Tech Blog

Over the past two weeks, I've been bombarded by a great deal of new camera and lens news releases in preparation for the upcoming Photokina 2010 hosted in Cologne, Germany. Photokina actually starts on September 21, but the photo giants have been preparing with releases of some of the most anticipated SLRs and lenses for 2010.

Canon announced the launch of the EOS 60D DSLR camera today, something which might greet all but camera geeks as "yeah so", until you look at what it has under the hood. We have the impressive 18MP resolution, +/-5 exposure, 9 point AF, full HD recording, up to 6400ISO and a very nice 5.3 frames per second as the "core features", but what I'm looking at in their press materials that caught my eye are the on-board editing capabilities. Just today I was doing some shooting and for the first time I used my iPad as the "proof screen" of sorts. This worked really well, and I certainly wouldn't change too much, but this Canon just got me thinking…what if I wanted to do some of the work on the shots before I imported them?

Canon just announced the successor to the much loved PowerShot S90--the new and improved PowerShot S95. The camera has been updated in several ways but still keeps the title of being a "serious photographer's compact" with full manual control... 

I’m all for dual-use technology when it can work equally well in both functions. Of course, the quest for a digital camera or camcorder that can capture excellent footage and shoot high-quality photos is still ongoing. But it’s still nice to see that camera manufacturers have come a long way from just being megapixel pushers. Hence, why I bring up the Nikon S1100pj and its secondary role as a portable projector.

As you might have guessed from yesterday's post, I really liked the features and form factor in the FX700. See while I have two (yes two, hush) Nikon DSLRs, I don't take them out a lot to parties or out and about terribly often. Why? They are pretty darn big. And heavy. So the little Samsung I tried a while back was great. Light, powerful, a good set of features…but you know it wasn't a lot of camera for me. You know, it wasn't quite as pro as I would have liked. I think, however, the LX700 will fit the bill. No, it's not a bargain camera, but something that records in full HD as well as an F/2.2 lens doesn't come cheap. On the other hand, given some of the advanced features including the really cool touchscreen, I think it's a pretty good deal.

This morning (thank you Laura!) I got to attend a media briefing from Panasonic on the improvements on their G series cameras (pro-sumer cameras with removable lenses) and Lumix series. Tomorrow I'm going to get into the cool cameras and which I would love to see appear in my house, but tonight the word is: touch. As in touch screens. As in cameras that, I think, have some very, very usable features in them and with a touch screen that makes sense—and even works like you'd expect!

I’ve tried and tested just about every Flip pocket video camera that has been released in Canada going back about two years. For a brand that helped create a unique product category, there should’ve been a little more risk-taking, especially after Cisco’s acquisition of Pure Digital, the Flip makers. It’s time for a waterproof Flip pocket cam.

The challenge for the Flip MinoHD is for it to make the case for you to take it with you. Chances are you own a smartphone - and if you’re a Future Shop customer, it’s probably a pretty sexy smartphone with lots of GBs, a video camera app, and a data package that lets you upload stuff to YouTube. That’s a lot for the MinoHD to overcome, so the question is: should you take it with you? Read more...

SanDisk was recently nice enough to send me a 32GB Class 10 SDHC card with 20MB/s read and write speeds to play with. Now then, this isn't one that I've seen on their site yet, so I don't know if it's an upcoming card, but speed and class wise, it shares traits from both their Extreme III and Extreme 30MB/s Class 10 cards.

So finally, should I jump on board this new camera trend, or just stick with the more traditional entry-level DSLRs? When testing the camera, a friend posed this question: "but there has to be something this [NEX-5] can't do that a fully fledged DSLR can do?" "True", I said. "It cannot make that clunking sound of the mirror going up and down that a DSLR makes, simply because there is no mirror. That's about it". Read more...

Most notably, the digital trimmings on the NEX-5 include a HDR and panorama function. These probably appeal more to point & shoot audience buying the NEX-5 than DLSR users buying the camera. My main grief with these kinds of shooting modes (on any camera) is that the original footage is processed in-camera and thrown away, so you only have the finished image. Read more...

Regardless of the fact if you currently shoot with a point & shoot or DSLR, the image quality of the NEX-5 is fan-tas-tic! Sony's 14mp EXMOR sensor does not disappoint. Read more...

Jet-lag is gone, laundry is done, and the biggest problem of the day is no longer if you want a drink before going in the pool, or have that drink after being in the pool. Back from a two and half week vacation where Sony kindly lent me their new interchangeable lens camera, the NEX-5, I have now had a chance to go through 45gb of video material and 1,258 photographs, and draw my conclusions on this new camera from Sony. Read more...

The first Flip Ultra pocket video camera started a trend that hasn’t really abated at all over the last few years. Who could argue with a device that only had a few buttons, and used the same one to start and stop a recording? These days, they’ve all gone HD, and this latest effort from Flip is a decent step in that direction.

Panasonic makes great digital cameras. It may not be the first brand name that comes to mind when you think of solid point and shoot cameras, but that could be because they put more money into their research and development than the do in large ad campaigns. For years Panasonic has been producing incredible point and shoot cameras with cutting edge technologies like MEGA O.I.S. and Intelligent Auto–in some cases months and even years before their competitors. Read more...