Reviews
August 25th, 2009 by D-Photo
The latest Panasonic Lumix DMC LZ8 may only be an entry-level compact, but it comes with a big 8.1 million-pixel sensor as well as a 5x optical zoom that covers from 32mm wide-angle to 160mm telephoto. Mix this up with an intelligent auto setting that knows what you are shooting, as well as face detection, and you have a wonderful start to your image making.
Fizzy from the start
It’s not often I open a box and get overwhelmed with the contents, but this little Lumix is wonderful to hold and use. As a first camera this wee minx will do all the work in the intelligent auto setting, and when your confidence and curiosity grow it has aperture and shutter priority as well as full manual control so you can take over.
Intelligence beyond its years
Scene modes are cool. They let you look at what you are shooting and choose the right scene from a list that will suit the situation. There are 19 separate modes to choose from, but for someone who doesn’t know a portrait from a close-up then the intelligent auto will be a godsend, as it selects from Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Night Portrait and Night Scenery, and does it perfectly. It almost makes the need for other scene modes redundant, but this compact will breed inquisitiveness and you’ll want to delve into the array of scenes that include Sport and the long exposure Starry Sky. The Kids and Pets modes let you set the name and date of birth of your babies and pets, then informs you of their age and name each time you take a picture.
Simplified Menus
The LZ8 has a wonderful menu system with a shortcut button that gives you quick access to file size, ISO, white balance, AF mode, burst shooting, image stabilisation and LCD brightness. The default settings are good, but at some stage of using this camera you will want to make adjustments. There is also a zoom shortcut that instantly zooms out to maximum optical zoom with one touch of the button, then maximum digital zoom with a second press, while a third touch will bring the lens back full circle to the wide-angle setting. The zoom control on the shutter release allows you to zoom to where you want in smaller steps.
Inbuilt versus Cards
Having eight million pixels at your disposal will quickly gobble the 20MB of on-board memory, so it makes sense to get a memory card to go with this camera. Even here you have a choice, either SD or SDHC, and with the capability to make decent movies the SDHC card will be the better choice.
Conclusion
The Panasonic Lumix DMC LZ8 sports a beautiful Leica 5x optical zoom complete with Mega Optical Image Stabiliser, and an 8.1-million-pixel sensor. The intelligent features include intelligent ISO, which automatically detects motion and selects a higher ISO to lessen the chance of camera shake. This entry-level camera can be used as simply as you’d like in the intelligent auto setting, or you can take over completely with full manual exposure. What more could you ask for in a camera?
Specs
- Effective pixels: 8.1 million
- Lens: 5x optical 5.2-26mm
(35mm equiv, 32-160mm)
- Monitor: 2.5-inch TFT LCD
(230,000 pixels)
- Shutter: 60 to 1/2000 sec
- ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800,
1600, High Sensitivity Mode: Auto
(1600 – 6400)
- Shooting Modes: Program AE,
Aperture Priority AE, Shutter
Priority AE, Manual, Portrait,
Scenery, Sports, Panning, Night
Portrait, Self-Portrait, Food,
Party, Candle Light, Fireworks,
Starry Sky, Beach, Aerial Photo,
Snow, High Sensitivity, Baby 1&2,
Sunset, Pet, High-Speed Burst
- Exposure Metering: Intelligent
Auto, Centre Weighted, Spot
- Focus modes: Face, one-point,
one-point high speed, three-point
high speed, nine-point, Spot
- Media: 20MB onboard memory, SD, SDHC, MultiMediaCard
- File format: JPEG,
Motion JPEG AVI
- Interface: USB, A/V output
- Dimensions: 97.5 x 62 x 33.3mm
contact
www.panasonic.co.nz
Pros
- Leica 5x optical zoom starting
at 32mm
- Big 64mm screen with
brightness control
- Clever scene modes as well as
manual control
Cons
Design 18
Performance 18
Features 19
Image Quality 18
Value for money 19
TOTAL 92/100
This review is from D-Photo issue #024.
August 25th, 2009 by D-Photo
When Olympus announced it would up the standard zoom on its entry-level models from 3x to 5x I got excited… then it built the FE-340 with the bigger zoom, as well as face detect and a huge 2.7-inch screen. Now I’m delirious.
