivalent. Like its 14-megapixel A550 sibling, the Sony A500 features a 3.0-inch, articulated LCD display which can be tilted vertically upwards or downwards, however the screen's resolution is 230K dots instead of the A550's 922K dots. The Alpha DSLR-A500 is capable of shooting bursts of five frames per second through the optical viewfinder, or four frames per second in live view mode, but does not offer the seven frames per second mode the Alpha A550 has. See our Sony A500 Hands-on Preview for more details, and the Sony A500 samples page for all the test images we've shot so, including links to select RAW files. We'll be adding the missing far-field test shots in the near future.

Site Map | About Us | | Advertising | Privacy Policy | Usage Policy | Home

Imaging Resource © 1998 - 2012. Material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted or otherwise used without the prior written consent of .