Photography

I’ve long been a fan of Sony’s digital camera range. Partnering their undoubted electronics expertise with the respected name of Carl Zeiss optics has produced consistently class leading results.

The DSC-N1 is the latest in a long line of Sony digicams and has most of the features associated with a high end camera: 8 megapixels, a video mode, a range of manual controls and a 3.8x zoom lens covering a 38mm-114mm range.

It also goes to ISO 800 - I’d like to see the noise performance of that!

The big news on this camera is the touch screen, allowing you to pick a focus point by touching it on the screen as well as operate the standard menu functions It’s an interesting idea - could make for a nice UI. It could make for an expensive repair when you drop it too!

RRP is $499, more details at sonystyle.com

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New cameras appear from all corners on an almost daily basis but the DSC-R1 from Sony is worthy of some attention. It’s the latest and greatest model in Sony’s line of “prosumer” digital cameras and it’s got a few very interesting features:

- An APS-C sized sensor. To put it simply the sensor is responsible for capturing the incoming light from the lens and turning it into an image. Bigger sensors = better picture quality and this sensor is the same physical size as the ones Canon and Nikon put in their SLR’s! This is a first for the smaller digital cameras.

- The bigger sensor gives them more room to play with, so they used it wisely. The DSC-R1 has 10.3 megapixels which makes it completely unique.

- A 24-120mm (35mm equivalent) Carl Zeiss zoom lens. Zeiss make some fine optical glass and Sony have partnered with them before on their high end models to very good effect.

DPReview have the lowdown and a hands on preview.

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Over the past 5 years digital cameras have been gaining popularity amongst photography enthusiasts and everyday Joe’s alike. So it is no wonder that digital picture frames have now slowly began to catch on.

With a digital photo frame, you are able to have a number of images available with easy to use flash cards. You can have the images scrolling, or just have your favorite picture set. The frames also provide many other exciting features such as the possibility of internet connection. Imagine checking the weather or your email via your picture frame? (Ok that doesn’t sound too exciting, but you get the point). Read the rest of this entry »

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I’m a bit late to the party on this one as it was announced yesterday, but Nikon have launched a couple of new digicams with WiFi connectivity. “Cool” I thought as I went burrowing for details, but having given it some thought and had a look at the scant information about how they’ll work I’m not so sure.

To get the basic stuff out of the way the P1 and P2 are 8 and 5 megapixel cameras respectively, with what looks like a good set of automatic and manual features. A 36mm-126mm equivalent zoom lens is fitted, Video recording is on offer at a range of resolutions and frame rates and a “electronic vibration reduction” mode looks interesting. Having used and been mightily impressed with optically stabilised lenses I’d like to see what the electronic version would be like.

The full set of specs can be found here
Nikon P1 specs

The real difference of course between these and the other cameras in this space is the WiFi facility and this is the part I’m not too sure about.

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Digital SLR’s are great, but the one advantage even cheap point and shoot cameras have over them is the ability to swivel the screen and take photos from over your head in a crowd which is why this cought my eye. The “Zigview” is an angled LCD monitor that slots over the camera viewfinder to show what the camera is seeing on the screen. It rotates so it can be used for either low or high level photography.

Looks like a neat solution to the problem. It’s compatible with most of the current range of digital SLRs and you can buy it in the UK from warehouse express.

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