Bigger everything
Olympus’s jump in zoom range gives you the bonus of a whopping 180mm telephoto as well as the moderate wide angle of 36mm. The big telephoto sucks in subjects from further away and makes shooting sport or taking candid shots of the kids much easier. The screen has also been inflated in size, that 2.7-incher bulging with a credible 230,000 pixels for a very impressive image. The refresh rate is phenomenal, making flipping through reviewed images like watching a slide show.
Increased ISO
I am generally unimpressed with huge hikes in ISO sensitivity, but with the FE-340 the 3200 setting actually makes images that are almost useable. Usually the noise associated with high ISO is disastrous, but Olympus has finally figured out a logarithm that offers smoother rendering of the image without too much unsightly mosaicing. It still should only be used as a last resort, since images taken with this setting will only print without noticeable imperfections to 6×4.
Bigger, better movies
Olympus has struggled with video on most of its models, largely due to the inadequacies of the xD card, which can’t handle large doses of data at frantic rates. The company is trying to remedy this with yet another card with faster transfer rates, but we’ll have to wait and see how successful it is. This camera has a 640×480 30fps VGA movie setting that delivers smooth motion pictures, but for the limited time of 10 seconds. Slip the setting back to the 320×240 QVGA setting and you’ll fill a card with YouTube-quality video.
Picture this
The beauty of this little camera is the ease of use, a simple control dial and a great range of scene modes. These little pictorial scenes also come with an explanation of what they will do. If all else fails you can even use the guide that gives a series of picture ideas and hints, then directs you to the right setting. It will also shoot as close as 50mm in the Super Macro mode or 100mm in the standard macro setting, so every shooting situation from distant images to close-ups is covered.
Conclusion
The FE-340 has a superb screen and a very useful 5x optical zoom range. Marry this with the eight-million-pixel sensor and you have a starter camera to be proud of. The disappointment would have to be the xD card and its inability to record a decent amount of high-resolution video. The useful scene modes and easy-to-use control dial make operating this model a breeze. For most of us the quality of the images this little Olympus produces will be excuse enough to buy it.
Specs
- Effective Pixels: Eight Million
- Lens: 5x optical 6.3-31.5mm (36-180mm in 35mm terms)
- Monitor: 2.7-inch Hypercrystal LCD (230,000 pixels)
- Shutter: Four to 1/2000 sec
- ISO: Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
- Shooting Modes: Auto, Program, Anti Shake, Portrait, Landscape, Smile Shot, Action, Documents, Cuisine, Behind Glass, Fireworks, Sunset, Self Portrait, Candle, Indoor, Sport, Night Scene, Night Portrait, Guide, Movie.
- Focus Modes: Face detect,
iESP, Spot
- Media: 15MB onboard memory, xD card
- File Format: JPEG, Motion JPEG video
- Flash: Auto, Redeye, Fill-in, Off
- Batteries: Lithium-ion rechargeable
- Dimensions: 96.9 x 57.5 x 22.6mm
Contact
www.olympus.co.nz
Pros
- Better but not brilliant 3200 ISO setting
Cons
- Average face detect setting
Design 18
Performance 16
Features 17
Image Quality 18
Value for money 18
TOTAL 87/100
This review is from D-Photo issue #024.
August 18th, 2009 by D-Photo
Over at the input side of photography, engineers push ever onward to offer higher megapixel counts; while on the output side, printer boffins seem to be equally eager to increase the number of ink cartridges.
Three ink cartridges used to be enough. Then we went to four. Soon we had six, then eight colours became common on consumer-level printers. Now Canon’s PIXMA Pro 9500 offers no fewer than 10 14ml pigment-ink cartridges. The idea is to help produce better prints, just as the megapixel arms race helps enhance the quality of image capture.
The 9500’s manifest comprises cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan, photo magenta, red, green, matte black, photo black and grey, the last three suggesting that this might also be a competent monochrome printer. It’s capable of a maximum resolution of 4800x2400dpi using a three-picolitre droplet size.
Canon engineered the $1365 Pro 9500 robustly and its build quality is high. It sits lower than some competitors, but requires a reasonably large bench area when set up for work — about 70cm wide and 80cm deep. This is because the paper goes in at the back and comes out the front and larger sizes need pull-out supports. In addition to sheets of up to A3+ and 2mm thick, it prints on suitable CDs and DVDs in a special tray.
Setup was straight, clean and simple, although I found myself cursing Canon for not including a USB cable in the box. Also missing is a comprehensive printed manual; it’s all on screen.
The Pro 9500 will print directly from a digital camera via PictBridge and a USB cable that plugs into the printer’s front panel.
When evaluating a printer, I like to start with A4 glossy paper and move on from there. The first prints on Canon paper using Canon ink and the appropriate Canon profiles — with colour management by Photoshop CS3 — oozed
‘wow’ factor.
It was the richness of the colours rather than just being contrasty that made these prints stand out. This was evident in a Hong Kong street scene, a small part of which showed a sheet of plastic wrap in a rubbish bin. The gradation from light grey to white in the plastic was outstanding.
Moving to monochrome, the Pro 9500 gave the stellar performance hinted at by the contents of its ink cradle. It was particularly good on glossy paper; I needed to make small tweaks to get a little more punch from matte and flat specialty media.
Canon generously supplied a range of its Fine Art papers to try. These were Premium Matte, Photo Rag and Museum Etching. I wasn’t able to warm to the Rag — others probably will. However, I have nothing but praise for Premium Matte and Museum Etching. The latter is a thick, luxurious paper that’s a pleasure to handle and print on. It will enhance almost any type of image.
The Pro 9500 is a particularly quiet printer, though not the fastest on the block. It’s feature-rich, easy to use as produces gorgeous prints in colour or black and white.
Specs
- Size: (Stored) 660 x 353 x 193mm
- Printing technology: Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) 7680 nozzle print head
- Ink: Canon pigment matte black, photo black, cyan, magenta, yellow, photo cyan, photo magenta, red, green, grey
- Paper: Single sheet to 2mm thick, CD
- Resolution: 4800 x 2400 dpi
- Print size: 9 x 13 to 329 x 483mm (A3+)
- Print speed: approx 2 minutes 7 seconds A4 to four minutes A3
Contact
www.canon.co.nz
Pros
- Top build quality
- Excellent monochrome printing
- Quiet
Cons
- Slightly flat monochrome on
Fine Art papers
- No USB cable supplied
Design 17
Performance 18
Features 18
Image Quality 18
Value for money 18
Total 89/100
This review is from D-Photo issue #023.
August 18th, 2009 by D-Photo
Here’s a printer that showed huge potential, went astray, then proceeded to redeem itself.
Out of the box, the $1499 Hewlett-Packard B9180 seemed promising. A good-looking unit, its footprint is smaller than some rivals. The eight Vivera inks load easily in a compartment on the left side and the cartridges hold a reasonable 27ml, so you won’t be changing them quite as often when doing lots of big prints.
The inks are photo black, matte black, light grey, cyan, magenta, yellow, light magenta and light cyan.
The box includes an easily followed installation and start-up guide and a helpful 70-page printed manual. Installing the inks and four replaceable printing heads was easy. But then it started going bad.
The setup software wouldn’t recognise my copy of Photoshop CS3, so a potentially useful Photosmart Pro print plug-in couldn’t be installed. However, an updated version of the software was downloaded and all was fine.
After going through its closed-loop self calibration procedure and asked to print, the B9180 repeatedly warned that no paper was loaded, causing it to stall, even though its mechanism was picking up the sheets.
After triple checking everything and turning the unit and computer on and off several times, I turned the printer off and let it sit for half an hour. This must have reset something because it finally acknowledged the presence of paper.
Then the next gremlin struck. The printer kept reporting that the light cyan ink cartridge was faulty. This was temporarily remedied by removing and shaking it vigorously, then re-installing. It might then work for another print, maybe not, but it was chewing through paper and becoming annoying. Eventually, light cyan decided to settle down and it was time to see what the printer could do.
As if apologising for the glitches, the HP turned out print after print of outstanding quality; rich, pleasing colours with eye-stopping blacks and impeccable detail.
But there’s more. HP has a reputation for making printers that do good black and white prints, a stumbling block for some consumer-level products. True to reputation, the B9180 gave me some of the best monochromes I’ve made on a printer. Who’d mess around in a wet darkroom when you can get excellent results in the office?
No matter what type of paper fed to the printer, the results were impressive. If monochrome tickles your digital fancy, the B9180 is worth having just for that purpose alone.
I really liked the HP Photosmart Studio program that makes organising and printing photos about as easy as it can be. But most of the prints were made from Photoshop using the profile for the particular Hewlett-Packard paper, and letting Photoshop do the colour management.
Despite the early glitches, I’d be really happy to have a B9180.
Specs
- Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
- Size: (Stored) 673 x 429 x 241mm
- Printing technology: Electrostatic Drop Detection (NEDD) printhead management system, 8448 print nozzles
- Ink: Vivera pigment-based cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, light magenta, light grey, photo black, matte black
- Paper: Single sheets, 80 to 800g/m, 1.5mm thick
- Resolution: Up to 4800 x 1200dpi
- Print size: 9 x 13 to 329 x 483mm (A3+)
- Printing speed: Approx 90 seconds, A3.
contact
www.hp.co.nz
Pros
- Excellent colours and captivating black and white
- Reasonably large ink canisters
- USB printer cable supplied
Cons
- Not able to print from CDs
- Can’t print direct from camera
Design 15
Performance 17
Features 15
Image Quality 18
Value for money 16
Total 81/100
This review is from D-Photo issue #023.
August 18th, 2009 by D-Photo
Epson’s Stylus Photo R1900 brings to the party a set of new pigment-based UltraChrome Hi-Gloss2 inks that includes an orange cartridge to help deal better with skin tones. There’s also a gloss optimiser cartridge that sprays a clear overcoat on top of glossy paper to enhance the appearance that users of that medium favour.
This newest member of the Stylus Photo range is no shrinking violet. With input and output trays extended, the $1299 printer measures 60 x 41 x 78cm, so it needs a good workspace, especially as Epson suggests you put it at least 100mm from the wall when using longer papers.
Within that generous footprint lies a versatile machine. It can print on a wide range of paper types and sizes, either sheet-fed or on a roll; it can print directly onto suitable CDs and DVDs; it’ll print web pages; print from a scanner or directly from a digital camera that has PictBridge or USB Direct-Print.
Setting up was so simple I kept thinking I’d missed a step. But no, 20 minutes after pulling the big boy from its box, I was ready to push the button. It wasn’t supposed to be quite that quick. I had scoured the box for an instruction manual but there wasn’t anything beyond a fold-out setup guide.
Epson puts all its user information on a CD, and very clear it is to. But I miss a printed manual, which can be quicker and easier to use — and I was going to read it in bed that night to become a total expert before committing the first sheet of that big A3 paper. Printing the 59-page guide is always an option.
Whole books (and a good part of the Epson guide) have been written on colour management; it can be a huge and involved subject, but I wanted none of it. I get frustrated by the minutiae of colour profiles and related matters; I want a printer that gives the best possible result with the least fuss — in other words, instant gratification.
So I was delighted when the first print rolled out of the printer about 80 seconds after pushing the button. I had printed a TIFF from Photoshop exactly as it sat on the computer, except for assigning Epson’s glossy paper profile, letting Photoshop do the colour management.
The colours and contrast in the print were spot on, but overall the print was a little light. I tweaked the levels, tried again and got a print worth framing. It pays to take your time to save wasting paper and ink.
Some colours sometimes seem hard for inkjets to render well (blues and purples for example), but the R1900 with its new inks and a wide colour gamut took them in its stride.
Epson provided three types of its paper to try: Premium Semigloss, Premium Glossy, and Acid-Free Cotton Rag Velvet Fine Art in A3+. Each has its place but working with the thick (260g/m2) and luxurious Velvet was a tactile as well as visual treat. The prints were lovely, even though the R1900 is said to be optimised for glossy paper.
The simplest way to print is straight from a suitable camera via a USB port on the front. Epson makes the process simple and intuitive and I mostly couldn’t fault the quality of the prints that it sucked from the JPEGs in my dSLR.
Specs
- Size: (Stored) 616 x 322 x 214mm
- Printing technology: Micro Piezo eight-colour pigment inkjet, 180 nozzles x 8
- Ink: Epson UltraChrome Hi-Gloss two-pigment, photo black, matte black, yellow, magenta, cyan, red, orange, gloss optimiser
- Paper: Single sheet or roll to 0.11mm thick
- Resolution: 5760 x 1440 optimised dpi
- Print size: 9 x 13 to 329 x 483mm (A3+)
- Print speed: 44sec to 1min 32sec depending on size
contact
www.epson.co.nz
Pros
- USB printer cable supplied
Cons
- Black and white prints a little soft
Design 16
Performance 17
Features 18
Image Quality 18
Value for money 17
Total 86/100
This review is from D-Photo issue #023.
August 18th, 2009 by D-Photo
Canon has taken the idea of a medium range 6x optical zoom, added an image stabiliser and given it a flourish with huge 12.1 million pixel sensor and articulated 2.5-inch screen with enough manual control to please any keen photographer
Well built
The A650’s build quality is faultless. Control switches and buttons are all positive in action with icons that are easy to decipher. The back of the camera is dominated by the swivelling 2.5-inch screen that folds out for viewing and away to protect the screen when not required.
If you shoot architecture or landscapes where vertical and horizontal lines need to be straight then the grid lines are a handy assistant. You can also get the camera to show you a 3:2 ratio ghosting so you know when you’ll crop heads off in a 6×4-inch print.
The A650IS runs on AA batteries. It comes with two Alkalines but you’ll want to invest in rechargeables if you plan to use this camera a lot. Power consumption isn’t huge thanks to the use of SD cards, and you can use the new SDHC models for more capacity.
Focus on this
Face detect works brilliantly, picking up your subjects effortlessly and tracking them across the screen. Focus isn’t restricted to fancy tricks: you have the choice of putting the focus point wherever you choose with flexi-zone or using the AiAF to let the camera choose where your subject is — a task it
performs with alarming accuracy. If you like to get in close then you’ll fall in love with the macro, which will bring you to within 10mm.
The built-in flash will only keep up with the zoom range if you bump up the ISO. The range can be adjusted manually up to 1600 or you can get the camera to do it automatically in the ‘Hi’ setting. To cover the whole telephoto distance of the zoom will require you to delve into scene mode and choose the ISO3200 setting. This setting will happily give you flash coverage but at a price: the noise is horrendous.
Conclusion
It’s a camera that your mum could use out of the box or you could give it to a seasoned photographer who’d play with the manual controls. Canon has neglected to give the flash enough grunt to successfully keep up with the fantastic 6x optical zoom and people will want to use this great range.Relying on ISO range to give good images isn’t the answer. The swivelling screen is worth its weight , though, as you no longer have to lie on the ground to get macro shots or blindly hold your camera above the head of some big goon in front of you at the rugby.
Specs
- Effective Pixels: 12.1 million
- Lens: 6x optical zoom, 7.4mm – 44.4mm (35-210mm 35mm equivalent)
- Viewfinder: Real image zoom
- LCD Monitor: 2.5-inch LCD variable angle, 173,000 pixels
- Shutter: 15 to 1/2000 sec
- ISO: Auto, Hi-ISO Auto, 80 to 3200 (in scene mode)
- Exposure Metering: Evaluative, centre-weighted average, spot
- Focus Modes: TTL autofocus, AF lock, manual, face detect, AiAF 9-point, centre and flexi
- Media: SD, SDHC MMC, MMC Plus, HC MMC plus.
- File Format: JPEG, AVI, Motion JPEG WAV
- Flash: Auto, on, off, 2nd curtain
- Interface: USB 2.0
- Batteries: 2x AA (alkaline batteries supplied)
- Dimensions: 112.1 x 67.8 x 56.2mm
- Weight: 300g
contact
www.canon.co.nz
Pros
- Swivelling screen
- 6x optical zoom with stabiliser
- Handy grid lines and 3:2
ration guide
Cons
Flash doesn’t go the distance
ISO3200 gives noisy results
Design 17
Performance 16
Features 17
Image Quality 16
Value for money 15
TOTAL 81/100
This review is from D-Photo issue #023.
August 18th, 2009 by D-Photo
Nikon has gone supernova with the new D300, producing a camera that incorporates all the things we enjoy from competitors’ cameras but making this model better than anything else on the market today
Advanced metering
Nikon’s latest dSLR uses a CMOS sensor — like Canon — instead of the CCDs used in the past. This alone is a turning point for Nikon. But the company has gone further than the competition with the D300 including a 3-inch screen with VGA quality (920,000 pixels) that is light years ahead of anyone else.
The 51-point focus system is superior thanks to the EXPEED processing motor and advanced 3D Matrix Metering II system with scene recognition. This results in an advanced focusing system that will recognise a moving subject by colour and notice faces in a scene.
Nikon users who have relied on the matrix metering of the past will happily switch to the 3D function as it works so well. There is still the option to select for yourself if you want to choose the focus point.
Live and let Live
Nikon has taken the Live View function that step further, giving you the choice of ‘Handheld’ or ‘Tripod’ options. In ‘Handheld’ it suffers the same frustrations as every other camera with Live View in that it has to lower the mirror to focus, but use the ‘Tripod’ setting and suddenly Live View almost seems a viable option.
Here you can move the focus point to wherever you want it on the screen, and when you get the camera to focus it uses contrast like a compact to focus. However, to get the camera to focus you must press the AF-ON button. It’s not as frustrating as having the mirror lower but it is still slower than using the viewfinder and pressing the shutter release.
Know your place
Nikon introduced GPS support on the D2x and this has filtered down to the D300. Plug in your Garmin GPS and each time you take a picture the longitude and latitude information is added to the EXIF data the camera gathers.
It also has a built-in intervalometer so you can set the camera to take a picture every two minutes or two hours. Combine this with the WT-4 wireless transmitter and you can join a network and send images to any computer on that network or control the camera remotely. You’ll need an MB-D10 battery pack too, but this gives you the joy of a second battery (EN-EL3e).
Flash ’em
The built-in flash is useful and with a little ISO fiddling you can happily extend its range (the D300 can go as high as ISO3200 and extend to 6400) but an SB-600 or ultimately a SB800 will offer better images at lower ISO. Balancing daylight and flash is automatic with Nikon’s 3D Matrix Metering II system.
Conclusion
The Nikon D300 is a tool any keen Nikon user will happily embrace but it also has wide appeal. Anyone passionate about photography will love the 3-inch VGA screen complete with protective cover and impressive battery life. The Live View function with handheld or tripod options as well as the ability to focus by contrast is amazing, although slower than just picking up the camera and shooting. It does come at a price but the D300 is a workhorse that will happily provide years of service.
specs
- Effective Pixels: 12.3 million
- Lens: AF-S Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8G ED
- Viewfinder: SLR-type with fixed eye-level pentaprism, built-in diopter adjustment (-2.0 to +1.0 m-
- LCD Monitor: 3-inch, 920,000 pixels (VGA), 170-degree viewing angle, 100 per cent frame coverage
- Shutter: 1/8,000 to 30 sec in steps of 1/3, 1/2 or 1 EV, bulb
- Exposure Metering: Matrix, center-weighted, spot
- Media: CompactFlash (Type I/II, compliant with UDMA); Microdrives
- File Format: NEF 12-bit or 14-bit, RAW, JPEG, TIFF
- Flash: TTL, built-in speedlight
- Batteries: Rechargeable Li-ion
- Dimensions: 147 x 114 x 74mm
contact
www.nikon.co.nz
Pros
- Impressive 3-inch LCD screen (920,000 pixels, VGA quality)
- Added features include GPS compatibility and wireless control
Cons
Design 17
Performance 16
Features 17
Image Quality 16
Value for money 15
TOTAL 90/100
This review is from D-Photo issue #023.
